Music · NBC
Shell Chateau
April 6, 1935 – June 26, 1937 · 115 broadcasts
Shell Chateau was Shell Oil's lavish hour of NBC musical variety, running Saturday nights from April 1935 to June 1937 and billed just as often as The Shell Show. Its design was a rotating star host, and the canonical log's own dated blocks carry the whole succession. Al Jolson opened the series in April 1935 and held it into that October, giving up a single night to columnist Walter Winchell; Wallace Beery then fronted the hour through the autumn and the Christmas programme. Jolson came back on the first Saturday of January 1936, left again that spring, and the singing bandleader Smith Ballew carried the show from April to the end of the year, latterly sharing the billing with Edward Everett Horton. When the programme moved from Hollywood to New York on 2 January 1937, the Broadway comic Joe Cook took over as master of ceremonies for the final six months. The weekly recipe mixed a host song, a comedy spot, a singing guest and a condensed dramatic scene from a known play or film -- and then added something most variety hours did not: a sports or novelty guest, nearly every week. Babe Ruth, Amelia Earhart, Jack Dempsey, Ty Cobb, Sonja Henie, Johnny Weissmuller and the Four Horsemen of Notre Dame all turned up, alongside animal trainers, archery champions and a man who had gone over Niagara Falls in a rubber ball. It was also a launching pad for very young performers. Judy Garland sang here at thirteen -- the log places her on two 1935 broadcasts; Deanna Durbin appeared still billed under her birth name, Edna Mae Durbin; and Mickey Rooney played opposite Wallace Beery in a scene from Treasure Island. Of 115 logged broadcasts, only 25 are held here -- the programme is far better documented on paper than it is audible.
Collection status:
25 of 115 held (22% complete)
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Episode Spine
Grouped by year. Jump to the full list below, or open a season on its own page.
1935
April 6, 1935
Guests-Max and Buddy Baer
The bill brings Miriam Hopkins; Benay Venuta (songs); Max Baer and Buddy Baer; Jack Stanton (songs); and Peggy Gardner (songs).
April 13, 1935
Guest-James J. Braddock, Heavyweight Challenger
The bill brings Constance Bennett; Benay Venuta (songs); comedy from Smith and Dale; and James J. Braddock (heavyweight challenger).
April 20, 1935
Guest-Vernon Gomez, New York Yankees Pitcher
The bill brings Elissa Landi; Paulist Choir; June O'Day (actress); comedy from Ed Stanley; and Vernon Gomez (New York Yankees pitcher).
April 27, 1935
Guest-Babe Ruth
The bill brings John Barrymore; Benay Venuta (songs); comedy from Polly Moran; and Babe Ruth.
May 4, 1935
Tiger Rose
The bill brings a scene from "Tiger Rose" with Lupe Velez; Benay Venuta (songs); comedy from Olsen and Johnson; and Clem McCarthy (Kentucky Derby).
May 11, 1935
Guests-Dizzy and Daffy Dean
The bill brings Eva Le Gallienne (actress); Sheila Barrett (songs); and Dizzy and Daffy Dean (St. Louis Cardinal pitchers).
May 18, 1935
Guest-Amelia Earhart
The bill brings Amelia Earhart (woman flyer); comedy from Lulu McConnell; and a dramatic sketch with Phillips Holmes.
May 25, 1935
Cyrano De Bergerac
The bill brings a scene from "Cyrano de Bergerac" with Walter Hampden; comedy from Doc Rockwell; Ella Logan (songs); and Willie Saunders (jockey).
June 1, 1935
Kiki
The bill brings a scene from "Kiki" with Lenore Ulric; comedy from Bert Lahr; and Tony Canzoneri (boxer).
June 8, 1935
The Barker
The bill brings a scene from "The Barker" with Walter Huston; a scene from "The Collar Button" with Ernest Truex; Irene Bordoni (songs); and Josephine Marrone (marble champion of the Bronx).
