1954-04-19 The Card Game

Richard Widmark returns to the series in an E. Jack Neuman script about a gambler whose life is falling apart. The only way he might stop gambling is if he ends up a broken man. This inveterate gambler who clings to the belief that all he has to do to become wealthy is to find the right card game. His pregnant wife is weary of his broken promises to reform and get a respectable job. She has decided to leave him. Desperate now, he has a plan to find that one card game he’s been looking for. He has to look the part of a big gambler to have a chance at getting into one of those no-limit games, and he has to look like he has big money so he can get into the game on credit. He goes to a store he’s been to before, but not in a while, and gets a $300 suit ($3500 in US$2024) on a promise to pay later. The owner is skeptical because he’s always paid cash. He convinces that very store owner to let him borrow his plush $10,000 car ($120,000 in US$2024), to put up a flashy front. He succeeds and gets himself invited to sit in on that no-limit poker game. The ruse worked so well, they gave him credit. Now all he has to do is win. There does not seem like there’s a lot of suspense in the story, but it all comes at the end (spoiler) when he loses big, really big, and has to admit he has no money. This does not go over well, and they take him for “a ride.” He’s left in a ditch, and he’s beaten up so badly no one who sees him helps him. He realizes he’s put the lives of his wife, his newborn child, and his own, in jeopardy. Perhaps now that it has shifted from certain financial harm to potential physical harm, something in his thinking may finally click. Maybe the suspense is whether or not this is finally the life-changing tragedy of his own doing that finally gets him to stop gambling and keep his promises.

Widmark is good, yet again, in this different role and a very different story. It is definitely not a Suspense classic, but it is an intriguing episode, nonetheless. If someone is new to classic radio or Suspense, this is not one that you suggest as one of their first listens.

The dramatic portion of the program was rehearsed and recorded on Sunday, April 11, 1954. Rehearsal began at 11:00am and recording started at 3:30pm, concluding at 4:00pm.

LISTEN TO THE PROGRAM or download in FLAC or mp3
https://archive.org/details/TSP540419

Alternative download link for FLAC and mp3 while Internet Archive recovers from its DDoS attack
https://www.mediafire.com/folder/x5hidr11hjt98/Suspense_-_The_Card_Game

The recording can be streamed at YouTube starting at 9am US ET on October 17, 2024  https://youtu.be/Dqrz91pns08

THE CAST

RICHARD WIDMARK (Chick Regan), Clayton Post (Harry / Max), Cathy Lewis (Jenny), Jay Novello (Jim Santo), Hy Averback (Walshie), Eddy Fields (Phil Archer), Lou Krugman (Lew Humboldt), Joe Granby (Larry), Larry Thor (Narrator) [Joe Kearns was originally cast for Walsh & a character named Charlie, but for whatever reason he wasn’t in the show]

COMMERCIAL: Harlow Wilcox (Announcer), Bob Emerick (on-the-spot interviewer)

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1954-04-12 Parole to Panic

Broderick Crawford stars in a Ross Murray story about a paroled ex-con whose former associates believe he turned state’s evidence against them. On his release after two years incarceration, he wants to make amends to his wife and find a decent job. After arriving home, he learns that several members of the gang he belonged to intend to kill him for what they regard as “ratting” on them. Some of the gang members were never arrested, but want revenge for the others who were. After a threatening phone call, the ex-con and his wife pack hastily and leave town. After only a few miles drive, they realize that their car is being followed. Desperately, they try to lose their pursuers. After stopping for gas, they realize they’ve been spotted. They scramble, and leave before the gas attendant could put the cap on the tank, which luckily results in a small spill on their drive that assists attentive police find their location when they are rescued later… but much happens in the meantime. Well, almost much. The ending is not all that exciting to everything that led up to it. It’s an entertaining listen, but lets down a little in the end, even though it has a happy conclusion.

It is funny to hear names of characters be the same as those of celebrities much later on. Hy Averback plays “Roger Miller.” That’s the same name as the highly popular country music composer and entertainer of the 1960s and 1970s.

