How to Operate a Picture Show: Slanted Floors, Shadow Puppets, and Ticket Trouble

Originally Aired: May 29, 1935

In Lum & Abner #118, “How to Operate a Picture Show,” Lum returns to Pine Ridge with a bold new idea: open the town’s very first moving picture house. As he ropes Abner into the scheme, the two wrestle with the logistics of running a cinema—from slanted floors and high ceilings to shadow puppet distractions and ticket-taking confusion. Abner wants front-row seats for him and his family, but Lum insists he’s on ticket duty. The episode builds with classic misunderstandings, hilarious logic twists, and a last-minute offer to rent Dick Huddleston’s cotton warehouse as their venue. Will Pine Ridge finally get its nightlife? Or will Abner let everyone in for free?

Cast:
Chester Lauck (Lum Edwards), Norris Goff (Abner Peabody), voices of supporting characters including Dick Huddleston

Tags:
LumAndAbner, oldtimeradio, 1930scomedy, JotEmDownStore, picturehouse, PineRidge, radiohumor, vintagebroadcast, slantedfloors, Horlicks, ticketboothantics, ruralcomedy, classicradio, vaudeville, smalltowncinema, freeadmissionfiasco, GoffAndLauck