Agnes Moorehead stars in the second production of this Antony Ellis adaptation of the Ray Bradbury story. Three unmarried women venture out for a movie in their town, but they are warned in the news and by police that there is a serial strangler in the area. He seems to space his attacks about a month apart, and it’s been about that long since his last activity. Everything seems to go along well, including the walk across the ravine, which is believed to be the most likely place for his attack. Just when it seems to be safe, there is an unexpected and unwanted surprise. William Conrad’s narration makes a rather unremarkable story more effective and more suspenseful.
The 1955 broadcast starred Jeanette Nolan and also featured Conrad. Details about that broadcast can be found at:
https://suspenseproject.blogspot.com/2025/01/1955-06-14-whole-towns-sleeping.html
https://archive.org/details/TSP550614 and is where recordings can be downloaded and streamed
The program was recorded on Thursday, August 7, 1958. Rehearsal began at 2:00pm, with recording commencing at 4:30pm. That and in-studio edits finished at 6:30pm. Production edits continued to 8:30pm.
No network recording is known to have survived. Of the four ad spots, only GMC Trucks was booked at the time of recording. The other spots would be allocated before broadcast.
Two Armed Forces Radio Service recordings have survived, AFRS#693 and AFRS#994. The recordings can be differentiated by the announcement after the Robson opening monologue:
AFRS#693 Campaigns and stump speeches
AFRS#994 The Soldier's Medal
The AFRS#994 is the better recording. It has excellent sound. The AFRS#693 has some mild disc skips at various times, some clustered at approximately 8:30 to 10:00 mark.
LISTEN
TO THE PROGRAM or download in FLAC or
mp3
https://archive.org/details/TSP580831
THE CAST
AGNES MOOREHEAD (Livinia Nebbs), William Conrad (Narrator & Lonely One [the same]), Lurene Tuttle (Francine), Paula Winslowe (Grandma Hanlon / Helen), Barney Phillips (Police Lieutenant), Charlie Lung (Druggist / Kennedy), George Walsh (Suspense Narrator)
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