What happens
Jack Benny hosts a comedy episode of his radio show in which he and his cast trade quips about dancing, the Kentucky Derby and the feuding families of an old melodrama. Don Wilson, Mary Livingstone and Frank Parker join him at the studio, and Phil Harris is heard among the musicians. The cast place bets on the Derby through a phone call, then perform a mock hillbilly melodrama called The Hills of Old Kentucky, in which the Diddleberry and Vance families keep up a long-running feud. Benny plays Lemuel Vance, and Mary Livingstone plays his daughter Elvira. The episode is broadcast on May 4, 1934 on NBC and CBS Radio.
A radio studio, where the program's comedy sketches and a Kentucky Derby betting bit are performed, followed by a mock melodrama set in the hills of Kentucky.
Characters: Jack Benny, Don Wilson, Mary Livingstone, Frank Parker, Phil Harris, Elvira, Lemuel Vance, Zeke Diddleberry
Listen for: The running gag over the Diddleberry and Vance feud, and the bit where the cast bets on the Derby by phone.
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.