What happens
Summerfield is visited by Sample Brothers Gigantic Circus, and young Leroy Quinton, nephew of Throckmorton P. Gildersleeve, is eager to run away and join it. Gildersleeve, the water commissioner, first helps the circus with a water pipe, then receives tickets from its captain, Blackie Sparks. Gildersleeve tries to talk Leroy out of the plan, and the circus gives Leroy a job watering elephants and pitching hay. Gildersleeve is then invited by the circus owner, Beatrice Sample, to serve as guest ringmaster that evening. The Great Gildersleeve is heard on NBC in April 1949, with Harold Peary in the title role.
Summerfield, a small town, during the visit of the Sample Brothers Gigantic Circus
Characters: Throckmorton P. Gildersleeve, Leroy Quinton, Captain Blackie Sparks, Beatrice Sample, Judge Hooker, Marjorie, Brenda, Peavey
Listen for: Gildersleeve's pompous speeches as he is persuaded to become guest ringmaster, and his attempt to make Leroy give up the circus idea
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.