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The Bob Burns Show
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The Bob Burns Show
The Bob Burns Show (also known as The Arkansas Traveler) was an American old-time radio comedy program that starred comedian Bob Burns. The program derived from a character Burns performed for five years on Bing Crosby's Kraft Music Hall entitled "The Arkansas Traveler".
The program originally premiered as The Arkansas Traveler on September 16, 1941 on CBS. In 1943, Bob Burns moved his program over to the Red Network of the National Broadcasting Company. The January 7 broadcast was the first episode to use the title The Bob Burns Show.
The program moved from its Thursdays at 7:30 timeslot to Sundays at 6:30 for its last season on September 29, 1946. The program concluded its run on May 25, 1947. Two failed revival attempts of the program aired between November 1947 and July 1949. Both audition programs were sponsored by Dreft but never made air.
Other principal actors on the program included actors Ginny Simms, Edna Mae Oliver, Ann Thomas, James Gleason, Una Merkel and Shirley Ross.
Bob Burns (born Robin Burns) grew up in the town of Van Buren, Arkansas. As a boy, Burns played trombone and cornet in the town's "Queen City Silver Cornet Band". Before radio, Burns was known as a musician, creating his own string band at the age of 13. During his teeming years, Burns invented an instrument which he called a "bazooka" out of a gas pipe. The bazooka functioned like a crude trombone and had a narrow range. The bazooka would become a permanent part of Burns' comedy act.
In 1930, Burns' radio career began as a character on a local Los Angeles radio program called The Fun Factory as the character "Soda Pop". After several jobs at several different radio stations in Los Angeles in 1935, Burns went to New York and got a spot on Rudy Vallée's The Fleischmann's Yeast Hour. In his book on old-time radio, author John Dunning quotes Newsweek in describing Bob Burns as "...resembling Gene Tunney but..." having a voice "...like Will Rogers". After the death of Rogers in August 1935 in an Alaskan plane crash, Burns reverted to his old homespun act on The Fleischmann Hour.
With assistance of bandleader and radio personality Paul Whiteman, Burns then landed a 26-week engagement on singer Bing Crosby's Kraft Music Hall. The engagement began when Crosby took over hosting duties of the program in January 1936. Burns became an audience favorite with his "Arkansas Traveler" character. Burns created the character sometime after World War I and performed the act on stage. The character was patterned after Col. Sandford C. Faulkner, teller of tall tales, fiddle player, and composer of the popular fiddle tune "The Arkansas Traveler".
On each episode of Kraft Music Hall, Burns would make his way to the microphone, say "I remember one time back in Van Buren, Arkansas...", then would proceed in telling a fictional account of his fictitious relatives and townspeople including but not limited to characters Uncle Fud, Aunt Peachy and Grandpa Snazzy, characters that would follow Burns with him to The Bob Burns Show. Burns was so popular on the program that he was asked to stay past the original twenty-six weeks.
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The Bob Burns Show
The Bob Burns Show (also known as The Arkansas Traveler) was an American old-time radio comedy program that starred comedian Bob Burns. The program derived from a character Burns performed for five years on Bing Crosby's Kraft Music Hall entitled "The Arkansas Traveler".
The program originally premiered as The Arkansas Traveler on September 16, 1941 on CBS. In 1943, Bob Burns moved his program over to the Red Network of the National Broadcasting Company. The January 7 broadcast was the first episode to use the title The Bob Burns Show.
The program moved from its Thursdays at 7:30 timeslot to Sundays at 6:30 for its last season on September 29, 1946. The program concluded its run on May 25, 1947. Two failed revival attempts of the program aired between November 1947 and July 1949. Both audition programs were sponsored by Dreft but never made air.
Other principal actors on the program included actors Ginny Simms, Edna Mae Oliver, Ann Thomas, James Gleason, Una Merkel and Shirley Ross.
Bob Burns (born Robin Burns) grew up in the town of Van Buren, Arkansas. As a boy, Burns played trombone and cornet in the town's "Queen City Silver Cornet Band". Before radio, Burns was known as a musician, creating his own string band at the age of 13. During his teeming years, Burns invented an instrument which he called a "bazooka" out of a gas pipe. The bazooka functioned like a crude trombone and had a narrow range. The bazooka would become a permanent part of Burns' comedy act.
In 1930, Burns' radio career began as a character on a local Los Angeles radio program called The Fun Factory as the character "Soda Pop". After several jobs at several different radio stations in Los Angeles in 1935, Burns went to New York and got a spot on Rudy Vallée's The Fleischmann's Yeast Hour. In his book on old-time radio, author John Dunning quotes Newsweek in describing Bob Burns as "...resembling Gene Tunney but..." having a voice "...like Will Rogers". After the death of Rogers in August 1935 in an Alaskan plane crash, Burns reverted to his old homespun act on The Fleischmann Hour.
With assistance of bandleader and radio personality Paul Whiteman, Burns then landed a 26-week engagement on singer Bing Crosby's Kraft Music Hall. The engagement began when Crosby took over hosting duties of the program in January 1936. Burns became an audience favorite with his "Arkansas Traveler" character. Burns created the character sometime after World War I and performed the act on stage. The character was patterned after Col. Sandford C. Faulkner, teller of tall tales, fiddle player, and composer of the popular fiddle tune "The Arkansas Traveler".
On each episode of Kraft Music Hall, Burns would make his way to the microphone, say "I remember one time back in Van Buren, Arkansas...", then would proceed in telling a fictional account of his fictitious relatives and townspeople including but not limited to characters Uncle Fud, Aunt Peachy and Grandpa Snazzy, characters that would follow Burns with him to The Bob Burns Show. Burns was so popular on the program that he was asked to stay past the original twenty-six weeks.