We Love And Learn 49-04-29 xxx Thelma Visits Dixie

Summary

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Podcast Summary: "We Love and Learn" – Thelma Visits Dixie

Podcast: Harold's Old Time Radio
Host: Harold's Old Time Radio
Episode Air Date: November 18, 2025 (original broadcast 04/29/1949)
Main Theme:
A slice-of-life comedy drama episode from the golden age of radio, focusing on family, friendships, and the comic complications that arise when city folks try their hand at country living—and when meddling relatives make surprising sacrifices.

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Episode Overview

This episode centers on Dixie Blake, her housemate Thelma, Madame Sophie, and the ongoing saga of renovating a haunted country house. Amid the comedic chaos of furniture shopping and battling old ghosts (real and imagined), the story shifts into family drama, as Thelma reveals a major change in her mother-in-law’s living situation, leading to suspicion and speculation from Dixie.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Country Living Misadventures

• Dixie’s Sniffles and Complaints:
  • Opening scene features Dixie relaxing but griping about either catching a cold or reacting to "murder" in her reading material—a theme that recurs humorously throughout.
  • Notable quote:

    "Either I'm getting that cold or I'm allergic to the stuff I'm reading. Murder." – Dixie (01:34)

• Madame Sophie’s Eccentric Plans:
  • Madame Sophie, previously a sophisticated Fifth Avenue designer, has bought a decrepit, century-old country house, complete with bats and “ghosts.”
  • Dixie is skeptical if Sophie, or anyone, can survive such an undertaking, calling it a "nightmare."
• Forced Hobby & Haunted House:
  • Sophie's new obsession leads to piles of farm magazines and the imposition of chores on Dixie.
  • Dixie jokes about needing "How to Catch a Ghost" magazine, while Madame Sophie deadpans about ghost unions.
  • Notable quote:

    "Madam Sophie's heard the call of the wild. Her peasant blood is cooking like the inside of a volcano." – Dixie (02:34)

2. Eccentric House Renovation Plans

• Hiring and Delegating:
  • Madame Sophie’s handyman, Jasper, is deemed nearly useless by Dixie.
  • Despite the house’s disrepair, Sophie insists she’ll move in as soon as a single room is habitable and appoints herself as superintendent.
  • Sophie is set on furnishing the house with “real antiques” and worm-eaten furniture––dragging Dixie into the process.
  • Memorable exchange:

    "An elephant? Dixie, that is a... Forget it, Madame Sophie."
    "Forget it. I didn't say a word." – (B & D, 04:07)

3. Shifting Family Dynamics

• The Shocking News from Thelma:
  • Thelma reveals that Mrs. Carlton, her mother-in-law, has moved out of the house to give her and Jim (Thelma's husband) more privacy, offering their “little nest” to the couple.
  • Both Dixie and Thelma are stunned—a marked shift from previous tension with Mrs. Carlton.
  • Key quote:

    "She called us her children and asked me to call her mother." – Thelma (08:15)

• Dixie’s Skepticism:
  • Dixie is convinced that Mrs. Carlton’s move is manipulative, designed to maintain influence over her son, Jim, by playing on his sympathies for her “loneliness.”
  • Notable quote:

    "I smell a rat, Thelma. A rat as big as a house. Ma's pulling one of her tricks." – Dixie (08:33)

• Entering Jim:
  • Jim arrives, echoing Thelma’s surprise, believing in his mother’s sacrifice.
  • Dixie bluntly asserts it's all a ruse, pointing out the emotional strings Mrs. Carlton is pulling to keep her son close.
  • Insightful exchange (Dixie questioning Jim):

    "How much settling is there to do in a furnished room?... What did you do for your mother tonight? Except listen again to how much she sacrificed for you?" – Dixie (10:40)

4. Strategic Relationship Advice

• Dixie's Advice to Thelma:
  • Dixie leaves Thelma with the “ball,” encouraging her to be proactive in managing the delicate mother-in-law situation now that Mrs. Carlton has changed the game.
  • Transition moment:

    "Okay, Thelma, you're on the 40 yard line and here's where you start carrying the ball. I wish you luck." – Dixie (11:28)

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Memorable Quotes & Moments with Timestamps

