Radio Credits
Exhibit A

Radio play / broadcast over CBS on November 13, 1950

Mel Ferrer starred in a play specially written for him by Maurice Zimm about a man who confesses to a murder in a vain attempt to get his wife back. Steve Harker is one of life's losers - a man who can't hold onto a job or the wife he loves deeply. She's left him before, and she always came back, but not this time. So in desperation he decides to confess to the crime that's occupied the headlines for days - the blonde torso murder. At first the police don't believe him, but he figures out where the murder weapon is hidden and it becomes Exhibit A. Now they believe him, and just like he figured - Helen came back. But when he retracts his confession, nobody believes him - not Helen, not the police, and finally not the jury. And that's when Helen tells Steve the truth about Exhibit A.

Hollywood Star Theater was a half-hour show sponsored by Bromo Seltzer that featured a single star in a featured role centered around a story of mystery or suspense. Virtually every big name star of the day appeared on the program, and if this particular recording is a typical example, their shows were first-rate. Mel Ferrer is tremendously effective as the hapless Harker, whose cloudy thinking can't get beyond his own self doubts. He's so very convincing as the troubled ne'er-do-well that at the end of the show when he thanks the sponsor and his co-star Bill Conrad, it's a jolt to hear his clear and familiar voice.

The play plainly belongs to Ferrer, but the well-known voice of William Conrad is dead-on as Lt. Dunham, to whom Harker confesses, and there's also contributions from two uncredited actors who play his jailer and his wife, Helen. This particular radio play is available for purchase in a recording made in 2007.

Last updated:

Contact the Webmaster