Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 14:44 — 3.4MB)
Lum and Abner recap the disastrous events that led up to faking a broken leg. Instead of only getting out of his date with sister Simpson, the whole town has been abuzz with the news. Folks have showered food and pleasantries on Lum, and the longer it goes on, the harder it will be for him to eat crow, and admit the scam. Squire comes over and tells Lum that as his insurance agent, he will file a claim for the accident. Lum tries to bow out of it because he knows the leg is a fraud, and doesn’t want to make a false claim, but he’s cornered.
PS: Listeners will notice that in the 1935 season, a virtually identical situation went down. In that one, Abner faked two broken arms to get on Lizabeth’s good side. She thought Abner had cheated on her after a mix up over trouble in the newly founded marital bureau. The matrimonial bureau, and mix ups with photos is another recurring topic with Lum and Abner, but let’s not go there.
It may seem odd that the gents would have such trouble, then seem to have no recall of the troubles they’ve gotten themselves into. Several themes recur, but are presented as though this is the first time it ever happened.
Consider that in the days of radio, shows were done live, and once aired, were never to be heard again. Transcriptions and recordings were done only as a second thought, or to air a show through different time zones. Or in the case of the war years shows were shipped out to military outposts around the world. People might forget the story lines that were just aired a couple short years earlier, and if the artists enjoyed the gag, or it was popular, they brought it back. If a joke was funny once, it was worth doing again.
There’s plenty more to say on this topic, but I’ll give it a rest for now.
