What happens
Stephen Dallas, the assistant manager of a Massachusetts mill, falls in love with Stella Martin, a working-class young woman with bold tastes and ambitions to rise socially. Their marriage strains as Stella's showy habits clash with Stephen's refined standards, and their daughter Laurel becomes a point of tension. This episode of the Lux Radio Theatre, broadcast on October 11, 1937, stars Barbara Stanwick as Stella and John Boles as Stephen, with Anne Shirley as Laurel and Barbara O'Neill as Helen Morrison. Stephen later reunites with Helen in New York, and Stella's relationships with others grow more complicated. The episode is an adaptation of Olive Higgins Prouty's novel and the 1937 film.
Millhampton, Massachusetts, in 1919, and later New York and the Dallas home
Characters: Stella Dallas, Stephen Dallas, Laurel Dallas, Helen Morrison, Spencer Chandler, Ed Munn
Listen for: Stella's attempts to rise socially and Stephen's growing frustration with her behavior
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.