#wally maher

[papermoonloveslucy]

TOO MANY TELEVISION SETS

October 14, 1949

"Too Many Television Sets” (aka “Liz and George Order a Television Set” aka “Television”) is episode #58 of the radio series MY FAVORITE HUSBAND broadcast on October 14, 1949.

This was the sixth episode of the second season of MY FAVORITE HUSBAND. There were 43 new episodes, with the season ending on June 25, 1950.

Synopsis ~ Liz can't get George interested in buying a television set, until they spend an evening at the Atterburys, who have one. With his interest piqued, George arranges one be sent over on trial. Little does he know Liz has done the same thing - as have the Atterburys!  

“My Favorite Husband” was based on the novels Mr. and Mrs. Cugat, the Record of a Happy Marriage (1940) and Outside Eden (1945) by Isabel Scott Rorick, which had previously been adapted into the film Are Husbands Necessary? (1942). “My Favorite Husband” was first broadcast as a one-time special on July 5, 1948. Lucille Ball and Lee Bowman played the characters of Liz and George Cugat, and a positive response to this broadcast convinced CBS to launch “My Favorite Husband” as a series. Bowman was not available Richard Denning was cast as George. On January 7, 1949, confusion with bandleader Xavier Cugat prompted a name change to Cooper. On this same episode Jell-O became its sponsor. A total of 124 episodes of the program aired from July 23, 1948 through March 31, 1951. After about ten episodes had been written, writers Fox and Davenport departed and three new writers took over – Bob Carroll, Jr., Madelyn Pugh, and head writer/producer Jess Oppenheimer. In March 1949 Gale Gordon took over the existing role of George's boss, Rudolph Atterbury, and Bea Benaderet was added as his wife, Iris. CBS brought “My Favorite Husband” to television in 1953, starring Joan Caulfield and Barry Nelson as Liz and George Cooper. The television version ran two-and-a-half seasons, from September 1953 through December 1955, running concurrently with “I Love Lucy.” It was produced live at CBS Television City for most of its run, until switching to film for a truncated third season filmed (ironically) at Desilu and recasting Liz Cooper with Vanessa Brown.

MAIN CAST

Lucille Ball (Liz Cooper) was born on August 6, 1911 in Jamestown, New York. She began her screen career in 1933 and was known in Hollywood as ‘Queen of the B’s’ due to her many appearances in ‘B’ movies. With Richard Denning, she starred in a radio program titled “My Favorite Husband” which eventually led to the creation of “I Love Lucy,” a television situation comedy in which she co-starred with her real-life husband, Latin bandleader Desi Arnaz. The program was phenomenally successful, allowing the couple to purchase what was once RKO Studios, re-naming it Desilu. When the show ended in 1960 (in an hour-long format known as “The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour”) so did Lucy and Desi’s marriage. In 1962, hoping to keep Desilu financially solvent, Lucy returned to the sitcom format with “The Lucy Show,” which lasted six seasons. She followed that with a similar sitcom “Here’s Lucy” co-starring with her real-life children, Lucie and Desi Jr., as well as Gale Gordon, who had joined the cast of “The Lucy Show” during season two. Before her death in 1989, Lucy made one more attempt at a sitcom with “Life With Lucy,” also with Gordon.

Richard Denning (George Cooper) was born Louis Albert Heindrich Denninger Jr., in Poughkeepsie, New York. When he was 18 months old, his family moved to Los Angeles. Plans called for him to take over his father's garment manufacturing business, but he developed an interest in acting. Denning enlisted in the US Navy during World War II. He is best known for his  roles in various science fiction and horror films of the 1950s. Although he teamed with Lucille Ball on radio in “My Favorite Husband,” the two never acted together on screen. While “I Love Lucy” was on the air, he was seen on another CBS TV series, “Mr. & Mrs. North.” From 1968 to 1980 he played the Governor on “Hawaii 5-0″, his final role. He died in 1998 at age 84.

Gale Gordon (Rudolph Atterbury) had worked with Lucille Ball on “The Wonder Show” on radio in 1938. One of the front-runners to play Fred Mertz on “I Love Lucy,” he eventually played Alvin Littlefield, owner of the Tropicana, during two episodes in 1952. After playing a Judge in an episode of “The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour” in 1958, he would re-team with Lucy for all of her subsequent series’: as Theodore J. Mooney in ”The Lucy Show”; as Harrison Otis Carter in “Here’s Lucy”; and as Curtis McGibbon on "Life with Lucy.” Gordon died in 1995 at the age of 89.

Bea Benadaret (Iris Atterbury) was considered the front-runner to be cast as Ethel Mertz but when “I Love Lucy” was ready to start production she was already playing a similar role on TV’s “The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show” so Vivian Vance was cast instead. On “I Love Lucy” she was cast as Lucy Ricarodo’s spinster neighbor, Miss Lewis, in “Lucy Plays Cupid” (ILL S1;E15) in early 1952. Later, she was a success in her own show, “Petticoat Junction” as Shady Rest Hotel proprietress Kate Bradley. She starred in the series until her death in 1968.

