[Dixielandjazz] Arthur Godfrey

[Stanley A. Klein]

My first memory of Arthur Godfrey was listening to his local morning
program on WTOP in Washington.  Although we lived in Baltimore, we could
get WTOP.  (I think he actually started in radio in Baltimore on WFBR
after having been stationed there when he was in the Coast Guard.)  One
time on WTOP he did a commercial for Zlotnick the Furrier and instead of
giving the price of a fur coat in dollars he said it would cost so many
potatoes.  Somebody showed up with literally that many potatoes.  They got
the coat and Zlotnick got a lot of publicity.

Some more random memories:

I think Peanuts Hucko was one of the clarinet players on his national
morning program.

His morning bandleader was Archie Bleyer.

He not only played the ukulele, but sometimes had a Hawaiian singer on his
program.

He also had a program in the evening called "Talent Scouts".  It was
sponsored by Lipton.  He would ad lib jokes into his commercials, just
like he did with Zlotnick.  I remember him making remarks about the amount
of chicken in the chicken soup.

To this day I drink iced tea without sugar (I still use sugar in hot tea)
because a remark he made on Talent Scouts got me to try it.

The singers on his national morning show included a sisters trio (I can't
remember their name) and Julius LaRosa.

We had his record of the Too Fat Polka.  I think he also did Huggin' and
a'Chalkin'.  They might have been the A and B sides of the same record.


Stan Klein