November 25, 2025 • 19 mins
Aired: November 26, 1946
This week’s Old Time Radio Snack Wagon brings a Thanksgiving classic by O. Henry, adapted for radio by the Illini Radio Guild. The story follows Stuffy Pete — a down-on-his-luck New Yorker whose Thanksgiving tradition involves more than just a good meal — and an elderly gentleman determined to uphold a charitable custom.
Set in the heart of turn of the 20th Century New York, this campus radio production captures both the warmth and the irony that made O. Henry famous. It’s a story about generosity, ritual, and the peculiar ways people show kindness — all with the twist you’d expect from one of America’s great short-story writers.
Subscribe to the Old Time Radio Snack Wagon at https://www.snackwagon.net
Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/old-time-radio-snack-wagon-rare-historic-radio-programs--5919985/support.
This week’s Old Time Radio Snack Wagon brings a Thanksgiving classic by O. Henry, adapted for radio by the Illini Radio Guild. The story follows Stuffy Pete — a down-on-his-luck New Yorker whose Thanksgiving tradition involves more than just a good meal — and an elderly gentleman determined to uphold a charitable custom.
Set in the heart of turn of the 20th Century New York, this campus radio production captures both the warmth and the irony that made O. Henry famous. It’s a story about generosity, ritual, and the peculiar ways people show kindness — all with the twist you’d expect from one of America’s great short-story writers.
Subscribe to the Old Time Radio Snack Wagon at https://www.snackwagon.net
Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/old-time-radio-snack-wagon-rare-historic-radio-programs--5919985/support.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Are you, Adam Graham.
Speaker 2 (00:01):
The very same And this is my old time Radio Snackwagon.
Speaker 3 (00:13):
Welcome to the Old Time Radio snack Wagon, where we
serve up a bite sized portion of old time radio.
And now here's your snack wagon host Adam Graham.
Speaker 2 (00:25):
This week we're bringing you a Thanksgiving themed snack courtesy
of O Henry. During his life, o'henry wrote almost four
hundred short stories. The one that he is remembered for
today more than anything else is The Gift of the
Magi and we brought you a reading of that back
(00:47):
during the Christmas of twenty twenty three. But this is
another one of his short stories. This was adapted by
the Elini Radio Guild, which we'll talk about for our program.
The original Airnate is November twenty six, nineteen forty six,
and here now is two Thanksgiving Day, Gentlemen.
Speaker 4 (01:11):
Day Thanksgiving Yelini Radio Guild presents not the usual Thanksgiving story,
but one by O Henry, an ending such as only
Oh Henry can give it. It's his famous short story
Two Thanksgiving Day Gentlemen, adapted especially for this program by
Elizabeth Springer and Dave Boyer, both journalism students here at
the University of Illinois. So our coast, your Thanksgiving Day.
Speaker 5 (01:53):
There's one day which is entirely ours. There's one day
when all we Americans go back to the old home
to eat turkey and crunch sellary and marvel at how
much nearer to the ports the old pomp looks now
than it used to. Thanksgiving Day is a national institution,
and in more ways than one, it's the only day
in the year except Christmas, when we recognize that part
of America which lives across the tracks, the one day
(02:17):
other than Christmas, when philanthropists perform their duties about the
hunger of the poor, a hunger they think afflicts the
poor only at such extended edimors. Our story begins in
one of those comfortable bourgeois mansions in most any city,
except that this is New York City, and Gladyson Headier
what we must frankly refer to as old Mads.
Speaker 6 (02:51):
There now, glad if I think we can put the
coffee on of yet, doesn't it look beautiful?
Speaker 7 (02:57):
I do declare I'd like to sit down.
Speaker 6 (03:00):
Did that Thanksgiving tablem now, Gladys, Oh, I really didn't
mean it, Heady, I was.
Speaker 7 (03:05):
Just thinking it is beautiful. It's the turkey does done
to a turn, oh, Marie, Marie, Yes, coming up, Marie.
Speaker 6 (03:15):
You may put the coffee on too, perk now and
prepare to serve, Yes right away, mam all right, gladys,
let's go down to the streets and bring the first
unfortunate looking man we find. I think this is the
most fun of anything we ever did, don't you, glad Oh, yes,
it's so exciting.