Ruth Perrott (Katie, the Maid) was also later seen on “I Love Lucy.” She first played Mrs. Pomerantz, a member of the surprise investigating committee for the Society Matrons League in “Pioneer Women” (ILL S1;E25), as one of the member of the Wednesday Afternoon Fine Arts League in “Lucy and Ethel Buy the Same Dress” (ILL S3;E3), and also played a nurse when “Lucy Goes to the Hospital” (ILL S2;E16). She died in 1996 at the age of 96.

Bob LeMond (Announcer) also served as the announcer for the pilot episode of “I Love Lucy”. When the long-lost pilot was finally discovered in 1990, a few moments of the opening narration were damaged and lost, so LeMond – fifty years later – recreated the narration for the CBS special and subsequent DVD release.

GUEST CAST

Jay Novello (Joe Beckett, the Atterburys’ Neighbor) would appear on “I Love Lucy” as superstitious Mr. Merriweather in “The Seance" (ILL S1;E7), nervous Mr. Beecher in “The Sublease” (ILL S3;E31), and Mario the gondolier in “The Visitor from Italy” (ILL S6;E5). He also appeared on two episodes of “The Lucy Show,” but dapper Novello is probably best remembered for playing Mayor Lugatto on “McHale’s Navy” in 1965.

Wally Maher (Mr. Trimble) appeared on radio as the title character in the series “The Adventures of Michael Shayne, Private Detective”. In 1947 he appeared on radio with Lucille Ball in “Dark Corner”. Earlier in 1949, he was heard on “My Favorite Husband” in “Vacation Time.” He was a regular on “Let George Do It” and “Lineup” and was frequently heard on “The Cavalcade of America” and “Lux Radio Theatre.” Maher passed away in December 1951, only 43 years old.    

Although the original Michael Shayne, the role was later played by Richard Denning (George Cooper). 

Peter Leeds (TV Deliveryman) was born in Bayonne, NJ, and will also be heard on “My Favorite Husband in “Mother In-Law” in November 1949 and “Dance Lessons” in June 1950. He will be seen as the Reporter questioning the Maharincess of Franistan in “The Publicity Agent” (ILL S1;E31). He starred with Lucy in the films The Long, Long Trailer (1953) and The Facts of Life (1960) with Bob Hope. Coincidentally, he also appeared in “Lucy and Bob Hope” (ILL S6;E1) as well as an episode of “Here’s Lucy” in 1971.

EPISODE

ANNOUNCER: “As we look in on the Coopers, dinner is over. George Cooper is in the living room reading the paper. Liz Cooper is in the kitchen talking to Katie, the maid.”

Liz tells Katie that she has a plan to get George to buy her a television set. She is going to hold up a big glass pie plate in front of her face and pretend like she’s a television wrestler.  

LIZ: “Do I look like television?” KATIE: “Well your face is all wavy and distorted.” LIZ: “I look like television alright.”

Liz enters the living room with the pie plate in front of her face, but George thinks she is a washing machine. 

Lucille Ball actually voiced a washing machine named Lina for a Westinghouse industrial film titled “Ellis in Freedomland” (1952).  In 1958, she hid inside a washing machine at the end of “Lucy Buys Westinghouse”, another industrial film for the appliance manufacturer. 

In 1952′s “Lucy Does a TV Commercial” (ILL S1;E30), Lucy Ricardo dispenses with the pie plate and disembowels her television set to look like she’s on the air! Like George, Ricky isn’t buying it. 

George guesses that Liz is supposed to be a sailor looking out of a port hole, but warns her that he is not going to buy a television set, effectively ending the conversation. Liz says she is a social pariah because she doesn’t have a television set. 

LIZ: “I never know who won the fights or what Kukla and Fran are doing to Ollie.” 

“Kukla, Fran, and Ollie” was a children’s television show created by Burr Tillstrom that aired from 1947 to 1957. Kukla and Ollie were puppets and actress Fran Allison interacted with them. The show won a 1949 Peabody Award and went on to win two Emmys. 

George suggests Liz read the newspaper or listen to the radio instead. 

LIZ: “Television is taking the place of the newspaper.” GEORGE: “It is, huh? Well, I’d like to see you wrap the garbage in a television set!”

Before the advent of plastic garbage bags, food waste from the kitchen was generally wrapped in old newspapers before being deposited in the trash bin outside the home. 

LIZ: “Every house on the block has an aerial. Our house looks positively naked.” 

Before cable television and internet streaming, homes received television broadcast signals via an antenna (aerial) on the roof. In “Lucy Puts Up a TV Antenna” (TLS S1;E9) Lucy Carmichael decides to save the cost of an installation and erect the aerial herself - to disastrous results. 

George agrees to buy the aerial - but not the television set.

LIZ: “Oh, great, that’ll fool everybody. Before we go out at night we can peel onions so our eyes will be bloodshot!” 

Liz asks George to buy him an apple box instead. 

