What happens
Tom Wingfield, a warehouse worker, lives with his domineering mother Amanda and his painfully shy older sister Laura in a cramped apartment in St. Louis. Amanda, obsessed with finding a gentleman caller for Laura, pressures Tom to bring a suitable young man home. Laura, who walks with a limp and has withdrawn from her business college course, spends her time with her collection of glass animals. The episode is an adaptation of Tennessee Williams's play, presented on the Lux Radio Theatre, with Jane Wyman as Laura, Faye Bader as Amanda and Frank Lovejoy as Tom. The first part shows the family's strained daily routines and Tom's growing frustration with his responsibilities.
A small apartment in St. Louis, and the warehouse where Tom works, in the late 1930s
Characters: Tom Wingfield, Amanda Wingfield, Laura Wingfield, Jim O'Connor
Listen for: Amanda's repeated pressure on Tom to find a gentleman caller for Laura, and the family quarrel that follows Tom's late-night outing
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.