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Title

Strange Company

Plot

A wealthy aged woman is terrorized by invisible visitors. Her hard-hearted nephew and his wife can't care less and slowly decide to take advantage of her apparent hallucinations to steal from her.

Episode

0073

Air Dates

  • First Run - April 11, 1974
  • Repeat - July 2, 1974

Actors

Writer

Listen

Rating

237
197     40


42 Responses to Episode 0073

Very intriguing beginning and worthy of a listen. Excellent "acting" and well written. I owuld only give it 8 out of 10 because the ending was unsettleing. Maybe that was the point!

J Nicolosi

The ending was meant to be unsettling. Most of the story features subtle occurrences. The ending is reminiscent of the gruesome , twist endings of Inner Sanctum, Lights Out, The Mysterious Traveler and EC Comics' Tales From The Crypt.

Shade Ford

"Imagination... the stuff in which dreams and Radio Mystery Theater plays are made..." what a great quote! I love this episode; it made me laugh that the old lady that sounded like she was 100 years old admitted to being 60 years old! There are some great beer commercials too -- convinced me to not put ice in my "King of Beers" Budweiser!! Ha ha!

Bertha

This is classic Mystery Theater! One of the best in my opinion. The ending gave me chills! I enjoy sharing this one with friends.

Thomas_R

And the moral of the story is: don't keep money lying around the house. Crime thriller with slight supernatural undertones.

Andy

Now that was a fun ride!

wes

I see this episode got a lot of comments and for good reason! The idea of a quiet smiling man staring at you is very creepy... Who is he? Possiblyhe is the rightful owner of the money? Did Aunt Belle steal it from him and he is the curse that accompanies it?

reyx77

The closet gateway is also provocative. A world of invisible spirits...

Thomas R

A man moves his two aunts to a location outside of the city. One aunt passes away and soon, he learns that his surviving aunt is secretely hiding a good deal of cash. She is fearful and requests his help to rid her home of some uninvited guests. When money starts disappearing, she becomes suspicious.

Joyce

The unscrupulous young taking advantage of the vulnerable old. Terrific acting and plot.

V. Pontejos

An old woman with a large stash of money is tormented by visitors who no one else can see. Her nephew and his wife are unsympathetic and use the occurences to slowly rob her. Well developed story and strong characters.

Jhamila T.

An old aunt continues to call on her caring nephew to chase away people that keep appearing in her house. When he arrives, there's no one there. The aunt says they're after her money and shows him a suitcase full of thousands of dollars in cash. The nephew and his wife plot to take the money... but what about these mysterious people? I rather enjoyed this episode even with the rather predictable ending.

Louie Gayle

FANTASTIC EPISODE! 5 stars. I was amazed at how true to life this episode was. Charles was such a dutiful nephew to his aging, wealthy aunt. The more he realized her great worth, the more scrupulous his actions became. This episode played out slow at the beginning, but sewed up all loose ends by the end. Great job of writing and acting.

DAVY JOE

Interesting plot device with the characters that show up after one aunt dies. They seem to follow the owners of the money, but does that imply that the one aunt may have done away with the other?

Alec

Those were some of my favorite commercials. Do you know what I also liked? Some people have recorded the shows from the radio and sometimes they include about a half hour or so of the news. It is a real treat to her about local and national news from way back then. The two I remember most were the news bites about the Black Panthers, Patty Hurst and the SLA, then there was the news spots about the Zebra Killings. It takes me back. I was just a kid back then so I didn't really understand all that was going on. It was nice to hear them again and understand this time around.

phoenix

I agree 100% Pheonix. I could have wrote what you just wrote! My mom would use cbsrmt as my bedtime cue! Listened on my amfm radio with a hanger as an antenna!

Trina Johnson.

Those Budweiser commercials are hilarious.

Leah

I love all of the news and commercials.

Michael

Agree-the greasies! True Value Hardware stores with Pat Summerall and Opal Isuzu are my favorite commercials

Craig

I remember one that had a jingle, "Hey Mom! What's for dinner? Hey Mom! What ya got!?" and then a 7-Up commercial with Goldilocks and the three bears. And all the old original Oompah band style Budweiser commercials... ed mcmahon doing the voice in those bud commercials.. hi yo!

Adam

Those were some of my favorite commercials. Do you know what I also liked? Some people have recorded the shows from the radio and sometimes they include about a half hour or so of the news. It is a real treat to her about local and national news from way back then. The two I remember most were the news bites about the Black Panthers, Patty Hurst and the SLA, then there was the news spots about the Zebra Killings. It takes me back. I was just a kid back then so I didn't really understand all that was going on. It was nice to hear them again and understand this time around.

