1955-10-04 Goodbye, Miss Lizzie Borden

This episode is the third time that Suspense presented the story of Lizzie Borden and the Fall River Tragedy on the series, each one of them a unique broadcast. These are the times it was presented, as well as a Crime Classics broadcast that was produced by Elliott Lewis.

• 1942-07-01 The Life of Nellie James by Harold Medford (a missing episode) [This episode was expertly recreated by Project Audion in 2024 and can be viewed at https://youtu.be/xlRw2raEaWU ]

• 1952-01-14 Fall River Tragedy by Gil Doud; more information can be found at https://suspenseproject.blogspot.com/2024/07/1952-01-14-fall-river-tragedy.html or https://archive.org/details/TSP520114

• 1953-09-14 Crime Classics episode The Bloody, Bloody Banks of Fall River by Morton Fine and David Friedkin

• 1955-10-04 Goodbye, Miss Lizzie Borden stage play by Lillian de la Torre and adapted by Antony Ellis

Lillian de la Torre was a professional mystery writer. She wrote this play in 1947 for the stage. It appeared in a mystery anthology in March 1948, and was broadcast on television later that year in an Actors Studio production with Mary Wickes and Muriel Kirkland. It was later performed on Alfred Hitchcock Presents in January 1956 as The Older Sister. It is presented here on Suspense and adapted by Antony Ellis. It is a fictional story about the aftermath of the murders. Some of the Lizzie Borden stories concentrate on re-enacting the crime or the courtroom drama. This does not. It takes place on the anniversary of the murders when a reporter visits the Borden house and starts talking to the Borden sisters. She starts asking them questions about what happened. The interaction drives the sisters apart and Lizzie asks the reporter is asked to leave… without her notes.

De la Torre was a prominent mystery writer and served as President of the Mystery Writers of America. More can be learned about her at Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Lillian_de_la_Torre&oldid=1217819893

The play can be found starting at page 289 in the anthology The Web She Weaves: An Anthology of Mystery and Suspense Stories by Women published in 1983 by William Morrow and Company. It can be borrowed at the Internet Archive https://archive.org/details/isbn_0688048315

The program was recorded on Tuesday, September 27, 1955. The session began at 11:30am and continued to 5:00pm. Recording commenced at that time and was completed at 5:30pm.

There are two surviving recordings. The network recording is the better of the two but has some defects compared to some of the excellent recordings that are in the 1955 programs. The Armed Forces Radio Service (AFRS) recording has limited range and mild distortion.

LISTEN TO THE PROGRAM or download in FLAC or mp3
https://archive.org/details/TSP551004

THE CAST

Paula Winslowe (Miss Emma Borden), Irene Tedrow (Lizzie Borden), Virginia Gregg (Nellie Cutts), Helen Kleeb (Maggie), Leonard Weinrib (Expressman), Richard Beals (Child), Larry Thor (Narrator)

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1955-09-27 The Frightened City

This is second production of a Morton Fine and David Friedkin script about the influence of crime in a Midwest town stars Harry Bartell. He plays a returning GI who finds his entire community is paralyzed by racketeers. His brother-in-law was killed in a drive-by shooting. “Everyone” knows who killed him, but they are fearful of stepping forward and reporting it to the police. He soon realizes that the corruption crept into his own extended family. He decides that something must be done to stop the violence, and he will have to be the person who does it.

The first broadcast starred Frank Lovejoy. Details about that and other aspects of the story are at

• https://suspenseproject.blogspot.com/2024/08/1952-11-10-frightened-city.html

• https://archive.org/details/TSP521110 is where the recording can be streamed or downloaded.

The program was recorded on Monday, September 19, 1955. The session began at 11:30am and concluded at 5:00pm. The recording began at that time and ended at 5:30pm.

There are two surviving recordings. The likely network recording is the better of the two. The recording is incomplete, with no mid-show commercial and a clipped close that ends the “Suspense March” prematurely. There is a possibility that it is an Armed Forces Radio Service (AFRS) recording that has been edited. The other recording is an Armed Forces Radio and Television Service (AFRTS) recording likely from the 1980s. It is complete for that format but has a cobbled-together show opening with pieces from various eras of the series. It is hoped that a complete network recording may be found or an AFRS recording, contemporary to its original broadcast, might be found as well. Until then, these recordings will have to suffice.

LISTEN TO THE PROGRAM or download in FLAC or mp3
https://archive.org/details/TSP550927

THE CAST

Harry Bartell (Nick Crawford), Charlotte Lawrence (Jane Stewart), Lou Merrill (Donley), Herb Butterfield (Osborne / Voice 2), Vivi Janiss (Mrs. Mason / Operator), Tom McKee (Tom Ruxton / Nolan), Larry Thor (Narrator)

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1955-09-20 The Stool Pigeon

This Antony Ellis script is about a group of prisoners who plan an escape from Devil’s Island. It has a cast of Suspense regulars, led by John Dehner as the mastermind behind the plan, and fellow prisoners played by Parley Baer, Joe Kearns, and Tony Barrett.

