What happens
Jim Anderson and his family gather gossip about Hector Smith, whose long working hours and absences have fueled rumors among their neighbors. Elizabeth Smith leaves town to visit her mother, leaving her canary Richard with the Andersons. Rumors of a divorce and infidelity spread through the neighborhood, and the Andersons invite the Smiths to dinner in an effort to repair the marriage. The episode is from the radio series Father Knows Best, first broadcast on October 18, 1951, and stars Robert Young as Jim Anderson.
Springfield, a neighborhood of white frame houses on Maple Street, in the 1950s
Characters: Jim Anderson, Margaret Anderson, Betty Anderson, Bud Anderson, Kathy Anderson, Elizabeth Smith, Hector Smith, Helen Phillips
Listen for: The Anderson children repeatedly overhearing and misreporting the gossip about the Smiths, including the 'Molly Pitcher' and 'Dolly Madison' mix-ups, and the dinner at which the family tries to make the Smiths feel lonesome for each other.
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.