Podcast Summary: Harold's Old Time Radio

Episode: Philco Radio Hall of Fame 1943-12-26 – New Year’s Message

Date: December 28, 2025
Host: Harold's Old Time Radio

Overview:

This classic episode of the "Philco Radio Hall of Fame" (originally aired December 26, 1943) serves as a festive pre-New Year’s celebration in the tradition of Golden Age radio variety shows. The episode is a star-studded revue designed to bolster spirits and unity during wartime, featuring comedy, uplifting messages, operatic and popular music, and heartfelt wishes for victory and peace. The show rotates through a who’s-who of 1940s radio personalities, with memorable contributions from Fred Allen (with Portland Hoffa), Lou Holtz, opera star Lauritz Melchior, vocalist Helen Forrest, and a moving New Year’s message delivered by Raymond Edward Johnson, penned by Stephen Vincent Benet.

Key Segments & Discussion Points

1. Show Introduction & Theme (00:42 – 06:11)

• Master of Ceremonies: Deems Taylor welcomes listeners, laying out the show’s intention: “You’d have the makings of quite a remarkable pre-New Year's party. Well, that's what we hope our broadcast turns out to be...”
• Assembles a cast crossing comedy, opera, Broadway, and popular music, reflecting unity and cultural richness.

2. Comedy with Lou Holtz (07:13 – 16:04)

• Lou Holtz regales the audience with rapid-fire anecdotes and stage routines, including:
  • A draft board joke about being classified “73F, a single man with furniture.”
  • The story of “Honeysuckle Epstein,” a Texan with a penchant for speeding and outwitting the police.
    • Funniest punchline: The cop says, “When you pulled away from me so fast I thought my motorcycle had stopped, so I got off to see what was wrong with it.” (10:30)
  • An Irish immigrant in Brooklyn mishearing streetcar stop names and misunderstanding American customs.
  • Sam Lapidus and the “saloon/salon” misunderstanding, illustrating Holtz’s signature use of character-driven humor and linguistic confusion.

3. Wartime Reflection from Philco (16:04 – 17:27)

• A somber note acknowledging Philco’s efforts in war production, with an eye to postwar benefits for peacetime society.
  • “But all this research and production for war creates new knowledge, new ideas, new skills...their ideas live and they will survive after victory to bring you newer and finer products under the famous Philco name...” (16:04)

4. Helen Forrest Performs “I Don’t Want to Walk Without You” (17:32 – 20:33)

• Noteworthy performance: Helen Forrest delivers one of her 1943 recordings, offering warmth and emotional relief amidst the gravity of wartime.

5. The New Year’s Message – “Toward the Future” (23:19 – 33:31)

Background:

• Originally meant for Orson Welles; illness resulted in Raymond Edward Johnson (known for “The Patriots”) standing in.

Content:

• A poetic, stirring segment written by Stephen Vincent Benet, delivered as a prayer and meditative address to the nation:
  • “God of the Free, we pledge our hearts and lives today to the cause of all free mankind. Grant us victory over the tyrant who would enslave all free men and nations...” (25:01)
  • A vision for enduring peace, brotherhood, and equality:
    • “Our earth...if we choose, a planet unvexed by war, untroubled by hunger or fear, undivided by senseless distinctions of race, color, or theory...” (25:42)
• Transition into the persona of an “impractical dreamer,” tracing humanity’s journey from prehistory through major moments in human rights, democracy, and the ongoing effort for freedom—a universal call for unity:
  • “I have dreamed many times…When I wrote ‘all men are created free and equal,’ few believed at first, but slowly many believed and many followed.” (29:09)
  • “My name is Freedom and my command today is: unite. Unite in brotherhood for a people’s victory. Unite, unite in brotherhood for a people’s peace.” (33:21)

6. Musical Interludes from Paul Whiteman and Lauritz Melchior (34:50 – 42:00)

• Whiteman delivers a medley from “The Desert Song,” tied to movie musical trends of the moment.
• Lauritz Melchior, famed tenor, performs a Scandinavian folk song, “The Great White Band,” infusing the episode with both worldliness and joy.

