Audition Show
This July 1946 Fitch Bandwagon audition presents Phil Harris and Alice Faye in the prototype format that developed into their radio sitcom. The program combines songs, sponsor material and domestic…
The Phil Harris-Alice Faye Show turned the real-life married entertainers into the center of a fast-moving domestic radio comedy, with Harris's boastful persona, Faye's dry responses and a strong supporting cast. The NBC series became a postwar comedy favorite. Golden Radio Hour preserves 252 recordings.
NBC comedy/situation-comedy and music vehicle starring fictionalized versions of Phil Harris and Alice Faye with a recurring family, band and supporting cast.
The run breaks into several distinct periods: Fitch Bandwagon: Phil Harris-Alice Faye era (September 29, 1946 to May 23, 1948) on NBC Radio Network, Phil Harris-Alice Faye Show: Rexall era (October 3, 1948 to June 4, 1950) on NBC Radio Network, and Phil Harris-Alice Faye Show: RCA era (October 1, 1950 to June 18, 1954) on NBC Radio Network.
Names that turn up again and again in the surviving run include Elliott Lewis (performer), Phil Harris (performer), Alice Faye (performer), Bill Forman (announcer), Walter Tetley (performer), Anne Whitfield (performer), and Jeanine Roos (performer).
Across its run, the surviving broadcasts are tied to NBC Radio Network, Armed Forces Radio and Television Service, and Armed Forces Radio Service.
The stories often return to music, bands and performance, family and domestic life, money, shopping and household finances, radio work and broadcasting, pets and animals, and travel and vacation.
The show also sits in a wider radio history that includes Postwar domestic and family situation comedy, Commercial sponsorship in network radio comedy, and Hollywood celebrity adapted to radio domestic comedy.
If you are following the same actors and creative circles, related programs worth opening next include Lux Radio Theatre, Screen Directors Playhouse, The Railroad Hour, The Whistler, and Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar.
Search this program or browse in its validated catalog order.
This July 1946 Fitch Bandwagon audition presents Phil Harris and Alice Faye in the prototype format that developed into their radio sitcom. The program combines songs, sponsor material and domestic…
Alice hires an English tutor to prepare the girls for school, and Phil's insecurity about the cultured newcomer leads him into a series of awkward attempts to impress him.
Phil's grumpy morning at home turns toward a plan involving a movie for Alice, as family teasing about his looks and habits pushes him to prove himself.
Phil launches an ambitious self-improvement program through adult classes, encyclopedia reading, and even basket weaving, but his struggle to complete a simple class assignment exposes how much improvement remains.
Returning from Lake Arrowhead, Phil reluctantly accompanies Alice to a fashionable musicale, where his discomfort with high society leads to a car mishap, social blunders, and an insult to famed…
The Fitch board decides even one-share stockholder Phil should receive a Christmas gift, eventually settling on an unwanted company memento that creates more trouble than gratitude.
Phil looks forward to the Rose Bowl on New Year's Day, but Alice reminds him that family obligations stand in the way and his holiday plans begin unraveling.
Phil enrolls in an adult extension course at USC and heads off for his first day equipped with school supplies, bubble gum, and far more confidence than academic preparation.
After the Jack Benny broadcast, Phil anxiously waits to learn whether Benny will renew his contract and barges into Jack's dressing room to press the issue.
The Fitch company rewards Phil by making him a stockholder, but one skeptical director questions whether the crude bandleader belongs among the corporation's respectable owners.
Phil's reckless spending after misunderstanding the value of his Fitch stock leaves the family in such financial trouble that selling the house becomes a serious possibility.
A flattering magazine profile convinces the Fitch company that Phil is a model citizen, so a representative sets out to observe a typical day and discover whether the wholesome image…
Phil proudly accepts a job playing a high-school dance because he believes teenagers idolize him, setting himself up for a rude lesson about how young the students actually think he…
Alice arranges for a doctor and friends to scare overworked Phil with frightening-sounding diagnoses, but Phil mistakes a veterinarian call about the family dog for confirmation that he is dying.
