What happens
Mrs. Muscat, the owner of Muscat's Mighty Shows, looks back on the carnival's strange past and the pitchman Lilliom, a charming but reckless man who takes what he wants. Lilliom quarrels with Mrs. Muscat, is dismissed, and drifts into a romance with a young woman named Julie, while Marie, Julie's friend, is pulled into a separate scene of their own. Mrs. Muscat speaks of the carnival's history and of Lilliom's way with people. The Mercury Theatre on the Air presents this adaptation of Ferenc Molnar's play, with Orson Welles as producer and Helen Hayes as guest star, first broadcast on October 22, 1939 as part of The Campbell Playhouse.
A carnival and a small southern town, in the United States.
Characters: Mrs. Muscat, Lilliom, Julie, Marie, Victor, William, The Sheriff
Listen for: Mrs. Muscat's narration of the carnival's past, and the quarrel in which Lilliom is dismissed from his job.
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.