Frankie and Easter Dinner
The Harrises return from Easter services expecting a family dinner, but Frankie Remley's involvement turns the holiday meal into another round of domestic comedy.
The Phil Harris-Alice Faye Show turns two real entertainment personalities into exaggerated radio versions of themselves. Harris plays the boastful bandleader who is forever overestimating his own cleverness, while Alice Faye supplies the steadier voice at home. Family life, music, money and show business all become part of the same comic household.
NBC comedy/situation-comedy and music vehicle starring fictionalized versions of Phil Harris and Alice Faye with a recurring family, band and supporting cast.
The run breaks into several distinct periods: Fitch Bandwagon: Phil Harris-Alice Faye era (September 29, 1946 to May 23, 1948) on NBC Radio Network, Phil Harris-Alice Faye Show: Rexall era (October 3, 1948 to June 4, 1950) on NBC Radio Network, and Phil Harris-Alice Faye Show: RCA era (October 1, 1950 to June 18, 1954) on NBC Radio Network.
Names that turn up again and again in the surviving run include Elliott Lewis (performer), Phil Harris (performer), Alice Faye (performer), Bill Forman (announcer), Walter Tetley (performer), Anne Whitfield (performer), and Jeanine Roos (performer).
Across its run, the surviving broadcasts are tied to NBC Radio Network, Armed Forces Radio and Television Service, and Armed Forces Radio Service.
The stories often return to music, bands and performance, family and domestic life, money, shopping and household finances, radio work and broadcasting, pets and animals, and travel and vacation.
The show also sits in a wider radio history that includes Postwar domestic and family situation comedy, Commercial sponsorship in network radio comedy, and Hollywood celebrity adapted to radio domestic comedy.
If you are following the same actors and creative circles, related programs worth opening next include Lux Radio Theatre, Screen Directors Playhouse, The Railroad Hour, The Whistler, and Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar.
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The Harrises return from Easter services expecting a family dinner, but Frankie Remley's involvement turns the holiday meal into another round of domestic comedy.
After an RCA executive tells Phil his recent records are selling poorly, Phil and Frankie decide the answer is to find or create the perfect novelty song themselves.
Mr. Scott investigates unauthorized commercials on Phil's show and discovers Frankie has been posing as an RCA executive, drawing Phil into a scheme involving the company's television sets.
Alice secretly applies for Phil to join an exclusive Beverly Hills country club, and Phil's contempt for the 'stuffed shirts' quickly changes once the prestige of membership sinks in.
An emergency meeting with sponsor Mr. Scott forces Phil and Alice to confront the band about its behavior and quality, but the musicians respond to Alice's attempt at discipline with…
Phil's daughters want to enter a local beautiful-child contest, and Phil's own boastful memories of being a prize-winning baby encourage him to take the competition far too seriously.
Phil and Frankie decide to build a vacation trailer after their travel plans keep changing, only to construct one from coffin blueprints and send it rolling downhill into the Harris…
At Mr. Scott's Mother's Day celebration, Phil and Alice compare their own mothers while Frankie's lack of a proper Mother's Day connection leads to an unusual hired-mother arrangement.
After landing a movie role as an Air Force flying sergeant, Phil boasts about his screen heroics even though Frankie knows his fear of actual flying and the tricks used…
Phil's future hangs on an RCA Victor board vote over renewing his contract, leaving him increasingly anxious as the decision is delayed.
As the show returns from summer hiatus, Phil is still physically bent from a vacation injury and immediately faces new trouble with the musicians' union.
The morning after a chaotic costume party, the household is stunned when young Julius announces that he wants to get married and seeks the adults' help with his romantic plans.
Determined to impress a television executive, Phil resists an eye exam and accidentally overuses dilating drops, leaving him and Remley nearly blind just as important dinner guests arrive.
Phil volunteers to conduct a school orchestra for a PTA concert and discovers that controlling a roomful of unruly children is even harder than leading his own band.
