Film and Broadway actor Frank Milan stars in a George Bamber story about a corrupt policeman has a heart attack and suddenly needs help from a man was blackmailing. Lieutenant Langer transformed from an honest rookie cop to a corrupt one as he moved through his career. He developed an extortion racket on ex-cons who might have been falling back to their old ways, getting payments from them to “look the other way” when they were suspected of committing crimes again. He visits Bruno, a pawnbroker who served time in prison, but seems to be fencing stolen goods. He asks him for $2000, which is more than $21,500 in US$2025 value! Langer soon has the beginnings of a heart attack and finds himself helpless on the sidewalk. He is belittled those who pass him, whether rich or poor. His symptoms make him seem very drunk, making him easy to dismiss and move on. Suddenly, he has to rely on Bruno, the man he was extorting, to get help. Bruno is joined by a newly commissioned officer as honest as Langer was when he was a new cop, making a strange juxtaposition in a pattern that is implied may repeat itself again in the new officer’s career.
A story that included similar reactions by passersby to a person having problems in public and being accosted by a homeless person is 1958-05-11 Subway Stop with Skip Homeier.
The program was recorded on Tuesday, February 23, 1960. Rehearsal began at 3:00pm and ended at 6:30pm. Recording was done from 6:30pm to 7:00pm.
Two recordings have survived. The network recording is a WROW aircheck and is very listenable. The Armed Forces Radio Service recording (AFRS#775) has cleaner, richer sound, and is the preferred one of the two.
Bamber likely used the script again for ABC Radio’s Theatre 5 series as “A Cup of Snow for Lt. Vogel.” Newspaper listings indicate a similar plotline. A recording of that broadcast is one of the few missing from that series, and cannot be verified unless it or a script is found.
LISTEN
TO THE PROGRAM or download in FLAC or
mp3
https://archive.org/details/TSP600228
THE CAST
Frank Milan (Lt. Langer), Murray Forbes (Bruno), Frank Thomas, Jr. (Chino), Ginger Jones (Woman), Jack Grimes (Eddie), Ian Martin (Wino), William Mason (Reardon)
Nelson Olmstead was originally cast as Reardon.
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