Blue Ribbon Town was a comedy-variety radio series, sponsored by Pabst Blue Ribbon Beer

Pabst Blue Ribbon

Pabst Blue Ribbon is a brand of beer sold by Pabst Brewing Company, originally established in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, but now based in Los Angeles. Pabst Blue Ribbon is contract-brewed in six different breweries around the U.S...

, broadcast on CBS from March 27, 1943 to August 5, 1944. The 30-minute series was heard Saturday nights at 10:30pm until October when it moved to 8pm. It was also known as Pabst Blue Ribbon Town.

The comedy situations, starring Groucho Marx

Groucho Marx

Julius Henry "Groucho" Marx was an American comedian and film star famed as a master of wit. His rapid-fire delivery of innuendo-laden patter earned him many admirers. He made 13 feature films with his siblings the Marx Brothers, of whom he was the third-born...

, took place in the mythical American community of Blue Ribbon Town where men were men, women were women, and the jokes were mainly puns. Other regulars were Virginia O'Brien

Virginia O'Brien

Virginia Lee O'Brien was a popular American actress, singer, and radio personality known for her comedic roles in MGM musicals of the 1940s.-Life and career:...

, Leo Gorcey

Leo Gorcey

Leo Bernard Gorcey was an American stage and movie actor who became famous for portraying on film the leader of the group of young hooligans known variously as the Dead End Kids, The East Side Kids and The Bowery Boys. Always the most pugnacious member of the gangs he participated in, young Leo...

 and Fay McKenzie

Fay McKenzie

Fay McKenzie starred in several westerns during the 1940s alongside Gene Autry, and married screenwriter Tom Waldman.McKenzie was the daughter of the actor Robert McKenzie and actress Eva McKenzie.-External links:*...

. The vocalists were Kenny Baker (who took over as host after Marx left in June 1944), Bill Days and Donald Dickson. Dick Joy was the announcer.

Small Business Times editor Steve Jagler wrote about the program's visit to Milwaukee February 5, 1944 to celebrate Pabst's 100th anniversary:

The dialogue of the old radio show is classic Groucho schtick: Co-star Fay McKenzie says to the host, "Oh, Groucho, look, there's Lake Michigan! My, it's choppy today. See all the whitecaps." In his trademark sarcastic tone, Groucho replies, "Yes, isn't it wonderful? You get near the place where they make Pabst beer, and even the lake has a head on it." The Milwaukee crowd erupts in laughter and applause. Announcer Durward Kirby

Durward Kirby

Homer Durward Kirby , known professionally as Durward Kirby , was an American television host and announcer...

 then interrupts the skit to promote Pabst and its 100-year anniversary, in a pitch that seems eerily ironic today, given the brewer's demise a half-century later.

The show was written, directed and produced by Dick Mack. Robert Armbruster

Robert Armbruster

Robert Armbruster was a Philadelphia-born American composer, conductor, pianist and songwriter. After studying with Constantin von Sternberg he became a concert pianist, then branched out into conducting and a composing for radio, then television and film. He debuted as a pianist with the...

supplied the music.

Listen to

• "Blue Ribbon Town" broadcast from Milwaukee in celebration of Pabst's 100th anniversary (February 5, 1944)