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Aladdin Lamp

· 36 broadcasts

Aladdin Lamp is old-time radio's bare-bones blueprint for the sponsored transcription short. There is no story and no cast beyond one warm baritone: Smilin' Ed McConnell, "the Aladdin Lamp Man," who greets you with "Hello Honey Gal" and spends four and a half minutes singing songs and hymns, trading homespun patter, and sliding in a pitch for Aladdin lamps -- all backed by Irma Allen's organ and Del Owen's piano. Cut in 1937 as NBC Orthacoustic transcriptions for the Mantle Lamp Company of America in Chicago, these discs were sold store to store so any local hardware dealer could put McConnell on the air without hiring a note of talent. Each of the 36 surviving shorts is titled only by its opening number -- the "First Tune" -- so the set plays like a 36-song jukebox of standards and sentimental favorites: "Ain't She Sweet," "Mexicali Rose," "Sweet Sue," "After You're Gone." McConnell would go on to national fame with the Buster Brown Gang and TV's Andy's Gang; this is the likeable salesmanship that got him there, preserved as a small, charming relic of how radio once sold a lamp.

Collection status: 36 of 36 held (100% complete)
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Episode Spine

undated

date unknown First Tune For Me and My Gal Listen (MP3)
Smilin' Ed McConnell opens with "For Me and My Gal" and fills the quarter-spot with songs and easy patter around an Aladdin lamp pitch, backed by Irma Allen (organ) and Del Owen (piano).
date unknown First Tune I'm Forever Blowing Bubbles Listen (MP3)
Smilin' Ed McConnell opens with "I'm Forever Blowing Bubbles" and fills the quarter-spot with songs and easy patter around an Aladdin lamp pitch, backed by Irma Allen (organ) and Del Owen (piano).
date unknown First Tune Heaven Only Knows Listen (MP3)
Smilin' Ed McConnell opens with "Heaven Only Knows" and fills the quarter-spot with songs and easy patter around an Aladdin lamp pitch, backed by Irma Allen (organ) and Del Owen (piano).
date unknown First Tune Its a Good Day Listen (MP3)
Smilin' Ed McConnell opens with "Its a Good Day" and fills the quarter-spot with songs and easy patter around an Aladdin lamp pitch, backed by Irma Allen (organ) and Del Owen (piano).
date unknown First Tune Honey Won't You Hold Me Listen (MP3)
Smilin' Ed McConnell opens with "Honey Won't You Hold Me" and fills the quarter-spot with songs and easy patter around an Aladdin lamp pitch, backed by Irma Allen (organ) and Del Owen (piano).
date unknown First Tune There's a Light in Your Eyes Sweetheart Listen (MP3)
Smilin' Ed McConnell opens with "There's a Light in Your Eyes Sweetheart" and fills the quarter-spot with songs and easy patter around an Aladdin lamp pitch, backed by Irma Allen (organ) and Del Owen (piano).
date unknown First Tune Painting the Clouds with Sunshine Listen (MP3)
Smilin' Ed McConnell opens with "Painting the Clouds with Sunshine" and fills the quarter-spot with songs and easy patter around an Aladdin lamp pitch, backed by Irma Allen (organ) and Del Owen (piano).
date unknown First Tune Five Foot Blue Eyes of Blue Listen (MP3)
Smilin' Ed McConnell opens with "Five Foot Blue Eyes of Blue" and fills the quarter-spot with songs and easy patter around an Aladdin lamp pitch, backed by Irma Allen (organ) and Del Owen (piano).
date unknown First Tune Mexicali Rose Listen (MP3)
Smilin' Ed McConnell opens with "Mexicali Rose" and fills the quarter-spot with songs and easy patter around an Aladdin lamp pitch, backed by Irma Allen (organ) and Del Owen (piano).
date unknown First Tune if We Can't Be Sweethearts Listen (MP3)
Smilin' Ed McConnell opens with "if We Can't Be Sweethearts" and fills the quarter-spot with songs and easy patter around an Aladdin lamp pitch, backed by Irma Allen (organ) and Del Owen (piano).
date unknown First Tune You Are My Harbor of Love Listen (MP3)
