What happens
The Fred Allen Show, broadcast on CBS and NBC on March 27, 1940, opens with Fred Allen and his regular cast in a light-hearted variety program. Allen trades comic remarks with Harry Von Zell and Portland Hoffa, and bandleader Peter Van Steeden leads the music. A mock radio operation sponsored by Pico-Cola is staged for laughs, followed by a satirical preview of census questions. Walt Disney director T. Hee joins Allen to discuss the making of Pinocchio, with Allen probing how hundreds of artists produced the film. The program then turns to a segment where studio guests debate a question of the day.
A live radio variety program broadcast from a New York studio, with an audience present.
Characters: Fred Allen, Harry Von Zell, Portland Hoffa, Minerva Pious, Peter Van Steeden, T. Hee, Hugh Cooper, Jane Lane
Listen for: Allen's mock operation sketch and his interview with T. Hee about the production of Pinocchio.
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.