What happens
Suspense presents The Groom of the Ladder, first broadcast on March 13, 1956, starring Hans Conried. Price is a hangman's assistant who sinks into debt, borrowing money he cannot repay from the men around him. Price's wife, Betty, is pressed on his behalf, and a fellow debtor, Thomas Lovelace, a gentleman with a huge debt, becomes his only real companion in the prison where Price is held. Price's resentment toward the men who mock him grows steadily, and he begins to brood over the people he feels have wronged him. The story follows his deteriorating state of mind as his troubles with money, his neighbours and his own temper intensify.
London in the late seventeenth century, including a tavern, Price's home, and a debtors' prison.
Characters: John Price, William Hartley, Mr. White, Annie White, Betty Price, Thomas Lovelace
Listen for: Price's escalating bitterness toward the men around him and the arguments over money.
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.