Speaker 7 (03:34):
It's so good to be able to be a service
in the world, especially on a daylight Thanksgiving when poor
people are so hungry. We'll be right back, Marie.
Speaker 8 (03:43):
Don't forget to make the coffee strong, yes, mom, and
I'll put the slate in the warming of him to mom.
Speaker 9 (04:07):
Mmm, mighty good min's pie that, ma'am, mighty goodness.
Speaker 7 (04:12):
Would you have another piece?
Speaker 10 (04:14):
Mister?
Speaker 7 (04:14):
What did you say?
Speaker 1 (04:15):
Your name was, Pete?
Speaker 10 (04:17):
Ma'am Stuffy Pete. My friends call me stuffy. Everybody calls
me stuffy.
Speaker 6 (04:23):
Just call me stuffy, Marie, Marie, Yes, uh, Marie gets this,
mister Stuffy.
Speaker 8 (04:30):
Another piece of mince pie, A big piece, yes, he Patty.
Speaker 10 (04:35):
Don't say too much for my appetite, Mamerton. It's them
juicy fiddle to turn out.
Speaker 7 (04:40):
Oh, mister Duffy, you really like.
Speaker 11 (04:43):
My It's food for the gods, ma'am.
Speaker 10 (04:45):
That's what it is, food for the god.
Speaker 12 (04:48):
Oh what, mister stuff I just remembered something two limbs
from mister Stuffy, Marie, And yes matter, mister Stuffer.
Speaker 10 (05:01):
I just remember, ma'am, I gotta go meet a guy.
Speaker 7 (05:04):
Well, we don't like to detain if they're having a
point with someone.
Speaker 9 (05:08):
I don't like this even run and member, but I
just remembered, and it's very important.
Speaker 13 (05:13):
Well, if you have to go, Marie, will you have
mister Stuff's cot please.
Speaker 9 (05:18):
It's sure been good, mammon, a fella like me enjoyed
with me like that toiky and stuff and cranberry and
sweet taters and oysters on the shell.
Speaker 11 (05:26):
And mince pie and all the fictions of geez, it's
sure works. Well, we'll thank you, ma'am.
Speaker 10 (05:33):
Take especially for the mince pie, and mammon, it's.
Speaker 13 (05:35):
Sure good bye, mister Stuffing.
Speaker 7 (05:38):
It's been delightful. Mister Stuffy. Wasn't that a thrill? I'm
too glad? And he did like my mint pa.
Speaker 6 (05:49):
Yes, mister Stuffy was certainly the right man to be
charitable because did you notice.
Speaker 7 (05:55):
Cloth lin shred and his cold nothing but tap.
Speaker 13 (06:00):
I do hope he has a princess next night, the
post is going.
Speaker 7 (06:04):
He can't imagine.
Speaker 13 (06:05):
He was probably an excuse to le. He did seem
a little uncomfortable bladder.
Speaker 7 (06:11):
He did eat a lot, didn't he my why I
never saw?
Speaker 5 (06:32):
Yes, stuff, he did eat a lot, everything from oysters
to manse pine, seconds on most things. As he stood
on the front steps of the Old Maid's Hoss was
a name, when his a moment, when his name fitted
him perfectly, and his waistline bows, and his breath came short.
His legs could barely wriggle as he turned towards his
meeting place several blocks away. Because stuff, he really did
(06:54):
have a rendezvous, and he shuddered at the realization of
what it meant.
Speaker 14 (07:00):
I say, way, yes, sir, I want everything to be
just right, just as always.
Speaker 11 (07:05):
Don't worry about a thing, though, and.
Speaker 14 (07:07):
Don't spell to porsons. Lots of white meat and dressing.
He doesn't get a dinner like this except once a year,
once a year for nine years. It's become an institution. Yes,
a real tradition.
Speaker 5 (07:38):
Yes, you see, Stuffy Pete had forgotten when Hetty and
gladders descended upon him every Thanksgiving Day for nine years,
he'd met the old Gentleman promptly at one o'clock. The
old Gentleman was a staunch American patriot and considered himself
a pioneer in American tradition. In order to become picturesque,
we must keep on doing one thing for a long
(07:58):
time without ever letting it get away from it. That
was how the old Gentleman felt about this annual Thanksgiving dinner.
The rendezvous with Stuffy was becoming an American institution, just
as the old Gentleman had said to himself.
