Radio Drama · Old Time Radio Researchers · Variety & music · Comedy · Drama
The Big Show
- Heard
- 1950–1952
- Episodes
- 36
THE BIG SHOW
More about it
In 1950, the advent of television was not only causing concern in the film industry but radio was beginning to feel the effect as well. In short, audiences were dwindling. To combat the problem, NBC spent lots of money to produce The Big Show, a 90 minute radio program which would feature famous guests performing skits, songs, and comedic routines. Tallulah Bankhead was asked to host the show. She had guested in various radio programs in the past but had never done anything on an ongoing basis before. She was nervous and didn't really know what to expect or what her duty actually was so she approached the show with guarded anticipation. The Big Show premiered on November 5, 1950 and played every Sunday night for the next three years. It was a rousing success and Tallulah was a great success. The guest list varied but included such names as Ethel Merman, Danny Thomas, Fanny Brice, Phil Silvers, Bob Hope, Clifton Webb, Gloria Swanson, Marlene Dietrich, Judy Holliday, Ethel Barrymore, Jimmy Durante, Milton Berle, Josephine Baker, Laurence Olivier, Vivien Leigh, George Sanders, Yul Brynner, Shirley Booth, Peggy Lee, Rosalind Russell and Merv Griffin.
NOTE: Updated Release! Fixed known issues with MP3 files freezing on Episodes 7 and 24, and other minor miscellaneous changes (12-Jul-2012).
From the Old Time Radio Researchers Group. See "Notes" Section below for more information on the OTRR.
Episodes, in broadcast order
Where it comes from 6
The archive items its episodes are played from, best first, with each one’s rights as its archive states them. An episode two sets both hold is played from the first.
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The Big Show - Single Episodes
CC BY-NC-ND 2.5: CC BY-NC-ND 2.5, as its uploader states it at the Internet Archive.
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Big Show
the Internet Archive states no licence or rights for it.
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The Big Show 50 11 12 Groucho Marx Fanny Brice
the Internet Archive states no licence or rights for it.
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Big Show 51 04 01 Groucho Marx And Bob Hope
the Internet Archive states no licence or rights for it.
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The Big Show 50 11 05 Fred Allen And Jimmy Durante
the Internet Archive states no licence or rights for it.
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The Big Show 50 11 26 Fred Allen, Ed Wynn, Jack Carson
the Internet Archive states no licence or rights for it.
2 more sets hold only episodes played here from a set above.
A set by the Old Time Radio Researchers Group (otrr.org), at the Internet Archive's Old Time Radio collection.
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Radio drama, old-time radio and historic broadcasts from the Internet Archive (its Old Time Radio collection with the Old Time Radio Researchers' sets, WWII Era Audio Recordings, the Pacifica Radio Archives, the Radio Haiti Archive, German radio plays and listeners' uploads), Wikimedia Commons (with the Netherlands Institute for Sound and Vision's broadcasts) and the Library of Congress. Every episode plays from its archive, which this site does not copy; rights are as each archive states them. Nothing here is called public domain on this site's say-so. In the United States, sound recordings first fixed before 15 February 1972 have federal protection under the Music Modernization Act of 2018, for most until 2067 at the latest, so most American radio of the 1930s to the 1950s is not in the public domain there. Each set shows the licence, mark or statement its archive gives, and says whose it is. Horror, crime, war and westerns are for teenage and adult profiles, racist caricature for adults only, and children’s profiles hear what was made for children. More about these archives.