Episode Transcript
[00:00:17] Speaker A: The mysterious old Radio Listening Society podcast welcome to the mysterious old Radio Listening Society, a podcast dedicated to suspense, crime, and horror stories from the golden age of radio. I'm Eric.
[00:00:34] Speaker B: I'm Tim.
[00:00:35] Speaker C: And I'm Joshua.
[00:00:36] Speaker A: We love mysterious old time radio stories, but do they stand the test of time? That's what we're here to find out.
[00:00:42] Speaker B: This week, I brought a story entitled the Silver Cord from Obsession, a series we have not yet listened to on this podcast. Several episodes of Obsession have survived, although not much is known about the series in general. CP McGregor produced and hosted the show, which first ran on the CB's station WBBM in Chicago. The show debuted on October 9, 1950, as a filler program, but starting January 15, 1951, Obsession began airing Monday nights until its final broadcast on May 12, 1952. The show frequently featured first rate vocal talent such as Vincent Price, Jane Wyatt, and William Conrad.
[00:01:16] Speaker C: The Silver Cord stars Hilary Brooke. Prior to her appearance on Obsession, Brooke appeared in three of the Basil Rathbone, Nigel Bruce, Sherlock Holmes films, Sherlock Holmes in the Voice of Terror, Sherlock Holmes faces death, and the Woman in Green. Later, she would work with a very different duo, appearing regularly on the Abbot and Costello show.
[00:01:36] Speaker B: The term silver cord originates from chapter twelve, verses six and seven from the Book of Ecclesiastes in the Old Testament. Or ever the silver cord be loosed, or the golden bowl be broken, or the pitcher be broken at the fountain, or the wheel broken at the cistern. Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was, and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it. In metaphysical realms, the silver cord is what connects a person's astral form to their physical body during astral projection. None of that seems to have anything to do with this story.
[00:02:05] Speaker A: However, there are several stories called the silver Cord that deal with a domineering maternal figure, including a 1926 Broadway play by Sidney Howard, which was adapted as a 1933 pre code film starring Irene Dunn. Stories with similar themes can also be heard in radio series such as the Ford Theater and calling all cars. But right now we're listening to this version of the Silver Cord from Obsession, first broadcast on December 18, 1950.
[00:02:34] Speaker C: It's late at night and a chill has set in. You're alone and the only light you see is coming from an antique radio. Listen to the sounds coming from the speaker. Listen to the music and listen to the voices.
[00:02:55] Speaker D: Obsession what is the right of motherhood? Can it maim, destroy, withhold the right of its progeny to the same love that gave it birth?
Can a bear deny its cubs, or the eagle its fledglings or the beaver, its kits. The answer, then, in just a moment, is in this story starring Hilary Brook.
It is late afternoon on a dreary October day, early in the present decade.
The scene is a rugged New England coast, for a small farmhouse stands forlorn and alone near the edge of a jagged cliff. Against this cliff, the sea strikes in monotonous rhythm.
A shriveled old woman sits at the supper table. Holding taut the silver cord. That binds her to a pretty young girl. Who works at the menial task of clearing away the refuse. The silver cord that is at once the strength and the weakness of a selfish obsession.
[00:04:27] Speaker E: Leave my cup, Sarah.
[00:04:29] Speaker F: Right there, Granny. I haven't touched it.
[00:04:31] Speaker E: Can't see why you're rushing so tender, though there was any reason for it.
[00:04:34] Speaker F: You know there's a reason.
[00:04:36] Speaker E: What reason? How would I know?
[00:04:37] Speaker F: Granny, there's no use pretending.
[00:04:39] Speaker E: Pretending?
[00:04:40] Speaker F: You know I've been counting on going to the harvest festival.
[00:04:42] Speaker E: You ain't said nothing lately. Thought you'd given it up, Jason being gone.
[00:04:46] Speaker F: Well, I haven't.
[00:04:47] Speaker E: Driving 3 miles into town and back alone.
[00:04:49] Speaker F: Jester, I've hardly been out of this house for weeks. I want to be where there are people to talk to and fun and laugh to.
[00:04:55] Speaker E: Those who set store by such things manages to forget their duty.
[00:04:59] Speaker F: Maybe, but you've got to laugh sometimes anyway. When you're young, you've got to laugh.
[00:05:04] Speaker E: Fiddlesticks. You ain't fooling me none, Sarah. Tain't laughing. You're so hurried to get away for it's to get dancing with them struthers boys and Tom Doyle and the like.
[00:05:12] Speaker F: There isn't anything wrong with dancing.
[00:05:14] Speaker E: Wanting to get their arms around you. That's what you're in such a hurry for. Duty or no duty.
[00:05:18] Speaker F: Am I forgetting my duty? Just wanting one night of dancing. Don't I wait on you day in and day out? Isn't that about all there is in my life?
[00:05:26] Speaker E: Strikes me you ain't very grateful for my taking you in when you was left alone. I didn't have to. Me being your grandfather's second wife. You wasn't my flesh and blood.
[00:05:34] Speaker F: Oh, Granny, I'm grateful.
[00:05:36] Speaker E: But I don't know what you'd do if it wasn't for me. No place to go, no kith or kin.
[00:05:40] Speaker F: I do what I can to make up for it.
[00:05:41] Speaker E: Funny way to make up for it. Go and gallivant. And leaving me here all alone. Just so's you can set your cap for some young fellow.
[00:05:47] Speaker F: I'm not setting my cap for anyone.
