Cornel Wilde stars in the dramatization by E. Jack Neuman of this famous Edgar Allan Poe story published in 1842. It might be considered an early “true crime” story. Poe’s inspiration was a news story about a young woman, Cecilia Rogers, who was murdered and her body thrown into New York City’s East River. Poe was fascinated with the story, but was far from the scene and constructed his story and perspective about the crime from sketchy newspaper accounts. His selected Paris as his story’s locale and had a detective character, Dupin, working on the case. The story was published while the actual case had not been solved. Subsequent confessions connected to the Rogers murder confirmed Poe’s general conclusions about the murder. He had already written such details into his story… but the real-life details, including the identity of the murderer, affirmed his line of thinking… through the Dupin character.
Wikipedia has a page with background about this story and its history. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Mystery_of_Marie_Rog%C3%AAt
The drama portion of this episode was recorded on Sunday, December 6, 1953. Rehearsal began at 11:00am. Recording began at 3:30pm and concluded at 4:00pm.
The opening comedic commercial plays on the sound-alike words “engine” and “Injun,” which may be considered offensive to modern day ears. These recordings are of their time, and words and sentiments have context that have to be understood in context then but not necessarily agreed with now.
At 14:45 there is a very slight skip in the mid-show commercial. All recordings have this same skip indicating they all have the same source disc transfer.
The next broadcast, 1953-12-21, was announced as On a Country Road, with Frank Lovejoy, but that script was delayed. Really? On a Country Road a few days before Christmas? Nothing says “home for the holidays” like getting lost in dark and unfamiliar roads when a killer might be on the loose. Perhaps Lovejoy wasn’t available for a live broadcast? He was. He actually did record the drama portion on that very day. The next broadcast was changed to a repeated script, Twas the Night Before Christmas, which was more appropriate for the season. That was recorded on Friday, December 18. On a Country Road was held to after the turn of the calendar. There’s no better way to start a New Year with all its hopes and dreams and optimism than getting lost in dark and unfamiliar roads when a killer might be on the loose.
LISTEN
TO THE PROGRAM or download in FLAC or
mp3
https://archive.org/details/TSP531214
THE CAST
CORNEL WILDE (Dupin), John Dehner (Police Prefect), Lou Merrill (Beauvais), Jeanette Nolan (Madame Dulac), Paula Winslowe (Marie Roget), Bill Johnstone (Judge / Fisherman), Edgar Barrier (Anatomy Doctor), Junius Matthews (Cabby), Larry Thor (Narrator)
COMMERCIAL: Tom Holland (Hap), Harlow Wilcox (Announcer), Sylvia Simms (Operator)
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