1,701
classic episodes Lum & Abner
153 classic episodes of
Ma Perkins
ALL KNOWN EPISODES TO EXIST.
Don't be fooled by other
collections that claim to contain more episodes. Many of these shows
were aired on multiple dates in reruns, so you have plenty of
sellers out there padding their collections with reruns!
We feature all known episodes in existence and do not add
"fluff" to our collections to increase our claimed episode count
like many others.
NOTICE: This
collection is all in MP3 format supplied on DVD. You play
this in your computer and then can copy all the MP3 files to
your MP3 player of choice. This DVD will NOT play in a
regular CD player in your car, or your TV's DVD player, it is
intended for your computer only which will allow you to transfer
the MP3 files to any device that can play MP3's. This collection remains the
largest most original collection on ebay.
Lum &
Abner:
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). 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. The hillbillies knew that the slickers
would get what was coming to them sooner or later and either
didn't mind or knew more than they let on that the slickers
getting theirs was a matter of fortunate circumstance.
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.
Lauck and Goff had known each other since childhood and attended
the University of Arkansas together where they both joined the
Sigma Chi Fraternity. They performed locally and established a
blackface act which led to an audition at radio station KTHS in
Hot Springs, Arkansas. Prior to the audition, the two men
decided to change their act and portray two hillbillies, due to
the large number of blackface acts already in existence. After
only a few shows in Hot Springs, they were picked up nationally
by NBC, and Lum and Abner, sponsored by Quaker Oats, ran until
1932. Lauck and Goff performed several different characters,
modeling many of them on the real-life residents of Waters,
Arkansas.
When the Quaker contract expired, Lauck and Goff continued to
broadcast on two Texas stations, WBAP (Fort Worth) and WFAA
(Dallas). In 1933, The Ford Dealers of America became their
sponsor for approximately a year. Horlick's Malted Milk, the
1934–37 sponsor, offered a number of promotional items,
including almanacs and fictional Pine Ridge newspapers. During
this period, the show was broadcast on Chicago's WGN (AM), one
of the founding members of the Mutual Broadcasting System.
Effective July 1, 1935, the program was also carried on WLW
(Cincinnati, Ohio), KNX (Los Angeles, California), and KFRC (San
Francisco, California). Along with The Lone Ranger, Lum
and Abner was one of Mutual's most popular programs. In 1936,
Dick Huddleston of Waters petitioned the United States Post
Office to change the town's name to Pine Ridge.[4] Postum cereal
sponsored Lum and Abner in 1938–40, before Alka-Seltzer picked
up the duo. Miles Laboratories, manufacturers of Alka-Seltzer
and One-A-Day Vitamins, became the longest-running sponsor,
backing the program from 1941 until 1948. Over the course of its
life, Lum and Abner appeared on the two other major radio
networks in addition to NBC and Mutual: CBS and ABC (formerly
NBC Blue).
In 1948, the show changed from a 15-minute "comedic soap opera"
to a 30-minute self-contained show. New writers were added,
including Flying Tiger ace Robert T. Smith, along with an
orchestra and a live audience. The new format was unpopular and
the series came off the air in 1950. Lauck and Goff experimented
with other formats during the hiatus, finally changing back to a
15-minute, Monday-Friday show on ABC in 1953,[5] but the revived
show was discontinued the following year due to competition from
television and Goff's failing health (Goff would eventually
recover and continue making media appearances well into the
1960s). The duo twice made attempts to transition to television,
but neither effort was picked up by a television network.
The team broadcast more than 5,000 shows, of which only 1701 are
still known to exist (all included on this DVD-ROM). The archive
is extensive between 1935 and 1948, a rarity for 15-minute shows
that were typically never recorded (most of its contemporary
daytime programs have fewer than 100 episodes remaining). As
with most old-time radio shows, very little pre-1935 content (in
this case, two episodes) survived to the present day. Only a
handful of post-1948 programs, and some of the 1953-54 revival,
have survived; whatever recordings of those shows are believed
to have been destroyed.
Ma
Perkins:
Ma Perkins (sometimes called Oxydol's Own
Ma Perkins) is an American radio soap opera which was heard on
NBC from 1933 to 1949 and on CBS from 1942 to 1960. Between 1942
and 1949, the show was heard simultaneously on both networks.
During part of its run on NBC, that network's coverage was
augmented by use of transcriptions. Beginning April 1, 1935,
nine stations broadcast the transcriptions. Oxydol dropped its
sponsorship in 1956. The program continued with various sponsors
until 1960.
The series was produced by Frank and Anne Hummert with scripts
by Robert Hardy Andrews, Orvin Tovrov and others. Ma Perkins
began August 14, 1933 on WLW in Cincinnati. On December 4 of
that year, it graduated to the NBC Red network.
"America’s mother of the air" was portrayed by actress Virginia
Payne, who began the role at the age of 23 and never missed a
performance during the program's 27-year run. Kindly, trusting
widow Ma Perkins had a big heart and a great love of humanity.
She always offered her homespun philosophy to troubled souls in
need of advice.
Ma owned and operated a lumber yard in the small Southern town
of Rushville Center (population 4000), where the plotlines
pivoted around her interactions with the local townsfolk and the
ongoing dilemmas of her three children, Evey, Fay and John. One
of her children died during World War II. Ma's daughter Fay was
played by Isabelle Krehbiel and Rita Ascot. Gilbert Faust had
the role of John. Evey Perkins was played by Dora Johnson,
Laurette Fillbrandt and Kay Campbell, who later became known for
playing Grandma Kate Martin on the television soap opera All My
Children. Shuffle Shober, Ma's best friend, was played by
Charles Egelston (and later Edwin Wolfe). Murray Forbes
(1905-1987) was heard as Willie Fitz, and Cecil Roy portrayed
Junior Fitz.
In "Sounds from the Past," Chris Plunkett offered an overview of
the series:
Typical of Hummert productions, Ma Perkins had her share of
tears, crises, and drama, but with a plotline much slower paced
than the average soap opera. In a typical year, no more than
three or four major complications were covered --interspersed by
long "quiet spells," filled with (brutally) protracted
discussions on the meaning of life amid the ever-changing
tapestry of family, friends and the small town around them...
Early in the drama’s run Ma was portrayed as quite combative and
spiteful, but her character soon developed (and softened) into
the kindhearted sage and conscience of the entire community.
There were various dramas that unfolded over the years, some
more far-fetched than others. Two of the more memorable plot
stretches involve Ma exposing a black market baby-napping ring,
and Ma harboring Soviet political dissidents inside her home.
When the show finally ended on Friday, November 25, 1960, the
day after Thanksgiving Day, it was one of only eight
entertainment shows still on the CBS radio network. The last
episode was the only one in which Virginia Payne's name was
mentioned, by Payne herself in a farewell speech. In all other
episodes, the announcer at the close of the show would run down
the names of all the actors in the cast (but one), and then say,
"... and Ma Perkins."
