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Audio is a little scratchy. In missing episodes prior to this, Gracie had sold their house, only to manage to buy it back. She butters George up with compliments, and a breakfast fit for a king. Will her submissive behavior win George’s trust again? Gracie promises to never say a word, or make a decision without George’s approval. His wish is her command, but somehow George ends up on the short end of the deal.
The Happy Postman is glad to see the Burns’ have moved back in, and is overflowing with joy. Is his wife as submissive as Gracie is being today?
When the postman leaves, Gracie tells about her family, and what her mom thinks of George. Meredeth Willson enters, and has a suggestion on repairing the strained relationship between George and Gracie. A woman should be treated like a finely tuned instrument.
Meredeth Willson plays, Heartache. Elliot Lewis is the interior decorator who Gracie calls to repair a window pane in need of putty. An interior decorator? I feel much more than a simple putty job on a window pane coming on.
Anyone know what the joke about the NBC vice-president was about?
Keep in mind that this episode aired in May of 1947. Just one month prior to this Fred Allen had a show run long, and was faded off the air at the end of his appointed time slot. He came back with sarcastic remarks directed at the network executives who made the decision. Namely a fictitional vice president of NBC, in charge of program endings. The network didn’t care for the unkind remarks, but the news made front page headlines, with the network losing the battle of public opinion.
This has been summarized from an article found on the blog of Tralfaz:
Fred Allen 1, NBC 0
Check out the full article, complete with snippets from newspapers and magazines from the time. Of course, its the kind of thing that other comedians love to pounce on in their own shows.