What happens
Maisie, working as a census taker in the hills, visits the Hawkins farm and learns that the family's daughter Lily Bell has been swindled. A Hollywood director named Fontaine has charged the townspeople large sums for screen tests they were promised would launch film careers. Maisie and the local sheriff begin to suspect the scheme is a fraud. Maisie, The Adventures of Maisie starring Ann Sothern, first aired on November 30, 1950, and this episode follows her investigation into the screen test racket.
A rural hill country town where residents hope to become movie stars, and nearby the screen test operators' studio.
Characters: Maisie, Jed Hawkins, Mrs. Hawkins, Lily Bell Hawkins, Sheriff, David Lawrence, Fontaine
Listen for: Maisie's exchanges with the Hawkins family and the sheriff as she uncovers the screen test scheme.
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.