Edgar Bergen had first come to the attention of American audiences on Rudy Vallée’s NBC Royal Gelatin Hour on December 17th, 1936.
Five months later NBC gave Bergen his own show on Sundays at 8PM. Bergen and his wise-cracking alter-ego held onto that time slot until 1953.
How could ventriloquism work on radio? Perhaps Rudy Vallée himself put it best the night Bergen debuted in 1936. Nine years after his first appearance, Susan Hayward was Bergen and McCarthy’s guest on the December 16th episode.
As time crept closer to December 25th, Christmas-themed programming began to take up a large portion of airwave time.