What happens
Johnny Bates returns home to his mother, having traveled overnight from Pittsburgh with a debt of $1,500 that must be repaid by midnight. Desperate for money, he presses his mother for her bonds and savings, and she refuses. Their boarding house is run by Mr. Chalmers, an elderly lodger whose insurance policy becomes a subject of discussion. Suspense presented this episode on October 18, 1955, with Paula Winslow and Stacey Harris starring. The story unfolds as the household's tensions build toward the midnight deadline.
A boarding house flat in a city, with a coffee shop and newsstand nearby, during one night and the following hours until midnight.
Characters: Johnny Bates, Mrs. Bates, Mr. Chalmers, Officer Flanagan, Nick, Mike, Joe, Mr. Thomas
Listen for: Pay attention to the gas heater and the coin meter, and to what Mrs. Bates says about Mr. Chalmers' policy and his tea-time talks with her.
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.