The Jumbo Fire Chief Program
| Other names |
The Circus Concert The Fire-Chief Program The Fire-Chief Show Jumbo Fire-Chief Program |
|---|---|
| Genre | Comedy |
| Running time | 28-31 minutes |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Language(s) | English |
| Home station | WEAF |
| Syndicates | NBC Red Network |
| Starring |
Jimmy Durante Donald Novis Gloria Grafton |
| Announcer | Louis A. Witton |
| Written by |
Ben Hecht Charles MacArthur |
| Directed by |
Billy Rose Adolph Deutsch (music director) |
| Recording studio | The Hippodrome, New York City |
| Original release | October 22, 1935 (rehearsal show) October 29, 1935 – January 14, 1936 |
| No. of series | 1 |
| No. of episodes | 12 known episodes |
| Opening theme | Over and Over Again by Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart |
| Ending theme | The Jumbo Fire Chief Program ending theme |
| Sponsored by | Texaco |
The Jumbo Fire Chief Program is an American old-time radio program starring Jimmy Durante, Donald Novis and Gloria Grafton. The series was broadcast from WEAF radio in New York and syndicated nationally over the Red Network of the National Broadcasting Company. The series was based on Billy Rose's musical circus act Jumbo which premiered on Broadway in November 1935 and a continuation of sponsor Texaco's The Fire Chief, a radio program starring Ed Wynn that ended its three-year run several months before Jumbo' s premiere. The program starred Jimmy Durante as Claudius "Brainy" Bowers, the overzealous circus promoter of the Consodine circus act who usually gets the show in financial crisis due to his over exaggeration of the show's profits, and Donald Novis and Gloria Grafton as young love interests Matt Mulligan, Jr. and Mickey Consodine. Mickey is the daughter of unheard character John Consodine, the owner of the circus act.
The radio program broadcast 12 episodes over the NBC from October 22, 1935–January 14, 1936. The series was recorded from the New York Hippodrome before an average crowd of 4500–5000 spectators each week.
The series originated from Ed Wynn's departure from NBC's The Fire Chief in early 1935 and the show's sponsor Texaco wanting to continue the series.
Texaco and NBC premiered The Fire Chief in 1932. Comedian Ed Wynn played the title role of the Fire Chief. The series was popular and one of the first radio programs to be recorded before a live studio audience. Wynn left the program temporarily in 1933 when, in September of that year, Wynn along with Hungarian-born violinist Ota Gygi founded his own radio station, the Amalgamated Broadcasting System. The station lost money and went out of business five weeks later in November 1933. He returned to The Fire Chief which continued until being cancelled in early 1935.
...
Wikipedia