What happens
A singer performs the comic song "Profiteering Blues" as part of an old-time radio program. The narrator visits a doctor, who says the trouble is a common complaint, and the singer reports that high prices leave him unable to afford clothes or shoes. Every raise he gets is taken by his landlord, and the song jokes that the more he earns, the more others take from him. It also recalls how far a dollar used to go, with two pairs of pants once sold for fifteen dollars and a ticket to a show costing little. The song is part of the American History Through The Eyes Of Radio series and is meant to reflect the frustrations of rising prices in 1920.
A doctor's office, and the everyday world of rising prices and rent in 1920 America.
Characters: Narrator (singer), Doctor
Listen for: The refrain about high prices, the landlord taking every raise, and the joke about buying only a coat without pants for fifteen dollars.
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.