On the Fourth of July I got together with a friend I had not seen in a while and went to see the annual fireworks display at Las Colinas, a large suburban "urban center" in Irving, Texas located between Fort Worth and Dallas. The food vendors that had been set up for the occasion gave the place a bit of a carnival atmosphere. The SPAMMOBILE was also in town for a visit and had set up shop next to the food vendors giving out free samples of the famous Hormel product. By the time we arrived they had stopped giving the samples.
My friend was a bit puzzled by my fascination with the SPAMMOBILE and the fact that I wanted to take photos of it. Part of it was that I found the whole concept of a SPAMMOBILE to be somewhat amusing. Part of it was because it reminded me of the old Moxiemobiles which used to be sent around to events in the early 1900s to advertise my favorite soda pop Moxie.
SPAM certainly has its own vintage credentials. It was introduced in 1937 at the very tail end of the period that Radio Dismuke musically covers. Before that, it had an earlier incarnation as Hormel Spiced Ham which was not successful. The product's new name must have helped as SPAM is still with us - and in more ways than just the food, unfortunately.
SPAM was the sponsor of the autumn 1940 - spring 1941 season of NBC's George Burns & Gracie Allen Show. I am a huge Burns & Allen fan. I think their later TV show was funnier but the original radio program certainly had many great moments. Comedy, in general, does not age well and I personally find a lot of the comedy in vintage radio programs and films to be rather tedious. But Gracie Allen's dumb yet incredibly clever wordplays just crack me up.
In those days most network radio comedy shows had a house band. Burns & Allen had several bands during the course of the program's long run. In the 1940 -1941 season the house band was Artie Shaw's swing band. In addition to leading the band, Shaw performed as a regular cast member and was frequently incorporated into the comedy routines.
The Burns & Allen program from November 18, 1940 especially stands out for a routine that can only be described as an early performance of rap music. I am most emphatically NOT a fan of rap music - but this one is actually quite neat. The lyrics are about SPAM. During the first couple of decades of network radio, it was commonplace for mentions of a sponsor's product to be worked into the content of the program.
I know next to nothing about the history of rap music so I have no idea whether or not this is one of the earlier surviving performances. You can take a listen by clicking on the link below. The link should open up your default mp3 player and start to stream. Artie Shaw also participates in the rap - his is the voice that says "yeah, that's right Gracie, that's the worst one yet."
1940 Spam Rap mp3 stream
(George Burns, Gracie Allen, Artie Shaw & Cast of November 18, 1940 Burns & Allen Program)
Kind of neat, isn't it?
I have read that the practice of incorporating mentions of corporate sponsors into actual program content might be making a come back in television as a way of addressing the fact that, with the advent of video recorders, many viewers simply fast forward past commercials and never see them.
Here are some additional excerpts from the same program which feature plugs for SPAM
Program Intro & SPAM Commercial mp3 stream
This clip also features some brief swing passages by the Artie Shaw Orchestra.
Program Close & SPAM Commercial & NBC Chimes mp3 stream
Just before the electronic NBC radio chimes is a plug for Hormel Chili Con Carne.
Below are some additional photos I took of the SPAMMOBILE as well as a photo of one of the food stands that I thought came out well.
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