What would you get if and when Fred Allen is poor fool enough to wander guilelessly into old-time radio's favourite Bizarro World dive?
Duffy's Tavern: Asking Fred Allen to MC a Pig Roast (NBC, 4 January 1944)
This installment is something of a reunion for Fred Allen: cast member Charles Cantor (Finnegan) is a former longtime member of the Mighty Allen Art Players; orchestra director Peter Van Steeden performed the same job for Allen's legendary Town Hall Tonight in the mid-to-late 1930s.
He's here because Archie (Ed Gardner) suggests the master satirist host the dive's annual St. Patrick's Day pig roast, an idea Duffy likes for a change but the usual dive denizens greet somewhere between bemusement, bewilderment, and ignorance. Then Allen arrives and, after a reasonable exchange of jokes and malaprops with the barkeep, auditions for the pig roast hoasting job.
Benay Venuta also sings. Eddie: Eddie Green. Miss Duffy: Florence Halop. Announcer: Dan Seymour. Writers: Ed Gardner, Abe Burrows, Fred Allen, possibly Larry Marks, possibly Ed Reynolds.
FURTHER CHANNEL SURFING . . .
4 January
The Great Gildersleeve: Gildy's Diet (NBC, 1942)—Gildersleeve (Harold Peary) tries hard to keep to his New Year's resolution despite his family's cynicism and Hooker's (Earle Ross) cheerful bet that he can't. Waitress: Bea Benaderet. Birdie: Lillian Randolph. Marjorie: Lurene Tuttle. Leroy: Walter Tetley. Announcer: Jim Bannon. Music: William Randolph. Director: Probably Cecil Underwood. Writer: Leonard L. Levinson.
The Fred Allen Show: Psychopathic Spectacular (NBC, 1948)—James and Pamela Mason get drawn into a cheerfully insane whodunit with One Long Pan (Allen). Also: Portland (Hoffa) presents a new jingle for the show's new sponsor; and, the Alley denizens tackle memories of their worst winter storms. Sen. Claghorn: Kenny Delmar. Titus: Parker Fennelly. Mrs. Nussbaum: Minerva Pious. Ajax: Peter Donald. Announcer: Kenny Delmar. Music: Al Goodman Orchestra, the Five DeMarco Sisters. Writers: Fred Allen, Robert Weiskopf, Robert Schiller.
Fibber McGee & Molly: Weather Stripping (NBC, 1949)—The front door stripping is still sitting in the 79 Wistful Vista basement despite the winter cold, so guess who's finally going to put it in—leaving the door open and the house to freeze until he finishes—when not pondering a romantic triangle among friends? McGee: Jim Jordan. Molly: Marian Jordan. La Trivia: Gale Gordon. The Old-Timer/Wimpole: Bill Thompson. Doc Gamble: Arthur Q. Bryan. Announcer: Harlow Wilcox. Music: Billy Mills Orchestra, the King's Men. Director: Max Hutto. Writers: Don Quinn, Phil Leslie.
The Great Gildersleeve: Engagement Announcement (NBC, 1950)—Marjorie (Mary Lee Robb) and Bronco (Richard Crenna) are engaged and the Gildersleeve household goes upside down trying to choose the right announcement arrangement for the newspaper . . . and how to deal with Bronco's culturally influential father (Joseph Kearns). Hooker: Earle Ross. Peavey: Richard LeGrand. Birdie: Lillian Randolph. Additional cast: Unidentified. Announcer: Jay Stewart. Music: Jack Meakin. Director: . Writers: Paul West, John Elliott, Andy White.
5 January
Fibber McGee & Molly: Cutting Down Fibber's Old Suit for Molly (NBC, 1943)—McGee (Jim Jordan) has ideas about getting rid of the old suit, but Molly (Marian Jordan, who also plays Teeny) balks when he offers to have it cut down into a woman's suit for her. Mrs. Uppington: Isabel Randolph. Tailor/Tolliver: Bill Thompson. Announcer: Harlow Wilcox. Music: Billy Mills Orchestra, the King's Men. Writer: Don Quinn.
Crime Drama
4 January
Dragnet: The Big Holdup (NBC, 1951)—A killer known as the Rattlesnake Bandit is in the city, robbing people and beating them senseless, Friday (Jack Webb) and Romero (Barton Yarborough, in one of his final transcription performances before his unexpected death) have little to go on but the M.O. and a possible blonde accomplice—until the bandit changes to shooting his victims and the blonde seems too swift to move place to place. Additional cast: Unidentified. Announcers: George Fenneman, George Walsh. Music: Walter Schumann. Director: Jack Webb. Writer: Jack Johnstone.
5 January
Broadway is My Beat: The John Dobson Murder Case (CBS, 1952)—Dobson is found comatose in a car on the East Side, a doctor determines he was poisoned, and Clover (Larry Thor) begins his probe with a wealthy wife (Irene Tedrow) who seems indifferently clinical for a woman who professes to love him and to have had a candlelight dinner with him before he went out for his fateful—and possibly fatal—evening with old friends . . . one of whom suggests something less than marital bliss between the couple. Miss Martin: Florence Lake. Tartaglia: Charles Calvert. Muggavan: Jack Kruschen. Additional cast: Jean Tatum, Bill Buchet, Earle Ross. Announcer: Bill Anders. Music: Alexander Courage. Director: Elliott Lewis. Writers: Morton Fine, David Friedkin.
Comments