Moreover, I seek to explain why music broadcasting followed the particular direction it did in Northern Ireland. On one level, the chapters provide a detailed chronicle of music broadcasting throughout the period. The principal focus of the study is to examine the BBC’s role in the development of music and audiences in Northern Ireland. The BBC Northern Ireland Orchestra disbanded, while war-time broadcasting operated at a considerably reduced level.
The year 1939 serves as a convenient cut-off point: the outbreak of World War 2 effectively ended the routine of programmes broadcast from Belfast since 1924.
The research is confined to a fifteen-year period, in order to allow for a detailed discussion of the BBC’s role in developing music and audiences in Northern Ireland. This thesis is the first detailed study of the history of music broadcasting in Northern Ireland. Throughout this period, both artists were committed to “popularizing” classical music while at the same time supporting arts institutions. Between 1944 and his death in 1974, Benny played his violin with over twenty orchestras (notably with Isaac Stern in the “Save Carnegie Hall” campaign), and between 1954 and his death in 1987, Kaye conducted almost fifty orchestras. It argues that in their highly popular benefit concerts, Benny and Kaye took part in a long comic tradition that sought to break down the barriers separating “high” and “low” art. This article draws on theories of Rossana Dalmonte on syncretic humor and Linda Hutcheon on parody, as well as archival research from the Jack Benny Papers at UCLA and from Danny Kaye’s private family archive in Beverly Hills. They both used syncretic or physical humor, based on the routines they honed during their long careers in vaudeville, radio, film and television, in order to reach as wide an audience as possible. In the second half of the twentieth century, popular entertainers Jack Benny and Danny Kaye each raised over $6 million for orchestra pension funds, symphony halls, and music schools.
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