• Dixie, on the haunted house and Sophie’s ambition:

  "A job like she's undertaken will land her in the booby hatch and me with her. Today was one long nightmare. And it's only the beginning." (02:47)

• Dixie’s deadpan humor:

  "One magazine you missed out on."
  "Which?"
  "How to Catch a Ghost." (03:39–03:42)

• On Jasper the handyman:

  "Three flies could do more than Jasper. But please wait with the zoo for a while, huh?" (04:17)

• Dixie’s skepticism of Mrs. Carlton:

  "Mrs. Carlton runs benefits for herself for no one else. She's up to something and no one can tell me different." (08:42)

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Breakdown of Important Segments

• Dixie’s Country House Complaints [01:34–05:31]:
  Comedy and frustration over Madame Sophie’s agricultural ambitions and haunted house antics.
• Furniture and Antiques Debate [05:14–06:13]:
  The plan to fill the decrepit house with antique furniture, despite the floors barely being usable.
• Thelma Breaks Surprising News [07:06–08:15]:
  Mrs. Carlton moves out, shocking both Thelma and Dixie.
• Dixie’s Conspiracy Theory [08:27–11:28]:
  An extended discussion where Dixie lays out her suspicions about Mrs. Carlton’s real intentions.
• Jim Enters & Confrontation [09:14–11:14]:
  Jim arrives and Dixie drills into the new family arrangement, unraveling Mrs. Carlton’s motives for the audience and her friends.

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Tone and Style

The episode is marked by dry wit, sarcasm, and rapid-fire exchanges, mostly from Dixie. There’s also an undercurrent of warmth and care beneath the surface-level ribbing—these are characters who, despite misgivings, are trying their best to navigate complicated family and friendship dynamics.

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Conclusion

A classic example of golden age radio’s blend of domestic humor, relatable frustrations, and keen observations on relationships, this episode highlights the ever-shifting lines between independence, manipulation, and genuine sacrifice within families and friendships.

For listeners:
If you enjoy witty domestic banter, oddball schemes, and a layered look at the push and pull of family loyalty, “We Love And Learn – Thelma Visits Dixie” delivers all that—and more ghost jokes and antique furniture than you bargained for.

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Transcript

[A]

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[B]

Murder. Either I'm getting that cold or I'm allergic to the stuff I'm reading. Yeah, who is it? It's Velma. Oh, come on in, kid. The door's unlocked. Hello?

[C]

Hello, Dixie. Don't you feel well?

[B]

After the day I've had, honey, it's a wonder. I feel it all. Did it rain all day here too?

[C]

Why, where were you, Dixie?

[B]

Out in the wide open spaces. Part of the time nearly drowning in mud and water. And the rest of the time chasing ghosts through a haunted old rattlestrap of a house.

[C]

Maybe you better have a doctor, Dixie.

[B]

I sound like I'm out of my head. Huh? Well, I'm not. Oh, that Madam Selfie, what a character. The longer I'm with her, the. The orphana. She floors me.

[C]

I still don't know what you're talking about.

[B]

A house, Thelma. A hundred year old relic, complete with bats, mice, cobwebs and ghosts. A house buried in a wilderness of overgrown weeds and bushes.

[C]

You mean Madame Sophie bought a house?

[B]

Yeah, and she's gonna live in it.

[C]

Well, what's wrong with that?

[B]

Madame Sophie's heard the call of the wild. Her peasant blood is cooking like the inside of a volcano. Imagine thinking Fifth Avenue's smartest designer is gonna be a gentleman farmer.

[C]

Well, it sounds like a good hobby to me.

[B]

Hobby? A job like she's undertaken will land her in the booby hatch and me with her. Today was one long nightmare. And it's only the beginning.

[C]

Look at these magazines.

[B]

Yeah, magazines. Every one she could lay her hands on. Scientific farming, raising chickens, cattle care, successful gardening, planting the vegetable garden. Murder.

[C]

But why do you have to read.

[B]

Them because I'm nuts and Madam Sophie is. My boy sucks dollars to doughnuts. That's her again. She's called me three times since I got home. Excuse me, honey. Hello, Dixie.

[D]

You are reading the magazines?