Speaker 1 (08:11):
And Stuffy, who had a rather sensitive.
Speaker 5 (08:13):
Heart for a bomb, realized that he, Stuffy, was the
very basis of the institution. His Thanksgiving appetite was not
his own. It belonged to the kind old Gentleman by
all sacred rides. And so, in order to maintain the
time out of division Stuffy, he forced himself to shuffle
toward the meeting place. He waddled into the restaurant.
Speaker 10 (08:37):
Our good afternoon, sir, exactly on time. Good afternoon, waiter,
We are ready sit down, sir, Thank you. Ah.
Speaker 15 (08:48):
Here come the oysters, man, I am glad to perceive
that the vicissitudes of another year have spared you to
move in good health about the beautiful world for that
blessing alone.
Speaker 10 (08:59):
This day of Thanksgiving is well proclaimed to each of us.
Speaker 15 (09:03):
And now you are going to be provided with a
dinner that should make your physical being get caught with
the mental and waiter bring the.
Speaker 10 (09:11):
Crewe tns with the soup.
Speaker 4 (09:13):
Yes, sir, what a guy he hands that same shield
or that same bum every Thanksgiving nine years in a row.
Speaker 11 (09:21):
Now the old bum shows us thanked by coming in woosing.
Speaker 1 (09:43):
Yes, Stuffy was woozy, the turkey woozy.
Speaker 5 (09:47):
The waiter heat the table high with holiday food, and
Stuffy with a side. It was taken for the expression
of hunger, raised his knife and park and valiantly went
about maintaining a very important part of American Thanksgiving tradition.
No more courageous hero ever fought his way through the
rants of an enemy again oyster soup, turkey, chopped vegetable
(10:07):
and tied. All of them somehow disappeared before him as
fast as Stuffy could stuff.
Speaker 11 (10:13):
Them in.
Speaker 5 (10:15):
Gorge, nearly to exploding. When he came into the restaurant.
The smell of more food had almost caused him to
lose his honor as a gentleman, but he rallied like
a true knight. He saw the glow of beneficent happiness
on the old gentleman's face, a glow one was from
the very combustion inside Stuffy himself, and he had not
the heart to see it. Waning in our stuff, he
(10:36):
leaned back with the battle one.
Speaker 10 (10:50):
Thanks kindly, sir, Thanks kindly for a hearty meal. It's
just my heart's good to see a man like that.
Speaker 9 (10:57):
Well, I'm sure glad you've got play out of it, sir.
So we be on our way, yep, thanksgiving his finny reckon,
we best get gone.
Speaker 10 (11:09):
Ok Here, let me hit you. I'm okay, just a
good and steady on me. Ten too much dinner on
an MG stomach. That's probably all it is, sir.
Speaker 11 (11:19):
Here we are.
Speaker 5 (11:24):
Stuffy in The old gentleman parted company at the door,
just as they had eight other times before. The old
gentleman went south and Stuffy went north. Stuffy made it
to the corner, and there he turned and stood for
one full minute. Then he seemed to puff out his
rags an arrow puffs out of his feathers and fell
to the sidewalk like a sunsticken horse. Sometime the young
(11:56):
surgeon and the driver cursed softly at stuck his waves.
They loaded him as a van.
Speaker 1 (12:00):
You'd better pray of him getting more.
Speaker 11 (12:02):
Damn.
Speaker 1 (12:02):
I wish what happened to him, Doc haunted, Yeah, loaded drascal?
Speaker 5 (12:18):
Isn't he?
Speaker 3 (12:18):
Yeah?
Speaker 16 (12:18):
I thought he was drunken purse nor smell of whiskey
of bear though, what do you think, doc?
Speaker 1 (12:22):
Apoplexy better not be anything expensive.
Speaker 16 (12:25):
A bank account that goes with this case doesn't provide
a private room and a special nurse. Maybe another heart
case could be even unconscious. His heart was pounding through
the stethoscope as if he were running up a hill.
I have a good look at him and get.
Speaker 10 (12:37):
Him into the receiving room.
Speaker 16 (12:39):
I always have been anxious to get a good angina
case I could work on without some muddling interference. Turn here, driver,
let's go down Fifth Avenue and turn on that siren.
I want this case under treatment immediately, right, Doc, Take.
