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Title

Smile at a Homely Girl

Plot

Marriage to a paranoid and possessive shrew makes life hell for a local businessman. When the woman is murdered, accounts of her jealous ravings make him the prime suspect in the crime, but he finds an ally in the strangest of places.

Episode

0995

Air Dates

  • First Run - July 9, 1979
  • Repeat - November 15, 1979

Actors

Writer

Listen

Rating

95
84     11


2 Responses to Episode 0995

Being the most prolific Mystery Theater writer of all, Sam Dann’s stories span quite a range, from excellent to so-so. I found SMILE AT A HOMELY GIRL to be one of his finer plays and prototypically endearing RMT theater. Larry Haines stars as Will, a former high-school star turned middle-age husband genuinely seeking to be a good person but challenged by life circumstances both at work in pressures of business troubles, and at home by his unpleasant and ungrateful wife played excellently by Evie Juster. Modest Will reminds me very much of Hitchcock’s classic ‘wrong man.’ Haines played in 85 RMT episodes and reigns as one of the greats in radio’s earlier golden age (find him frequently in the great series ‘X Minus One’ and for another fantastic RMT performance by Haines and an example of his versatility check out ‘THE WOMAN WHO WANTED TO LIVE’). Perennial actress and all time favorite Teri Keane plays Sarah, a mousy librarian on the road to ending up an old-maid. Sarah has watched Will longingly from afar for most of her life and through circumstances out of anyone’s control ends up with Will’s life literally in her hands in a twist at the end which is just delightful. I give Homely Girl a very pretty 5 stars! - JUROR #4.

JUROR #4

I don't think that The Count of Monte Cristo has ever been "forgotten". Having read the novel, I remembered the arsenic trick and anticipated the ending of this play.

Bill King


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