Mr Sourpuss

Children's author and illustrator Elliott Kenyon returns from wartime service physically recovering from a bomber crash but emotionally shut down, hiding under another name and insisting that he can never write again. He finally tells Dr. Christian why: during his last mission over a French town, the bombing killed the mother of a little boy whose family later sheltered the wounded Elliott. The memory has made his old cheerful stories seem impossible and leaves him feeling unworthy of nurse Ann, who loves him. Time with Ann's young niece Candy begins to reopen the part of Elliott that could draw and tell stories, and he produces his first successful sketch since the war. Then Candy's father is killed in an accident overseas and the child runs away in grief. Elliott helps find her and reads the final letter her father left, urging Candy not to turn away from life because the world contains pain but to help make her own part of it worth living. The message speaks directly to Elliott's own guilt. By comforting Candy he finally accepts that he too must keep living, writing and loving, and he commits himself to a future with Ann and Candy.

This Dr. Christian broadcast aired on January 23, 1946. It is listed as episode 374 in the archive. CBS Radio Network carried the broadcast. The cast includes Jean Hersholt and Rosemary De Camp. Other credited names include Art Gilmore as announcer.

The surviving recording runs about 25 minutes. The broadcast is also associated with Vaseline.