Originally broadcast on ABC, 24 December 1950. Restored from the Old Time Radio archives.
The run
- Network
- NBC
- Years active
- 1950–1952
- Surviving broadcasts
- 30
- Genre
- variety
In 1950, the advent of television was not only causing concern in the film industry but radio was beginning to feel the effect as well. In short, audiences were dwindling. To combat the problem, NBC spent lots of money to produce The Big Show , a 90 minute radio program which would feature famous guests performing skits, songs, and comedi
1952 · 11951 · 201950 · 9
Restoration quality — measured from the surviving files
Rough but complete · 30 of 30
Source collection
Old Time Radio Researchers Group
Rights
Public domain — no renewed US copyright
Cataloguing
Air dates and notes from the Archive item record
Every broadcast below carries its own provenance sheet — transfer quality, file source and rights.Archive record: OTRR_The_Big_Show_Singles
The shape of the run
What survives, year by year
10 dated broadcasts across 3 years on the air. Brightness is transfer quality; empty cells are months lost to time.
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1950
1951
1952
Clean transferListenableRough but complete No surviving recording
Episodes
Start here
Listen to the run in order
Restored broadcasts from 1950, in original transmission order.
- 1. Ep01 Fred Allen, Jimmy Durante · 5 Nov 1950
- 2. Ep02 Groucho Marx, Fanny Brice · 12 Nov 1950
- 3. Ep03 Eddie Cantor, Mindy Carson · 19 Nov 1950
Ep51 Richard Eatham, Joe Frisco
9 Mar 1952 · 1h 26m
Originally broadcast on NBC, 9 March 1952. Restored from the Old Time Radio archives.
Ep32 Jimmy Durante, Jack Carson
28 Oct 1951 · 30 min
Originally broadcast on NBC, 28 October 1951. Restored from the Old Time Radio archives.
Ep28 George Sanders, Bea Lillie
30 Sep 1951 · 57 min
Originally broadcast on NBC, 30 September 1951. Restored from the Old Time Radio archives.
Ep27 Fred Allen, Georgie Jessell
6 May 1951 · 1h 27m
Originally broadcast on NBC, 6 May 1951. Restored from the Old Time Radio archives.
Ep26 Jimmy Durante, Milton Berle
29 Apr 1951 · 1h 27m
Originally broadcast on NBC, 29 April 1951. Restored from the Old Time Radio archives.
Ep25 Fred Allen, Portland Hoffa
22 Apr 1951 · 1h 27m
Originally broadcast on NBC, 22 April 1951. Restored from the Old Time Radio archives.
Ep24 Eddie Cantor, Jack Carson
15 Apr 1951 · 1h 26m
Originally broadcast on NBC, 15 April 1951. Restored from the Old Time Radio archives.
Ep23 Fred Allen, Vivian Blaine
8 Apr 1951 · 1h 22m
Originally broadcast on NBC, 8 April 1951. Restored from the Old Time Radio archives.
Same night on the air
24 Dec 1950
Everything else the archive still holds from the night of 24 Dec 1950.
Originally broadcast on NBC, 24 December 1950. Restored from the Old Time Radio archives.
Originally broadcast on CBS, 24 December 1950. Restored from the Old Time Radio archives.
Originally broadcast on NBC, 24 December 1950. Restored from the Old Time Radio archives.
Also on NBC
NBC in 1950–1952
Other series the network carried while The Big Show was on the air.
Same seasons
variety on the air then
Series in the same genre whose runs overlapped this one.
What it became
Friends in front of a microphone
Jack Benny and Fibber McGee sold intimacy: recurring characters, in-jokes, a house style. The modern hang-out show is the same trick without the script.
Lineage is written by our editors, not inferred from listening data.
Descendants
Working in the tradition of The Big Show
Modern series carrying this form forward.
If you liked this
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