Chase And Sanborn Hour 1932 10 30 (22) First Song No Wonder We're In Love
# The Eddie Cantor Show: Chase and Sanborn Hour (October 30, 1932)
Step into the glowing warmth of your living room this October evening as Eddie Cantor's unmistakable voice crackles through the speaker, infectious and electric with possibility. The year is 1932, and America is hungry for laughter—genuine, uncomplicated laughter—as the Depression tightens its grip on the nation. Tonight's program promises the full variety that has made Cantor a household god: comedy sketches that will have you doubled over, the silky harmonies of his musical guests, and Cantor's own celebrated singing voice, ready to deliver "No Wonder We're In Love." As the orchestra swells and the studio audience erupts in applause, you'll feel the palpable energy that only live performance can deliver, the spontaneity and danger of radio in its golden age, when stars performed without a net and the whole country listened together.
What makes this particular broadcast historically precious is its capture of radio comedy at the precise moment it became America's primary form of entertainment. By 1932, the Chase and Sanborn Hour had become a national institution, and Eddie Cantor reigned as one of entertainment's brightest stars—a vaudeville veteran who understood how to work a microphone like no one else. His rapid-fire delivery, his knack for turning current events into comedy gold, and his seemingly effortless charm made him the perfect vehicle for NBC's most ambitious variety program. This was radio when it still carried the electricity of live theater, before transcription and tape would later domesticate the medium.
For anyone seeking to understand the texture of American entertainment during the Depression, this episode is essential listening. Hear how a nation sought refuge in laughter, in music, in the voice of a man determined to make them forget their troubles, at least for an hour. Tune in and experience radio as it was meant to be heard.