It's Time To Smile 1945 04 11 (188) Twenty Years In Radio

# The Eddie Cantor Show: "It's Time To Smile" (April 11, 1945)

As the NBC orchestra swells into that unmistakable theme, Eddie Cantor's infectious energy crackles through the airwaves with the urgency of a man who's got something momentous to celebrate. On this spring evening in 1945, with America still fighting on two fronts, Eddie isn't just delivering laughs—he's throwing open the doors of two decades in broadcasting, inviting listeners into a radio landmark. His trademark bantering with the band, the rapid-fire jokes that made millions tune in week after week, take on a reflective sheen as he surveys the remarkable journey from those early, experimental days of wireless entertainment to this golden age of comedy and variety. You can almost hear the nostalgia mingling with his characteristic exuberance, the warmth of recognition that he's been America's jester through prosperity, depression, and now, war.

What makes this particular broadcast essential listening is its position at the crossroads of radio history. By 1945, Cantor had already transitioned from stage star to broadcasting institution, and his show had migrated between networks, proving his value to each. This episode captures a performer at the height of his powers, reflecting on the medium that made him, even as that medium was beginning to sense its own mortality—though nobody could quite articulate it yet. The variety show format, the blend of comedy sketches, musical interludes, and celebrity guests that defined The Eddie Cantor Show, represents radio's most ambitious entertainment vision.

Join Eddie and his company for this remarkable evening of memory and merriment. It's a window into radio's golden age, heard from within that age itself—a unique privilege in historical listening that reminds us why families gathered around the radio dial night after night.