June 15, 1935
Guest-Sam Parks
The bill brings a dramatic sketch with Alla Nazimova; comedy from Eddie Dowling and Ray Dooley; Neila Goodelle (songs); and Sam Parks (US Open Golf Tournament).
June 22, 1935
Guests: Man Mountain Dean and Chief Little Wolf, Wrestlers
The bill brings a dramatic sketch with Jimmy Cagney; Alice Faye (songs); comedy from Swor and Good; and Man Mountain Dean and Chief Little Wolf (wrestlers).
The bill brings Maxie Rosenbloom, Otto Kruger and Sylvia Froos, opening with "March Winds and April Showers".
The bill brings Dixie Lee Crosby (songs); Richard Barthelmess (actor); comedy from Gill and Demling; and Ky Ebright (California rowing coach), opening with "The Lady In Red".
The bill brings a dramatic sketch with Joan Blondell; Lee Wiley (songs); comedy from George Sidney and Charles Murray; and James J. Jeffries (boxer), opening with "One In A Million".
The bill brings a scene from "Master of the Revels" with Henry Hull; comedy from Willie Howard; Irene Taylor (songs); and Loretta Turnbull (woman's world champion outboard motorboat racer).
The bill brings a scene from "The Lake" with Ruth Chatterton; Joyce Whiteman (songs); comedy from Al Shaw and Sam Lee; and Foghorn McGee.
The bill brings a scene from "Just Suppose" with Bette Davis; Estelle Taylor (songs); comedy from George Jessel; and Olin Dutra (golfer), opening with "The Rose In Her Hair".
The bill brings a scene from "Elizabeth the Queen" with Alice Brady; Irvin S. Cobb (humorist); Irving Pichel (producer); and Sam Casion (composer).
The bill brings Lionel Barrymore, Pat C. Flick, Carmel Myers, Watson Sisters and Vince Barrett.
The bill brings a scene from "A Matter of Husbands" with Dolores del Rio; comedy from Roscoe Ates; Marjorie Keeler (songs); and Roscoe Turner (racing driver).
The bill brings Boris Karloff, George Jessel, Maxine Lewis and Joyce Wethered (Golfer).
The bill brings Heather Angel, Ralph Forbes in "Michael and Mary"; comedy from Joe Penner; Betty Borden (songs); and Lois Terry (champion Pacific Coast women's softball pitcher), opening with "The Rose In Her Hair".
The bill brings a dramatic sketch with Henry Fonda; Jackie Hughes (songs); comedy from Fanny Brice; and comedy from Stone and Lee.
The bill brings a scene from "The Finger of God" with Ricardo Cortez; June Marlowe (songs); comedy from Frank McHugh and Allen Jenkins; and Wilmer Allison (tennis player).
Al Jolson fronts the hour; the bill brings Ginger Rogers, Harry Savoy and Edward Everett Horton.
October 5, 1935
Guest Host-Walter Winchell
Walter Winchell fronts the hour; the bill brings Neila Goodelle (songs); comedy from Milton Berle; Louis Armstrong (trumpets); Eleanor Powell (songs); and Frim Sisters (songs).
The bill brings Harry Richman (songs); comedy from Stuart Erwin; comedy from Robert Wildhack; Marjorie Lane (songs); and Mabel Stark (tiger trainer).
October 19, 1935
O'shaughnessy's Boy
The bill brings a scene from "O'shaughnessy's Boy" with Wallace Beery and Jackie Cooper; Evelyn Laye (songs); comedy from George Givot; and Lon Steiner (Oregon State football coach).
October 26, 1935
The Last Mile
The bill brings a scene from "The Last Mile" with Wallace Beery and Jack LaRue; comedy from Fanny Brice; Judy Garland (songs); Harry Stockwell (songs); and Vance Breese (test pilot).
November 2, 1935
The Old Soak
The bill brings a scene from "The Old Soak" with Wallace Beery and Mary Carr; Sophie Tucker (songs); comedy from Joe Penner; Nola Day (songs); and Mixed Chorus, Dr. Hugo Kirkhofer (director).
