It was the first episode I ever heard too... my freshman year of high school, late 1983. I bought a cassette tape of it at our local Coast to Coast hardware store in Crescent City, CA. I'd already been watching the Burns & Allen TV show on CBN, and loving it..... I didn't know they had been on radio prior to that! So this was such a revelation for me, and the extension of a real love affair with all that came before my birth. I always felt I should have been born in 1930, even when I was a kid. I dug antique bottles, scoured second-hand stores... always buying up antiques and old newspapers.. Well, I STILL have this episode memorized, because I listened to it daily back then! :-)
I was lucky enough to grow up on OTR (this, The Shadow, Jack Benny, John Gielgud/Ralph Richardson Sherlock Holmes, etc.) - tapes and cds, so my 'first' was the mink coat episode (really funny). Now, I'm getting into the tv shows - so I'm sort-of the opposite. I do wish there was an official radio station for re-airing these radio shows. Also - unlike modern ads/commercials, I can name almost every product that sponsored these shows, along with the accompanying jingles/ads. (Also, I highly recommend the Sherlock Holmes episodes - I owned the cassette tape (Empty House/Charles Augustus Milverton) and would often listen with my eyes closed and the lights off so I could 'experience' it. Some of the cleanest and best quality OTR episodes out there).
It was the first episode I ever heard too... my freshman year of high school, late 1983. I bought a cassette tape of it at our local Coast to Coast hardware store in Crescent City, CA. I'd already been watching the Burns & Allen TV show on CBN..... I didn't know they had been on radio prior to that! And this was such a revelation for me.. I STILL have this episode memorized, because I listened to it daily back then! :-)
If you've listened to a whole lot of Burns & Allen, like I have, you may have noticed something about this particular version of this episode: There aren't any advertisements. Burns & Allen was sponsored by a lot of different products over the years, among them Maxwell House & Swan Soap. And they usually did what a lot of radio shows did: their announcer would read advertising copy, and/or the ads were worked directly into the dialogue of the show, with Bill Goodwin extolling the virtues of Swan Soap or whatever, like he did in the B&A shows which guest-starred Brian Donlevy and Ronald Reagan. Notice how Bill has only a small part in this one, and we never hear what happens when he and George go to George's house to convince Gracie to cancel her mother's visit? I think that's because this recording -- the Radio Reruns cassette you've all mentioned in the comments, which I had too -- came from a phonograph record which removed all the advertisements, and so took out most of Bill Goodwin's dialogue because he was pitching that show's sponsored product. I really wish I could find the complete recording of this particular episode; I've looked for it for a long time and have never been able to find it.
It was the first episode I ever heard too... my freshman year of high school, late 1983. I bought a cassette tape of it at our local Coast to Coast hardware store in Crescent City, CA. I'd already been watching the Burns & Allen TV show on CBN, and loving it..... I didn't know they had been on radio prior to that! So this was such a revelation for me, and the extension of a real love affair with all that came before my birth. I always felt I should have been born in 1930, even when I was a kid. I dug antique bottles, scoured second-hand stores... always buying up antiques and old newspapers.. Well, I STILL have this episode memorized, because I listened to it daily back then! :-)
I was lucky enough to grow up on OTR (this, The Shadow, Jack Benny, John Gielgud/Ralph Richardson Sherlock Holmes, etc.) - tapes and cds, so my 'first' was the mink coat episode (really funny). Now, I'm getting into the tv shows - so I'm sort-of the opposite. I do wish there was an official radio station for re-airing these radio shows.
Also - unlike modern ads/commercials, I can name almost every product that sponsored these shows, along with the accompanying jingles/ads. (Also, I highly recommend the Sherlock Holmes episodes - I owned the cassette tape (Empty House/Charles Augustus Milverton) and would often listen with my eyes closed and the lights off so I could 'experience' it. Some of the cleanest and best quality OTR episodes out there).
first episode of the show I ever heard and still my favorite!!
It was the first episode I ever heard too... my freshman year of high school, late 1983. I bought a cassette tape of it at our local Coast to Coast hardware store in Crescent City, CA. I'd already been watching the Burns & Allen TV show on CBN..... I didn't know they had been on radio prior to that! And this was such a revelation for me.. I STILL have this episode memorized, because I listened to it daily back then! :-)
First one I ever heard. My parents gave me the tape and my first radio/alarm clock. Loved it!
If you've listened to a whole lot of Burns & Allen, like I have, you may have noticed something about this particular version of this episode: There aren't any advertisements. Burns & Allen was sponsored by a lot of different products over the years, among them Maxwell House & Swan Soap. And they usually did what a lot of radio shows did: their announcer would read advertising copy, and/or the ads were worked directly into the dialogue of the show, with Bill Goodwin extolling the virtues of Swan Soap or whatever, like he did in the B&A shows which guest-starred Brian Donlevy and Ronald Reagan. Notice how Bill has only a small part in this one, and we never hear what happens when he and George go to George's house to convince Gracie to cancel her mother's visit? I think that's because this recording -- the Radio Reruns cassette you've all mentioned in the comments, which I had too -- came from a phonograph record which removed all the advertisements, and so took out most of Bill Goodwin's dialogue because he was pitching that show's sponsored product. I really wish I could find the complete recording of this particular episode; I've looked for it for a long time and have never been able to find it.
Two of my best friends
12:33 “Please turn the cassette over and begin again on side two.”
I have the tape of this episode too!
What year is this from?
1948
😊