Speaker 7 (13:07):
It easy, old fellow.
Speaker 16 (13:07):
He'll be all right.
Speaker 5 (13:08):
We know what's wrong with you. Nurse, bring the cardiograph
a little closer.
Speaker 7 (13:14):
Thank you.
Speaker 5 (13:15):
Mm hmm and.
Speaker 16 (13:16):
Ngiin all right over exertion, disease hard probably fifty years
of bad living with your cheek and yes, I believe so.
The old boy probably hasn't a relative in the world.
Speaker 11 (13:29):
I've been looking for a chance like this.
Speaker 10 (13:31):
See how fast you can get the results on that
blood count up there?
Speaker 7 (13:36):
Thank you, nurse. Your stomach just tremble.
Speaker 10 (13:40):
Probably drink even if he wasn't drunk today.
Speaker 1 (13:46):
You feel that one, nurse, be more careful.
Speaker 13 (13:50):
Bump the patient like that's going stiff too.
Speaker 5 (14:14):
Stuffy had fallen into the arms of Morpheus. In short,
he slept, and it wasn't Rigormortes setting in. It was digestion.
But time did not stop with Stuffy's loss of consciousness.
Things were happening, and life went on.
Speaker 1 (14:27):
A new patient came to the.
Speaker 5 (14:29):
Hospital to take the bed next to Stuffy.
Speaker 11 (14:31):
What's this new case, nurse?
Speaker 7 (14:33):
There's no report yet. He just came in.
Speaker 1 (14:36):
Yes, what do you know about him?
Speaker 17 (14:38):
Just picked him up. He was unconscious when I got there,
collapsed on a street corner. He has a kind funny thing.
I picked him up just a block from where we
picked up that old bum.
Speaker 7 (14:52):
Must be an epidemic over there.
Speaker 5 (15:00):
Here they lay the planks and the proper, the giver
and the receiver, the the old gentleman, a stuffy sir,
thank here, I want to get a champ to try
out my angina tree.
Speaker 10 (15:16):
And then all that old bum had was indigestion.
Speaker 7 (15:21):
Where are you going fun the kitchen doesn't sue that
old gentleman in the dead next to the plant. Just
tell me who hasn't had anything to eat? Three days.
Speaker 11 (15:50):
You've been listening to an adaptation of O. Henry's short
story too Thanksgiving Day Gentlemen, presented by the ALINEI Radio gil.
Actors in today's performance included a narrator Scott Shelton as Stuffy,
Eugene Liner as Hetty as glad Us as the old gentleman,
Jeene Resler as a doctor, John Ragnell as the driver,
(16:11):
and as the nurse. You're announcer Don Oliver. This is
the radio service of the University of Illinois.
Speaker 2 (16:18):
Welcome Back. Charming production really helped by O. Henry's story.
It raises some interesting points about wealthy people thinking that
those who are destitute are really only hungry two days
a year, And then, of course you had the whole
pompous ceremony with the old gentleman trying to make this
(16:40):
a tradition. But it's not harsh or bitter about it,
and I think O Henry keeps in mind that these
people are trying to do something nice, even if they're
doing it in a silly way. The story is a
great example of the gentle art of poking fun at
our culture in a way that makes people think, but
(17:03):
isn't designed to undermine it. It was decent, but a
bit uneven, but there's a good reason for it. The
Illinois Radio Guild was a college radio production from the
University of Illinois in Urbana, Champagne. Each week, they'd hold
auditions for the week's play, and those who made it
(17:25):
for the auditions would stay for a rehearsal, do another
rehearsal the next day, and then record it and it
would be aired on Thursday, so a turnaround time of
a little bit more than twenty hours between being cast
and recording. And this wasn't like a rep company thing.
The casting was open for each week's play each week.
(17:47):
Wellini Radio Guild was meant to promote audio drama, and
it revived a concept when it was launched in April
of nineteen forty six that the Daily Ilini said had
been done years before, likely it had been preempted by
the war. The bulk of radio drama that survives today
(18:10):
is the Polish performances on major network and syndicated productions.
But this reminds us that even during the golden age
of radio, there was radio drama that was presented by
enthusiastic performers who are inspired by the medium and people
who make good audio dramas that are truly labors of
(18:33):
love are another thing to be thankful for. It's time
for me to close up the Old Snackwagon, but don't worry.