[B]

Yes, Madame Sophie. In between phone calls.

[D]

So who is bothering you so much?

[B]

A gentleman farmer by the name of Madame Sophie, huh? Okay, I'm getting along fine. Only one thing.

[D]

What?

[B]

One magazine you missed out on.

[D]

Which?

[B]

How to Catch a Ghost.

[D]

Again with the ghosts. We marched with Mr. Jasper all over the house, from the roof to the cellar. Dixie, one ghost.

[B]

Did you see ghosts work only after midnight, Madam Sophie. They have a strong union.

[D]

Then I have a strong patience to listen to your jokes. Be so good. Dixie, stop the foolishness. I got another idea.

[B]

I know now. You want to buy an elephant to plow the garden.

[D]

An elephant? Dixie, that is a. Forget it, Madam Sophie.

[B]

Forget it. I didn't say a word.

[D]

Dixie, an elephant, even a baby could do more work than Mr. Jasper.

[B]

Three flies could do more than Jasper. But please wait with the zoo for a while, huh?

[D]

All right, all right. I will sleep on the elephant. But now I got something else to talk about.

[B]

What?

[D]

Furniture. I got to start to buy some furniture for the house.

[B]

What's the rush?

[D]

The rush?

[B]

Yeah. There isn't even a decent floor in the place that will hold up under a piece of furniture. With Jasper on the job, it'll take a couple of months, maybe years.

[D]

You think I'm going to wait for months before I move in?

[B]

But you've got to.

[D]

I do not got to. The minute one room is finished, I am in it. What is more, I'm not so foolish to think Mr. Jasper can do all the work alone.

[B]

You're gonna pitch in?

[D]

Sure. I'm going to roll up my sleeves and get more men. I am going to be superintendent.

[B]

Oh, brother.

[D]

You think when I fixed my shop, Dixie, I sat on the telephone?

[C]

No.

[D]

Madame Sophie was there underfoot every minute.

[B]

Okay, okay.

[D]

But furniture, that will take time. Yes, to find real antiques.

[B]

Antiques?

[D]

But of course, a house in the country a hundred years wants furniture with holes from real worms. Tomorrow we commence to look.

[B]

But we can't both sit around at auctions. Madam Sophie, With Andrew's away, too. What's going to happen to your business?

[D]

Couple of hours a day, solid rock, like my business can wait.

[B]

Well, I guess you know what you're doing.

[D]

What? Then you know what I'm doing. So. All right, Dixie, in the morning. Tomorrow you come in a little early. We will get cleaned up and start Looking okay.

[B]

If I don't develop pneumonia during the night, I'll be there.

[D]

Don't develop nothing, Dixie, you hear? We've no time now for foolishness, so goodbye. Half past eight in the morning, I will see you.

[B]

How do you like that? Did I tell you I was gonna land in the boobies hatch?

[C]

Thelma, Madam Sophie wants you to help her buy furniture.

[B]

Antiques, no less. The real thing. And she's moving into that ghost rookery as soon as she can park a bed in one of the rooms.

[C]

Why do you keep saying ghosts, Dixie?

[B]

Because the place is crawling with them.

[C]

You didn't see anything or hear anything, did you?

[B]

Madam Sophie insisted they were just sounds any old house makes. But you can't fool me.

[C]

Oh, our house in the country talks all night. Used to scare me half to death when I was a child.

[B]

Well, it gives me the creeps now, the silence of the country. Nuts. Give me an apartment in the city anytime. Well, you know what you're listening to? An automobile horn is just that. And not a ghost blowing his nose.

[C]

Who's this Jasper, Dixie?

[B]

A cockeyed wonder who can build the world with his own bare hands, he says.

[C]

Where'd Madam Sophie find him?

[B]

We found him haunting the house. Came out of the rain, he said. My guess is that's all he knows enough to do. But Madam Sophie hired him for a.

[C]

Sort of a handyman.

[B]

Yeah. Well, let's talk about things around here. How'd you make out with my car?

[C]

Well, that's what I came to tell you.

[B]

Well, give.

[C]

You're in for a surprise, Dixie.

[B]

The old girl never said a word about you and Jim getting out.

