Fred Allen Show – Racing Form Trial | April 28, 1946 | Classic Old Time Radio Comedy

Enjoy another sharp and inventive broadcast from one of the Golden Age of Radio’s greatest satirists with The Fred Allen Show from April 28, 1946, featuring “Racing Form Trial.” Fred Allen turns the world of horse racing, betting, legal proceedings, and human foolishness into the foundation for a wonderfully absurd comedy sketch. *Synopsis* “Racing Form Trial” places Fred Allen and his company in a comic courtroom setting where the normally serious machinery of justice collides with the language and logic of horse racing. Racing forms, betting information, odds, predictions, and the peculiar habits of racing enthusiasts provide Allen with plenty of material as the proceedings become increasingly ridiculous. The courtroom format was ideally suited to Allen’s style of comedy. Witnesses, lawyers, officials, and assorted characters could enter the proceedings one after another, allowing the program to build a rapid succession of jokes, misunderstandings, verbal exchanges, and exaggerated personalities. What begins with the recognizable structure of a trial soon becomes the kind of carefully controlled comic chaos that Allen and his ensemble performed so well. Throughout the broadcast, listeners can also hear the broader ingredients that distinguished The Fred Allen Show from many other comedy programs of its era. Allen was a master of topical humor and frequently found comedy in newspapers, advertising, entertainment, politics, social trends, and the everyday frustrations of American life. His famous “Allen’s Alley” characters provided another outlet for this satirical approach, giving Fred a fictional neighborhood through which he could examine the events and attitudes of the week. For modern listeners, “Racing Form Trial” offers more than nostalgic entertainment. It is a wonderful example of how sophisticated radio comedy could be, using language, timing, characterization, music, and sound to create elaborate comic situations entirely within the listener’s imagination. *Audio Restoration & Enhancement* Significant restoration and enhancement work has been performed on this historic recording for this presentation. The surviving audio has been carefully processed to reduce distracting noise, improve dialogue intelligibility, balance levels, and recover clarity and presence while preserving the authentic character of the original broadcast. Due to the age and condition of surviving source recordings, some imperfections may remain. *Cast & Production Credits* Fred Allen – Host, star, writer, and principal creative force Portland Hoffa – Featured performer and Fred Allen’s longtime comedy partner Kenny Delmar – Announcer and featured character performer Minerva Pious – Featured character performer Peter Donald – Featured character performer Parker Fennelly – Featured character performer The DeMarco Sisters – Vocalists Al Goodman and His Orchestra – Musical accompaniment The Fred Allen Show – NBC radio network comedy-variety series Originally broadcast April 28, 1946. Rediscover Fred Allen’s unmistakable brand of intelligent radio comedy in this restored presentation of “Racing Form Trial.”