Episode 56—All Aboard the Hogwarts Express

Science fiction writer Scott Pearson’s cohost Ella Pearson recounts her many Harry Potter-themed adventures while living in England: visiting places where J. K. Rowling worked on the books, spotting filming locations from the movies, making two trips to the Harry Potter Set Tour, and seeing the stage play Harry Potter and the Cursed Child.

Segments

00:28 Intro

01:20 Rowling in Edinburgh

05:31 Digression: Doctor Who in Glasgow

06:21 Platform 9 3/4

08:40 Harry Potter Studio Tour

18:18 Interlude: A Wee Bit More o’ Scotland

18:58 Back in the Studio

35:15 Potter Nostalgia

37:25 Harry Potter and the Cursed Child

We’re going to spend Christmas with “The Great Gildersleeve” and family.  Teen-aged Marjorie would rather go out on date, unexpected guests drop by, and we’re treated to Lillian Randolph as Birdie singing a Christmas spiritual.  Then Eve Arden returns as “Our Miss Brooks,” a high school English teacher who never gets a break, not even during the holidays.  In need of cash to attend a New Year’s party, she lets herself be talked in to babysitting job on the big night.

The Great Gildersleeve

December 23, 1945

“Christmas Eve at Home”

1:46

Our Miss Brooks

January 1, 1950

“Babysitting on New Year’s Eve”

32:18

What would Christmas be without Jack Benny going Christmas shopping and doing it on the cheap?  On this episode of “The Jack Benny Show,” Jack tries to decide between metal- or plastic-tipped shoe laces as a gift for Don Wilson.  Then on “Fibber McGee and Molly,” Fibber tries to make a fruitcake using an old family recipe, but his lack of skills (not to mention smarts) keeps getting in the way.

The Jack Benny Show

December 8, 1946

“Jack Buys Don Shoe Laces for Christmas”

2:06

Fibber McGee and Molly

December 16, 1947

“Aunt Sarah’s Fruitcake”

32:00