What happens
Gildersleeve sets out to take his household to Half Moon Lake for a summer vacation, a trip he has planned down to the minute. The morning goes wrong almost at once as the car fills with luggage, the twins need tending, and the family cannot agree on how to fit everyone in. Gildersleeve's neighbor Judge Hooker drops by, and a suggestion from Peavey about travelling in shifts is weighed as the family tries to find a way to get everyone to the lake. The Great Gildersleeve was broadcast on NBC on May 30, 1951, with Harold Peary, Willard Waterman, Lillian Randolph and Lurene Tuttle in the lead roles.
Summerfield, the Gildersleeve house and the surrounding town, on the morning the family is due to leave for Half Moon Lake.
Characters: Gildersleeve, Leroy, Marjorie, Bronco, Birdie, Judge Hooker, Peavey
Listen for: Gildersleeve's confident timetable falling apart as the family tries to load the car, and the debate over splitting the family into shifts for the trip.
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.