We'll be back with another serving of old time radio
goodness before you know it. If you want to enjoy
some of our longer form podcasts, you can feast away
at my website at Great Detectives dot net. Your emails
(18:54):
are also welcome at Adam at Snackwagon dot net.
Speaker 3 (19:00):
Radio Snackwagon comes to you from Boise, Idaho. Your host
is Adam Graham. Sound production is by Ryn's Media LLC.
You can listen to past episodes of the Old Time
Radio Snackwagon, as well as connect on social media at
our website at snackwagon dot net. Email suggestions for episodes
(19:20):
to Adam at snackwagon dot net. This has been the
old time radio Snackwagon.
Speaker 2 (19:37):
Until next time. Goodbye,
Are you, Adam Graham.
Speaker 2 (00:01):
The very same And this is my old time Radio Snackwagon.
Speaker 3 (00:13):
Welcome to the Old Time Radio snack Wagon, where we
serve up a bite sized portion of old time radio.
And now here's your snack wagon host Adam Graham.
Speaker 2 (00:25):
This week we're bringing you a Thanksgiving themed snack courtesy
of O Henry. During his life, o'henry wrote almost four
hundred short stories. The one that he is remembered for
today more than anything else is The Gift of the
Magi and we brought you a reading of that back
(00:47):
during the Christmas of twenty twenty three. But this is
another one of his short stories. This was adapted by
the Elini Radio Guild, which we'll talk about for our program.
The original Airnate is November twenty six, nineteen forty six,
and here now is two Thanksgiving Day, Gentlemen.
Speaker 4 (01:11):
Day Thanksgiving Yelini Radio Guild presents not the usual Thanksgiving story,
but one by O Henry, an ending such as only
Oh Henry can give it. It's his famous short story
Two Thanksgiving Day Gentlemen, adapted especially for this program by
Elizabeth Springer and Dave Boyer, both journalism students here at
the University of Illinois. So our coast, your Thanksgiving Day.
Speaker 5 (01:53):
There's one day which is entirely ours. There's one day
when all we Americans go back to the old home
to eat turkey and crunch sellary and marvel at how
much nearer to the ports the old pomp looks now
than it used to. Thanksgiving Day is a national institution,
and in more ways than one, it's the only day
in the year except Christmas, when we recognize that part
of America which lives across the tracks, the one day
(02:17):
other than Christmas, when philanthropists perform their duties about the
hunger of the poor, a hunger they think afflicts the
poor only at such extended edimors. Our story begins in
one of those comfortable bourgeois mansions in most any city,
except that this is New York City, and Gladyson Headier
what we must frankly refer to as old Mads.
Speaker 6 (02:51):
There now, glad if I think we can put the
coffee on of yet, doesn't it look beautiful?
Speaker 7 (02:57):
I do declare I'd like to sit down.
Speaker 6 (03:00):
Did that Thanksgiving tablem now, Gladys, Oh, I really didn't
mean it, Heady, I was.
Speaker 7 (03:05):
Just thinking it is beautiful. It's the turkey does done
to a turn, oh, Marie, Marie, Yes, coming up, Marie.
Speaker 6 (03:15):
You may put the coffee on too, perk now and
prepare to serve, Yes right away, mam all right, gladys,
let's go down to the streets and bring the first
unfortunate looking man we find. I think this is the
most fun of anything we ever did, don't you, glad Oh, yes,
it's so exciting.
Speaker 7 (03:34):
It's so good to be able to be a service
in the world, especially on a daylight Thanksgiving when poor
people are so hungry. We'll be right back, Marie.
Speaker 8 (03:43):
Don't forget to make the coffee strong, yes, mom, and
I'll put the slate in the warming of him to mom.
Speaker 9 (04:07):
Mmm, mighty good min's pie that, ma'am, mighty goodness.
Speaker 7 (04:12):
Would you have another piece?
Speaker 10 (04:14):
Mister?
Speaker 7 (04:14):
What did you say?
Speaker 1 (04:15):
Your name was, Pete?
Speaker 10 (04:17):
Ma'am Stuffy Pete. My friends call me stuffy. Everybody calls
me stuffy.
Speaker 6 (04:23):
Just call me stuffy, Marie, Marie, Yes, uh, Marie gets this,
mister Stuffy.
