May 19, 2003 - 770503 - The Luck Sisters

[Ethelmertz]

If I may, I would still like recommend "The Luck Sisters" 5-3-77 with Fred Gwynne. As I've said I have never listened to it so I have no idea what it is about but I love the shows I've heard with Fred Gwynne. :D

I Hope it's a good one !!!!

[Charlie]

I listened to this program a few months ago but I can't remember the details so I will have to go listen again. That's the great thing about having 1399 programs!

Charlie

[brian1984_2001]

This was sort of a fractured fairy tale set in modern times.

One sister brings nothing but good luck, and the other bad. The one who brings bad luck has got to become concerned when everyone around her has the opportunity to get rich.

I thought the cast did a wonderful job carrying off this rather campy script. Sam Dann does it again! He seldom disappoints.

[Lagavulin]

A fun script. I enjoyed the buildup to the final twist. In teaching English to middle years students, we talk about story structure: introduction, conflict, resolution, conclusion. It strikes me that most of the CBSRMT story lines have a very abrupt conclusion - a hallmark of the suspense genre? Long slow rising action, building to a dramatic resolution that comes very near, if not actually _at_ the end, leaving the listener grasping and thinking.

Reminded me of the classic short story "The Lottery" by Shirley Jackson where the community selects a scapegoat upon whom they pile their woes and indiscretions and is then sacrificed to atone for their sins.

The story has a wonderful sense of irony, as most of the episodes do. Alanis Morissette could well have picked up some good material for her songs here! I wonder how many of the episodes have the villain as the main character? By virtue of the fact that they are the main characters, we tend to sympathize with them more, or at least take some vicarious pleasure in their devious plans, wishing them some success.

In the episodes with righteous protagonists, there is a kind of haphazard ‘luck’ to their success. Would be an interesting study to see if my hypothesis is correct – is evil always punished? And is good a function of luck or accidental/circumstantial events? (or manipulated by the supernatural)?

A fun episode, good suggestion! smile.gif

[Ethelmertz]

I really enjoyed this show . I found it very easy to keep up with, even listening in the car on errand day.

One of two sisters always "causes" bad luck . When a small town learns that each person could become very rich because of a gold mine that is owned by the town, the townspeople all become worried that the sister with the bad luck will keep them from becoming rich. The Mayor was the only one who seemed torn between good and evil but succumbed to the evil when he knew what he might lose. Everyone, including the sister with the good luck , feels there is only one way to keep anything from getting in the way of their getting the money. They must kill the bad luck sister. I was pretty much shocked that the whole town could agree to do this and that they were actually going to carry it out. The sudden turn at the end was really a shocker because I half expected that after the sister had died that there would be some other reason that they would not be rich and that what they had done would have been for nothing. I didn't expect it to end like it did, but felt relieved in a way. The townspeople had been punished for their greed and the one sister ended up a very lucky and very rich woman. It is almost like an Aesop's Fable, and the moral of the story is...........

[brian1984_2001]

That's it! It's an Aesop Fable! Much better simile than my "Fractured Fairy Tale".

[vgarci]

The Luck Sister 5/3/77

An excellent selection, EthelMertz!!!!

A small town of 100 superstitious inhabitants discovers that it's sitting on a gold mine. One woman, Janice Hollins Miller, is singled out as a carrier of bad luck. She's asked to leave town but when she refuses, the townspeople elect to take matters into their own hands.

The story is excellent with a plot that builds until the final concluding scene. The actors, and Fred Gwynne, in particular, are superb. Sam Dann's writing makes me want to smile because he's tricked us once again with another cleaver ending. I noted as I listened that I liked his use of a "reporter" to assist with the story and to add intrigue. As E.G. Marshall notes, we love poetic justice and this play was loaded with this particular brand of irony. The luck theme runs throughout this program and we have to smile when we realize Janice, though she's a pariah and has lead a tragic life, is the luckiest woman alive.

[vgarci]

Lagavulin,
I find it very ironic that I also thought of, "The Lottery" after listening to this program though I didn't include it in my review as I really don't know why I was struck by this classic short story.

[Charlie]

This is a good program. As I said earlier, I had listened to this one a few months ago but I had to listen again to be able to comment. As usual, Fred Gwynne does an excellent job of acting his part.

The premise of the story is introduced early - Janice Miller must be killed because her "bad luck" will keep everybody from getting their money. Then, a looooonnnngggg slow buildup to what we all know will be the climax of the program.

Since the "good guy" doesn't always win on CBSRMT, we suspect, but we don't know, that something will happen other than what we have been led to believe will happen.

It's a good story and interesting to find that in fact, Janice is the "luckiest woman alive" rather than the unlucky wretch that she was portrayed as. The buildup actually has us (at least me) believing that she really is the cause of their suffering - even though we know that isn't the way things work. 99 people plotting to kill one, and then 99 being dead and one being alive is an interesting turn of events also.

I liked the E.G. Marshall reference to the Biblical story of Heyman and Morticai at the end. That's about the gist of this story as well.

Good choice Ethel.

[dnagle]

Heard this show while travelling. I started listening to RMT in 76-77 and this show was from that era. By that point I think the series was getting a wry sense of humor, which is why I liked this episode. Fred Gwynne is a perfect fit for that mood, and he did it in a lot of episodes. I expected the explosion, but not the landslide. Of course the series never fails to deliver the ironic ending. This was a good choice for a Show of the Week, its the type of RMT show I enjoy most.

[vgarci]

Dnagle,
I've got to agree. The more I think about this episode, the more I like it. In fact, I've put it at the top of my list of shows to provide to those that have never heard of the CBSRMT. It really helps a person understand why we're still listening to this show so many years later.