LIZ: “If I have to watch it [TV] through a store window, at least I’ll have something to sit on.”

Before television sets became affordable to the general public, it was not uncommon to find people gathered in front of an appliance store window to view it from the street. 

Liz answers the telephone. It is Iris, who brags about her brand new television set, which was delivered the day before. 

IRIS: “I did my knitting last night with Ed Wynn; I had breakfast with Tex and Jinx; and this afternoon I took a bath with Hopalong Cassidy!” 

“The Ed Wynn Show” was a variety show broadcast from September 22,1949 to July 4, 1950 on the CBS Television Network. Comedian and former vaudevillian Ed Wynn was the star of the program. Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz made their television debut as a couple on the show on Christmas Eve 1949, just a few weeks after this episode of “My Favorite Husband”.

“Tex and Jinx” were Eugenia “Jinx” Falkenberg and her husband John “Tex” McCRary. The couple were popular radio hosts who began on television in January 1947. 

“Hopalong Cassidy” made the leap from books and movies to the small screen on June 24, 1949, kicking off the legacy of the Western on television. These were not new, but simply cut-down versions of the feature films that were in cinemas from 1935 to 1948. The film / TV series had William Boyd in the title role. A new TV series (also starring Boyd) with newly-filmed adventures, began  in 1952.  

Iris’s comment about “taking a bath with Hopalong Cassidy” gets a big reaction from the “My Favorite Husband” studio audience not used to salacious innuendo. 

Iris comes up with an idea to help Liz convince George to buy her a television set. She invites the Coopers to come over, where their TV will be showing a football game. George will naturally see the joys of owning a TV and give in! 

Instead of Iris or Rudolph, the Atterbury’s front door is answered by their neighbor, Joe Beckett (Jay Novello), the local TVM (television moocher).  He says they just missed the big brawl!

GEORGE: “Mr. and Mrs. Atterbury?” JOE: “No. The Terrible Turk and Gorgeous George!” 

Wrestling matches were very popular on radio and early television, producing such colorful wrestlers as the Terrible Turk and Gorgeous George. George Raymond Wagner (1915–63), was known as Gorgeous George because of his long blonde hair. He was mentioned on “I Love Lucy” in “Pioneer Women” (ILL S1;E25) and “Ricky’s Movie Offer” (ILL S4;E6). In 1949, Republic Pictures released a film starring Gorgeous George. Laurence LeBell (1907-48) was known as Ali Alaba, The Terrible Turk, a name that was used by many wrestlers from the late 19th century onwards. He died in a car crash just weeks after this episode aired. 

Joe warns the Coopers not to sit behind Iris because they only have a ten inch screen. (Liz adds that Iris has a 16″ neck.) He advises that they visit the Schraders who watch “Pantomime Quiz” and serve sandwiches. The Andersons have beer, but you have to watch Western movies.

“Pantomime Quiz” (later titled “Stump the Stars”), was a television game show hosted by Mike Stokey. Running from 1947 to 1959, it has the distinction of being one of the few television series to air on all four TV networks during the Golden Age of Television. Lucille Ball is reported to have been on the series in December 1947, which would make it her television debut. 

George realizes Liz’s scheme but is insistent that he won’t watch television. When he hears a football game is on, however, he is intrigued, and decides to see “how bad it looks”. 

Liz’s incessant chattering makes Mr. Atterbury miss several key plays in the game. Mr. Beckett is back but then the picture suddenly goes black!  They have to imagine the game and the commercials. 

ANNOUNCER: “Liz’s plan to get George interested in television has blown a fuse.  Right now, Liz is on her way downtown to drown her sorrows by buying a new hat...”

On her way down Sheridan Boulevard, Liz stops in front of a Trimble’s Appliance Store to gaze at the television in the window. An elderly man stops to chat with her about the joys of television. He convinces her to go in and ask about buying one. Of course, he turns out to be Mr. Trimble himself. She tells him to send over a set on trial. 

Later that day, George finds himself in front of the same store, where he encounters the same elderly man!  Needless to say, Mr. Trimble is successful in selling another set to George!  Mr. Trimble thinks the address sounds familiar, but isn’t sure.

Still later, the Atterburys are doing the marketing when they stop in front of Trimble’s Appliance Store. Mr. Atterbury, already having a set, is convinced to send one to George Cooper. Mr. Trimble is now positive that he’s gotten the same address three times. He thinks he is being tricked and vows that he will only send over one TV set on trial, not three. 

After dinner, the Coopers decide to stay in for the evening. The doorbell rings. Unbeknownst to one another, they both are expecting a TV delivery, but instead, it is the Atterburys. A moment later the bell rings again and a deliveryman (and Mr. Beckett) is there with one new television set. Naturally, the Atterburys, Liz, and George, all think they are the ones who bought the set! 

The Atterburys think the Coopers are ungrateful and they decide to leave. Rudolph tries to take the TV set with him, but the set is damaged in the tussle.

LIZ: “You’re right Iris, this IS the television set you sent out!” 

