The Lux Radio Theatre (1939-51, 1955-56) began in 1939. It was an adaptation of a popular US series, and was also sponsored by Lever Bros. The first broadcast included a congratulatory message from Cecil B. de Mille.

The Lux Radio Theatre sought to involve the audience by making it as much like live theatre as possible. On occasion the audience was used as sound effects. The actors dressed in evening dress, and the producer, Harry Dearth, also in evening dress, directed the actors and the sound effects from the stage. There is film footage of the show in a film called Let's Look at Radio .

Australia's Amatuer Hour, a talent show, sponsored by 'the Brothers Lever', ran for almost 20 years, from 1940 till 1960. Australia's Amateur Hour was broadcast on fifty-four commercial radio stations throughout Australia, as well as being relayed via Radio Australia to troops in places such as Japan and Korea in it's early days.

The program was very popular during the war years. During this time radio became an important form of communication and entertainment as people largely stayed at home and there were blackouts. Over time the show had three comperes: the last of these, George Alexander Dear (known as Terry) described the impact the show had during the war years:

When Sammy Dobbs, the great power-that-was at Lever Bros, started up Amateur Hour, he first got Harry Dearth to do it, and he was very good indeed. Then when he joined up, Dick Fair took over and carried it through the war years. That's when the show got its tremendous popularity. People couldn't go out; there were blackouts and no street lights and since everybody stayed at home, the radio was the best means of communication. Amateur Hour wasn't just made in Sydney. It was broadcast from all over Australia. So if a listener heard Dick saying, 'Good evening, this is Amateur Hour from Cairns in Queensland', this was real glamour. It was also comforting: the show was still there and still going on, even when the Japs came into the war and people were afraid Australia might be invaded. Dick left he show in 1950, and that's when I took over. When I did, we were at show number 423 or something like that, and when I finished ten years later we had done something like 930 shows. I was there the longest of the three of us.

The Amateur Hour audience was invited to ring in and vote on the best act. There was a switch board of 10-15 'girls' supplied by Lever Brothers taking down votes. People could also write in. Sometimes people would phone in 50 or 60 votes from a pub for one act. The phone 'girls' judged by the background noise whether to accept the votes. Amateur Hour compere Terry Dear describes the tabulation system:

We had a switchboard of ten to fifteen girls supplied by Lever Brothers, taking down votes, or people could write in. There were many ways they could vote, and we sometimes had colossal totals. Sometimes people would ring with a huge number of votes for one act. We wouldn't know how many people were putting them in, but if there was a lot of background noise, we could assume that they were in a pub. If they put in, say fifty-seven votes, we accepted them. The Amateur Hour organisation was very good, believe me.

The show kept a register as a theatre agent, and would provide performers from the show. Performers such as Bobby Limb, Donald Smith and Rolf Harris appeared on the show, and got work that way.

When television arrived the program attempted to make the move but didn't last long. Within four years it was also gone from radio.

Source:
Jacqueline Kent,Out of the Bakelite Box , A&R Publishers 1983