The bill brings Chester Morris, Bill Daniels, The Sailor Boy's Octet, Lorraine Bridges, Nick Dan, Helen Broderick, Lester Crawford, Jack Stanton, Peggy Gardner and Harriet Hilliard.
The bill brings Judy Garland, Patsy Kelly, Allan Jones, Jack Stanton, Peggy Gardner and Bill Tilden (tennis star); and Sigmund Spaeth (musicologist).
The bill brings a scene from "Treasure Island" with Wallace Beery and Mickey Rooney; comedy from George Jessel; Helen Jepson (soprano); Con Conrad (composer); and Fred Frame (racing driver).
November 30, 1935
The Bad Man
The bill brings a scene from "The Bad Man" with Wallace Beery; comedy from Polly Moran; Dixie Lee (songs); Frank Luther (tenor); and W. S. Van Dyke (director).
December 7, 1935
Rip Van Winkle
The bill brings a scene from "Rip Van Winkle" with Wallace Beery; Paul Robeson (baritone); comedy from Shaw and Lee; and Jim Thorpe (all-American athlete).
December 14, 1935
Napoleon's Barber
The bill brings a scene from "Napoleon's Barber" with John Barrymore and Wallace Beery; Lola Lane (songs); comedy from George Moran and Rex Van; and Edwin C. Musick (captain of the China Clipper).
December 21, 1935
Guest-Carol Ann Beery
The bill brings Ernestine Schumann-Heink (soprano); Carol Ann Beery (conga); comedy from Joe Penner; Sidney Jarvis; and Mixed Chorus.
The bill brings Deanna Durbin; Tim and Irene Ryan; Allan Jones; Jackie Cooper; and Matty Bell (SMU football coach).
1936
January 4, 1936
The Shining Hour
The bill brings Bette Davis; Yacht Club Boys (songs); Midge Williams (songs); a scene from "The Bridge Game" with Lulu McConnell and Virginia Mann; and Walter Hagen (golfer).
January 11, 1936
Monsieur Beaucaire
The bill brings a scene from "Monsieur Beaucaire" with Francis Lederer; comedy from Patsy Kelly; Dorothy Dale (songs); a scene from "The Bridge Game" with Lulu McConnell and Virginia Mann; and Charley Stevenson (jockey).
January 18, 1936
Guest-Dutch Clark of Detroit Lions
The bill brings a dramatic sketch with Edward Everett Horton; comedy from Patsy Kelly; Betty Roth (songs); and Dutch Clark.
Al Jolson fronts the hour; the bill brings Cab Calloway, Herbert Marshall, Peggy Gardner, Helen Troy and Ivan Nelson.
February 1, 1936
Dons Clarines
The bill brings May Robson; Jewell Hopkins (songs); Mike Riley and Ed Farley (songwriters); and Bob Swanson (midget auto champ).
February 8, 1936
The Spot
The bill brings George Raft; comedy from Joe Lewis; Cleo Brown (songs); Wini Shaw (songs); and Charles Gay (lion farm owner).
February 15, 1936
Green Pastures
The bill brings a scene from "Green Pastures" with Frank Wilson and Hall Johnson Choir; comedy from Robert Wildhack; Grace Saxon (songs); a scene from "Louder Please" with Lee Tracy; and Barney Oldfield (racing car driver).
February 22, 1936
Valley Forge
The bill brings a scene from "Valley Forge" with John Barrymore; a turn from Vi Bradley; comedy from Joe and Cynthia Doakes; and Clem McCarthy (Santa Anita Handicap).
February 29, 1936
Guest-Mary Taylor, Ice Skating Star
The bill brings Elissa Landi and Una Merkle; Maxine Lewis (songs); and Mary Taylor (ice skating star).
March 7, 1936
Guest-Bill Robinson, Tap Dancer
The bill brings Walter Connolly (actor); Bill Robinson (tap dancer); Benay Venuta (songs); and Fred Niblo (director).
