It Won't Break Your Budget: The Way It Is, 12 January

Nothing against Rush Limbaugh, but I'm not exactly convinced his birthday (today) equals an earth-shattering event in terms of old-time radio. In terms of new-time radio, of course, you have something there. So let's just relax and listen, you could be doing a lot worse on a Saturday night and it won't break your budget, either . . .

CHANNEL SURFING . . .

1940: THE VEGETABLE GARDEN---Sade (Bernadine Flynn) freezes Vic (Art Van Harvey) and Rush’s (Bill Idelson) rummy hand with an earth-shattering bulletin that the family absolutely must have its own vegetable garden, and their indifference in turn freezes Sade, on tonight’s edition of Vic and Sade (NBC).

Writer: Paul Rhymer.

1945: "AMERICA’S NUMBER-ONE PINUP GHOUL"---That would be Boris Karloff, as described inimitably enough by Archie (Ed Gardner) on the horn to Duffy, as Karloff guest stars on tonight’s edition of Duffy’s Tavern. (CBS.)

Eddie: Eddie Green. Finnegan: Charles Cantor. Miss Duffy: Sandra Gould. Writers: Ed Gardner, Larry Rhine, possibly Robert Schiller.

1948: THE ROOM WHERE THE GHOSTS LIVE---As his doctor (James Van Dyke) listens from somewhere between incredulity and helplessness, a man (Ernest Chappell, who also narrates) insisting he be allowed to die in his own home is haunted by a room therein that only he can access . . . in which lives, among other ghosts, a girl (Claudia Morgan) who lived in the home almost two centuries ago, on tonight’s edition of Quiet, Please. (ABC.)

Writer: Wyllis Cooper.

1951: AUNT SAM WANTS WHO?---She’s a lady from the draft board, and---since his striptease fiancée Peaches LeToure has returned his engagement ring---Archie (Ed Gardner) wouldn’t exactly mind catching her draft, on tonight’s edition of Duffy’s Tavern. (NBC.)

Eddie: Eddie Green. Finnegan: Charles Cantor. Miss Duffy: Gloria Erlanger. Writers: Ed Gardner, possibly Norman Panama, possibly Melvin Frank.

PREMIERING TODAY . . .

1892---Ed McConnell (host/actor: The Smilin' Ed McConnell Show), Atlanta.
1894---Tommy Handley (comedian: It’s That Man Again; Radio Radiance), Liverpool.
1896---Harry Reser (bandleader: Cliquot Club Eskimos), Piqua, Ohio.
1902---Joe E. Lewis (comedian: Midnight to Dawn in New York and London; Command Performance), New York City.
1905---Tex Ritter (Maurice Woodward Ritter; singer: Lone Star Rangers), Murvaul, Texas.
1906---Henny Youngman (comedian: The Kate Smith Hour), Liverpool.
1910---Patsy Kelly (comedian: MGM Musical Comedy Theater; Hollywood Hotel; Screen Guild Theater), Brooklyn; Luise Rainer (actress: Lincoln Highway; Yesterday’s Children), Vienna.
1911---Lon Clark (actor: Nick Carter, Master Detective; Bright Horizon), Frost, Minnesota.
1912---Sara Berner (actress: The Jack Benny Program; The Jimmy Durante Show), Albany, New York.
1915---Martin Agronsky (newscaster: The ABC Morning News), Philadelphia.
1926---Ray Price (singer: Galaxy of Stars; Grand Ole Opry), Perryville, Texas.