Harvest of Stars was a concert music series, produced and directed by Glen Heisch and starring James Melton

James Melton

James Melton , a popular singer in the 1920s and early 1930s, later began a career as an operatic singer when tenor voices went out of style in popular music around 1932-35...

. Sponsored by International Harvester

International Harvester

International Harvester Company was a United States agricultural machinery, construction equipment, vehicle, commercial truck, and household and commercial products manufacturer. In 1902, J.P...

, the program was broadcast on NBC and CBS from 1945 to 1950.

Raymond Massey

Raymond Massey

Raymond Hart Massey was a Canadian/American actor.-Early life:Massey was born in Toronto, Ontario, the son of Anna , who was born in Illinois, and Chester Daniel Massey, the wealthy owner of the Massey-Ferguson Tractor Company. Massey's family could trace their ancestry back to the American...

 was the host when the show began October 7, 1945, on Sunday afternoons from 2:30pm to 3:00pm, offering opera selections along with standards and show tunes under the direction of Howard Barlow. Frank Black was the musical director in the 1947 series. On April 7, 1948, the show moved to Wednesday evenings at 9:30pm. Victor Young

Victor Young

Victor Young was an American composer, arranger, violinist and conductor. He was born in Chicago.-Biography:...

 took over as musical director on January 5, 1949.

Although usually emanating from New York, Harvest of Stars also toured for sell-out shows in major cities from San Francisco to Memphis. Guests included Bob Burns (doing a bazooka solo), Alfred Drake

Alfred Drake

Alfred Drake was an American actor and singer.-Biography:Born as Alfred Capurro in New York City, the son of parents emigrated from Recco, Genoa, Drake began his Broadway career while still a student at Brooklyn College...

. Burl Ives

Burl Ives

Burl Icle Ivanhoe Ives was an American actor, writer and folk music singer. As an actor, Ives's work included comedies, dramas, and voice work in theater, television, and motion pictures. Music critic John Rockwell said, "Ives's voice .....

. Dorothy Kirsten

Dorothy Kirsten

Dorothy Kirsten was an American operatic soprano.-Biography:...

, Lauritz Melchior

Lauritz Melchior

Lauritz Melchior was a Danish and later American opera singer. He was the pre-eminent Wagnerian tenor of the 1920s, 1930s, and 1940s, and has since come to be considered the quintessence of his voice type.-Biography:...

. Robert Merrill

Robert Merrill

Robert Merrill was an American operatic baritone.-Early life:Merrill was born Moishe Miller, later known as Morris Miller, in the Williamsburg section of Brooklyn, New York, to tailor Abraham Miller, originally Milstein, and his wife Lillian, née Balaban, immigrants from Warsaw, Poland.His mother...

. Jan Peerce

Jan Peerce

Jan Peerce was an American operatic tenor. Peerce was an accomplished performer on the operatic and Broadway concert stages, in solo recitals, and as a recording artist. He is the father of film director Larry Peerce....

, Jane Powell

Jane Powell

Jane Powell is an American singer, dancer and actress.After rising to fame as a singer in her home state of Oregon, Powell was signed to Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer while still in her teens...

, the Revelers

The Revelers

The Revelers were an American quintet popular in the late 1920s and early 1930s. The Revelers' recordings of "Dinah", "Old Man River", "Valencia", "Baby Face", "Blue Room", "The Birth of the Blues", "When Yuba Plays the Rumba on the Tuba", and many more, became popular in the United States and...

 (their first reunion since 1938), Lanny Ross

Lanny Ross

Lanny Ross was an American singer, pianist and songwriter.-Biography:Lancelot Patrick Ross was born in Seattle, Washington. He graduated from Yale University in 1928, where he was a member of Zeta Psi and Skull and Bones. He later studied classical vocal technique at the Juilliard School of...

, Rise Stevens

Risë Stevens

Risë Stevens is a retired American operatic mezzo-soprano.-Professional life:Stevens studied at New York's Juilliard School for three years. She went to Vienna, where she was trained by Marie Gutheil-Schoder and Herbert Graf. She made her début as Mignon in Prague in 1936 and stayed there until...

 and Alec Templeton

Alec Templeton

Alec Templeton was a Welsh composer, pianist and satirist.Templeton was born in Cardiff, Wales. Blind from birth, he studied at London's Royal Academy.-Radio:...

.

Local International Harvester dealers ran tie-in ads with the radio series. For example, on April 20, 1949, the Orscheln Bros. dealership in Moberly, Missouri

Moberly, Missouri

Moberly is a city in Randolph County, Missouri, United States. According to the 2008 census bureau estimate, the population was 14,227. The city was incorporated 1868. The Moberly Micropolitan Statistical Area consists of Randolph County....

, advertised the company's Farmall tractor in the Moberly Monitor-Index and Democrat with a box at the bottom of the ad:

Listen!

Sunday afternoon

Listen!

Harvest of Stars starring James Melton will be heard on the NBC network Sunday afternoons at 4:30pm. Listen to it over Stations WDAF, Kansas City or KSD, St. Louis.

The final run of the program began April 3, 1949, on Sundays at 5:30pm, and the series concluded September 5, 1950.