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The Fred Allen Show

Surviving installments of the 1940s US radio comedy on NBC
from archive.org

The surviving installments of the master satirist's final series, on NBC, for Blue Bonnet Margarine and Tetley Tea through 1947 and Ford Motor Company in 1948-49. Including the "Allen's Alley" for which he's remembered best---with announcer Kenny Delmar as Senator Claghorn, Parker Fennelly as Titus Moody, Minerva Pious as Mrs. Nussbaum, and Peter Donald as Ajax Cassidy, with Alan Reed as Falstaff Openshaw in the first several installments. Among Allen's classics here include the famous "King for a Day" climax to the Allen-Benny "feud," satires of "Oklahoma!" ("Picadilly") and "HMS Pinafore" ("Brooklyn Pinafore," featuring then-Brooklyn Dodgers manager Leo Durocher), the immortal "Mr. and Mrs. Breakfast Show" satire with Tallulah Bankhead (in two different versions, yet) and several jabs at the giveaway shows that were the bane of his radio existence, including his classic "Break the Contestant" sketch. There are some who say much of his topical humour hasn't dated well, but you'll never think so while you listen. And can you think of a better way to end a long and distinguished run as an old-time radio host than with Henry Morgan and Jack Benny as his guests?

"The echo of forgotten laughter" is what Fred Allen thought the radio comedian had to show for all the years of work, according to the way he ended his first memoir, "Treadmill to Oblivion." Here's the rest of the evidence that proves he was wrong for once. The laughter is never forgotten. Especially in Fred Allen's hands.

  1. Auditions, with Edgar Bergen and Charlie McCarthy (6.2Mb)
  2. Hillbilly Music (guest Frank Sinatra) (6.5Mb)
  3. Charlie McCarthy Sues for Slander (6.6Mb)
  4. Mash Notes (guest Martha Raye) (3.4Mb)
  5. Charlie the Chicken (guest Monty Woolley) (3.4Mb)
  6. Renting a House (guest Boris Karloff) (5.4Mb)
  7. Brooklyn Pinafore I (guest Leo Durocher) (6.7Mb)
  8. Seeking a Radio Job (guest Lauritz Melchoir) (7Mb)
  9. Radio Shows in Russia (6.6Mb)
  10. Take It or Leave It (guest Phil Baker) (6.5Mb)
  11. Carmen (guest Maurice Evans) (6.8Mb)
  12. A Movie on Fred's Life (guest George Jessel) (6.5Mb)
  13. Picadilly (Oklahoma Parody, with Beatrice Lillie) (6.4Mb)
  14. Les Miserables Reprise (with Orson Welles) (6.6Mb)
  15. Hillbilly Drama (Arthur Treacher) (5.6Mb)
  16. Les Miserables Reprise (guest Orson Welles) (6.6Mb)
  17. Banana Man's Lament (with Carmen Miranda) (6.9Mb)
  18. Charlie the Chicken (with Monty Woolley) (6.8Mb)
  19. Brooklyn Pinafore II (guest Leo Durocher) (5.4Mb)
  20. Racing Form Trial (guest Bert Lahr) (6.8Mb)
  21. Mr. and Mrs. Breakfast Show (guest Tallulah Bankhead) (26.5Mb)
  22. Cairo (guest Sydney Greenstreet) (6.7Mb)
  23. King for a Day (guest Jack Benny) (6.6Mb)
  24. 50th Anniversary of the Telephone Company (guest Oscar Levant) (7Mb)
  25. Mikado (guest Tony Martin) (5.8Mb)
  26. Mr. and Mrs. Breakfast Show Reprise (guest Tallulah Bankhead) (26.7Mb)
  27. Murder in the Penthouse (guests the Quiz Kids) (6.9Mb)
  28. Picadilly (Reprise-Guests Beatrice Lillie, Bobby White) (9.4Mb)
  29. Suing Fred Over Picadilly Rights (guests Rodgers and Hammerstein) (6.1Mb)
  30. The Shoshlik Shanty (guest Gregory Ratoff) (10.5Mb)
  31. The Hollywood Mikado (guest Bing Crosby) (6Mb)
  32. Gimmick With a Microphone (4.6Mb)
  33. Gimmick With a Microphone (guest Rudy Vallee) (4.6Mb)
  34. Fred the Boarder (with Ozzie and Harriet) (9.6Mb)
  35. The Perfect Crime (guest James Mason) (6.8Mb)
  36. Selling Life Stories with Jack Haley (6.9Mb)
  37. The Haley and Allen Show (guest Jack Haley) (6.9Mb)
  38. New Year's Eve Plans (guest George Jessel) (6.3Mb)
  39. Suing to Return Fred's Cuckoo Clock (with Monty Wooley) (4.7Mb)
  40. Psycopathic Spectacular (guest James Mason) (6.8Mb)
  41. Husband and Wife Radio Show (with James and Pamela Mason) (6.8Mb)
  42. One Long Pan with Basil Rathbone (6.6Mb)
  43. The Author Meets His Match (guest James Farley) (6.8Mb)
  44. Scalping Baseball Tickets (guest Leo Durocher) (6.7Mb)
  45. The J.P. Morgan Court of Human Relations (guest Henry Morgan) (26.6Mb)
  46. Break the Contestant (guest Don McNeil) (6.6Mb)
  47. Fred Wants to Do Bing Crosby's Life Story (guest Bing Crosby) (7.1Mb)
  48. Quiz Program and Soap Opera (guest Jack Eigen) (6.7Mb)
  49. Cease the Melody (guest Jack Benny) (6.7Mb)
  50. A Prize For Listeners Missing Any Contest (guest Dale Carnegie) (6.6Mb)
  51. Sam Shovel, Private Eye (guest Arthur Treacher) (6.7Mb)
  52. George Jessel Tries to Sneak Into the Roxy (6.6Mb)
  53. TV Commercials (guest Henry Morgan) (6.7Mb)
  54. Maine Murder Trial (6.3Mb)
  55. Literary Panel (guest H. Allen Smith) (26.5Mb)
  56. Traveling Salesman (Jack Haley) (6.7Mb)
  57. Fred Tries to Get Rudy Vallee Into TV (6.7Mb)
  58. Planning a Television Show (guest Bert Lahr) (6.6Mb)
  59. Murder Case (guest Doc Rockwell) (6.7Mb)
  60. Mob Buster (guest Victor Moore) (6.6Mb)
  61. The Final Fred Allen Show (guests Jack Benny, Henry Morgan) (5Mb)

MP3 files hosted by archive.org.