My Favorite Husband - "Baseball" (09-16-49)

 Baseball (Aired September 16, 1949)

The cheerful couple lived at 321 Bundy Drive in the fictitious city of Sheridan Falls and were billed as "two people who live together and like it." The main sponsor was General Foods' Jell-O, and an average of three "plugs" for Jell-O were made in each episode, including Lucille Ball's usual sign-on, "Jell-O, everybody!"  The program, which aired 124 episodes from July 23, 1948 through March 31, 1951, initially portrayed the couple as being a well-to-do banker and his socially prominent wife, but three new writers — Bob Carroll, Jr., Madelyn Pugh and Jess Oppenheimer — took over the writing, changed the couple's name to Cooper and remade them into a middle-class couple, which they thought average listeners would find more accessible. Lucille Ball was asked to do a television version of the show (with Jell-O remaining as sponsor), and CBS insisted on Richard Denning continuing as her co-star. However, Ball refused to do a husband-and-wife TV show without real-life husband Desi Arnaz playing her on-screen husband. Show Notes From The Old Time Radio Researcher's Group and The Digital Deli.

THIS EPISODE:

September 16, 1949. " Baseball" - CBS network. Sponsored by: Jell-O. Liz and Iris are determined to learn how to play baseball. The date is subject to correction. Gale Gordon, Hans Conried, Lucille Ball, Richard Denning, Isabel Scott Rorick (creator), Bob Lemond (announcer), Jess Oppenheimer (producer, director, writer), Madelyn Pugh (writer), Bob Carroll Jr. (writer), Marlin Skyles (composer), Wilbur Hatch (conductor), Ruth Perrott. 34:24. Episode Notes From The Radio Gold Index.