Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 29:39 — 6.8MB)
Flywheel is going out to deliver an eviction notice. He learns that Revelli has sold his coat though, so he and Revelli decide to head south rather than face another New York winter. They are picked up hitch hiking.
In their travels, they stop for a bite to eat in a Chicken restaurant. Seeing a chance to do some freeloading, they invite themselves along to the house of their benefactor, the lady who gave them the ride. They help her out by doing some legal work for her. Well, if you can call that helping.
There’s a matter of inheriting a mansion, which appeals to Flywheel. But there’s just that detail of having to spend the night in it, and the ghost that haunts it, and the waking up dead part.
Revelli and Flywheel sing, Life is So Peculiar. The ghosts, monsters, and creepy things in the mansion do their best, but Flywheel is just a little too sarcastic, synical, and oblivious enough to frustrate the poor little ghost.
Turns out, the ghosts aren’t really ghosts, and are really trying to cover up for a counterfeiting ring. Do our heros get a reward for their efforts? Will they return to their office feeling refreshed? Maybe.
Note: I love the recreations, and the tallents of the actors, very well done. The musical interludes that separate the second and third acts are also nice, however not quite from the period of the original 1933 radio series. The featured song today, for instance is from a decade after this show aired originally. It’s a Johnny Mercer tune that was sang by Bing Crosby and the Andrews Sisters, as well as others. Still, it’s typical of the kind of song that Groucho and the Marx Brothers would do.
