The Variety of 1942-05-06 announced that CBS was starting Suspense “within a few weeks” and it was a “mystery-action series.” It noted that Charles Vanda was the director and it would have scripts by Harold Medford. He moved from Hollywood to New York to work on the series. Medford was a veteran scriptwriter for CBS at its KNX in Los Angeles, where their radio studios were. Vanda had told Medford to prepare scripts thinking that Suspense would emerge from its Forecast broadcast as a new program. That obviously did not happen. When the call came that Suspense would finally begin in Spring 1942, Medford was Vanda’s selection for the series. One of the series Medford wrote for was Calling All Cars which was one of the programs directed by William N. Robson. In Fall 1956, Robson would become the producer of Suspense.
There was no firm date that Suspense had for its premiere. Newspapers were listing it as early as May 15. Then it was scheduled for Sunday, June 14. It finally debuted on Wednesday, June 17. The Tampa FL Times said “At long last, Suspense, a new series of programs for mystery lovers which has been scheduled before, but not delivered, is slated to make its debut this evening...”
The opening script was The Burning Court, a story by the well-known mystery writer John Dickson Carr. The standard newspapers tease was “Can two people who were known to be poisoners in the seventeenth and nineteenth centuries commit more poisonings a hundred years later?”
One of the story inspirations was Marie-Madeleine d'Aubray, a seventeenth century French aristocrat who murdered her father and siblings to inherit their estates. It almost sounds like a Whistler episode! (Note: The Whistler came to the air only a month before Suspense). Details about d’Aubray can be found at Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Madame_de_Brinvilliers
The star was Charlie Ruggles, a popular character actor in the movies, known more for his comedic work. Vanda believed that Suspense could cast against type, withhold the name of the star, and then make a big reveal at the end to surprise the audience. He realized that withholding the name wouldn’t work because a well-known star would attract listeners. Announcing the star's participation at the end would not be effective. The idea of casting against type was in the DNA of Suspense and did not come later.
LISTEN
TO THE PROGRAM or download in FLAC or
mp3
https://archive.org/details/TSP420617
THE CAST
CHARLIE RUGGLES (Gaudan Cross [Gaudan St. Croix in the original story], aka Tom Simpson), Julie Haydon (Marie dÁubray, aka Marie Stephens aka Maggie MacTavish), Irene Winston (Myra Corbett [nurse]), Berry Kroeger (Narrator / Mark Despard / Freddie / Radio voice), Bob Emery (Doctor Welden), Ted Osborne (Ted Stevens), Ted de Corsia? (Captain Brennan), ? (Lucy Despard); CBS Staff announcer: John Tillman
Actor Ted Osborne is the only cast member of this first Suspense broadcast to also appear in the final broadcast of the series on September 30, 1962. He appeared in that episode as “Reynold Osborn,” but all production documents confirm it was him. It is not clear why he was using that pseudonym, but he used it for many radio and regional theater performances in the early 1960s.
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