[00:05:49] Speaker E: And I ain't forgot how you was acting about Jason. Meeting him yonder on the cliff, running out to him whenever he wishes.
[00:05:55] Speaker F: Jason's gone, Granny.
[00:05:56] Speaker E: Trying to come between us. He was trying to take you from me.
[00:06:00] Speaker F: Wasn't anything of the kind. He never even spoke of marrying.
I'll change my dress now, Sarah. Yes, Granny.
[00:06:09] Speaker E: So long as you said, I'm going. Seems like you could look to my comfort a little.
[00:06:13] Speaker F: What is it now?
[00:06:14] Speaker E: You could move my chair to the window so as I can see the storm. You know well enough I ain't able to.
[00:06:20] Speaker F: It is beside the window taint.
[00:06:22] Speaker E: Turn right. I can't see the cliff.
[00:06:25] Speaker F: There you are.
[00:06:30] Speaker E: Musta hit close by, that one. Musta.
[00:06:34] Speaker F: It's getting late. I'll have to ew.
[00:06:38] Speaker E: Listen to it. It's coming nearer. Coming closer to the cliff.
Coming to keep an old lady company. Yes. Many's the time I've gone out to meet it. Out to the cliff, Sarah, where you and Jason used to go. A holding hands. Other things have gone out there. Yes, lots more important things. Long before you and Jason, your uncle Robert died out there.
You know how he died. I know.
[00:07:07] Speaker F: I've heard the thing.
[00:07:09] Speaker E: You heard what people say, but you don't.
[00:07:11] Speaker F: I'm ready. I'm going now.
[00:07:13] Speaker E: Sarah, you ain't goin to storm.
[00:07:16] Speaker F: Yes, Granny, I am.
[00:07:18] Speaker E: I should think you'd be afraid. The lighteners strike the buggy sometimes does. I've heard tell I'll get there somehow. Oh. Oh, Sarah, quick.
[00:07:28] Speaker F: What is it?
[00:07:29] Speaker E: I've been took with one of them stomach spares.
Quit the medicine here.
[00:07:36] Speaker F: Drinking.
[00:07:40] Speaker E: Nasty stuff. Don't do me no good.
[00:07:43] Speaker F: You'll be all right in a minute.
[00:07:44] Speaker E: Oh, but I ain't, sheriff. The pain's awful. They're well awful, I suppose they don't. And then you're gone.
[00:07:51] Speaker F: I'll put the medicine right here.
[00:07:52] Speaker E: Oh, pain's getting worse. It's creeping all over me. You ain't gone now, are you, Granny?
[00:08:00] Speaker F: Can't you possibly get along without me, this one?
[00:08:03] Speaker E: Shove the way I am. You know how them spells are.
[00:08:06] Speaker F: I know well enough how they are.
[00:08:08] Speaker E: You never can tell what enough. One will come.
[00:08:11] Speaker F: All right, I'm staying. You'll be better now.
[00:08:33] Speaker E: I declare. Looks as if the storms fashion lightning. Still flashing, though.
Well, you needn't sulk, Sarah. I can't help it if I get took with them spells, now, can I?
[00:08:44] Speaker F: No, I suppose you can't. And I can't.
[00:08:47] Speaker E: Sarah, on the cliff. There's a man. I saw him gains the lightning.
Might have been your Uncle Robert.
[00:08:56] Speaker F: Uncle Robert's been dead 20 years.
[00:08:58] Speaker E: Yeah, 20 years. Look like him, though.
[00:09:02] Speaker F: Granny, did you hear that?
[00:09:04] Speaker E: Eh? No, nothing. Nothing, nothing. Nothing but the wind.
[00:09:08] Speaker F: There it is again, that whistle.
There is someone on the cliff.
[00:09:14] Speaker E: It's Jason, the potenteers. You ain't going to go?
[00:09:17] Speaker F: Yes, Granny.
You'll be all right now. And I'm going.
[00:09:29] Speaker E: All right. Go on. Go ahead. But you'll never marry him. Never.
[00:09:59] Speaker G: Sir. I'm over here.
[00:10:01] Speaker F: Oh, Jason. Jason, it is you. You're back.
[00:10:04] Speaker H: Sure.
[00:10:05] Speaker G: Who'd you think would be whistling?
[00:10:07] Speaker F: Oh, the lightning flashed. Granny said she saw a man on the cliff and said it looked like Uncle Robert. And then the wind went down and I heard the whipple. Oh, but I couldn't be sure, Jason. It might have really been just a whip. Whip?
[00:10:19] Speaker G: I was afraid you might have gone to the festival.
[00:10:21] Speaker F: I was going, but Granny had one of her spells.
[00:10:23] Speaker G: Hmm. She hasn't changed any since I've been away.
[00:10:26] Speaker F: No, she hasn't changed. Nothing changes here. Things just go.
Listen to the waves pounding day in and day out against its cliff, wearing down its strength little by little. So someday it'll get too tired to fight any longer, slide down into the sand.
People get worn down, too, Jason. And for most of them, there's no way to escape.
[00:10:51] Speaker G: If there was a way, Sarah, would you take it?
[00:10:54] Speaker F: Oh, yes, please.
[00:10:55] Speaker G: But would you, Sarah? Would you?
[00:10:57] Speaker F: Why did you go away?
[00:10:58] Speaker G: Well, you'll know in a minute, Sarah. But first I have to say something to you. Something I. I've never said because somehow I figured there wasn't any need.
I figured you just knew.
[00:11:08] Speaker F: You are, Jason, that I love you.
[00:11:11] Speaker G: Sarah, if you did know, you must have.
