What happens
Sydney Milburn, a racetrack tout known as the Lemon Drop Kid, is in debt to gangster Moose Moran for ten thousand dollars after a fixed race goes wrong for him. Moran's henchman Sam the Surgeon gives him until Christmas to pay. Desperate, the Kid devises a scheme to raise the money through a charity collection for a home for old ladies, using a former casino on Long Island and a city license he obtains by impersonating Santa Claus. His old flame Brainy Baxter is also in the story, and the Kid's schemes grow more elaborate as the holiday approaches. This adaptation of Damon Runyon's stories is presented on the Lux Radio Theatre, first broadcast on December 10, 1951, with Bob Hope and Marilyn Maxwell in the leading roles.
Florida racetrack, then New York City at Christmas time, including a jail, a Long Island casino, and a Broadway nightclub
Characters: Sydney Milburn (the Lemon Drop Kid), Brainy Baxter, Moose Moran, Sam the Surgeon, Nelly Thursday, Charlie, George, Gloomy
Listen for: The Kid's rapid-fire patter and his increasingly outlandish plans to raise money for Moose Moran
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.