Did Jimmy Stewart appear on the January 26, 1941, edition of the Edgar Bergen-Charlie McCarthy Show? Newspaper listings from that day would suggest not. Most, like the one shown below from the Democrat and Chronicle, Rochester, NY, list the guest as Robert Taylor.
However, M-G-M contracts dated January 24, 1941, show that Stewart was scheduled to appear on the 26th.
Since audio of the show itself is not available, we may never know who was on the program that evening. However, it seems very unlikely that the M-G-M contracts would be dated just two days before the scheduled broadcast unless Stewart was a last minute substitution for Robert Taylor. It was not unusual for one star to step in for another because of illness and or a variety of other reasons. Stewart had done it several other times. Also, Taylor was the guest on the February 23rd show that year, just four weeks after this date. This could very easily have been a rescheduled guest spot.
Jerry Haendiges Vintage Radio Logs do list Stewart as the guest that evening:
Jerry Haendiges Vintage Radio Logs
According to the listing, he and the other stars of the show do a version of The Philadelphia Story. The film had just gone into general circulation in the U.S. on January 17th. Haendiges has the show marked with an “na,” which means not available, so just how he obtained his information is not known.
We would have to conclude that the odds are very good that Stewart was the guest on the 26th. The search for additional information will continue.