The dramatic portion of the episode was rehearsed and recorded on Sunday, April 4, 1954. The session began at 11:00am, and recording started at 3:30pm. It concluded at 4:00pm.

At the close of the broadcast, Betty Goode, Editor of Radio-TV Mirror magazine, gives Elliott Lewis a gold medal and a scroll to mark the magazine’s readers selection of the series as their favorite mystery program. Goode’s remarks were pre-recorded, as was Lewis’ acceptance.

LISTEN TO THE PROGRAM or download in FLAC or mp3
https://archive.org/details/TSP540412

Alternative download site for FLAC and mp3 files
https://www.mediafire.com/folder/2uoe17pacpkpa/Suspense_-_Parole_to_Panic

Stream the episode at YouTube starting at 9am US ET on October 16, 2024
https://youtu.be/pb-ntzjuUIM

THE CAST

BRODERICK CRAWFORD (Paul), Paula Winslowe (Jenny), Joseph Kearns (Warden / Police Lieutenant), Junius Matthews (Mr. Miller), Hy Averback (Roger Miller), Barney Phillips (Voice / Gas Station Attendant), Larry Thor (Narrator)

COMMERCIAL: Harlow Wilcox (Announcer), Bob Emerick (on-the-spot interviewer)

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1954-04-05 Grand Theft

David Niven stars in an E. Jack Neuman story about jewels and insurance fraud. He plays an insurance appraiser who arranges a (supposedly) foolproof plan to collect insurance on a fraudulent claim. He takes out an $18,000 insurance policy (more than $200,000 in US$2024) on some false jewelry which, he says, has been in the family for 60 years. (If it never existed, it can never be found!) A short time later, he reports the jewels stolen. An insurance investigator conducts a routine examination of the case. As part of his plan, the fraudster gets his girlfriend’s elderly grandmother to corroborate his story that the jewels are family heirlooms. Just when the investigator is about convinced the theft actually occurred, a strange twist of fate leads to a surprising outcome. His pattern of appraising followed by robberies is finally detected… and the scheme falls to pieces… He’ll not be going to travel to Paris like he was planning to…

This is not the most fascinating or most exciting of episodes. It’s mainly petty thievery stuff, with no real big score in the heists like a famous jewel that would add some intrigue to the plotline.

The surviving network recording is complete. The second half of an Armed Forces Radio Service (AFRS#482) has survived; the first half has not been found at this time.

LISTEN TO THE PROGRAM or download in FLAC or mp3
https://archive.org/details/TSP540405

ALTERNATIVE DOWNLOAD LINK FOR FLAC and mp3
while Internet Archive recovers from its DDoS attack
https://www.mediafire.com/folder/0v5wm7m9io0z6/Suspense_-_Grand_Theft

The program can be streamed at YouTube starting at 9am US ET on Oct 15, 2024
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kJaXF-AwtUs

THE CAST

DAVID NIVEN (Ben Bentley), Mary Jane Croft (Maude), Florence Walcott (Grandma Mullin), Truda Marson (Mrs. Payne), Paula Winslowe (Mrs. Prescott), Vic Perrin (Pawn Shop Clerk / Detective Ivers), Joseph Kearns (Mr. Coombes), Larry Thor (Narrator)

COMMERCIAL: Tom Holland (Hap), Harlow Wilcox (Announcer)

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1954-03-29 Somebody Help Me

Cornel Wilde plays a smooth-talking killer whose resentment over rejection by his ex-wife leads him to kill a young woman. His temper leads him to various encounters over a parking space and in a night club. When the young woman he picked up spends most of her time dancing with another man, he is fuming, and the story reaches its murderous peak in parked car when he tries to kiss her and she pushes him away.

The story moves and seems to stall and you wonder if you can listen to its unsavory foundation. Wilde’s character is such a turn off, a nasty manipulator, that listening patience can be tested if it continues. Stick with it. The broadcast takes an intriguing turn when a narrative emerges with a focus on police efforts to catch him using forensics and diligent investigation. It reaches a satisfactory conclusion, and you get to enjoy Wilde’s fine performance.

