S2E3: The Ring of Truth

If You Please, Himan Brown’s Radio Mystery Theater

The episode follows the tragic moral arc of Professor Kitteridge and his daughter, Lorna. After Lorna testifies against her fiancé, Mark Kra

Key takeaways

• Lorna Kitteridge chooses to testify truthfully at an inquest, resulting in her fiancé Mark Kramer being sentenced to prison for manslaughter.
• Professor Kitterary's academic reputation is revealed to be fraudulent, built upon a stolen thesis originally written by Avery Hayes.

Main topics

• Moral dilemmas of truth vs. lies
• Academic plagiarism and fraud

Notable quotes

All I mean by truth is the road I can't help traveling.

Conclusion

A haunting exploration of how the pursuit of truth and the concealment

Transcript preview

Speaker 2 (0:00) Welcome to the second season of, if you please, Hyman Brown's Radio Mystery Theater. On this series, we are offering rebroadcasts of a select group of programs created by this legendary producer for CBS between 1974 and 1982. Brown reimagined radio drama for contemporary times. Our new series offers some of these exciting works again. Speaker 1 (0:22) In Speaker 2 (0:23) season one, we delivered riveting tales of foul play, betrayal, greed, and misguided love. We foiled a murder, considered reincarnation, pondered the nature of guilt, and traveled through time. We heard Hyman Brown's troupe of seasoned audio actors embody a wide range of characters and deliver thrills time and again. And for season two, they are all set to keep our headsets on and our fingers tapping play. Before each program, commentator John Slavny shares details about the cast, the writer, and the plot. Your job? Listen. If You Please is produced in loving memory of Robert Isaacson. Speaker 1 (1:07) Hi everyone, I'm John Slavny welcoming you to the 16th episode of our podcast, A Tale About the Truth and What It Costs to Tell It. In a small New England college town, we meet John Kitteridge, professor of philosophy and something of an expert on the truth. He has a new book coming out soon and it's called The Ring of Truth. But the professor's interest in the truth remains mostly theoretical until his daughter Lorna's fiancée, Mark Kramer, kills a woman while driving drunk and Lorna is called to testify at the inquest. Speaker 4 (1:35) Will she tell the truth about the accident as her conscience dictates, and Speaker 1 (1:39) as her father demands? That question alone would carry most mysteries, and a similar dilemma was posed in our episode Nothing But the Truth from Season 1. But scriptwriter Henry Slessor usually gives us something more substantial to chew on, and often a twist we never see coming. In this case, the real question turns out to be a stranger one, and it has nothing to do with Lorna's conscience at all. Starring as Lorna is the redoubtable Agnes Moorhead, here in her second and final appearance on Radio Mystery Theater. She was on Broadway at the time playing Aunt Alicia in Lerner and Lowe's musical, Gigi. She would leave that production suddenly after falling ill, just weeks after this episode was taped, and she died four months later at the age of 73. Her performance in Sorry, Wrong Number is a radio milestone in a legendary career that included the stage, Orson Welles' Citizen Kane and the Magnificent Ambersons, the television series Bewitched, and a famous wordless episode of Rod Serling's The Twilight Zone. Hyman Brown, her old friend and collaborator, felt her loss keenly. New York radio veteran Mandel Kramer is back as Lorna's fiancée, Mark. At the time, Kramer was playing police chief Bill Marceau on the daytime drama The Edge of Night, the same series where Henry Slessor had been head writer since 1968. Santos Ortega, whom we heard recently as the old man in A Very Old Man, here plays Professor Kitteridge, and he occupies the role with authority and more than a whiff of arrogance. Also before the mic are two series regulars. Ian Martin doubles as the professor's publisher and a helpful police sergeant, while Danny Acco appears in brief roles as the presiding judge at the coroner's inquest and as a prison guard. Born in Brooklyn, Acco was an invaluable member of Brown's revolving company of utility players. He had a