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All the greats appear on this fantastic variety show Magic Key: Adele Astaire (Fred Astaire's sister who was said to be even more talented than he), Lum and Abner, Amos and Andy, Tommy Dorsey, Rudy Vallee, Jane Froman, Russ Morgan, Ruth Etting, Robert Benchley, Jean Sablon, Stoopnagle and Budd, and more! Music (includng all kinds of swing, opera, and symphony music), comedy, news stories, drama, and acts from all over the world appear on Magic Key. Dyyiverse and sure to please any palette, Magic Key was a wonderfully presented and received show at the height of radio popularity.

For additional classical and opera radio shows, see also:

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Please enjoy these 70 old time radio episodes:

Air Date Title Synopsis Rating
 01.02.1938 magic key, the (117) mercury theatre's julius caesar

+ Blue Network. Sponsored by: RCA. The first slection is the overture to, "Ruslan and Lyudmila" (Gli...
 01.09.1938 magic key, the (118) guest eleanor roosevelt, carl hartmann

+ Blue Network. Sponsored by: RCA. The first selection is, "Ritmo." Linton Wells (in New York City) ...
 03.27.1938 magic key, the (129) first song coriolanus overture

+ Blue net, KWK, St. Louis origination. Sponsored by: RCA. The program originates from The Municipal...
 04.10.1938 magic key, the (131) first song le caprice de nannette

+ Blue Network. Sponsored by: RCA. The first selection is part of, "Petite Suite de Concert," by Sam...
 04.17.1938 magic key, the (132) first song carnival overture

+ Blue Network. Sponsored by: RCA. The first selection is the "Carnival Overture" (Glazunov). Eva Le...
 04.24.1938 magic key, the (133) first song academic festival overture

+ Blue net, WLW, Cincinnati orginiation. Sponsored by: RCA. The program originates from the Cincinna...
 05.01.1938 magic key, the (134) 15th annual national music week

+ Blue Network. Sponsored by: RCA. A program in honor of the 15th celebration of, "National Music We...
 09.25.1938 magic key, the (155) 3rd anniversary, paderewski's us radio debut

+ Blue Network. Sponsored by: RCA. The start of the program's 4th year on the air. The first selecti...
 10.23.1938 magic key, the (158) salute to navy day, guest rose bampton

+ Blue Network. Sponsored by: RCA ("Oldest Victrola Contest"). The first selection is, "A Medley Of ...
 11.06.1938 magic key, the (160) abe lincoln in illinois

+ Blue Network. Sponsored by: RCA. The first selection is, "Malguena." Raymond Massey does a scene f...
 12.11.1938 magic key, the (165) eric blore explains american football

+ Blue Network. Sponsored by: RCA. The first selection is, "Polonaise Militaire" (Chopin). Eric Blor...
 01.29.1939 magic key, the (172) salute to victor herbert

+ Red net. Sponsored by: RCA. A salute to Victor Herbert on his 80th anniversary. The first selectio...
 02.05.1939 magic key, the (173) a sunny morning

+ Red net. Sponsored by: RCA. The first selection is, "The Merrymaker's Dance." Howard and Shelton ...
 02.12.1939 magic key, the (174) lincoln day appreciation by alexander woollcott

+ Blue Network. Sponsored by: RCA. The first selection is the overture to, "La Cayeed" (Thomas). Gr...
 02.26.1939 magic key, the (176) all paderewski program

+ Blue net. Sponsored by: RCA. The entire program is a concert by Paderewski. His first broadcast i...
 03.12.1939 magic key, the (178) guest jan piepura

+ Sponsored by: RCA. The first selection is the prelude to the 3rd act of, "Lohengrin" (Wagner). Ja...
 04.02.1939 magic key, the (181) preview of army day

+ Red net. Sponsored by: RCA. An "action preview" of Army Day. The first selection is, "a medley of ...
 04.30.1939 magic key, the (185) katherine parr (half hour show)

+ Red net. Sponsored by: RCA. The program is only a half-hour, the second part was pre-empted for an...
 05.14.1939 magic key, the (187) who'll buy my lavender

+ Red net. Sponsored by: RCA. The first selection is, "Northward." Harpist Casper Reardon plays, "Th...
 05.21.1939 magic key, the (188) peg o' my heart

+ Red net. Sponsored by: RCA. The first selection is, "Hungarian Dance #6" (Brahams). Performers fro...

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RCA sponsored this variety radio show on the NBC Blue Network from September 29, 1935 until September 18, 1939. The program featured an unusually large and broad range of entertainment stars and other noted personalities. Hosts for the program were NBC announcers Milton Cross and Ben Grauer. The music was provided by the NBC Orchestra directed by Frank Black through 1938, then Nathaniel Shilkret in 1939. It has been said that NBC used this program to demonstrate the cultural contribution radio could make,” and notes that performers included Ruth Etting, Fibber McGee and Molly, John B. Kennedy, Rudolf Ganz, Casper Beardon, Paul Robeson, Jane Froman, Doris Weston, Frank Forrest, Paul Taylor Chorus, Margaret Brill, Rudy Vallée, Irving Berlin, Darryl Zanuck, Jan Peerce, Tommy Dorsey, Jack Harris, Ann Jameson, Sonja Henie, Tyrone Power, Walter Abel, Whitney Bern and George Shelley. Some of the many guests that appeared on the program were by Amos 'n' Andy, Lum and Abner, Paul Whiteman, Efrem Zimbalist, Ignace Jan Paderewski, Eleanor Roosevelt, Vienna Boys' Choir, Benny Goodman, Gladys Swarthout, Ray Noble, Guy Lombardo, Richard Himber, Eugene Ormandy, Lauritz Melchior, Fred MacMurray, Walt Disney and the Pickens Sisters. Programming for the show included short dramas, a male quartet from Stockholm, Jazz from Chicago, an account of Benito Mussolini's campaign in Africa and a conversation with a crew of a submerged submarine.

