A different time is evoked in this marvelously theatrical and winning show, a live broadcast of a The Mutual Manhattan Variety Cavalcade from the Hotel Astor's Algonquin Room on December 21, 1942. The spirit of that bygone era when the world was at war and pop music meant "Strike Up the Band" and "Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy" is accurately captured as the harassed producer copes with a drunk lead singer, the delivery boy who wants a chance in front of the mike, the second banana who dreams of singing a ballad, and the trumpet playing sound effects man who chooses a fighter plane over Glenn Miller.

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The 1940's Radio Hour takes the audience on a nostalgic trip down memory lane into a backdrop of the second World War, setting the stage for swinging big band music and song and old fashioned situation comedy of a bygone period. It takes place in a small 5000-watt New York City radio station (WOV) and is centered around a group of performers and their attempts to make it to the "big time" in show biz. The radio program is seen through the eyes of the theatre audience who become the actual 1940s radio station audience. This fun production includes such old time greats as Ain't She Sweet, Blue Moon, Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy, Old Black Magic, Kalamazoo, and 16 other numbers from that era.