What happens
Eric Hickson, a ventriloquist, has just made his opening at the Kit Kat Club in London, and his wooden dummy Toby, who has never spoken on his own before, suddenly refuses to be silent. Hickson's partner Bigelow tries to manage the act while the American ventriloquist Mel Baxter is in the audience. Tensions rise between Hickson and Baxter as Toby begins speaking words Hickson does not supply, and Hickson grows convinced that Baxter is trying to steal his dummy. The story is told in the Escape series and was first broadcast on March 21, 1947.
A London cabaret, the Kit Kat Club, and nearby dressing rooms, in the 1940s.
Characters: Eric Hickson, Toby, Bigelow, Mel Baxter, Claudia Baxter, Dixon
Listen for: Toby's sudden speech and Hickson's growing suspicion of Mel Baxter.
Written from the episode itself; it never gives away the ending. Every recording is remastered for the stream: cleaned of rumble, hiss and mains hum (and the old TV whine where we found it), then levelled in two passes to steady broadcast loudness, so one show is never quieter than the next.