March 14, 1936
Guest-Lionel Barrymore
The bill brings a dramatic sketch with Lionel Barrymore; Vi Bradley (songs); and comedy from Clyde Hager.
March 21, 1936
Guest-Joe Lewis
The bill brings comedy from Joe Lewis; King Sisters (songs); and a comedy sketch with Charles Ruggles.
March 28, 1936
Guest-Abe Roth, Prize Fight Announcer
The bill brings a dramatic sketch with Pat O'Brien; comedy from Sterling Holloway; and Abe Roth (prize fight announcer).
April 4, 1936
Guest-Buster Keaton
The bill brings Mary Ellis (songs); comedy from Buster Keaton; Max Terr's Chorus; and Willie Hunter (golfer).
April 11, 1936
The Racket
The bill brings a scene from "The Racket" with Edward G. Robinson; comedy from Victor Moore; Alice Faye (songs); and an interview with Frank Lubin and Carl Knowlin.
April 18, 1936
Mrs. Moonlight
The bill brings a scene from "Mrs. Moonlight" with Billie Burke and Basil Rathbone; comedy from George Jessel; Dorothy Lamour (songs); and Babe Didrikson (woman golfer).
April 25, 1936
Holiday
The bill brings a scene from "Holiday" with Ann Harding and Lillian Emerson; Vera Van (songs); and Yacht Club Boys (songs).
May 2, 1936
Guest-Sonja Heinie, Skater
The bill brings comedy from Sheila Barrett; Gloria Swanson (songs); a dramatic sketch with Spencer Tracy; and Sonja Henie (skater).
May 9, 1936
The Mouthpiece
The bill brings a scene from "The Mouthpiece" with Warren William and Genevieve Tobin; Virginia Bruce (songs); comedy from Patsy Kelly; and Ty Cobb (former baseball star).
May 16, 1936
If I Were King
The bill brings a scene from "If I Were King" with Errol Flynn; comedy from George Jessel; June Knight (songs); and Man Mountain Dean (wrestler).
May 23, 1936
They Knew What They Wanted
The bill brings a scene from "They Knew What They Wanted" with ZaSu Pitts and Norman Foster; comedy from Olsen and Johnson; Adrienne Maizenauer (songs); Louis Prima Band; and King Levinsky (boxer).
May 30, 1936
A Bill of Divorcement
The bill brings a scene from "A Bill of Divorcement" with John Barrymore; Ernestine Schumann-Heink (contralto); Joan Davis (songs); comedy from Robert Wildhack; and Frank Shields (interview).
June 6, 1936
Guest-Malvin Koontz, Lion Tamer
The bill brings a dramatic sketch with John Barrymore; Ginger Rogers (songs); comedy from Edward Everett Horton; and Malvin Koontz and Olga Zeleste (wild animal trainer).
June 13, 1936
The Front Page
The bill brings a scene from "The Front Page" with Walter Winchell; Alice Faye (songs); comedy from George Jessel; and Walker Cochran (billiards champion).
June 20, 1936
Guest-Sally Rand, Dancer
The bill brings a comedy sketch with Helen Broderick and Edward Everett Horton; a dramatic sketch with Bette Davis; Robin and Grainger (songs); Frances Faye (songs); and Ed Lewis interviewed by dancer Sally Rand.
July 4, 1936
Let Us Be Gay
The bill brings a scene from "Let Us Be Gay" with Joan Crawford and Franchot Tone; Dixie Lee (songs); comedy from Edward Everett Horton; and Charlie Paddock (track star).
July 11, 1936
Death, the Guest of the Evening
The bill brings a scene from "Death, the Guest of the Evening" with Jean Hersholt; comedy from Bert Lahr; Dorothy Page (songs); and Cherry May Dare (movie stunt artist).
July 18, 1936
Guest-Ellsworth Vines, Tennis Player
The bill brings a dramatic sketch with Merle Oberon; Gertrude Niesen (songs); comedy from Joe Cook; and Ellsworth Vines (tennis player).
