In the evening Joseph Solomon liked to listen to “Amos 'n' Andy” and newsmen Gabriel Heatter, Lowell Thomas and H.V. Kaltenborn after the family dinner. Afterwards, when the meal had settled, the family might have pie or cake with tea. "Amos 'n' Andy" was a daily, 15-minute broadcast during Sheraton's childhood but in 1943, when she headed off to NYU, it had become a weekly show, airing on Tuesday evenings. You can listen to episodes of "Amos n' Andy" here, including a couple from 1946. The March 12 episode in which Kingfish and Andy go looking for a birthday present for Sapphire includes commercials for Rinso detergent and dishwashing liquid, a guest appearance by Hattie McDaniel. and several funny jokes about department store shortages.
While she cooked Sunday dinner, Beatrice listened to the AM radio shows. Her favorites included the local show “Horn & Hardart Children's Hour,” which featured child performers and promoted the chain's takeout retail outlets with its famously sappy advertising refrain “Less work for Mother, just lend her a hand.” Arthur Tracy, the Street Singer, (here he is singing his signature song “Marta”) was an earlier favorite. He was still around in 1946 but his show is not in the April 14 Sunday Times radio listings. She also sometimes tuned into the Yiddish-language stations. Sheraton misremembers “The Eternal Light” as one of these Yiddish language shows, but actually it was an English-language program produced by the Jewish Theological Seminary, that aired in the 1940s as part of NBC's Sunday morning lineup of inspirational programs. You can hear an episode from 1944 or buy a CD with 57 episodes for $3 at this site.
When Mimi Sheraton stayed home sick she listened to some of her mother's favorite daytime soap operas. Two of those she mentions in From My Mother's Kitchen were still going strong in 1946: “Our Gal Sunday,” which began with the question "Can this girl from a little mining town in the West find happiness as the wife of a wealthy and titled Englishman?" and “Stella Dallas," the weepy saga of a mother's sacrifice. Another favorite, the humorous, offbeat “Vic and Sade” had been off the air for several months but it returned briefly in extended format that summer.