Speaker 8 (04:30):
Another piece of mince pie, A big piece, yes, he Patty.
Speaker 10 (04:35):
Don't say too much for my appetite, Mamerton. It's them
juicy fiddle to turn out.
Speaker 7 (04:40):
Oh, mister Duffy, you really like.
Speaker 11 (04:43):
My It's food for the gods, ma'am.
Speaker 10 (04:45):
That's what it is, food for the god.
Speaker 12 (04:48):
Oh what, mister stuff I just remembered something two limbs
from mister Stuffy, Marie, And yes matter, mister Stuffer.
Speaker 10 (05:01):
I just remember, ma'am, I gotta go meet a guy.
Speaker 7 (05:04):
Well, we don't like to detain if they're having a
point with someone.
Speaker 9 (05:08):
I don't like this even run and member, but I
just remembered, and it's very important.
Speaker 13 (05:13):
Well, if you have to go, Marie, will you have
mister Stuff's cot please.
Speaker 9 (05:18):
It's sure been good, mammon, a fella like me enjoyed
with me like that toiky and stuff and cranberry and
sweet taters and oysters on the shell.
Speaker 11 (05:26):
And mince pie and all the fictions of geez, it's
sure works. Well, we'll thank you, ma'am.
Speaker 10 (05:33):
Take especially for the mince pie, and mammon, it's.
Speaker 13 (05:35):
Sure good bye, mister Stuffing.
Speaker 7 (05:38):
It's been delightful. Mister Stuffy. Wasn't that a thrill? I'm
too glad? And he did like my mint pa.
Speaker 6 (05:49):
Yes, mister Stuffy was certainly the right man to be
charitable because did you notice.
Speaker 7 (05:55):
Cloth lin shred and his cold nothing but tap.
Speaker 13 (06:00):
I do hope he has a princess next night, the
post is going.
Speaker 7 (06:04):
He can't imagine.
Speaker 13 (06:05):
He was probably an excuse to le. He did seem
a little uncomfortable bladder.
Speaker 7 (06:11):
He did eat a lot, didn't he my why I
never saw?
Speaker 5 (06:32):
Yes, stuff, he did eat a lot, everything from oysters
to manse pine, seconds on most things. As he stood
on the front steps of the Old Maid's Hoss was
a name, when his a moment, when his name fitted
him perfectly, and his waistline bows, and his breath came short.
His legs could barely wriggle as he turned towards his
meeting place several blocks away. Because stuff, he really did
(06:54):
have a rendezvous, and he shuddered at the realization of
what it meant.
Speaker 14 (07:00):
I say, way, yes, sir, I want everything to be
just right, just as always.
Speaker 11 (07:05):
Don't worry about a thing, though, and.
Speaker 14 (07:07):
Don't spell to porsons. Lots of white meat and dressing.
He doesn't get a dinner like this except once a year,
once a year for nine years. It's become an institution. Yes,
a real tradition.
Speaker 5 (07:38):
Yes, you see, Stuffy Pete had forgotten when Hetty and
gladders descended upon him every Thanksgiving Day for nine years,
he'd met the old Gentleman promptly at one o'clock. The
old Gentleman was a staunch American patriot and considered himself
a pioneer in American tradition. In order to become picturesque,
we must keep on doing one thing for a long
(07:58):
time without ever letting it get away from it. That
was how the old Gentleman felt about this annual Thanksgiving dinner.
The rendezvous with Stuffy was becoming an American institution, just
as the old Gentleman had said to himself.
Speaker 1 (08:11):
And Stuffy, who had a rather sensitive.
Speaker 5 (08:13):
Heart for a bomb, realized that he, Stuffy, was the
very basis of the institution. His Thanksgiving appetite was not
his own. It belonged to the kind old Gentleman by
all sacred rides. And so, in order to maintain the
time out of division Stuffy, he forced himself to shuffle
toward the meeting place. He waddled into the restaurant.
Speaker 10 (08:37):
Our good afternoon, sir, exactly on time. Good afternoon, waiter,
We are ready sit down, sir, Thank you. Ah.
Speaker 15 (08:48):
Here come the oysters, man, I am glad to perceive
that the vicissitudes of another year have spared you to
move in good health about the beautiful world for that
blessing alone.