This ending is reminiscent of when the Ricardos and Mertzes argue over who broke a TV set Fred and Ethel gave Lucy and Ricky as a gift. They, too, argue over ownership of the set, until it is irreparably damaged!

LUCY: “Look what happened to YOUR television set!” 

[meanstreetspodcasts]

Tomorrow on Down These Mean Streets, we’ll hear Brett Halliday’s ace gumshoe Michael Shayne tackle tough radio mysteries!

Wally Maher stars as Shayne with Cathy Lewis as his loyal secretary Phyllis Knight, plus we’ll hear Jeff Chandler in a more hard-boiled take on the “reckless, red-headed Irishman.”

Click here to subscribe to the show in Apple Podcasts.

Click here to listen via Stitcher.

Click here to find the show on Spotify.

[papermoonloveslucy]

TRYING TO CASH THE PRIZE CHECK

December 9, 1950

“Trying To Cash The Prize Check” (aka “The ‘Everybody Wins’ Prize Check”) is episode #109 of the radio series MY FAVORITE HUSBAND broadcast on December 9, 1950. 

Synopsis ~ Liz goes on the radio quiz show and wins a check for $500, but she only gets to keep it if she can cash it within 25 minutes, and the banks are all closed!

This was the 15th episode of the third season of MY FAVORITE HUSBAND. There were 43 new episodes, with the season ending on June 25, 1950.

“My Favorite Husband” was based on the novels Mr. and Mrs. Cugat, the Record of a Happy Marriage (1940) and Outside Eden (1945) by Isabel Scott Rorick, which had previously been adapted into the film Are Husbands Necessary? (1942). “My Favorite Husband” was first broadcast as a one-time special on July 5, 1948. Lucille Ball and Lee Bowman played the characters of Liz and George Cugat, and a positive response to this broadcast convinced CBS to launch “My Favorite Husband” as a series. Bowman was not available Richard Denning was cast as George. On January 7, 1949, confusion with bandleader Xavier Cugat prompted a name change to Cooper. On this same episode Jell-O became its sponsor. A total of 124 episodes of the program aired from July 23, 1948 through March 31, 1951. After about ten episodes had been written, writers Fox and Davenport departed and three new writers took over – Bob Carroll, Jr., Madelyn Pugh, and head writer/producer Jess Oppenheimer. In March 1949 Gale Gordon took over the existing role of George’s boss, Rudolph Atterbury, and Bea Benaderet was added as his wife, Iris. CBS brought “My Favorite Husband” to television in 1953, starring Joan Caulfield and Barry Nelson as Liz and George Cooper. The television version ran two-and-a-half seasons, from September 1953 through December 1955, running concurrently with “I Love Lucy.” It was produced live at CBS Television City for most of its run, until switching to film for a truncated third season filmed (ironically) at Desilu and recasting Liz Cooper with Vanessa Brown.

MAIN CAST

Lucille Ball (Liz Cooper) was born on August 6, 1911 in Jamestown, New York. She began her screen career in 1933 and was known in Hollywood as ‘Queen of the B’s’ due to her many appearances in ‘B’ movies. With Richard Denning, she starred in a radio program titled “My Favorite Husband” which eventually led to the creation of “I Love Lucy,” a television situation comedy in which she co-starred with her real-life husband, Latin bandleader Desi Arnaz. The program was phenomenally successful, allowing the couple to purchase what was once RKO Studios, re-naming it Desilu. When the show ended in 1960 (in an hour-long format known as “The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour”) so did Lucy and Desi’s marriage. In 1962, hoping to keep Desilu financially solvent, Lucy returned to the sitcom format with “The Lucy Show,” which lasted six seasons. She followed that with a similar sitcom “Here’s Lucy” co-starring with her real-life children, Lucie and Desi Jr., as well as Gale Gordon, who had joined the cast of “The Lucy Show” during season two. Before her death in 1989, Lucy made one more attempt at a sitcom with “Life With Lucy,” also with Gordon.

Richard Denning (George Cooper) was born Louis Albert Heindrich Denninger Jr., in Poughkeepsie, New York. When he was 18 months old, his family moved to Los Angeles. Plans called for him to take over his father’s garment manufacturing business, but he developed an interest in acting. Denning enlisted in the US Navy during World War II. He is best known for his  roles in various science fiction and horror films of the 1950s. Although he teamed with Lucille Ball on radio in “My Favorite Husband,” the two never acted together on screen. While “I Love Lucy” was on the air, he was seen on another CBS TV series, “Mr. & Mrs. North.” From 1968 to 1980 he played the Governor on “Hawaii 5-0″, his final role. He died in 1998 at age 84.

Gale Gordon (Rudolph Atterbury) had worked with Lucille Ball on “The Wonder Show” on radio in 1938. One of the front-runners to play Fred Mertz on “I Love Lucy,” he eventually played Alvin Littlefield, owner of the Tropicana, during two episodes in 1952. After playing a Judge in an episode of “The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour” in 1958, he would re-team with Lucy for all of her subsequent series’: as Theodore J. Mooney in ”The Lucy Show”; as Harrison Otis Carter in “Here’s Lucy”; and as Curtis McGibbon on “Life with Lucy.” Gordon died in 1995 at the age of 89.