Smilin' Ed McConnell opens with "You Are My Harbor of Love" and fills the quarter-spot with songs and easy patter around an Aladdin lamp pitch, backed by Irma Allen (organ) and Del Owen (piano).
date unknown First Tune Don't Hang Your Dreams on a Rainbow Listen (MP3)
Smilin' Ed McConnell opens with "Don't Hang Your Dreams on a Rainbow" and fills the quarter-spot with songs and easy patter around an Aladdin lamp pitch, backed by Irma Allen (organ) and Del Owen (piano).
date unknown First Tune Your Eyes Have Told Me Listen (MP3)
Smilin' Ed McConnell opens with "Your Eyes Have Told Me" and fills the quarter-spot with songs and easy patter around an Aladdin lamp pitch, backed by Irma Allen (organ) and Del Owen (piano).
date unknown First Tune Carolina in the Mornin Listen (MP3)
Smilin' Ed McConnell opens with "Carolina in the Mornin" and fills the quarter-spot with songs and easy patter around an Aladdin lamp pitch, backed by Irma Allen (organ) and Del Owen (piano).
date unknown First Tune Everyday Would Be Sunny Honey with You Listen (MP3)
Smilin' Ed McConnell opens with "Everyday Would Be Sunny Honey with You" and fills the quarter-spot with songs and easy patter around an Aladdin lamp pitch, backed by Irma Allen (organ) and Del Owen (piano).
date unknown First Tune Its Just a Little Street Where Old Friends Meet Listen (MP3)
Smilin' Ed McConnell opens with "Its Just a Little Street Where Old Friends Meet" and fills the quarter-spot with songs and easy patter around an Aladdin lamp pitch, backed by Irma Allen (organ) and Del Owen (piano).
date unknown First Tune Smilin Thru Listen (MP3)
Smilin' Ed McConnell opens with "Smilin Thru" and fills the quarter-spot with songs and easy patter around an Aladdin lamp pitch, backed by Irma Allen (organ) and Del Owen (piano).
date unknown First Tune Sweet Child I'm Wild About You Listen (MP3)
Smilin' Ed McConnell opens with "Sweet Child I'm Wild About You" and fills the quarter-spot with songs and easy patter around an Aladdin lamp pitch, backed by Irma Allen (organ) and Del Owen (piano).
date unknown First Tune There Goes My Heart Listen (MP3)
Smilin' Ed McConnell opens with "There Goes My Heart" and fills the quarter-spot with songs and easy patter around an Aladdin lamp pitch, backed by Irma Allen (organ) and Del Owen (piano).
date unknown First Tune I Never Knew I Could Love Anybody Honey Listen (MP3)
Smilin' Ed McConnell opens with "I Never Knew I Could Love Anybody Honey" and fills the quarter-spot with songs and easy patter around an Aladdin lamp pitch, backed by Irma Allen (organ) and Del Owen (piano).
date unknown First Tune That Old Girl of Mine Listen (MP3)
Smilin' Ed McConnell opens with "That Old Girl of Mine" and fills the quarter-spot with songs and easy patter around an Aladdin lamp pitch, backed by Irma Allen (organ) and Del Owen (piano).
date unknown First Tune Ain't She Sweet Listen (MP3)
Smilin' Ed McConnell opens with "Ain't She Sweet" and fills the quarter-spot with songs and easy patter around an Aladdin lamp pitch, backed by Irma Allen (organ) and Del Owen (piano).
date unknown First Tune Tell Me Why the Nights Are So Lonesome Listen (MP3)
Smilin' Ed McConnell opens with "Tell Me Why the Nights Are So Lonesome" and fills the quarter-spot with songs and easy patter around an Aladdin lamp pitch, backed by Irma Allen (organ) and Del Owen (piano).
date unknown First Tune I Miss a Little Miss Listen (MP3)
Smilin' Ed McConnell opens with "I Miss a Little Miss" and fills the quarter-spot with songs and easy patter around an Aladdin lamp pitch, backed by Irma Allen (organ) and Del Owen (piano).
date unknown First Tune It Takes a Little Rain with the Sunshine Listen (MP3)
Smilin' Ed McConnell opens with "It Takes a Little Rain with the Sunshine" and fills the quarter-spot with songs and easy patter around an Aladdin lamp pitch, backed by Irma Allen (organ) and Del Owen (piano).
date unknown First Tune After You're Gone Listen (MP3)
