The Carnation Contented Hour
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The Carnation Contented Hour was a long-running music program sponsored by the Carnation Milk Company. It first appeared on NBC in 1931. The music theme was "Contented." The program was a variety show featuring Percy Faith and his orchestra. Personnel varied occasionally but usually included Buddy Clark, vocalist; Reinhold Schmidt, bass; and Josephine Antoine, soprano. The announcer was Vincent Pelletier. Producers were Harry K. Gilman and C. H. Cottington.
During World War II, the Armed Forces Radio Service obtained rights to rebroadcast the program for the entertainment of military personnel. Recordings were made on 16" electrical transcription discs for playback at 33 1/3 rpm over AFRS. Commercial messages were edited out and the program was re-titled "The Melody Hour."
Jay Hickerson's compendium "The Ultimate History of Network Radio Programming and Guide to all Circulating Shows" (1992) [1] indicates that the program was on NBC at 8:00 p.m. from October 31, 1932 and as of November 21, 1932 until September 26, 1949 moved to 10:00 p.m. He reports that there are 43 recorded shows available, 36 bearing dates.
The program ran from January 4, 1932 until December 30, 1951. Buddy Clark joined as of October 31, 1932. From January 4, 1932 until October 24, 1932 it ran with Gene Arnold and Herman Larson, broadcast over NBC Blue on Mondays at 8:00 p.m. From October 2, 1949 until December 30, 1951 it switched to the Columbia Broadcasting System with Dick Haymes on Sundays at 10:00 p.m., 9:30 p.m. as of July 8, 1951.
[edit] References
- Frank Buxton, Bill Owen. The big broadcast, 1920-1950. ISBN 067016240X.
