What happens
Lillian Russell, born Helen Leonard in Clinton, Iowa, moves to New York with her grandmother to study singing under the teacher Leopold Damrush. A chance meeting with Alexander Moore on a street, followed by the attentions of Tony Pastor and a mysterious admirer who sends diamonds and flowers, shapes her rise on the stage. Her mother, Cynthia, grows uneasy about the theatre, while Diamond Jim Brady pursues her with gifts and Jesse Lewis becomes a rival suitor. This episode of Lux Radio Theatre, the 1940 broadcast, is an adaptation starring Alice Faye as Lillian Russell, Edward Arnold as Diamond Jim Brady and Victor Mature as Alexander Moore. The transcript covers only the first part of the play, which is adapted from the 1940 film.
New York City and Clinton, Iowa, in the late nineteenth century
Characters: Lillian Russell, Alexander Moore, Diamond Jim Brady, Leopold Damrush, Tony Pastor, Cynthia, Grandma, Jesse Lewis
Listen for: The gift of flowers and diamonds sent to Lillian's dressing room without a card, and the rivalry between Moore and Diamond Jim Brady.
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.