What happens
Jack Benny presents a parody of the film Sunset Boulevard on his Easter program. Jack, Don Wilson, Dennis Day, Phil Harris and Rochester take part, with Mary Livingstone absent and her sister Babe filling in for the lead. Before the sketch begins, the cast jokes about the Academy Awards, Phil's career, and Jack's suit. The sketch follows a writer named Joe who visits a faded former star named Norma Desmond, who lives in a house with her devoted butler Max. Norma's possessiveness and dramatic outbursts drive Joe toward leaving the household. The broadcast was originally aired on March 25, 1951, on NBC and CBS Radio.
A radio comedy studio on Easter Sunday, and then a parody of a Hollywood studio office and a mansion on Sunset Boulevard.
Characters: Jack Benny, Don Wilson, Dennis Day, Phil Harris, Rochester, Babe, Mr. Gillis, Norma Desmond
Listen for: Norma Desmond's dramatic speech when Joe announces he is leaving, and the running jokes about Phil Harris's career and Dennis Day's name-dropping.
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.