76     March 24, 1954
Bill, Jayne, Henry, Polly Bergen

Unidentified contestant: “I had my pocket picked at a Policeman’s Ball”
We don't know the age of the contestant , but we did find a newspaper story from 1926 which told the woeful story of John Earle Walsh, a musician whose thermos bottle full of milk was taken from his overcoat while he was performing for the gala.  This happened in Lynn, Massachusetts, a beach community north of Boston.

Barney Ryan: “I am the yo-yo champion of the world”
Ryan, who is Canadian, is one of several men of the period who claimed the "world champion" title in this fast-growing pastime.  Others included Delmar Walters, Paul Schultz and Britain's Art Pickles. None of these men actually won a worldwide competition to have the global distinction bestowed on them.  Rather, they were simply talented yo-yo-ologists hired by various toy companies to travel around the country demonstrating and promoting the toy, usually by organizing local contests for youngsters.  Ryan represented Cheerio, a Canadian company that was so successful selling yo-yo in the 1930s and 1940s that 'Cheerio' practically became a synonym for the toy.  To avoid competition, the larger American company Duncan bought up the company's US operations in 1954, keeping the Cheerio name for a while but eventually phasing it out. 'Cheerios' would continue to be produced in Canada into the 1960s.

Special Guest Bob Cummings  is in cahoots with Henry! Interruptions abound.
Whatever that means.  It's all the Fates notes tell us.  Robert Cummings was a popular film actor of the 30s and 40s, mostly in light comedies but occasionally in dramatic roles.  In the fifties, while continuing to take the occasional movie role, he successfully transitioned to television. He was the star of several series, including The Bob Cummings Show aka Love That Bob (1955-1959) and My Living Doll (1964-1965).  It was also around the time of this transition that he began to be officially billed less formally as "Bob" rather than "Robert".  Among his dramatic roles were two Alfred Hitchcock films: Saboteur (1942) and Dial M For Murder (1954), which would open just a couple of months after this appearance.