Just Listen: The Way It Is, 3 November

All you can do, on a day in which nothing world-breaking or earth-shattering occurs in old-time radio history, is sit, relax, light up, and listen to George and Gracie, the usual gang of idiots, the latest romantic Gildersleeve mishap, a peculiar cave death, and terror on the not-so-high sea . . .

CHANNEL SURFING . . .

1942: THE MAN FROM MGM---An old vaudeville partner now at MGM accepts a dinner invitation from George (Burns)---on condition he doesn't tell Gracie (Allen) the truth about exactly what he does at MGM, on tonight's edition of The Burns & Allen Show. (CBS.)

Additional cast: Elvia Allman, Bill Goodwin, Lawrence Nash. Music: Jimmy Cash; Six Hits and a Miss; Paul Whiteman and His Orchestra. Writers: George Burns, Paul Henning.

1944: WHAT IS A SWIMMING POOL?---You should know better than to ask, even with affable Shirley Booth pumping her new organisation, on tonight's edition of It Pays to Be Ignorant. (CBS.)

Host: Tom Howard. Panel: Harry McNaughton, Lulu McConnell, George Shelton.

1948: SECRET ENGAGEMENT---Adeline (Una Merkel) plans for an engagement party clash with Gildy's (Harold Peary) hope to keep the engagement secret a little while longer, on tonight's edition of The Great Gildersleeve. (NBC.)

Leroy: Walter Tetley. Marjorie: Marylee Robb. Birdie: Lillian Randolph. Hooker: Earle Roth. Peavey: Richard LeGrand. Writers: Gene Stone, Jack Robinson.

1949: THE FORGOTTEN CAVE MURDER CASE---Keen (Bennett Kilpack) and Clancy (Jim Kelly) are puzzled when they're hired by a cave explorer whose partner died in an apparent cave-in . . . but who thinks the partner was murdered and the body removed conveninently, on tonight's edition of Mr. Keen, Tracer of Lost Persons. (CBS.)

Additional cast: Unknown. Writer: Lawrence Klee.

1950: SEVEN HOURS TO FREEDOM---On a small fishing boat off California, a madman terrorises a boatman and his partner while they haul a catch in the chill, on tonight's edition of Escape. (CBS.)

Jeff: Jack Moiles. Additional cast: Sam Waxman, Jack Kruschen, Barney Phillips, Lou Krugman. Writers: Les Crutchfield, John Dunkel, from a story by Budd A. Nelson.

PREMIERING TODAY . . .

1889---Gustav Haenschen (conductor: The Palmolive Hour; Saturday Night Serenade; Show Boat), St. Louis.
1909---James Reston (journalist: Meet the Press; University of Chicago Roundtable), Clyde Bank, Scotland; George Wells (writer: Lux Radio Theater), New York City.
1910---Richard Hurndall (actor: BBC Light Programme), Darlington, Durham, UK.
1913---Harry Babbitt (singer: Kay Kyser's Surprise Party; Kay Kyser's Kollege of Musical Knowledge), St. Louis.
1928---Wanda Hendrix (actress: Cavalcade of America; Stars Over Hollywood; Lux Radio Theater), Jacksonville, Florida.
1933---Ken Berry (actor: Hollywood Radio Theater), Moline, Illinois.