Don McNeill's Breakfast Club
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The Breakfast Club was a long-run morning variety show on ABC radio (and briefly on television) originating in Chicago, Illinois. Hosted by Don McNeill, the radio program ran from June 23, 1933 through December 27, 1968. McNeil's 35 and a half year run as host remains the longest tenure for an emcee of a network entertainment program, surpassing Johnny Carson (29 and a half years) on The Tonight Show and Bob Barker (34 and 2/3 years) on The Price is Right.
In Chicago during the early 1930s, McNeill was assigned to take over an unsponsored early morning variety show, The Pepper Pot, with an 8 a.m. timeslot on the NBC Blue Network. McNeill re-organized the hour as The Breakfast Club, dividing it into four segments which McNeill labeled "the Four Calls to Breakfast."
McNeill's revamped show premiered in 1933, combining music with informal talk and jokes often based on topical events, initially scripted by McNeill but later ad-libbed. In addition to recurring comedy performers, various vocal groups and soloists, listeners heard sentimental verse, conversations with members of the studio audience and a silent moment of prayer. The series eventually gained a sponsor, Swift and Company. McNeill is credited as the first performer to make morning talk and variety a viable radio format.
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[edit] Locations
The Breakfast Club was first broadcast from NBC's studios in the Merchandise Mart followed by other Chicago venues, including the College Inn Porterhouse of the Hotel Sherman and finally "from the Cloud Room of the Allerton Hotel on Chicago's Magnificent Mile" as well as occasional broadcasts on the road from other locations. It remained a fixture on the ABC radio network (formerly the NBC Blue Network; it became known as ABC in 1945), maintaining its popularity for years and counting among its fans Supreme Court Associate Justice William O. Douglas.
The program featured Fran Allison (also of Kukla, Fran and Ollie fame), Captain Stubby and the Buccaneers and various comedy bits. Every quarter-hour came the "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.
After ABC Radio was split into four networks on January 1, 1968, The Breakfast Club was moved to the new American Entertainment network, and was known for its last months on the air as The Don McNeill Show.
[edit] Television
As TV Club (aka Don McNeill's TV Club) in 1950-51, it failed to make a successful transition to television. For a brief time, beginning on February 22, 1954 The Breakfast Club was simulcast on radio and television.
[edit] Listen to
[edit] References
- Dunning, John. On the Air: The Encyclopedia of Old-Time Radio. Oxford University Press, 1998. ISBN 0-19-507678-8
