The Lady Takes a Chance: Screen Directors Playhouse (June 28, 1951)

Screen Directors Playhouse, old-time radio on Stupid Potato

“The Lady Takes a Chance” is an episode of Screen Directors Playhouse, the old-time radio show, first broadcast June 28, 1951. Listen free on Stupid Potato: no sign-up, no app.

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What happens

Molly Truesdale, a New York bank teller, leaves her routine behind on a cross-country Rainbow Tours bus trip to the West. At a rodeo in Fairfield, Oregon, she is knocked down by a bronco rider, Duke Huddkins, who breaks her fall. The two spend an evening together, but a sour turn with Duke at his hotel leaves Molly stranded and searching for a way to reach her bus. This Screen Director's Playhouse production stars Joan Caulfield and John Lund.

Fairfield, Oregon, and the surrounding road, during a cross-country bus tour to the West

Characters: Molly Truesdale, Duke Huddkins, Laurie Bendix, Smiley Lambert, Waco

Listen for: Molly's shifting attitude toward Duke as their evening turns from banter to a quarrel

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.