Morton Fine and David Friedkin wrote the script, and there is an interesting credit at the end of the broadcast. This story was “based on research by” Edward D. Radin, according to the announcement. It may or may not have become a Radin short story or a novel, but Fine, Friedkin, and Lewis recognized him for some type of unidentified but important contribution to their script. CBS publicity stated that the story was drawn from police records of an actual murder. Radin was one of the most respected crime writers of the day and was a founder of the Mystery Writers of America. He won Edgar awards in 1947 and 1950. He started as a police and court reporter for a Long Island newspaper, and then started a very successful freelance writing career. His most notable book about Lizzie Borden, published in 1961. He may have given Fine and Friedkin a “heads up” on something he was working on.

The drama portion was recorded on Tuesday, March 23, 1954. Rehearsal began at 3:00pm, and recording commenced at 7:30pm. The session closed at 8:00pm.

LISTEN TO THE PROGRAM or download in FLAC or mp3
https://archive.org/details/TSP540329R

ALTERNATIVE DOWNLOAD LINK FOR FLAC and mp3
while Internet Archive recovers from its DDoS attack
https://www.mediafire.com/folder/mubjioptb3lkp/Suspense_-_Somebody_Help_Me

The program can be streamed at YouTube
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wZbUpan9z4Q

THE CAST

CORNEL WILDE (Eddie Franklin), Mary Jane Croft (Shirley Franklin), Cathy Lewis (Eileen Hall), Paula Winslowe (Lois Anderson), Charlotte Lawrence (Toby the Car Hop), Larry Thor (Narrator), Hy Averback (Yardley / Ryan), Sam Edwards (Bernie / Gibson), Joe Kearns (Tomasino), Charles Calvert (Gilchrist)

COMMERCIAL: Harlow Wilcox (Announcer), unknown actor (Jim, the Chrysler owner)

GUEST FOR THE AUTO-LITE CHARITY PROMOTION: Mortimer Brandt, representing the National Cancer Foundation has a message designating his charity for an Auto-Lite contribution. That organization may be better known as Cancer Care. In the 1950s its focus was not on cancer research, but the financial care and counseling of cancer patients and their families. It was not related to the American Cancer Society, which became a much bigger and better known organization through the years.

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1954-03-22 The Guilty Always Run

Tyrone Power makes his only appearance on the series in a Morton Fine and David Friedkin script. He plays a young man on a Southern California vacation where he and his wife can enjoy surfing together. Unfortunately, she breaks her hip in a fall from a surfboard at the start of the trip. She has to stay in their room, but she tells him it’s okay for him to go surfing alone. It is then that he meets Karen, who pretends she can't carry her surfboard from her car to the beach, and they strike up an acquaintance the seems like it is on a path to a romantic fling. Power's character tries to brush her off, and that leads to trying to cut off the relationship in an ugly scene, witnessed by a bartender. A few hours later she is murdered, her body found floating in seaweed. The husband is innocent, but knows he is regarded as the only logical suspect. A close friend, played by William Conrad, offers to give him an alibi (Really? The story gets predictable from here). The bartender gets involved in the story as he tries to blackmail the husband (Doesn’t he know that being a bartender is like the seal of a confessional or patient-client privilege? How dare he!). It may be a predictable story, but this one has a certain delight in letting it play out and claiming you figured it out and you knew it all along.

The dramatic portion of the story was recorded on Tuesday, March 9, 1954. Rehearsal began at 2:00pm and the tape session started at 6:30pm, concluding at 7:00pm.

Two recordings have survived, and the network recording is the significantly better of the two. The other recording is from a release by the Armed Forces Radio and Television Service (AFRTS) from sometime in the 1980s. That recording has some distortions and narrow range.

