What happens
Lawyer George Simon defends Mrs. Chapman on a charge of murdering her husband, and his office becomes a crowded network of clients, favours and pressures. The Campbell Playhouse presents this radio adaptation of Elmer Rice's play Counselor-at-Law, staged by Orson Welles on The Mercury Theatre on the Air, which first aired on January 6, 1939. The lead actors named in the broadcast include Gertrude Berg. As the day unfolds, Simon's secretary Miss Gordon, his mother, and his brother Dorothy each press their own claims on him, while his clerk Charlie McFadden is set to watch a former Simon associate. A discovery about an old alibi case, linked to a parole board member, begins to threaten Simon's position at the bar.
A busy Manhattan law office in New York City, with the adjoining rooms and corridors where clients, clerks and family members come and go.
Characters: George Simon, Mrs. Simon, Charlie McFadden, Miss Gordon, Mrs. Chapman, Dorothy, Roxy, Betsy
Listen for: Simon's rapid, cynical dealings with clients and staff, and the mounting news that an old alibi case may expose him.
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.