What happens
Gracie Allen and Artie Shaw are both missing when George Burns' show is due to go on the air, and Jimmy Wallington is left to keep the broadcast running. Burns grows suspicious that the two were together at a Manhattan cocktail lounge, and each of them offers a different excuse for being late. Gracie's stories become increasingly far-fetched, while Shaw's explanations are no more convincing. The evening's comic confusion takes in a sick friend, a locked shop, a missing brother and a dinner-table joke. Burns, Allen and the cast keep the banter moving as the broadcast finally begins.
A New York radio studio on a Monday night, with flashbacks to the cocktail lounge, a park and a department store.
Characters: George Burns, Gracie Allen, Jimmy Wallington, Artie Shaw, Beatrice Fairfax
Listen for: Gracie's increasingly elaborate excuses for her lateness, and Burns' exasperated questioning.
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.