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Birds Eye Open House, starring Dinah Shore - 10 hours [Download] #RA027D
Birds Eye Open House, starring Dinah Shore
 

10 hours - Digital Download


Our Price: $19.99


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Birds Eye Open House
starring Dinah Shore




Groucho Marx Dinah ShoreBy the mid-1940s, the big-time network radio musical variety program had settled into a standardized format: a weekly half hour, built around a prominent vocalist as central personality, supported by a straight man/announcer, perhaps a comedy stooge or two, a big string-heavy orchestra, and a regular rotation of Hollywood guest stars. And it would be difficult to come up with a more textbook example of the format at its most polished than "Birds Eye Open House".


The series was a star vehicle for Dinah Shore, the Tennessee-born pop vocalist who'd climbed steadily up the ladder since her network debut in the late 1930s. Shore blended a jazz-conscious approach to the pop hits of the day with a breezy, easy-to-take microphone personality that made her a sensation on radio and records -- and her sense for comedy, honed by an early apprenticeship with Eddie Cantor, helps her carry off the non-musical portions of each week's program. She's accompanied by announcer Harry Von Zell, a practiced foil who'd worked with her on the Cantor program, and the lush melodies of an orchestra conducted by Broadway melodist Robert Emmett Dolan.

But the real interest in the Birds Eye programs is in the guest stars, drawn from the top ranks of Hollywood comedy talent. No less a personality than Groucho Marx appears as a semi-regular on the show -- and while his characterization is somewhat muted by the demands of a scripted series, the programs offer a rare chance to hear the foremost Marx Brother experimenting within the framework of a wide assortment of sketch ideas and comic settings.

Best of all, these programs sound even better than they did when first broadcast. Expertly transferred from original KFI-Los Angeles transcription discs and restored for crystal-clear audio quality by Radio Archives, each episode of "Birds Eye Open House" offers a satisfying 30 minutes of top-notch entertainment.

Here is the complete content of this ten-hour collection:



Guest Groucho Marx
Thursday, April 19, 1945 - 30:00 - NBC, sponsored by Birds Eye Frosted Foods and Gaines Dog Food

Guests Fibber McGee & Molly
Thursday, May 3, 1945 - 30:00 - NBC, sponsored by Birds Eye Frosted Foods and Gaines Dog Food

Guest Frank Sinatra
Thursday, May 10, 1945 - 30:00 - NBC, sponsored by Birds Eye Frosted Foods and Gaines Dog Food

Guest Groucho Marx
Thursday, May 17, 1945 - 30:00 - NBC, sponsored by Birds Eye Frosted Foods and Gaines Dog Food

Guest Turhan Bey
Thursday, May 24, 1945 - 30:00 - NBC, sponsored by Birds Eye Frosted Foods and Gaines Dog Food

Guest Frank Morgan
Thursday, September 13, 1945 - 30:00 - NBC, sponsored by Birds Eye Frosted Foods and Gaines Dog Food

Guests Joseph Cotten and Bill Goodwin
Thursday, September 20, 1945 - 30:00 - NBC, sponsored by Birds Eye Frosted Foods and Gaines Dog Food

Guests Vera Vague and Cesar Romero
Thursday, September 27, 1945 - 30:00 - NBC, sponsored by Birds Eye Frosted Foods and Gaines Dog Food

Guest Jerry Colonna
Thursday, October 4, 1945 - 30:00 - NBC, sponsored by Birds Eye Frosted Foods and Gaines Dog Food

Guest Jack Carson
Thursday, October 18, 1945 - 30:00 - NBC, sponsored by Birds Eye Frosted Foods and Gaines Dog Food

Guests Hedda Hopper and Vera Vague
Thursday, October 25, 1945 - 30:00 - NBC, sponsored by Birds Eye Frosted Foods and Gaines Dog Food

Guest Rudy Vallee
Thursday, November 1, 1945 - 30:00 - NBC, sponsored by Birds Eye Frosted Foods and Gaines Dog Food

Guest Groucho Marx
Thursday, November 8, 1945 - 30:00 - NBC, sponsored by Birds Eye Frosted Foods and Gaines Dog Food

Guest Groucho Marx
Thursday, November 22, 1945 - 30:00 - NBC, sponsored by Birds Eye Frosted Foods and Gaines Dog Food

Guest Red Skelton
Thursday, December 13, 1945 - 30:00 - NBC, sponsored by Birds Eye Frosted Foods and Gaines Dog Food

Guest Charles Laughton
Thursday, January 3, 1946 - 30:00 - NBC, sponsored by Birds Eye Frosted Foods and Gaines Dog Food

Guest Groucho Marx
Thursday, January 10, 1946 - 30:00 - NBC, sponsored by Birds Eye Frosted Foods and Gaines Dog Food

Guest Groucho Marx
Thursday, February 21, 1946 - 30:00 - NBC, sponsored by Birds Eye Frosted Foods and Sateena

Guest Andy Russell
Thursday, March 28, 1946 - 30:00 - NBC, sponsored by Birds Eye Frosted Foods

Guest Groucho Marx

Thursday, May 16, 1946 - 30:00 - NBC, sponsored by Birds Eye Frosted Foods and Sateen


Average Customer Review: Average Customer Review: 5 of 5 5 of 5 Total Reviews: 3 Write a review

  3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
 
5 of 5 The Collection is Great May 20, 2022
Reviewer: Scott Eberbach  
I ordered the "Birdseye Open House with Dinah Shore". Two days later it was in my mail box and all I can say is Wow! The collection is great and the sound quality is, as I expected, simply superb! The best part of the deal is not only the opportunity to add these great shows to my collection, but the opportunity to help Radio Archives bring many of the shows from Radio's Golden age to light and their efforts to restore them. This was the way they were meant to be heard when they were originally broadcast so many years ago! I would also like to add that I enjoy reading your newsletter and to see what new offerings are coming our way. A big Thank You to all of you for the great work you are doing and the tremendous effort you make to make radio's past available for future generations to listen to and enjoy!

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  0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:
 
5 of 5 Great entertainment June 20, 2013
Reviewer: andy wood from west yorkshire, ENGLAND United Kingdom  
There's some wonderful singing here and it has to be said, some great comedy too! Dinah and the legendary Harry Von Zell are a great team and there are some pretty amazing special guests along the way. The sound is truly brilliant throughout.

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  0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:
 
5 of 5 Excellent quality for its age March 22, 2013
Reviewer: Rufl - from Get Out Those Old Records, 8CCC - fm from Maryborough, Queensland Australia  
Being recorded in 1945 usually puts recordings well outside the "hi-fi" range. Although there are signs of deterioration in the recoding quality, they are very minor, and the result is more than suitable for broadcasting, which is the intended use of this material.
Well done to Radio Archives for not over-restoring this material to a point where it sounds like its coming out of a drain-pipe, which is what you'll find anywhere else you look.
Couldn't be more pleased.

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