The Palmolive Hour

"The Palmolive Hour" was a critically acclaimed radio concert hour which was sponsored by Palmolive Soap and broadcast on NBC from December 9, 1927 to July 29, 1931. The Palmolive Musical Stock Company (aka the Palmolivers) offered a mix of jazz, show tunes and opera selections.

The program usually opened with a duet by Frank Munn and soprano Virginia Rea. To call attention to the sponsor's product, they did not appear on the program under their own names but instead were introduced each week as Paul Oliver and Olive Palmer. Contralto Elizabeth Lennox was featured in duets with Rea. Gus Haenschen led the orchestra with Frank Black at the piano. [Dunning, John. "On the Air: The Encyclopedia of Old-Time Radio". New York: Oxford University Press, 1998. ISBN 0-19-507678-8]

Fanny Brice was a guest on the program's premiere, and other broadcasts featured such guests as Gene Tunney, the Duncan Sisters, Claudie Muzie, Cliff Edwards (aka Ukulele Ike), Cecil Lean, Cleo Mayfield, The Revelers and Edith Mason, prima donna soprano of the Chicago Civic Opera Company. The announcers were Phillips Carlin and Alois Havrilla.

When the series came to an end during mid-summer 1931, only a few months lapsed before many associated with "The Palmolive Hour" were reunited on a new series that fall. Munn, Rea, Lennox, the Revelers and Haenschen all continued in the similar format of "The American Album of Familiar Music". Munn stayed with that series until his retirement in 1945.

References