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FRED ALLEN SHOW, THE / aka TEXACO STAR THEATER - Raffles the Talking Bird

Air Date/Released Sunday, June 13, 1943
Station/Studio CBS (radio)
Host/Star Fred Allen
Featuring Joe Besser (Solo)

Fred Allen's long-running radio series was at its most popular in this ½-hour format for Texaco, with its iconic "Allen's Alley" feature. Fred Allen's trademark was his sharp wit and topical humor.

Fred opens with jokes and banter with announcer Jimmy Wallington and Portland Hoffa (Fred's wife) about current events. The episode moves on to Allen's Alley where the residents include a man from John Doe’s finance company, Mr. Nussbaum, Mrs. Socrates Mulligan, and John Doe hiding from the finance man, who offer their opinions on wartime restrictions on vacation travel. Fred and Portland discuss their summer plans and baseball at Ebbets Field. Fred will put aside baseball and open a circus for the summer with the help of shady promoter Cecil Yak, who offers the services of Mr. Muckinfuzz & Appleby the Mathematical Rabbit (“he multiplies”) and Raffles the Talking Mynah Bird. Reprising a gag from a February episode, Allen and Yak are interrupted several times by a misplaced radio contestant (Joe Besser) with a marital problem who thinks he's in THE GOODWILL COURT WITH MR. ANTHONY broadcast studio. Al Goodman's orchestra and vocalists Hi Lo Jack and the Dame perform "Mr. Bluebird."


Cast: Fred Allen (Host), Jimmy Wallington (Announcer), Portland Hoffa-Allen (Portland Hoffa), Artie Auerbach (Mr. Nussbaum, Mr. Muckinfuzz), Minerva Pious (Mrs. Socrates Mulligan), John Brown (John Doe, Cecil Yak), Charlie Cantor (Finance man), Joe Besser (GOODWILL contestant), Zetta Wells & Raffles the Talking Mynah (Themselves), Al Goodman (Orchestra), Hi Lo Jack and the Dame (Vocalists)
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