Christmas Payoff: Tales of the Texas Rangers (December 23, 1951)

“Christmas Payoff” is an episode of Tales of the Texas Rangers, the old-time radio show, first broadcast December 23, 1951. Listen free on Stupid Potato.

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What happens

When a mysterious stranger with a bandaged arm arrives at Dr. Edward Hartley's office on Christmas Day, the alert nurse Alice Leonard recognizes him from watching the car parked outside for hours. The doctor quickly hides Alice in a supply closet and calls the sheriff, but the man produces a gun and shoots the doctor dead. Texas Ranger Pearson arrives to investigate the murder of the well-liked physician and must uncover the meaning of a threatening note the doctor received weeks earlier.

Dr. Hartley's medical office on Christmas Day

Characters: Dr. Edward Hartley, Alice Leonard, The killer, Ranger Pearson, Sheriff

Listen for: The threatening note with cut-out newspaper letters warning of a payoff, and the black car with a dented front fender that may help identify the killer

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.