The lines of responsibility were not completely de­fined in those early years, and the nine-month run of Hour Glass was punctuated by frequent squabbling among the principals. Each show was assembled by seven Thompson employees working in two teams, each putting together a show over two weeks in a frenzy of production. Using a format that was familiar to Chase and Sanborn Hour listeners, the program accentuated star power as the means of drawing the largest audience. Hour Glass featured different performers every week, including Peggy Lee and, in one of the first examples of a top radio star appearing on network television, Edgar Bergen and Charlie Mc­Carthy, who appeared in November 1946. The show also showcased filmed segments produced by Thomp­son's Motion Picture Department; these ranged from short travelogues to advertisements. Every episode also included a ten-minute drama, which proved one of the more popular portions of the show.

     It must have been the curiosity factor that prompted some stars to appear on the show because they certainly were not paid much money. Hour Glass had a talent budget of only $350 a week, hardly more than enough to pay scale wages for a handful of performers. Still, Standard Brands put an estimated $200,000 into the program's nine-month run, by far the largest amount ever devoted to a sponsored show at that time.

     Although Thompson and Standard Brands representatives occasionally disagreed over the quality of individual episodes, their association was placid compared to the constant sniping that was the hallmark of the agency's relationship with NBC. It started with unhappiness over studio space, which Thompson regarded as woefully inadequate, and escalated when the network insisted that an NBC director manage the show from live rehearsals through actual broadcast. The network was similarly displeased that Thompson refused to clear their commercials with NBC before air time.

In February 1947 Standard Brands canceled Hour Glass. They were pleased with the show's performance in terms of beverage sales and its overall qual­ity, but they were leery about continuing to pour money into a program that did not reach a large number of households (it is unclear if the show was broadcast anywhere other than NBC's interconnected stations in New York and Philadelphia). The strain between NBC and Thompson also played a role in the decision to cancel the program. Still, Hour Glass did provide Thompson with a valuable blueprint for the agency's celebrated and long-running production Kraft Television Theatre.