Rocky Fortune was the nickname of Rocco Fortunato. Frank Sinatra (1915-1998) starred as Rocky in 25 episodes from October 1953 to March 1954, when his film career skyrocketed after his Oscar winning performance as Best Supporting Actor in the 1953 film From Here to Eternity. Rocky was always just this side of the law and forever unemployed. Jumping from job to job as supplied to him by the Gridley Employment Agency, “The Plot to Murder Santa” has Rocky trying his luck as a department store detective, where he soon ends up in the middle of trouble and also takes on the role as the store Santa. This episode aired December 22, 1953 and was written by George Lefferts, who created the series. SF fans will recognize Lefferts’ name immediately, for he and Ernest Kinoy wrote nearly all of the episodes of Dimension X and later X Minus One.

Listen now as Rocky meets a little girl with a leg brace and her beautiful mother shopping for a toy doll, all the while trying to unravel “The Plot to Murder Santa.”

Play Time: 23:23