What happens
Mrs. Morris grows uneasy when the children in her neighborhood begin playing a game called Invasion, with zero hour set for five o'clock. Her daughter Mink and friend Anna are among the many children under nine who take part. Mrs. Morris calls her husband Henry at the office, then waits anxiously at home as the afternoon wears on. Escape is a half-hour anthology series, and this episode, Zero Hour, is adapted from a story by Ray Bradbury, broadcast on October 4, 1953. Paula Winslow and Issa Ashdown play Mrs. Morris and Mink, with John Dana as narrator.
A quiet suburban neighborhood of tree-lined streets and green gardens, on a late summer afternoon, with the Morris house as the main location.
Characters: Mrs. Morris, Henry Morris, Mink, Anna, Mrs. Morris's sister, Helen
Listen for: The children's talk of the Invasion game and the zero hour set for five o'clock, and Mrs. Morris's growing unease as she calls her husband.
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.