Major Bowes

Edward Bowes
Born	June 14, 1874 San Francisco, California
Died	June 13, 1946 Rumson, New Jersey
Pen name	Major Bowes
Occupation	Radio personality

Edward Bowes (June 14, 1874 – June 13, 1946), who generally called himself Major Edward Bowes, was an American radio personality of the 1930s and 1940s whose Major Bowes Amateur Hour was the best-known amateur talent show in radio during its 18-year run (1935–52) on NBC Radio and CBS Radio.

Bowes’s father died when he was six years old, and young Bowes worked as he could to augment the family income. After leaving grammar school he worked as an office boy and then went into the real estate business, until the cataclysmic 1906 San Francisco earthquake wiped out his fortune. He then went to New York City in search of other opportunities. He soon realized that the theatrical world was lucrative, and he worked busily in New York as a musical conductor, composer, and arranger. He also produced Broadway shows, such as Kindling in 1911–12 and The Bridal Path in 1913. He was married to Kindling star Margaret Illington, from 1910 until her death in 1934; her portrait by Adolfo Müller-Ury had been painted in 1906 for her first husband, the theatre manager, Daniel Frohman.

He became managing director of New York's imposing Capitol Theatre, which he ran with military efficiency and bearing. He insisted on being addressed as "Major Bowes". His nickname sprang from his earlier military rank, though historians are divided on whether he was an active-duty officer in World War I or held the rank as a member of the Officer Reserve Corps.

Bowes brought his best-known creation to New York radio station WHN in 1934. He had actually hosted scattered amateur nights on smaller stations while manager of the Capitol. Within a year of its WHN premiere, The Original Amateur Hour —its original name, according to historian Gerald Nachman, was Major Bowes and His Capitol Family — began earning its creator and host as much as $1 million a year, according to Variety.

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