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The Warner Jensen orchestra opens by playing, Easy on the Eyes. Charlie McCarthy has tonsillitis, and we learn the details of his medical condition. Dr Edgar doesn’t help Charlie’s confidence, but nurse Dorothy cheers him up. Dorothy Lamour is helped by Charlie in the chorus as she sings, Let’s Call the Whole Thing Off.
Reproducing a scene from her film, Mary Boland frets over menfolk who are alleged to be duck hunting, when everybody knows they’re out with other women. The girls plan their own little fling. Will a confrontation between husband and wife result in an understanding, or resolution? Station break.
Don Juan McCarthy gets his shot with Mary Boland. She seems a little too old for his taste in Hollywood starlets, and they talk about uncle Willie, otherwise known as WC Fields. Warner Jensen plays excerpts from Johan Strausses, Tales from the Woods. When WC Fields arrives, he’s feeling down, but not so much from any illness. Then he relates a tale of his younger days involving being caught in a cellar, dogs, and a fight. To get on his nerves, Mary Boland is joined by Charlie to talk with Willie about friendship. Is there any hope that Mary can patch things up between Charlie and WC? With Charlie gone, WC tells about his younger days with a circus. Don Ameche joins Sonja Henning to sing, Who’s Afraid of Love.
Emperor Jones, a play by Eugene O’Neil, is portrayed in part with a musical portion. The play involves a porter who made himself out as emperor, but now the people are chasing him through the forrest as he runs for his life. In song, he knows he did wrong, prays to god, admits he killed a man, but comes to a tragic end.
Warning to the racially sensitive, this contains language that might be offensive. Don Ameche closes with the words of ‘thank you, that was lovely’. which seems odd to me. Clearly he meant the emotion packed performance, not the content of such a tragic scene.
Notable quotes: Suffer suffer suffer, I suffer all the time. I don’t mind suffering, its just the pain I can’t stand. -Charlie McCarthy.
