This is the second broadcast of a story about a young couple fleeing the Iron Curtain. It was first broadcast for Memorial Day in 1954. This time it is on Valentine’s Day, and stars Sam Edwards and Charlotte Lawrence. The lovers have a suicide pact on if they don’t make it across the border. Their trip is 300 miles and has lots of dangers and disappointments. Robert Wagner and Mona Freeman were the original stars in this Morton Fine and David Friedkin script. It is very loosely based on a story, “Our Escape to Freedom,” from American Weekly. That was about a family with young children who was able to flee and eventually settle in the United States. There was no suicide pact in the real-life story.
The original broadcasts, background, changes to the original events for dramatic radio effect, and a PDF of the American Weekly can be found at
https://suspenseproject.blogspot.com/2024/10/1954-05-31-listen-young-lovers.html
https://archive.org/details/TSP540531 which has the recordings for download or streaming.
The production has a service announcement in support of Radio Free Europe.
LISTEN
TO THE PROGRAM or download in FLAC or
mp3
https://archive.org/details/TSP560214
THE CAST
Charlotte Lawrence (Milada), Sam Edwards (Jinrich), Joe Kearns (Stefan), Edit Angold (Woman), Herb Butterfield (Poppa [Farmer]), Lou Merrill (Radik), Joe Cranston (American Sergeant), Vic Perrin (Narrator), Frank Goss (Radio Free Czech [VOFC]), James Nusser (Man / Inquisitor soldier), Jack Kruschen (German / Corporal), Leonard Weinrib (Joe Nolan), George Walsh (Suspense Narrator)
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