Devil’s Island is off the coast of French Guiana and the northern coast of South America. The island was so remote, some of the inmates were allowed to roam the island on their own. The combination of prison conditions and treatment, and the harsh environment of disease transmitted by insects and other issues, gave the prison that was part of the French prison system a terrible reputation. It was often used for the most violent of criminals. One of the prisoners is believed to be an informer who helps the warden and the guard thwart escape attempts. The prisoners decide they will make their escape by taking the warden as a hostage.

They start to negotiate with the warden and create a list of demands. If he signs an agreement to implement the changes, he will live. If not, he will die. They also demand that they be allowed to escape. Finally, they demand to know the identity of the informer; the warden first claims that there is none. He finally identifies Maquil as the stool pigeon. He is dismissed from the room and runs away, shot by guards as he tried to escape. In the end, all they get is some improvements to conditions with a month in solitary confinement. When one of them tries to escape later, it is not an informer who identifies him, but the native who sold him the boat. In the end, there is no real escape from Devil’s Island for any of them.

The inmates invent games to stay busy: the show opens with them having cockroach races and betting on them.

Wikipedia has the history of the island at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Devil%27s_Island The prison was closed in 1953, two years before this broadcast.

On July 7, 1955, a little more than two months before this broadcast, the film We’re No Angels was released. It was a comedy about Devil’s Island escapees with Humphrey Bogart, Aldo Ray, and Peter Ustinov. It is a bizarre idea in light of the treatment of prisoners and that they decide to return there. That film was still in theaters at the time of this broadcast.

The script was originally planned for broadcast on 1955-08-09.

LISTEN TO THE PROGRAM or download in FLAC or mp3
https://archive.org/details/TSP550920

THE CAST

John Dehner (Thibaud), Parley Baer (Euxille), Joe Kearns (Maquil), Tony Barrett (Canneau), James Nusser (Dodan / Guard), Edgar Barrier (Governor Planche), Larry Thor (Narrator)

Jay Novello was originally planned for Maquil, and was replaced by Joe Kearns

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1955-09-13 A Story of Poison

This is the second broadcast of the story originally titled “Neill Cream, Doctor of Poison.” It is based on fact. The evil Dr. Cream’s story is very gruesome, and bringing it to the air required much “sanitizing” to be acceptable to the airwaves. He was a vicious killer, convicted of murder on two continents, and numerous other horrible crimes. In some ways, poisoning was the least of his terrible acts. What makes it also is his denying that many of his actions were criminal or unjustified. It all seemed perfectly reasonable to him. Limiting this Antony Ellis script to poisoning made the story easier to tell. Joe Kearns plays Dr. Cream.

Charles Laughton starred in the 1951-09-17 broadcast. Details about the historical Dr. Cream and that broadcast can be found at

• https://suspenseproject.blogspot.com/2024/06/1951-09-17-neill-cream-doctor-of-poison.html

• https://archive.org/details/TSP510917 which is where the recording can be downloaded or streamed.

LISTEN TO THE PROGRAM or download in FLAC or mp3
https://archive.org/details/TSP550913

THE CAST

Joe Kearns (Dr. Cream), Paula Winslowe (Mrs. Minns), Tita Purdum (Daisy Minns), Virginia Gregg (Mildred), Herb Butterfield (Doctor / Police Sgt. Dean), Ben Wright (Edward Bridgman / Jailer), Raymond Lawrence (Inspector Waring), Ellen Morgan (Joyce), Larry Thor (Narrator)

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1955-09-06 Strange, for a Killer

John Dehner stars in the second production of this Robert Esson story. Dehner plays an ordinary family man who is dropped off from his work ride-share partner and starts walking home. A police officer stops him. The entire block where he lives is surrounded by police. A wanted killer is on the run from the police and is now holed up in an apartment… his own home! The killer is holding his wife and baby hostage. He finds a way to get into the building and strives to save his family from obvious danger.

The first broadcast of this episode was on 1951-03-15 and starred Van Johnson. For decades, the only copy that was available was the pre-recorded drama portion of the program. That would be broadcast and the commercials and music would be added live. Thankfully, a nearly complete home tape recorded aircheck of the broadcast recently became available. For more details about that broadcast and further background about the script, go to

• https://suspenseproject.blogspot.com/2024/05/1951-03-15-strange-for-killer.html

• https://archive.org/details/TSP510315 which is where the recordings can be downloaded or streamed

The surviving recording has slight wow and flutter at its end from a problem with the tape recorder used to copy from the network master tape. The issue is in all circulating copies, indicating that they are from the same original source. It does not affect the dramatic portion of the program.

