|His Works|Radio|Aug 1942 Command Performance
Al Jolson for the USO |
Unfortunately, we don't have a lot of information about this week's program. It was part of the Contact series, broadcast for the benefit of troops fighting in World War II. It dates to August, 1942, and Al Jolson was featured in the program. The portion we have, which suggests there is an ending that is missing, runs about twelve minutes, about one side of a transcription disk.
Highlighting the brave entertainers who go out to entertain the troops, Al Jolson is named as the Honorary Soldier of the Week, and he proceeds to address the audience he loved the best.
The first half of the show is a series of jokes about Jolson's trips to date entertaining. Then a dramatic sketch, "The Show Must Go On," which mentions a show, "Hats Off," sounds like "Hold On To Your Hats" to me, and paints a picture of a man wondering what happened to his son.
Jolson does sing, ending the show with "California, Here I Come," at least, the recording we have ends here. Likely there is more to the show, and, perhaps, one day, it will surface. In the meantime, enjoy this great Jolson broadcast.
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Click this link to listen to
this week's program | ||
| This is an excerpt of the August, 1942, Contact program starring Al Jolson, illustrated with some scenes of Al Jolson entertaining the troops, all over the world. This program, broadcast in support of the military during World War II, featured Al Jolson as Honorary Soldier of the Week. This excerpt includes some topical humor, along with his popular "California, Here I Come." |
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Updated 02 Aug 26 |