''The Jumbo Fire Chief Program'' is an American

old-time radio The Golden Age of Radio, also known as the old-time radio (OTR) era, was an era of radio in the United States where it was the dominant electronic home entertainment medium. It began with the birth of commercial radio broadcasting in the earl ...

program starring

Jimmy Durante James Francis Durante ( , ; February 10, 1893 – January 29, 1980) was an American comedian, actor, singer, vaudevillian, and pianist. His distinctive gravelly speech, Lower East Side accent, comic language-butchery, jazz-influenced songs ...

Donald Novis Donald George Novis (3 March 1906 – 23 July 1966) was an English-born American actor and tenor. Early life Novis was born on 3 March 1906 in Hastings, Sussex to Frederick George Novis and Charlotte Morris.California County Marriages, 1850-1 ...

and Gloria Grafton. The series originated from WEAF radio in

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

and was broadcast nationally over the

Red Network Red is the color at the long wavelength end of the visible spectrum of light, next to orange and opposite violet. It has a dominant wavelength of approximately 625–740 nanometres. It is a primary color in the RGB color model and a secondar ...

of the

National Broadcasting Company The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American English-language commercial broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, its headquarters are ...

. The series was based on

Billy Rose Billy Rose (born William Samuel Rosenberg; September 6, 1899 – February 10, 1966) was an American impresario, theatrical showman and lyricist. For years both before and after World War II, Billy Rose was a major force in entertainment, with ...

's musical circus act ''

Jumbo Jumbo (about December 25, 1860 – September 15, 1885), also known as Jumbo the Elephant and Jumbo the Circus Elephant, was a 19th-century male African bush elephant born in Sudan. Jumbo was exported to Jardin des Plantes, a zoo in Paris, and ...

'' which premiered on Broadway in November 1935 and a continuation of sponsor

Texaco Texaco, Inc. ("The Texas Company") is an American oil brand owned and operated by Chevron Corporation. Its flagship product is its fuel "Texaco with Techron". It also owned the Havoline motor oil brand. Texaco was an independent company until i ...

's ''The Fire Chief'', a radio program starring

Ed Wynn Isaiah Edwin Leopold (November 9, 1886 – June 19, 1966), better known as Ed Wynn, was an American actor and comedian. He was noted for his ''Perfect Fool'' comedy character, his pioneering radio show of the 1930s, and his later career as a d ...

that ended its three-year run several months before ''Jumbo' ''s premiere. The program starred

as Claudius "Brainy" Bowers, the overzealous circus promoter of the Consodine circus act who usually gets the show in financial crisis due to his over exaggeration of the show's profits, and

and Gloria Grafton as young love interests Matt Mulligan, Jr. and Mickey Consodine. Mickey is the daughter of unheard character John Consodine, the owner of the circus act. The radio program broadcast an unknown number of episodesSeveral sources list the number as 19 but all agree of 12 surviving episodes broadcast between October 1935–January 1936. The other seven either do not have title or have forgotten titles. over the

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American English-language commercial broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, its headquarters ...

from October 22, 1935–January 14, 1936. The series was broadcast from and performed at the

New York Hippodrome The Hippodrome Theatre, also called the New York Hippodrome, was a theater in New York City from 1905 to 1939, located on Sixth Avenue between West 43rd and West 44th Streets in the Theater District of Midtown Manhattan. It was called the worl ...

before an average crowd of 4500–5000 spectators each week.

Background

Ed Wynn's ''The Fire Chief''

The series originated from

's departure from

's ''The Fire Chief'' in early 1935 and the show's sponsor

wanting to continue the series. Texaco and

premiered ''The Fire Chief'' in 1932. Comedian

played the title role of the Fire Chief. The series was popular and one of the first radio programs to be performed before a live studio audience. Wynn left the program temporarily in 1933 when, in September of that year, Wynn along with Hungarian-born violinist Ota Gygi founded his own radio station, the Amalgamated Broadcasting System. The station lost money and went out of business five weeks later in November 1933. He returned to ''The Fire Chief'' which continued until being cancelled in early 1935.

Billy Rose's ''Jumbo''

On November 22, 1935,

's musical ''

'' premiered at

The Hippodrome The Hippodrome, formerly known as the McElroy Auditorium, is a 5,155 permanent seat multipurpose arena located in Waterloo, Iowa. The auditorium was built in 1919 and renovated in 1936, when the roof was raised, floor was excavated and additio ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the U ...

