Pabst Blue Ribbon 1947 03 06 (24) How Eddie And Al Jolson Got Started

# The Eddie Cantor Show - March 6, 1947

Picture this: it's a Thursday evening in 1947, and Eddie Cantor is settling into his favorite role—raconteur and showman. Tonight, he's in reminiscent spirits, ready to regale his audience with the inside stories of how he and his old pal Al Jolson clawed their way up from vaudeville obscurity to becoming titans of American entertainment. You can almost hear the crackle of the studio audience leaning in, hungry for the kind of backstage gossip and colorful anecdotes that only a man who lived it could tell. Between the orchestra swells and carefully timed laughs, Cantor doesn't just recount history—he *performs* it, complete with impressions, musical interludes, and that infectious energy that made him a star across five decades of show business.

By 1947, Eddie Cantor had already cemented his legend: a Ziegfeld Follies veteran, a Broadway sensation, a motion picture pioneer, and now a radio icon. The Eddie Cantor Show itself had evolved into a prestigious weekly institution, bouncing between networks as sponsors like Pabst Blue Ribbon kept the lights on and the microphones hot. What made Cantor special wasn't just his gift for comedy—it was his authenticity. He was one of the last surviving links to vaudeville's golden age, and audiences treasured hearing him speak as an eyewitness to an era that was already becoming the stuff of legend.

This is radio at its most intimate and essential: two old masters reflecting on their extraordinary lives, the orchestra setting the mood, and millions of listeners transported back in time. For anyone curious about the roots of American entertainment, about how dreams were built in the early 1900s, this episode is essential listening.