The Bob Burns Show
| Other names | The Arkansas Traveler |
|---|---|
| Genre | Comedy |
| Running time | 30 minutes |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Language(s) | English |
| Syndicates |
NBC CBS |
| Starring |
Bob Burns Ginny Simms Edna Mae Oliver Ann Thomas James Gleason Una Merkel Shirley Ross Mantan Moreland Ben Carter |
| Directed by | Thomas Freebairn-Smith Joe Thompson Andrew C. Love |
| Produced by | Thomas Freebairn-Smith Joe Thompson Andrew C. Love |
| Original release | September 16, 1941 – May 25, 1947 |
| No. of series | 6 |
| No. of episodes | 230 (original series) 2 (failed revival series) |
| Sponsored by |
Campbell's Soup Lever Brothers' Lifebuoy Soap American Home Products Dreft (see below) |
The Bob Burns Show (also known as The Arkansas Traveler) was an American old-time radio comedy program that starred comedian Bob Burns. The program derived from a character Burns performed for five years on Bing Crosby's Kraft Music Hall entitled "The Arkansas Traveler".
The program originally premiered as The Arkansas Traveler on September 16, 1941 on CBS. In 1943, Bob Burns moved his program over to the Red Network of the National Broadcasting Company. The January 7 broadcast was the first episode to use the title The Bob Burns Show.
The program moved from its Thursdays at 7:30 timeslot to Sundays at 6:30 for its last season on September 29, 1946. The program concluded its run on May 25, 1947. Two failed revival attempts of the program aired between November 1947 and July 1949. Both audition programs were sponsored by Dreft but never made air.
Other principal actors on the program included actors Ginny Simms, Edna Mae Oliver, Ann Thomas, James Gleason, Una Merkel and Shirley Ross.
Bob Burns (born Robin Burn) grew up on the town of Van Buren, Arkansas. As a boy, Burns played trombone and cornet in the town's "Queen City Silver Cornet Band". Before radio, Burns was known as a musician, creating his own string band at the age of 13. During his teeming years, Burns invented an instrument which he called a "bazooka" out of a gas pipe. The bazooka functioned like a crude trombone and had a narrow range. The bazooka would become a permanent part of Burns' comedy act.
In 1930, Burns' radio career began as a character on a local Los Angeles radio program called The Fun Factory as the character "Soda Pop". After several jobs at several different radio stations in Los Angeles in 1935, Burns went to New York and got a spot on Rudy Vallée's The Fleischmann's Yeast Hour. In his book on old-time radio, author John Dunning quotes Newsweek in describing Bob Burns as "...resembling Gene Tunney but..." having a voice "...like Will Rogers". After the death of Rogers in August 1935 in an Alaskan plane crash, Burns decided to leave The Fleischmann Hour.
...
Wikipedia