Customer Reviews

Don McNeill and His Breakfast Club with CD (Audio)

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The Don McNeill Breakfast Club was a comfort of home, a memory of cherished moments sitting by the radio with my family. When I heard that a book had been written about the program I had high expectations. I was more impressed than I could have imagined. Not only did I feel a stronger sense of who Don McNeill was, I also gained perspective on American History through radio, which was so perfectly encompassed in The Breakfast Club. For anyone who remembers the lazy mornings by the radio, or for anyone who is interested in American culture and history, this book is a must!

As an old-time radio fan who has just recently discovered the magic of Don McNeill's "Breakfast Club" program (and WHY aren't there more surviving recordings of this series currently in circulation among collectors?), I thoroughly enjoyed Mr. Doolittle's new book. I found it to give fascinating and in-depth looks into the "behind-the-scenes" workings of the show, the network and sponsor difficulties with the TV version, and the careers and private lives of the McNeill family and the various cast members. I found the section regarding Kay McNeill's (Don's wife) mental and physical decline from Altzheimer's Disease to be particularly poignant and heartbreaking...especially considering what a vibrant person she seemed to be prior to her illness. In a previous review, Mr. Slobb criticizes the book for treating Don McNeill as if he were God...I respectfully disagree. The book deals with the two personas of Mr. McNeill....How he could seem outgoing on the program and be quite introverted, even sullen, in real life. However, after reading the book one gets the impression that Don McNeill was basically a fine person. After working with Mr. McNeill for a number of years and numerous broadcasts, Mr. Slobb's complaints are that Don McNeill never spoke to him, or that Don gave Mr. Slobb "cheap" Christmas presents....I don't think that those issues really put Don McNeill into the "ruthless S.O.B" category. Unlike fellow "morning man" Arthur Godfrey, who truly alienated his cast members and had some very ugly parting of the ways, most of Don McNeill's regulars stayed with him for YEARS. There were male and female singers who would leave the show to get married and raise families, tour on club dates, go into the service, etc. Don had a friendly "open-door" policy with these departed singers.....Most of them would return to fill in when their replacements would be out sick, on vacation, etc., and these "pinch-hitting" former regulars were always made to feel welcome. I'm sorry to digress from the book itself, but I felt that the preceding needed to be said. I found this book to be enlightening, interesting, inspiring and a LOT of fun...sort of like an actual "Breakfast Club" broadcast! I recommend it highly!

Although I am old enough to have been able to remember Don McNeill's Breakfast Club I have only heard of him, and wanted to learn more about this popular radio show. Author John Doolittle has done an excellent job in bringing out the personality of Don McNeill. Don was a devoted family man who, despite an extroverted personality when interviewing people, was more of an introvert away from the show. Don was devoted to the midwest and chose to keep his show in Chicago from various downtown locations. I would say the primary reason for the success of the show was his sincere interest in people in addition to his willingness to pay the price in preparation time. Those who filled in for him found out there is more involved than chatting with members of the studio audience. The silent prayer and the march around the breakfast table were interesting staples of this show that I wasn't aware of. Don McNeill was a sincere man both on the show and in his private life. The CD that came with the book I bought provides interesting snippets on some of his shows and was especially interesting to listen to after having read the book. Don McNeill was a giant of radio who had a lot to contribute to other people and did.

The "Breakfast Club" was a morning radio program staple in hundreds of thousands of homes across America beginning in 1933 until its final broadcast in December of 1968. Don McNeill hosted this program which was completely unscripted and involved a lot of studio audience participation. Now John Doolittle has memorialized that unique and beloved radio show host and his program in Don McNeill And His Breakfast Club. Here is the history of a man and a program that developed an enormous and loyal listenership in an era when broadcast radio was the major daily mass media for information and culture in the country. Doolittle's informative, enthusiastically recommended history is enriched with the inclusion of an accompanying CD with sample clips from the show to give the reader an authentic flavor of what the program was like and why it became (and stayed) one of the most popular components of morning radio.

