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Those crazy people are back. George Burns and Gracie Allen are joined by the Smoothies, Artie Shaw and his orchestra, and announcer Bud Easton.
Previously George had been on trial, but actually won his case. Today he jokes with Bud and Gracie about his success. George gets picked on by the cast, including his unruly guitarist Senor Lee. The Smoothies sing, I’ll Never Smile Again.
All George has to do is pay a small $25 court fee for his legal troubles. Gracie is sure she knows someone who can take care of that for him, and starts making phone calls. The calls to distant places soon racks up more in expenses than George’s original legal bill. Don’t worry, it escalates, then explodes to outrageous amounts. Along the way jokes about spelling, finances, horses, and even hula dancers make appearances. George tries to appease his disgruntled Harvard educated sound man, then Artie Shaw plays, Begin the Beguine.
Gracie keeps making her phone calls, but the delays cause George to miss his deadline in paying his court fees. Poor George, he just can’t win, and if anything can happen, it’ll happen to him.
Note: Elliot Lewis was the Harvard sound man. In real life he had only recently graduated from college. Not from Harvard though. He had a business degree, and this is among his first jobs in radio.
Correction: Elliot didn’t graduate from college, and his studies were in law, nott business. Although, these appearances were among his first radio jobs, he was on the air even sooner. He appeared uncredited in the Cinnamon Bear series in 1937, for example.
According to interviews with him, he started out studying Law at L.A. City College (because tuition there was only $75/year), but got involved with a campus drama group and discovered he preferred performing. When a course in Radio Acting was created, he auditioned and was accepted. This led to a 4-line role on a radio drama the instructor was producing on NBC. This led to so many radio acting jobs that Elliott didn’t attend any classes for 4 months. This led to a meeting with the colleg e administrators who recommended he withdraw, rather than flunk out. If he withdrew, he could return at a later date. He never returned. He was too busy working in radio.
(Thanks to OofusTwillip from Disqus for the update.)
He would go on to have a long and illustrious career in just about all aspects of producing a radio show. He and his wife Cathy showcased their talents with the drama series, On Stage. Elliot was Frank Remley on the Phil Haris show, and Nero Wolf’s assistant Archie, among many other roles. He would serve in World War 2 to produce things for the military, and did all maner of production and directing in radio shows. I guess it’s safe to say that his career of slamming doors as the sound man didn’t leave him sitting still.
