Variety Show: Screen Guild Theater (March 9, 1941)

“Variety Show” is an episode of Screen Guild Theater, the old-time radio show, first broadcast March 9, 1941. Listen free on Stupid Potato.

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What happens

Fibber McGee and Molly arrive in Hollywood hoping to break into the movies, carrying a letter of introduction to Edward Arnold, president of the Screen Actors Guild. Arnold sends them an invitation to a party at his home, and when they arrive the couple are mistaken for the butler and maid he has been expecting from an employment agency. Gary Cooper, Joan Bennett and Francis Langford are among the guests, and the evening turns to a search for a missing wallet. This is the Screen Guild Theater's variety show from March 9, 1941, presented with Roger Pryor as host.

Hollywood, California: a small hotel room, then Edward Arnold's home during a party

Characters: Fibber McGee, Molly, Edward Arnold, Gary Cooper, Joan Bennett, Francis Langford, Roger Pryor, Manuel

Listen for: Fibber and Molly's mistaken identity as servants at Arnold's party, and the lighthearted search for Gary Cooper's wallet

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.