Don McNeill's Breakfast Club

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The Breakfast Club was a program on ABC radio (and briefly on television) originating in Chicago, Illinois, hosted by Don McNeill, which ran from 1933 through 1968.

Don McNeill's Breakfast Club was a fixture on the ABC radio network (formerly the NBC Blue Network; it became known as ABC in 1945); a television version was attempted in the early 1950s but was unsuccessful.

The show was basically a variety program featuring comedy, live music and singing, conversations with members of the studio audience and a silent moment of prayer. It was wildly popular and counted among its fans Supreme Court Associate Justice William O. Douglas.

The Breakfast Club originated "from the Cloud Room of the Allerton Hotel on Chicago's magnificent mile" and also broadcast on the road from other locations.

The program featured Fran Allison (later of Kukla, Fran and Ollie fame), Captain Stubby and the Buccaneers and various comedy bits. Every quarter hour there was a "Call To Breakfast" -- a march around the breakfast table. A featured vocalist on the show, under her professional name of Annette King, was Charlotte Thompson Reid, who later became an Illinois congresswoman for five terms (1962-71).

John Doolittle's book about this program, Don McNeill and His Breakfast Club (University of Notre Dame Press, 2001), was reviewed by Susan M. Colowick in Library Journal:

Before Garrison was even a twinkle in Mr. Keillor's eye, Don McNeill launched a radio show with a unique mix of humor, music and audience participation. From 1933 to 1968, the Chicago-based Breakfast Club aired every weekday on the ABC radio network (originally NBC's Blue Network). Millions of Americans tuned in to hear songs, jokes, interviews, the "March Around the Breakfast Table," the "Moment of Silent Prayer" and other regular features. (Except for his strong support of public prayer, McNeill eschewed politics, though he did run for president in 1948 on the Laugh Party ticket.) In this thoroughly researched and highly readable account, Doolittle (broadcast journalism, American Univ.) reminds us just how popular Breakfast Club really was, especially with homemakers of modest means but also with the likes of J. Edgar Hoover and Justice William O. Douglas. Many show business celebrities were guests on the show, including Jimmy Stewart, Lucille Ball and Jerry Lewis. The book is accompanied by a CD that features clips from actual shows. Recommended for all popular culture and communications collections.