Gang Leaders Phone Number: The Phil Harris (March 15, 1953)

The Phil Harris, old-time radio on Stupid Potato

“Gang Leaders Phone Number” is an episode of The Phil Harris, the old-time radio show, first broadcast March 15, 1953. Listen free on Stupid Potato: no sign-up, no app.

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What happens

Phil Harris finds a phone number written in green stationery in a desk, in Alice Faye's handwriting, and dials it, reaching an operator who says it belongs to a gang leader. Harris and Alice are then questioned by police, while Elliott Lewis and Walter Tetley's characters puzzle over the number and its connection to a suspected bank robber. The episode is a comedy from The Phil Harris-Alice Faye Show, which aired on NBC on March 15, 1953, starring Phil Harris, Alice Faye, Elliott Lewis and Gale Gordon. The transcript covers only the first part of the episode.

The Harris home and study, with a police station visit and neighbourhood errands

Characters: Phil Harris, Alice Faye, Elliott Lewis, Walter Tetley, Gale Gordon

Listen for: Harris's attempt to find out whose phone number Alice wrote down, and the police's interest in it

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.