What happens
Mildred Pierce, a former housewife, struggles to build a restaurant business after her marriage to Bert Pierce ends, while trying to keep her daughter Vida comfortable and proud. She borrows on help from her former partner Wally Faye and buys a run-down property from Monty Barrigan, a wealthy man who grows close to her. Her plans are tested as family tensions rise and her ex-husband's situation becomes troubling. Lux Radio Theatre presents this adaptation of James M. Cain's novel, starring Rosalind Russell as Mildred and Zachary Scott as Monty, first broadcast on June 6, 1949. The later events of the story are not covered in this excerpt.
Southern California, including a beach house near Malibu, a suburban home, and a restaurant in Glendale.
Characters: Mildred Pierce, Bert Pierce, Monty Barrigan, Wally Faye, Vida Pierce, Inspector Peterson, Mrs. Barrigan
Listen for: Mildred's growing ambition and her strained relationship with her daughter Vida, and the way her choices pull her away from Bert and toward Monty.
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.