Let's Dance (radio)

Let's Dance was a Saturday night radio music program broadcast by NBC in the mid-1930s.

Sponsored by the National Biscuit Company (initially to promote their new Ritz Crackers), it aired for three full hours, starting at 10:30pm on the East Coast. This late-night timeslot gave the program a much larger audience on the West Coast when heard earlier in the evening. Let's Dance was a five-hour broadcast from New York, yet calculated so that all time zones heard three hours of music. The East Coast and Central Time zones got only the first three hours. Mountain Time zone listeners tuned into the second, third and fourth hours. Hours three, four and five were heard on the West Coast.

The series premiered December 1, 1934, showcasing three different regular bands. The mellow music of Kel Murray (a pseudonym for Murray Kellner) and the Latin rhythms of Xavier Cugat made Benny Goodman's group stand out as "downright thrilling," according to George Simon. It was a turning point for Goodman, who had more than 70 Fletcher Henderson swing arrangements by the time Let's Dance went off the air May 25, 1935. Despite its popularity, the program abruptly ended due to a labor dispute involving Nabisco employees, with the company temporarily discontinuing all of their sponsored radio shows as a result. However, because of the expense involved in sustaining Let's Dance, Nabisco decided not to renew the series for another season.

Goodman based his theme song for this program on Invitation to the Dance, a piano piece by Carl Maria von Weber.

George Spink, writing in the Chicago Sun-Times, described the crucial role of Let's Dance in launching Goodman as the "King of Swing":

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