First Song How About You, Guest Pat Obrien, Wingy Manone

Step into the warmth of a Thursday evening in wartime America, when millions of Americans gathered around their radio sets to escape into the elegant confines of the Kraft Music Hall. This particular broadcast opens with the irresistible strains of a song destined to become a standard—"How About You"—performed with such effervescence that you can almost see the studio audience leaning forward in their seats. Bing Crosby, the show's urbane host, presides over the proceedings with characteristic charm while guest star Pat O'Brien brings his distinctive Irish wit and theatrical gravitas to the stage. But it's the incandescent presence of Wingy Manone, the one-armed jazz trumpet virtuoso from New Orleans, that electrifies the evening—his horn cutting through the orchestra with a sharpness and personality that no other musician could replicate. The banter crackles with the spontaneity of live performance; there's genuine chemistry between these three, a sense that anything might happen in the next fifteen minutes.

By 1942, the Kraft Music Hall had already established itself as the gold standard of American variety programming, a program that understood the alchemy of mixing popular music, comedy, and star power into something utterly irresistible. During the war years, these broadcasts served as cultural anchors for a nation divided by conflict—a weekly reminder of normalcy and excellence. Wingy Manone's appearance represented something particularly American: a triumph over adversity, a celebration of jazz as a uniquely homegrown art form that had conquered even the most prestigious radio stages.

Tune in and experience radio's golden age at its finest—when entertainment meant something, when live performance mattered, and when a simple song could become a national treasure.