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Title

Indian Giver

Plot

A rich old woman's estate is haunted by an Indian ghost who drives away all her guests and domestic help. She engages the services of an easy-going private eye to help her solve the problem.

Episode

0746

Air Dates

  • First Run - November 25, 1977
  • Repeat - April 29, 1978

Actors

Writer

Listen

Rating

94
87     7


5 Responses to Episode 0746

This is one of my favorite's,Fred Gwyne is the best. I also like most of the Sam Dann stories. Indian Giver is quite funny. However I didn't expect Jitter's the butler to be the culprit behind the ghostly voices. I give this episode **** Stars

Marvin Banks

The butler did it - UGH!

Chris

Listening to this just transported me back 35 years to my grandparents' living room at Thanksgiving time in 1977. I can still hear my grandfather's chuckle. Mr. Marshall was right about the "good old days."

Jeff Schoefer

This is the second Sam Dann story with an Indian who kept saying nothing but "Hey-yo." The first such story was "The Midas Touch."

Thomas

I rate this episode ★★★★☆ for GOOD. Let’s start off with what was terrific. First, the cast: Fred Gwynne (as Spencer Smallwood), Mary Jane Higby (as Victoria Soames), Robert Dryden (as Jitters and Chief Old Bonnet), and Bryna Raeburn (as Ms. Dowdy and Mrs. Stirling Van Poundsforth). This is one of Fred Gwynne’s best performances on CBSRMT. And Bryna Raeburn did splendidly as the ditzy Ms. Dowdy. The funniest scene in this, was at the 31-minute mark where Ms. Dowdy messed up on the phone instructions. SPECIAL NOTE: Bryna Raeburn says the word “Hey-yo” both in this episode and in #0529-THE MIDAS TOUCH. Another part that was terrific: our Host. E.G. Marshall’s prologue begins with a quote on ghosts. In ACT-1, reminiscing on the Good Old Days (if I lived in the 1970’s, tuning in to CBSRMT would’ve been my Good Old Days moment). In ACT-2, he questions if we’re dealing with a ghost or non-ghost. In ACT-3, he quoted Francois de La Rochefoucauld for saying, “True love is like ghosts, which everyone talks about and few have seen.” In the end, we learned the oldest rule in the science of the mystery stories: arrive at the ending at the very beginning. In his Epilogue, E.G. Marshall gives us endless possibilities on what the characters dealt with in the house. Now here’s why I rated this 4 out of 5 stars. First, the sound effects. Not enough to make it sound like it was the 19th Century. What we heard, was ballroom music playing, guests murmuring, tapping of the doors, footsteps, and ringing of the telephone. What we heard best, was the music. The variety of tunes to make this story feel peculiar and imaginative. And second, Sam Dann’s script. It is one of the best entertaining mysteries I’ve heard on CBSRMT, but the ending was not a total shock. SPOILER ALERT: the answer to why is there a ghost in this, it’s revealed at the 38:40 mark. A better ending would be, if the character Ms. Dowdy was the one who caused all this. She’d be the only one that the other characters would’ve never expected. Now that, would’ve been a surprising twist. To all fans of Fred Gwynne, check this entertaining ghost story out. And for those that are Nostalgic on radio commercials, this one has commercials of Ex-Lax and Phytozine Cream. Until next time…pleasant dreams. =0)

Russell


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