[00:11:13] Speaker F: Well, I wasn't sure. You never said it. I was hoping that's how it was. Jason, being with you is all I've had from life.
[00:11:20] Speaker G: You do love me, Sarah. I wasn't a fool believing it.
[00:11:22] Speaker F: No, Jake.
[00:11:24] Speaker G: Oh, Sarah.
[00:11:27] Speaker F: It seems strange.
All these hours we been together and you never kissed me, never held me and kissed me before.
[00:11:34] Speaker G: I wasn't sure you loved me.
[00:11:36] Speaker F: Oh, I do love you, Jason, so much that it's all that's kept me going.
Even when it seemed as if there wasn't anything left to live for.
[00:11:43] Speaker G: Sarah, it was wrong of me not saying right away how I felt and what I was hoping to do. But I wanted to surprise you.
[00:11:50] Speaker F: About what, Gene?
[00:11:51] Speaker G: I have a job, Sarah. A good job. Down at the county seat. That's what I went away for? I'm going back tomorrow.
[00:11:57] Speaker F: Leaving so soon?
[00:11:58] Speaker G: In the morning, start work, and I'll.
[00:12:01] Speaker F: Be alone again, not seeing anyone but her.
[00:12:04] Speaker G: What are you talking about, Sarah? We're getting married, Jason.
[00:12:08] Speaker F: Married?
[00:12:09] Speaker E: Us?
[00:12:10] Speaker D: Sure.
[00:12:10] Speaker G: And living together in our own place.
[00:12:12] Speaker F: Where there's life going on and people to talk to. And you coming home every evening. A home of our own.
Maybe there are better things than that in life. But I never asked for.
[00:12:24] Speaker G: There is nothing better, Sarah. And as soon as you can arrange things, I'm coming back for you. And we'll be married right away.
[00:12:30] Speaker F: Oh, be wonderful, Jason.
But we're forgetting something.
We're forgetting her in this.
[00:12:38] Speaker G: I'm not forgetting her. I'm finally setting you free of her.
[00:12:42] Speaker F: But I have a duty to her. You can't forget duty just to get something you want.
[00:12:47] Speaker G: Sarah, you've got to see this thing straight. You paid her a thousand times over for whatever she's done for you. She's a selfish old woman who doesn't care about anything but herself.
Don't love me.
[00:12:57] Speaker F: Say that, Jason.
I love you so much that just now when I heard your whistle, my. My heart was pounding till I thought I'd die. Pounding louder than the sea down.
[00:13:07] Speaker G: Then you must see it isn't right for you to give up all your life for what's left of hers. Look at what she did tonight. Fixing it so you couldn't even go to the festival.
[00:13:15] Speaker F: She said she was ill, Jason.
[00:13:16] Speaker G: Well, it's mighty queer. She's always ill when you try to get away for a while. Sarah, there's something unnatural about her power over you. Remember, you have a duty to yourself.
[00:13:27] Speaker F: I guess I've been blind, but I'm not blind any longer.
I will marry you, Jason. I'll marry you as soon as you can manage it.
[00:13:36] Speaker G: Oh, Sarah.
Sarah, this is something we have to celebrate.
You're beautiful tonight.
[00:13:42] Speaker F: Oh, Jason.
I'll get my coat, Jason, and meet you here. Oh, I'm so happy I'm almost scared.
[00:13:50] Speaker G: Remember now, it's right what you're doing. You mustn't let her talk you out of it.
[00:13:55] Speaker F: Oh, not now, Jason. Never. Oh, my darling. I'm free at last. I'm free.
[00:14:16] Speaker D: The strands of the silver cord unravel and unweave in the face of a love that knows not the word of defeat. The blood of heritage runs thick, but the wine of life brews high with the yeast of love.
Each life to live, each life to die as it chooses. Save that life in the grip of a greedy and selfish obsession.
Now to the story and its strange implications that are twisted by an obsession.
Pondering the relative fates of a life buffeted by the squalls and mistrals of jealousy, Sarah has at last made the resolute determination to be free and to live her own life within the orbit of her love for Jason.
Sarah has returned from her meditation on the cliff to the lonely old house and to the lonely old woman who lives in it. The lonely old woman who lives deep in the quagmire of obsession.
[00:15:42] Speaker E: That you.
[00:15:43] Speaker F: Yes, Granny.
[00:15:44] Speaker E: You were gone long enough.
[00:15:45] Speaker F: Only a few minutes and that's all. I'm going to stay.
[00:15:48] Speaker E: Sarah, what are you doing with that coat? Where are you going?
[00:15:52] Speaker F: I'm going to the festival after all, Granny. With Jason?
[00:15:55] Speaker E: Sure it was him a whistling at you. He's back. And he turned you against me at last. You young fool. Where do you think this is leading you?
[00:16:05] Speaker F: Jason and I are getting married. That's where it's leading me.
[00:16:07] Speaker E: You can't marry Jason hall.
[00:16:09] Speaker F: Yes, I can. I'm going to.
[00:16:11] Speaker E: You know about your great uncle Robert. You know the tale about how he died.
[00:16:15] Speaker F: Of course I know. You told me over and over again.
[00:16:17] Speaker E: Folks always said he was walking on the cliff yonder in the storm and getting too close to the edge. He slipped and fell into the sea.
[00:16:24] Speaker F: I've heard the story, Granny, and Jason's way.
[00:16:26] Speaker E: He didn't slip, Sarah. He didn't slip at all. No one but me knows this. Not a body in the whole world but me. I was there on the cliff. I seen it. He jumped, Sarah. He done away with himself.
