This week's program is presented complete, as I have it. The beginning and ending are cut a bit, as are the commercials, but that is how the copy exists. From Saturday night, August 17, 1935, enjoy the Al Jolson Shell Chateau program, with guests Vince Barnett, Carmel Myers, The Watson Sisters, and Lionel Barrymore. The orchestra was conducted by Victor Young, and Jack Stanton and Peggy Gardiner continued as regular featured players.

As with all programs of this series, the fidelity of this program leaves much to be desired. We can just be glad we have the opportunity to listen to Al Jolson on the radio in the mid-1930s. Jolie opened this program with the "Good Evening, Friends" that was his custom at the time, slightly cut in this transcription. After the opening, Jolson introduced the guests for the evening, with a few choice jokes directed at each one of them.

As a gesture to all the Kentuckians listening after last week's show, Jolson opened with "Hello 'Tucky."

The first guest on the program, Vince Barnett, was billed as a "world's champion ribber," what we would call a heckler. With Jolson's encouragement he told a few tales of some of his accomplishments. Only he didn't! As you could have done only in radio, an announcement at the end of the program reveals that Vince Barnett was ill, and unable to speak during the broadcast; his part was played by writer Pat C. Flick -- accents and all!

Jack Stanton and Peggy Gardiner then entertained with "My Heart Stood Still."

Presenting a scene from a radio drama, Carmel Myers then appeared on the Chateau.

Jolson sang a song he often referred to as "the finest song ever written," Irving Berlin's "When I Leave The World Behind."

Direct from vaudeville, with a style of comedy that is but a memory today, the Watson Sisters preserved their act in this 1935 recording.

Today, Drew Barrymore is a "big star." But many may not know that she is but just the latest member of an acting dynasty. Generations before, patriarch Lionel Barrymore stunned audiences with his performances, and he graced this week's Shell Chateau as well.

There is one surviving commercial in this program, and it comes at the end.

Promising a great show next week, Jolson signed off with "Thank You Father."