What happens
Returning Marines and their families struggle to adjust to civilian life in this postwar drama from the Lux Radio Theatre. Bill Cappadora, played by Robert Cummings, comes home from the Pacific and finds that the world he left behind has changed. Pinky Barnes, played by Phil Harris, a former service companion, joins him in a series of encounters with old friends, a wounded veteran, and a young woman named Pat. Their conversations turn to uncertainty about jobs, schooling, romance, and the difficulty of finding purpose after the war. This installment, broadcast on January 6, 1947, presents the early scenes of the story, with the characters working through their doubts one encounter at a time.
Postwar America in the fall of 1945, in a hotel and at homes, a dance hall, a hospital and city streets
Characters: Bill Cappadora, Pinky Barnes, Pat, Julie, Chris, Harry
Listen for: Bill's uncertainty about his future and the awkward conversations with returning servicemen and their families
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.