What happens
Chester Riley, a factory worker, is named captain of his district's community chest drive, and he is eager to prove himself. His wife Peg refuses to lend him five dollars for a muscle-building course, and his attempts at collecting pledges go badly, with the neighbors either refusing or getting the better of him. Meanwhile, Peg and their daughter Babs quietly collect a large sum from the neighborhood and hide it in a corn flakes box, not yet realizing how it will look. The Life of Riley is a Blue Network/ABC and NBC radio comedy, aired on 1949-11-11, starring William Bendix, Paula Winslowe, Hans Conried and Alan Reed, with Jackie Gleason substituting for Bendix in this episode.
A neighborhood in a city, in the Riley family home and around the local community chest drive, late 1940s
Characters: Chester Riley, Peg Riley, Junior, Babs, Gillis, Digger O'Dell, Mr. Gibson, Joe Anderson
Listen for: Riley's phone calls to neighbors, Peg's exchanges with him about the five dollars, and the scene where Gillis finds the money in the corn flakes box
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.