Molle Mystery Theater's "The Rival Dummy" is, in their words, "a macabre adventure into the strange workings of an unbalanced mind."
"The Rival Dummy" begins with a murder, and then goes back to explain just what did, or didn't, happen. The drama centers on the tense relationship between the ventriloquist Gabbo the Great and his dummy, Jimmy. There is also Rubina, a second-rate performer, who makes the mistake of getting involved with this act. Gabbo is in love with her, but Jimmy is fed up with the no-talent bimbo that has joined them. When Gabbo smacks Jimmy for bad-mouthing Rubina, things get worse. Their manager wants Gabbo to see a psychiatrist, but it is already too late to save their doomed act.
This 1946 radio-play starring Walter Slezak and the 1929 movie The Great Gabbo starring Erich Von Stroheim were both based on the 1928 short story "The Rival Dummy" by Ben Hecht. The movie was not a horror story, although it is often marketed as one. Molle Mystery Theater's version is a murder mystery with a pinch of horror thrown in at the end. The sound quality of this recording isn't perfect but it isn't so bad as to be distracting. "The Rival Dummy" was also adapted for television and performed on the television show Studio One in 1949.
. Download TheRivalDummy.1946.11.01.mp3
(Image from Amazon.com)
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