High Wire: Have Gun, Will Travel (August 2, 1959)

“High Wire” is an episode of Have Gun, Will Travel, the old-time radio show, first broadcast August 2, 1959. Listen free on Stupid Potato.

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What happens

Paladin travels to Salamander City, California to retrieve a young woman named Irene Stanford who has abandoned her respectable life to work in a saloon. Upon arrival, he discovers that Irene is actually a woman named Reina who is devoted to a small acrobat named Dooley Delaware. When a powerful local man named Marquette pressures Dooley into a dangerous high-wire walking bet for money, Paladin becomes suspicious of Marquette's intentions and offers to stake Dooley himself.

Salamander City, California, 1875. The story centers around the Salamander Saloon where acrobat Dooley Delaware performs.

Characters: Paladin, Hey Boy, Irene Stanford / Reina, Dooley Delaware, Marquette, Bolo, Barkeep

Listen for: A tense confrontation between Paladin and the corrupt local boss Marquette over a dangerous wager involving a high-wire walk, with Dooley Delaware caught in the middle.

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.