Bea Benadaret (Iris Atterbury) was considered the front-runner to be cast as Ethel Mertz but when “I Love Lucy” was ready to start production she was already playing a similar role on TV’s “The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show” so Vivian Vance was cast instead. On “I Love Lucy” she was cast as Lucy Ricardo’s spinster neighbor, Miss Lewis, in “Lucy Plays Cupid” (ILL S1;E15) in early 1952. Later, she was a success in her own show, “Petticoat Junction” as Shady Rest Hotel proprietress Kate Bradley. She starred in the series until her death in 1968. 

Bob LeMond (Announcer) also served as the announcer for the pilot episode of “I Love Lucy”. When the long-lost pilot was finally discovered in 1990, a few moments of the opening narration were damaged and lost, so LeMond – fifty years later – recreated the narration for the CBS special and subsequent DVD release.

Ruth Perrott (Katie, the Maid) does not appear in this episode. 

GUEST CAST

Frank Nelson (’Happy’ Hal Brubaker) was born on May 6, 1911 (three months before Lucille Ball) in Colorado Springs, Colorado. He started working as a radio announcer at the age of 15. He later appeared on such popular radio shows as “The Great Gildersleeve,” “Burns and Allen,” and “Fibber McGee & Molly”.  Aside from Lucille Ball, Nelson is perhaps most associated with Jack Benny and was a fifteen-year regular on his radio and television programs. His trademark was playing clerks and other working stiffs, suddenly turning to Benny with a drawn out “Yeeeeeeeeees?” Nelson appeared in 11 episodes of “I Love Lucy”, including three as quiz master Freddy Fillmore, and two as Ralph Ramsey, plus appearance on “The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour” - making him the only actor to play two different recurring roles on “I Love Lucy.” Nelson returned to the role of the frazzled Train Conductor for an episode of “The Lucy Show” in 1963. This marked his final appearance on a Lucille Ball sitcom.

Nelson adds one more quizmaster to his list of credits with ‘Happy’ Hal Brubaker. He joins Smiley Stembottom and Freddy Fillmore. 

Bobby Jellison (Mr. Uh-Uh-Uh) will play the recurring character of Bobby the bellboy throughout the Hollywood episodes of “I Love Lucy”.  Viewers may also remember him as the milkman in “The Gossip” (S1;E24). He makes one more appearance as another luggage jockey in “Lucy Hunts Uranium,” a 1958 episode of “The Lucy–Desi Comedy Hour”.

Jerry Hausner (Loan Store Clerk) was best known as Ricky Ricardo’s agent in “I Love Lucy” and as the voice of Waldo in “Mr. Magoo” and several characters such as Hemlock Holmes, The Mole, Broodles and Itchy in “The Dick Tracy Show.”  On Broadway, Hausner had the role of Sammy Schmaltz in Queer People (1934). On radio, he was a regular on such shows as “Blondie”, “The Jim Backus Show”, “The Judy Canova Show”, “Too Many Cooks”, and “Young Love”. Hausner died of heart failure on April 1, 1993. He was 83 years old. 

Wally Maher (Mr. Trimble, the Grocer) was born on August 4, 1908 in Cincinnati, Ohio. He was known for Mystery Street (1950), The Reformer and the Redhead (1950) and Hollywood Hotel (1937). He was heard with Lucille Ball in the Lux Radio Theatre version of “The Dark Corner” (1947), taking the role originated on film by William Bendix. He died on December 27, 1951.

Sandra Gould (Woman in Audience) is probably best remembered as the second actor to play Gladys Kravitz on “Bewitched” (1966-71). On “I Love Lucy,” she played Nancy Johnson in “Oil Wells” (ILL S3;E18) and makes a brief appearance as an alarmed strap-hanger in “Lucy and the Loving Cup” (ILL S6;E12). In 1962 she appeared in the fourth episode of “The Lucy Show” as a bank secretary.

EPISODE

ANNOUNCER: “As we look in on the Coopers this morning, they’re at breakfast, and from the way Liz is looking at George, she’s either madly in love or has some ulterior motive in mind.” 

Liz wants to buy a new dress to wear to the club dance on Saturday, which costs $89.50. George won’t allow it but Liz is determined to get it by hook or by crook. 

Later the doorbell rings and it is Iris Atterbury. A downbeat Liz tells Iris about the dress she wants. Iris is going to a radio broadcast and wants Liz to go along to cheer herself up - and possibly win enough money to buy the new dress. 

The show is called “Everybody Wins” hosted by ‘Happy’ Hal Brubaker (Frank Nelson), a local radio game show. It is sponsored by Grandma Grimes Cold Cream.  The first contestant is the woman with the reddest hair - Liz Cooper! Another woman in the audience (Sandra Gould) objects!

WOMAN: “Are you kiddin’ sister? At home, I’m a redhead. Next to you, I’m a brunette!”

