''Blue Ribbon Town'' is a comedy-variety radio series starring

Groucho Marx Julius Henry "Groucho" Marx (; October 2, 1890 – August 19, 1977) was an American comedian, actor, writer, stage, film, radio, singer, television star and vaudeville performer. He is generally considered to have been a master of quick wit an ...

, sponsored by Pabst Blue Ribbon Beer, and broadcast on CBS from March 27, 1943, to August 5, 1944. The 30-minute series was heard Saturday nights at 10:30 p.m. until October when it moved to 8 p.m. It was also known as ''Pabst Blue Ribbon Town''. The comedy situations, starring Marx, took place in the mythical American community of Blue Ribbon Town where men were men, women were women, and the jokes were mainly puns. Other regulars were

Virginia O'Brien Virginia Lee O'Brien (April 18, 1919 – January 16, 2001) was an American actress, singer, and radio personality known for her comedic singing roles in Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer musicals of the 1940s. Life and career O'Brien primarily performed in ...

Leo Gorcey Leo Bernard Gorcey (June 3, 1917– June 2, 1969) was an American stage and film actor, famous for portraying the leader of a group of hooligans known variously as the Dead End Kids, the East Side Kids and, as adults, The Bowery Boys. Gorcey was ...

and

Fay McKenzie Eunice Fay McKenzie (February 19, 1918 – April 16, 2019) was an American actress and singer. She starred in silent films as a child, and then sound films as an adult, but perhaps she is best known for her leading roles opposite Gene Autry ...

. The vocalists were Kenny Baker (who took over as host after Marx left in June 1944), Bill Days and Donald Dickson.

Dick Joy Dick Joy (December 28, 1915 – October 31, 1991) was an American radio and television announcer. A journalism major at the University of Southern California, he went on to become well known on network radio and television. Early years Joy's in ...

was the announcer. ''Small Business Times'' editor Steve Jagler wrote about the program's visit to Milwaukee February 5, 1944, to celebrate Pabst's 100th anniversary: :The dialogue of the old radio show is classic Groucho schtick: Co-star Fay McKenzie says to the host, "Oh, Groucho, look, there's Lake Michigan! My, it's choppy today. See all the whitecaps." In his trademark sarcastic tone, Groucho replies, "Yes, isn't it wonderful? You get near the place where they make Pabst beer, and even the lake has a head on it." The Milwaukee crowd erupts in laughter and applause. Announcer Durward Kirby then interrupts the skit to promote Pabst and its 100-year anniversary, in a pitch that seems eerily ironic today, given the brewer's demise a half-century later.Jagler, Steve. ''On Milwaukee''. February 5, 2008.
/ref> The show was written, directed and produced by Dick Mack. Robert Armbruster supplied the music.

References

Listen to

''Blue Ribbon Town'' broadcast from Milwaukee in celebration of Pabst's 100th anniversary (February 5, 1944)
{{Marx Brothers, state=collapsed American comedy radio programs 1940s American radio programs CBS Radio programs American variety radio series 1943 radio programme debuts 1944 radio programme endings Radio during World War II Marx Brothers