Afternoon Radio Theater Sundae - ARTS 058: Lum and Abner (1939)

ARTS 058: Lum and Abner (1939)

Explicit content warning

07/03/23 • 179 min

Afternoon Radio Theater Sundae

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.

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]

Previous Episode

ARTS 057: The Missing Episodes

On this episode of the Afternoon Radio Theater Sundae, the show presents unaired episodes that were omitted from previous episodes for one reason or another, and though Pepsi-Mama is off sick, Victor is hosting this episode.

And because he feels nostalgic, he’s bringing back Pepsi-Mama’s strawberry. You can find a list of the various shows that are going to be broadcast:

The Adventures of Superman

Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar

The Weird Circle

And the Strawberry:

You Bet Your Life

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]

Next Episode

ARTS 059: Life with Luigi

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]