Phil and Alice dramatize their life stories for listeners, but the supposedly factual biography is repeatedly interrupted by Phil correcting dates and embellishing his own past.
When Phil needs a large sum of money, Frankie proposes that he invest in a business opportunity instead, drawing both men into another dubious get-rich scheme.
William proudly donates blood and volunteers Phil to do the same, sending Phil into a panic as he invents excuse after excuse to avoid the Red Cross needle.
Longing for the excitement of live audiences, Phil agrees to take part in a USC college benefit and sees it as a chance to recapture the thrill of his vaudeville…
Proud of his supposed Native American ancestry, Phil embraces a string of exaggerated tribal rituals and becomes especially interested when he believes that ancestry may exempt him from income tax.
Frankie lands a television sponsor and secretly signs Alice as his glamorous co-star, prompting Phil to sabotage the deal by presenting a deep-sea diver as Alice's supposed replacement.
Phil and Remley secretly open Mr. Scott's expensive antique Christmas clock, damage it while snooping, and make increasingly frantic repairs before Alice reveals she has bought the troublesome clock herself.
Exhausted Phil wants nothing more than his favorite easy chair, but a talkative new neighbor criticizes it and sets off a household campaign to get rid of his treasured seat.
During last-minute department-store shopping, Phil's sarcastic encounter with Santa is followed by a more serious holiday problem when the family's Christmas presents are stolen.
Phil insists the family should see the Tournament of Roses Parade in person, then discovers that actually obtaining tickets is far harder than boasting about the experience.
Phil and Frankie plan a carefree trip to the Pebble Beach golf tournament, but Alice overhears their bachelor-party expectations and sends Willie along to keep them under control.
Alice secretly buys Phil a motorcycle for his birthday, but the deliveryman's secrecy convinces Phil she is hiding another man until the salesman and motorcycle are discovered together in a…
Phil's day of horse-racing distractions gives way to a March of Dimes fundraising effort, with Phil and Remley trying to put their talents to use for the campaign.
Alice leaves for a week in Palm Springs and puts Phil in charge of the children, where his first attempts at ironing, laundry, and housekeeping immediately descend into chaos.
The morning after Mr. Scott hosts Phil's radio cast, the Scotts survey the wreckage and outrageous behavior left behind by the musicians while family members disagree over whether the guests…
Phil and Alice decide Frankie needs a wife, launching a matchmaking effort that becomes complicated by their new neighbor and a series of unsuitable prospects.
Phil forces his family through repeated viewings of his new action movie, proudly reliving his screen role while Alice and the children grow thoroughly exhausted by his self-admiration.
Phil panics when sponsor Mr. Scott requests a meeting, only to learn the discussion concerns having Phil's band play for Scott's daughter rather than the firing Phil fears.
Alice makes Phil promise that Frankie will not join their Las Vegas trip, but Frankie arrives fully packed with crooked gambling gadgets before Phil can break the news.
Phil and Alice plan costumes for the girls' party, but Phil's ridiculous suggestions and Alice's attempt to disguise their blonde hair turn a simple dress-up problem into household chaos.
A planned Palm Springs trip falls apart as Phil criticizes Alice's bathing suit and the children announce they want a different destination, reopening the family argument over where to vacation.
After receiving an honorary Confederate colonel title, Phil takes the role absurdly seriously, wearing the uniform constantly and subjecting the family to his exaggerated Southern military persona.
Gangster Grogan decides to hold a welcome-home party for an escaped associate and chooses the Harris house as the venue, leaving Phil trapped in a celebration he never agreed to…
When Phil tries to borrow fifty dollars from Alice, he and Frankie invent one excuse after another and begin to suspect that her refusal may mean she has financial troubles…
Phil plans to surprise Alice by adding an elaborate brooch to her new Easter dress, but his secret attempt to improve the outfit threatens the very dress she is proud…
A phone call from Alice's old boyfriend sends jealous Phil into a spiral after Alice vividly remembers the man's good looks and decides to invite him over.
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