thirty-two POISE 



Don M c Neill 



Radio's Breakfast Club Man 



1^ by GecU fl, SckuUe 



SIX feet two of laughing Catholic 

 manhood. That seems to be as ade- 

 quate a way as any to describe Don 

 McNeill, ace NBC master of ceremo- 

 nies, and without doubt one of the most 

 listened-to men in the radio industry. 



Don is M. C. on the daily, Monday 

 through Saturday, NBC "Breakfast 

 Club" program, a program which is 

 famed for its popularity and more espe- 

 cially for its cleanliness. Don McNeill 

 could truly be called "America's Alarm 

 Clock." 



The role is fitting, moreover; for the 

 laugh-provoking broadcaster has done 

 a good job of being first in nearly every- 

 thing he engaged in since he beat Santa 

 Claus to the old McNeill home a scant 

 twenty-four hours before Christmas Eve 

 back in 1907. Don was baptized in a 

 Galena, 111., parish on January 2, 1908. 



Some time later the family moved to 

 Sheboygan, Wis., where, in 19 13, the 

 Irish lad entered St. Clement's parochial 

 school. As a boy Don remembers that 

 he was an average student with an 

 above-average yen for jokes and fun. 

 Highlight of his years at St. Clement's 

 was his First Holy Communion in 191 5 

 and his later reception of Confirmation 

 in the same parish church. As may be 

 seen, the good Lord must have blessed 

 young Don with an abundance of the 

 graces of Confirmation; for the boy has 

 indeed been a true soldier of Christ 

 throughout his life. 



About 1926 the young man en- 

 tered Marquette University at Milwau- 

 kee. Here again he proved his ability 

 to be first when he beat all applicants 

 in a rush for an announcer's job at a 

 Milwaukee station. Don needed that 

 job. And as a result the fifteen dollars 

 a week wage which he received for 

 being announcer, radio editor, and gen- 

 eral flunky, looked mighty big at the 

 time. What Don didn't realize then 

 was that his means to an education 

 would eventually lead to one of the 

 highest paid radio positions in the 

 country. 



The popular maestro's upward climb 

 has been continuous. In 1929 he was 

 graduated from Marquette, and the fol- 

 lowing year Louisville, Ky., residents 



Happy-go-luc\y Don is one of the most 

 listened-to men in the radio industry. 



were embracing him as their own new 

 star in a comedy act known as the "Two 

 Professors." This was Don's first real 

 specialized act in the radio field. 



The act proved so popular that the 

 two members of the team decided to 

 take it to San Francisco for outlets on 

 NBC up and down the west coast. 



But three years later Don found him- 

 self back near his old stamping grounds 

 as announcer on an NBC station in 

 Chicago. At once he was drafted into 

 the business of being a radio master of 

 ceremonies and funnyman, a job he has 

 held ever since. 



Before returning to his old haunts, 

 however, Don married Katherine Ben- 

 nett at St. Brenden's church in San 

 Francisco. The marriage was solem- 

 nized by Father Kelly, and was a reali- 

 zation of the storybook type of school- 

 day love, Katherine having attended 

 Gesu, Holy Angels' Academy, and 

 Marquette, all in Milwaukee. 



Don's strongly-inbred Catholic train 

 of mind is interestingly revealed in his 

 daily broadcasts. Without doubt the 

 "Breakfast Club" is the most religious 

 — and to go even further, the most 



Catholic — of all supposedly strictly 

 secular programs. Any person who 

 regularly follows the "Breakfast Club" 

 cannot but help noticing the frequent 

 references, both direct and indirect, to 

 Holy Mother the Church. 



In not a few of these references, the 

 subject is jokingly referred to, yet the 

 most exacting cleric must admit that 

 though the jokes may be of the Church, 

 never does Don McNeill allow a joke 

 which could be considered irreverent or 

 ridiculous. His jokes pertaining to 

 Catholicism are of the type that the 

 reverend clergy themselves love to 

 repeat. 



An example of this type of comic 

 sideplay was broadcast recently when 

 the Master of Ceremonies told the story 

 of Pat and his interpretation of the 

 street traffic signals in New York City. 



It would seem that Pat, having just 

 disembarked, started across Fifth Ave- 

 nue against the red light. A friendly 

 Irish cop, not wishing to seem unfriend- 

 ly to a brother from the Isle, shouted: 



"Waitladdy! Wait for th' green. Yer 

 not a Red, be ye?" 



Pat patiently waited for the green 

 light, and when he had successfully 

 crossed, eyed the yellow light, and turn- 

 ing to the cop, declared: 



"Be gorra, they don't give much time 

 to th' Protestants here, do they?" 



No less appealing to the audience is 

 the homely, early twentieth century 

 games the artists participate in around 

 the breakfast table. A favorite of 

 McNeill's is "March to Jerusalem." 

 Scraping chairs and excited laughter 

 bring smiles and memories to the thou- 

 sands who are ardent McNeill fans. 



Of especial appeal to women listeners 

 is the regular "Memory Time Around 

 the Breakfast Table," a program which 

 features favorite old and original poems 

 sent in by the listeners themselves. 



Another feature of the program that 

 never fails to make friends is the infor- 

 mality of the M. C. in drawing mem- 

 bers of the studio audience into the 

 program. Originally the "Breakfast 

 Club" was closed to visitors, but a few 

 years past something took place which 



