The Oh, The The Hello and welcome to a special bonus holiday episode of Down These Mean Streets, one last show before I sign off for the rest of the year.

And with Christmas only days away, I wanted to share a broadcast from December 24, 1950. The Christmas Eve episode of NBC's star-studded super-sized variety series, The Big Show.

The Big Show was NBC's Big Swing in 1950 to regain ground lost in the ratings to CBS.

The network lost some of its biggest stars in 1948 and 49 when CBS President William Paley, Lord Jack Benny, George

Burns and Gracie Allen, Edgar Bergen, and Amos and Andy across town. The big show was an expensive production with top drawer

talent that it was hoped would turn dials back over to NBC on Sunday nights away from Jack Benny and Company. It was also an attempt to bring

listeners back to radio and away from the new and exciting medium of television.

NBC forked over $100,000 each week,

approximately 1.1 million in 2021.

That was the cost to put together the big show in its mix of comedy, dramatic performances,

and music.

The show's 44-piece orchestra and 16-member chorus were directed by Meredith Wilson, the celebrated

composer and conductor who was well known to audiences for his work on the Burns and Allen show. The writing staff

was supervised by Goodman Ace, one of the medium's most in-demand comedy writers.

The weekly guest cast included the like and comedy the comedy writers.

The weekly guest cast included the likes of Jimmy Durandie, Bob Hope, Eddie Cantor, Ethel Merman, and Groucho Marks.

And the show's mistress of ceremonies was Toulula Bankhead, the celebrated stage and screen

actress with the instantly recognizable smoky voice and sharp tongue.

Despite receiving critical acclaim, the big show couldn't dent the ratings of the Powerhouse

Jack Benny program.

And after two seasons and 57 episodes, the series was cancelled by NBC.

It was estimated that the production of the big show resulted in a loss of $1 million for NBC, almost $11 million today.

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