Phoenix

The car commercials and the PSAs. Some of those causes found relief; some still need help today. I like how EG would pronounce it as an-hoy-ser Busch. The cereal commercials with the ball & chain theme crack me up too.

William

Goldilocks, the new "sugar-free Diet 7-Up Taste-tester": "This one's JUST right!" My other favorite is: Kellog's Special K with that kooky bowling ball sound....

Jerry

"Great taste in the morning. Kellogg's Frosted Flakes".

Donald

(Kids singing)"Borden's ice cream...better than anything...better than anything in...the...world." (/kids) Actually, there are a lot of things better than Borden's ice cream, but it's still good and that was a wonderful jingle. The commercials ARE part of the memory.

Kurt

The baseball scores and watergate on the news is always a fun surprise I love hearing recordings that include commercials as well as network news. It always takes me back to the time when I was a kid laying in bed listening to CBS Radio Mystery Theater at 9:00 week nights. The commercials are part of the memory. Love it.

Scott

It blew my mind apart!

Johnny Austin

I caught a small continuity error. When Aunt Belle got the super to check her apartment, he said that she lived on the top floor. When Charles was hearing noises in the apartment later, he said that it must be the people upstairs.

Joe Mama

Did nephew murder her?

Mike

Best CBS RMT is early episode called "Cold Storage"

Mike

Bob Juhren was my favorite cbsrmt writer. Another super spookie tale. Loved it!

JimmyP

My favorite one

Mike

trange Company (because that is the only one we had for years and I have heard

Angela

# and a half stars seems a little too good for this episode, but tastes differ, and that's just my opinion. I would barely give it three stars, as the plot never seemed to fully develop.

Charles Swanley

Commercials included. Hooray! Good sound quality, too, and a fun story, so a winner in my book.

EmKay

# and a half stars would barely fully develop good for this trange fun surprise I love owuld only give it 8 out of 10 because the ending was unsettleing. Do you know what I also liked? Some people still need help today.

POpal

STRANGE COMPANY is a great episode! Classic radio suspense… in a solid narrative that has substance for the whole 45 minutes. Bob Juhren’s simple and straightforward plot is masterful when coupled with these two primary actors (Aunt Belle and adult nephew Charlie) who are perfect both in delivery and approach. The setting is very basic, taking place in a small apartment (with generous and strategic use of telephone calls). Lone tenant Aunt Belle is abhorant and positively disagreeable, though genuine and morally, licit so the listener is conflicted. And, at least initially, middle-aged Charlie seems sensitive and sincerely concerned with his elderly aunt’s well-being, though temptation eventually yields to a more sinister character; thus more conflict. The way both writer and the performers build suspense to the climax is masterful. Sound quality is pretty good and I like when episodes include commercials from the 70s. COMPANY gets 4 out of 5 stars – JUROR #4.

JUROR #4

Bryna Raeburn was fantastic - what a voice actress! I found the ending only a little weak; the presence of the strangers could have been illuminated a little better (not necessarily explained) without compromising the impact. The plot is a little bit too close to a trick.

Bill King

Ok the commercials i love em! This episode was really good, the nephew and his wife were so greedy. Stealing from an ailing aunt to buy stuff like jewelry, really?! But you have to admit the ending is a real corker, would love to know what the strangers were attached to. I thought first it was the apartment or just hallucination, but then the ending! Really good! Worth listening to.

Nancy

Nice little story.....give it 9 out of 10 for writing and acting. Also explains where those people who never speak came from . They just sit and smile.

John F Ault

Excellent episode. I love CBS Radio Mystery Theater ❤️

Gemini lady Jackson

Listened to this 'live' in 1974. Parents had a Zenith Transoceanic radio going (we were in a remote area in the mountains, a ways away from civilization). This episode and another one with a 'Mr. Carpenter' as the 'grim reaper' of sorts - yikes... I can tell you this with 100% certainty: No manner of newfangled 'technology' will ever replace the infinite ability of the mind to interpret (paint its own picture) of what the ear hears... The opening line by E.G. Marshall attests to this aspect. Hearing and listening is unique amongst the (5) senses in this regard. Wonderful that these memories are preserved and available to listen to again - and to share with younger folks who may not have ever experienced what it is like to sit and listen to a radio broadcast - especially those of Radio Mystery Theatre caliber...!! Thank you CBS for preserving these time capsules ---

c.c.


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