''The First Nighter Program'' was a long-running radio anthology comedy-drama series broadcast from November 27, 1930, to September 27, 1953. The host was Mr. First Nighter (Charles P. Hughes,

Macdonald Carey Edward Macdonald Carey (March 15, 1913 – March 21, 1994) was an American actor, best known for his role as the patriarch Dr. Tom Horton on NBC's soap opera ''Days of Our Lives''. For almost three decades, he was the show's central cast member. ...

Bret Morrison Bret Morrison (5 May 1912 – 25 September 1978)DeLong, Thomas A. (1996). ''Radio Stars: An Illustrated Biographical Dictionary of 953 Performers, 1920 through 1960''. McFarland & Company, Inc. . P. 197. was an American actor best known as the ...

Marvin Miller Marvin Julian Miller (April 14, 1917 – November 27, 2012) was an American baseball executive who served as the executive director of the Major League Baseball Players Association (MLBPA) from 1966 to 1982. Under Miller's direction, the players ...

Don Briggs Donald Briggs (January 28, 1911 – February 3, 1986) was an American actor, who appeared in over 75 films and television shows between the 1930s and 1970s. Early life Briggs was born in Chicago, Illinois and died in Woodland Hills, California ...

and Rye Billsbury (later known as

Michael Rye Michael Rye (born John Michael Riorden Billsbury; March 2, 1918 – September 20, 2012) was an American actor. His decades-long career spanned radio, television, animated cartoons and video games. Aside from his voice over work, Rye also acted in ...

). An article in a 1939 newspaper observed, "First Nighter was the first show to present complete and separate original plays each week." The show's opening recreated the aural atmosphere of a Broadway opening. Before each week's drama began, Mr. First Nighter was first heard walking on Broadway, emerging from the noise of people and street traffic into the crowded lobby of "the Little Theater Off Times Square" and then taking his seat in the third row center, where he gave the whispered introduction: :The house lights have dimmed, and the curtain is about to go up on tonight's production. Romantic comedies were the specialty of the series, and the principal roles were played by the teams of

Don Ameche Don Ameche (; born Dominic Felix Amici; May 31, 1908 – December 6, 1993) was an American actor, comedian and vaudevillian. After playing in college shows, stock, and vaudeville, he became a major radio star in the early 1930s, which ...

and June Meredith (1930–36), Ameche and

Betty Lou Gerson Betty Lou Gerson (April 20, 1914 – January 12, 1999) was an American actress, predominantly active in radio but also in film and television and as a voice actress. She is best known as the original voice of Cruella de Vil from the Disney anima ...

(1935–36),

Les Tremayne Lester Tremayne (16 April 1913 – 19 December 2003) was an English actor. Early life Born in Balham, London, he moved with his family at the age of four to Chicago, Illinois, where he began in community theater. His mother was Dolly Trema ...

and

Barbara Luddy Barbara Luddy (May 25, 1908 – April 1, 1979) was an American actress best known for her voiceover work for Walt Disney Studios in the 1950s and 1970s. Biography Born in Great Falls, Montana, Luddy was the daughter of Will and Molly Luddy of ...

(1936–43) and

Olan Soule Olan Evart Soule (February 28, 1909 – February 1, 1994) was an American actor, who had professional credits in nearly 7,000 radio shows and commercials, appearances in 200 television series and television films, and in over 60 films. Soul ...

and Luddy (1943 and after). Joseph T. Ainley produced and directed the series. The announcers were

Larry Keating Lawrence Keating (June 13, 1899 – August 26, 1963) was an American actor best known for his roles as Harry Morton on ''The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show'', which he played from 1953 to 1958, and next-door neighbor Roger Addison on ''Miste ...

and Vincent Pelletier. Music was provided by "The Famous First Nighter Orchestra", under the direction of Eric Sagerquist (1930–44), Caesar Petrillo (1945–46) and Frank Worth (1947–53). The most popular episode may have been the annual Christmas episode, "Little Town of Bethlehem," which was first performed in 1937 and every year afterwards at the request of the listening audience."a,b...." ''Catalog of Copyright Entries, Part I'' (Part I, Group 3--Dramatic Compositions & Motion Pictures) Library of Congress Copyright Office. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1933. p. 333, No. 11, 1934 6788 ''Little Town of Bethlehem:a Christmas play'' in 3 acts by Anthony Wayne. Batavia, Ill., Author's Publishing Company (1934) 24 p. 12mo Copyright Oct. 22, 1934; 2c. Nov 12; D 32053; I. Willard Crull c/o Campana sales co., Batavia, IL. (Anthony Wayne was the pseudonym for I. Willard Crull who wrote over a hundred radio plays for The First Nighter Program while serving as Campana's treasurer which was then headed by his uncle Ernest Morgan Oswalt. Crull would serve as Campana's president from 1942 through 1974 Performing before a studio audience, the actors wore formal attire, with Luddy in a gown and Tremayne clad in evening clothes and top hat. Commercial breaks were signalled with the usher's cry "Smoking downstairs and in the outer lobby only, please!", with the action resuming with a buzzer and the usher's curtain call. The series ran on four radio networks in the following timeline: * NBC

Blue Network The Blue Network (previously known as the NBC Blue Network) was the on-air name of a now defunct American Commercial broadcasting, radio network, which broadcast from 1927 through 1945. Beginning as one of the two radio networks owned by the N ...

: 11/27/30 to 09/29/33 *

NBC Red Network The National Broadcasting Company's NBC Radio Network (known as the NBC Red Network prior to 1942) was an American commercial radio network which was in operation from 1926 through 2004. Along with the NBC Blue Network it was one of the first t ...

: 10/06/33 to 02/12/37 * CBS: 02/19/37 to 12/21/37 * NBC Red Network: 01/07/38 to 08/26/38 * CBS: 09/02/38 to 05/29/42 * Mutual: 10/04/42 to 10/25/44 * CBS: 10/20/45 to 04/13/46 and 10/04/47 to 10/20/49 * NBC (reruns): 04/27/52 to 09/27/53 The show was sponsored by

The Campana Company The Campana Company of Batavia, Illinois was a major manufacturer of cosmetics in the 20th century. History The Campana Company was incorporated in Illinois in 1927. Its first product was Italian Balm, a hand lotion. The formula was purchased f ...

and solely featured commercials for their products. Due largely in part to this exposure, their Italian Balm became the best-selling

hand lotion Lotion is a low-viscosity topical preparation intended for application to the skin. By contrast, creams and gels have higher viscosity, typically due to lower water content. Lotions are applied to external skin with bare hands, a brush, a clean ...

in the United States in the 1930s.

References

Listen to

NPR: ''First Nighter'' opening in "Radio Legend Les Tremayne Dies" (December 26, 2003)

OTR Network Library: ''The First Nighter Program'' 16 1944-53 episode

An interview with Barbara Luddy and Olan Soule

External links

* ttp://www.otrr.org/FILES/Magz_pdf/Movie%20Radio%20Guide/MRG%204304.pdf "They Shall Be Free" – A ''First Nighter'' story from ''Movie-Radio Guide'', April 1943
Scripts of two ''First Nighter'' programs from The Generic Radio Workshop Script Library
{{DEFAULTSORT:First Nighter Program, The 1930 radio programme debuts 1953 radio programme endings 1930s American radio programs 1940s American radio programs 1950s American radio programs NBC radio programs NBC Blue Network radio programs CBS Radio programs Mutual Broadcasting System programs Anthology radio series