The third broadcast of this Lucille Fletcher script stars Mercedes McCambridge. She plays the forty-year-old single Sophronia Winters who is starting a new chapter in her life. Her elderly and sickly father has passed away, and she’s traveled to the Gulf Coast of Florida for a fresh start as an obligation-free single woman. She meets a handsome hotel owner from Maine, and they fall in love. There is one quirk about him as he keeps mentioning his sister, who also has the uncommon name “Sophronia.” They marry and arrive in Maine to live at the remote, large and old hotel. Things feel strange when it’s revealed Hiram’s sister killed his brother with an axe… and another murder may be in the offing.
The two prior performances starred Agnes Moorehead. Details about the script and the broadcasts are at these resources:
1943-04-27
https://archive.org/details/TSP430427 which has the recordings for download and streaming.
1944-08-17
https://archive.org/details/TSP440817 which has the recordings for download and streaming.
The program was recorded on July 28, 1958. Rehearsal began at 2:00pm and recording began at 4:30pm. Recording and in-studio edits were complete by 6:00pm. Additional production edits were concluded at a later date.
There are three recordings of this broadcast. The network recording is the best, with some minor flaws. There are three recordings of this broadcast. The network recording is the best, with some minor flaws. This network recording is rare to find, only recently being re-discovered in a pioneer classic radio program collector's holdings.
There are two Armed Forces Radio Service recordings, AFRS#690 and AFRS#991, with the former being slightly better than the latter. The recordings can be differentiated by the first promotional announcement after the Robson monologue:
AFRS#690: Fighting Man's Code of Conduct (voiced by actor and announcer Larry Thor)
AFRS#991: Joe and Daphne Forsythe skit about US Savings Bonds
The network recording is complete, with ads for GMC Trucks and Congoleum floors.
LISTEN
TO THE PROGRAM or download in FLAC or
mp3
https://archive.org/details/TSP580810
THE CAST
MERCEDES McCAMBRIDGE (Sophronia), Karl Swenson (Hiram), Ellen Morgan (Nurse), George Walsh (Narrator)
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