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It’s the radio presentation from the Screen Guild Theater, and Red Skelton’s latest movie, The Fuller Brush Man.
It’s a typical day for Red as he wants to propose to his girlfriend, Ann. She is unwilling because he can’t hold down a job. She’s a secretary for the Fuller Brush company, and when Red loses his latest job as a garbage man, and with a little nudge from one of her coworkers, Red decides to become independently employed as a Fuller Brush man.
After a long series of door slams, and a little adlib, Red stumbles on a mystery in the making. He has his big chance to sell brushes, but the lady is an actress, and is leading Red on as she plays a part with him. Next, he tries to sell brushes to the mayor’s wife, the man who just fired him from his job as a street cleaner. The mayor comes in, the lights go out, and when they come on the mayor is dead on the floor.
The cop on the scene, Frank Nelson, ends up hauling Red in as the main suspect. The sensational headlines have everyone against him. His new boss regrets hiring him, his girlfriend walks out on him. It’s just a bad day for Red.
The mayor’s wife comes to Red with a different story than she told the cops. Her behavior is awfully suspicious, but Red is oblivius to it. Reds dorbell is busy when one guest after another show up on his doorstep. The final ones being a couple of gangsters. He’s rescued when the cops also come by.
After a flubbed line and adlib, Red and the audience regain composure, but that doorbell just keeps ringing. After a few more adlibs, the cops partner comes in with some good news. They caught the mob of bad guys trying to escape down the back way. The only thing left is to have Red discover the murder weapon.
The final scenes have Red cracking jokes with Frank Nelson, and his movie girlfriend, Janet Blair.
