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Allen's Alley

The Fred Allen Show
Other names The Linit Bath Club Revue
The Salad Bowl Revue
The Sal Hepatica Revue
The Hour of Smiles
Town Hall Tonight
Texaco Star Theatre with Fred Allen
Genre Comedy
Running time 30 minutes (1932–1934; 1942–1949)
60 minutes (1934–1942)
Country of origin United States
Language(s) English
Syndicates CBS
NBC
Starring Fred Allen
Portland Hoffa
Minerva Pious
Parker Fennelly
Jack Smart
Alan Reed
John Brown
Charlie Cantor
(full list below)
Announcer Ken Roberts
Edmund Ruffner
Harry Von Zell
Arthur Godfrey
Jimmy Wallington
Kenny Delmar
Produced by Roger White
Pat Weaver
Vick Knight
Howard Reilly
Original release October 23, 1932 (1932-10-23) – June 26, 1949 (1949-06-26)
Opening theme Oh, Mr. Allen?
Other themes Smiles
Ending theme Darn Ya, Smile
Sponsored by Linit Bath Soap
Hellmann's Mayonnaise
Ipana
Sal Hepatica
Texaco
Tenderleaf Tea
Ford Motor Company

The Fred Allen Show was a popular and long-running American old-time radio comedy program starring comedian Fred Allen and his wife Portland Hoffa. Over the course of the program's 17-year run, it was sponsored by Linit Bath Soaps, Hellmann's, Ipana, Sal Hepatica, Texaco and Tenderleaf Tea. The program ended in 1949 under the sponsorship of the Ford Motor Company.

The most popular period of the program was the few years of sponsorship under the Texaco Gas Company. During this time, the program was known as Texaco Star Theatre with Fred Allen. On the December 6, 1942 episode of the program, Allen premiered his first in a series of segments known as "Allen's Alley". The segments would have Allen strolling through an imaginary neighborhood, knocking on the "doors" of various neighbors, including average-American John Doe (played by John Brown), Mrs. Nussbaum (Minerva Pious), pompous poet Falstaff Openshaw (Alan Reed), Titus Moody (Parker Fennelly), and boisterous southern senator Beuregard Claghorn (announcer Kenny Delmar). Texaco ended its sponsorship of the program in 1944.

Some prominent guest stars on Allen's program over the years included Frank Sinatra, Orson Welles, Roy Rogers, Bela Lugosi, Ed Gardner, Norman Corwin and Edgar Bergen & Charlie McCarthy.


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