What happens
Ellen Berent Harland, a possessive young wife, and her husband George Harlan are introduced in the Lux Radio Theatre adaptation of Ben Ames Williams' bestseller Leave Her to Heaven, broadcast August 10, 1953. Joan Fontaine stars as Ellen. The story opens on a lake in Maine, where a man named Clinton and another character are seen watching a boat in the distance. Ellen meets the novelist George at a train ride and later at the ranch in New Mexico, and their relationship quickly grows intense. Ellen's rivalry with her cousin Ruth and her strained ties to her family develop as the story unfolds. The portion covered here follows the couple's courtship and the first signs of Ellen's jealousy.
Mid-twentieth-century United States: a New Mexico ranch, a Maine lake and summer house, and a sanatorium in Warm Springs.
Characters: Ellen, George Harlan, Ruth, Danny, Russell Quinton, Mrs. Berent, Alan Holland, Dr. Mason
Listen for: Ellen's increasingly possessive remarks about George and her reactions to the people around him.
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.