This is the second performance of a Richard-George Pedicini script about pyromania. It stars Tony Barrett as the arsonist who acts out of distorted sense of generosity and empathy. One of his quirks is that he draws pictures of the fires as he watches them burn.
Fear of fire and personal safety could rattle 1950s listeners. It is hard to imagine these many decades later that there was a time when there were no home smoke detectors, ubiquitous fire sprinkler systems in all types of structures, and that house fires were frequent stories in newspapers. Therefore, this story would be more terrifying than it would be today.
Details about the 1951 production with Cornel Wilde and further background about fire and pyromania can be found at:
https://suspenseproject.blogspot.com/2024/06/1951-10-15-flame.html
https://archive.org/details/TSP511015 has recordings that can be streamed or downloaded.
There are both network and Armed Forces Radio Service (AFRS) recordings. There is an exceptional network recording that, unfortunately, has disc skips at about 1:30. Prior network recordings were not available in such sound. Therefore, the copy with the skips is provided along with a repaired copy and marked as such. The repaired copy is the complete and preferred recording. The AFRS recording has very low quality.
LISTEN
TO THE PROGRAM or download in FLAC or
mp3
https://archive.org/details/TSP560529
THE CAST
Tony Barrett (Andy), Alan Reed (Boyajan), Joyce McCluskey (Mary Lee), Jack Kruschen (Needles), Joe DuVal (Man), Herbert Ellis (Shapiro / Man 2), George Walsh (Narrator)
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