Little Orphan Annie 36-xx-xx (1027) A Light In The Old Deserted House

Summary

Podcast Summary: Harold's Old Time Radio Episode: Little Orphan Annie 36-xx-xx (1027) A Light In The Old Deserted House
Release Date: July 28, 2025

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Introduction

In this thrilling episode of Harold's Old Time Radio, listeners are transported back to the Golden Age of Radio with the beloved characters of Little Orphan Annie, Joe, Sandy, and Tony Rinelli. The story unfolds as Annie and her companions strive to prove Tony's innocence in a robbery case that threatens to tear his family apart.

Recap of Tony Rinelli's Arrest

The episode begins with a quick recap of the previous installment, reminding listeners of Tony Rinelli's arrest by the marshal for the bridge payroll robbery. Despite overwhelming-looking evidence, Annie and Joe harbor doubts about Tony's guilt, setting the stage for their quest to uncover the truth.

Annie and Joe's Doubts

Walking along the riverbank with Sandy, Annie and Joe engage in a heartfelt conversation about Tony's predicament.

• Joe expresses his disbelief:
  "Shucks, Annie. I don't care what kind of evidence the marshal's got against Tony. I just can't believe he's guilty."
  (03:05)

• Sandy concurs, adding her perspective:
  "Neither can I, Joe."
  (03:04)

Their dialogue highlights their unwavering belief in Tony's integrity despite the marshal's strong case.

Analyzing the Evidence

Annie and Joe delve into the details of the evidence presented against Tony, focusing on the circumstantial nature of the proof.

• Joe questions the sufficiency of the evidence:
  "What I mean is that nobody actually saw Tony do this robbery. The way everything happened, it looks like he might have done it. But there's no actual proof that says he did."
  (03:38)

• Sandy points out the key piece of evidence:
  "That's the main trouble. Tony has a scar like that, Joe."
  (04:06)

Despite acknowledging the marshal's strong case, both remain skeptical about Tony's involvement, emphasizing the absence of concrete evidence.

Determined to Help Tony

Moved by concern for Tony and his family, Annie and Joe decide to take matters into their own hands to find the real culprit.

• Joe outlines their plan:
  "We've got something to work on. Remember, Tony was the one who saw someone put those logs down on top of Mr. Strong, the engineer."
  (05:47)

• Sandy emphasizes the emotional toll on Tony's family:
  "Do you see, Annie? I see that all eye joker. I'm not just thinking about poor Tony, Annie. I'm thinking about his family."
  (04:25)

Their determination leads them to investigate the old deserted Carson house, where Tony last saw the mysterious figure involved in the robbery.

Investigation at the Carson House

The trio arrives at the eerie, abandoned Carson house, hoping to find clues that could exonerate Tony.

• Tony explains his reasoning:
  "I figured that since we saw him disappear by this old empty house that he might be using it as a headquarters or something."
  (07:17)

• Sandy encourages them as they explore:
  "Come on, let's go in. It's easy to get in anyhow. There hasn't been a door on the old place for years."
  (08:20)

As they navigate the dark, cobweb-filled rooms, the tension mounts. They search every nook and cranny but initially find nothing to substantiate their suspicions.

Facing Dead Ends

Despite their thorough search, Annie, Joe, and Sandy encounter several dead ends that cast doubt on their investigation.

• Tony reflects on their findings:
  "I guess you're right, Annie. Somebody else must have done it. But shucks, I guess I'd make a better engineer than I would a detective after all."
  (12:07)

• Sandy agrees, showing a moment of frustration:
  "We certainly didn't find any, Joe."
  (12:24)

Their efforts seem futile until an unexpected discovery reignites their hopes.

The Mysterious Light

Just as they prepare to leave, a mysterious light shines through the blinds of one of the rooms, suggesting that someone is still present in the deserted house.

• Sandy points out the anomaly:
  "Don't you see it, Annie. It's a light."
  (12:29)

• Tony deduces its significance:
  "But to make a light, there has to be someone there to make it."
  (12:36)

This revelation hints at the presence of the real robber, setting the stage for the next episode's continuation.

Conclusion and Cliffhanger

The episode concludes with the characters poised to investigate the source of the mysterious light, leaving listeners eager for the next installment. The Narrator ties the story back to the listeners, encouraging them to stay tuned and continue supporting Annie's adventures.

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Notable Quotes with Timestamps

• Joe on Evidence:
  "What I mean is that nobody actually saw Tony do this robbery. The way everything happened, it looks like he might have done it."
  (03:38)

• Sandy on Tony's Family:
  "I'm thinking about his family. About Caesar and Mrs. Tony and little Rosa and all the rest."
  (04:25)

• Tony's Reflection:
  "I can't believe that Tony did this robbery."
  (12:06)

• Discovery of the Light:
  "That's right, Joe. And leap and lizards. Right. Now there must be someone there."
  (12:38)

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Final Thoughts

A Light In The Old Deserted House masterfully blends suspense, mystery, and heartfelt character interactions, keeping listeners engaged and invested in Tony Rinelli's fate. As Annie, Joe, and Sandy unravel the complexities of the case, the episode sets up an enticing cliffhanger that promises more intrigue and adventure in the episodes to come.

Stay tuned for the next episode on August 4, 2025, to hear if our heroes can uncover the truth behind the mysterious light and clear Tony's name once and for all.

Transcript

[Annie]

Who's that little chatterbox the one with pretty auburn locks Whom do you see? It's Little Orphan Annie she and Sandy make a pair they never seem to have a care Cute little cheek this little Orphan Annie Bright eyes Cheeks a rosy glow they're the store of healthiness Handy mite size Always on the go if you want to know I'm so Sandy always wears a sunny smile now wouldn't it be worth the while if you could be like Little orphan Annie?

[Narrator]

It's 5:45 now. Time to hear Orphan Annie's newest adventure. But first, if you're kind of small and thin. Here's some important news about the way Ovaltine may help you to get big and husky. It's all in this letter that came from Mrs. John B. Tryon, Box 44, Florin, Pennsylvania. Listen to what she says. Our boy was weak and nervous until he was 11 years old. Then I stopped all medicine and began giving him Ovaltine every day. He is now 15 years old, a junior in high school. He is 5ft 6 inches tall, weighs 129 pounds and is the picture of health. I can't tell you how much we thank Ovaltein for building him up. I wish more mothers would start their children off to school after a cup of Ovaltine. Well, what do you think of that? There was a boy who just couldn't seem to get strong and husky. But then Mrs. Tryon tells us that after he started on Ovaltine, he changed in a wonderful way. He's a fine, big, husky boy now and looks the picture of health. And how about you? Are you just staying small and thin while all your friends are getting big and husky? If you are, Ovaltine may be the very thing for you to try, too. Because every single cupful of Ovaltine gives you important minerals and vitamins and things to help nature build firm flesh and strong bones for you. You just ask your mother to let you have a big, delicious cup full of Ovaltine. With all your meals every day from now on. And see if you don't begin to get big and husky and strong. And have loads more pep, too. And now for our adventure. Last time, you remember, Tony Rinelli was arrested by the marshal for the bridge payroll robbery. And though things look pretty bad for Tony, Annie and Joe don't believe he's guilty. And here they are now with Sandy, walking along the riverbank. And listen, Joe's talking.

[Joe]

Shucks, Annie. I don't care what kind of evidence the marshal's got against Tony. I just can't believe he's guilty.

[Sandy]

Neither can I, Joe.

[Joe]

Maybe I'm too young to know much.

[Sandy]

About life, but I do know something about people. And I just can't feel that Tony did this robbery.

[Joe]

He's not that kind of a man. Shucks, he's got a fine family and a good job. I can't think he'd go out and rob that payroll. No one sees us the way we do. He's such a swell kid. I'm just not going to believe his.

[Tony]

Father is this robber.

[Sandy]

Neither am I. Just the same, Joe, the marshal's got an awful good case against him.

[Tony]

I know he has.

[Joe]

But shucks, Annie. It's all. What do they call it? Circumstantial evidence.

[Sandy]

What do you mean, Joe?

[Joe]

What I mean is that nobody actually saw Tony do this robbery. The way everything happened, it looks like he might have done it. But there's no actual proof that says he did. Sure, but people don't always look for real truth, Joe. Shucks, even Bill Corwin the paymaster who was held up can't swear the man who did it was Tony. The man wore a mask over his face. All Bill really saw was that the man who robbed him had a scar showing below his left cheek. Below where the mask was.

[Sandy]

That's the main trouble. Tony has a scar like that, Joe.

[Joe]

I guess there's a lot of other people in the world that have got scars. A lot of other people besides Tony. They're not around here, Joe. Leastwise not that we know about any. But I don't think so much of the rest of the evidence against Tony.

[Sandy]

What do you mean?

[Joe]

Well, Tony just cause Tony was sick the day of the robbery and wasn't on the job doesn't mean he did this thing. Well, it gives him what they call the opportunity though, Joe. Say, whose side of this thing are you taking, Annie?

[Sandy]

Tony's side, of course.

[Joe]

Just it doesn't sound like it. I can't help it, Joe. I'm just trying to look at this case the way the police do. And it does look bad. But look. Bill Corwin says the man who robbed him spoke like an Italian. And Tony does, Joe. Sure he does. But shock Danny, it's not hard to fake an Italian accent. Gosh, I can do that myself. Listen, I don't think Tony be good at it. I don't think it's so anybody can talk an Italian. Do you see, Annie? I see that all eye joker. I'm not just thinking about poor Tony, Annie. I'm thinking about his family. About Caesar and Mrs. Tony and little Rosa and all the rest. It's just as hard on them as it is on Danny. And with Tony in jail like he is now, how are they going to live? Family would be an awful lot to live in. You bet. We've got to help them. We will. And it looks to me as if the best way we can help would be to get Tony out of jail. What are you driving that Joy? I need to find the man who really did this. The way I got it figured out is like this. We know Tony didn't do it. Well, if he didn't, somebody else did. Sure, that's what we got to find out.

[Sandy]

How?

[Joe]

We've got something to work on. Remember, Tony was the one who saw someone put those logs down on top of Mr. Strong, the engineer. Of course I remember.

[Sandy]

He didn't know who it was.

[Joe]

Tony. But maybe the person who pushed him didn't know Tony didn't know. Or maybe they thought Tony might recognize him if he ever saw him again. Shall he get the payroll and get rid of Tony at the same time? He framed the thing to make it look as if Tony was guilty.

[Tony]

I think that's the man. That stranger that did this robbery.

[Sandy]

Beautiful butterflies, Joe. I'll bet you've hit it.

[Tony]

Anyhow, it won't do any harm to do a little lookin around.

[Sandy]

A little lookin around? Where?

[Tony]

Why, where he saw him disappear that day, Annie. At the old empty Carson house. There it is, right ahead of us.

[Sandy]

Suffering sunfish. Joe, all this time we've been walking along, you've been leading me toward this place. Did you have this all planned?

[Tony]

Yucks, I did, Annie. You know, since this robbery happened, I've been thinking a lot. I don't know whether it'd be more fun to be an engineer like I've been planning since I met Mr. Strong. Or be a detective like Sherlock Holmes I've been reading about.

[Sandy]

Golly, Joe, you've been figuring all this out.

[Tony]

Sure I have. I hardly slept at all last night, Annie. Thinking that maybe by a little detective work we might be able to help Tony and I work things out. That it's this stranger we saw who really did the robbery. And I figured that since we saw him disappear by this old empty house that he might be using it as a headquarters or something.

[Sandy]

Joe, maybe you ought to be a detective after all. Beeping lizards the way you got this thing figured.

[Tony]

Why, it wasn't so much, Annie. Anyhow, here's the house. You want to have a look through it with me?

[Sandy]

Of course I Do. Gee, this may be the means of getting poor Tony out of jail.

[Tony]

It looks sorta awful spooky, doesn't it, Annie? But shucks, I'm not afraid if you aren't.

[Sandy]

Of course I'm not afraid. Not with you and Sandy here anyhow. I don't suppose a stranger, whoever he was, would be here now. If he really did steal the payroll, he'd be packed up and gone long before now.

[Tony]

Most likely he would. But don't you see, Annie? If we can find some signs in the house, something to show there was such a man hanging around, and it'd help Tony a lot. We might even find something in there that'd connect him with the robbery.

[Sandy]

Come on, let's go in. It's easy to get in anyhow. There hasn't been a door on the old place for years.

[Tony]

Look out for these steps, Annie. Some of them pretty rotten. They might break and let us through.

[Sandy]

Come on, Sandy. You stick along close with us, Huxy.

[Tony]

It looks awful kind of dark in there, Annie.

[Sandy]

Sure it does, Joe. The blinds and all the windows are shut.

[Tony]

That's right. Let's go in.

[Sandy]

This is an awful big hall, Joe.

[Tony]

Yeah. There are the stairs going up at the end. Say, Annie.

[Sandy]

What?

[Tony]

I just remembered some of the old stories about this house. It's supposed to be haunted.

[Sandy]

Thief and lizards, Jo. I'm not afraid of any horns. But there aren't any such things.

[Tony]

Shucks, course there aren't. There's no such thing as ghosts. What's that?

[Sandy]

It's just the wind, Joe. I guess it started to blow outside and it's moaning under the eaves of the house.

[Tony]

That's it. Shucks. It sounds awful spooky, though.

[Sandy]

Well, I'm not afraid of spooks. There aren't any such things.

[Tony]

Shucks, neither am I. Let's see what's in this room over here.

[Sandy]

I. I guess there's nothing in it.

[Tony]

It sure does look empty.

[Sandy]

There's not even any furniture in it.

[Tony]

What's handy whining like that for?

[Sandy]

I don't know. What's the matter, Sandy? What is it?

[Tony]

Look at him. All he's doing is sniffing around that old fireplace.

[Sandy]

What is it, Sandy?

[Tony]

Maybe it's just a rat or something. Old houses like this have rats, I guess.

[Sandy]

Anyhow, there's nothing about that fireplace to be sniffing at.

[Tony]

There's nothing in the whole room that I can see. Let's look at the rest of the house.

[Sandy]

All right. Come on, Sandy. Come on. I say. We're going.

[Tony]

Shucks. He doesn't seem to want to come, Sandy.

[Sandy]

Come on. There's nothing in that fireplace. Come. I say. That's better.

[Tony]

I'll shut the door so you won't go back in there.

[Sandy]

Sandy, sometimes you get the craziest ideas sniffing around that old fireplace like that.

[Tony]

Let's see if there's anything in this room across the hall.

[Sandy]

Nothing. We've been miserable, Joe. There hasn't been anybody in here for ages. Look at all the cobwebs over everything.

[Tony]

I guess you're right, Annie.

[Sandy]

Then let's go upstairs. There might be something we find up there.

[Tony]

All right.

[Sandy]

Come on, Sandy, you come along, too. But no more of that foolish whining. Scary enough in here without you making a lot of noises.

[Tony]

Gosh, these stairs don't seem any too solid.

[Sandy]

I guess they're solid enough. They just creak a little when you step on them. All old stairs do that, Joe.

[Tony]

Well, here's the upper hall.

