This episode has been missing for decades. It was considered “truly missing” because the script was performed only one time on the series. The recording was acquired by a group of classic radio enthusiasts in a purchase of a stack of Armed Forces Radio Service discs in 2023.
Lawrence Dobkin and Charlotte Lawrence star in a Don Yerrill script about a couple being threatened by a blackmailer. They want to end his hold over them by planning his murder. They set up an alibi and a mutual story that supports it. The blackmailer arrives at their twelfth floor apartment, as expected, and asks for his $5,000 (about $60,000 in US$2025 value). Assured that no one know the blackmailer was there, the husband shoots him, using a pillow to muffle the sound. The nervous wife, shaken by the incident, tries to get into the bathroom to take a medication to calm herself down… but the door is locked from the inside… and they realize that a plumber was quietly working in the apartment’s bathroom… and heard everything that transpired! The plumber refuses to leave, knowing he’s in danger. They try to bribe him, to no avail. The plumber will stay as long as he can, and signal for help by turning the bathroom light on and off in a pattern once darkness falls. The husband leaves, hoping to sneak around the ledge of the building and enter the bathroom through a window. The wife tells the plumber he left, and he doesn’t believe her. The husband walks the narrow ledge that is around the exterior of the building. He gets to the bathroom window, and breaks it. He starts to lose his balance. The plumber tries to help him by offering his hand, but it’s too late, and he falls to the ground below. The wife is shattered by the incidents of the day, pleading her innocence. The plumber comes out of the room, and calls the police.
The ending of the story was shortened by a few moments, and a few lines were edited out. They can still be seen in the script. After the plumber calls the police, he calls home. His daughter answers the phone and he says “Mummy there?… Put her on, will you?” He tells her “Got held up,” thinks better of that phrasing, then corrects himself by saying “… bigger job’n I thought it’d be… Yeh, I’ll be home in an hour or less I should think… All right, then – keep it hot for me…”
This is another situation where a modern day writer would have to adjust the plot for smartphone technology. The plumber could quietly phone 911, or text someone for help. Or, they’d have to add a line with the plumber noting that he left his smartphone in his truck. It would have to be explained away in some manner.
This is Don Yerrill’s second and final Suspense script. The first was The Shelter (1954-10-28) and information about him can be found at https://suspenseproject.blogspot.com/2024/11/1954-10-28-shelter.html or https://archive.org/details/TSP541028. The Scotland-based author’s biggest claim to fame was as a decades-long crossword puzzle author for the London Times Literary Supplement, which he did until his passing when he was 92 years old.
In the last 15 years in the classic radio hobby, there has been only one network transcription of a “truly missing” episode found. All of the others have been Armed Forces Radio Service (AFRS) transcriptions. There was a time when AFRS recordings were considered to be of lesser value than network recordings. Over the decades, however, it has been worthwhile for collectors to hunt down sources and auctions, even overseas, for AFRS and AFRTS discs. Those transcriptions, sent around the world to AFRS and AFRTS stations, have been essential in the preservation of classic radio. Finding of this long-lost episode underscores the value of such efforts.
LISTEN
TO THE PROGRAM or download in FLAC or
mp3
https://archive.org/details/TSP560103
THE CAST
Lawrence Dobkin (Dave), Charlotte Lawrence (Karen), Herb Ellis (Harris), Parley Baer (Bill Withers), George Walsh (Narrator)
NOTES: It is amusing that Parley Baer’s character has the same name as 1970s and 1980s singer and performer Bill Withers. Writers and radio producers had systems to avoid using names of prominent people in their scripts. Withers’ career and notoriety would not make its significant rise until 15 years later.
Classic radio enthusiast, researcher, and modern-day performer Patte Rosebank notes another “Withers” connection. The plumber's name as Bill Withers is a reminder of actress Jane Withers, In 1963, she would play “Josephine the Plumber,” in commercials for Comet Cleanser. There is a commercial with her on YouTube https://youtu.be/NEDB-4dEY5M
###