Liz wins a $500 check just for stating her name. The catch is, Liz must cash the check in 25 minutes without telling anyone it is a stunt for a radio show.  She’s assigned a man (Bobby Jellison) to watch her to be sure. Liz confesses that her husband is a banker. Brubaker reminds her that the show went on the air at 3pm when the banks close.

Liz and Iris tear out of the studio toward the bank. They bang on the door to get the guard’s attention. Liz sees George but can’t tell him why she needs to get in. Their watchdog chaperone intervenes with a warning “Uh uh uh!” every time Liz starts to explain. Mr. Atterbury comes by and Iris asks him to cash the check, but Mr. Atterbury says to come back in the morning.  Liz pleads with him, but Mr. Atterbury cites state law. Liz stages a fake stick-up to get the cash. Mr. Atterbury points out that she hasn’t got a gun.  

With twelve minutes left, Liz and Iris start out to look for somewhere else to cash the check. 

End of Part One

Bob LeMond does a Jell-O commercial that gives a recipe for a quick dessert during the holidays.  

ANNOUNCER: “As we look in on the Coopers again, Liz and Iris have just left the bank to try to find another place to cash the $500 check from ‘Everybody Wins’ which Liz can keep if she can cash it in the next 15 minutes. George and Mr. Atterbury have prepared to return to their work.”

At the bank, Mr. Atterbury and George are alone. He turns on the radio. 

MR. ATTERBURY: “I wouldn’t want anyone to know that we go over the books with ‘Arthur Godfrey’”! 

Arthur Godfrey (1903-83) was a tremendously popular host and entertainer. His CBS morning radio show “Arthur Godfrey Time” aired five times a week. He also had an evening program titled “Arthur Godfrey’s Talent Scouts” which soon transitioned to television. It was the lead-in to “I Love Lucy” in 1951 and promoted Godfrey did on-air promotion for “Lucy.”  Many years later Godfrey guest-starred as himself on “The Lucy Show.”  Although tremendously popular whenever he aired, Godfrey was noticeably absent from afternoons, so it is unlikely that George and Mr. Atterbury tune in to his program at 3pm. 

When the radio comes on, however, it is tuned to “Everybody Wins”, not Arthur Godfrey.  

HAPPY HAL BRUBAKER (over radio): “Thank you, Mrs. Malone for being such a good sport and jumping off the high ladder with an umbrella. You missed the mattress so you don’t get a prize. Thanks anyway, and we hope that little old leg of yours mends soon!” 

This verbal gag is brought vividly to life on television with the appearance of a heavily bandaged former winner Mrs. Peterson (Hazel Pierce) who went over Niagara Falls in a barrel!  

George and Mr. Atterbury tune in just in time to hear Hal Brubaker report that Liz Cooper has not yet returned from cashing her check!  They realize what all her secrecy was about and, after a brief disagreement, they fill their pockets with cash and race off to find her!  

Liz and Iris see a loan shop sign “Do You Need Money? Hmmm?” in neon. The clerk (Jerry Hausner) tells them he will deduct the interest and the carrying charges giving her $14.32 with $50 weekly re-payments for 36 weeks! To get $500 they need to borrow $13,000! 

They run out of the shop with only six minutes left. George and Mr. Atterbury spot them, but rather than explain and waste time, the girls duck into a taxi to go to Trimble’s Grocery, where Liz is sure Mr. Trimble will give her the cash. 

Elderly grocer Mr. Trimble (Wally Maher) is in a chatty mood, wanting to talk about a mushy eggplant he sold her. He agrees to cash the check but is slow counting out the money from the cash drawer, making Liz a nervous wreck. He finally finishes, only to misread the check and count out $5.00 instead of five hundred! 

Liz and Iris give up and go back to the radio station. Meanwhile, George and Mr. Atterbury give up chasing Liz and Iris and decide to go to the radio station.  Liz arrives with a minute and a half to go. Defeated, she tears up the check just as the boys come racing in with the $500 cash.  With 45 seconds to go they scramble to reassemble the check!  Liz finds the final piece just as time expires. 

Brubaker reveals that he tricked her. The “Uh Uh Uh” man had the money all the time and would have cashed the check had Liz just asked. George is outraged and punches Brubaker in his ‘Happy’ face!  As a consolation, George agrees to give Liz the money anyway - plus $89.50 for the new dress.

LIZ: “Oh, George!  You really are my favorite husband!” 

In the final live Jell-O commercial, Lucille Ball takes on the character of a famous lady novelist and Bob LeMond is her interviewer. Lucy adopts a nasal voice as Elizabeth Dopplefinger Hopenshmice. The voice is similar to the one she will do as Isabella Clump in “The Million Dollar Idea” (ILL S3;E13). Elizabeth says she first imagines a book cover and then writes a story around it.  Bob LeMond says he would like to see a bowl of Jell-O on the cover of a book, but Elizabeth prefers a more romantic cover and kisses him. LeMond still wants Jell-O on the cover.  

