What happens
Becky Sharp, a poor and ambitious young woman, leaves Miss Pinkerton's academy and enters the fashionable world with her friend Amelia Sedley. Becky schemes to advance herself through marriage, first pursuing Amelia's wealthy brother Joseph, then attracting the attention of Sir Pitt Crawley at Queen's Crawley, where she becomes governess. Her efforts lead to a scandal involving Pitt's nephew Rawdon Crawley, whose aunt Miss Crawley responds with fury. The story then moves to Brussels on the eve of the battle of Waterloo, where Becky and Amelia are at the Duchess of Richmond's ball. This is an adaptation of William Makepeace Thackeray's novel Vanity Fair, presented on The Mercury Theatre on the Air series, first broadcast on January 7, 1940, with Orson Welles and Helen Hayes in the leading roles.
Miss Pinkerton's academy for young ladies, London, Queen's Crawley in Mudshire, and Brussels before the battle of Waterloo, 1813 to 1815
Characters: Becky Sharp, Amelia Sedley, Miss Pinkerton, Joseph Sedley, George Osborne, Sir Pitt Crawley, Miss Crawley, Rawdon Crawley
Listen for: Becky's shifting schemes to win a husband and a fortune, and Miss Crawley's angry reaction when Becky's secret marriage is revealed
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.