Hello and welcome to the time machine. Today we will turn back the clock 66 years, and look back to an episode of the lesser known dramatic show named Family Theater. As the name implies, the show broadcast half hour dramatic radio programs every week from 1947-1957, and was heavily funded by the catholic church. However, the heavy religious aspect I have edited out of this episode as I found it was a bit inappropriate for today's standards. Although it is interesting to note that despite the show being funded by the catholic church, the main message of the program was to simply pray every night with your family. No matter your denomination, christian, jewish, etc, just to pray with your family nightly, which I thought was a nice sentiment and pretty open minded for the time.
Over the show's ten year run, several famous literary works were adapted such as A Tale of Two Cities, Moby-Dick, and Don Quixote. In addition, well known actors and actresses, including James Stewart, Gregory Peck, Henry Fonda, Bob Hope, Lucille Ball, Shirley Temple, and Natalie Wood just to name a few. The show was later adapted for television, most famously showing one of the earliest appearances of James Dean on television playing John The Apostle. Most surprising is that the show is still in syndication today across many catholic radio stations throughout the world.
This particular episode, The Fence, is a story about an arrogant punk, Billy Webber, who is about to be executed by electrocution. A newspaper reporter, following the execution, is confused by Webber's last words. Follow the twists and turns of this fantastically told story about a man whose life went completely wrong, and the events that may have caused it. So sit back, relax, and turn back the clock 66 years to March 14th, 1956 and Family Theaters: The Fence.
