"[1] Radio historian John Dunning called the program, sponsored by Campbell Soup Company, "the most glamorous show of its time.
In 1937, columnist Jimmy Fidler wrote, "Louella Parsons has broadened her domination of filmland to include radio, and woe be to those who dare to flout her authority.
Although it was broadcast from a studio, an episode would begin with "a lot of talk and film babble as the stars supposedly made their way in and out of the theater."
Dick Powell sang a song, replicating the variety format popular on radio, and then the stars re-created scenes from their latest pictures.
In the first five episodes alone, listeners heard Claudette Colbert, Ronald Colman, Loretta Young, Jean Harlow, Dolores del Río, Reginald Owen, Victor Jory and Gloria Swanson.
Such was Parsons' power in Hollywood that, as an article in Life magazine summarized, she "could -- and did -- bully the biggest stars in the business into appearing without pay on her radio program.
"[13] Another article in Life in 1965 summarized Parson's broadcasting success after an earlier failure:When she flopped with a local radio program on which she interviewed "guest" stars, she simply essayed a grander scheme; instead of kidnaping screen personalities one by one, she corralled them by whole companies to do synopsized versions of current movies, and in so doing, she hit it rich.
Life magazine reported, "when the Screen Actors' Guild, led by Jimmy Cagney, insisted they be paid with money instead, the sponsor recoiled in horror and the program was speedily abandoned.