This episode was Tyrone Power’s sole Suspense appearance. He had performed on radio many times through the years on movie-related programs and variety shows. Frederic Ziv cast him in the lead of a successful 1950s syndicated radio series, Freedom USA, which dramatized the backroom negotiations and personal and political life of a US Senator. The Power story ends tragically, having a fatal heart attack while filming a movie in Spain in 1958. He was noted for his military service in WW2 and his many successful movies. Wikipedia has a summary of his life and career https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tyrone_Power

LISTEN TO THE PROGRAM or download in FLAC or mp3
https://archive.org/details/TSP540322

ALTERNATIVE DOWNLOAD LINK FOR FLAC and mp3
while Internet Archive recovers from its DDoS attack
https://www.mediafire.com/folder/axca1wnxihttd/Suspense_-_The_Guilty_Always_Run

The program can be streamed at YouTube
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CGi98gxkUxk

THE CAST

TYRONE POWER (Jeff Marlowe), Cathy Lewis (Janey Marlowe), William Conrad (Lou Foster), Charlotte Lawrence (Karen Lawrence / Phyllis George), Frank Nelson (Norm Sloan), Jack Kruschen (Detective Anders), Larry Thor (Narrator)

COMMERCIAL: Harlow Wilcox (Announcer), Jerry Hausner (Marty, the Kaiser dealer)

GUEST FOR THE AUTO-LITE CHARITY PROMOTION: The charity headliner this episode is a five-star Admiral William Halsey. He was the fleet admiral in the Pacific during WW2. He was very well known by the public, and was a choice of the National Mental Health Association’s fundraising. He had just taken this position for the 1954 campaign. His main job was to find big corporate sponsors. Since so many of the top executives and their staff members had served in the military, he was a very good choice. You don’t want to disobey orders from a five star admiral, do you? His long career is detailed at Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Halsey_Jr.

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1954-03-15 The Girl in Car 32

Victor Mature plays Detective Mahoney, assigned to watch a gangster’s girl friend on a transcontinental train trip. As part of the surveillance, it was arranged for him to have a seat just across the aisle from the girl, Jenny Johnson. His job is to strike up an acquaintance to find out the whereabouts of gangster Fritzie Hollister and learn whether he intends to meet her. The girl seems so sweet and naive that he simply cannot believe that she is the gangster’s girl. He realizes en route that he is falling in love with her. But just when he is almost convinced that there has been a mistake in identities (spoiler alert: he’s right), Hollister boards the train and takes a seat right next to Jenny. We later learn that Jenny was a friend of the girlfriend… and there’s something about the luggage she brought with her for the trip.

The story is by Thomas Walsh, a police officer turned writer, and it appeared in The Saturday Evening Post 1953-11-07 edition. Walsh also wrote the original story behind the 1948-12-30 episode Break-Up. The script was adapted by E. Jack Neuman.

William Conrad plays “Danes,” a very unlikable law officer. He comes on board like a drunk and tries to sit next to Jenny, and lets Mature’s character act like a hero when he shoos him away. This “breaks the ice” for him to start chatting with her. When Conrad does it, you know he’s a cop, so when he meets with Mahoney elsewhere on the train, you’re not surprised at all.

The end of the story is a product of its time, with a passing glance to a romantic ending. It is an awkward ending because with all of the disruption of the trip and the mistaken identity, it seems like an impossibility. It’s clear that the detective is smitten with Jenny. To modern ears and sensibilities his plan to travel with her, whether she wants him to or not, might even border on stalking or harassment. But, they wanted a sense of “happily ever after,” it seems. If they do go together, he’ll be apologizing for at least half of the trip before they feel comfortable enough to even chat about the weather.

The story was used on the Suspense television series on 1954-07-06. The teleplay was by Raphael Hayes. The cast included Edie Adams, Gene Barry, and Grant Richards. No kinescope is known to survive.

The drama portion of the broadcast was rehearsed and recorded on Sunday, March 7, 1954. Rehearsal began at 11:00am and recording commenced at 3:30pm. The session ended at 4:00pm.

Two recordings of this broadcast have survived. Both the network and an Armed Forces Radio Service (AFRS#479). They are each very good recordings. The AFRS recording has not been in circulation before and has a very good crisp sound, lighter than the network one. If you want the full Auto-Lite experience, choose the network recording. The AFRS recording is a bit better.

