What happens
Luigi Basko, an Italian immigrant in Chicago, cannot sleep at night and writes to his mother in Italy about his troubles. His neighbor Pascal offers a string of home remedies, from open windows to heavy meals, none of which helps. At the bakery where Luigi works, his classmates and the teacher weigh in, and a friend suggests detective stories as a cure. Luigi then visits a doctor whose referrals send him from one specialist to another. The series is Life with Luigi, first broadcast on April 15, 1952, starring J. Carol Nash as Luigi and Alan Reed as Pascal.
Chicago, in the home, bakery and classrooms of Luigi Basko's Italian-American neighborhood, and in the offices of several doctors.
Characters: Luigi Basko, Pascal, Rosa, Mr. Schulz, Mr. Olson, Miss Boylan, Dr. Hart, Dr. Barron
Listen for: Pascal's list of sleep remedies, Luigi's trip through a chain of doctors' offices, and his classroom lesson on irregular verbs.
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.