The Fitch Bandwagon

The Fitch Bandwagon was an American radio show that aired on NBC from 1938-1948. It was sponsored by the F.W. Fitch Shampoo Company, an Iowa-based manufacturer of hair care products.[2] It aired on Sunday evenings at 7:30 p.m.

The Fitch Bandwagon
Running time30 minutes
Country of originUnited States
Language(s)English
Home stationNBC
Hosted byDick Powell (ca. 1944)
StarringCass Daley (1945-1946)
Phil Harris (1946-1948)
Alice Faye (1946-1948)
Elliott Lewis (1946-1948)
AnnouncerDresser Dahlstead (ca. 1939)
Wendell Niles
Tobe Reed (1942-1945)[1]
Larry Keating (1945-1946)
Bill Forman (1946-1948)
Directed byPaul Phillips (1946-1948)
Produced byWard Byron
Bill Lawrence (ca. 1944)
Original releaseSeptember 4, 1938 – May 23, 1948
No. of series10

The Fitch Bandwagon had three different incarnations over its decade on the radio.

Beginning with its premiere in fall 1938 through spring 1945, it was a bandstand style show. Freddy Martin, Jan Savitt, Harry James, Tommy Dorsey, and other top bandleaders appeared and played popular tunes.

From fall 1945 through spring 1946, it was a musical variety show starring Cass Daley and co-starring Francis “Dink” Trout and Henry Russell. Popular bands performed between skits.

The Fitch Bandwagon is best remembered for its final two seasons, from fall 1946 through spring 1948, as a situation comedy show starring real-life husband and wife Phil Harris of The Jack Benny Program and movie star Alice Faye. Harris and Faye played fictionalized versions of themselves and Elliott Lewis, Robert North, Jeanine Roose, Anne Whitfield, and Walter Tetley were featured as their family and associates. This evolved into The Phil Harris-Alice Faye Show, which premiered in fall 1948, sponsored by Rexall.[3][4]

References

  1. "Whatever happened to that announcer guy". Tralfaz. Retrieved 2019-06-22.
  2. "Fitch Bandwagon". radiospirits.com. Retrieved 2019-01-06.
  3. Dunning, John (1998). On the Air: The Encyclopedia of Old-Time Radio (Revised ed.). New York, NY: Oxford University Press. p. 254. ISBN 978-0-19-507678-3. Retrieved 2019-08-23. The Fitch Bandwagon, initially.
  4. Reinehr, Robert C.; Swartz, Jon David (2008). Historical dictionary of old-time radio. Lanham, Maryland: Scarecrow Press. ISBN 9780810857803. OCLC 134992588.
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