The first Belch ever broadcast on national radio was heard in 1935. Melvin H. Purvis, head of the Chicago office of the FBI, was making a guest appearance on a program sponsored by Fleischmann's yeast. In the middle of delivering a commercial for Fleischmann's, Mr. Purvis inadvertently emitted the dreaded sound, and for years afterward this brand of yeast was known as "Purvis's folly."
