Sorry, Wrong Number: Jhovert Christian S. Dulay 9 - Macopa

JHOVERT CHRISTIAN S.
DULAY 9 - MACOPA
SORRY, WRONG NUMBER

SUMMARY
Sorry, Wrong Number tells the story of Mrs. Elbert Stevenson an invalid woman confined to her bed, who becomes
increasingly frantic as the story progresses. The drama begins with Mrs. Stevenson attempting to call her husband,
who is working late. Frustrated with the busy signal, she seeks the help of the operator who connects her through to
what she assumes is her husband's office phone. Instead of hearing his familiar voice, she listens in on a
conversation where two men are plotting a murder. The victim is a woman, home alone, who lives near a bridge.
The men plan for the attack to take place just as the train crosses the bridge, so the sound will mask any screams
from the victim.
Horrified by what she hears, Mrs. Stevenson calls the operator to demand that she trace the source of this call. The
operator explains that only the police can push through a request like that, and so begins 20 minutes of calls to the
police, telephone operators, and even to the phone company's Chief Operator as Mrs. Stevenson attempts to alert
someone to the gravity of the situation. None of the people she talks to will acknowledge that she is in any danger.
Meanwhile, the audience learns that Mrs. Stevenson has been confined to her bed for 12 years with anxiety issues.
No one on the phone has the answers she's seeking and her anxiety mounts, building suspense that her health may be
at risk.
The drama culminates in a scene were Mrs. Stevenson becomes certain that she's the target of the murder; after all,
she lives near a train that crosses a bridge, and when she hears that her husband has left town on business, she knows
that she will be at home alone at the designated time for the attack. In the final minutes she hears an intruder
listening on the downstairs phone, and then she picks out footsteps coming up the stairs. She hastily calls the police
for help, and just before they answer the phone, her terrified screams let the audience know that she has been caught
by the killer.
AUTHOR’S BACKGROUND
Violet Lucille Fletcher (March 28, 1912 – August 31, 2000) was an American screenwriter of film, radio and
television. ... Lucille Fletcher also wrote Sorry, Wrong Number, one of the most celebrated plays in the history of
American radio, which she adapted and expanded for the 1948 film noir classic of the same name
SELECTION
Just a decade ago, if people wanted to watch a show on television they had to figure out when it would air and then
tune in to the correct channel at the correct time. Fifty years before that, even though black and white television was
relatively common, the big entertainment came from radio. Radio dramas, plays that were heard on the radio rather
JHOVERT CHRISTIAN S. DULAY 9 - MACOPA
than seen, were the 1940s version of the modern TV show - a story that is either told in a half an hour or that
continues with a new installment each week. One popular radio show, Suspense, regularly aired short, suspenseful
radio plays.
In 1943 Sorry, Wrong Number first aired on the Suspense radio program. This story by Lucille Fletcher went on to
be considered one of the greatest radio drama episodes. It was adapted to become a movie, and a later production of
the radio drama won The Edgar Awaird for Best Radio Drama.
VOCABULARY
1.Querulous
-Mrs. Stevenson (a querulous, self-centered neurotic). Oh dear!
2.Periphery
-Spotlight picks up a figure of a heavy-set man seated at a desk with a phone on R. side of dark periphery of stage.
3.imperious
-Mrs. Stevenson (louder and more imperious, to phone). Hello. Who's this? What number am I calling, please?
4.Bland
- A bland buzzing signal.
5.Invalid
-I'm an invalid, and it's the maid's night off, and I hate to be alone even though he says I'm perfectly safe if I have
the telephone right beside my bed.
THE TELEPHONE
SUMMARY
The Telephone The poem is a commentary on the invention of telephone. It is taken from “Counting Myself Lucky”,
a compilation of Field's poem. The theme is self-identity or happiness The narrator explains how the
telephone made him feel connected to others, how it give him pleasure to share gossips.
AUTHOR’S BACKGROUND
The theme of "The Telephone" is that the telephone is a lifeline. Although the telephone is a technical device, the

speaker imbues it with warmth because it transmits love and... … Edward Field's poem “The Telephone” is included
in his book Counting Myself Lucky: Selected Poems, 1963-1992.
SELECTION
The theme of "The Telephone" is that the telephone is a lifeline.
To the speaker, the telephone is a marvelous "appliance" which connects him to friends in a valuable way in his
large and impersonal city:
It tells me that I am in the world and wanted

It rings and I am alerted to love or gossip
Although the telephone is a technical device, the speaker imbues it with warmth because it transmits love and
friendship through its lines and receiver. His feelings, reflective of many in a time when there was no other
technology for personal communication, are expressive of his delight in being able to hear the voices of friends or
his lover. With the telephone he can feel connected to his loved ones and thereby overcome the anonymity of
subways and buses where people do not converse, but act as automatons. Without the telephone, he feels isolated,
like "a bear in a cave." He awaits with eagerness the "spring" that the telephone brings him in the "shadowy winter"
of his urban isolation.

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JHOVERT CHRISTIAN S.

SORRY, WRONG NUMBER

The theme of "The Telephone" is that the telephone is a lifeline. Although the telephone is a technical device, the

It tells me that I am in the world and wanted

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