''The Mel Blanc Show'' was a
radio
Radio is the technology of signaling and communicating using radio waves. Radio waves are electromagnetic waves of frequency between 30 hertz (Hz) and 300 gigahertz (GHz). They are generated by an electronic device called a transmit ...
situation comedy
A sitcom, a portmanteau of situation comedy, or situational comedy, is a genre of comedy centered on a fixed set of characters who mostly carry over from episode to episode. Sitcoms can be contrasted with sketch comedy, where a troupe may use ne ...
in the United States. It was broadcast on
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainm ...
from September 3, 1946 to June 24, 1947.
Format
Although
Mel Blanc
Melvin Jerome Blanc (born Blank ; May 30, 1908July 10, 1989) was an American voice actor and radio personality whose career spanned over 60 years. During the Golden Age of Radio, he provided character voices and vocal sound effects for comedy ra ...
"did countless character impersonations on other radio programs, as well as being the voice of many cartoon characters," he used his natural voice in this program and played himself – except that instead of being an entertainer, the Mel Blanc character in the show was "the bumbling owner of a fix-it shop that was never able to fix anything."
[Reinehr, Robert C. and Swartz, Jon D. (2008). ''The A to Z of Old Time Radio''. Scarecrow Press, Inc. . P. 177.] The show's one regular outlet for another Blanc voice was the character Zookie, a stuttering helper.
[ One website noted, however, "Many episodes required Mel to impersonate an exotic foreigner or other stranger in town, ostensibly for carrying out a minor deception on his girlfriend's father, but of course simply as a vehicle for him to show off his talents."
The June 1947 issue of ''Radio Mirror'' magazine provided an insight into the program with this comment in its Recommended Listening column under "Tuesday night": "At 8:30, you'll have to make a choice between the Mel Blanc Show (CBS) and Date with Judy (NBC). If it's impossible-situations-made-to-seem-real that you like, you'll choose Mel and his girl and his fix-it shop".
One old-time radio website commented, "Mel Blanc's natural – and exceptional – voice talent was unquestionably the series' greatest selling factor; and Mel got to show his acting and timing chops to a far greater degree with his own situation comedy."][ Other recurring catchphrases included Mr. Colby's threat to Mel, "I'll break every bone in your body!" and Mr. Cushing's weepy "But I don't know why I'm telling you all this; it's just that I've got no one to talk to!"
]
Characters and cast
''The Mel Blanc Show'' featured several veteran actors of old-time radio in addition to Blanc as himself and Zookie. The regular characters and actors were as follows:
Others who often appeared in the program were Bea Benaderet
Beatrice Benaderet ( ; April 4, 1906 – October 13, 1968) was an American actress and comedienne. Born in New York City and raised in San Francisco, she began performing in Bay Area theatre and radio before embarking on a Hollywood career that ...
, Leora Thatcher
Leora Thatcher (May 12, 1894 – March 5, 1984) was an American actress on stage, film, and television, and a teacher.
Early years
Thatcher was born in Logan, Utah, on May 12, 1894, the daughter of Sarah Catherine Hopkins and Moses Thatcher, Jr. ...
, Earle Ross
Earle Ross (March 29, 1888 – May 21, 1961) was an American radio and film actor.
While in school he became interested in dramatics and was usually cast as a villain or an old man because of his unusual voice characteristics. In 1908 he worke ...
,Jerry Hausner
James Bernard Hausner (May 20, 1909 – April 1, 1993),DeLong, Thomas A. (1996). ''Radio Stars: An Illustrated Biographical Dictionary of 953 Performers, 1920 through 1960''. McFarland & Company, Inc. . Pp. 122-123. known professionally as Jerry ...
, Elvia Allman
Elvia Beatrice Allman (September 19, 1904 – March 6, 1992) was an American actress in Hollywood films and television programs for over 50 years. She is best remembered for her semi-regular roles on ''The Beverly Hillbillies'' and ''Petticoat J ...
, Sandra Gould
Sandra Gould (July 23, 1916 – July 20, 1999) was an American actress, perhaps best known for her role as Gladys Kravitz on the sitcom '' Bewitched''. Gould was the second actress to portray the role, debuting at the start of the third season.
L ...
,[ and ]Jim Backus
James Gilmore Backus (February 25, 1913 – July 3, 1989) was an American actor. Among his most famous roles were Thurston Howell III on the 1960s sitcom '' Gilligan's Island,'' the father of James Dean's character in ''Rebel Without a Cause ...
.[Buxton, Frank and Owen, Bill (1972). ''The Big Broadcast: 1920-1950''. The Viking Press. SBN 670-16240-x. P. 157.] The announcer was John "Bud" Hiestand.[Dunning, John. (1976). ''Tune in Yesterday: The Ultimate Encyclopedia of Old-Time Radio, 1925-1976''. Prentice-Hall, Inc. . Pp. 405-406.] Victor Miller and his orchestra were the musicians.[
]
Limited success
A review in the trade publication ''Billboard
A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...
'' seemed to portend the program's demise. The review focused on the April 1, 1947, episode, commenting: After more than five months ... the Mel Blanc program still seems to be groping. Probably most responsible for its failure to come anywhere near the show-type average, or to top programs aired opposite, is the scripting, the production contributing to a lesser extent. Writers seem to have been misled by Blanc's vocal versatility into trying to introduce too many odd characters ...
After citing a number of specific examples, the reviewer concluded:Blanc still has great potentials ic If Colgate he sponsor Sherman-Marquette he advertising agencyor the writers can find the right formula, plus a production with pace, the show will get the cohesion it lacks now. As it stands, it'll take a lot of doing to edge the Hooper higher.
Less than two months later, the same publication announced the end of ''The Mel Blanc Show''. ''Billboards May 24, 1947, issue contained a story that reported, "Fate of the Mel Blanc show has reportedly been sealed by bank-roller Colgate-Palmolive Peet, who is understood to have ordered the show dropped at end of the current cycle, June 24." The story briefly referred to "a general retrenchment program now being mulled" by the company.There's no question that Blanc's truest fans would have loved simply 25 minutes of Mel Blanc reading a telephone book in various dialects. But that's not how CBS and Colgate billed The Mel Blanc Show; it was promoted as a situation comedy-variety show, competing with at least twelve other similar situation comedy-variety programs of the era--many of them very highly rated.
The program did, indeed, end its run June 24, 1947.[
]
References
External links
42 streaming episodes of The Mel Blanc Show from Archive.org
Mel, the Lion-Hearted – a "story written for Radio Mirror (in which) you meet Mel Blanc just as he's heard in his Fix-It Shop program ..."
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mel Blanc Show, The
1940s American radio programs
American comedy radio programs
1946 radio programme debuts
1947 radio programme endings
CBS Radio programs