SOURCE: "Allen's Alley," in Radio Comedy, Oxford University Press, 1979, pp. 335-52.

In the following excerpt, Wertheim examines the use of ethnic and regional characterizations on Allen's Alley.

One of the funniest shows on radio in the 1940s was Allen's Alley, which premiered on Sunday, December 6, 1942. After eight years on the air Wednesday night, Allen had switched to a Sunday night time slot, on March 8, 1942. Listeners could then hear Jack Benny (7 p.m.), Bergen and McCarthy (8 p.m.), and Fred Allen (8:30 p.m.), three of the top comedy shows, on the same night. Listening to all those broadcasts became a Sunday evening pastime for families. Allen's last one-hour program was aired on June 28, 1942, and that fall he began broadcasting a thirty-minute show.

The half-hour comedy show was a standard time length in the 1940s. Benny had proved that a thirty-minute comedy program could be as entertaining as a one-hour...