Music, comedy, guests
The Variety Hour
The network variety hour packed a bandleader, a comedian, a singer and a sponsor into thirty minutes, live, every week.
1937 – 1952 · 5 stops · 4h 55m
- 1
A ventriloquist act that somehow thrived on a medium built for sound alone.
Edgar Bergen and Charlie McCarthy · VintageEdgar Bergen 1937-05-09 (1) Guest - Ann Harding & Rodgers & Hart
9 May 1937 · 59 min
- 2
NBC's answer to television's rise — an oversized variety hour, thrown at the problem.
- 3
The wartime version, built entirely around requests from serving troops.
- 4
A star vehicle built around one performer's own comic persona.
- 5
The variety hour's own Christmas edition, guest list still oversized.
