page_title: The Chesterfield Supper Club
section_title: Radio
hierarchical_section_title: The Chesterfield Supper Club / Radio
caption_attribution_description: English: Promotional brochure Copyright details This promotional brochure was a promotion for listeners of Chesterfield Supper Club in 1947. No copyright marks are seen on the brochure. The brochure and photos can be dated in this manner-From 1944 to 1946, Perry Como hosted the program five nights a week; it was not until 1946, that Jo Stafford joined the show as a host for the Tuesday and Thursday broadcasts. Stafford, like Como, was based in New York; she relocated to California later in 1946. She began hosting from Hollywood in November 1946, with conductor Paul Weston and the vocal group, The Starlighters. The brochure shows Lloyd Shaffer as the conductor in New York; he held that position with the program from New York from 1945 to 1948, when he was replaced by Mitchell Ayres. The Satisfiers vocal group also worked with the show from New York and continued to do so until 1948, when they were replaced by The Fontane Sisters. Hollywood conductor Paul Weston and the Starlighters vocal group are also pictured. Martin Block was the program's announcer from New York except for 1947, when he accepted a one year contract to work on the West Coast. During that year, Block was the announcer for the Hollywood broadcasts, returning to announcing for the show in New York after that point. He is shown as being in Hollywood in the brochure. Peggy Lee, who began hosting the Thursday broadcast in 1948, also worked from Hollywood with conductor Dave Barbour; neither are shown or mentioned in the material. The dating makes the item well within the pre-1978 timeframe. The show left radio and television in 1950, when Perry Como move from NBC to CBS for a five year period. The promotional packet was created for distribution to the radio show's listeners to induce regular listening and also to promote the Chesterfield brand of cigarettes. The original photos show damage to the item from folding; this was fixed. The photos were edited, resized, and combined to produce this file. A copyright search for Chesterfield turns up nothing which would pertain to the radio and television show(s) or its promotional materials. There is no evidence a copyright is claimed on this item. United States Copyright Office page 2 "Visually Perceptible Copies The notice for visually perceptible copies should contain all three elements described below. They should appear together or in close proximity on the copies. 1 The symbol © (letter C in a circle); the word “Copyright”; or the abbreviation “Copr.” 2 The year of first publication. If the work is a derivative work or a compilation incorporating previously published material, the year date of first publication of the derivative work or compilation is sufficient. Examples of derivative works are translations or dramatizations; an example of a compilation is an anthology. The year may be omitted when a pictorial, graphic, or sculptural work, with accompanying textual matter, if any, is reproduced in or on greeting cards, postcards, stationery, jewelry, dolls, toys, or useful articles. 3 The name of the copyright owner, an abbreviation by which the name can be recognized, or a generally known alternative designation of owner.1 Example © 2007 Jane Doe."
context_page_description: The Chesterfield Supper Club is an NBC Radio musical variety program, which was also telecast by NBC Television.
context_section_description: The Chesterfield Supper Club began on December 11, 1944, as a 15-minute radio program, airing at 7 pm weeknights on the NBC Radio Network. This musical variety show was sponsored by Chesterfield cigarettes and featured live musical performances. Perry Como initially hosted The Chesterfield Supper Club five nights a week. Initially, Como's female singer was Mary Ashworth.
  The idea for the radio show originated with Doug Storer, who was then an advertising executive with the Blackman Company.  Storer had heard Perry Como on his non-sponsored CBS radio program and believed he would do well in a radio show of the type he was proposing.  Storer recorded a demo of the radio show with Como as its host and Mitchell Ayres and his Orchestra providing the music. He took the recording to the advertising agency that handled the Chesterfield cigarettes account.
  The agency was enthusiastic about the program's format, but did not want Como as its host.  The singer the agency preferred was under contract and would need to be released from it before he could accept a job on the new radio program.  They asked Storer to get the singer released from his contract.  Storer, who was still of the belief that the new show needed Como as its host, did not go through with the advertising agency's request. He received a call from the agency some weeks later, asking about the singer's contract and saying their new program would make its radio debut in about one week's time. Storer told them the right man for the radio show was the one who had made the demo recording-Perry Como.  Chesterfield's advertising agency did not have time to do anything but sign Como as the host of the show.
  During the first year, Como was backed by the Ted Steele Orchestra, followed by the Lloyd Shaffer Orchestra at the end of 1945 until 1948. With John Klenner, Shaffer and Steele composed the show's theme song, "Smoke Dreams." Roy Ringwald's "A Cigarette, Sweet Music and You" was also used on the show as a musical theme. The Satisfiers vocal group was also part of the program; they also made many records with Como.
  Beginning on the show's second anniversary, he hosted the show on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, while Jo Stafford was the host on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Stafford returned to California shortly after becoming a co-host of the program.  She began her twice-weekly broadcasts from Hollywood in November 1946, backed by her future husband, Paul Weston. Stafford's Hollywood "Club" broadcasts featured the vocal group The Starlighters; in 1947 she recorded her version of the show's theme song, "Smoke Dreams", with them.
  One of the regular features was a "Hollywood Star of the Week" contest where an actor or actress would be featured as a "guest star" singing a song and the listening audience would guess the star's identity for prizes. The "mystery star" contest continued when the show appeared on television.
  The broadcasts of April 5, 1946, made from a TWA plane at an altitude of 20,000 feet, are believed to be the first network radio broadcasts from an airplane. Jo Stafford, Perry Como, and the entire staff made the flight. There were two mid-air Supper Club broadcasts: one at 6 pm and another at 10 pm for the West Coast. A total of three flights were made; an earlier rehearsal flight for reception purposes was also made. In addition to the cast and the band's instruments, there was also a small piano on board. The three stand-held microphones brought onto the plane turned out to be less useful than expected. The cast then resorted to hand-held microphones, but the plane's cabin pressure made them very heavy and difficult to hold after a few minutes.
  Less than two months after the airborne Supper Club broadcasts, Chesterfield had an idea to take the program on a week of remote broadcasts: flying into Washington, DC for the Monday show, to London, for the Wednesday one and winding up with the Friday night show in Havana. The plan appears to have fallen from favor when it was learned that the taxes which would have been imposed on the Shaffer orchestra as foreign music
caption: Promotional brochure for the show from 1947.
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