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Blue Monday Jamboree

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Blue Monday Jamboree
GenreVariety show
Country of originUnited States
Language(s)English
Home stationKFRC
SyndicatesDon Lee Network
CBS
AnnouncerHarrison Holliway
Original releaseJanuary 24, 1927 –
1935

Blue Monday Jamboree is an old-time radio variety program in the United States. It was broadcast initially (beginning January 24, 1927)[1][2] on KFRC in San Francisco, California, then was distributed on the West Coast by the Don Lee Network[3] and was later carried nationwide on CBS. Bill Oates wrote, in his biography of Meredith Willson, that the program was "one of the most popular West Coast originated radio shows in the early 1930s."[4]

Format

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Radio historian John Dunning wrote that the program was "known in the West as 'the daddy of all variety shows.'"[3] Blue Monday Jamboree "contained music, comedy and a dramatic sketch (a detective story)."[5]

A contemporary newspaper article (August 27, 1928, in the Oakland Tribune) described a typical broadcast as follows:

Light entertainment will be the order of the evening on the bay city stations with frolics in evidence at many of the stations. Chief among these in point of seniority and general quality is the KFRC Blue Monday Jamboree which is attended by most of the entertainers appearing on the station throughout the week. These artists gather in an informal sort of meeting bandying jests and songs from 8 to 10 p.m.[6]

Personnel

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The initial version of Blue Monday Jamboree in 1927 was hosted by Harry McClintock[7]—who also provided music via "Mac's Haywire Orchestry"[8]—and featured soprano Juliette Dunne,[9] as well as baritone Harvey Austin and the KFRC Hawaiians.[10] Meredith Willson made his radio debut on the program in 1928.[11] Another notable latecomer was Al Pearce; later still, he starred in the show's KRFC spinoff, Happy Go Lucky Hour, which eventually moved to NBC, as Al Pearce and His Gang.[12] Other members of the troupe included Bea Benaderet,[9] Elvia Allman[13] (who also ended up on the Pierce-hosted, NBC-destined spin-off[14]), blues singers Jane Green and Midge Williams,[15][3] pianist Edna Fischer,[16][17] baritone Ronald Graham,[3] and harmonicist Johnny O'Brien.[18] I Love Lucy creator Jess Oppenheimer earned his first-ever professional paycheck in 1934 for a comedy routine he wrote and performed on Blue Monday Jamboree.[19] Oppenheimer writes extensively about the program in his memoir, Laughs, Luck...and Lucy,[20] including his memorable recreation of KFRC General Manager Harrison Holliway's all too impactful on-air interview with a railroad engineer.[21]

