What happens
Prince Serki arrives at the villa of Duke Lambert and is welcomed as a guest, though his identity is kept secret from the household. Corrado and Gratia, the Duke's son and his fiancée, have recently survived a car accident caused by a strange shadow, and Gratia has been unsettled since. Serki spends his days among the guests, gambling and talking with the Baron and Madame Alda, and he is drawn to Gratia. The Lux Radio Theatre production of Death Takes a Holiday, adapted from the Italian story by Alberto Castellanos, stars Frederick March and Florence Eldridge, with Kay Johnson and Arthur Byron, and was broadcast on March 22, 1937. The story is presented as a romantic fantasy in which the household's guests slowly come to understand who their visitor really is.
A villa in Italy, with a lonely country road, a garden and fountain, a library, and a casino terrace.
Characters: Prince Serki, Duke Lambert, Corrado, Gratia, Madame Alda, Baron Cesarea, Princess Maria
Listen for: The strange shadow that appears during the car crash and again in the garden, and the mysterious arrival of Prince Serki.
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.