Afternoon Radio Theater Sundae

On today’s Afternoon Radio Theater Sundae, Pepsi-Mama takes you down the immigrant highway with the show, “Life with Luigi”.

Life with Luigi is an American radio situation comedy series which began September 21, 1948, on

CBS Radio and broadcast its final episode on March 3, 1953.

The action centered on Luigi Basco and his experiences as a newly arrived Italian immigrant in

Chicago. Many episodes took place at the night school classes that Luigi attended with other immigrants from different countries. Another common theme involved Luigi's landlord/sponsor, Pasquale, scheming to get Luigi to marry his obese daughter.

[1] Perennial character actor

and two-time Academy Award nominee

J. Carrol Naish played Luigi.

Life with Luigi was created by Cy Howard, who had earlier created the hit radio comedy,

My Friend Irma. The working title was The Little Immigrant, echoed in the sign-off of each episode, "Your lovin-a son-a, Luigi Basco, the li'l immigrant." Other characters on the show included Pasquale (Alan Reed), another Italian immigrant who is always trying to trap Luigi into marrying his daughter Rosa ( Jody Gilbert); native Chicagoan Jimmy ( Gil Stratton), Luigi's young business associate; Miss Spaulding (Mary Shipp), Luigi's night school teacher and ideal woman; and Schultz (Hans Conried), a German immigrant and fellow student in Luigi's citizenship class. Each episode used the framing device of Luigi narrating a letter to his mother back in Italy.

The show was popular, successfully competing with Bob Hope 's The Pepsodent Show . For most of its run, Life with Luigi aired at 9 pm on Tuesdays. Despite an estimated 30% share of the audience in its timeslot, the show was without a sponsor [3] until Wrigley's Gum bought it in 1950, continuing till the show ended in 1953.

You can now catch the Afternoon Radio Theater Sundae Podcast on it’s own podcast feed, so if you only wish to subscribe to the Afternoon Radio Theater Sundae podcast, just follow the link below:

https://afternoonradiotheatersundae.transistor.fm/

And if you would like to reach the crew, Monica or Victor, you can write them at:

[email protected]

Join Monica Jones and her crew, on The Afternoon Radio Theatre Sundae on Whose Blind Life is it Anyway, every Sundays, at 2:00 pm (EST), 11:00 am (PST), and with no distracting images to focus on, it will simply take you away to faraway lands, distant times and to meet interesting people, all using your imagination.

On this episode of the Afternoon Radio Theater Sundae, Monica brings you the classic show Gunsmoke, which first started on the radio before moving to it’s iconic spot on national television stations.

Monica brings you six Gunsmoke episodes beginning with the first pilot episodes of the series that CBS first contracted the producers to write. The first, a darker version of Phillip Marlowe type cowboy, and the second one a lighter version so CBS officials could see which resonated with test audiences.

CBS chose the lighter version, and thus the series started it’s production with one snag, the show’s main star, Howard Culver was on contact with another studio doing another western, but in the three years CBS waited for Culver to end his contract, the producers settled on a more adult themed show, and Gunsmoke was renowned as a true to life account of life in the Dodge city of the west, winning several awards for it’s production levels. Thus, a series was born that later translated onto the screen, when televisions became more mainstream.

You can now catch the Afternoon Radio Theater Sundae Podcast on it’s own podcast feed, so if you only wish to subscribe to the Afternoon Radio Theater Sundae podcast, just follow the link below:

https://afternoonradiotheatersundae.transistor.fm/

And if you would like to reach the crew, Monica or Victor, you can write them at:

[email protected]

Join Monica Jones and her crew, on The Afternoon Radio Theatre Sundae on Whose Blind Life is it Anyway, every Sundays, at 2:00 pm (EST), 11:00 am (PST), and with no distracting images to focus on, it will simply take you away to faraway lands, distant times and to meet interesting people, all using your imagination.

Lum and Abner was an American network radio comedy program created by Chester Lauck and Norris Goff, that was aired from 1931 to 1954. Modeled on life in the small town of Waters, Arkansas, near where Lauck and Goff grew up, the show proved immensely popular. In 1936, Waters changed its name to "Pine Ridge" after the show's fictional town.

The series was created by co-stars Chester Lauck (who played Columbus "Lum" Edwards) and Norris Goff (Abner Peabody). Lum always pronounced his own name as Ed'erds and was very annoyed if Abner or anyone brought up his full first name. The two characters performed as a double act , with Lum generally playing the straight man to Abner's attempts to break free from Lum's influence. As co-owners of the “Jot 'em Down” Store in the fictional town of “Pine Ridge”, Arkansas, the pair are constantly stumbling upon moneymaking ideas only to find themselves fleeced by nemesis Squire Skimp, before finally finding a way to redeem themselves.

Lum and Abner played the hillbilly theme with deceptive cleverness. In addition to the title characters, Lauck also played Grandpappy Spears and Cedric Weehunt while Goff played Abner, Squire Skimp, Llewelyn "Mousey" Grey, Dick Huddleston, and most of the other characters.

Lum and Abner, like most sitcoms of the era, had a live house band , in this case a string band in keeping with the show's hillbilly humor.

Marshall Jones, before his adoption of the "Grandpa" persona that made him famous years later, was among the band's first members.

You can now catch the Afternoon Radio Theater Sundae Podcast on it’s own podcast feed, so if you only wish to subscribe to the Afternoon Radio Theater Sundae podcast, just follow the link below:

https://afternoonradiotheatersundae.transistor.fm/

And if you would like to reach the crew, Monica or Victor, you can write them at:

[email protected]

Join Monica Jones and her crew, on The Afternoon Radio Theatre Sundae on Whose Blind Life is it Anyway, every Sundays, at 2:00 pm (EST), 11:00 am (PST), and with no distracting images to focus on, it will simply take you away to faraway lands, distant times and to meet interesting people, all using your imagination.

Monica brings you a range of emotions on this episode, as she presents to diametrically opposite emotions, Chillers and Comedy. By the time this episode is done, you would have felt both extremes, as you listen to the broadcasts Monica has chosen for her listeners.

This week’s features include:

CBS Mystery Theater

The Milton Berle Show

Mysterious Traveler

The Phil Harris/Alice Faye Show

And the strawberry to top the sundae off:

Continuing the 52 part Dr. Jeckel and Mr. Hyde

You can check out the other episodes in this podcast at our website:

https://afternoonradiotheatersundae.transistor.fm

And if you'd like to request a show be played, or if you have questions for Pepsi-Mama Monica Jones, or Victor Gouveia, you can send them to:

[email protected]

Join Monica Jones and her crew, on The Afternoon Radio Theatre Sundae on Whose Blind Life is it Anyway, every Sundays, at 2:00 pm (EST), 11:00 am (PST), and with no distracting images to focus on, it will simply take you away using your imagination

Monica continues her celebration of the Christmas holidays, and presents more features that are guaranteed to get you into the festive cheer.

This week’s features include:

Family Theater

Lux Radio Theater

Radio City Playhouse

And the strawberry to top the sundae off:

The Lux Radio Theater rendition of it’s a Wonderful Life

You can check out the other episodes in this podcast at our website:

https://afternoonradiotheatersundae.transistor.fm

And if you'd like to request a show be played, or if you have questions for Pepsi-Mama Monica Jones, or Victor Gouveia, you can send them to:

[email protected]

Join Monica Jones and her crew, on The Afternoon Radio Theatre Sundae on Whose Blind Life is it Anyway, every Sundays, at 2:00 pm (EST), 11:00 am (PST), and with no distracting images to focus on, it will simply take you away using your imagination