Lum Is Nervous: Tracks, Trouble, and the Sugar Bowl Scandal

Originally Aired: February 11, 1935

Lum Is Nervous: Tracks, Trouble, and the Sugar Bowl Scandal

In this high-stakes follow-up to the insurance check debacle, Lum and Abner find themselves tangled in a deepening mess—complete with broken sugar bowls, stolen missionary money, and the threat of being run out of Pine Ridge.

After last week’s failed attempt to retrieve the $200 insurance check from Elizabeth’s sugar bowl, Lum is more rattled than ever. The townsfolk are gossiping, the missionary society is furious, and Lum’s attempt to hide his oversized shoe prints has backfired—literally cramming his feet into a pair of too-small shoes.

Trying to dodge suspicion, Lum and Abner retreat to the store, only to be hit with bad news: Elizabeth Peabody may have found a clue about who “broke into” her home. The problem? It was Lum—just trying to help return a fraudulent insurance payout. But with townspeople like Dick Huddleston loudly calling for justice and warning it must’ve been someone close to the family, the clock is ticking.

Meanwhile, the flashlight campaign continues to boom, with sacks of mail arriving and votes rolling in for the store’s next president. The contest between Lum and Abner is heating up—though Lum’s campaign is floundering in the shadow of a burglary accusation.

Tense, absurd, and full of the classic Pine Ridge charm, this episode mixes slapstick panic with a real sense of small-town justice closing in.

Keywords: “Lum and Abner sugar bowl robbery,” “Elizabeth Peabody mystery clue,” “Horlicks flashlight promotion 1935,” “Jot ’Em Down Store election drama,” “Lum oversized shoes joke,” “February 1935 radio comedy,” “missionary money mix-up episode.”

Cast: Chester Lauck (Lum), Norris Goff (Abner), Clarence Hartzell (Dick Huddleston), Carlton Brickert (announcer).