What happens
Joe Fabrini and his partner Paul run a truck on US Highway 99 between San Francisco and Los Angeles, struggling to earn a living on the night road. After a dispute with their dispatcher Williams over money, they pick up a hitchhiker named Cassie Hartley, a waitress who has lost her job and has little money. Joe offers her a room in Los Angeles, and the two begin to grow close. Paul, meanwhile, grows increasingly worn down by the strain of the long hauls. This is the Lux Radio Theatre presentation of They Drive by Night, the 1941 film adaptation, broadcast on June 2, 1941.
US Highway 99 between San Francisco and Los Angeles, and Los Angeles, California
Characters: Joe Fabrini, Paul Fabrini, Cassie Hartley, Ed Carlson, Marie Carlson, Pearl, Williams, Dawson
Listen for: Joe's quarrel with the dispatcher Williams over unpaid money, and the first meeting between Joe and Cassie on the road.
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.