July 25, 1936
Guest-Snowy Baker, Sportsman
The bill brings a dramatic sketch with Ricardo Cortez and Patsy Kelly; a turn from Eddie Peabody; Josephine Tumminia (soprano); and Snowy Baker (sportsman).
August 1, 1936
Dinner at Eight
The bill brings a scene from "Dinner at Eight" with Joan Blondell and Paul Harvey; comedy from Bert Lahr; Ella Logan (songs); and Baby Arizmendi (featherweight boxing champ).
August 8, 1936
The Constant Nymph
The bill brings a scene from "The Constant Nymph" with Margaret Sullavan; comedy from Joe Cook; Judy Garland (songs); a turn from Larry Adler; and Buster Crabbe (interview).
August 15, 1936
Guest-Joe Marty, Baseball Outfielder
The bill brings Lewis Stone (actor); comedy from Stuart Erwin; Grace Saxon (songs); and Joe Marty (baseball outfielder).
August 22, 1936
Reflected Glory
The bill brings a scene from "Reflected Glory" with Tallulah Bankhead; comedy from Joe Cook; Frances Faye (songs); and Paul Chotieau (swimmer).
August 29, 1936
Guest-Ralph Bandini, Tuna Fisherman
The bill brings a dramatic sketch with Delores Costello Barrymore; Virginia Bruce (songs); comedy from Olsen and Johnson; and Ralph Bandini (tuna fisherman).
September 5, 1936
Biography
The bill brings a scene from "Biography" with Constance Bennett; Lillian Roth (songs); comedy from Jerry Lester; and Capt. Bert White (parachute jumper).
September 12, 1936
Dave Levin, Wrestler
The bill brings a dramatic sketch with Cary Grant; comedy from Patsy Kelly; Martha Raye (songs); and Dave Levin (wrestler).
September 19, 1936
Guest-Dorothy Hill, Diving Champion
The bill brings a dramatic sketch with Joan Bennett; comedy from Joe Cook; and Mrs. Dorothy Hill (diving champion).
September 26, 1936
There's Always Juliet
The bill brings a scene from "There's Always Juliet" with Ann Sothern and Roger Pryor; comedy from Olsen and Johnson; and Donald Budge (tennis star).
October 3, 1936
Guests-Bob and Fail Meusel, Baseball Players
The bill brings Edward Everett Horton (actor); and Bob and Emil Meusel (baseball players).
October 10, 1936
Guest-Gertrude Niesen
The bill brings Edward Everett Horton (actor); comedy from Stuart Erwin; and Gertrude Niesen (songs).
October 17, 1936
Guest-Helen Mayors, Olympic Fencing Champion
The bill brings comedy from Edward Everett Horton; comedy from Helen Broderick; and Helene Mayer (Olympic fencing champion).
October 24, 1936
Guest-Alonzo Stagg, Football Coach, College of the Pacific
The bill brings comedy from Edward Everett Horton; and Amos Alonzo Stagg.
November 7, 1936
Guest-Marjorie Gestring, Olympic Diving Champion
The bill brings Edward Everett Horton; and Marjorie Gestring (Olympic diving champion).
November 14, 1936
Guest-Putt Mossman
November 21, 1936
Guest-Marion Washington
November 28, 1936
Guest-Lucky Ball
December 5, 1936
Guest-Bunny Dryden, Tight Wire Walker
The bill brings comedy from Edward Everett Horton; Frank Morgan (actors); Gladys Hammer (women's world archery champion); and Bunny Dryden (tight wire walker).
December 12, 1936
Guest-Edward Everett Horton
December 19, 1936
Guest-Fred Perry
December 26, 1936
Guest-Halvar Halsted, Ski Champion
1937
January 2, 1937
Four Horsemen of Notre Dame
The bill brings Admiral Richmond P. Hobson and Four Horsemen of Notre Dame.