[00:16:43] Speaker F: Suppose he did. What has that got to do with me?
[00:16:45] Speaker E: Well, don't you see? He jumped, Sarah. He jumped cause his head was full of strange notions.
[00:16:52] Speaker F: What are you saying?
[00:16:53] Speaker E: He used to tell me about his notions, Granny.
[00:16:56] Speaker F: What?
[00:16:57] Speaker E: He was mad, Sarah. Mad? Yes, and your blood relation to him. You're tainted, Sarah.
[00:17:07] Speaker F: Oh, no, Granny.
[00:17:08] Speaker E: So you see now why you can't marry nobody. Never. Do you see her? Where are you going? Chair.
[00:17:15] Speaker F: Jason's waiting. Granny.
I've got to send them away.
[00:17:45] Speaker E: Now. We can be clear on the table.
[00:17:48] Speaker F: Yes.
[00:17:49] Speaker E: Land sakes, Terry, you ain't ate nothing.
[00:17:52] Speaker F: I'm not hungry.
[00:17:54] Speaker E: Perhaps a little tea would do you good.
[00:17:56] Speaker F: I'm not hungry.
[00:17:58] Speaker E: But you got to eat. You got to keep alive.
[00:18:01] Speaker F: Why?
[00:18:01] Speaker E: What about a lift for now? Sarah, that's no way to talk. Why, it's been most a year since that Jason went away. You got to forget him.
[00:18:10] Speaker F: Why, if all I can ever do is think of him. Why must I forget him?
[00:18:14] Speaker E: Oh. Oh, look, Sarah. Look here at the window.
Why, there's Doctor Williams headed for Widow Carey's. He ought to stop past here first and see me. Nothing wrong with her. Nothing at all.
Ooh, it's getting cold in here, Sarah. Might be we could build that fire up a might?
[00:18:37] Speaker F: You can put some wood on if you're cold.
[00:18:39] Speaker E: Yeah, I suppose I'll have to.
You wouldn't care if we was both to freeze to death.
Take easy bending and lifting these.
[00:18:48] Speaker F: Oh, stop it, Granny. You're plenty able to do it. Oh, that's what you say and that's what I know. You're getting old, Granny, and you keep forgetting. I found you out, learned that you weren't helpless and been deceiving me all these years.
Well, what does it matter now?
[00:19:03] Speaker E: It matters when you won't do nothing except sit there day in, day out, staring out to see, never saying nothing, just thinking.
[00:19:11] Speaker F: I have plenty to think about, Granny. After what you told me that night.
[00:19:14] Speaker E: It was my duty to tell you.
[00:19:16] Speaker F: My duty to send Jason away.
But it hasn't made living any easier knowing what I know.
[00:19:22] Speaker E: Sarah, we got to look after each other now.
[00:19:25] Speaker F: Yes, Granny, we've got to look after each other. Shutting these four walls, hating each other, waiting for it. You watching me day in and day out, dreading it. Fear in your heart, not knowing when it'll come or how.
[00:19:38] Speaker E: Now, if you go on brooding like this, I don't know what I'll do. I just can't stand.
[00:19:44] Speaker F: You can stand it. And I'm waking every morning and wondering, will it come today? And all day long think, how will it come?
[00:19:51] Speaker E: Will I know when you gotta stop dwelling on it.
[00:19:54] Speaker F: Stop? How can I stop? Nobody could. I tell you, I've tried. But it's not knowing, waiting, fear.
[00:20:02] Speaker E: Well, of course there ain't nothing certain about it. Your uncle Robert was past 40.
[00:20:07] Speaker F: Past 40 and I'm 24.
[00:20:10] Speaker E: Sarah, you've got to get hold of yourself.
[00:20:12] Speaker F: Sure, I gotta get hold of myself. I gotta keep on standing. Well, I can't do it here. Not even God possessed that. It's me.
[00:20:18] Speaker E: Sarah, where are you going? What you going to do? Sarah, stop. Sarah.
[00:20:39] Speaker F: Where are you going? Sarah?
What good is it going to do?
You can't run away.
There's no way you can go that you can get away from yourself. What's hanging over you?
Look down, Sarah.
Over the edge of the cliff.
It's dark and the sea is boiling.
[00:21:05] Speaker E: Closer to the edge.
[00:21:08] Speaker F: That was Uncle Robert's way.
[00:21:13] Speaker E: But Jason.
[00:21:15] Speaker F: What do you think?
He'd never understand.
[00:21:21] Speaker E: No, no, I can too.
[00:21:23] Speaker F: I've got to go on no matter what.
[00:21:25] Speaker H: Here. What's this? You, Sarah?
I was on my way to your house.
[00:21:31] Speaker F: Oh, Doctor Williams, you frightened?
[00:21:33] Speaker H: What's troubling you, child?
[00:21:34] Speaker F: It's nothing. I'm all right, doctor.
[00:21:38] Speaker H: I drove down to the county seat yesterday, sir. Ran into Jason. He wanted to know how you are.
[00:21:43] Speaker F: Oh.
[00:21:43] Speaker H: Uh huh. Gave me a message for you. He's coming here tonight to take you to the festival. Good boy, Jason.
Suppose you'll be marrying soon. He's doing so well and everything.
[00:21:54] Speaker F: Me marrying?
[00:21:55] Speaker H: Why not, if you love him.
[00:21:58] Speaker F: Granny told me, doctor, why I couldn't marry him.
[00:22:01] Speaker H: Granny told you?
