Helen of Abajinian: Have Gun, Will Travel (January 4, 1959)

“Helen of Abajinian” is an episode of Have Gun, Will Travel, the old-time radio show, first broadcast January 4, 1959. Listen free on Stupid Potato.

Listen to Have Gun, Will Travel free, live around the clock: every episode, in the order it first aired. No sign-up.

What happens

Paladin is hired by Samuel Abajinian, leader of an Armenian wine-growing colony, to bring back his daughter Helen, a dancer who has eloped with a young cowboy named O'Reilly. Paladin tracks them through the mountains and finds them camping together, with Helen torn between her feelings for O'Reilly and her duty to her family.

An Armenian colony in Soma Valley, California, and the mountain wilderness in 1875

Characters: Paladin, Samuel Abajinian, Helen Abajinian, O'Reilly

Listen for: A dramatic confrontation at a cottonwood grove where Paladin catches up to the runaway couple, with Helen caught between love and family obligation.

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.