Speaker 10 (08:59):
This day of Thanksgiving is well proclaimed to each of us.
Speaker 15 (09:03):
And now you are going to be provided with a
dinner that should make your physical being get caught with
the mental and waiter bring the.
Speaker 10 (09:11):
Crewe tns with the soup.
Speaker 4 (09:13):
Yes, sir, what a guy he hands that same shield
or that same bum every Thanksgiving nine years in a row.
Speaker 11 (09:21):
Now the old bum shows us thanked by coming in woosing.
Speaker 1 (09:43):
Yes, Stuffy was woozy, the turkey woozy.
Speaker 5 (09:47):
The waiter heat the table high with holiday food, and
Stuffy with a side. It was taken for the expression
of hunger, raised his knife and park and valiantly went
about maintaining a very important part of American Thanksgiving tradition.
No more courageous hero ever fought his way through the
rants of an enemy again oyster soup, turkey, chopped vegetable
(10:07):
and tied. All of them somehow disappeared before him as
fast as Stuffy could stuff.
Speaker 11 (10:13):
Them in.
Speaker 5 (10:15):
Gorge, nearly to exploding. When he came into the restaurant.
The smell of more food had almost caused him to
lose his honor as a gentleman, but he rallied like
a true knight. He saw the glow of beneficent happiness
on the old gentleman's face, a glow one was from
the very combustion inside Stuffy himself, and he had not
the heart to see it. Waning in our stuff, he
(10:36):
leaned back with the battle one.
Speaker 10 (10:50):
Thanks kindly, sir, Thanks kindly for a hearty meal. It's
just my heart's good to see a man like that.
Speaker 9 (10:57):
Well, I'm sure glad you've got play out of it, sir.
So we be on our way, yep, thanksgiving his finny reckon,
we best get gone.
Speaker 10 (11:09):
Ok Here, let me hit you. I'm okay, just a
good and steady on me. Ten too much dinner on
an MG stomach. That's probably all it is, sir.
Speaker 11 (11:19):
Here we are.
Speaker 5 (11:24):
Stuffy in The old gentleman parted company at the door,
just as they had eight other times before. The old
gentleman went south and Stuffy went north. Stuffy made it
to the corner, and there he turned and stood for
one full minute. Then he seemed to puff out his
rags an arrow puffs out of his feathers and fell
to the sidewalk like a sunsticken horse. Sometime the young
(11:56):
surgeon and the driver cursed softly at stuck his waves.
They loaded him as a van.
Speaker 1 (12:00):
You'd better pray of him getting more.
Speaker 11 (12:02):
Damn.
Speaker 1 (12:02):
I wish what happened to him, Doc haunted, Yeah, loaded drascal?
Speaker 5 (12:18):
Isn't he?
Speaker 3 (12:18):
Yeah?
Speaker 16 (12:18):
I thought he was drunken purse nor smell of whiskey
of bear though, what do you think, doc?
Speaker 1 (12:22):
Apoplexy better not be anything expensive.
Speaker 16 (12:25):
A bank account that goes with this case doesn't provide
a private room and a special nurse. Maybe another heart
case could be even unconscious. His heart was pounding through
the stethoscope as if he were running up a hill.
I have a good look at him and get.
Speaker 10 (12:37):
Him into the receiving room.
Speaker 16 (12:39):
I always have been anxious to get a good angina
case I could work on without some muddling interference. Turn here, driver,
let's go down Fifth Avenue and turn on that siren.
I want this case under treatment immediately, right, Doc, Take.
Speaker 7 (13:07):
It easy, old fellow.
Speaker 16 (13:07):
He'll be all right.
Speaker 5 (13:08):
We know what's wrong with you. Nurse, bring the cardiograph
a little closer.
Speaker 7 (13:14):
Thank you.
Speaker 5 (13:15):
Mm hmm and.
Speaker 16 (13:16):
Ngiin all right over exertion, disease hard probably fifty years
of bad living with your cheek and yes, I believe so.
The old boy probably hasn't a relative in the world.
Speaker 11 (13:29):
I've been looking for a chance like this.
Speaker 10 (13:31):
See how fast you can get the results on that
blood count up there?
Speaker 7 (13:36):
Thank you, nurse. Your stomach just tremble.
