The Bickersons Radio Program

Background

Procter & Gamble was a powerhouse Radio sponsor throughout the Golden Age of Radio.

P & G's Drene Shampoo brings The Bickersons to Radio

Blah blah blah

P. Lorillard's Old Gold Cigarettes adopts The Bickersons

The P. Lorillard Company and it's various Old Gold brands of cigarettes were early sponsors of Radio, beginning as early as 1929. Over the years the Old Gold brand and its patented apple 'honey' moisturizing technique ushered in some of the Golden Age of Radio's finest variety and comedy programming:

• 1929 Paul Whiteman
• 1932-33 The Fred Waring Show
• 1934 The Old Gold Program with Dick Powell
• 1937 Hollywood Screen Scoops
• 1938 Melody and Madness with Robert Benchley
• 1939 Barry Winton Orchestra
• 1940 The Don Ameche Variety Show
• 1941 What’s New Program
• 1942 Kraft Music Hall
• 1943 Bob Crosby Show
• 1943 Sammy Kaye
• 1944 Allan Jones
• 1944 Comedy Theatre of the Air
• 1945 Meet Me at Parky’s
• 1946 Rhapsody in Rhythm
• 1946 Songs By Sinatra
• 1946 The Sad Sack
• 1947 The Bickersons and Frank Morgan
• 1948 Stop the Music
• 1948 The Original Amateur Hour
• 1952 Headline Edition with Taylor Grant
• 1952 Two For the Money

It was challenging time for most mid-1940s to 1950s dramatic programs over Radio.

Philip Morris rounds out The Bickersons' Radio years

Philip Morris and Company was also one of the most prolific sponsors of Radio throughout the Golden Age, bankrolling virtually every Radio genre heard during the era:

• 1934 The Leo Reisman Orchestra
• 1935 Johnny [Roventini] and The Foursome
• 1938 The Perfect Crime
• 1938 What's My Name?
• 1939 Breezin' Along
• 1939 Guess Where
• 1939 Johnny [Roventini] Presents
• 1939 Name Three
• 1939 Where Are We?
• 1940 Crime Doctor
• 1941 Great Moments from Great Plays
• 1941 Philip Morris Playhouse
• 1942 Author's Playhouse
• 1942 Purple Heart
• 1942 The Philip Morris Program
• 1944 It Pays to Be Ignorant
• 1945 Talent Theater
• 1946 Heart's Desire
• 1946 The Johnny Desmond Follies
• 1947 At Home with The Berles
• 1947 Horace Heidt's Youth Opportunity Program
• 1947 Kate Smith Sings
• 1948 Call for Music
• 1948 Everybody Wins
• 1948 Philip Morris Playhouse
• 1948 The Dinah Shore Show
• 1948 The Mel Torme Show
• 1948 This Is Your Life
• 1949 Against The Storm
• 1949 Casey, Crime Photographer
• 1949 Hogan's Daughter
• 1949 Ladies, Be Seated
• 1949 One Man's Opinion
• 1950 Candid Microphone
• 1950 Truth Or Consequences
• 1951 Philip Morris Playhouse on Broadway
• 1951 The Bickersons
• 1951 The Strange Romance of Evelyn Winters
• 1952 My Little Margie
• 1952 What's My Line?
• The Eddie Cantor Show Business Show

Cigarette advertising throughout the era of the 1930s to 1950s was one of the Advertising Industry's most lucrative sectors, the Ad agencies of the era ruthlessly competing with each other for the Tobacco Industry's accounts. Given the addictive nature of tobacco products of any kind, the Tobacco Industry was one of the United States Economy's most recession-proof, inflation-proof, and depression-proof industries. And indeed, the tobacco industry of the era routinely poured a significant amount of its profits into both Print and Radio advertising throughout the period. The industry also ensured that tobacco products were routinely employed in all manner of Film productions of the 20th Century.

Philip Morris acquired the Miller Brewing Company in 1970, General Foods in 1985 and Kraft Foods in 1988. Thus, one could argue that Philip Morris, U.S.A. inherited the legacy for a lion's share of the most important sponsorships throughout the Golden Age of Radio, Philip Morris, Kraft Foods, and General Foods having sponsored over 300 popular Radio programs of the era. In 2003, the Philip Morris companies changed their name to the Altria Group.

Thoughout both World War I and World War II, the tobacco industries routinely shipped millions of free cartons and pouches of tobacco products to the G.I.s overeas on every fighting front--the better to ensure that overseas G.I's wouldn't be forced by circumstance to abandon their smoking addictions while they were at War. And also to ensure that American tobacco products made even more significant inroads into the occupied countries on the fighting fronts. The Tobacco Industry was equally generous to the G.I.s during the Korean Conflict and the Vietnam Conflict. And in fact, it's been estimated that three times as many of the G.I.s of the era ultimately died of tobacco-related illnesses than the entire estimated 292,000 fatal American servicemen casualties of World War II.

And of course, as history has revealed, Tobacco Advertising was also one of the era's most deceptive and misleading, routinely citing the health 'advantages' of a particular tobacco brand over its competitors. The more naked and bald-faced tobacco campaigns of the era routinely employed doctors and nurses to endorse the health efficacy of a particular brand's tobacco products. And quite naturally, another huge portion of the Tobacco Industry's profits were plowed back into influence peddling and lobbying against any form of regulation of tobacco products of the era--a practice that continued well into the 1990s.

Given the ruthlessly competitive and morally bereft nature of the Tobacco Industry and Medical Industry of the era, it's no wonder that that same ruthless competition greatly influenced the Radio programming of the era. Indeed, to this day, most advertising historians and economists continue to cite the Tobacco Industry's influence peddling of the 20th Century to be the template from which most other deceptive corporate advertising practices achieved such illogical--and counter intuitive--success throughout the 20th Century.

Philip Morris reprises The Bickersons one last time

From the July 18th 1951 edition of the East Liverpool Review:

Series Derivatives:

Notes on Provenances:

The most helpful provenances were newspaper listings.

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