Dark Venture "A Ten Dollar Bill" (Aired August 5, 1945)

 

INTRO: Bob Camardella Plays The Platters "Remember When" (1959)

Dark Venture was a grim kind of thriller where the listener got inside the twisted head of the murderer and heard his thoughts. It was not supernatural horror, but horror just the same... the kind that evil minds spawn when they are scheming ways to kill someone and get away with it. The writing was sharp and gritty. These killers were hardened sociopaths that didn't give a damn about anyone else. They had no conscience and were diabolical in their plots. Unfortunately for them, the audience also liked to see others suffer, especially if that person was guilty and deserved his comeuppance. So each week millions could tune in to "see" the murderer meet his fate on the radio in their mind's eye. The killing method wasn't especially creative. It was usually the tried and true technique of strangulation, knifing, or shooting. No, what made Dark Venture interesting was the manner in which the killer plotted to get away with it all. Killers would devise sinister mind games to trick their wife into believing she was going insane, or manipulate a business partner into thinking he was being stalked by a phantom lover.

 

THIS EPISODE:

 

115216. Dark Venture. August 15, 1947. ABC net, KECA, Los Angeles origination. "Ten Dollar Bill". Sustaining. George is a bum, sleeping in an alley. When a man is shot in the alley, George grabs a $10 bill from the man's wallet. That $10 has a story of its own to tell. Larry Marcus (writer), John Newland (narrator), William T. Johnson (director), Jack Moyles, Jack Edwards Jr., Norman Field, David Ellis, Sam Edwards, Wilms Herbert, Eddie Marr, Herb Vigran, Virginia Gregg, Rex Koury (organist), George Fenneman (announcer). 29:22, Audio Condition: excellent audio, complete. Episode Notes From The Radio Gold Index.