Return of the Innocent: The Whistler (April 2, 1945)

The Whistler, old-time radio on Stupid Potato

“Return of the Innocent” is an episode of The Whistler, the old-time radio show, first broadcast April 2, 1945. Listen free on Stupid Potato: no sign-up, no app.

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What happens

Phil Carter, a prisoner for fifteen years, is released from the state penitentiary after being convicted of embezzlement he says he did not commit. Outside, he learns that Jeff Gilroy, the partner who he believes framed him, now dominates the family firm run by his brother Alan. Phil learns that Gilroy has a serious heart condition and sets out to unsettle him. Phil visits the doctor, then tricks Gilroy into traveling to a remote mountain lodge, where he waits to confront him.

A state penitentiary, a city office and club, and a remote mountain lodge, in the present day of the 1940s radio drama.

Characters: Phil Carter, Jeff Gilroy, Alan Carter, Warden, Father Maloney, David, Dr. Benton, Helen

Listen for: Phil Carter's confrontation with Jeff Gilroy at the mountain lodge, as Gilroy's nervousness grows and Alan Carter arrives.

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.