What happens
Fred Allen and Portland Hoffa stroll along Main Street on a Sunday evening, meeting a string of eccentric townsfolk who comment on newsreel stories, politics and animals. Bert Lahr then tells Fred about a summer theatre venture he hopes to buy, the Roundhouse Repertory Players, which needs $5,000 by six o'clock. The pair head to the Jamaica Racetrack, where Fred places a bet on a horse called Watermelon. The Fred Allen Show is a weekly comedy program on radio, and this episode aired on 1949-05-01, with Fred Allen, Portland Hoffa, Kenny Delmar and Minerva Pious in the lead roles. The story is built around these meetings and the racetrack plan.
Main Street on a Sunday night, then New York City and the Jamaica Racetrack
Characters: Fred Allen, Portland Hoffa, Bert Lahr, Kenny Delmar, Titus Moody, Mrs. Nussbaum, Ajax Cassidy, JP Mortimer
Listen for: Fred's exchanges with the townsfolk on Main Street, and Bert Lahr's pitch for the Roundhouse Repertory Players
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.