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| Signal Premium Motor Oil ad from the Pasadena Star-News, 31 May 1946 |
(The following is by no means a comprehensive treatment of noteworthy commercials on The Whistler, I just wanted to share some that struck me as particularly amusing! If the embedded audio does not work, the hyperlink at the start of each description should go to the same clip.)
1946-04-15 "Smart Boy"
First commercial: An actress asks Marvin Miller about tonight's big news. Miller tells her about new Signal Premium Motor Oil, and concludes by saying it's the oil that... And Gerald Mohr's distinctive voice booms out with an echo effect: "Keeps motors six times cleaner! Reduces cylinder wear one-third!"
Second commercial: A mostly normal commercial, but Mohr with the echo effect comes in again near the end to repeat "Keeps motors six times cleaner! Reduces cylinder wear one-third!"
1946-04-22 "The Waterford Case"
First commercial: Miller and several of the actors take turns repeating "Keeps motors six times cleaner!" / "Reduces cylinder wear one-third!" After that, Miller goes into his spiel, and Mohr comes in with the echo again between segments of the spiel to deliver the words "Signal Premium Motor Oil!"
Second commercial: "The Whistler will return in just a moment with the strange ending of tonight's story. But now, here's a little lady who seems to have a perplexed look on her face. What's the question, Miss Margetts?" Monty Margetts, the secondary female lead in the drama, asks Marvin Miller about the five compounds in Signal Premium Motor Oil. At the end of his explanation, another of the actors comes in to say what so many drivers are saying: "I'm making my next oil change a change to..." and Mohr with the echo finishes, "Signal Premium Motor Oil!"
This was before the program had any cast credits (the earliest surviving Whistler episode with "Featured in tonight's cast..." is 1946-06-03 "The Judas Face")—which means that "Miss Margetts" here is likely the first actor named in a Whistler broadcast!
(1946-04-29 "My Love Comes Home" is missing. Gerald Mohr is also in the cast of 1946-05-06 "Bright Horizon," but no network recording survives, so I don't know whether he continued to reverberantly advertise Signal Premium Motor Oil.)
1946-09-09 "Witness at the Fountain"
First commercial: "With the prologue of 'The Witness at the Fountain,' the Signal Oil Company brings you another strange tale by The Whistler. But now here's a question for you drivers to try your wits on. What three things can your speedometer tell you? Three, that is. Now let's see, whom shall I ask? Oh, here's Virginia Gregg, one of Hollywood's most charming radio actresses. What would your answer be, Virginia?"
Virginia answers that your speedometer tells her how fast you're going and how far you've gone, and then Marvin talks her through why Signal says "look to your speedometer for the best proof of gasoline quality!"
Featured in the cast of this episode were Howard Duff and Margaret Brayton; Gregg presumably played the maid.
1946-10-14 "Weak Sister"
First commercial: Peggy Webber, who has a leading role in the drama as a disturbed older woman, doubles in the commercial as an attractive young woman who flirts with Marvin Miller as she asks him to explain how her speedometer can show the quality of the gasoline she's using. It's bizarre, but also really funny and charming??
