Cathy Lewis plays the concerned wife (Liz) in an Alan Botzer script about her husband’s flirtatious behavior at a party, and possibly at work, with a young woman (Edith). She sees them at a weekly neighborhood cocktail gathering that is comprised of executives who see each other on the commuter rail to New York City to go and come home from work. (This story has a setting similar to the 1955 Sloan Wilson book and the 1956 hit movie The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit). Liz thinks her marriage is in trouble, and he (Max) dismisses it, but it’s clear he has an interest in Edith (the husband calls her “Edie,” implying his infatuation). The script was adapted by William N. Robson.
Uncomfortably, the three of them get into Max’ car to get everyone home. It’s a rainy night, and Max is driving too aggressively. He breaks through a guard rail near a small bridge. Now, the car hangs precipitously over the edge of cliff, in danger of falling into the water below. To shift the weight of the car to stop it from falling, they are all in the back seat. They all deserve each other. We’re stuck listening to their fearful banter about ways to escape, just like we’re a fourth person in the back seat. Now they worry that as cars pass, the vibration of the bridge will ripple and slowly tip the car into the water. George, a co-worker who was at the party, drives by and sees them. He gets them out of the car. A truck comes by and the car falls into the water, and submerges quickly (you’d think the sound effects could be more convincing). Everyone is relieved. Max’ infatuation has dissipated because of Edith’s panic. He knows he should go home with Liz and make up with her (if he knows what’s good for him).
The story is not that good. There are times it might be more suspenseful if the car started to rock in its precarious position and actually started to slip and townspeople or a tow truck came by just in time for an exciting rescue. Instead, we have a bunch of whiners who realize they don’t like each other when they are stuck together and their life literally hangs in the balance.
The program was recorded on Wednesday, July 30, 1958. Rehearsal began at 2:00pm and recording started at 4:30pm. It concluded at 6:00pm, including in-studio edits. Final production edits were made from 6:00pm to 8:00pm.
The only ad of the four available that was booked before recording was GMC Trucks. The others would be allocated before broadcast.
No network recording is known to survive. Two Armed Forces Radio Service recordings are available, AFRS#691 and AFRS#992, and neither is in very pleasing sound. The better of the two recordings is AFRS#992. The two recordings can be differentiated by the promotional announcements that follow the Robson monologue.
AFRS#691: US Fighting Man's Code of Conduct
AFRS#992: Joe & Daphne Forsythe skit about US Savings Bonds
The AFRS#992 recording does not have the full “Suspense March” music common to the end of AFRS recordings at this time. It was edited out.
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https://archive.org/details/TSP580817
THE CAST
CATHY LEWIS (Liz), Virginia Gregg (Edith Elwood), Jerry Hausner (George), Bill Quinn (Max), Bill James, Gus Bayz (Ad-Libs), George Walsh (Narrator)
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