The Mary Lee Taylor Program

The run

Network

NBC

Years active

1940–1950

Surviving broadcasts

33

Genre

comedy

THE MARY LEE TAYLOR PROGRAM This series, "the longest-running cooking program on radio," began November 7, 1933 on CBS and concluded October 9, 1954 on NBC. The CBS episodes were initially fifteen minutes long and devoted to cooking tips and recipes. Before the show switched to NBC in 1948, it had expanded to thirty minutes, and there it became part of the "NBC Saturday morning parade of stars". The new version, introduced informally by the announcer as "Mary Lee on NBC," was an unusual but effective generic hybrid. Each episode begins with "The Story of the Week", a light domestic drama about fifteen minutes in length featuring young married couple Jim and Sally Carter. These segments have much in common with the many radio sitcoms of the day. In one show, we find Jim seized by jealousy because an old friend of his is flirting outrageously with Sally right before his eyes. Digitised by the Old Time Radio Researchers and streamed from the Internet Archive item “OTRR_Mary_Lee_Taylor_Singles”; these recordings are in the public domain.