7. Fred Allen’s Return & Comedy with Portland Hoffa (47:09 – 57:49)

• Fred Allen, with signature wit, lampoons wartime train travel and housing shortages:
  • “You can’t even get a reservation on a crow, Deems.” (48:23)
  • “A little old lady had been living in an upper berth with her two daughters and a rubber plant for six months...” (49:10)
• Portland Hoffa joins, trading quips about the housing crisis on Christmas:
  • “Yes, a lot of families are living in chimneys.” (49:59)
  • “Even midgets are taking slot luck these days.” (50:31)
• The routine includes surreal jokes about families living in automats and Central Park.

8. Comic Bit: Fred Allen & Lauritz Melchior “Audition for Radio” (51:11 – 57:49)

• A playful meta-dialogue in which Melchior enlists Allen to help him break into “big money” radio crooning.
  • “Why, your tonsils weigh more than Sinatra.” (54:52, Fred Allen)
  • Satirical “Pasternak Personality Pretzels” spoof radio soap opera, lampooning sponsor-centric radio and Melchior's unlikely conversion to popular music stardom.

9. Satirical Soap Opera: “Life Can Be Melchior” (58:26 – 61:39)

• A send-up of melodramatic radio serials, tracing Melchior’s (fictionalized) rise and his “victory” as a sponsor’s singer (“Maestro, please…”). It’s loaded with in-jokes about show business and high culture colliding with mass media.

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• Deems Taylor: “If we could transport the members of our cast directly to your homes today in person, you'd have the makings of quite a remarkable pre-New Year's party.” (00:53)
• Lou Holtz: “They said, Lou, we have put you in 73 Fs. And I said, what is 73 F? And they said, a single man with furniture.” (08:08)
• Lou Holtz: “When you pulled away from me so fast I thought my motorcycle had stopped, so I got off to see what was wrong with it.” (10:30)
• Raymond Edward Johnson (as Jefferson): “Grant us that courage and foreseeing...that our children and our children's children may be proud of the name of a man.” (25:39)
• Raymond Edward Johnson: “My name is Freedom and my command today is unite. Unite in brotherhood for a people’s victory. Unite, unite in brotherhood for a people’s peace.” (33:21)
• Fred Allen: "You can't even get a reservation on a crow, Deems." (48:23)
• Fred Allen (to Melchior): "Why, your tonsils weigh more than Sinatra. Why, when he's on the air, you can't tell whether Sinatra is singing into the microphone or the microphone is giving Sinatra a transfusion." (54:52)
• Lauritz Melchior: "When I first went into opera, Madame Butterfly was only a caterpillar." (52:28)

Timestamps for Key Segments

• Show Introduction, Cast Roll Call: 00:42 – 06:11
• Lou Holtz Comedy Routine: 07:13 – 16:04
• Philco Wartime Message: 16:04 – 17:27
• Helen Forrest Song: 17:32 – 20:33
• New Year’s Message (Benet/Johnson): 23:19 – 33:31
• Paul Whiteman "Desert Song" Medley: 34:50 – 39:16
• Lauritz Melchior's Performance: 39:16 – 42:00
• Fred Allen & Portland Hoffa Skit: 47:09 – 57:49
• Fred Allen & Melchior "Radio Audition" & Satirical Soap: 51:11 – 61:39

Tone & Atmosphere

The tone is classic, warm, and occasionally wry—balancing lighthearted banter, musical excellence, pathos, and wartime hope. Even in jest, there is an undercurrent of unity, resilience, and optimism for a peacetime future.

For Listeners Who Missed the Episode

This episode is an evocative slice of 1940s American radio—moving from vaudeville humor and big-band warmth to poetic invocations for liberty and peace, capped with good-natured send-ups of the entertainment business itself. It’s a testament to radio’s once-central place in American culture, and a timely reminder of the enduring human hope for a better tomorrow.