What happens
Fred Allen hosts a live Town Hall program in front of an audience, opening with a song and a run of comic bits. A news segment follows about a New Jersey wedding threatened by mosquitoes, then a mock report on a woman doctor treating a patient, and a skit on the film studio's lawyers. Harry Von Zell delivers a commercial for Sal Hepatica, and a barbershop quartet sings a hillbilly feud song. The episode then turns to a drama, Trombone Annie, in which the Tittle family and their dog Annie are introduced in the backwoods. Fred Allen, Portland Hoffa, Kenny Delmar and Minerva Pious appear in the broadcast. The show aired on 1936-05-27 on CBS and NBC.
A live Town Hall variety show, with comic news bits and a backwoods drama set in the countryside.
Characters: Fred Allen, Harry Von Zell, Portland Hoffa, Kenny Delmar, Minerva Pious, Boris, Zeke Allen, Annie
Listen for: The mock news segments and the Trombone Annie drama, where the family and their singing dog are introduced.
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.