busy career on radio and in voiceover and appeared regularly on television and in film. E.G. Marshall's narration stitches the action together across the three acts of our play, supplying a thought-provoking series of quotations on the subject of truth, from the Gospel of John to Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. Now, settle in and prepare to find out whether our primary characters, Lorna, her father, and her fiancé, want to hear the whole truth, or just the ring of it. This episode was recorded on Thursday, December 13th, 1973, and was first broadcast to homes across North America on January 26th, 1974. Speaker 4 (3:54) The CBS Radio Mystery Theater presents... Come in. Welcome. I'm E.G. Marshall. Welcome to the sound of suspense. Welcome to the fear you can hear. But mostly, to the world of terrifying imagination. In the next 52 minutes, you'll hear a story about truth. Everyone is in favor of truth, of course. It's a word which produces immediate reverence and respect. But sometimes the truth can be a terrible thing. Even a shattering thing. I Speaker 8 (5:11) didn't see her. I didn't see her crossing the road. Speaker 5 (5:14) Lana, Speaker 8 (5:18) she must be dead. Lorna, you mustn't tell anyone. Please, you mustn't tell anyone. Our Speaker 4 (5:31) mystery drama, The Ring of Truth, was written especially for the Mystery Theater by Henry Slessor and stars Agnes Moorhead. I'll be back shortly with Act One. Speaker 4 (6:01) Now here's Act One of The Ring of Truth. The place, a charming college town in New England. The people you're about to meet, young Lorna Kittredge and the special man in her life, Mark Kramer. His driving speed, a comfortable 30 miles an hour. Speaker 8 (6:22) I'll tell you what I resent most about your father, Lorna. It's the fact that he deliberately keeps forgetting my name. Mark, don't be so silly. Speaker 5 (6:30) Daddy has a genuine problem about names. No, no, Speaker 8 (6:33) I'm sorry, darling. I just can't buy this absent-minded professor stuff. It's too corny. Speaker 5 (6:39) Corny or not, that's exactly what my father is sometimes. Absent-minded. His mind is always up in the stratosphere somewhere. communing with Socrates or Schopenhauer on the meaning of truth. Speaker 5 (6:53) You just don't like my father very much. Speaker 8 (6:56) I hardly know your father. Look, I want to get along with him, Lorna. After all, he's going to be my father-in-law, isn't he? Speaker 5 (7:02) You're almost home. What can I do to put you in a better mood? Speaker 8 (7:07) That's easy, darling. You can promise to tell him tonight. Speaker 5 (7:11) Oh, Mark. Tonight? Why not? But I told you that the Pryors are going to be at dinner tonight. Harold Pryor's daddy's publisher. So? Speaker 8 (7:20) After they leave, you can tell him. Lorna, we've been engaged for almost three weeks now, and nobody knows about it except you and me. Well, isn't that enough? Not for me, it isn't. No. I'm the kind of guy who wants to shout it from the housetops. Yes, Speaker 5 (7:33) I do, Speaker 8 (7:33) too. I really Speaker 5 (7:34) do, Speaker 8 (7:35) Mark. Speaker 5 (7:36) I love Speaker 8 (7:37) you so much. All right, darling. And prove it. Tell him tonight, Lorna. Tell him you're going to marry what's-his-name. All Speaker 6 (7:51) right. Speaker 7 (7:54) Hiya. You're quite right, Harold. What the book needs is a much sexier title. Speaker 6 (8:00) Well, of course, there isn't a word about sex in it, but what's the difference as long as it sells? What's the latest book about? Speaker 7 (8:05) Why, truth, of course. Daddy's Speaker 5 (8:07) favorite subject. Speaker 7 (8:09) Should be everyone's favorite subject, in my opinion. Speaker 8 (8:11) You know, if you really want a suggestion for a new title, Professor, I think I have one. Speaker 7 (8:15) Do you, Max? Speaker 5 (8:15) Daddy. The name is Mark. Speaker 7 (8:18) Yes, yes, of course. I'm sorry, Mark. Well, go on. Let's hear your suggestion. Why not call it the Ring Speaker 8 (8:24) of Truth? Speaker 6 (8:25) Well, I think that's a very good name, but of course that's up to Professor Kittredge. It's not a Speaker 7 (8:32) bad title, Mark, but it does imply a lack of sincerity, doesn't it? The Ring of Truth is