This episode is the final production of the series under Antony Ellis. Why Ellis was removed is not fully known or understood, but William N. Robson took over the series on the following broadcast week. Ellis’ work actually ended on September 21, 1956 with the recording of this final episode.
The script is by Ann Doud, her second and final series script. Sam Edwards and Richard Crenna play Ernie and Whitey, two rotten young men, and they play them well.
Bertha Abbott is an old woman who sounds a lot like the stereotypical Halloween witch. Two young boys, not of good intention, were on the run after a failed robbery attempt. They are on Bertha’s property. She catches these hungry and tired young boys stealing fruit from her trees. She is not very pleased, and grabs one of them, Ernie. She screams at him, making a very dismal prophecy about his future. It’s actually more of a curse. Ernie (played by Dick Beals in this scene) is really scared.
Her prophecy is at 5:45: “You know where the likes of you end up… do ya?… the gas chamber! That little room, all locked up tight! And there’s all poison gas there. And you die! Like a rat! You die there! And that’s what’s going to happen to you!” Ernie gets away, scared, but you know he’ll get over it and believe his only mistake was getting caught. Years pass and it’s like the two of them never learned a lesson.
They rob a restaurant, there’s a shooting, and they have to get away. They head for a rail yard, but police are already looking for them. They’re dreamers, with Whitey saying they should head to South America and discover uranium and become rich. There’s always a dream of a big car, so they steal one. To get out of the country, they head to the docks near San Diego. Whitey is convinced they can easily hide on a ship and make their way south. Things do not play out well for Whitey. And in the final scene, we hear a new voice, a dockworker. We learn the strange way the prophecy worked out.
The music is quite different in this episode, jazzy and more “hip,” likely to underscore the wild behavior of the two youthful characters, and that they always improvise their next move.
The episode was pre-recorded on Thursday, September 21, 1956.
The working title prior to broadcast was “The Strange Prophecy of Bertha Abbott.” That title was announced at the end of The Digger, indicating the title change was made a few days before broadcast. Since The Digger was recorded the day before this episode, it could actually have been overnight. Because the programs were recorded on tape, it could have been almost any time.
The recording has the “slate,” recorded by George Walsh, at the beginning of the tape. It was used to identify the recording in the studio once it was cued on their equipment.
LISTEN
TO THE PROGRAM or download in FLAC or
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https://archive.org/details/TSP561016
THE CAST
Sam Edwards (Ernie), Richard Crenna (Whitie), Stacy Harris (Narrator), Paula Winslowe (Bertha Abbott), Jack Kruschen (Joe Beshke the Seaman), Richard Beals (Ernie as child), Peggy Webber (Whitey as child), George Walsh (Suspense Narrator / Ad Libs 1), Bill James (Ad Libs 2)
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