Told you what?
[00:22:05] Speaker F: Why I couldn't marry anyone ever.
[00:22:07] Speaker H: Oh, she did.
And why was it, child?
[00:22:12] Speaker F: She told me about Uncle Robert. The real truth about it.
[00:22:16] Speaker H: Just what did she tell you, sir?
[00:22:18] Speaker F: You know you must.
She said his head was always full of strange notions.
[00:22:22] Speaker H: Oh, he was a queer one at times.
[00:22:25] Speaker F: She said it wasn't an accident the way he died.
She was there and saw him. She said he jumped off the cliff.
[00:22:31] Speaker H: She had no right to tell you such a thing.
[00:22:33] Speaker F: She told me it was because he was mad.
[00:22:34] Speaker H: Your uncle Robert.
[00:22:35] Speaker C: Mad?
[00:22:36] Speaker F: That's why I couldn't marry Jason.
Nor anyone, ever.
[00:22:40] Speaker H: Sarah, you poor child.
[00:22:43] Speaker F: Please, doctor. It isn't sympathy I want. I can't stand that. But I've got to know the truth. All the truth about myself and Uncle Robert. And there are others in my family that suffered too.
[00:22:56] Speaker H: No, no, no, Sarah, never. It's a lie. She told you about your uncle. All a lie.
[00:23:01] Speaker F: Doctor, you. You're not just trying to make it easy for me? You wouldn't say that just to.
[00:23:08] Speaker H: No, no, I tell you it's a cruel lie, sir. I was the first one to reach your uncle after he fell. He was dead. Hit the rocks below the cliff. But clutched tight in his hand was a bush he grabbed to save himself. When he slipped, the rain had washed the roots and it gave way. It was an accident. He was no more mad than I am.
[00:23:27] Speaker F: You're sure there was never anyone in my family who.
[00:23:29] Speaker H: Oh, no, no, of course not. I've known them all from a way back.
Come, sir, let's.
Let's go on down to the house.
[00:23:39] Speaker F: Oh, doctor.
[00:23:40] Speaker E: William.
[00:23:41] Speaker F: I can't believe anyone could be so cruel.
[00:23:44] Speaker H: It was a terrible thing to do, sir. Terrible.
Old folks are selfish sometimes.
They try to hold on to the young ones and keep them from living their own lives.
It's as though coming to the end of the road. They hate to be shoved aside and clutch at anything, to stay in the thick of things.
They don't always fight fair.
[00:24:09] Speaker F: But a whole year, doctor, I believed.
[00:24:12] Speaker H: And maybe there's another thing had something to do with it. You see, Sarah, she was in love with your great uncle Robert, although she was married to his brother.
Maybe being thwarted in her own love, she was jealous of you and Jason.
That happens sometimes.
[00:24:31] Speaker F: But that isn't any reason to.
[00:24:33] Speaker H: No reason for a normal, healthy mind.
But you see, Sarah, she's been acting strange, like at times. That's why I've been watching her coming in every few days. Oh, she's harmless enough, but.
Well, we'll see, Sarah.
We'll see what's to be done.
[00:24:52] Speaker F: Doctor, it's Jason. I can marry Jason now if you want.
[00:24:57] Speaker H: Of course he wants you go to him, child. I'll look you on, Granny. Maybe I'll see you and Jason at the festival later.
[00:25:04] Speaker F: Here I am, Jason, here by the.
[00:25:10] Speaker E: Doctor.
[00:25:11] Speaker F: Jason, what was this?
[00:25:12] Speaker H: Sarah seemed to come from the clear pipe.
[00:25:14] Speaker G: Sarah, are you all right?
[00:25:15] Speaker F: Oh, Mick, I. Jason, did you.
[00:25:17] Speaker G: Yes, yes, it was your grandmother.
[00:25:19] Speaker H: You saw her, Jason. Did she fall?
[00:25:22] Speaker G: She went over all right, but I don't know whether she fell.
[00:25:25] Speaker H: I'm afraid we'll never know.
[00:25:27] Speaker F: Oh, poor grandma.
[00:25:28] Speaker H: She was very old, child, very old.
No matter how it happens, she's set you free.
[00:25:37] Speaker F: He's right, Jason.
Granny set me free at that.
[00:25:56] Speaker H: You have been listening to obsession.
[00:26:00] Speaker A: That was the silver cord from obsession here on the mysterious old radio listening society podcast. Once again, I'm Eric.
[00:26:09] Speaker B: I'm Tim.
[00:26:09] Speaker C: And I'm Joshua.
[00:26:12] Speaker A: All right, so I'm not sure where to start.
[00:26:15] Speaker C: The silver cord. Let's start with that. I'm glad you put it in the.
[00:26:18] Speaker A: Yeah, me too.
[00:26:19] Speaker C: Because I was baffled, so baffled.
[00:26:22] Speaker A: I looked it up and all I found was astral projection websites and I was like, what? I know, apron strings. And I thought it was a reference to apron strings, like, you don't let your kid leave you, you know that old saying? But I never found anything about silver.
[00:26:35] Speaker C: Coins backing it up to the idea of it being stories about mothers. It's almost like the intro was written for a different story, that they crammed this one in because they make a lot of reference to their no blood relation.
[00:26:48] Speaker B: I was kind of stopping myself, but there was so many of these other stories, radio stories, and the play in the movie that are specifically called the silver cord and specifically deal with this sort of overbearing mother, that it makes me think that this was a really common sort of term used. But it's weird that it's a century.
