Marsha Hunt returns to the series after nearly eleven years since her previous performance in the Roma Wines years. The Hank Searls script is under the name “Michael Frost.” Hunt portrays Susan, the fiancĂ©e of a recently widowed famous French race car driver, Rene. She will be his navigator in a cross-country race, the hazardous Rallye des Alpes. When people see her, they are struck by how much she resembles his wife, Claudette. When sees an old picture of him and Claudette, she is startled at the resemblance. She also gets unsolicited advice not to join him on the trip. She later learns that Claudette died in an accident four years earlier, in the same race when she was his navigator. The dangerous curve where they had the fatal accident is part of the course. It all happened just one kilometer away from the finish line.
The rally begins, and as they are driving, there see an accident ahead. They stop, and Rene finds that the driver and navigator, husband and wife, are dead. Rene’s dialogue expresses an important undertone for the story that was that they were lucky to die together, because when one survives, they are never the same. He was obviously speaking from experience. The more Rene becomes engrossed in the race, the more the events of four years before, and his love for Claudette haunt him. In the end, this is a story about grief and loss more than it is about racing, and the affection Susan has for him as she reconciles his past with her hopes for the future with what is best for Rene.
The episode was recorded on Wednesday, June 11, 1958. Rehearsal began at 2:00pm and recording started at 4:30pm. Along with in-studio edits, the recording session ended at 6:00pm. Additional production edits concluded at 8:00pm.
No network recording has survived. Only one ad spot was booked at the time of rehearsal, GMC Trucks. Three other spots would be allocated before broadcast. The surviving Armed Forces Radio Service recording (AFRS#985) is complete and excellent. It replaces previous heavily edited airchecks from an Armed Forces Radio station and also some sub-par transcription disc transfers.
The history of the Rallye des Alpes, also known as the “Alpine Rally,” can be found at Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alpine_Rally. The award given at the end is the “Coupe des Alpes,” or the “Alpine Cup.” The 1958 event is summarized at a video available on YouTube https://youtu.be/xvJGrDXHyyE
If John Dehner sounds comfortable creating a French accent and speaking French phrases, it is because three of his school years were in 1920s France. His parents were artists who had projects in Europe. Dehner became fluent in French and Norwegian, and could speak in other languages for the practicalities of daily life wherever the parents took them.
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mp3
https://archive.org/details/TSP580622
THE CAST
MARSHA HUNT (Susan), Anne Hunter (Marie), John Dehner (Rene), Ben Wright (Johnny the Racer / Starter / Old Man), Bill James, Tom Hanley (Ad Libs), George Walsh (Narrator)
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