Podcast Summary

Harold's Old Time Radio

Episode: Ozzie and Harriet 48-12-12 (175) "Worrying About Worrying"

Date: January 18, 2026

Episode Overview

This episode from the classic radio series "Ozzie and Harriet" centers on the theme of worrying—how it permeates family life, how we often worry about things beyond our control, and the sometimes-silly ways that worry gets passed around from one person to another. Through a blend of gentle humor and domestic banter, the Nelson family faces everyday anxieties, from new drapes to school tests to imagined ailments, ultimately poking fun at their own tendency to "worry about worrying."
As always, the show is bookended with period-typical sponsorship and cheerful, wholesome messages.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Harriet’s Worry Over the Drapes

• Harriet admits she's anxious about her new drapes not matching the living room (02:19).
• Ozzie reassures her, giving mock-solemn "permission" to buy them, and jokes about moving into the Emporium window if they look better there (03:54).
• Even after getting Ozzie’s approval, Harriet worries about the expense and fit:
  • Quote:
    • “You have my full permission to go downtown tomorrow and buy the new drapes.” – Ozzie (03:19)
    • “No, I'm worried about how they'll look when they're delivered. I already bought them.” – Harriet (03:32)
• Ozzie counsels against worrying over things that haven’t happened:
  • “Worrying about it won't do any good. Why don't you wait and see?” – Ozzie (03:42)

2. Family Worry Trickles Down

• David, their son, is stressed about a math test, and his brother worries vicariously (04:13–04:21).
• Ozzie tries to apply logic to David’s worry:
  • “If you did everything you possibly could to pass the test, there's no point in worrying about it.” – Ozzie (04:59)
• David adopts Ozzie’s (slightly forced) optimism, but jokes that Ricky should keep worrying, just in case (05:16).

3. Worry Begets Worry—Ozzie’s Shift

• Although Ozzie initially plays the role of "the Rock of Gibraltar" (06:29) and offers practical advice about worry, the focus slowly starts to shift.
• At the drugstore, Ozzie encounters his neighbor Thorny and Charlie the clerk, and they read a magazine article on worrying (07:12).
  • The article lists classic worry signs and even stirs hypochondriac thoughts in Thorny:
    • Memorable Quote:
      • “Do you ever get a sort of a shooting pain in your right shoulder...right about here?...It comes and goes...about every two or three minutes.” – Thorny (08:29–08:34)
  • Charlie humorously shares his "worry cure" for his wife—involving dropping ice cubes down her back until their divorce (09:38–09:47).

4. The Power of Suggestion

• That night, Ozzie obsesses over a checklist of worries from the magazine—old friends, the car, potential loss of popularity—a cascade of needless anxieties (10:33–11:57).
• Ozzie’s concern snowballs as he transitions from dismissing worries to manifesting them himself:
  • “Ever since you read the article in my magazine last night, you've been worrying about everything.” – Harriet (19:11)
  • He checks the doors, worries about their friends the Randolphs, stresses over the roof, the car, school—classic comic snowballing.

5. Worry as Contagious and Circular—The Lesson

• The family notes how easily worry can be transferred or even become a habit:
  • “I'm not worried, Harriet. You know I don't worry.” – Ozzie, while clearly fretting (20:04)
  • Harriet turns the tables by pretending to worry about the car and friends, prompting Ozzie to give the soothing advice he once dished out (22:03–22:33).
• At the end, it's revealed both Ozzie and Harriet were deliberately fueling each other's worry to snap them out of it—a playful twist on the self-help article’s advice:
  • "On the last page it tells you exactly how to stop worrying. ... Take his mind off himself and make him worry about somebody else.” – Harriet (23:18)
  • “What makes you think I didn't read the last page?” – Ozzie (23:40)

6. Epilogue & Domestic Harmony

• With the drapes hanging perfectly and David’s test result (an “awful good” 87), the family’s worries are put to rest (17:21–18:47).
• Ozzie’s lesson about the cyclical nature of worry and the importance of perspective is gently reinforced.
• The episode closes with a comic callback—Harriet tries a variation of Charlie’s ice-therapy to break Ozzie’s new worrying habit (27:32–28:00).

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• Ozzie, on logic and worry:
  • “If you did everything you possibly could to pass the test, there's no point in worrying about it.” (04:59)
• Thorny, on the power of suggestion:
  • “Do you ever get a sort of a shooting pain in your right shoulder...” (08:29)
• Charlie’s “worry treatment":
  • “I'd go out to the kitchen, get me a couple of ice cubes, sneak up behind her and drop them right down her back.” (09:38)
• Harriet, revealing the double-blind ruse:
  • “On the last page it tells you exactly how to stop worrying... make him worry about somebody else.” (23:18)
• Ozzie's punchline:
  • “Old Chinese proverbs say, when wife start to worry about living room drape, she give husband a big pain in the shoulder.” (25:05)
• Harriet, as the cycle continues:
  • “I just heard about a wonderful way to get a person's mind off his worries. Don't look, it's a surprise.” (27:32)

Timestamps for Important Segments

• [02:22] – Harriet confesses her worry about the new drapes.
• [04:13] – The boys bring up school worries, highlighting how worry spreads.
• [06:29] – Ozzie tries to underscore the futility of worrying.
• [07:12–08:44] – Drugstore scene: reading the worry article, hypochondria, Charlie’s “cure.”
• [10:33–12:14] – Ozzie reads and internalizes the magazine’s checklist of worries.
• [13:32–14:43] – Ozzie’s worries escalate at home, can’t sleep, aches, friends.
• [17:14–18:47] – Resolution: drapes look good, David did well on test.
• [19:11–20:04] – Harriet points out Ozzie’s new worrying habit.
• [22:03–23:46] – Harriet and Ozzie admit to "curing" each other’s worries by transferring them.
• [25:05] – Ozzie delivers his faux-Chinese proverb punchline.
• [27:32–28:00] – Harriet prepares her own “cure” for Ozzie’s surplus worry.

Final Thoughts

This warm, gently humorous episode comically explores how worry – both reasonable and ridiculous – weaves through daily life. It lampoons self-help fads and the ordinary cycle of family anxieties, with everyone worrying about something (or each other) until the tension is dispelled by laughter and small acts of empathy. A classic example of the show’s blend of wit and real-life resonance, this episode highlights that sometimes the best cure for worry is to share it—or gently distract the worrier away from it.