CBSRMT ~ The Man Who Ran Away 357

Devastated by the discovery of his wife's infidelity, a man seeks refuge in a nearby town. He comes across a seemingly run-down estate and intends to drown his sorrows in solitude. However, he is surprised to find that the house occupied by a lady just as lonely as he is.
Air Dates: First Run - October 2, 1975
Repeat - February 28, 1976
Actors:
Dryden, Robert
Greenhouse, Martha
Maxwell, Robert
McCambridge, Mercedes
Writer: Eric, Elspeth

[@michaelkottler]

This episode rocks on so many levels including excellent dialogue, wise insights regarding a number of intense existential issues including but not limited to love, betrayal and forgiveness, it even mentions Freud in relation to the offered cocaine! Thank you again, ChillySunshine!

[@dontaylor7315]

About the cocaine in the story, it was a subtle clue that the woman was from a different time, when cocaine was legal and was used by respectable people - for instance it wasn't removed from Coca-Cola till 1929. A subtle clue, as I said, too subtle for me because I missed it.

[@gingersnap5245]

Brilliant psychological drama. Mercedes is mesmerizing. Such a great talent.

[@michaelkottler]

There are many amazing episodes of CBSRMT, & I've said it before, but wow this is superb! An episode that transcends the genres associated with MT on so many levels. Possibly my favorite episode. The total meaningfulness of the content sets a high standard indeed. Thanks ChillySunshine!

[@beast13284]

Love this one. Haunting, complex, compassionate. Mercedes McCambridge was superb

[@michaelkottler]

Agreed! And if you like this you'll appreciate CBC's Nightfall episode Guest of Honor: kzbin.info/www/bejne/Z3bTdo1nmd6WZpI

[@michaelkottler]

This episode is one of the few almost as deep and transcendent as the CBC Nightfall episode #27, "Guest of Honor", happily available for listening on KZbin. Most episodes of Nightfall are simply horrifying in a gratuitous manner, nowhere near as good as CBSRMT save for Guest of Honor. It's the first episode in this Nightfall collection. Guest of Honor and the 2nd episode are great, the others are mostly just shock for it's own sake: kzbin.info/www/bejne/Z3bTdo1nmd6WZpI

[@jerryjohnson8485]

Philo Farnsworth, inventer of t. v. seen it as a learning device, sorry he invented it because of the garbage on air.

[@brunoantony3218]

Fascinating, who needs television?

[@blueee100]

Exactly! Prefer this over TV anytime. You use your brain to picture the people and places. Before TV this is what a family did sitting by the radio listening to dramas like this. Actors and actresses were in a room playing the parts.

[@misskim2058]

Don’t even have one anymore and don’t miss it, it’s just an influx of mind clutter, only it’s really worse than that, it’s a mental landfill/garbage dump for some of the worst crap (there’s always more and always worse stuff out there somewhere) that anyone could voluntarily line up for and deliberately feed into their mind and soul. I constantly wonder why people do that to themselves on purpose. They worry more about what they feed their bodies than they do their minds and souls. Most don’t even consider that they *are* feeding, shaping and molding their minds when they do...anything, but especially when they watch TV, movies, and whatever they find online. They make the decision every day how they will wire, rewire, and either reinforce or destroy the old mindset and rebuild their neural pathways, which determines who and what they are. Most never make the connection of how they program themselves and how their lives look. Even the TV stations thank people for “tuning in” to their “programming”. From the first patent, the initial intent of TV was quite clear. The latest patents of this century....are something to definitely give cause for concern. I don’t expose myself to news, either, and life is infinitely more peaceful than those around me. If there is a piece of specific information I need, I know how to get it, and prefer far more intelligent and direct sources to acquire it anyway. Saves lots of time and energy for things over which I do have control, and makes room for only what I carefully choose to put into my mind. So, even these great old radio shows have a limit, but they *are* infinitely better than television.

[@unknownorigin7433]

Cocaine ,,,what

[@jeremybear573]

I'm back listening to CBSMT and its like I'm finding a whole new rotation of stories I've never came across before! Love it!

[@bittybitty8233]

I'm binging again today !! So many wonderful stories to hear !! 💙💜💕

[@michaelkottler]

I've said it before, but thank you again ChillySunshine for posting so many great episodes of this amazing show that thrilled me as a child tuning it in on late-night AM radio beginning in the 70's. This show & it's ilk, X-1, Black Mass, Dimension X, Quiet Please at al helped spawn a myriad of other great media. Thank you!

[@erin19030]

The next best thing to reading.

[@sabinchich999]

Robert Dryden is the real deal!

[@michaelkottler]

A huge thank you to @UCNsULwFy2a8NXb5MTZA0Z-g for editing and posting this unique episode of CBSRMT, along with a myriad of others, Warning: falling asleep while listening may cause bizarre dreams!

[@frankmcgovern5445]

Damn. Way to set up the permanent booty call.

[@shicruisin7004]

Frank McGovern 😅😅

[@michaelkottler]

I've listened to many radio-plays and this episode of CBSRMT is uniquely brilliant. Another broadcast that comes close on a meaningful/existential level is Nightfall's well-produced "Guest of Honor", the first episode in this collection: kzbin.info/www/bejne/Z3bTdo1nmd6WZpI

[@sinistar99]

Her part is fantastic.

[@michaelkottler]

This episode is wonderful. Insightful, deep, wise, and intelligent as well as compassionate, and I offer this praise as a psychology graduate and well-experienced adult who's experienced both sides of the existential coin presented here (sadly, minus the mansion with an eternally gracious, intelligent and lovely ghost-lover lol) . Thanks again for posting! Ha, & she offers him cocaine on top of the wine. Freud would be proud lol. Love it. The dialogue is brilliant. Amazing episode, indeed! Thank you, ChillySunshine!

