What happens
Archie, the manager of Duffy's Tavern, hopes to bring in customers by staging a radio audition starring Bob Hope and Bing Crosby, as Eddie and Finnegan look on. Eddie, who has written the show, insists on announcing it himself, and Archie phones Bob Hope to ask him to come down to the tavern. Hope is reluctant, and the broadcast that follows is a comic mix of tavern business and gags. This is an episode of the Duffy's Tavern series, a 1944 broadcast on CBS, NBC Blue and NBC. Ed Gardner and Shirley Booth lead the cast. The story is told in the tavern itself, where the staff are constantly trying to work out what is going on around them.
Duffy's Tavern, a New York bar and restaurant
Characters: Archie, Eddie, Finnegan, Duffy, Bob Hope, Bing Crosby, Dolores Hope, Bob Crosby
Listen for: Archie's phone call to Bob Hope, Eddie's insistence on announcing the show, and the staged audition with Bing Crosby and Bob Hope
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.