What happens
Fred Allen celebrates the fourth anniversary of his radio program with a live Town Hall broadcast. Harry von Zell and Portland Hoffa, along with a cast of regulars including Kenny Delmar, join the evening's comedy. The program moves through a sketch about a hard-pressed vice president named Higgins, who must secure two million dollars from the bank, and a series of congratulatory telegrams that Allen reads aloud. A bickering exchange with a pair of rivals follows, and the broadcast closes with the Mighty Allen Art Players performing a hillbilly courtroom parody titled Murder at Cupcake County. This guide reflects only the opening portion of the broadcast, which aired on CBS and NBC in October 1936.
A live broadcast from the Old Town Hall, with comic sketches, telegrams, and a courtroom parody in Cupcake County.
Characters: Fred Allen, Portland Hoffa, Kenny Delmar, Minerva Pious, Harry von Zell, Mr. Higgins, Mr. Kluge
Listen for: The Higgins office sketch, Allen reading his fourth-anniversary telegrams, and the courtroom parody Murder at Cupcake County.
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.