As an old radio fan who recently disovered the true magic of the "Breakfast Club" program (and WHY aren't there more surviving recordings of the show in circulation among collectors?), I found Mr. Doolittle's new book to be filled with many interesting and informative bits of information....The "behind-the-scenes" workings of the radio show, the sponsor and network difficulties with the TV version, the careers of the various cast members, etc. I found the section regarding Kay McNeill's (Don's wife) mental and physical decline with Altzheimer's Disease to be particularly poignant, and quite heartbreaking...especially considering what a vibrant person she appeared to be in her appearances on "The Breakfast Club". True, some critics may criticize the book for being "sugar-coated", but it appears that there just wasn't enough "dirt" to dredge up. In a previous review, Mr. Slobb says that the book treats Don McNeill as if he were God...I respectfully disagree. The book deals with the differences in Mr. McNeill's public and private persona...How he could appear to be outgoing on the program and be quite withdrawn and sometimes even sullen in real life. However, the book also gets the point across that Don McNeill was basically a fine human being. If Mr. Slobb worked with Mr. McNeill for a number of years and his worst observation of Don McNeill is that he never spoke to Mr. Slobb or that Don gave him "cheap" Christmas presents, then I don't think that that really puts Mr. McNeill in the "ruthless S.O.B." category. Unlike fellow "morning man" Arthur Godfrey, who truly alienated his cast members and had some very ugly parting of the ways, Don seemed to have a friendly "open door" policy with the regulars....While most of them stayed with him for YEARS, some of the singers would leave to get married, raise families, tour on club dates, go into the service, etc. Most of them would return to fill-in when their replacements would be out sick or on vacation, and these "pinch-hitting" former regulars were always made to feel welcome. Sorry to digress from the book itself, but I felt that the above needed to be mentioned. I thoroughly enjoyed Mr. Doolittle's fine book...I recommend it wholeheartily!

I never knew of the Breakfast Club until I once ran across it on the web. This is the perfect book for someone who would like to know how radio worked from the 1930's to the 1970s. Excellently researched, and written with an even tone, this is a piece of history.

Delighful book - and it includes a CD of the original broadcasts! What a bonus!

Don McNeill pioneered many things during the Golden Age of American Radio. He spoke without a script. He introduced live audiences. He had a standing orchestra. He marched around the breakfast table. He made an art form of silence, radio's "dead time." And Don's daily moment of silent prayer was taken over by the United Nations General Assembly. It's all in John Doolittle's DON MCNEILL AND HIS BREAKFAST CLUB (2001).

McNeill (1907 -1996) also penned his own verses and was a trained visual artist. What stays with me from DON MCNEILL AND HIS BREAKFAST CLUB are a few professedly "corny" personal biography-derived lines from a 1961 early morning broadcast:

"THE KID WHO ALWAYS STRUCK OUT"

We all know kids like the one O'Neill described. "Can't quite make the grade." "just can't field like the other boys." "He's the last kid each side chooses." "And of course his team loses."

"And you somehow feel there'll come a day in another world perhaps,
Where he'll get a chance and come flying thru like the other lucky chaps,
In the Great Beyond you can see him grin as the angels cheer and shout --
For that home run he's smashed o'er the Pearly Gates --
The kid who always struck out."

Corny? Absolutely. As bad as Detroit versifier Edward Guest? Yep. Close to the heart of most Americans? That, too. And that's what made quiet, kindly, unassuming Don O'Neill beloved during more than three decades on the air! -OOO-

This is a fascinating journey back through radio and american history.

The book displays much research, but treats Don McNeill as if he were a god. For a better, more realistic idea of Don McNeill, read "The Nineteenth Floor" by typing the title into a search engine such as AOL or Alta Vista, then read MY work with McNeill for five years at the Merchandise Mart - page 10. In over 1,000 broadcasts, McNeill NEVER talked to me. It that the "friendly" Don McNeill one thinks of. The author never had anything bad to say - was he paid by the McNeill boys?