What happens
Fred Allen hosts his full-hour variety program, the Hour of Smiles, on Bristol-Myers, a show he introduces with his cast of Portland Hoffa, Kenny Delmar and Minerva Pious. After a newsreel parody and music from Lenny Hayton and the Ipana Troubadours, Allen presents Judge Allen's Cut Rate Court, where he hears a string of absurd cases. Cases include a window-breaking inventor, a taxi-and-truck collision, a pet-shop shoplifting charge, and a dispute over an opera performance. The judge's rulings grow increasingly ridiculous as the defendants and witnesses make their claims.
A radio variety program hour, where the host introduces the show and then stages a mock courtroom called Judge Allen's Cut Rate Court.
Characters: Judge Allen, Portland Hoffa, Kenny Delmar, Minerva Pious, Lenny Hayton, Theodore Webb
Listen for: Allen's rapid-fire courtroom exchanges with the defendants, witnesses and the bizarre cases they bring before him.
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.