After a fall while retrieving the children's kite and a doctor's warning to slow down, Phil reluctantly searches for a hobby and rejects one pastime after another.
Phil tries to keep his unruly orchestra in line while family discussions about getting a dog for the children add another complication to his day.
Phil hires a substitute Santa for the children and gets Jack Benny in an unconvincing costume, but after the girls expose the fake, mysterious sleigh bells and a patch of…
Phil brings his daughters to an NBC rehearsal to show off his professional orchestra, only for the rowdy band and Frankie's romantic absence to undermine the polished image he promised.
Back from Europe, Phil and Alice prepare for their first broadcast under new sponsor Rexall while Phil boasts about the new job and his prized English sports car.
Because Frankie signed his own name to Phil's sponsor contract, he claims control of the program and orchestra, forcing Phil to fight to recover his own show.
Phil laughs off five-year-old Phyllis having a boyfriend until his protective instincts take over and he decides to investigate the young suitor himself.
A quarrel over the Harrises' extravagant spending leads Phil into a misguided economy scheme involving a live steer, creating a much larger household problem than the bills he hoped to…
The Harris children are kept after school because Phil helped them with disastrously wrong homework, forcing him to confront just how little he knows about history and current affairs.
Phil and Alice try to find Willie a job with Rexall, but his eccentric behavior and Phil's own standing with the sponsor make the employment scheme anything but straightforward.
A chemistry set in the Harris household and a conversation about Rexall lead Phil into another misguided attempt to involve himself with a supposed new drug.
Alice puts the entire family on a strict health-food diet after deciding she needs to lose weight, leaving Phil and the children miserable on raw vegetables, juice, and tonic.
When the Harris girls are sent home from school for misbehavior, Phil gets drawn into their homework troubles and tries to prove he can be the helpful, knowledgeable father he…
Frankie comes to the Harris house asking yet another favor and this time wants to borrow the children, immediately alarming Alice and everyone familiar with his history of bad ideas.
Trying to make amends with Mr. Scott, Phil rashly promises to find a last-minute babysitter for the sponsor's baby and quickly discovers how difficult the favor is.
After promising the children they can meet Santa, Phil remembers his own disastrous attempt at the role and scrambles to hire someone else for Christmas Eve.
The day after Christmas, Phil and Alice encourage their daughters to share some of their new toys with less fortunate children, turning the holiday aftermath into a lesson in generosity.
Phil opens a misaddressed letter meant for another Phil Harris and is horrified to discover a military draft notice, launching him into panic before the identity mistake can be sorted…
Phil loses Willie's tiny engagement ring down the kitchen drain, floods the room trying to recover it, and discovers the ring only after Julius appears to have swallowed it.
News that other bandleaders have been chosen for a presidential event leaves Phil feeling ignored and brokenhearted, despite the family's attempts to bring him back to reality.
Phil and Alice attend President Truman's inaugural festivities in Washington, where Phil's lack of decorum and Willie's unexpected access threaten to embarrass them at the formal celebration.
Back from Washington, Phil becomes involved when Willie heads to the mayor about choosing a new chief for the volunteer fire department, turning civic service into another Harris comedy.
Mr. Scott orders Phil to dismiss five musicians who cannot read music, including his best friend Frankie Remley, leaving Phil desperate to avoid firing the worst guitarist in the band.
A stream of Valentine's flowers signed 'Guess Who?' makes Phil jealous enough to confront a stranger, before he learns the mysterious admirer is actually Phil himself through a standing order…
Desperate to avoid jury service, Phil tries fake injuries, impersonation schemes, and every excuse he can invent while his family condemns him for shirking civic duty.
After Frankie Remley wears out his welcome at the Harris home with gambling calls and freeloading, Phil and Alice try to force him back to work, only for the chaos…
Choose an archive episode to view its synopsis.
Pause Golden Radio Hour automatically after: