Editing Fred Allen (section)

==Radio==
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Allen's first taste of radio came while he and Portland Hoffa waited for a promised slot in a new [[Arthur Hammerstein]] musical. In the interim, they appeared on a [[WLS (AM)|Chicago station]]'s program, ''WLS Showboat'', into which Allen recalled, "Portland and I were presented... to inject a little class into it." Their success in these appearances helped their theater reception. Live audiences in the Midwest liked to see their radio favorites in person even if Allen and Hoffa would be replaced by [[Bob Hope]] when the radio show moved to New York several months afterward. 
[[File:Fred Allen and Portland Hoffa 1941.JPG|thumb|right|upright|Fred Allen and wife [[Portland Hoffa]], 1941]]
The couple eventually got their Hammerstein show, ''[[Polly With a Past (play)|Polly]]'', which opened in [[Delaware]] and made the usual tour before hitting Broadway. Also in that cast was a young Englishman named Archie Leach, who received as many good notices for his romantic appeal as Allen got for his comic work. Hammerstein retooled the show before he brought it to New York by replacing everyone but two women and Allen. Leach decided to buy an old car and drive to Hollywood. "What Archie Leach didn't tell me," Allen remembered, "was that he was going to change his name to [[Cary Grant]]."

''Polly'' never succeeded in spite of several retoolings, but Allen went on to successful shows like ''[[The Little Show]]'' (1929–30) and ''[[Three's a Crowd (musical)|Three's a Crowd]]'' (1930–31), which eventually led to his full-time entry to radio in 1932.

===''Town Hall Tonight''===
Allen first hosted '''''The Linit Bath Club Revue''''' on [[CBS]] and moved the show to [[NBC]] to become ''The Salad Bowl Revue'' (in a nod to new sponsor [[Hellmann's]] Mayonnaise, which was marketed by the parent company of Linit) later in the year. The show became ''The [[Sal Hepatica]] Revue'' (1933–34), ''The Hour of Smiles'' (1934–35), and finally ''Town Hall Tonight'' (1935–39). In 1939–40, however, sponsor [[Bristol-Myers]], which advertised [[Ipana]] toothpaste as well as Sal Hepatica during the program, altered the title to ''[[The Fred Allen Show]]'' over his objections. Allen's perfectionism (odd to some because of his deft ad libs) caused him to leap from sponsor to sponsor until ''Town Hall Tonight'' allowed him to set his chosen small-town milieu and establish himself as a [[bona fide]] radio star.
[[File:Fred Allen clown 1940.JPG|thumb|upright|right|Publicity photo for the premiere of ''Texaco Star Theater'', 1940.]]
The hour-long show featured segments that would influence radio and, much later, television. News satires such as ''[[Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In]]'''s "Laugh-In Looks at the News" and ''[[Saturday Night Live]]'s'' "Weekend Update" were influenced by ''Town Hall Tonight's'' "The News Reel", later renamed "Town Hall News" (and in 1939–40, as a sop to his sponsor, "[[Ipana]] News"). ''[[The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson]]'s'' "Mighty Carson Art Players" routines referred to the Mighty Allen Art Players in name and sometimes in routines. 

Allen and company also satirized popular musical comedies and films of the day, including and especially ''[[Oklahoma! (film)|Oklahoma!]]''. Allen also did semi-satirical interpretations of well-known lives, including his own.

The show that became ''Town Hall Tonight'' was the longest-running hour-long comedy-based show in classic radio history. In 1940, Allen moved back to [[CBS Radio]] with a new sponsor and show name, ''[[Texaco Star Theater]]'', airing every Wednesday at 9:00 pm ET on CBS, then Sundays at 9:00 pm in the fall of 1941. By 1942, he shortened the show to half an hour, at 9:30 pm ET, under the edicts of the network and sponsor. He also chafed under being forced to give up a ''Town Hall Tonight'' signature of using barely-known and amateur guests effectively in favor of booking more recognizable guests although he liked many of them. Guests included singers from [[Kingston, New York]], the original woman behind the "[[Aunt Jemima]]" on pancake boxes, and singer Donald Gardner from [[Saugerties, New York]]. 

Allen held himself personally responsible for the show's success and devoted much of his time to writing and rewriting routines and scripts. The overwork took a heavy toll on his health. His condition was diagnosed as hypertension, and he was forced to take more than a year off.