Early years A native of
Los Angeles, Block began working in radio in
Tijuana, Mexico, and then as junior assistant to
Al Jarvis at
KFWB when he began playing records on the air introducing them with information he'd gleaned from
Billboard and
Variety, creating the show ''The World's Largest Make Believe Ballroom''. Before that, Block sold small household items and appliances. Block came up with two famous advertising slogans for his sponsors: "ABC-Always Buy Chesterfield" for
Liggett & Myers and "LSMFT"-Lucky Strike Means Fine Tobacco" for
Lucky Strike.
Career break: Make Believe Ballroom In 1934, Block went to work for WNEW at a salary of $20 per week. In 1935, while listeners to New York's WNEW in New York (now information outlet
WBBR) were awaiting developments in the
Lindbergh kidnapping, Block built his audience by playing records between the Lindbergh news bulletins. This led to his
Make Believe Ballroom, which began on February 3, 1935 with Block borrowing both the concept and the title from West Coast disc jockey
Al Jarvis, creating the illusion that he was broadcasting from a ballroom with the nation’s top dance bands performing live. He bought some records from a local music shop for the program as the radio station had none. In 1936, Block and his "Ballroom" inadvertently came to the aid of a young man accused of being a pickpocket. His alibi was that he was home at the time, listening to the show, describing how
Guy Lombardo, who was to appear on
Make Believe Ballroom, was unable to keep the engagement and sent a telegram, which was read on the air. His story was verified and all charges were dropped. Two years later, current events unwittingly entered the "Make Believe" world with Louis Armstrong singer Midge Williams' renditions of two American popular songs in
Japanese. NBC received many telephone calls and telegrams protesting her performance from listeners who were irate over the recent Japanese invasion of
China.
Make Believe Ballroom was nationally syndicated in 1940. One segment of
Ballroom was entitled "Saturday Night in Harlem". During this,
Cab Calloway,
Louis Armstrong,
Duke Ellington and other jazz musicians' music was featured. Block and
Make Believe Ballroom made the cover of
Billboard magazine in April, 1942. During the
1942–44 musicians' strike (also known as the American Federation of Musicians (AFM) recording ban), he was able to obtain new records with full orchestral backing for his program by having friends in England send him UK recordings, as the ban applied to the United States only. When
Spike Jones and his City Slickers returned from entertaining the troops in 1944, the New York hotel room shortage meant the musicians had nowhere to sleep. Jones telephoned Martin Block, who went on the air with the news. WNEW was flooded with listener calls offering to accommodate Jones and his band. In the 1940s Block hired a young record collector,
Joe Franklin, as his "record picker." Franklin went on to host his own radio and television programs in the New York City market for more than 65 years. In 1947, there were two daily editions of the
Make Believe Ballroom: one in the late morning and another around dinner time. The illusion was shattered by a 1948 musical short in which Block talked about the show while sitting in front of his extensive record library. He also did a weekly international version of
Make Believe Ballroom for
Voice of America beginning in 1949. When Block heard that Voice of America would begin broadcasting a popular music program, he volunteered to host the show without pay.
Other radio shows and music-related work Block was also the announcer for
The Chesterfield Supper Club; some of his other announcing assignments were on ''
Pepper Young's Family'',
Kay Kyser's radio show and the
CBS Hit Parade. In 1945, a busy Block was doing the
Supper Club announcing for the first broadcast, going to WNEW for his own
Make Believe Ballroom, working on a CBS radio show called
Johnnie Johnston three days a week via telephone from WNEW, then returning to
Chesterfield Supper Club for the later broadcast for the West Coast. By the end of World War II, Martin Block was making $22,000 a week. Both Block and Jarvis appeared in Columbia Pictures' musical comedy feature film,
Make Believe Ballroom (1949), with
Frankie Laine and other recording artists; the year before, he had a cameo role in
Musical Merry-Go-Round with
Les Brown. Though the show continued in New York, Block was imported to Los Angeles by KFWB in 1947 to do
Make Believe Ballroom on the West Coast; he returned to New York at the end of his contract. While in California, Block broadcast for
Mutual Broadcasting System from a studio he owned in his
Encino home. He began doing a program for the network called
Block Party with bandleader Ray Block earlier in 1947. Block was also able to continue with
Chesterfield Supper Club while in California as the announcer for the Tuesday and Thursday broadcasts from
Hollywood with
Jo Stafford after she moved there. On returning from the West Coast, Block continued as the New York announcer for the "Supper Club". He went on to do the announcing for the television version of the program when it began in December, 1948. In 1950, he celebrated his 15th anniversary on the air.
Variety devoted an entire section to Block and his career, with many of those who Block helped become stars voicing their thanks. Block co-wrote the
Glenn Miller hit of 1941, "I Guess I'll Have to Dream the Rest". Miller also recorded a version of the
Make Believe Ballroom theme, titled "Make Believe Ballroom Time", for which Block wrote the lyrics. Block's memory lapse gave a young performer the name she would continue on to fame with. Fannie Rose Shore auditioned for the radio show, singing "Dinah". Block declared
Dinah Shore had won the spot on his radio show.
After the Ballroom Block left
Make Believe Ballroom in 1954 to host
The Martin Block Show for
ABC Radio, originating from the network's New York flagship
WABC. On February 3, 1955, Block was the host of a special program to mark the 20th anniversary of Make Believe Ballroom. The star-studded event was aired in two segments and carried on ABC Radio and ABC-TV. Tickets were sold with all proceeds benefiting the
March of Dimes. While he officially retired from ABC and radio in 1960, he indicated that his retirement merely meant not working in the medium on a regular basis. Towards the end of his career, he was heard on
WOR/New York. In 1962 Martin Block went on to host a weekly fifteen minute radio show called
Guard Session. The show was a throw back to Block’s
Make Believe Ballroom, as the show was broadcast as a make believe recording studio. Each show typically featured one singer and an accompanying band. The format allowed for two National Guard commercials and aired four tunes by the respective performers. The feature performer appeared for four shows spanning one month of airing. The original shows were highly scripted and somewhat corny, typical for Martin Block. By the end of production in 1967 the show was less scripted and had looser format. The first episode featured
Keely Smith and
Nelson Riddle. The last episode, show 300 aired on October 29th,1967 featuring
Trini Lopez. Block died at an Englewood, New Jersey, hospital September 18, 1967. He was survived by his wife, Joyce, and seven children; six of the children were from previous marriages. In 1988, Martin Block was inducted into the Radio Hall of Fame. After his departure from WNEW in 1953, the
Make Believe Ballroom was hosted by Gerry Marshall and then Art Ford. When Ford left WNEW for opportunities in television in 1958, WNEW DJ
William B. Williams hosted the
Make Believe Ballroom until his death in 1986. After Williams passing the show was hosted by popular entertainer
Steve Allen, beginning in January 1987. Allen hosted the show from both New York and
Los Angeles. By April of 1984 Steve Allen had made significant changes to the
Make Believe Ballroom, Allen stated
Make Believe Ballroom is "70 percent comedy and 30 percent music". The shift in emphasis was partly due to his own inclinations as a performer and partly to the presence on the program of Mark Simone, whom Mr. Allen called ”my Ed McMahon.”. The final broadcast of the WNEW
Make Believe Ballroom occurred on December 10, 1992, hosted by WNEW-AM DJ Jim Harlan. In the early 21st century New York city disk jockey Claire Stevens launched a new syndicated version of
The Make Believe Ballroom via the Triumph Radio Network. ==References==