Kevin McCarthy portrays an escaped criminal, a three-time loser, about to become a four-time loser because of a pending charge that will result in his spending the rest of his life in prison. He is eventually presumed dead because he has taken on the identity of someone who died in the sinking of a cargo ship they were on together, which creates a dilemma in this Robert Arthur story. It was previously used on The Mysterious Traveler broadcast of 1950-01-24, and titled The Dead Man’s Story (a recording of that broadcast has not been found).
McCarthy’s character, Larry, was fleeing from the USA with the help of his former wife, Julia. She is married to a wealthy man, but has helped her ex-husband many times in the past. For $2000 from jewelry she sold, she paid off a cargo ship captain to take Larry to South America. She gave Larry $3000 for the trip. (In US$2025 value, that is $22,000 for the payoff, and $33,000 in spending money). When the ship finally arrives at its port, Larry checks in at a bad hotel where he stays for a few weeks. He is dissatisfied with his new freedom because it is constrained by making his money last as long as possible, living with as little daily expenses as possible. One day, there is a knock at the door by a New York police investigator with extradition papers. Larry is so disappointed by his “freedom,” he decides to go back with the officer. As they are on the last leg of the journey, their cargo ship is in trouble: it is sinking. The officer is injured as the ship tosses and rolls. They are trapped in their room, unable to open the door. It may become their final resting place. The ship’s cargo of ore is slipping out, and there is enough trapped air that the ship stops sinking, and comes back to the surface, temporarily. The ship twists as it was rising, and turned enough to allow the door to be opened. It reaches the surface long enough for them to escape on a raft. The officer’s injuries were too severe, however, and he did not survive, but Larry took his identification and passport. Some time passes, Larry eventually ends up in Miami, where he attempts to call his Julia. It turns out that they can’t talk because she and her husband were in a serious car accident and in critical condition. The story takes a very curious turn. Larry has a choice: he has been assumed as dead, one of the casualties of the freighter. If he reveals himself, he will go back to prison, but as a wealthy man because of the provisions of Julia’s will. If he stays hiding in plain sight under an alias, he can experience freedom as a pauper for the rest of his life.
An element of the story regards estate law regarding and simultaneous death provisions. In this story, it is 30 minutes, meaning that the will of the person who is second to die essentially overrides that of their earlier-deceased spouse (assuming they left estates to each other). In most states, however, the default is 120 hours (5 days) to be considered a simultaneous death if there is no will. The length of time can be overridden by a prepared will; the late actor Gene Hackman and his wife had 90 days written into their wills for their deaths to be considered as “simultaneous.” The intent of the provision is to determine the priorities of distribution of assets, but also to minimize the administrative costs of handling the final matters of the estates. Thirty minutes would be considered very short, but having it so fits the ending that scripter Robert Arthur desired.
The program was recorded on Tuesday, May 10, 1960. Rehearsal began at 3:00pm and ended at 6:30pm. Recording was done from 6:30pm to 7:00pm.
Two recordings of this episode have survived. The network recording is an aircheck from WROW. The Armed Forces Radio Service recording (AFRS#785) has cleaner, richer sound, and is the much preferred one of the two. The AFRS recording is only recently available and allows better appreciation of the overall story.
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https://archive.org/details/TSP600515
THE CAST
KEVIN McCARTHY (Larry), Rebecca Sand (Julia), Sam Grey (Sanders), Joseph Boland (Captain), Richard Kendrick (Werby), Ruth Tobin (Nurse), Guy Repp (Butler)
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