Don McNeill and The Breakfast Club

The Breakfast Club

Right: The caption sheet for this photo, provided by the NBC Archives, reads as follows:
The "drammer" reaches a high point as the photographer catches three members of the NBC Breakfast Club cast during one of the early morning broadcasts. Don McNeill, master of ceremonies, left, has been bested by Sid Ellstrom (Grandpa Putterball) and Fran Allison (Aunt Fanny). The program is heard daily except Sunday over the NBC-Blue network at 9:00 a.m. EST.

The Breakfast Club was radio's longest running network entertainment show. It made its debut on June 23rd, 1933 and left the air on December 27th, 1968. During its first decade it was carried by the NBC Blue Network. Thereafter it was heard over ABC, the successor to the NBC Blue.

The photograph above, dating from 1938, shows Don McNeill, Sid Ellstrom and Fran Allison (who was equally well-known in the early years of television as a cast member of Kukla, Fran and Ollie.

Broadcast pioneer Don McNeill passed away on 5/7/96 at the age of 88. Don was one of Chicago's most beloved broadcasters. He was perhaps the city's most successful.

Additional Breakfast Club Resources:

The complete "Breakfast Club" broadcast of December 8th, 1941. Don tries to offer hope to the nation on the morning after the attack on Pearl Harbor.

A mini-documentary on the "Breakfast Club" the curator put together in 2004.

The Breakfast Club Family Album of 1942. Meet members of the "Breakfast Club" cast, past and present, and Don's family.

"Twenty Years of Corn": Highlights from the 1953 Breakfast Club Year Book.

"The Nineteenth Floor": the memoir of engineer Kermit Slobb who worked the "Breakfast Club" as well as a number of other broadcasts on NBC Blue and ABC.

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Created by Rich Samuels (e-mail to rich@richsamuels.com)