What happens
Fred Allen hosts a New Year's Eve broadcast of his radio variety show, opening with a Christmas-week chat with Harry Von Zell and Peter Van Steeden. Several comic segments follow, including a mock news report on the making of Gone with the Wind, a bit on a studio adjective man, and a story about a Scarlett audition. Robert Benchley then joins Allen as a guest, answering questions about wit and humor in a loose, rambling exchange. The transcript breaks off partway through a later segment, a round-table discussion with a lawyer from the studio audience.
A New York radio studio broadcast of The Fred Allen Show, near the close of 1939.
Characters: Fred Allen, Harry Von Zell, Peter Van Steeden, Robert Benchley, Humphrey Dale, Mervin Nod, Stephanie Culpeper, Bellclair Scriven
Listen for: Allen's sketches with Harry Von Zell and Van Steeden, and the Robert Benchley interview about humor.
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.