The Pacifica Archives, directed by Brian DeShazer, was established to preserve and distribute radio presentations from Pacifica stations over the years. In order to keep a staff and location at Pacifica's KPFK in Los Angeles, the Archives has had to raise funds for it's staff and upkeep. The archives contain some of the most remarkable radio work in the history of broadcasting in this country, but finding a home for these historic documents and preserving and adding to them as a source for their use, has been a growing task. Brian DeShazer and his staff has instigated this preservation, and Sorry, Wrong Number has been instrumental in his efforts.

SORRY, WRONG NUMBER
by Lucille Fletcher

Length: 30:00

Listen:

The original broadcast of this radio play in 1943 featured Agnes Moorhead as Mrs. Stevenson. In this production for the Pacifica Archives Shirley Knight and Ed Azner play the leading parts. The script follows the original version about which the author, Lucille Fletcher, gives the following direction: "This play was originally designed as an experiment in sound and not just as a murder story, with the telephone as its chief protagonist. I wanted to write something which by its very nature should, for maximum effectiveness, be heard rather than seen." Subsequently, there have been stage, film and television versions. This production was scripted from Ms.Fletcher's original radio version.

"It is life itself which Mrs. Stevenson strives so frantically to make contact with over her telephone, and we must believe for the moment in its reality, its variety, its calm matter-of-factness, and its indifference. Only by doing this will her lonely, neurotic personality be outlined for the empty thing it is." Lucille Fletcher