Dreaming Out Loud

In what we now call the red states in the USA Lum and Abner were very popular on the radio. These rustic storekeepers who hailed from the mythical town of Pine Ridge, Arkansas entertained people on radio for a quarter of a century. Dreaming Out Loud is one of a few films where folks got to see Norris Goff and Chester Lauck do their Lum and Abner characters and it certainly helped with the radio ratings when this film helped stir their imaginations about what Pine Ridge looked like.

Some familiar characters are in this independent film released by RKO like Phil Harris as a traveling salesman, Frances Langford as the postmistress who likes country doctor Frank Craven's son Robert Wilcox. But her aunt Clara Blandick nurses an old grudge against Craven for not marrying her. Blandick holds a grudge like Ms. Evasham.

Anyway a hit and run death and a heart attack suffered by Craven are part of the main story line. Those incidents make it a bit more serious than what you expect from Lum and Abner.

But these two still got fans. So this cheaply made independent will certainly please them and maybe gain a few new fans.