What happens
Lou Costello, a gardener with more enthusiasm than skill, plants mashed potatoes and misplaces his radishes, while Bud Abbott tries to set him straight. Their neighbour Mrs. Niles, whose orange tree hangs over the fence, grows angry after Lou fires a shotgun at a crow in the tree. Mrs. Niles brings charges against Lou, so Lou sets out to find character witnesses to speak for him in court. The Abbott and Costello series aired on NBC and ABC, with Bud Abbott and Lou Costello in the leading roles, alongside Elvia Allman and Connie Haines. This episode was first broadcast on April 11, 1946, and its opening section covers Lou's gardening mishaps, the orange tree dispute, and the summons.
A suburban neighbourhood with a garden and an orange tree, later a county courtroom.
Characters: Lou Costello, Bud Abbott, Mrs. Niles, Tessie Timfoil, Scotty Brown, Phoebe LeBlanc, Judge, Sheriff Yup Bloc Carisi
Listen for: Lou's garbled gardening advice, the argument over the orange tree, and his hunt for character witnesses.
Written from the episode itself; it never gives away the ending. Every recording is remastered for the stream: cleaned of rumble, hiss and mains hum (and the old TV whine where we found it), then levelled in two passes to steady broadcast loudness, so one show is never quieter than the next.