Smilin' Ed McConnell opens with "After You're Gone" and fills the quarter-spot with songs and easy patter around an Aladdin lamp pitch, backed by Irma Allen (organ) and Del Owen (piano).
date unknown First Tune My Best Girl Listen (MP3)
Smilin' Ed McConnell opens with "My Best Girl" and fills the quarter-spot with songs and easy patter around an Aladdin lamp pitch, backed by Irma Allen (organ) and Del Owen (piano).
date unknown First Tune Someone Loves Me I Wonder Who Listen (MP3)
Smilin' Ed McConnell opens with "Someone Loves Me I Wonder Who" and fills the quarter-spot with songs and easy patter around an Aladdin lamp pitch, backed by Irma Allen (organ) and Del Owen (piano).
date unknown First Tune You're Gonna Lose Your Gal Listen (MP3)
Smilin' Ed McConnell opens with "You're Gonna Lose Your Gal" and fills the quarter-spot with songs and easy patter around an Aladdin lamp pitch, backed by Irma Allen (organ) and Del Owen (piano).
date unknown First Tune You're a Wonderful Mother Listen (MP3)
Smilin' Ed McConnell opens with "You're a Wonderful Mother" and fills the quarter-spot with songs and easy patter around an Aladdin lamp pitch, backed by Irma Allen (organ) and Del Owen (piano).
date unknown First Tune It Looks Like Rain in Cherry Blossom Lane Listen (MP3)
Smilin' Ed McConnell builds this short around "It Looks Like Rain in Cherry Blossom Lane" -- the listing notes a Guy Lombardo and his Royal Canadians recording of the tune -- with his Aladdin lamp pitch tucked between the music.
date unknown First Tune Wishing Will Make It So Listen (MP3)
Smilin' Ed McConnell opens with "Wishing Will Make It So" and fills the quarter-spot with songs and easy patter around an Aladdin lamp pitch, backed by Irma Allen (organ) and Del Owen (piano).
date unknown First Tune Tell It to the Daisies Listen (MP3)
Smilin' Ed McConnell opens with "Tell It to the Daisies" and fills the quarter-spot with songs and easy patter around an Aladdin lamp pitch, backed by Irma Allen (organ) and Del Owen (piano).
date unknown First Tune Say It Again Listen (MP3)
Smilin' Ed McConnell opens with "Say It Again" and fills the quarter-spot with songs and easy patter around an Aladdin lamp pitch, backed by Irma Allen (organ) and Del Owen (piano).
date unknown First Tune Someday You'll Say O K Listen (MP3)
Smilin' Ed McConnell opens with "Someday You'll Say O K" and fills the quarter-spot with songs and easy patter around an Aladdin lamp pitch, backed by Irma Allen (organ) and Del Owen (piano).
date unknown First Tune Sweet Sue Listen (MP3)
Smilin' Ed McConnell opens with "Sweet Sue" and fills the quarter-spot with songs and easy patter around an Aladdin lamp pitch, backed by Irma Allen (organ) and Del Owen (piano).
The Story

Aladdin Lamp is old-time radio's bare-bones blueprint for the sponsored transcription short. There is no story and no cast beyond one warm baritone: Smilin' Ed McConnell, "the Aladdin Lamp Man," who greets you with "Hello Honey Gal" and spends four and a half minutes singing songs and hymns, trading homespun patter, and sliding in a pitch for Aladdin lamps -- all backed by Irma Allen's organ and Del Owen's piano. Cut in 1937 as NBC Orthacoustic transcriptions for the Mantle Lamp Company of America in Chicago, these discs were sold store to store so any local hardware dealer could put McConnell on the air without hiring a note of talent. Each of the 36 surviving shorts is titled only by its opening number -- the "First Tune" -- so the set plays like a 36-song jukebox of standards and sentimental favorites: "Ain't She Sweet," "Mexicali Rose," "Sweet Sue," "After You're Gone." McConnell would go on to national fame with the Buster Brown Gang and TV's Andy's Gang; this is the likeable salesmanship that got him there, preserved as a small, charming relic of how radio once sold a lamp.

Full story — coming soon while it's being curated.
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