What happens
Sorrowful Jones, a small-time bookmaker's runner in midtown New York, works in the back room of a barber shop where illegal horse betting takes place. Gladys, a singer he once courted, now works at Big Steve's cafe, and Big Steve, a racketeer, has rigged the race of his horse Dreamy Joe with a drug. When Sorrowful overhears the scheme, trouble follows him. Left with a small girl named Martha Jane Smith, a child whose father has just been killed, he must decide what to do with her. This adaptation of the Paramount picture, from the Lux Radio Theatre, aired on November 21, 1949, with Bob Hope in the title role and Lucille Ball as Gladys.
Midtown New York, around Broadway, in the 1940s: a barber shop horse room, Big Steve's cafe, and Sorrowful's apartment.
Characters: Sorrowful Jones, Gladys, Martha Jane Smith, Big Steve, Sam, Doc Adams, Reardon
Listen for: Sorrowful's bargaining with Big Steve over the rigged horse race, and his awkward care of the small girl, Martha Jane.
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.