LISTEN TO THE PROGRAM or download in FLAC or mp3
https://archive.org/details/TSP540315
(currently in site maintenance; will return soon)

Alternative link to the recordings, available now:
https://www.mediafire.com/folder/fedlhd0yngs5l/Suspense_-_Girl_in_Car_32

and the episode can be streamed at YouTube:
https://youtu.be/3Y2ejJPop7M?si=jvIzOFp68RKji-w8
(available after 9:00am US Eastern Time)

THE CAST

VICTOR MATURE (Bright Eyes Mahoney), Cathy Lewis (Genevieve Johnson), William Conrad (Sergeant Dane), Herb Butterfield (The Sheriff / Newsboy), Joseph Kearns (Fritzie / Caller), Roy E. Glenn (The Porter), John Dehner (Charlie Buker), Larry Thor (Narrator)

COMMERCIAL: Harlow Wilcox (Announcer), unknown actor (Jim, the Packard dealer)

GUEST FOR THE AUTO-LITE CHARITY PROMOTION: E. Roland Harriman, Chairman of The American Red Cross. The Harriman family’s wealth came from railroad investments in the late 1800s. They were prominent family in New York (there is a town named after them) and became active in philanthropy, finance, politics and government. His brother Averell was a much better known figure. Roland joined the American Red Cross in a number of high-level positions in management and fund-raising. He was appointed by President Truman to succeed General George Marshall in 1950, and was reappointed in 1953 by President Eisenhower. He was active in many philanthropic organizations.

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1954-03-08 Circumstantial Terror

Ronald Reagan makes his second and final appearance on the series as an innocent man who finds himself arrested for murder. An argument over a pack of cigarettes sets up a chain of circumstantial evidence that threatens to send him to prison and possibly the electric chair. Reagan’s character is a short-tempered young man who gets into a verbal beef with a liquor store owner. The proprietor doesn't want to stop talking to a friend long enough to get the impatient young man a package of cigarettes. Later, Reagan's character realizes how wrong he was and is embarrassed over the incident. He walks back to the store to apologize and buy the cigarettes. Just as he arrives, he hears a shot and sees a man rush out of the store, leap into a car, and drive away. He runs into the store, sees that the proprietor is has been murdered. As the police get involved, he finds himself under arrest as the murderer. The dead man's friend, present during the argument with the victim, is a powerful witness against him. Even his own public defender attorney admits that his case looks pretty hopeless. Hoping to get a sympathetic jury selection, he tells the attorney he sees the killer in the jury pool! He demands his lawyer to make certain that the man is selected as a juror! But how does he turn his situation around? He runs away from the courtroom… surprises his lawyer at his office... and in their secret meeting they realize who the real culprit is… and he goes to confront him.

This is another interesting story by sound effects artist Ross Murray. Howard McNear is marvelous as the public defender.

LISTEN TO THE PROGRAM or download in FLAC or mp3
https://archive.org/details/TSP540308

ALTERNATIVE DOWNLOAD LINK FOR FLAC and mp3
while Internet Archive recovers from its DDoS attack
https://www.mediafire.com/folder/jc4jo6rg6ps2l/Suspense_-_Circumstantial_Terror

THE CAST

RONALD REAGAN (Frank Thompson), Charles Calvert (Sam), Clayton Post (Eddie), Kurt Martell (Officer / Voice), Howard McNear (Ernest Gibbons), Vic Perrin (Charles the Killer), Hal Gerard (Irv), Larry Thor (Narrator)

COMMERCIAL: Harlow Wilcox (Announcer), unknown actor (Charlie, the Nash dealer)

GUEST FOR THE AUTO-LITE CHARITY PROMOTION: General George Kennedy, President of the Arthritis and Rheumatism Foundation. The Foundation was relatively young, founded in 1948. General Kennedy became the president in 1951. He was commander of the Allied Air Forces in the Southwest Pacific area during WW2. He was head of Strategic Air Command until 1948, and retired from the Air Force in 1951. The organization is now known as the Arthritis Foundation.

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