January 9, 1937
Niagara Falls in a Rubber Ball
The bill brings Johnny Weissmuller (swimmer); Babe Ruth; Paul Gallico (writer); comedy from Ray Dooley; William Moran (retired head of U. S. Secret Service); and Jean Lussier (who went over Niagara Falls in a rubber ball).
The bill brings Cornelia Otis Skinner (actress); Sonja Henie (skater); Giovanni Martinelli (tenor); Mae Questel (songs); a turn from Larry Adler; and Arthur Foehl (animal salesman).
The bill brings Jones and Hare, Rube Goldberg, Eleanor Holm, Art Jarret and The Memphis Five.
January 30, 1937
Guest-Sara Delano Roosevelt
The bill brings Sara Delano Roosevelt (interview); Clyde Beatty (animal trainer); Nick Lucas (songs); a turn from Evelyn Tyner; and Three Marshalls (songs).
The bill brings Ezio Pinza (bass); comedy from Hildegarde Halliday; George O'Brien (actor); a turn from Claude Thornhill; Harry Pruer (xylophonist); Cavaliers Quartet; Bob Pastor (pugilist); and Mitzi Green (songs).
The bill brings Jean Hersholt (Actor); a turn from Efrem Zimbalist; Benny Baker (Trumpeter); a turn from Happy Reese; and Cavaliers Quartet, opening with "I've Got Rhythm".
February 20, 1937
Guest-Benny Leonard, Former Lightweight Boxing Champion
The bill brings Gillian Fisher (soprano); Benny Leonard (former lightweight boxing champion); comedy from Stepin Fetchit; A. L. Alexander; a turn from Sleepy Hall; Cabin kids (songs); Benny Baker (trumpeter); and Cavaliers Quartet.
February 27, 1937
Guest-Bozo, the Talking Dog
The bill brings Rose Hampton (soprano); Father Bernard Hubbard (the Glacier Priest); Frank Buck; A. L. Alexander (commentator); Sam Lewis (trombone); and Cavaliers Quartet.
March 6, 1937
Guest-Captain Eddie Rickenbacher
The bill brings Susanne Fisher (soprano); Eddie Rickenbacker; George Raft; Nat Holman (basketball coach at CCNY); a turn from Pahl and Woodall; and Cavaliers Quartet.
March 13, 1937
Guest-Lotte Lehman
The bill brings Lotte Lehmann (soprano); Aline MacMahon (actress); William Lynn; Ross Gorman (saxophone); and Earl M. Teter (auto wreckers).
March 20, 1937
Guests-Russian Balalaika Qrchestra
The bill brings Russian Balalaika Orchestra; Vienna Boys Choir; Fibber McGee and Molly; Albert Payson Terhune (writer); Major James A. Doolittle; and a turn from Charles Paul.
March 27, 1937
Joan of Arc
The bill brings a scene from "Joan of Arc" with Lillian Gish; Arthur Carron (tenor); and Carl Kreas (yodeler).
April 3, 1937
Guest-Dale Carnegie
The bill brings a turn from Alex Templeton; Notre Dame Glee Club; a turn from Toscha Seidel; comedy from Eddie Dowling and Ray Dooley; Stuart Erwin (actor); and Dale Carnegie (author).
April 10, 1937
Incident in Life of Louis Pasteur
The bill brings a scene from "Incident in Life of Louis Pasteur"; Grete Stueckgold (soprano); User Bagpipe Band; Grantland Rice (sportswriter); Los Rancheros (songs); and Capt. J. H. Ayres (formerly with NY Police Department).
April 17, 1937
Guests: Bob Feller and Carl Hubbell, Baseball Pitchers
The bill brings Bob Feller and Carl Hubbell (baseball pitchers); a turn from Albert Spalding; Marimba Band; and Cossacks Male Chorus.
April 24, 1937
Guest-Gene Sarazen, Golfer
The bill brings Gene Sarazen (golfer); Albert Wiggam (psychologist); and Larry Collins (trombone).