[00:27:05] Speaker C: Ago story about an old lady who has no relation to this woman, even though she's serving this maternal function. It's weird that the intro easily says.
[00:27:12] Speaker B: Motherhood, the overbearingness that it's meant to represent the leash that a child has kept on.
[00:27:18] Speaker C: I'll be honest, when I first heard the first couple minutes of the intro, when she said bound by a silver cord, for a moment, I actually, I just thought it was, this is gonna be a weird story. And then, especially at the end, if she jumped off the cliff and was still.
[00:27:31] Speaker A: I did. I also thought, oh, she's on a leash. I thought it was an actual cord.
[00:27:36] Speaker B: I thought that as well. I mean, I even went into it knowing that the silver cord is more of a sort of spiritual reference without knowing it was specifically sort of familial.
[00:27:43] Speaker C: But, yeah, I knew the spiritual reference, but it seemed to have so little to do with it. And when you said tied, it seemed like a literal thing. Anyway, that kind of tells us how distracted I was during the story.
[00:27:54] Speaker A: I was not distracted.
Tim, I love you.
[00:28:00] Speaker C: Is this an intervention?
[00:28:01] Speaker B: Am I fired?
[00:28:03] Speaker A: No, it's just you're hurting people with.
[00:28:05] Speaker C: Your selection of old time radio shows.
[00:28:07] Speaker A: I just don't want you to be sad when I tell you I have very little nice things I'm about to say.
[00:28:13] Speaker C: Do it.
[00:28:15] Speaker H: Bring it.
[00:28:15] Speaker B: Come on.
[00:28:16] Speaker A: I was so bored. It's like a soap opera to me. And I think it had huge opportunities to go somewhere and do something, and it bypassed every chance it had. There's Uncle Robert. Oh, good. We got a ghost story. Nope. It just. It never went anywhere interesting for me. And the fact that there are. How did I write it? In my notes? There are so many big holes of logic. And I guess you just have to take into account that her being removed from everything and that she doesn't know anything, that that's where you have to stay in order for this story to make sense, because she has ample opportunity to walk away. She has ample opportunity to know this woman is lying. She wasn't even that mean. Like, she wasn't even hitting her or. I don't know what I'm trying to say.
She wasn't even actually tied up with a silver cord.
[00:29:14] Speaker C: Can I quickly say what I liked about this?
[00:29:17] Speaker A: Sure.
[00:29:17] Speaker C: And then we'll find out why Tim brought it. Yeah, we're just totally talking over, right?
[00:29:22] Speaker A: I know Tim's sitting there going, yeah, let me hear it all.
[00:29:26] Speaker C: I like how the first half teases so many horror, murder, supernatural tropes. And then you realize by the time Sarah's out on the cliff talking to Jason that this is just a everyday story of emotional manipulation and abuse. And I enjoyed being distracted by that and thinking it's something else and then realizing, wow, it's just a horrid old woman. And I felt like it had some authentic moments with emotional abuse. When she gets out there with Jason and Jason says, marry me, we can leave. And she's like, I can't, and I have to take care of granny. I owe her. And she starts defending this awful woman. It's like, that's actually really real. That's unfortunately what people do when they're a victim of somebody. So I found that intriguing. I would tend to agree with Eric, as in, like, I think once you pass that point, it asks you to buy a lot of stuff and it gets really clunky.
[00:30:27] Speaker B: I will straight up say that I may have done obsession at disservice, because I believe this is not one of their better episodes.
[00:30:32] Speaker A: You brought it because we hadn't heard it before. I'm guessing that was started.
[00:30:35] Speaker B: It was a big impulse of like, I want one of these episodes here. Some things that made this one pop out at me was two female leads. As much as I keep feeling like that's unusual, we keep finding them, like maybe it's not unusual. So that was one of the things I wanted to highlight. I agree with. I think similar to what you were saying, that I was very, very into what was going on, and granny laughing wickedly at this lightning storm, which seems to be entertainment. Let's watch the lightning storms, which I like, but yeah. And the authenticity of their abusive relationship.
Basically, as soon as the doctor shows up and explains, like, no, you're fine, she's bad.
That just killed the whole story for me. But even the. We've gone, what was it, a year with you thinking that you're crazy and you'll never be able to marry or have children on that sort of theme of the genetic burden you put on your children with whatever's wrong with you thinking that I carry this gene of madness, therefore I should never have a child, which is an interesting sort of profound thing to have as a theme in what is otherwise a kind of pedestrian plot.
[00:31:45] Speaker A: Yeah, nothing. Nothing happens.
Jason is the most interesting plot hole for me, and that is this, obviously, Jason is the one that's an absolute loon.
You're going out to the cliff and you're whistling, not going to the door, just hoping she can hear the whistle.
[00:32:05] Speaker C: And then he's like, well, who else would whistle?
[00:32:08] Speaker A: And then she comes out and she says, I can't marry you. I'm crazy. And at that point you say to her, yeah, I mean, that's what happened. He said, yeah, you're right. I gotta go. And then it's unclear.
[00:32:21] Speaker C: Did she give him the actual reasons for why she wouldn't marry? She says she has to. We don't hear the scene. She says, I have to go out and tell Jason.
[00:32:28] Speaker A: I assume she told him that it was because of her uncle Robert.
[00:32:33] Speaker C: And I think the only way you can make this story work is that Jason didn't know.
[00:32:39] Speaker A: If you give me that, I can fill in a bunch of polls, like why Jason waited a year after and went back and said, by the way, that's got to be a hell of a festival.
