The In Person Dinah Shore Radio Program

Background

Bristol-Myers and its wide line of personal grooming and health products was one of the very earliest sponsors of Broadcast Radio. From as early as 1926 Bristol-Myers was a regular, frequent and prolific sponsor of all manner of Radio programming:

• 1926 Ipana Troubadours
• 1930 Through the Looking Glass
• 1933 Troubadours
• 1934 Hour of Smiles with Fred Allen
• 1934 Sal Hepatica Revue with Fred Allen
• 1936 Stoopnagle and Budd
• 1937 Walter O'Keefe's Almanac
• 1938 For Men Only
• 1938 George Jessel Jamboree
• 1938 Stoopnagle and Budd
• 1938 Town Hall Big Game Hunt
• 1938 Town Hall Tonight with Fred Allen
• 1938 Town Hall Varieties
• 1939 Don Winslow of the Navy
• 1939 George Jessel's Celebrity Program
• 1939 The Fred Allen Show
• 1940 Abbott and Costello
• 1940-1952 Mr. District Attorney
• 1940 Its Time to Smile
• 1941 Songs by Dinah Shore
• 1942 In Person: Dinah Shore
• 1942 Those We Love
• 1942-1949 Duffy's Tavern
• 1943 A Date with Judy
• 1943 Noah Webster Says
• 1943 The Parker Family
• 1944 Nitwit Court
• 1944 The Gracie Fields Show
• 1944-1947 The Alan Young Show
• 1945 Correction, Please
• 1946-1951 Break the Bank
• 1948 Tex and Jinx
• 1950 The Henry Morgan Show
• 1958 Whispering Streets

From their Ipana Toothpaste to Vitalis Hair Grooming Tonic to Mum Deodorant to Minit-Rub Analgesic Ointment, Bristol-Myers remained an almost continuous presence over Radio for the entire duration of the Golden Age of Radio era.

Bristol-Myers had sponsored Eddie Cantor's variety program Its Time To Smile during which breakout singing sensation Dinah Shore was prominently featured. Eddie Cantor became one of Dinah Shore's most dedicated and persuasive promoters so when it came time for Dinah Shore to merit her own headlining Radio feature, it was Bristol-Myers that was the first to gamble--successfully--on Dinah Shore's rising success over Radio.

Bristol-Myers launches Dinah Shore into Radio stardom

Between 1938 and 1953 Dinah Shore exploded onto the music scene quickly becoming one of the most popular singers in North America. Beginning with weekly appearances over independent New York station WNEW in 1938, Dinah Shore soon appeared with Paul Whiteman, Paul Lavalle and entertainment industry legend Eddie Cantor. By 1941 Dinah Shore began appearing in a long-running series of popular Radio programs of her own:

• 1941 Songs By Dinah Shore for Bristol-Myers' Sal Hepatica and Minit-Rub
• 1942 In Person: Dinah Shore for Bristol-Myers' Mum Deodorant
• 1943 The Dinah Shore Program for Birds Eye Frosted Foods
• 1944 Birds Eye Open House Starring Dinah Shore
• 1946 The Ford Show for Ford Motor Corporation
• 1948 Call For Music for Philip Morris
• 1953 The Dinah Shore Show for Chevrolet

Over that same period, Dinah Shore was repeatedly voted America's most popular female singer. As she became more comfortable leading her own programs her poise, timing and extemporaneous delivery skills improved with each new feature program.

Dinah Shore's first solo outing over Radio was the Bristol-Myers-sponsored Songs By Dinah Shore, a weekly fifteen-minute variety feature over NBC-Red, NBC's commerically sponsored network. Broadcast from Hollywood, Songs By Dinah Shore ran for twenty-six installments between November 2nd 1941 and April 26th 1942. Bristol-Myers promoted its Sal Hepatica and Minit-Rub products throughout Songs By Dinah Shore.

For Dinah Shore's second outing sponsored by Bristol-Myers, her new series was repackaged as In Person: Dinah Shore over The Blue Network. In Person: Dinah Shore replaced the Paul Lavalle orchestra with that of Gordon Jenkins. Retaining the fifteen-minute format, In Person: Dinah Shore premiered on May 1st 1942, six days after the final Songs By Dinah Shore over NBC-Red. Truman Bradley replaced Harry Von Zell as Dinah's announcer and the new series retained the "Dinah" theme song.

In Person: Dinah Shore aired for a total of fifty-two weekly Friday night installments between May 1st 1942 and April 23rd 1943 promoting Bristol-Myers' Mum Deodorant. Bristol-Myers had actively promoted Mum as a male deodorant since the product's inception. But throughout the 1940s Bristol-Myers began to target a female audience for the product. Given the somewhat feminine packaging for Mum Deodorant, we remain somewhat bemused that Bristol-Myers initially targeted a male audience for the product in the first place.

The major change in format between 1941's Songs By Dinah Shore and 1942's In Person: Dinah Shore was primarily due to the December 7th 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor that officially brought the United States into World War II. In the wake of our entry into World War II, and owing also to Dinah Shore's tireless efforts entertaining American and Allied troops at home and abroad, In Person: Dinah Shore was framed as a weekly report to America's G.I.s on the music scene on the Homefront.

Recorded live before a predominately G.I. audience from its Hollywood studio, In Person: Dinah Shore played directly to the troops and the loved ones they'd left behind. More in the vein of a 'Hollywood Canteen of the Air,' In Person: Dinah Shore's format had Dinah Shore reading--and fulfilling--mailed song requests from G.I.s and relating often poignant anecdotes she recieved from both her Homefront and G.I. listeners. The result was an often very intimate and touching fifteen-minute mix of popular topical music of the era woven together with heartfelt observations on life on the Homefront in the wake of Pearl Harbor.

Series Derivatives:

Notes on Provenances:

The most helpful provenances were the log of the RadioGOLDINdex and newspaper listings.

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