Command Performance: Musical Performances, Comedy Sketches, Interviews · SolvedMystery.com

Command Performance: April 19, 1942, with Dorothy Lamour, Abbott and Costello

·28 min·2 clips

Shirley Temple sends personal message to serviceman in South Pacific

Command Performance presents itself as a show shaped by servicemen’s letters and listener requests. It opens with a polished announcement that firmly places the program inside wartime morale entertainment. Shirley Temple appears early as the requested star and greets the troops with the show’s usual warmth. The program keeps moving by shifting quickly from introduction to performance to comic business. A golf sketch takes over for a stretch and runs on blunt advice, literal replies, and a child who keeps complicating the lesson. The joke depends on repetition, and it keeps circling until the routine snaps into a new beat. That timing gives the episode its lift. The show does not stay with any single segment long enough for it to wear thin. Instead, it keeps passing the spotlight along. The result feels like a tightly managed stage revue rather than one long continuous act. The transitions are part of the charm. Letters from service members act as the engine that moves the show from one star to another. Dorothy Lamour is introduced through that request-driven structure and becomes part of the episode’s promise of home-front glamour. The episode also leans hard on announcer polish and audience-facing sincerity. Even the comic material stays inside that broadcast frame. The repeated “write in” logic keeps reminding listeners that the program is meant to answer a real audience. The closing section folds in patriotic language and a final goodnight from Shirley Temple. It ends with the same brisk confidence that carries the rest of the show. The whole hour plays like a curtain that never fully drops. One bit ends, another begins, and the show keeps moving until the salute.

As heard by us

A fast wartime request show where star turns, letters, and jokes keep the momentum moving.

Command Performance treats a wartime request show as a brisk parade of stars, bits, and patriotic cheer. It has the snap of a live broadcast, and the golf sketch lands because the comedy stays plainspoken before the next handoff arrives.

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Why you'd press play

Want a wartime request show packed with celebrity turns and old-time radio charm?

Read the full recommendation in PlayNext →

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