MAGIC KEY, THE

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THE MAGIG KEY OF RCA
THE MAGIG KEY OF RCA
The Magic Key of RCA Radio Program
RCA's 'Magic Brain' graphic
RCA LISTEN Newsletter LIFE insert of August 1937
RCA Building at Rockefeller Center
Dr. Frank Black, NBC Music Director at the podium of the NBC Symphony Orchestra
Dr. Walter Damrosch at the NBC Mike for The Magic Key. Dr. Damrosch also hosted and directed NBC's long-running Music Appreciation Hour over NBC during the school year.
Dr. Frank Black (right) discusses arrangements with Irving Berlin (1936)
World renowned Opera contralto Mme. Ernestine Schumann-Heink performed one of her last appearances over Radio during The Magic Key of RCA of November 3rd 1935. Mme. Schumann-Heink died from leukemia a year later.
Lovely soprano Helen Jepson takes her turn at the NBC mike during a performance of The Magic Key of RCA.
Milton J. Cross was the senior statesman of NBC's announcing staff. Cross hosted and announced almost half of The Magic Key of RCA's productions. Milton Cross also hosted The Metropolitan Opera from 1931 to 1974.
Linton Wells, The Magic Key of RCA's Roving Reporter
Linton Wells (left) shows Frank Mason (right), NBC V.P. for International Broadcasting where Wells' 4-month tour of Latin America took him for The Magic Key of RCA
September 1937 LISTEN magazine illustration depicts how NBC transmitted live broadcasts of the Salzburg Festival from Salzburg to Geneva through the ionosphere to RCA's Riverhead, Long Island receiving antennae.
John B. Kennedy provided a series of remote interviews from all over the word during broadcasts of The Magic Key of RCA
NBC and RCA 'mixers' monitor a soloist's sound levels from the NBC control booth during a performance of The Magic Key of RCA.
RCA Communications technicians monitor and route international transmissions during a 1937 broadcast of The Magic Key of RCA.
Radiotron was the Radio Tube arm of R.C.A.
A Broadcast Station Directory accompanied every matched set of RCA Radiotrons
RCA Laboratories were responsible for the research that propelled RCA into technological preeminence throughout the era.
NBC's involvement in Education over Radio established a legacy spanning almost 20 years between 1935 and 1955
RCA Victor celebrated it's 40th Anniversary in 1938. RCA Victor employee C. L. Aronson had been with Victor since its founding--and eight years before Nipper became RCA Victor's mascot.
For his part Nipper, RCA Victor's mascot since 1906, celebrated his 30th Anniversary with RCA Victor during The Magic Key of RCA's 1936 productions.
RCA illustrated how NBC airs 35 hours of compelling Radio every day from the September 1937 edition of LISTEN magazine.
Students at the RCA Institute (RCAI) in New York get hands on training throughout their education. The RCAI also maintained a campus in Chicago.
Caption Reads -- The Magic Key program made musical history the other Sunday by presenting, for the first time on the air, the entire gifted Flagstad family of Norway. They are: Kirsten, right, of the 'Met,' Karen, her sister, and their mother.
The Singing Pianist, Ramona
Norman Corwin rehearses with Peggy Burt for one of Corwin's burlesques--'Mary Had A Little Lamb'
Dr. Black was NBC's Director of Music for 14 years
Dr. Frank Black conducted the all-male, 22-voice Cadillac Choral Symphony
Dr. Frank Black (right) discusses arrangements with Irving Berlin (1936)
Dr. Frank Black conducting circa 1937
Dr. Black served as ABC's Music Director in 1948
Ben Grauer circa 1947
A 1932 profile of Ben Grauer cited his acting background since the age of 8.
Caption: Ben Grauer not only takes 'em but develops 'em (1938)
Ben Grauer applauds the Boss, Raymond Firestone on accepting an award for The Firestone Hour.
Ben Grauer interviews Tobey Balding a five year old British evacuee during a World War II Broadcast
Ben Grauer chats with Kukla of Kukla, Fran and Ollie from the TV Show of the same name
Ben Grauer circa 1964
Helen Hayes sits next to Mrs. Ben Grauer -- Melanie Kahane -- at an unidentified event during the 1960s
Ben Grauer sits at the Monitor Desk with Miss Monitor on the phone.
Kitty Carlisle
Casper Reardon
Eugene Ormandy
Alexander Korda
Bobby Breen
Eddie Duchin and is Orchestra
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