The Sammy Kaye Showroom | Chrysler Showroom Radio Program

Background

The Chrysler Corporation had an interesting history vis a vis Radio. Jack Benny's ubiquitous 1923 Maxwell Tourer would have been a Chrysler Corporation product, Walter Chrysler having assumed most of Maxwell's indebtedness in 1921.

1928 newspaper ad for Dodge Brothers Victory Six line

The Dodge Victory Hour of January 4, 1928 was the first NBC Radio broadcast to unite all of NBC's coast-to-coast networks. The Dodge Victory Hour was the Dodge Brothers brand's attempt to promote the Dodge Victory-Six line of six-cylinder powered vehicles. Later that year, Walter Chrysler bought out the Dodge Brothers company and Dodge became manufactured as a Chrysler product throughout the Golden Age of Radio era.

1937 Chrysler Plymouth promotional short, 'Sailing Along'

Chrysler had its share of ups and downs throughout the Golden Age Radio era as well. Engineering highlights were 4-wheel hydraulic brakes and the legendary hemispherical cylinder head V-8 engine design--and it's durable 'slant-six' as well. In spite of waxing and waning body design successes over the years, the brand's engineering advances, while admittedly targeting a more economically minded consumer, kept Chrysler's fortunes afloat for most of the era. Along the way, Chrysler acquired--and disposed of--some equally interesting brands and models. As of 1949, Chrysler was still manufacturing and marketing its flagship brand, Chrysler, the Plymouth line, Dodge, the fascinating De Soto, a very successful range of trucks and its MOPAR line of parts and services.

Chrysler, Dodge and Plymouth were also some of the earliest sponsors of Radio:

1927 The [Dodge] Victory Hour
1932 The Jack Pearl Show
1932 Ziegfeld Follies of the Air
1934 The Tommy Dorsey Orchestra
1935 The Mills Brothers
1935 The Ruth Etting Program
1936 Ed Wynn and His Grab Bag
1936 Major Bowes’ Original Amateur Hour
1936 The Chrysler Air Show
1936 The Dodge Show
1945 Elmer Davis News
1945 Music Millions Love
1945 Shower of Stars [Andre Kostelanetz]
1947 The Adventures of Christopher Wells
1948 Hit the Jackpot
1949 The Sammy Kaye Showroom
1950 It Pays to be Ignorant
1950 The Adventures of Nero Wolfe
1950 You Bet Your Life
1951 Chrysler Bandstand
1952 The Line-Up
1954 Bulldog Drummond
1954 The Roy Rogers Show

Of note in Chrysler's admittedly incomplete radiography is the concentration on variety programs throughout the era. Beginning with The Dodge Victory Hour on through The Roy Rogers Show, the overwhelming number of Chrysler's sponsor involvement was in variety. Chrysler's admitted target audience was predominately middle-income, middle America.

Chrysler sponsors The Sammy Kaye Showroom for 26 weeks

Sammy Kaye's involvement with Radio was also relatively extensive, for a band leader. Kaye had organized his first orchestra while on full scholarship at Ohio State University in the early 1930s. Quickly making a name for himself with both his own compositions, a canny knack for identifying others' new compositions and talent, and a solidly Mid-Western America appeal, Sammy Kaye's star rose quickly. Kaye was responsible for the inspirational "Remember Pearl Harbor" a tune he composed on December 8, 1941, the day after the Pearl Harbor attack that launched the U.S. into World War II. Throughout the World War II era, America learned to 'swing and sway' to the lilting music of Sammy Kaye, his three Kaydets and featured bandmembers 'Chubby' Silvers [brass] and Ernie Rudisill [percussion]. While Sammy Kaye was an accomplished clarinetist and saxaphonist, he was never quite the virtuoso as, for examples, Artie Shaw, Benny Goodman, Tommy Dorsey, Count Basie or Glenn Miller. But he didn't need to be.

