Professor Thorndyke Studies Gracie: Burns and Allen (October 21, 1940)

“Professor Thorndyke Studies Gracie” is an episode of Burns and Allen, the old-time radio show, first broadcast October 21, 1940. Listen free on Stupid Potato.

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What happens

Gracie Allen has been under observation all week by Professor Alvin W. Thorndyke, a psychiatrist who has been living at the Allen home to study her mind. George Burns grows worried about Gracie's strange behavior, and the household tries various ways to be rid of the professor. Gracie buys and trades cars in a single day, and Professor Thorndyke turns to hypnosis and mesmerism in his experiments. The episode is part of the Burns and Allen radio series, first broadcast on October 21, 1940, with Gracie Allen and Bea Benaderet among the cast.

Hollywood, at the Burns and Allen home and studio, during a week of psychiatric observation of Gracie Allen

Characters: George Burns, Gracie Allen, Professor Alvin W. Thorndyke, Harry, Elliot, Artie

Listen for: Gracie's car-trading spree and the professor's hypnosis experiments

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.