Escape - Habit

Escape's "Habit" was adapted from the short story by F.R. Buckley, which first appeared in Adventure, April 30, 1923.

As the episode opens, fiesty Captain Weatherfield is in a courtroom in New Bristol. He is being tried for an assault on a man who made insulting jokes about his ship, the Wakeland. Captain Weatherfield admits to assaulting the man--and that it was the right thing to do. The court decides otherwise and sentences him to seven days in jail.

When he is released, Captain Weatherfield is incensed about what happened. Insulted, too!  He swears that he will find a way to restore his good name.

A few days later, out on the north Atlantic and on the edge of a hurricane, Captain Weatherby sees an opporturnity to do just that. A distress signal comes in from a helpless ship registered from New Bristol.

Captain Weatherfield decides to rescue the crew so that the town of New Bristol will have to publicly herald him as a hero. However, in order for his plan to succeed, he has to plow his ship in to a hurricane, go out into a longboat to rescue the surviving crew, perform surgery on the injured captain, and smack down a first mate.

In the end, will he get a hero's welcome and public apology from the town of New Bristol?

"Habit" was adapted for radio by Les Crutchfield with editorial supervision by John Dunkel. Norman MacDonnell produced/directed. Luis Van Rooten played Captain Weatherfield. John Dehner played Mr. Connelly. Also appearing were Berry Kroeger, Wilms Herbert, and Bill Bouchet. This episode aired on July 18, 1948.

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(Image of Luis Van Rooten from Wikipedia)