Sound effects depict a descent to Hell: a gong, followed by two crashes of thunder; then an electronic hum, first descending, then ascending in pitch; which dissolves into a sustained violin note, which finally turns into a classical cadenza.
Mephisto explains to an assembly including Nero, Ivan the Terrible, the Biblical Haman, the Roman emperor Caligula, the Borgias, and Simon Legree, that he is concerned about the thwarting of his efforts to corrupt humanity, by the peace and good will generated by the Christmas holiday.
Then Legree suggests bribing the US Congress to outlaw Christmas, but Mephisto points out the uncertainty of depending on corrupt politicians, who could just as easily be turned the other way.
Nero briefly succumbs to this logic, but then takes Santa's argument as a battle of wits, and boasts of his intellectual superiority and cultural (musical) sensitivity.
CBS had Corwin produce and direct the play a third time on December 19, 1944, with most of the original cast, which included Will Geer as Mephistopheles.
[1] Corwin called Burroughs "the finest Negro actor in radio" after his 1936 appearance in Orson Welles' Federal Theatre production of Macbeth.
On his way to the North Pole, Nero encounters a reporter who attempts to poll him on his opinions of classical composers and conductors.
He also briefly encounters a woman speaking a strange-sounding language; Corwin decided to add this after hearing an extra cast as one of the demons imitate the sound of a tape being rewound.
[3] A localised version of the play was rehearsed, performed and recorded live on November 27, 2022 at the Malachi Gilmore Memorial Hall (built 1937) in the town of Oberon, New South Wales, Australia.