Speaker 10 (13:40):
Probably drink even if he wasn't drunk today.
Speaker 1 (13:46):
You feel that one, nurse, be more careful.
Speaker 13 (13:50):
Bump the patient like that's going stiff too.
Speaker 5 (14:14):
Stuffy had fallen into the arms of Morpheus. In short,
he slept, and it wasn't Rigormortes setting in. It was digestion.
But time did not stop with Stuffy's loss of consciousness.
Things were happening, and life went on.
Speaker 1 (14:27):
A new patient came to the.
Speaker 5 (14:29):
Hospital to take the bed next to Stuffy.
Speaker 11 (14:31):
What's this new case, nurse?
Speaker 7 (14:33):
There's no report yet. He just came in.
Speaker 1 (14:36):
Yes, what do you know about him?
Speaker 17 (14:38):
Just picked him up. He was unconscious when I got there,
collapsed on a street corner. He has a kind funny thing.
I picked him up just a block from where we
picked up that old bum.
Speaker 7 (14:52):
Must be an epidemic over there.
Speaker 5 (15:00):
Here they lay the planks and the proper, the giver
and the receiver, the the old gentleman, a stuffy sir,
thank here, I want to get a champ to try
out my angina tree.
Speaker 10 (15:16):
And then all that old bum had was indigestion.
Speaker 7 (15:21):
Where are you going fun the kitchen doesn't sue that
old gentleman in the dead next to the plant. Just
tell me who hasn't had anything to eat? Three days.
Speaker 11 (15:50):
You've been listening to an adaptation of O. Henry's short
story too Thanksgiving Day Gentlemen, presented by the ALINEI Radio gil.
Actors in today's performance included a narrator Scott Shelton as Stuffy,
Eugene Liner as Hetty as glad Us as the old gentleman,
Jeene Resler as a doctor, John Ragnell as the driver,
(16:11):
and as the nurse. You're announcer Don Oliver. This is
the radio service of the University of Illinois.
Speaker 2 (16:18):
Welcome Back. Charming production really helped by O. Henry's story.
It raises some interesting points about wealthy people thinking that
those who are destitute are really only hungry two days
a year, And then, of course you had the whole
pompous ceremony with the old gentleman trying to make this
(16:40):
a tradition. But it's not harsh or bitter about it,
and I think O Henry keeps in mind that these
people are trying to do something nice, even if they're
doing it in a silly way. The story is a
great example of the gentle art of poking fun at
our culture in a way that makes people think, but
(17:03):
isn't designed to undermine it. It was decent, but a
bit uneven, but there's a good reason for it. The
Illinois Radio Guild was a college radio production from the
University of Illinois in Urbana, Champagne. Each week, they'd hold
auditions for the week's play, and those who made it
(17:25):
for the auditions would stay for a rehearsal, do another
rehearsal the next day, and then record it and it
would be aired on Thursday, so a turnaround time of
a little bit more than twenty hours between being cast
and recording. And this wasn't like a rep company thing.
The casting was open for each week's play each week.
(17:47):
Wellini Radio Guild was meant to promote audio drama, and
it revived a concept when it was launched in April
of nineteen forty six that the Daily Ilini said had
been done years before, likely it had been preempted by
the war. The bulk of radio drama that survives today
(18:10):
is the Polish performances on major network and syndicated productions.
But this reminds us that even during the golden age
of radio, there was radio drama that was presented by
enthusiastic performers who are inspired by the medium and people
who make good audio dramas that are truly labors of
(18:33):
love are another thing to be thankful for. It's time
for me to close up the Old Snackwagon, but don't worry.
We'll be back with another serving of old time radio
goodness before you know it. If you want to enjoy
some of our longer form podcasts, you can feast away
at my website at Great Detectives dot net. Your emails
(18:54):
are also welcome at Adam at Snackwagon dot net.
Speaker 3 (19:00):
Radio Snackwagon comes to you from Boise, Idaho. Your host
is Adam Graham. Sound production is by Ryn's Media LLC.
You can listen to past episodes of the Old Time
Radio Snackwagon, as well as connect on social media at
our website at snackwagon dot net. Email suggestions for episodes
(19:20):
to Adam at snackwagon dot net. This has been the
old time radio Snackwagon.
Speaker 2 (19:37):
Until next time. Goodbye,
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