What happens
Chester A. Riley, a factory worker, gets one day a month to play an executive at his kitchen table, and his daughter Babs acts as his secretary. The day's letters bring trouble: a roofing company demands payment, the school warns that his son Junior may be ineligible for the basketball team, and the bank reports the family account overdrawn. Riley and his wife Peg argue over who should sign the checks, and Riley is drawn into a shady scheme with his friend Gillis. The episode is from The Life of Riley, broadcast on June 15, 1951, on the Blue Network and ABC, with William Bendix as Riley, Paula Winslowe as Peg and Alan Reed in the cast. Riley's money worries and family conflicts build through the episode.
The Riley family kitchen, which becomes a makeshift office, and the Riley home in California.
Characters: Chester A. Riley, Babs, Junior, Peg Riley, Gillis
Listen for: Riley's first-of-the-month dictation of business letters, and the argument between Riley and Peg over the overdrawn joint bank account.
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.