What happens
Clocker Locke, a racing tipster on Broadway, searches for his wife Zelda after she is committed to a Glendale hospital and appears to be catatonic, endlessly performing time steps. Visiting her, he begins to talk about horse racing and is pulled into a strange square where people are gathered by a tall, bearded alien. The aliens explain they are compiling a permanent record of human society before humanity destroys itself in war, and they have recruited volunteers, including Zelda. Locke bargains for her release. The story is from X Minus One, first broadcast on March 27, 1957, and adapted from H. L. Gold's story in Galaxy magazine.
Broadway in New York City, a Glendale psychiatric hospital upstate, and a strange otherworldly square with a large building resembling a world's fair.
Characters: Clocker Locke, Zelda, Doc Hawkins, The Alien Presenter
Listen for: Clocker's racing talk and his bargain with the alien presenter over Zelda's release.
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.