That must be some kind of festival. But he waits a year and then comes back and says, I'm going to come up to the cliff a year later and try whistling. No, we just went through this. What are you doing? Also, you went into town and you never told anybody what she said. And so nobody came to her and said, wait, wait, wait, wait. That's a lie.
[00:33:04] Speaker C: So if that's what I mean, you have to believe that she didn't give him the real reason.
[00:33:08] Speaker A: Correct. If you give me that piece of information, I can plug up a few holes here that make me nuts, but it's still relatively pedestrian is a good word for it, you know?
[00:33:19] Speaker C: All right, I'll still walk everywhere.
[00:33:23] Speaker A: You didn't just say that. That's a joke I would tell.
[00:33:27] Speaker B: Joke is generous.
[00:33:29] Speaker A: McMillan and wife.
[00:33:31] Speaker C: So I just wanted to help save this show. So there's another lightning rod in the podcast.
[00:33:37] Speaker A: Well, there's not a lot going on. She's not so abusive that she's tied up with an actual silver cord or she can't actually leave. She threatens to do it all the time. She's guilted into staying.
[00:33:48] Speaker B: That guilt and that pressure to me was interesting and compelling of not the I'm actually gonna tie you down, but if you walk out the door, I'm gonna say I'm having one of my spells. And that complex, really sick sort of thing. Like if she had left, yes, something bad would have happened to that grandmother, either self inflicted to punish her, or she just would have psychosomatically made her condition worse.
[00:34:12] Speaker C: We know that's true because grandma finally just jumps off a cliff, or does she? Is there a reading where Jason shows up immediately over the top of that and says, yeah, I couldn't tell if she fell or jumped. I liked the story a lot better when I assumed that Jason was lurking out there and shoved. Just grabbed grandma out of the house, dragged her to the cliff face and flung her over the side.
[00:34:35] Speaker A: But that's exactly what I'm saying. There's a hundred moments this, that they could have done something like that where he ends up being the crazy one or she ends up actually being crazy, or he goes and kills grandma. There's nothing.
Nothing happens other than, oh, that sucks. Well, see you next year. I'll come out here and whistle.
[00:34:54] Speaker C: I'm gonna agree with Tim on the first half, though, because I was really drawn in by the abusive relationship. I was concerned about this character who was just trying to leave the house, just trying to go dance with all the fellas. Then the whole thing where she's. I'm having a stomach spell. You gotta stay and change my adult diapers.
[00:35:12] Speaker B: As soon as she stays there, it's.
[00:35:15] Speaker C: Yeah, look at that lightning. I win.
[00:35:17] Speaker G: Yeah.
[00:35:18] Speaker C: And it was awful enough that I was invested in that. It falls apart to me. Although I like your analysis of the horror of thinking you have this hereditary madness. I feel like she was too gullible in that moment. I feel like the story could have done a slight tweak, a forged letter from her uncle or anything to give Granny's story a little more credibility.
[00:35:42] Speaker B: Yeah, that makes sense.
[00:35:43] Speaker G: Yeah.
[00:35:43] Speaker C: So that was the moment where it all kind of fell apart. Because then it seemed like, wow, why wouldn't you double check this story with anyone else like Eric was saying? And so why wouldn't Peter? Peter's out after that.
[00:35:52] Speaker A: Why wouldn't Jason double check the story? But as you're saying, if he wasn't told the truth, why not tell us what she told him then so that we understand that? Why leave it like that? That's why. I don't think that that is what happened. I don't think we're supposed to believe that she went and told him something else. I think we're supposed to believe that she told him the truth, which creates all those holes. Because otherwise, why wouldn't we hear that? That would help us through this plot?
[00:36:17] Speaker B: I mostly think the script got written into a corner where they didn't or couldn't come up with a interesting enough way out of that corner other than just someone tells her, no, that's wrong.
[00:36:27] Speaker A: Yeah, because there's a lot of traffic on that cliff, by the way.
But then how does grandma hear that the doctor's talking to her? And how did she sneak by them and jump? There's so much that just went so fast that they weren't explaining, and it would have been so easy to do.
[00:36:45] Speaker C: There's also a weird throwaway line that's somewhere in a scene that we didn't get to listen to during the year long gap of her believing she was mad. She says, somehow I discovered that all your infirmities are fake.
[00:36:56] Speaker B: Yep.
[00:36:57] Speaker C: But it doesn't matter, because I'm gonna go mad anytime. Yeah, it was really rushed. I mean, I will say again, I like the beginning of this story enough to activate my armchair rider. There are a lot of stories that are just so bad. Like, I don't care. Am I almost done with this? Like, I was engaged enough with the premise to start thinking of all these alternate takes on it, which is at least better than a lot of, like, dark fantasy episodes. I'm like, I end this now.
[00:37:24] Speaker A: Hopeless. That's what I was saying, though there is about four or five things that could have happened that I came up top of my head that would have.
[00:37:30] Speaker C: Made interesting seed in there. Before Sarah talks to the doctor and gets all the deus ex machina things going on, she has this inner monologue where she's thinking of jumping off the cliff, and it's an interesting presentation of her thoughts in that moment. And also this weird, self fulfilling thing that by telling her she's going mad, would she have jumped just like her uncle supposedly did? That's a really interesting idea.
[00:37:58] Speaker A: Again, they could have explored that a little further, and that would have been a little more interesting to find out that she actually is nuts.
[00:38:05] Speaker B: But that's pretty much the point at which, like, I'm into this up until that point, because there were still so many twists and turns that were available to them.
