What happens
Bookkeeper John Carson is tried for the death of his wife Mary, who has been ill for two years with a painful, incurable cancer. The Screen Guild Theater presents this 1939 play, broadcast on March 5, 1939, with Paul Muni as John Carson and a cast of film players. Doctor Morton tells the household that Mary has no hope of recovery, and her husband grows increasingly troubled. Witnesses from the office, the drugstore and the hospital describe his conduct in the days that follow. The trial opens with the prosecution setting out its case against him.
A bookkeeping office and a Carson home, with a courtroom trial framing the story, in an unnamed American city in early 1939.
Characters: John Carson, Mary Carson, Doctor Morton, George Dorwent, Antonio Romano, Kane
Listen for: The testimony of Doctor Morton about Mary Carson's condition, and the later questioning of the drugstore clerk Kane about John Carson's prescription.
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.