What happens
Fred Allen hosts this 1939 episode of his Town Hall Tonight variety show, which opens with the band leader Peter Van Steeden and a mix of spoken news items. A dispute begins when Van Steeden wants to bring the comedian George Jessel onto the program, but Allen refuses to let him announce the guest. Mixed into the evening are short news features, a sponsor pitch for toothpaste, and a visit with a ferryboat captain who talks about his years on the Hudson River. Van Steeden's show then goes on with Jessel as a guest, and the segment ends with the two men still at odds over the broadcast.
A radio broadcast from the Town Hall studio in New York, April 1939, on the Town Hall Tonight program.
Characters: Fred Allen, Peter Van Steeden, Harry Von Zell, Portland Hoffa, George Jessel, Captain John J. McCabe
Listen for: Listen for the friction between Allen and Van Steeden over whether George Jessel will be announced as a guest, and for Captain McCabe's account of his ferry work on the Hudson.
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.