Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 59:07 — 13.5MB)
Before the show, Cecil B Demill tells a brief history of featured star Margret Sullivan.
In a little town in Arizona, bandits armed with machine guns barge into a bank. As they flee to somewhere in the Petrified Forrest, a cross country hitch hiker is picked up, and ends up being dropped off at a small cafe. . A young waitress in that cafe has big dreams of going places, and seeing the world.
As night begins to fall, the romantic talk between the hitch hiking english novelist, and the waitress with poetic dreams, is about to be interupted by the gangsters who are seeking a new get away car. The hitch hiker leaves, but his ride is hijacked by the gangsters, and when he returns to the cafe to warn his new found friends, the thugs have already beat him there.
Intermission time. Cecil B Demill puts in a few words about the National Park and features of the Petrified Forrest. A park ranger tels about some of the details of what can be found there, and stories of people and happenings that have gone on there.
Back to the play. The gangsters casually wait for the rest of their mob as they listen to the radio and hold the others captive. Out of fear, the waitress expresses her love to her hitch hiking friend. Will he reciprocate that love, or is he too cynical?
The local gent who has a thing for her makes a play to challenge the bad guys. The hitch hiker tries a more subtle approach. In a wierd moment of desperation, the hitch hiker arranges his own death, and leaves his life insurance policy to the waitress. If he can’t bring himself to commit to a relationship, he at least figures to do what he can for her to leave and see the world. Cops suddenly converge on the cafe. Will the thugs be ruthless enough to kill the man? Will he be brave enough to go through with his death? Will the cops catch the gang?
Get ready for the tear jerking, tragic ending.