Bob LeMond reads the credits. There is a recorded message from Instant Sanka.  

END EPISODE

[meanstreetspodcasts]

Bring on the Line

“We take you now behind the scenes of a police headquarters in a great American city, where under the cold glaring lights will pass before us the innocent, the vagrant, the thief, the murderer. This is The Line-Up.”

Dragnet is the best-known police drama from the Golden Age of Radio; even people who have never heard an episode know the iconic theme music and Jack Webb portrayal from film, television, and parody. Less known but just as strong is The Line-Up, a series that premiered on CBS on July 6, 1950 and kept pace with Webb’s program in its early years on radio.

The series was set in “a great American city” (unnamed at first, but later revealed to be San Francisco in the television version of the series) and it followed the police as they tracked down killers, thieves, con men, and mob bosses. Each episode opened with a line-up of suspects, sometimes connected to the crime of the week, who were questioned by officers while anxious eyewitnesses watched and tried to recognize them. These scenes were wonderful displays of characterization, humor, and sound design as the hushed observations from the gallery mixed in and out of the loud defiant answers of the suspects being questioned.

The Line-Up was originally developed by Elliot Lewis, Morton Fine, and David Friedkin - the trio behind Broadway is My Beat and later Crime Classics. After the initial eight week run on CBS, the series was turned over to Blake Edwards and Jaime del Vallee, the creative team behind Richard Diamond, Private Detective. Edwards and del Vallee shepherded a series that had the realism of Dragnet (especially in how it portrayed the frequent monotony of police work), but that was more nuanced and allowed for richer characters to populate its precinct.  Joe Friday and his partners were cops; the men on The Line-Up felt more like real people.

And to get that level of characterization, you need great actors in the roles. The Line-Up started strong at the top.  In what may be his greatest radio role (and that’s saying something given his two decades of work in the Golden Age of Radio), Bill Johnstone starred as Lt. Ben Guthrie. Johnstone first rose to prominence when he succeeded Orson Welles as The Shadow, a role he played from 1939 until 1943. He moved to Hollywood and joined the incredible talent pool of west coast radio players. Johnstone was a fixture on Suspense, Escape, Sam Spade, and many more. Cops were something of a specialty for Johnstone; he appeared opposite Sydney Greenstreet in several episodes of The New Adventures of Nero Wolfe as Inspector Cramer, and he played Lt. Ybarra opposite Van Heflin on The Adventures of Philip Marlowe. The prematurely gray-haired Johnstone had a rich voice that gave his characters an “older than their years” sound, and that technique was put to great use as Ben Guthrie. He was overworked (long hours and trips to the coffee pot were standards on the show) but Johnstone captured Guthrie’s determination to close a case through the late nights.

Johnstone was supported for the first years of the program by actor Wally Maher as Sgt. Matt Grebb. Grebb called the titular line-up that opened each episode and his wry dressing-down of suspects added some levity to the dramatic scripts. Grebb could also be counted on to rib Guthrie about the latter’s bachelor lifestyle. Grebb played a role similar to that of Frank Smith on Dragnet, but Maher was given more opportunity to make Grebb a true character. Sadly, Maher passed away at age 43 in 1951, leaving a hole in not only The Line-Up, but the reperatory cast of Hollywood radio actors.

Actor Jack Moyles (who enjoyed a run as a radio detective in Rocky Jordan) played Sgt. Pete Carger, Guthrie’s new partner, for the duration of the radio run following Maher’s death. As a tribute to Maher (or perhaps because the late actor’s style was so closely associated and identified with the program), Moyles used a similar delivery and cadence when calling the line-up at the start of each episode.

The Line-Up aired on CBS from July 6, 1950 to February 20, 1953. Like other shows of the era, it transitioned to television (albeit without its radio cast).  The TV version starred Warner Anderson as Lt. Guthrie and Tom Tully as Inspector Grebb.  Grebb received a promotion for TV because the San Francisco Police Department Bureau of Inspectors had no “Sergeant” rank.  The series ran on CBS television from 1954 to 1960, and a feature film spin-off hit theaters in 1958.  Ditected by Don Siegel (later he would direct Clint Eastwood as Dirty Harry), the film co-starred Eli Wallach.  Anderson returned as Guthrie for the film.

As more episodes of The Line-Up continue to enter circulation, it’s a great time to discover this series.  Fans of police drama and sharp writing would do well to sit in the gallery and watch as the suspects are paraded out and questioned.  Just don’t pay too much attention to their answers, as they often lie.

[meanstreetspodcasts]

“We take you now behind the scenes of a police headquarters in a great American city…”

Cops rarely got their due in the Golden Age of Radio.  On shows headlined by private detectives and amateur sleuths, the uniformed police officer was at best a harried man in over his head forced to turn to an outsider for help; at worst, he was a dullard who would trip over his own shoelaces without assistance from the main character.  But some shows painted police officers with the right kind of brush.  They weren’t portrayed as geniuses or as dunces; rather, the hard work and determination that cracked cases was played up with elements of unique personalities and characters allowed to shine through.  Dragnet is the best-known example of this type of police drama.  Less known but just as strong is The Line-Up, a series that premiered on radio on July 6, 1950, keeping pace with Jack Webb’s program in its early years on radio.

