Crossroads Ballad

The exact date of this episode is unknown. We've filled in the date above with a placeholder. What we actually have on record is: 1949-uu-uu.

"Crossroads Ballad" is a story, told mostly in song, of Jim Stark, a World War II veteran who returned from the war, got a job, and married Ruby. Jim meets a friend from the military that he did not like. Ruby tells Jim to not see the friend again: she says that if he sees the friend again, she will leave. Instead, Jim decides to leave first and later meets a woman named Chris, from whom he contracts syphilis. He realizes that he has the disease without seeing a physician, ends up losing his job and is depressed. Later Ruby tracks down her husband, takes responsibility for what happened and convinces Jim to get treatment.

[Description adapted from Alan J. Sofalvi, https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1196133.pdf]

WNYC archives id: 92540