What happens
Lionel James, a Hollywood gossip columnist, lives in Beverly Hills while his wife Edith recovers from an illness. He has been carrying on a flirtation with Shelley, a singer who is married to Jim Thomas, a friend of his who lives in the apartment above him. When Shelley ends the affair and Jim confronts him, Lionel begins to lose his newspaper position and his standing in the city's nightlife. Lionel is a columnist who builds his career on gossip about the city's social scene. He is caught between his affair, his marriage and his professional ambitions, and his choices grow more desperate as the consequences arrive. This episode of The Whistler aired on September 3, 1950.
Los Angeles and Beverly Hills, California, around 1950, including an apartment building, a nightclub and a newspaper office.
Characters: Lionel James, Edith James, Shelley Thomas, Jim Thomas, Mike Gorman, John
Listen for: Edith's observation about Jim Thomas's nightly routine, and the sound of his footsteps, which she uses to track his habits.
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.