[C]

That's right.

[B]

Well, that's a load off my mind. I was sure she'd ask you and Jim to move into a furnished room.

[C]

She's done the reverse, Dixie.

[B]

The reverse. What do you mean?

[C]

She's moved out herself.

[B]

What?

[C]

She's the one who's taken a furnished room.

[B]

Oh, now, look, kid, I'm hearing things. Do you mean to stand there and tell me that Mrs. Carlton handed over her little nest to you?

[C]

We tried to stop her, Dixie. Jim was just beside himself, but it didn't do any good.

[B]

Ma's moved out. She's actually gone? Yes. I'll be darned.

[C]

I knew you'd be surprised.

[B]

Surprised? I'm out cold, for Pete's sake, honey. Aren't you?

[C]

Well, after what you told me, how angry and bitter she still was, I certainly didn't expect her to behave that way when she came back.

[B]

She didn't fall on you and Jim like a ton of bricks.

[C]

No, on the contrary. She said a lot of nice things. Nice?

[B]

Ma?

[C]

She called us her children and asked me to call her mother.

[B]

Oh, this I can't stand. I don't get it. I don't believe it. I don't trust it.

[C]

It's a little hard for me to believe too, after all those horrible things she said before.

[B]

I smell a rat, Thelma. A rat as big as a house. Ma's pulling one of her tricks.

[C]

Maybe not, Dixie. Maybe we ought to give her the benefit of the doubt.

[B]

Mrs. Carlton runs benefits for herself for no one else. She's up to something and no one can tell me different. Thelma, where is Jim now?

[C]

With her, helping her get settled. He barely bolted his supper down.

[B]

Uh huh. I've got it.

[C]

Got what?

[B]

Thelma, you've been had. We've all been had. She's put one over on you but good.

[C]

But I don't see what you mean. Dixie, I.

[B]

Come in.

[C]

Oh, Jim, I thought I'd find you here.

[E]

Thelma. Hello, Dixie.

[B]

Hello yourself. Come on in.

[E]

I'm kind of tired, but okay, just for a minute. Well, what have you two girls been gabbing about?

[B]

Oh, things Thelma's just told me about your mother, Jim.

[E]

Yeah. What do you think about that, Dixie? Bet you never expected my mother to do anything like that, make such a sacrifice.

[B]

Sacrifice, my foot.

[C]

Really, Dixie.

[B]

Maybe Ma's kidding you two babes in the woods, but she isn't kidding me.

[E]

Oh, now look here, Dixie.

[B]

Your old lady is one smart cookie, Jim. And moving out on you was no sacrifice, believe me.

[A]

Is that so?

[E]

I suppose it's easy for an old sick woman to give up her own.

[B]

Home a cinch when she's taking with her the only thing in the whole cockeyed world she wants.

[E]

And what's that?

[B]

You, my dear little simple Simon. You her one and only angel child.

[E]

Oh, aren't you a little off the beam, Dixie?

[B]

No, pal, I'm on the beam, right smack on it. If Ma stayed with you and Thelma, she'd have to share you now, cooped up in a small hole in the wall. She's got you just where she wants you.

[C]

I. I think I'm beginning to see what Dixie means, Jim.

[E]

Well, then you're all alone. I don't see it.

[B]

Let me open your eyes, Jim. Where were you tonight?

[E]

Helping Mother get settled. What's wrong with that?

[B]

She called you at the office, no doubt, and asked would you mind.

[E]

So what?

[B]

How much settling is there to do in a furnished room? Well, yeah. Well, tell the truth, Jim. What did you do for your mother tonight? Except listen again to how much she sacrificed for you?

[E]

Well, just having me there helped the first night alone.

[B]

She's gonna be just as alone the second night and the tenth night and the skatey eighth. And she's depending on you to realize how sad and lonely and unhappy she is. And you'll keep running over there. Well, mister, now do you see what I mean?

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

So what are you gonna do, Jim? What Ma expects.

[E]

Well, how do I know, Dixie? How can I see?

[B]

What? What?

[E]

Oh, nuts.

[B]

Okay, Thelma, you're on the 40 yard line and here's where you start carrying the ball. I wish you luck.

[A]

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