[@dontaylor7315]

"Insightful, deep, wise, and intelligent as well as compassionate" describes all or nearly all of Elspeth Eric's scripts. To me she's by far the most original and thoughtful of CBSRMT's writers.

[@npc77107]

I'm sorry I really liked this episode it was awesome. But was the ghost the chamber maid or the guy on the horse's wife?... sorry for the questions

[@michaelkottler]

"We all make our own trouble, don't you think?"" Great dialogue, as always. For some reason the man on horseback reminds me of HP Lovecraft's epic The Mound which one can listen to for free on KZbin, and fans of CBSRMT should love his work which inspired so much of the great horror/sci-fi we enjoy today.

[@DreamingCatStudio]

Decidedly odd!

[@oldiesgirl10]

this episode was...interesting kind of weird

[@thomasbates6713]

I use to listen this every nite.

[@blueee100]

I do now!

[@Germatti13489]

@@blueee100 me too.

[@greghoman2341]

Music

[@michaelkottler]

Same, back in the day as a child tuning in to CBSRMT & other shows like X-1, Quiet, Please and several others on late-night AM radio in the 70's & eighties. And now thanks to ChillySunshine & a myriad of other benevolent editors and posters of pretty much every amazing suspense/horror/sci-fi/existential radio show, I'm able to rediscover it all including the episodes I missed. The future is here & when it comes to preserving & sharing classic & contemporary works from radio-plays to audio-books to TV and cinema, it rocks. :)

[@shaneblankenship8193]

love this

[@violetfemme411]

What did he eat for a week? 🤐

[@sinistar99]

Ghost Chow (tm)

[@casper1959]

One of my all time favorites. Thank you.

[@greyareasint]

Wow ..what a perfect place to break down !

[@777thetruth2]

Think about what she said to him, when he was trying to leave at the beginning, he said something like, “I can’t get out, I think the door is locked from the inside!” And she said something like, “That’s ridiculous, who locks the door from the inside?!” If you told anyone from the last few generations, that people didn’t even think about locking their doors, while they were home, they would think THAT would be ridiculous!!! (Even CRAZY!)

[@timvoigt4383]

PS-where u c "election", I meant election, & "y'all".....well.....I'm not from the Deep South.....I live in upstate NY. LOL

[@andreamayhes3668]

You use your amage in the CBS radio and try to keep up with its

[@timvoigt4383]

A very riveting story. There are, in my opinion, some things that are left 4 the listener 2 decide, such as: 1)the mysterious woman who occupies the old, & seemingly, run down house. 2)the man running away from what seems 2 be troubling him(the infidelity of his wife), 3)the woman, again, of the old house.....would easily be more than 100YO if she's been residing @ the house since its election in 1901. I believe she was a lingering ghost. It's, in mind's i, the only logical explanation which I know of which most ppl'd choose 2 be in denial over. Anyway, a good story. Very creative on the writer of this radio play. Y'all take care, now.🤠

[@katrinalassberg5649]

Mercedes MacCambridge is fantastic!

[@johneyon5257]

Mercedes McCambridge was close to 60 when she did this radio program - but her voice was of indeterminate age - and unfortunately - she was too much of a stage actress in this performance

[@michaelkottler]

I disagree and found her stage presence lent itself well to the character she portrayed.

[@johneyon5257]

@@michaelkottler - go stand in the corner ;)

[@suek9456]

These are my bedtime stories.....lay back, shut my brain off and enjoy.

[@pamelamyers9613]

RUN AWAY! RUN AWAY!

[@benjaminallen105]

One, Two, Five!

[@mathewweeks9069]

I love it😍❤😎👍💜❤

[@stephaniehand503]

thank you

[@LL-vj5yp]

Weird

[@timothyleslie3749]

J

[@witchmoon11]

Great story 🙏💞

[@violetfemme411]

en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mercedes_McCambridge#Personal_life Some seriously insane history here...Ms Cambridge's personal life was pretty crazy. Fascinating bio!

[@michaelkottler]

If you loved this episode of CBSRMT I think you'll adore the episode Guest of Honor from CBC's Nightfall episode: kzbin.info/www/bejne/Z3bTdo1nmd6WZpI

[@jwsuicides8095]

An unusual one.

[@bryine.willis8683]

> original...

[@PumaLyn]

The voice of the WIFE sounds too MANLY. That's a spoiler for me. Because I had to think of other things besides the story.

[@cm9439]

This is typical Elspeth Eric pseudo-psychological trash. Nonsensical plots populated with weird characters are the key elements in her stories. She was a much better actress than a writer. Mercedes McCambridge is very strong here, but, to what end?

[@michaelkottler]

I can state with authority as a psychology graduate and well-experienced adult that there's nothing pseudo or trashy about this episode. It offers fascinating modern archetypal figures with ancient needs and feelings we can all relate to, unless you're heartless/lacking in experience.

[@michaelkottler]

And you will find pointers "to what end" in the comments of others who've posted here with far more insight born of experience and emotional depth than you seem to possess. Hint: this episode speaks to various universal facts about the human experience.

[@HadrianGuardiola]

@@michaelkottler this is why people find psychology students intolerable boors.

[@williamnorton9547]

It's annoying how the tail end of a commercial plays while the starting sound effects kick in, just like how many radio announcers keep jabbering for the first few seconds of a song to which someone wants to listen.

[@dawa7267]

13:32 WHOA!! Who else perked up & became FULLY attentive to the story? 'She don't lie, she don't lie, she don't lieeee...'😁😁

[@stevenshipman650]

Robert Dryden was the most remarkably versatile and skilled actor. Even in this pointless mess of a script. He is the perfect counterpoint to Mercedes McCambridge’s weird character.