What happens
Senator Melvin Gasaway Ashton arrives in New York and is talked into a publicity stunt by press agent Lou Gibson, who sets him up with a film crew and three Indians. Columnist Poppy McNaughton plans to write about the senator in a way that embarrasses him, and his political life grows more complicated as party boss Fred Houlihan learns of the stunt. Ashton's private diary, which records the scandals of his career, becomes the central concern as his popularity rises and the party's leaders grow alarmed. William Powell stars as the senator, with Peggy Dow as Poppy, in this Screen Directors Playhouse broadcast from October 3, 1949.
New York City and various political stops across the United States
Characters: Senator Melvin Gasaway Ashton, Lou Gibson, Poppy McNaughton, Fred Houlihan, Valerie Shepard, Mama
Listen for: Ashton's speeches and the mounting trouble over his missing diary
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.