What happens
Fred Allen hosts a comedy hour from the Town Hall, opening with a stream of jokes and sketches. A news bit follows about a mail-fraud ring of fake eye doctors, in which a farmer named Lamb is swindled into buying glasses that turn out to be bottle bottoms. Later segments include a faux high-school astronomy lesson, a harmonica contest and a bit of public speaking, and the evening closes with a serial drama about a daughter, Zenobia, hiding in a closet. The episode is part of the Fred Allen series and was first broadcast on October 14, 1936. The lead actors are Fred Allen, Portland Hoffa, Kenny Delmar and Minerva Pious.
The Town Hall, a radio variety show hall, with sketches set on a farmhouse, an optician's office, a high school classroom and a theatre.
Characters: Fred Allen, Harry, Portland Hoffa, Lamb, Doc Colte, Mandy, Minnie Berg, Professor Hoffman
Listen for: The mock optician sketch with Lamb and the eye doctor, and the closing serial cliffhanger about Zenobia in the closet.
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.