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Title

Don't Play with Matches

Plot

Fire Chief Delbert Cassarole is the toast of the town because fires are almost non-existent because of his prevention methods. But the citizens of his sleepy little town don't know his dark secret about how he spends Friday nights. Delbert Casserole is a man with strange hobbies: Lying, murder, arson -- and on Friday nights, he goes to town.

Episode

0523

Air Dates

  • First Run - September 23, 1976
  • Repeat - December 19, 1976

Actors

Writer

Listen

Rating

120
101     19


5 Responses to Episode 0523

(Or, a trip down memory lane just a few decades ago when we didn't have pocket cell phones and GPS devices.) Mandel Kramer plays a character who's obviously unbalanced. He's married, but goes out on the town and on the make. Meeting a barmaid of Russian descent, he takes her to a motel room. However, she has second thoughts, and for that, he kills her. Then to cover it up, he sets the motel room afire and runs away. Later on, when he talks with his wife he finds out that several people have been trying to get hold of him. There was a huge fire with a fatality the night before. And he's the local fire chief.

Kirk Lamont

Mandel Kramer is such a terrific actor, and is usually better suited to playing wealthy guys, classy guys, etc., but he's so good that he can definitely carry off a role like this, too. I love his silky voice, too.

Zeezee1

I just listened to two excellent mysteries featuring the superb voice actor Mandel Kramer! The first, "Crime of Passion", was a story within a story about a married lawyer defending a man in a murder of his wife. And then Wow, this episode, "Dont Play with Matches" was a very intense psychological Thriller- listen to the dialogue between husband and wife, so much not spoken but hinted at, so much nuance, compare to the dialogue at the very beginning, to how he felt ... after the kiss!

Melanie

Crystal clear audio, some commercials (including one played repeatedly for a local sandblasting company and a sweet one featuring a song by Richard Rodgers and sung by the Tucson Boychoir), a bit of news.

Em

This is a great performance by Mandel Kramer from the character's point of view. I love the passion in his voice when he talks to his wife about wanting to see a fire. I won't give too much away, but it was really a chilling scene. Obviously, he is portraying a very sick person, but he also makes it believable. Too bad he didn't play villains more often. Like Ralph Bell, he's very good at it.

Amy


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