Sunday, May 29, 2022

Life With Luigi - "Luigi The Square Dance Caller" (10-23-51)

Luigi The Square Dance Caller (Aired October 23, 1951)

Life with Luigi was a radio comedy-drama series which began September 21, 1948 on CBS. The story concerned Italian immigrant Luigi Basco, and his experiences as an immigrant in Chicago. Many of the shows take place at the US citizenship classes that Luigi attends with other immigrants from different countries, as well as trying to fend off the repeated advances of the morbidly-obese daughter of his landlord/sponsor. Luigi was played by J. Carrol Naish, an Irish-American. Naish continued in the role on the short-lived television version in 1952, and was later replaced by Vito Scotti. With a working title of The Little Immigrant, Life with Luigi was created by Cy Howard, who earlier had created the hit radio comedy, My Friend Irma. The show was often seen as the Italian counterpart to the radio show The Goldbergs, which chronicled the experience of Jewish immigrants in New York.

THIS EPISODE:

October 23, 1951. "Luigi The Square Dance Caller" - CBS network. Sponsored by: Wrigley's Spearmint Chewing Gum. Luigi becomes a square-dance caller. J. Carrol Naish, Alan Reed, Cy Howard (creator, producer), Mac Benoff (writer, director), Lou Derman (writer), Mary Shipp, Hans Conried, Joe Forte, Ken Peters, Pat Burton (associate producer), Jody Gilbert, Lud Gluskin (music director), Spade Cooley (guest), Charles Lyon (announcer). 29:27. Episode Notes From The Radio Gold Index.

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