What happens
Catherine, a Paris laundress known as Madame Sans-Gêne, shelters a wounded Austrian officer during the revolutionary violence of 1792 and grows fond of him despite her rough manners. Years later she is the Duchess of Dancy, moving uneasily through the court of Napoleon, where her blunt speech draws scorn from his sisters. Her friendship with the Count of Nightburg causes jealousy and gossip, and when the Count prepares to leave France under Napoleon's orders, Catherine must decide what their bond means. The Lux Radio Theatre production stars Jean Harlow and Robert Taylor, with Claude Rains as Napoleon and C. Henry Gordon as Fouché, and was broadcast on December 14, 1936.
Paris, France, from 1792 through the Napoleonic era, including a revolutionary street, a laundry, and the imperial palace
Characters: Catherine (Madame Sans-Gêne), Fouché, Napoleon Bonaparte, Count of Nightburg, Louis LaFave, Anne, Caroline, Elisa
Listen for: Catherine's blunt exchanges with the court ladies at the palace ball, and the Count of Nightburg's farewell
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.