Fred Allen Show | Renting a House | Leo Durocher Guest Stars | November 18, 1945

Travel back to November 18, 1945, with this restored broadcast of *The Fred Allen Show**, an entertaining snapshot of American life immediately after World War II. Commonly circulated under the title **“Renting a House,”* the episode uses one of the most pressing everyday problems of the period—the severe housing shortage—as material for Fred Allen’s distinctive brand of topical comedy. Joining Allen is celebrated baseball personality **Leo Durocher**, one of the most colorful figures in professional baseball. Known as “Leo the Lip,” Durocher’s outspoken personality and reputation made him a natural fit for Allen’s comedy. Synopsis Finding a place to live becomes the basis for comedy as Fred Allen tackles the difficulties of **renting a house during the postwar housing shortage**. The subject would have been instantly recognizable to the original 1945 audience. Millions of servicemen were returning home, families were being reunited, marriages and births were increasing, and wartime limitations on residential construction had left many American communities struggling with a shortage of available homes and apartments. Allen specialized in transforming precisely these kinds of everyday frustrations into comedy. The housing situation provides fertile ground for Allen’s jokes about landlords, renters, shortages, bureaucracy, and the sometimes absurd realities of postwar life. Adding another dimension to the broadcast is guest **Leo Durocher**, whose baseball career made him one of the best-known sports personalities in America. Durocher had played for several major-league clubs before becoming a successful manager and was managing the Brooklyn Dodgers during this period. His aggressive, outspoken public personality earned him the famous nickname “Leo the Lip.” The episode also showcases the ensemble approach that made this era of The Fred Allen Show memorable. Portland Hoffa provides her wonderfully understated counterpoint to Fred, while Allen’s Alley offers a cross-section of comic personalities through performers Kenny Delmar, Minerva Pious, Parker Fennelly, and Alan Reed. For modern listeners, “Renting a House” provides more than vintage comedy. It offers a humorous window into the concerns of Americans adjusting to peacetime life in late 1945, demonstrating how quickly Fred Allen could transform current events and ordinary frustrations into network entertainment. Audio Restoration & Enhancement This historic recording has undergone *significant audio restoration and enhancement* to improve its presentation for contemporary listeners. Vintage radio recordings often survive with hiss, hum, clicks, distortion, restricted frequency response, uneven levels, and artifacts accumulated through decades of copying. Restoration processing is carefully applied to reduce distracting noise, improve dialogue intelligibility, balance volume, and recover useful clarity wherever possible. At the same time, care is taken to preserve the authentic sonic character of the original broadcast. The intention is not to make a 1945 recording sound artificially modern, but to provide a cleaner window into the original performance. Enjoy this restored visit to the golden age of radio and the wonderfully topical comedy of Fred Allen. Cast & Production Credits *Fred Allen* – Host / Star *Leo Durocher* – Special Guest *Portland Hoffa* – Cast *Kenny Delmar* – Announcer / Senator Beauregard Claghorn *Minerva Pious* – Mrs. Nussbaum *Parker Fennelly* – Titus Moody *Alan Reed* – Falstaff Openshaw *The DeMarco Sisters* – Vocalists *Al Goodman and His Orchestra* – Musical accompaniment *Network:* NBC *Original Broadcast:* November 18, 1945