The series was set in “a great American city” (unnamed at first, but later revealed to be San Francisco in the television version) and it followed the police as they tracked down killers, thieves, con men, and mob bosses.  Each episode opened with a line-up of suspects, sometimes connected to the crime of the week, who were questioned by officers while anxious eyewitnesses watched and tried to recognize them.  These scenes were wonderful displays of characterization, humor, and sound design as the hushed observations from the gallery mixed in and out of the loud defiant answers of the suspects being questioned.

The Line-Up was originally developed by Elliot Lewis, Morton Fine, and David Friedkin - the trio behind Broadway is My Beat.  After the initial eight week run on CBS, the series was turned over to Blake Edwards and Jaime del Vallee, the creative team behind Richard Diamond, Private Detective.  The new creative team shepherded a series that had the realism of Dragnet (especially in how it portrayed the frequent monotony of police work), but The Line-Up was more nuanced and allowed for richer characters to populate its precinct; the men on The Line-Up felt like real people.

And to get that level of characterization, you need great actors in the roles.  The Line-Up started strong at the top.  In what may be his greatest radio role (and that’s saying something given his two decades of work in the Golden Age of Radio), Bill Johnstone starred as Lt. Ben Guthrie.  Johnstone first rose to prominence when he succeeded Orson Welles as The Shadow, a role he played from 1939 until 1943.  That year, he moved to Hollywood and joined the incredible talent pool of west coast radio players.  Johnstone was a fixture on Suspense and Escape.  He appeared in several episodes of The New Adventures of Nero Wolfe as Inspector Cramer and he played Lt. Ybarra opposite Van Heflin on The Adventures of Philip Marlowe.  The prematurely gray-haired Johnstone had a rich voice that gave his characters an “older than their years” sound, and that technique was put to great use as Ben Guthrie.  He was overworked (long hours and trips to the coffee pot were standards on the show) but Johnstone captured Guthrie’s determination to close a case through the late nights.

Johnstone was supported for the first years of the program by actor Wally Maher (an actor who also had a stint as private eye Michael Shayne) as Sgt. Matt Grebb.  Grebb called the titular line-up that opened each episode and his wry dressing-down of suspects added some levity to the dramatic scripts. Grebb could also be counted on to rib Guthrie about the latter’s bachelor lifestyle.  Grebb played a role similar to that of Frank Smith on Dragnet, but Maher was given more opportunity to make Grebb a true character.  Sadly, Maher passed away at age 43 in 1951, leaving a hole in not only The Line-Up, but the repertory cast of Hollywood radio actors.

Actor Jack Moyles (who enjoyed a run as a radio detective in Rocky Jordan) played Sgt. Pete Carger, Guthrie’s new partner, for the duration of the radio run following Maher’s death.  As a tribute to Maher (or perhaps because the late actor’s style was so closely associated and identified with the program), Moyles used a similar delivery and cadence when calling the line-up at the start of each episode.

The Line-Up aired on CBS from July 6, 1950 to February 20, 1953.  Like other shows of the era, it transitioned to television (albeit without its radio cast).  The TV version starred Warner Anderson as Lt. Guthrie and Tom Tully as Inspector Grebb.  Grebb received a promotion for TV because the San Francisco Police Department Bureau of Inspectors had no “Sergeant” rank.  The series ran on CBS television from 1954 to 1960, and a feature film spin-off hit theaters in 1958.  Directed by Don Siegel (later he would direct Clint Eastwood as Dirty Harry), the film co-starred Eli Wallach.  Anderson returned as Guthrie for the film. A Blu-ray is finally coming this September, and you better believe my copy is already pre-ordered.

As more episodes of The Line-Up continue to enter circulation, it’s a great time to discover this series.  Fans of police drama and sharp writing would do well to sit in the gallery and watch as the suspects are paraded out and questioned.  Just don’t pay too much attention to their answers, as they often lie.

[contentabnormal]

Visit Original Link

This week on Content Abnormal we present Michael Shayne’s investigation of “The Ghost of Moccasin Hill”!

[frankentyner]

Piecing together a Michael Shayne mystery for the next Content Abnormal and found out Shayne is voiced by Screwy Squirrel.

[meanstreetspodcasts]

Happy Birthday, Wally Maher (August 4, 1908 - December 27, 1951)

One of the best character actors of the Golden Age of Radio, Wally Maher could be heard in regular rotation on Suspense, Sam Spade, Philip Marlowe, and more. He starred as private eye Michael Shayne (opposite Cathy Lewis as Shayne’s girt Friday; the pair made for a wonderful crime-solving duo) and Sgt. Matt Grebb of The Line-Up. Elsewhere in gumshoe world, Maher co-starred with Bob Bailey as police Lieutenant Riley on Let George Do It. Lung cancer claimed him far too soon at the age of 43.