A diamond thief, played by Jeff Chandler, wants to find a quiet place in a small, remote town where he can hide out and no one will bother him. He leaves New York and gets a house on the shore of Maine. He doesn’t count on the elderly busybody widow who lives next door and wants to be sure he adjusts to his new surroundings. She warns him of all kinds of dangers and problems in living in such an area, but she’s there to help. She might as well be a “helicopter parent,” to use a modern term to describe such behavior. Listeners will become annoyed by her meddling, too, as it changes from happy helpful advice into a constant invasion of privacy. This good neighbor could be the very end of the diamond thief. Her meddling makes prison almost seem appealing! It’s a good story, and Chandler is great at changing his character’s mood and portraying his frustration as the story proceeds to a surprise ending.
The script author was David Riehl, who served in various production roles at CBS Network. He received a number of industry awards for is work. He later worked in CBS’ movie production company, Center Films, in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Riehl retired from CBS in 1995, and then worked in public television in Washington, D.C.
The original title of the story is “The Thief,” and is indicated as such on the surviving script.
This program was recorded on Friday, March 22, 1957. Rehearsal began at 11:00am and concluded at 4:30pm. Recording commenced at 4:30pm and finished at 5:00pm.
The circulating copy is an Armed Forces Radio Service recording (AFRS#928) that has some sound issues as narrow range and background noise. Unlike many previous copies of this episode that have been in circulation, this one is complete.
LISTEN
TO THE PROGRAM or download in FLAC or
mp3
https://archive.org/details/TSP570331
THE CAST
Jeff Chandler (Andrew Burt), Virginia Gregg (Mrs. Poe), George Walsh (Narrator)
Classic radio researcher and international voice actor Keith Scott notes that the surviving script cover indicates that two actors, Ken Christy and John Dehner had parts as “Radcliff” and “Lieutenant,” respectively. Their roles were cut because the timing of the production exceeded the allotted time in rehearsals. It is not known at what point before broadcast those roles were removed.
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