References

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  1. ^ "S.F. Symphony Opens List of Broadcastigns". Oakland Tribune. California, Oakland. January 23, 1927. p. 78. Retrieved December 10, 2016 – via Newspapers.com. Open access icon
  2. ^ "FAMOUS RADIO BROADCASTERS". The Radio Historian.
  3. ^ a b c d Dunning, John (1998). On the Air: The Encyclopedia of Old-Time Radio (Revised ed.). New York, NY: Oxford University Press. pp. 98–99. ISBN 978-0-19-507678-3. Retrieved November 23, 2019.
  4. ^ Oates, Bill (2005). Meredith Willson - America's Music Man: The Whole Broadway-Symphonic-Radio-Motion Picture Story. AuthorHouse. p. 48. ISBN 9781420835250. Retrieved December 10, 2016.
  5. ^ Sies, Luther F. (2014). Encyclopedia of American Radio, 1920-1960, 2nd Edition. McFarland & Company, Inc. ISBN 978-0-7864-5149-4. P. 78.
  6. ^ "Bay Stations Tonight Will Feature Fun". Oakland Tribune. California, Oakland. August 27, 1928. p. 7. Retrieved December 10, 2016 – via Newspapers.com. Open access icon
  7. ^ Rammel, Hal (1990). Nowhere in America: The Big Rock Candy Mountain and Other Comic Utopias. Chicago, IL: University of Illinois Press. p. 104. ISBN 0-252-01717-X. "By the time Harry McClintock recorded 'The Big Rock Candy Mountain' and 'Ain't We Crazy,' he had settled down to hosting a weekly radio show, 'Blue Monday Jamboree,' on KFRC in San Francisco after more than three decades of hoboing and railroading."
  8. ^ "Mac,' Pioneer Radio Personality Dies". The Berkeley Gazette. April 24, 1957. p. 3. Retrieved June 5, 1959. "'Haywire Mac,' beloved pioneer of western radio and leader of first cowboy bands, died today in San Francisco. [...] He made radio's "Big Time" with his 'Haywire Orchestry,' and played with the once-famous Blue Monday Jamboree."
  9. ^ a b Gabriel, Walter (May 18, 1935). "Why There're No Blues on Mondays" (PDF). Radio Guide. p. 3. Retrieved December 11, 2016.
  10. ^ "Radio: KFRC, San Francisco". The Fresno Morning Republican. July 11, 1927. p. 10. Retrieved June 5, 2025.
  11. ^ "Music--As Written". Billboard. April 17, 1948. p. 34. Retrieved December 10, 2016.
  12. ^ Schneider, John F. (2012). Bay Area Radio. Arcadia Publishing. p. 29. ISBN 9780738589107. Retrieved December 10, 2016.
  13. ^ Daggett, John S. (May 12, 1960). "Written Word New Radio Use; Sending of Communications in Silence Possible; War-time Observers' Powers Augmented by Device; Interesting Day Promised in Monday Program: On Your Dial Today". The Los Angeles Times. May 12, 1930. p. 24. Retrieved June 5, 2025. "Blue Monday Jamboree fans have something to look forward to tonight—an unusual two hours of inimitable fun, featuring ruthless dramas in gangster Chicago. Elvia Allman, hobo act and the debut of a hot-dog stand. From 8 to 10 tonight the jamboree goes on—tune in for a lot of laughs.."
  14. ^ Lackmann, Ronald W. (2000). The Encyclopedia of American Radio : An A-Z guide to Radio from Jack Benny to Howard Stern. New York: Facts on File. p. 13. ISBN 0-8160-4077-X. "Allman specialized in playing aggressive, overbearing characters and was a regular on such programs as BLONDIE (as Cora Dithers), THE BOB HOPE SHOW, THE JACK BENNY SHOW, THE JIMMY DURANTE SHOW, BURNS AND ALLEN, FIBBER MCGEE AND MOLLY, CINNAMON BEAR, and AL PEARCE AND HIS GANG."
  15. ^ Queeney, Margaret (September 1931). "Green and Blue" (PDF). Radio Doings. p. 19. Retrieved December 11, 2016.
  16. ^ Oates, Bill (2005). Meredith Willson - America's Music Man: The Whole Broadway-Symphonic-Radio-Motion Picture Story. Bloomington, IN: AuthorHouse. p. 48. ISBN 1-4208-3524-6. "Program pianist Edna Fischer recalled that the show had 'naturalness and the freedom to be yourself ... [and] you didn't get a second chance. [...] Thanks to Fischer, at least one related KFRC program survives. Because of her popularity on Blue Monday Jamboree, she made a rare guest appearance on Carefree Carnival in 1937."
  17. ^ "Edna Fischer (1902-1997) - San Francisco's First Lady of Radio". Archived from the original on May 20, 2022. Retrieved March 28, 2022.
  18. ^ "HARMONICIST MAKES RECORDS". The San Francisco Examiner. March 17, 1929. Sec. II, p. 6. Retrieved June 5, 2025. "In order to perpetuate the memory of Johnny O'Brien's 'St. Louis Blues,' the Columbia Phonograph Company has just released a record made by this favorite entertainer, whose playing of the harmonica is well known to listeners of the KFRC Blue Monday Jamboree. [...] Both Pantages and the Orpheum signed Johnny for an engagement. He made a decided hit at both theaters and came to be known as the 'Harmonica Wizard.' Now he is one of the mainstays of the Blue Monday Jamboree."
  19. ^ Laughs, Luck...and Lucy: How I Came to Create the Most Popular Sitcom of All Time, by Jess Oppenheimer with Gregg Oppenheimer, p. 51
  20. ^ Oppenheimer, Jess; Oppenheimer, Gregg (April 1999). Laughs, Luck . . . And Lucy: How I Came to Create the Most Popular Sitcom of All Time (Includes CD). Gregg Oppenheimer. ISBN 0-8156-0584-6.
  21. ^ Oppenheimer op. cit. pp. 43-45
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Articles & Photo's

Sheet music

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