The Big Show — 1950

The series premiere framed itself as a parody of Fred Allen's own program, retitled for the joke as "The Pinch Penny Show" -- a swipe at a rival Allen's script pointedly declined to name. Guests included Jimmy Durante, Portland Hoffa, Ethel Merman, Paul Lukas and Danny Thomas.

Fanny Brice's Baby Snooks got an on-air acting lesson from Tallulah Bankhead, and Groucho Marx coached opera star Ezio Pinza through "Some Enchanted Evening." Bankhead closed with a Dorothy Parker monologue, "Sentiment," which gave the broadcast its title.

Ray Middleton and Jose Ferrer paid a musical-dramatic tribute to Abraham Lincoln, Eddie Cantor reminisced about his early days in radio, and Bankhead starred with Evelyn Varden in Patricia Collins's playlet "A Matter of Perspective." Bob Hope monologued about entertaining troops in Korea before Bankhead closed with "Give My Regards to Broadway."

Fred Allen and Bankhead traded their well-worn breakfast-radio-show routine before the whole company decamped, in a scripted crossover, to Ed Gardner's Duffy's Tavern. Ed Wynn supplied a comic aside about the opera "Carmen."

The President's daughter, Margaret Truman, matched wits with Bankhead in a broadcast built around her as guest of honor, framed as a mock "Margaret Truman Program" complete with a spoof commercial for banks. Douglas Fairbanks Jr. performed a scene from "State Secret," the Sons of the Pioneers sang "Cool Water," and a hoarse-voiced Phil Silvers satirized his own film career.

Bankhead and Charles Boyer starred in a dramatized excerpt from F. Scott Fitzgerald's "All the Sad Young Men," the broadcast's centerpiece; the guest bill also carried Edward Arnold, Jimmy Durante, Imogene Coca and Clifton Webb.

Broadcasting from Los Angeles, Bankhead starred with Deborah Kerr and Dorothy McGuire in a scene from Clare Boothe Luce's "The Women"; Bob Hope, Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis followed with their own spoof version, titled "The Fellows." Louis Armstrong sang "Ain't Misbehavin'," and the broadcast reportedly ran long enough that Bankhead's sign-off collided with the orchestra's closing theme.

The Christmas Eve broadcast, dedicated to servicemen overseas through the Associated Services of the Armed Forces, featured General Jonathan Wainwright speaking from Camp Breckinridge and a reading of "A Letter to Virginia." Bert Lahr opened with "If I Were King," and the bill also carried Robert Merrill, Margaret O'Brien and Edith Piaf.

Gloria Swanson and Jose Ferrer performed a scene from Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur's "Twentieth Century," and Ferrer paired with Margaret O'Brien for a scene from "Romeo and Juliet." The New Year's Eve broadcast closed with a medley of hits from the 1950 theatrical season, Swanson included.