The Mel Blanc Show (1946-47) aired “Easter Egg Hunt” on April 8, 1947, as the 32nd of its 43 episodes. This is but the third of this entertaining program we have run, the first coming back in January of 2016 and the last in November of 2022. Mel Blanc (1908-1989) was already a huge hit in 1946 due to his Looney Tunes voice characterizations of Bugs Bunny, Porky Pig, Daffy Duck, Elmer Fudd, and a whole host of other characters including, later on, Roadrunner, Marvin the Martian and Duck Dodgers in the 24 1/2th Century (an obvious spoof of Buck Rogers in the 25th Century). Much as famed film actor Lon Chaney was known as the Man of a Thousand Faces, so Mel Blanc was known as the Man of a Thousand Voices.

The Mel Blanc Show revolves around Mel’s Fix-It Shop, where one of the handymen (also played by Blanc) is Zooky. Mel belongs to the Benevolent Order of the Loyal Zebras (the only Fraternal Order in this small town, which functions as the major hub of social activity). This episode is focused on the town’s annual Easter Egg hunt and the charitable part its local businesses play in it. Participating businesses hide an Easter egg around town with a dollar amount written on them along with the name of the donating business. Whomever finds one of the specially marked eggs can turn them in and collect the dollar amount from the donor business. The problem arises when Mel learns the amount being offered on the eggs rises sharply to the point where he learns through the grapevine ahead of time he can’t afford to match more than at least one of the other businesses and doesn’t want Mel’s Fit-It Shop to look like a second-rate, cheap-skate business. Of course, trying to keep up with the Joneses leads to a sorry fix for Mel, and his troubles only begin when he offers an amount he knows he cannot pay. How he worms his way out of this self-inflicted bit of deception (and in the spirit of a religious holiday like Easter), makes for a lesson hard-learned but not without its humorous aspects. The object lesson and humor are well balanced in this light-hearted bit of Easter fun.

Play Time: 24:46

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