And The Number One Show Is...

Does anyone remember Hitz and Dawson? Walter Blaufuss? Phil Stewart?

In 1935, all of them made the top ten in their categories among radio listeners in a nation-wide survey. The number one name, the most popular star on radio, is someone you DO remember.

Jack Benny.

There were many surveys—the New York World-Telegram conducted one of radio editors in Canada and the U.S. through the 1930s—and while Benny fans likely know the Waukegan Weasel, as Fred Allen called him in jest, was at the top, they may not know who else made the list. Let us stir some old-time radio memories with this story from the Birmingham News of June 23, 1935. Though the 1940s seem to be the decade that is most familiar to OTR fans, some of the names will be recognisable, as many had long radio careers.

FOLLOWING The ANTENNA
WITH ANDREW W. SMITH
Radio Editor, The News-Age-Herald
Jack Benny, comedian of air, stage and screen, has been voted the most popular performer in radio in a nation-wide contest. Voting was conducted to determine the favorites in six divisions of radio including the leading performer, dramatic performer, musical program, orchestra, team and announcer. A total of 1,256,328 votes were cast on 209,388 ballots.
Winners, respectively, in the five latter groups were One Man Family, Show Boat, Wayne King's orchestra, Amos ‘n’ Andy and James Wallington, Both King and Amos ‘n' Andy are repeaters, having led their divisions in the 1934 contest.
The listeners voting revealed a marked new trend in audience taste. A higher level appreciation was reflected not alone in the selection of the winners but also in the choice of runners up, many of whom nearly dislodged eventual leaders.
A comparison to results of the previous contest discloses that the day of the so-called low comedian is passing and that the subtle jest is mightier than the pun and the gag of doubtful character. A similar elevation of taste in dramatic and musical presentations also was revealed.
Running a close second and third to One Man’s Family were the erudite [Lux] Radio Theater and the scholarly March of Time broadcasts, a marked difference from the last year's voting in which material of much lighter nature made the best showing.
The improved public state in programs was not revealed alone in these classifications, however. Analyzation of the final tabulations reveals some surprising new names in all divisions, particularly among the performers, where Eddie Guest was a close finisher and Will Rogers and Don Ameche, Frank Parker, tenor, and Lanny Ross, were among the 10 leaders.
One notable disclosure was the poor showing made by the much-discussed children’s programs, none of which approached a front position at any time during the 10 weeks of voting. Lighter comedy sketches also fell far back of those devoted to standard dramas and those prepared especially for the microphone.
At one stage of the voting the Jack Benny program and its stars led in the three of the six divisions, Benny himself among the performers, the broadcast as a whole among the musical programs and Jack and Mary Livingstone among the teams. Only heavy last minute voting, more than 50,000 ballots being recorded during the final week, kept this group from sweeping half the field.
Don Wilson, announcer on the Benny program, was runner-up to Wallington [photo to right] in their classification.
The following tabulations show the relative standings of the first 10 in each division.
Performer — 1, Jack Benny; 2, Lanny Ross; 3, Eddie Cantor; 4, Bing Crosby; 5, Joe Penner; 6, Fred Allen; 7, Frank Parker; 8, Will Rogers; 9, Edgar Guest; 10, Don Ameche.
Musical Program — 1, Show Boat; 2, Rudy Vallee's program; 3, Jack Benny's program; 4, Himber’s Champions; 5, Fred Waring’s program; 6, WLS Barn Dance; 7, Beauty Box Theater; 8, Town Hall Tonight; 9, Breakfast Club; 10, Pleasure Island (Lombardoland).
Dramatic Program — 1, One Man's Family; 2, Radio Theater; 3, March of Time; 4, First Nighter; 5, Dangerous Paradise; 6, Today's Children; 7, Red Davis; 8, Mary Pickford Stock Company; 9, Myrt and Marge; 10, Death Valley Days.
Orchestra — 1, Wayne King; 2, Guy Lombardo; 3, Richard Himber; 4, Ben Bernie, 5, Jan Garber; 6, Kay Kyser; 7, Don Bestor; 8, Fred Waring; 9, Rudy Vallee; 10, Walter Blaufuss.
Teams — 1, Amos ‘n’ Andy; 2, Burns and Allen; 3, Jack Benny, Mary; 4, Myrt and Marge; 5, Lum and Abner; 6, Hitz and Dawson; 7, Mary Lou and Lanny Ross; 8, Block and Sully; 9, Marion and Jim Jordan; 10, Easy Aces.
Announcers — 1, James Wallington; 2, Don Wilson; 3, Harry von Zell; 4, Ted Husing; 5, David Ross; 6, Milton J. Cross; 7, Phil Stewart; 8, Don McNeill; 9, Tiny Ruffner; 10, Jean Paul King.


And when Jack Benny and his famous troupe go on the air over NBC and WAPI Sunday, they will be observing Mary's birthday. As a special concession Jack is going to let Mary give the world premier reading of "My Birthday, a narrative poem she wrote for herself especially for the occasion. Mary expects birthday presents from everybody except Bestor. When Jack gives his wife a birthday present, he does it up in good shape. Today he will present her with just a little old 16-cylinder limousine.

We note that the World-Telegram poll conducted the same year had Jack Benny as the favourite programme, followed by Fred Allen. They were one-two in the favourite comedian category. Jimmy Wallington was still the top studio announcer, with Don Wilson fifth and former Benny announcer Alois Havrilla in seventh place.

Jack’s ratings dipped in the war years—I have my opinions about why—but the radio show snapped out of it, climbed toward the top and stayed up there until, more or less, there were few ratings to be had. Something named television came along.