Variety show Stan Laurel revisited his music hall days when he performed at the "Royal Variety" show. In the United States, former vaudeville performers such as the Marx Brothers, George Burns and Gracie Allen, W. C. Fields, and Jack Benny honed their skills in the Borscht Belt before moving to talkies, to radio shows, and then to television shows, including variety shows. Variety shows were among the first programs to be featured on television during the experimental mechanical television era. Variety shows hosted by Helen Haynes and Harriet Lee are recorded in contemporary newspapers in 1931 and 1932; because of technical limits
The Ed Sullivan Show (radio program) radio audience. Among those making their radio debuts on this 15-minute program were Jack Benny, Irving Berlin, George M. Cohan, Jack Pearl, and Florenz Ziegfeld. The show was first broadcast on CBS on January 12, 1932, and it ended on August 18, 1932. "Ed Sullivan Variety" began on CBS on April 27, 1941, and ended on September 28, 1941. The program was sponsored by International Silver. "Ed Sullivan Entertains" was the basis for Sullivan's later television program. The show began on CBS on September 13, 1943, and ended on June 5, 1944. It was sponsored by Mennen. In addition to