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Television has its Christmas traditions. A Charlie Brown Christmas, It’s a Wonderful Life, and How the Grinch Stole Christmas survive through the wonder of reruns and videos.

The Golden Age of Radio also had its Christmas traditions, some things that for years were part of what Christmas was in America. Thankfully, through the power of MP3, we can step back in time and rediscover some of the best:

1) Christmas in Pine Ridge

The recurring Lum and Abner Christmas special in the 1930s was somewhat of an odd show. There wasn’t any comedy to speak of. The plot centers around Lum, Abner, and Grandpappy Spears helping out a young couple that’s gotten stranded in Pine Ridge, where the mother is giving birth. The family is clearly met to parallel the Holy family travelling to Bethlehem.

The episode’s theme shows Pine Ridge at its best and in its fifteen minutes, it’s poignant, thoughtful, and even philisophical as Lum reflects as well on the old year ending and the New Year coming.

Lum and Abner Christmas Special-December 25, 1940

2) Lionel Barrymore as Ebeneezer Scrooge

While most people living in the 21st century have no idea who Lionel Barrymore is. Mention, “Mr. Potter from It’s a Wonderful Life” and people will have no problem remembering the distinctive voice of the wheelchair bound adversary of Jimmy Stewart’s George Bailey.

One key contributor in Barrymore playing Potter was that Barrymore had a lot of experience in the role of miser.  From 1934-53, he played the Role of Ebenezer Scrooge for 18 of 20 Christmases. He relinquished the role once to his brother John in 1935 and in 1938, Orson Welles took the part. However, in 1939, while Welles was still the boss at the Campbell Playhouse, Barrymore was Scrooge once again. This time in an hour long adaptation that showed off the amazing talent that was Lionel Barrymore with Welles’ narration making the show a must-hear. Listen and you’ll find out why, for an entire generation, Barrymore was definitive Scrooge.

Listen to The Campbell Playhouse: A Christmas Carol: December 24, 1939

1) Bing Crosby singing Adeste Fideles

If you say, Bing Crosby and Christmas, the first song that will undoubtedly come to mind is, White Christmas. However, this was not the song most common to Crosby Christmas Special. It was Adeste Fideles, which is commonly known as Oh Come All Ye Faithful.

Whether Bing Crosby was hosting the Kraft Music Hall,  Philco Radio Time, or the General Electric show, Adeste Fidelis would lead off. Crosby would first sing the song in Latin, and then everyone on stage and at home was invited to sing the song in English.

While less people understand the Latin version now than in Crosby’s day, the performance is quite powerful and was simply a great way to begin another great Crosby Christmas.

December 20, 1953 episode of the General Electric show.

The Marx Brothers remain one of the most beloved comedy teams of all time. Yet, they’re mostly remembered for film. While Groucho’s later years enjoyed a radio (and later television) resurgance with the hit game show, “You Bet Your Life,” the brothers as a team didn’t do a whole lot of radio work together.

The one big radio gig involving both brothers was the 1932-33 radio series, “Flywheel, Shyster, and Flywheel” (also known as the Five Star theater.)  starring Groucho and Chico as characters very similar to those portrayed in the Marx Brothers films with Groucho playing Flywheel, an attorney and Chico playing the role of Revelli, his faithful sidekick. The show had the feel of the Marx brothers films, partially because the show’s chief writer was Nat Perrin who wrote for several of the Marx Brothers films.

Like most radio produced in that period, transcriptions of Flywheel, Shyster, and Flywheel were not treated kindly. Most episodes were simply lost to the ages. What survives in common circulation is one full episode, and two partials.

While the episodes themselves didn’t survive, the scripts did.  And when 25 of scripts were rediscovered, it fueled an ambitious project by the BBC: remaking a lost Marx brothers classic for radio.

The BBC’s planned to hire two actors to play the scripts as Groucho and Chico. In some ways, it was  a daunting proposition as Groucho and Chico are iconouic figures. However, the actors chosen by the BBC, Michael Roberts as Groucho/Flywheel and Frank Lazarus as Chico/Revelli, were more than equal to the task. Lazarus’ Chico was dead on. Roberts sounded more like a Groucho impersonator, but he had the style of Groucho down well enough that it didn’t much matter.

The show ran for three six episodes series in 1990, 1991, and 1992. The episodes in the first series were composites of several different scripts and also added in some elements from the Marx Brothers films.  The second and third series episodes tended to be based on a single show.

The whole concept of the BBC’s efforts are to be commended. I wish there was more of it.  There are several radio shows  where a significant gap exists in available episodes, but scripts also exist. It would be great to see other shows revived. Although the BBC set a high bar with Flywheel.

And for my part, I give the BBC a transatlantic thank you for bringing two comedy legends back to life for 18 “new episodes.”

Additional Information:

BBC Episodes of Flywheel, Shyster, and Flywheel posted at Internet Archive