Frankie Thomas stars in this William N. Robson script as “Steve,” a charter boat captain on the French Riviera. He is assisted in his adventures by his first mate, Marius. Steve is hired by a man named “Jacques” for an “out and back” two-hour moonlight sail with a young woman. It’s implied to be a romantic excursion, but when the man gets on board with the woman, things seem different, and the itinerary is changed south toward Africa. When the man’s attention is diverted, the woman, Adele, approaches Steve in a panic, asking where here fiancé, Chuck Dawson, is. The man grabs her and tells her to she will know “everything in good time.” The man is soon seen trying to push the woman overboard. Steve turns the boat around and heads back to shore. It is learned that Adele is being kidnapped and the man hired by Chuck’s mother to disrupt her marriage intentions with Chuck. The mother is a wealthy woman, and does not want Adele to marry Chuck, and may have hired the man to kill her! Steve sneaks near the home of the mother, and overhears her speaking with Jacques, discussing a new plan to throw Adele out of the balcony of her tall building! Steve finds Adele and explains she is in danger, and that he knows Chuck is fine and is at the casino. He lowers her by rope from her room to Marius who takes her to safety. In the meantime, Jacques sneaks into the room expecting to throw Adele over the balcony, but Steve immobilizes him and sends him to the fate that Jacques planned for Adele. Steve climbs down the rope and joins Marius and Adele at the boat, and they head to the casino. Adele finally sees Chuck, and Steve tells them to find a place to get married before the mother has a chance to act against them. And they all live happily ever after, it seems.
Moonlight Sail was most definitely a script Robson wrote when he was exiled from CBS and was producing the Errol Flynn radio series The Modern Adventures of Casanova for Mutual. Mutual was not skilled in its publicity efforts. The series is listed in timetables but there is rarely and plotline information. Reviews for the series were rather... gruesome. The episodes were panned for their light and outlandish plots, and this episode is a good example of it.
No script can be found to identify the program recording date.
There are two surviving recordings. The network aircheck is very good. There is an Armed Forces Radio Service recording (AFRS#766) that is the better of the two.
Thomas is making his third Suspense appearance with this as his only starring role. He was a successful child actor and continued his career, unlike many child performers, well into adulthood. He was very active in early television. He became known among nostalgia fans for his television role in Tom Corbett, Space Cadet. He was also a writer, and composed scripts for the ABC Radio series Theatre 5.
Also in the cast is Joan Lazer, the older sister of Peter Lazer, who starred in the 1959-08-30 episode A Matter of Execution. Joan had a slightly longer radio career than Peter, and also made many appearances on the series Eternal Light.
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https://archive.org/details/TSP591227
THE CAST
Frank Thomas, Jr. (Steve), Luis Van Rooten (Jacques), Jim Boles, Joan Lazer (Adele), Ethel Waite Owen (Mrs. Dawson), Jack Manning (Chuck), Sam Raskyn (customs guard), Guy Repp (croupier)
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