Death Begins at 45: Let George Do It (April 24, 1950)

“Death Begins at 45” is an episode of Let George Do It, the old-time radio show, first broadcast April 24, 1950. Listen free on Stupid Potato.

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What happens

George Valentine is hired by freelance reporter Wendell Mason to investigate a mysterious criminal sighting in the exclusive suburb of River Vista. When George and his assistant Brooksie arrive at the meeting spot by the river, they discover the body of Rocko Banion, one of America's biggest criminals, shot with a .45 automatic. The case grows complicated as George learns that Mason himself was struck unconscious the morning of the murder while trying to locate Banion for a story, and that a well-dressed stranger named Tim McNeil, who owns a houseboat where the body was found, is refusing to talk about Banion's presence there.

River Vista, an exclusive and quiet suburb, particularly along a river with houseboats and wooded trails

Characters: George Valentine, Brooksie (George's assistant), Wendell Mason (freelance reporter), Tim McNeil (houseboat owner), Lieutenant Devlin (police officer), Rocko Banion (murder victim)

Listen for: The mystery of why a major criminal would be hiding in an exclusive suburb, the suspicious circumstances around Mason's attack and Banion's murder, and Tim McNeil's evasive behavior about the dead man on his houseboat

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.