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.According to Lawrence Van Gelder, writing Fletcher's obituary for the New York Times, the playwright "transfixed a national audience with her radio drama." The drama was so popular, according to Van Gelder, that it was "broadcast nationally seven times from 1943 to 1948 and was ultimately translated into 15 languages." Later Fletcher adapted the radio play to a film script. Barbara Stanwyck, who portrayed the protagonist, earned an Academy Award nomination for her performance. The play also won the 1960 Edgar Allan Poe Award from the Mystery Writers of America for best radio play, was remade for cable television in 1989, and inspired an opera by Jack Beeson in 1996. Sorry, Wrong Number is considered by many critics to be, if not her best, at least the most popular of Fletcher's works.
