Ted Weems and his orchestra, with Perry Como, Marilyn (Marvel)
Maxwell and Elmo Tanner, 1940.
Beat the Band was a musical quiz show heard on NBC radio from 1940 to
1944 in two distinctly different series. The program popularized the catch
phrase, "Give me a little traveling music”.
In the first series, broadcast on Sundays at 6:30pm from Chicago, host
Garry Moore read music-related questions submitted by listeners to band
members in the 14-piece Ted Weems Orchestra. Originally sponsored by
the General Mills cereal Kix, listeners whose questions were used on the
air received $10; those who stumped the band received $20 and a case
of Kix.
Garry Moore (born Thomas Garrison Morfit, III)
(January 31, 1915 – November 28, 1993)
Kix cereal was introduced in 1937 by the General Mills company
of Golden Valley, Minnesota.