[00:38:14] Speaker C: As you said, I would have totally forgiven my nitpicks about the granny saying, madness runs in your family if the end nailed it. So some of this is when the end depression doesn't work. I tend to go back and get Pickier.
[00:38:27] Speaker A: Let me clarify something for our listeners so it doesn't come back on me. The story is telling us that if you're suicidal, that you are nuts or you're crazy, depression doesn't make you crazy or nuts. I want to make sure I'm very clear that I just went. That's what the story's telling us.
[00:38:45] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:38:46] Speaker C: And Sarah has all sorts of reasons to be legitimately depressed.
[00:38:50] Speaker A: Right.
[00:38:51] Speaker B: Yeah. So she's being abused, she's being gaslit.
[00:38:53] Speaker A: Yeah. That's another interesting thing, though, now that I think about it, right? Now that, you know, if you have suicidal thoughts back in the time that this is written, that made you crazy. Not someone that needs help. Needs help. Right.
[00:39:05] Speaker C: A couple episodes, we introduced Eric to the term purple prose, and, boy, some of the narration is beautiful. Oh, this line I love, the blood of heritage runs thick, but the wine of life brews high with the yeast of love. And I'm like, I don't even understand anything. This is like a random word generator.
[00:39:25] Speaker B: Three people put that together without consulting each other.
[00:39:28] Speaker A: You never, ever utter the sentence yeast of love.
There's a lot in there that I don't want to think about.
[00:39:37] Speaker C: I pitched that as the name of the podcast.
The mysterious old yeast of love.
[00:39:44] Speaker A: I don't think it's worth it.
[00:39:45] Speaker C: You get that if you go down to the county seat, visit. Jason.
[00:39:52] Speaker A: Seriously, what is going on at this festival?
It's a big deal.
[00:39:57] Speaker C: Well, should we vote in the sucker?
[00:40:00] Speaker G: Yeah.
[00:40:00] Speaker A: So I hated it.
[00:40:03] Speaker C: What?
[00:40:04] Speaker A: I didn't like it very much, but please bring another obsession so I can make sure.
[00:40:09] Speaker C: Yes.
[00:40:09] Speaker B: I think this is among people who know more episodes. Obsession. They said this is not the good episode.
[00:40:14] Speaker A: Oh, really?
[00:40:15] Speaker C: Yes.
[00:40:15] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:40:17] Speaker B: I do not think this stands the test of time. It has many, many flaws, but I do think it has a lot of historical interest to it for its depiction of emotional abuse and gaslighting and for being an episode that features two women in the lead roles.
[00:40:34] Speaker C: Yeah, I'll agree with Tim. I think it has historical interest for the reasons you just said. And I also think obsession as a premise for a anthology series holds a lot of promise. And then I heard, oh, there's episodes with Vincent Price and William Conrad. Why didn't you bring one of those?
I also did a little poking around some other episodes, and there's one about Napoleon called little man of Destiny. I'm sure it's terrible, but I also read somewhere that Tim Conway appears in one of these episodes. Is that a lie?
[00:41:09] Speaker B: Tom Conway.
[00:41:10] Speaker C: Tom Conway. But I saw it written as Tim Conway. I was really hoping Tom Conway from the Holmes. Oh, he was also a replacement in the later adventures of Sherlock Holmes.
[00:41:19] Speaker A: Right. But wasn't he the Falcon series of movies? Wasn't that Tom Conway as the Falcon might have been?
[00:41:24] Speaker C: I don't know for sure.
[00:41:25] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:41:26] Speaker B: I, in fact, checked out that episode.
[00:41:27] Speaker G: Tim Conway.
[00:41:28] Speaker C: Is it because you thought he was playing Napoleon as dwarf?
That would be awesome.
[00:41:33] Speaker A: Misses Hoiggins. You're not going to the festival. That's the worst Tim Conway impression ever. I will say that the best part of this whole podcast today was finding out that that voice of Hilary Brooke, which was driving me crazy. Like, where have I heard it? Where have I heard it? And in the intro, when I read that she was in faces of death, the woman in green, voice of terror from the Sherlock Holmes, Nigel Bruce, Basil Rathman, which I adore those Sherlock Holmes. I've seen them all many times. And I went, that's where I've heard that voice. And I was very relieved. And so that's the best thing about this, Tim, tell them stuff.
[00:42:13] Speaker B: Please go visit ghoulishdelights.com. That is the home of this podcast. You'll find other episodes there. You'll also find information about our live shows as well as information about us, ways to get a hold of us, either through social media, there's links to Facebook and Instagram. You can leave comments on individual episodes, read other people's comments, comment other people's comments, or just leave us a message. And if you have a request for an episode you'd like us to listen to, leave us a message. Yes.
[00:42:38] Speaker C: You can also go to patreon.com. The morals and support this podcast, because we need the support. And if you're thinking of supporting another podcast, I have to tell you that hereditary madness runs in your family, and you really shouldn't just stay here with us.
[00:42:52] Speaker D: We love you.
[00:42:52] Speaker C: We know what's good for you.
[00:42:55] Speaker A: How many hours do you take writing those?
[00:42:57] Speaker C: Not at all. I just desperately coming up with it in the moment. I would think the quality shows that.
Wow. You can also go to iTunes and write a review, because we like reviews.
[00:43:08] Speaker A: Yeah. And what are we doing next?
[00:43:11] Speaker C: Next we're gonna do a special for Father's Day, an episode of quiet, please called my son John. Until then, look out.
[00:43:28] Speaker E: It, listen to it.
