What happens
Jack Benny stars as Jeff Morley, a comedian who has spent three years playing the gangster Killer Cates on stage, and Gail Patrick plays his wife Helen. Alan Reed plays Al Brady, Jeff's manager. Jeff finds the role wearing on him, suffering nightmares and nervous fear of guns, and he insists he wants to return to comedy. Brady argues that the play's success and their comfortable lifestyle depend on Jeff staying in it. Jeff's strain grows, and a collapse is followed by a doctor's diagnosis of nervous fatigue. Late in the story Jeff begins acting as if he has become the gangster himself, and the household is thrown into danger and confusion. This Lux Radio Theatre broadcast aired on December 16, 1946.
Hollywood, and a Jersey night club, with the Morley home and a Broadway-style theater as key locations
Characters: Jeff Morley, Helen Morley, Al Brady, Walters, Dr. Elbron, Killer Cates, Blinky, Spangler
Listen for: Jack Benny's shift from comedy voice to gangster menace in the scenes where Jeff's mind seems to slip
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.