What happens
In Paris, two Soviet trade envoys, Iranov and Buloianov, arrive at a luxury hotel to sell a set of royal jewels that belong to the Duchess Swana. Count Leon Douchet, the Duchess's agent, moves in on them with an injunction and a proposal to split the proceeds. Soon a stern Soviet special envoy, Ninotchka, arrives from Moscow to supervise the sale, and she is alarmed by the men's lavish spending and their willingness to deal with Leon. Leon and Ninotchka clash and then gradually begin to fall for each other. This is the Screen Guild Theater's Lady Esther-sponsored broadcast of the 1944 comedy Ninotchka, with Robert Young and Signe Hasso, heard on October 23, 1944.
Paris, and later Constantinople, in the 1930s
Characters: Ninotchka, Count Leon d'Algout, Buloianov, Iranoff, Commissar Razinin, Duchess Swana
Listen for: The sparring banter between Ninotchka and Leon as their antagonism turns into romance
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.