Gangsters Trunk: The Phil Harris (May 7, 1950)

The Phil Harris, old-time radio on Stupid Potato

“Gangsters Trunk” is an episode of The Phil Harris, the old-time radio show, first broadcast May 7, 1950. Listen free on Stupid Potato: no sign-up, no app.

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What happens

Phil Harris prepares for a three-week tour of one-night personal appearances, with his wife Alice Faye and the children questioning him about the trip. His friend Frankie Remley helps him find a cheap trunk at a second-hand store on Main Street. The store clerk, Eddie Miller, sells them a trunk once owned by the late gangster Louis Moretti. Harris and Remley are worried by what they find inside the trunk. The story is a comedy about the Harris household in the 1950 Phil Harris show, broadcast on NBC on May 7, 1950, with Phil Harris and Alice Faye starring.

The Harris home and a second-hand store off Main Street, in a town on the tour route

Characters: Phil Harris, Alice Faye, Frankie Remley, Curly, Eddie Miller, Rochester, Willie, Julius

Listen for: Harris's nervous reaction when the trunk is opened, and Alice Faye's dry comments about the trunk's past owners

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.