After a torpedo sinks his ship in the South Atlantic, Seaman Basil Izzi and a handful of survivors crowd onto a raft with almost no food or water. Over eighty-three days they endure hunger, thirst, storms, injuries, deaths and the repeated heartbreak of aircraft and ships passing without seeing them. As the men weaken, Izzi watches companions die and struggles to remain conscious himself. On the eighty-third day, an American patrol craft finally spots the raft and rescues the survivors, who are carried aboard and slowly nursed back to health.
This Words at War broadcast aired on January 11, 1944. It is listed as episode 31 in the archive. NBC Radio Network carried the broadcast. The cast includes Paul Mann, Lon Clark, Sam Wanamaker, Paul Gordon, and Milton Herman. Other credited names include Anton M. Leader as director, Edith Sommer as radio adaptor, and Jack Costello as host.
The surviving recording runs about 30 minutes.
This version dramatizes Eighty-Three Days - the Survival of Seaman Izzi. Mark Murphy is credited as author and Edith Sommer adapted it for radio.
Other versions or closely related recordings in the archive include Words at War 43-10-05 (17) Eighty-Three Days - the Survival of Seaman Izzi (October 5, 1943), another recording of the same script.
Choose an archive episode to view its synopsis.
Pause Golden Radio Hour automatically after:
