The Clock NBC · October 2, 1947

Clock 47 10 02ep48 Thejekyll Andhydegangster

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# The Clock: "The Jekyll and Hyde Gangster"

As the clock tower strikes in the dead of night, listeners are drawn into a tale of fractured identity that cuts to the very heart of post-war American anxieties. In this October 1948 episode, a seemingly respectable businessman by day transforms into a ruthless criminal kingpin after sunset—a duality that neither the police nor his closest associates can fathom. The suspense builds as investigators close in, forced to grapple with the unsettling possibility that the same man could be both perpetrator and victim of his own crimes. With every tick of that omnipresent clock, the net tightens around our protagonist, and listeners will find themselves questioning whether redemption is possible for a man at war with himself.

*The Clock* arrived on NBC airwaves in 1946 at a pivotal moment in American radio drama, when audiences were hungry for sophisticated mysteries that reflected the moral complexities of the atomic age. Unlike formulaic detective shows, this anthology series traded in psychological tension and narrative ambiguity, with each episode exploring the darker corners of human nature rather than celebrating straightforward good-versus-evil resolutions. "The Jekyll and Hyde Gangster" exemplifies this approach perfectly, translating Robert Louis Stevenson's Victorian classic into a distinctly modern noir context where a man's split personality becomes entangled with organized crime. The show's emphasis on character psychology over plot mechanics made it a favorite among radio connoisseurs, even as its run was cut short by television's rising tide.

Don't miss this gripping installment from *The Clock*'s final season—a masterclass in suspenseful storytelling that proves radio drama at its finest needed no visual effects, only the power of suggestion and a listener's willing imagination.