LISTEN TO THE PROGRAM or download in FLAC or mp3
https://archive.org/details/TSP550906

THE CAST

John Dehner (Henry Haydon), Tony Barrett (Roy Djaleska), Eve McVeagh (Jessy Haydon), Jack Kruschen (Police Lt. Case), Leonard Weinrib (Buck), Charles Seel (Roeder), Tom McKee (Charlie), Larry Thor (Narrator)

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1955-08-30 The Lady in the Red Hat

This is the second production of the Clock Dailey story, adapted by Antony Ellis, about a newspaper reporter who is fascinated by the psychology of crime. His articles about a murderer who is still at large seem to make him the next logical candidate for the killer. It’s not the best Suspense script, for sure, and it’s not better the second time around. Van Heflin could not save it the first time. The Suspense ensemble cast of Vic Perrin, Virginia Gregg, and others do their best, but it is what it is. But there is one highlight… Larry Thor gets to play a police lieutenant on Suspense yet again…

The first production starred series favorite Van Heflin. Details about the story, Dailey, and the script’s original title are at

• https://suspenseproject.blogspot.com/2024/05/1950-11-30-lady-in-red-hat.html

• https://archive.org/details/TSP501130 which is where the recording can be downloaded or streamed.

LISTEN TO THE PROGRAM or download in FLAC or mp3
https://archive.org/details/TSP550830

THE CAST

Vic Perrin (Mitchell), Virginia Gregg (Jeanie), Larry Thor (Lieutenant Bill Dowell / Man 2 / Narrator), Barney Phillips (Banning), Jack Carol (Waiter / Man 1), Jenny Stevens (Receptionist)

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1955-08-23 The Beetle and Mr. Bottle

This episode was a missing episode until it was found in a cache of AFRS discs that a group of collectors purchased in 2023. It is now available for the very first time with this blogpost.

Eric Snowden stars as Eldon Bottle in an entertaining Richard Chandlee script about a man who loves caring for his garden and will do most anything to protect it. Gardening keeps his mind off the loss of his wife from years ago, and he expects it will keep him busy when he retires from his bookkeeping job. His daughter, however, believes he will be better off if he marries once more, if he finds someone to do so. He is walking one day when he is nearly hit by a car if not for the shouted warning by Ethel Magwitch. It turns out that she’s been widowed, too. He narrates “I’ve never been sure which hit me that day, the car or Mrs. Magwitch...she was like an express train bearing down on me.” They soon marry. She moves into his house but she likes nothing about it, considering it small, and the old and sentimental furniture must go. Most of all, she considers the garden a waste of time and space, and she has plans for that and changing many other things. He manages to keep the garden while she changes everything else. He comes home one day and finds her son, Charlie, visiting, after his “release from the Navy.” (Ahem… yeah, right, “the Navy”). Clearly, something is up, and Charlie implies more changes are coming. The garden finally becomes the target of change. He warns her not to try it, and tells her to agree to a divorce, which she refuses. He describes her as “a monstrous female beetle perched on a chromium chair; it was only a matter of extermination.” That can mean only one thing, on Suspense. He plans a ruse to stay in the city overnight for the long hours of the annual audit at work. He packs his garden shears, too. He will go to work, work late, check into the hotel at a late hour, all in the development of an alibi and witnesses. Then he will sneak out, go back home, murder Ethel, then return to the hotel, undetected with the alibi in place. Things go in a different direction, however.

He does get home but Ethel puts up quite a fight, and he can’t accomplish the task. He decides to head back to London, leaving Ethel at home, very much alive. When he gets to the office that morning, police are outside. He decides not to go in but to call the police station back home, and tells them he will return immediately to the station. Why? Has Ethel reported his attack and does he have to confess to it? The police tell him that his wife is okay, but suffering from paranoia. She claims Eldon tried to attack her at night. They knew he was staying in the city so there was no way he could not have done so. Her erratic behavior with the police is a different matter. She’s being kept in a police cell and making quite a racket. She’s screaming and claiming that Eldon is Jack the Ripper. They give him papers to sign, committing her to a sanitarium. They also tell him that they were notified that Ethel was wanted by the authorities. She’s been running a scam of marrying widowers and fleecing them of their property. In the end, Eldon, and the garden, are safe. The alibi worked in his favor in an unexpected way.

This broadcast was missing for decades. No network recording has been found. This Armed Forces Radio Service recording, AFRS#547, is an extremely welcome find. The script was used again on Suspense after the series moved back to New York on 1959-09-20. That production starred John Gibson and has been in circulation for most of the classic radio hobby’s years.

LISTEN TO THE PROGRAM or download in FLAC or mp3
https://archive.org/details/TSP550823

THE CAST

Eric Snowdon (Eldon Bottle), Paula Winslowe (Ethel Magwitch), Ellen Morgan (Diana), Raymond Lawrence (Constable), Ben Wright (Charlie Magwitch / Doctor Fenrose), Larry Thor (Narrator)

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