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Mystery In The Air – The Black Cat, withPeter Lorre. 470918 (retro282) A radio play of Edgar Alan Poe’s short story, the Black Cat. The story is one that starts at the end, and a man who is sentenced to the gallows. In flashback, Peter Lorre recounts the story of how he arrived to this point.
Peter Lorre is a man who loved animals. One day his wife brings home a little black kitten. The kitten grew, and became the favorite, but somehow the man’s temperament changed. The once happy couple has been torn apart by the bursts of anger and hatred from the man.
Cat lovers be warned. irrational behavior increases until the man treats the cat mean, and eventually kills the once beloved cat. See I told you to be warned.
Soon tragedies multiply. Their house burns down. Nothing is left, except one wall with what appears to be the image of the black cat burned into it.
The man goes to a pub to drown his sorrows, and finds another black to adopt. Peter Lorre plays the tormented, and unstable mental state with all it’s mood swings to perfection. He loves the cat, he hates the cat. The more affectionate the cat is, the more Peter grows to hate it.
Finally, he snaps, and tries to kill this cat. In trying to stop his raging, the wife steps in. Only to be struck and killed instead.
To cover his deed, he buried his wife in his basement, and bricked it over. The madness abates, but the story continues when police investigate the woman’s disappearance. It’s almost the perfect crime. Almost. Remember how the show started?
A spooky, creepy, classic tale you won’t want to miss. And just what is David the Retrobot up to anyway?
Bonus Tracks:
Tom Lehrer. Rickity Tickity Tin. From the 1960’s, and not from the days of old time radio, but it fits our spooky Halloween theme.