. The musical told the story about a financially strapped circus. The musical also starred Durante, Novis and Grafton. At the end of each performance, Durante would lay down on the stage and permit a live elephant to place its foot upon his head. The musical closed on April 18, 1936, after 233 performances.

Texaco's ''Jumbo Fire Chief''

The Texas Company, aka

, decided to continue their sponsored ''Fire Chief'' with ''The Jumbo Fire Chief Program''. ''The Jumbo Fire Chief Program'' used the title of its predecessor and the premise of ''Jumbo''. The serialized version of ''Jumbo'' premiered on October 29, 1935, from the Hippodrome and was broadcast over

. The series shared the same premise as the musical, which was the tale of a financially strapped circus and the tale of two young love interests; Matt Mulligan, Jr., (Donald Davis), and Mickey Consodine, ( Gloria Grafton). The series failed to reach popularity amongst listening audiences and only aired 12 episodes before being cancelled on January 14, 1936.This date is disputed amongst radio historians. While most sources and radio historians list the date of January 14, 1936, as the air date of the last episode of the program, some sources and historians believe the air date of the program's last episode to be February 25, 1936, due to 7 episodes of the program that have either unknown or forgotten titles.

Cast and characters

* Claudius "Brainy" Bowers (

) is the main

protagonist A protagonist () is the main character of a story. The protagonist makes key decisions that affect the plot, primarily influencing the story and propelling it forward, and is often the character who faces the most significant obstacles. If a st ...

of the radio program. Bowers, often called "Brainy" by his friends and circus counterparts, is the overzealous promoter of the circus. Brainy often is the one responsible for the circus' financial difficulties because of his over exaggeration of the show's profits and the performers income. But by the end of the episode, the circus manages to stay open another week until the next payment was due. Durante was popular in the venue of radio before ''Jumbo Fire Chief''. Durante made his first appearance on radio on the September 10, 1933 telecast of

's ''

The Chase and Sanborn Hour ''The Chase and Sanborn Hour'' is the umbrella title for a series of American comedy and variety radio shows sponsored by Standard Brands' Chase and Sanborn Coffee, usually airing Sundays on NBC from 8 p.m. to 9 p.m. during the years 1929 to 19 ...

''. He performed regularly on the show until November 12 of that year. After host

Eddie Cantor Eddie Cantor (born Isidore Itzkowitz; January 31, 1892 – October 10, 1964) was an American comedian, actor, dancer, singer, songwriter, film producer, screenwriter and author. Familiar to Broadway, radio, movie, and early television audiences ...

left the program in 1934, Durante was brought back as substitute host. He was host of the program from April 22–September 30, 1934. After ''Jumbo Fire Chief'', Durante starred in ''

The Durante-Moore Show ''The Durante-Moore Show'' was an old-time radio show that ran on NBC with episodes running from March 25, 1943–October 28, 1943 and on CBS with episodes running from October 8, 1943–June 27, 1947. The series starred burlesque and va ...

'' for seven years and then went to television with ''

All Star Revue ''Four Star Revue'' (also known as ''All Star Revue'' and ''All Star Summer Revue'') was an American variety/comedy program that aired on NBC from October 4, 1950, to December 26, 1953. The series originally starred four celebrities, Ed Wynn, Da ...

'' and ''

The Jimmy Durante Show ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things that are already or about to be mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in E ...

''. * Matt Mulligan, Jr. (

) is the son of Matt Mulligan, Sr., the owner of the Mulligan Circus which is the main competition to the Consodine Show. Mulligan is the love interest of Consodine's daughter Mickey. * Mickey Consodine ( Gloria Grafton) is the daughter of John Consodine and love interest to Matt, Jr. * Mr. Jellico (A.P. Kaye) is a representative from the Income Tax Department who usually comes every week to collect taxes accumulated from the circus.

Unheard characters

* John Consodine is the owner of the Consodine Show. Although never heard on mic, he is mentioned in almost every episode.

Notes

References

External links

Download
12 known episodes of ''The Jumbo Fire Chief Program'' available to view and download
{{DEFAULTSORT:Jumbo Fire Chief Program, The NBC radio programs