Your Hit Parade
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Your Hit Parade was a popular American radio and television program, broadcast from 1935 to 1955 on radio and telecast from 1950 to 1959. The most popular songs of the then-current week were sung or performed. During this 24-year run, the show had 19 orchestra leaders and 52 singers or groups. The familiar format involved a countdown of the week's top ten songs, with suspense and fanfares leading to the finale, a performance of the week's number one song.
The origins of that format can be traced back to the Lucky Strike Dance Orchestra, named after the show's sponsor, Lucky Strike cigarettes. Airing on NBC from 1928 to 1931, the Lucky Strike Dance Orchestra, led by B.A. Rolfe, played the popular tunes of the period at random during a 60-minute show on Saturday nights at 10pm.
When Your Hit Parade began on NBC April 20, 1935, it was a 60-minute show with 15 songs played in a random format. Some years passed before the countdown format was introduced, with the number of songs varying from seven to 15.
The cast of the 1950s TV version included Snooky Lanson, Russell Arms, Dorothy Collins, Gisele Mackenzie, Eileen Wilson, Sue Bennett, June Valli, and Johnny Desmond. All were performers of standards, show tunes, or big band numbers. Also featured prominently on the show: The Hit Paraders (the program's choral singers), and the Hit Parade dancers. Bob Fosse was an occasional guest dancer—with partner Mary Ann Niles—during the first year or two of the TV show. From 1950 until 1957, the show's orchestra was led by well-known bandleader and musician Raymond Scott. Andre Baruch, the long-time announcer on radio's Your Hit Parade continued as the announcer when the program came to television in 1950.
The show faded out with the rise of rock and roll when the performance became more important than the song. It is said that big band singer Snooky Lanson's weekly attempts to perform Elvis Presley's long-running hit, "Hound Dog", brought the program to an end.
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