What happens
Master of ceremonies George Murphy opens the first Gulf Screen Guild Theater show, aired January 8, 1939, with Judy Garland, Reginald Gardiner, Oscar Bradley and Jack Benny among the performers. Garland sings and then asks Murphy to introduce her to Joan Crawford, who has not yet arrived. Gardiner, his arm in a sling, tells a rambling story about frightened locomotives. Benny arrives under police escort and meets Crawford, and the two trade jokes and banter about Hollywood careers and romance. Murphy, the company president and a Gulf executive introduce the segments and the sponsorship, and the program's proceeds for the Motion Picture Relief Fund are mentioned.
A radio studio during the live broadcast of the Gulf Screen Guild Theater, Hollywood, California.
Characters: George Murphy, Judy Garland, Reginald Gardiner, Joan Crawford, Jack Benny, Oscar Bradley, Ralph Morgan, Colonel Jay Frank Drake
Listen for: Judy Garland's operatic performance and her sudden shift to jitterbug-style singing, and the exchange between Jack Benny and Joan Crawford about sex appeal and the screen.
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.