Network broadcast date: Monday,
August 3, 1964
Hit
and Run
Genre: Action melodrama
Author: Robert Cenedella
Production number: 1
Production date: Tuesday,
June 16, 1964
Director: Ted Bell
Plotline: A cold-blooded hood scoffs at the law, knowing his powerful brother will always protect him. But when a young girl gets caught up in a deadly traffic accident with him, the hood discovers his brother’s power has its limits.
Cast: Leon Janney, Joan Lorring, Cliff Carpenter, David Kerman
Listen: https://archive.org/details/T5project/Theater+Five+640803+001+Hit+and+Run+(no+close).flac
Notes:
Cenedella was a radio and early TV writer, somewhat caught up in the Red Channels issues in the early 1950s; his radio work did not begin again until 1960s Suspense and he resumed his writing career in 1960s and 1970s soap operas. He wrote many mystery short stories and at age 53, in 1963, his first novel A Little to the East was met with positive reviews.
The episode has a good "Whistler-esque" ending; the surviving recording is missing closing credits.
This premiere episode had special news coverage, encouraged by publicity events staged by ABC Radio. The press was invited to watch the production of the first episode and to mingle with the cast and crew, as well as ABC Radio executives.
The credits were taken from newspapers and trade magazines, and verified by listeners highly familiar with radio actor voices.
An image from the recording session for this episode...
Quirk of T5 history: A Cenedella script was the first T5 broadcast, and a Cenedella script was the last T5 broadcast.