The Seven Dead Years: Let George Do It (October 25, 1948)

“The Seven Dead Years” is an episode of Let George Do It, the old-time radio show, first broadcast October 25, 1948. Listen free on Stupid Potato.

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What happens

George Valentine takes on a case for investigator Samuels, who believes a man named McLean murdered his wife seven years ago, though the body was never found. With the seven-year legal period for declaring someone dead approaching, Samuels wants George to pose as a model for McLean, a sculptor, to get close to him and uncover the truth. George begins to suspect that McLean's wife may still be alive, waiting out the seven years so they can collect insurance and disappear together.

A sculptor's studio in a town called Portister, and George's office.

Characters: George Valentine, Miss Brooks, Samuels, McLean, Nana Kenyon

Listen for: The clever setup of George going undercover as a model while suspecting the wife might be alive; the discussion of how difficult it is to dispose of a body; George's plan to use a newspaper gossip column to flush out Mrs. McLean.

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.