Do any of you remember the "Fred Allen Show?" He had some characters he would interview, and one of them was "Mrs. Nussbaum" who always called them "Strudelbakers."
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Not sure I ever heard his show live, which I believe ended around 1949 -- but our local NPR station runs old-time radio shows for 4 hours on Sunday nights, and the various incarnations of Fred Allen's radio show are frequently included. Fred's humor was very topical, often taken from the day's headlines, and thus doesn't age as well as (say) Jack Benny's, which was based on his alleged skinflint nature. Nevertheless, his approach to topical comedy greatly influenced later comedy shows, from Laugh-In to Saturday Night Live.
The 47 Studes (which way are they going?) were such a sensation that they were mentioned very frequently on radio shows at the time.
Mrs. Nussbaum was one of a series of characters who supposedly lived along the fictitious Allen's Alley. Other residents included Maine farmer Titus Moody and southern blowhard Senator Claghorn. Allen fought network and sponsor censors for most of his career, and this contributed to his lack of success in TV. His memoir/autobiography about his radio and TV career was entitled Treadmill to Oblivion -- a truly wonderful phrase.Skip Lackie
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