May 1, 1937
Guest-Lauritz Melchoir
The bill brings Lauritz Melchior (tenor); Joe E. Brown; Larry Collins (trombone); and C. E. Rosendahl (Navy commander).
May 8, 1937
Guest-Dizzy Dean
The bill brings Claude Rains (actor); Casper Reardon (harp); a turn from Fray and Braggiotti; Dizzy Dean interviewed by umpire Bill Klem; and Julia Paters.
May 15, 1937
Guest-John Kissinger, Human Guinea Pig
The bill brings comedy from Eddie Garr; Arthur Brown (actor); Ellsworth Vines and Fred Perry (tennis stars); a turn from Josef Lhevinne; Alexander Kikiloff and his Gypsies; John Kissinger (human guinea pig); and C.W. Coates (curator of tropical fish at the NY Aquarium).
May 22, 1937
War Brides
The bill brings a scene from "War Brides" with Alla Nazimova; Norman Cordon (baritone); Frank Luther (songs); comedy from Stoopnagle and Budd; and Gus Good (glockenspiel).
The bill brings Walter Hampden, Bert Lytell, Connie Mack, Mrs. John McGraw, Bert Lynn, Louis D'Angelo, Daughter Louise and Rufe Davis.
June 5, 1937
Sun-Up
The bill brings Mrs. Martin Johnson (interview); a comedy sketch with Billy Lynn; a scene from "Sun-Up" with Florence Reed; comedy from Ekail Boreo; Louise Massey and the Westerners (songs); Chinese Orchestra; William Petty Lee (conductor); and a turn from Mr. and Mrs. Jesse Crawford.
June 12, 1937
Brother Damien
The bill brings a scene from "Brother Damien" with Fritz Lieber; Mario Chamlee (tenor); Norman Cordon (baritone); comedy from Billy Lynn and Rufe Davis; George Frame Brown (author); and Raymond L. Ditmars (curator of reptiles at the NY Zoological Park).
June 19, 1937
Guest-Jack Dempsey, Former Heavyweight Champion
The bill brings Jack Dempsey (former heavyweight champion); and Marc Connelly (playwright).
June 26, 1937
Guests-Fray and Braggiotti, Piano
The bill brings Alex Morrison (golfer); Lewis E. Lawes (warden of Sing Sing Prison); a turn from Fray and Braggiotti; and a comedy sketch with Dave Vine, Harry Lang and Louise Squire.
The Story
Shell Chateau was Shell Oil's lavish hour of NBC musical variety, running Saturday nights from April 1935 to June 1937 and billed just as often as The Shell Show. Its design was a rotating star host, and the canonical log's own dated blocks carry the whole succession. Al Jolson opened the series in April 1935 and held it into that October, giving up a single night to columnist Walter Winchell; Wallace Beery then fronted the hour through the autumn and the Christmas programme. Jolson came back on the first Saturday of January 1936, left again that spring, and the singing bandleader Smith Ballew carried the show from April to the end of the year, latterly sharing the billing with Edward Everett Horton. When the programme moved from Hollywood to New York on 2 January 1937, the Broadway comic Joe Cook took over as master of ceremonies for the final six months. The weekly recipe mixed a host song, a comedy spot, a singing guest and a condensed dramatic scene from a known play or film -- and then added something most variety hours did not: a sports or novelty guest, nearly every week. Babe Ruth, Amelia Earhart, Jack Dempsey, Ty Cobb, Sonja Henie, Johnny Weissmuller and the Four Horsemen of Notre Dame all turned up, alongside animal trainers, archery champions and a man who had gone over Niagara Falls in a rubber ball. It was also a launching pad for very young performers. Judy Garland sang here at thirteen -- the log places her on two 1935 broadcasts; Deanna Durbin appeared still billed under her birth name, Edna Mae Durbin; and Mickey Rooney played opposite Wallace Beery in a scene from Treasure Island. Of 115 logged broadcasts, only 25 are held here -- the programme is far better documented on paper than it is audible.
Full story — coming soon while it's being curated.
Gallery
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