What happens
Tom Ransom, an idle expatriate painter in the Indian princely state of Ranchipur, is drawn into a tangle of social and personal affairs during a heavy, waiting heat before the monsoon. Lady Edwina Esquith, an old flame of his, arrives with her husband Lord Esquith, and Ransom is also approached by the young American Fern Simon, daughter of the local mission family, who seeks his help in escaping her parents. Major Rama Safti, a native surgeon and state medical director, is an admired figure among the English and Indian guests. The story is set in Ranchipur against the palace dinners, tennis, and talk of the rains. This dramatization of Louis Bromfield's novel The Rains Came was broadcast on Lux Radio Theatre on March 18, 1940, starring Kay Francis, George Brent, Jean Parker and Jim Ameche.
Ranchipur, a native state in the hill country of India, during the hot weeks before the monsoon rains
Characters: Tom Ransom, Major Rama Safti, Mrs. Simon, Fern Simon, Lady Edwina Esquith, Lord Albert Esquith, Maharani
Listen for: The prayers for rain and the arrival of the monsoon, and the growing tensions between Ransom, Edwina and Fern
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.