The World War 2 Radio Podcast · Brick Pickle Media LLC

AFRS Command Performance 12/25/1945

·1 hr 2 min·4 clips

Johnny Mercer explains that he got the idea for "Atchison, Topeka and the Santa Fe" from a Kansas family.

1. The World War II Radio Podcast presents AFRS Command Performance's Christmas episode from December 25, 1945. 2. The show features Bob Hope, Bing Crosby, Dinah Shore, Harry James, Johnny Mercer, Virginia O'Brien, Spike Jones, Xavier Cugat, and Professor Colonna as comic and musical regulars. 3. The episode's purpose is to package holiday entertainment for service personnel through songs, sketches, and request letters. 4. Bob Hope opens by joking that he cannot bring "snow" or "Santa Claus' igloo" but can bring a guest "who has an icicle for a nose." 5. Bing Crosby joins Hope for banter about Christmas parties, costumes, and the song "Atchison, Topeka and the Santa Fe." 6. Dinah Shore enters the party routine and trades food jokes about "200 empty skins" and "turkey furters." 7. Harry James appears with a letter from the Philippines about a Japanese bugle captured by the 4th Sound Ranging Platoon. 8. The letter mentions six men, Filipino guerrillas, a 3 o'clock attack, and Corporal C.E. Fowler taking the bugle as a souvenir. 9. Herbert Marshall and Jimmy Durante follow with rapid dialogue about a formal party, a valet, and "Angelo Saxon" ancestry jokes. 10. Johnny Mercer later explains that he got the idea for "Atchison, Topeka and the Santa Fe" from a family he once visited near Topeka, Kansas. 11. Mercer and the cast turn that explanation into a hillbilly scene with the Hawkins family, Judy Holcomb, and an ongoing feud. 12. The sketch ends with the line, "And that's how I happen to write the Atchison, Topeka, and the Santa Fe." 13. The episode also includes Virginia O'Brien's deadpan performance of "Let's Be Sweethearts Again" with wartime-style breakup jokes. 14. Spike Jones and his City Slickers are introduced as the American Sir Thomas Beecham and respond with a loud version of "Holiday for Strings." 15. Professor Colonna contributes kitchen and gift-giving jokes, including mail sent to himself and a bucket of Pepsi-Cola from a cow. 16. Bob Hope repeatedly pushes the Christmas party theme through jokes about gifts, food, and guest lists. 17. The tone is fast, studio-based, and built around quick one-liners, song introductions, and recurring impersonation comedy. 18. The format moves from host introduction to musical numbers, then to guest sketches and short comic exchanges. 19. Listeners who like vintage radio comedy, swing-era singers, and wartime variety shows. 20. Listeners wanting serious war analysis or long-form discussion.

As heard by us

A Christmas 1945 slice of wartime variety radio, mixing comedy, songs, and station identification in a brisk period format.

This Christmas 1945 Command Performance episode treats wartime radio as a polished blend of comedy, songs, and announcer patter. First broadcast on December 25, 1945, it follows the Armed Forces Radio Service model: recorded in Hollywood, then sent to service personnel around…

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Why you'd press play

Hear the 1945 Christmas episode of Command Performance as service personnel heard it: a Hollywood-recorded Armed Forces Radio Service broadcast, first aired December 25, 1945.

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