Sammy Kaye's genius was in identifying and promoting great talent and, to an only slightly lesser degree, getting an audience behind him. One of Kaye's inspirations during the era was his "So You Want to Lead A Band" series of programs on Radio and Television. An audience member would be selected to take the baton for a few selections or a whole program. Kaye's three major 'finds' of the era were Tony Alamo, Don Cornell and Laura Leslie, two of whom went on to highly successful careers of their own.

Kaye was also one of RCA Victor's most prolific recording artists. At the time The Sammy Kaye Showroom premiered, Sammy Kaye had already sold in excess of 4 million records for RCA Victor. Victor itself had passed the Billion record mark only two years earlier. Kaye's orchestra was referred to as one of the 'sweet bands' of the era, characterized by comparatively mainstream, traditional favorites, romantic or patriotic new compositions, and traditional dance music. His band was also known for the participation of band members in the band's many comedic routines. Not particularly ground-breaking for the era, but equally endearing the band to its audiences.

Transcribed from the outset, The Sammy Kaye Showroom premiered on May 16, 1949 for a contracted run of twenty-six weeks. Airing three times a week in most markets, some markets aired the program weekly for twenty-six weeks. The vast majority of sponsoring Chrysler dealerships across the country opted for the three-a-week broadcasts, usually Monday, Wednesday and Friday, or Tuesday, Thursday and Friday.

In an attempt to obtain maximum audience involvement--and more visits to Chrysler showrooms across the U.S.--Chrysler dealerships maintained ballots of popular tunes of the era, which showroom visitors could vote on. A given popular selection for any week would become the Chrysler Pick of The Week, closing out one of the three programs each week. Selections from the smash Broadway hit, South Pacific, were prominently featured throughout the 26-week series. South Pacfic had debuted at The Majestic Theatre on Broadway only a month prior to The Sammy Kaye Showroom's own debut. South Pacific continued on for a run of almost five years and 1, 925 performances on Broadway.

Kaye obviously knew a hit when he found it. Kaye's singers, Tony Alamo, Don Cornell and Laura Leslie each sang at least one South Pacific selection a week for The Sammy Kaye Showroom's 26-week run. South Pacific's success was so ubiquitous throughout its five-year run that it was prominently featured on all manner of popular Radio programs of the era, both instrumentally and as plot elements in drama programs of the era, such as The Big Show, The Magnificent Montague, The Danny Kaye Show, The Jack Benny Program, and literally hundreds of others.

Jay Jackson both announced for the program and acted as Chrysler's spokesperson, incorporating repeated plugs of Chrysler's Silver Anniversary Model for 1949 and its 'Prestomatic' fluid drive transmission. Kaye himself waxed effusively over the Silver Anniversary Model's features throughout each program.

Not particularly Chrysler's sexiest looking design of the past 25 years, the Silver Anniversary Model was as boxy and comparatively sedate looking as most of its designs since the ground-breaking Chrysler Airflow design of 1934-1937. The Chrysler CW Airflow Imperial of 1935 was the first American automobile to feature a curved, one-piece windshield among a host of other cutting edge design features. In practice, the Chrysler Airflow was more show than go. Both the DeSoto line and the Chrysler line offered the model, but both lines suffered fit, finish and mechanical shortcomings throughout its short, albeit controversial, life. That hard-learned lesson affected Chrysler for the next twenty years, a period during which Chrysler concentrated more on engineering innovations than on style and 'panache.'

The Sammy Kaye Showroom remains one of Radio's exemplars of contemporary, mainstream variety programs showcasing a relatively 'safe' selection of tunes, a remarkable showcase of South Pacific selections in particular, and a launching pad for both Tony Alamo and Don Cornell. Cornell went on to a singing career spanning almost sixty years. Crooner Tony Alamo, often regrettably mistaken for the infamous evangelist Tony Alamo, most often sang solo selections on The Sammy Kaye Showroom. Cornell and lovely, petite Laura Leslie were most often paired for romantic or lighter standards duet selections throughout the series.

The Sammy Kaye Showroom remains one of the 'sweeter' variety programs showcasing the 'sweet bands' of the era. The better transcribed encodes that survive of the run are wonderfully listenable to this day.

Series Derivatives:

Notes on Provenances:

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

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