Jack Benny in FDR Tribute, Saturday April 9

[Maxwell]

For Chicago listeners: Chuck Schaden's (who is an IJBFC member) "Those Were the Days" OTR program will be broadcasting a program this coming Saturday, April 9 called "Radio Covers the Death of a President" which will present several broadcasts surrounding the death of President Franklin D. Roosevelt.

Among the programs to be heard will be a 2-hour long "Tribute to Franklin D. Roosevelt" from Hollywood. Judging from the roster of talent, it appears that this program was produced by NBC. From the Nostalgia Digest web site:

TRIBUTE TO FRANKLIN D. ROOSEVELT (4-15-45) In the hour of national sorrow, “from Hollywood come the famous personalities of radio and motion pictures, uniting to pay tribute to Franklin Delano Roosevelt.” This two-hour special features Ronald Colman, John Charles Thomas, Fibber McGee and Molly, Kay Kyser, Ed Gardner, Ginny Simms, Dick Powell, Josef Szigeti, James Cagney, Eddie Cantor, Freeman Gosden and Charles Correll, Shirley Ross, Bette Davis, Robert Young, Jack Benny, Hal Peary, Edgar Bergen, Charles Laughton, Bing Crosby, Bob Hope, Ingrid Bergman. Maj. Meredith Willson and the orchestra. Announcers are Harry Von Zell, Harlow Wilcox, Ken Carpenter, Don Wilson.

The program will be on WDCB (90.9 FM) Saturday from 1:00-5:00 p.m. CDT. It can also be heard on WDCB's web site, http://www.wdcb.org at the same time. For those of you who will be unable to hear the program live, Schaden makes an audio stream available on his Nostalgia Digest web site for a week beginning the Tuesday following the broadcast. The URL for that site is [/url]http://www.nostalgiadigest.com[/url]. A complete description of the program is also available on that site.

Saturday's program, I believe, will be hosted by Schaden's sidekick Ken Alexander.

[Maxwell]

Sorry about the typo. Here's that link: http://www.nostalgiadigest.com[/url]

[Maxwell]

I listened to the FDR tribute today. Jack's part in it was quite moving. He read a letter from an army officer to his son about FDR's death. Don Wilson, btw, was the announcer for the last half hour of the show introducing Jack, Edgar Bergen, Bing Crosby, and Ingrid Bergman.