[Sandy]

It won't be hard to look around here. All of the doors are open.

[Tony]

There's nothing in this room.

[Sandy]

And there's nothing but old cobwebs in this one. Joe.

[Tony]

Let's have a look at this last one.

[Sandy]

Right.

[Tony]

Nothing.

[Sandy]

There's not even been anybody here, Joe. Look at all the dust on the floor. Not a mark in it.

[Tony]

I guess you're right, Annie.

[Sandy]

Looks to me as if we'd draw in a blank, Joe.

[Tony]

Yeah, it sure does. It's a cinch there hasn't been anybody up here for years.

[Sandy]

I guess we might as well go down.

[Tony]

Yeah. Maybe I'm not such a good detective after all, Annie.

[Sandy]

Well, anyhow, Joe, you thought this out pretty well. Then you had a try.

[Tony]

Look at Sandy, Annie. What's he sniffing around that same door for?

[Sandy]

I don't know what isn't, Sandy?

[Tony]

It must be just that old rat in that fireplace in there.

[Sandy]

That's what it is, all right. Sandy, you can't go in there. Come on, Sandy. No more of that. We're going home.

[Tony]

Shucks, Annie, look how dark it is out here on the porch.

[Sandy]

Them lizards. It's getting late, Joe. I didn't know it was getting dark already.

[Tony]

Shucks. I'm sorry, Annie. I thought I had a good idea about this stranger that might have done the robbery, but I guess I was wrong.

[Sandy]

Well, it was a good idea, Joe. You can't help it if we didn't find anything. We better head back across the fields to the silos.

[Tony]

Yeah.

[Sandy]

There were no signs in that house that anybody been there.

[Tony]

I know it, but Just the same nanny. I can't believe that Tony did this robbery.

[Sandy]

Neither can I.

[Tony]

Somebody else must have done it. But shucks, I guess I'd make a better engineer than I would a detective after all. I guess maybe it'd be fun to be a detective. But, gosh, you have to really find out things. And we didn't find out anything. There were no signs that anybody had been in that house.

[Sandy]

We certainly didn't find any, Joe. But say what? Look, Joe.

[Tony]

Look where?

[Sandy]

Back at the house. Don't you see it shining through the blinds from the windows in that room where the fireplace is?

[Tony]

Gosh, I do see it, Annie. It's a light.

[Sandy]

Yes, sir. That's just what it is, Joe. A light.

[Tony]

But to make a light, there has to be someone there to make it.

[Sandy]

That's right, Joe. And leap and lizards. Right. Now there must be someone there. Maybe your detective wasn't so wrong after all, Joe. Cause where there's smoke, there's fire. And where there's a light in an old empty house, there's someone making that light.

[Narrator]

That's right, Annie. Where there's a light, there's someone making that light. And it's in the same room where Sandy made such a fuss about that fireplace. Can there be anybody in that room? What is the mystery of this old house on the riverbank? Say, I hope everybody listening tonight drinks Ovaltine. Because, you know these adventures are broadcast over the radio. Especially for Annie's very own friends, the boys and girls who drink Ovaltine every day. Because that's the way to keep Annie's thrilling adventures going on the radio. And when you drink Ovaltine, you kill two birds with one stone. Yes, sir. You help keep Orphan Annie on the radio, and at the same time, you help yourself. Because with every delicious cup full of Ovaltine, you're getting lots of important minerals and vitamins and things that may help nature make you husky and strong and keep you bubbling over with good old Orphan Annie pep. And so, if you aren't drinking Ovaltine, you certainly want to start in right away. Ask your mother to get you a can of it at her drug or grocery store so you can have a great big delicious cup full with all your meals every single day from now on. And be sure to be here tomorrow at 5:45 to see if Annie and Joe can find out the meaning of that light in the mysterious deserted house. We'll hear more about that tomorrow at 5:45. Until then, goodbye.

[Tony]

Sam.