only the surface appearance of it. What I'm examining in my book is the necessity for stark truth, for truth unafraid. Of course, there's a fairly Speaker 8 (8:47) good argument against stark truth sometimes, isn't there? I mean, there's still a necessity for a white lie now and then. Speaker 7 (8:53) You mean in the real estate business, perhaps? No, no, not just Speaker 8 (8:55) in my business, in everyone's. I mean, there are times when tact and courtesy and general goodwill call for a shading of the truth. Speaker 5 (9:05) Uh, may I make a suggestion, everyone? Why don't we have our coffee in the living room? It's Speaker 8 (9:11) a good idea, darling. Speaker 5 (9:12) Uh, Speaker 8 (9:13) I'll give you a hand with the dishes, honey. Besides, I'd like a little conversation with you in the kitchen. Speaker 5 (9:27) All right, Mark, I know what you're going to say. Daddy was impossible tonight. Speaker 8 (9:34) Your father's a great scholar, man of ideals, the Albert Schweitzer of New England. I'm only a poor schnook of a real estate man, but I'm perfectly willing to put up with him for your sake. Put up Speaker 5 (9:44) with him? Won't Speaker 8 (9:44) be easy. A crass, materialistic guy like me marrying into all that saintliness. What can I do? I'm crazy about his daughter. You idiot. Speaker 5 (9:55) Mark, my hands are wet. Speaker 8 (9:56) Will you tell him tonight? Speaker 5 (9:58) Yes, the minute everyone leaves. Speaker 8 (10:00) He's not going to be happy about it, you know that. He won't be happy about losing you. Well, Speaker 5 (10:03) he knew it had to happen someday. Speaker 8 (10:05) All right, then tell him that day has come. Tell him the truth. Speaker 5 (10:07) I always tell Daddy the truth. Can I come in? Speaker 7 (10:16) Yes, darling, of course. Speaker 5 (10:19) I didn't want to interrupt your reading. Speaker 7 (10:21) I can't really read this book. I don't understand the language. Have you seen it, by the way? Speaker 5 (10:27) Still Speaker 7 (10:28) another edition, German, of the Seven Secrets of Shakespeare. It's lovely. Speaker 5 (10:34) What a beautiful binding. Speaker 7 (10:36) Yes, I'm pleased with it. I suppose an author never loses his affection for the first book he writes. Well, it's more than just that. This book made you famous. In very limited circles, yes. And I hope you've enjoyed the evening and what your friend did, too. Speaker 5 (10:51) The only thing Mark didn't like was being called Max. Speaker 7 (10:54) Oh, I'm sorry about that, Precious. I hope he wasn't offended. But you have to admit that you do bring home a lot of young men. Speaker 5 (11:02) Daddy. That may have been true once, but Mark Kramer is the only man I've seen for the last six months. Speaker 7 (11:10) That long? And Speaker 5 (11:11) the reason I've seen him so much is that... I'm in love with him. Speaker 7 (11:17) Well, that isn't an entirely new phenomenon either, is it? Speaker 5 (11:23) Daddy, Mark asked me to marry him. I said yes. Speaker 7 (11:29) Marriage? Speaker 5 (11:30) You know that word, don't you? It's English, not German. Yes, I Speaker 7 (11:34) know the word, but... Well, it's just that I never supposed you'd want to marry now. I mean, before your doctorate, before you've done all those things we plan to do together. Speaker 5 (11:44) Marriage wouldn't put an end to our plans. And as for your lecture tour, well, you don't really need me along. Speaker 7 (11:52) I don't know if I'd want to go without you. I'm getting a little old, Gallivan, around Europe Speaker 5 (11:57) by myself. It's the first time I've heard you complain about being old. Speaker 7 (12:01) For some reason, the last ten seconds, I began to feel old. Of Speaker 5 (12:07) course, Mark and I could go with you to Europe as a sort of honeymoon. Speaker 7 (12:11) No, Lorna, he's not going to want that, I'm sure. In fact, my guess is that your young man is going to want to see as little of me as he possibly can. Speaker 5 (12:21) No, Daddy, that isn't so. He knows that I won't just abandon you. I couldn't be that heartless. Speaker 7 (12:28) That's the last word I'd use about you, precious. I know your heart only too well. I know what a tender, beating little thing it is. I've always been