Two Sharp Knives was a 1934 short story by Dashiell Hammett, known for creating the character Sam Spade. The idea that one mystery writing legend is adapting the work of another legend, Hammett, is one of the curious convergences that can happen on Suspense.
It’s an interesting story where police are tricked into holding an innocent man in jail and he dies under mysterious circumstances.
Stu Erwin starred in this New York production of Suspense. He had just finished appearing in Mr. Sycamore on Broadway, which closed after just 19 performances. He was a fine comedic actor, well-known in films, theater, radio, and television. His Wikipedia page details his long career https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stuart_Erwin
LISTEN
TO THE PROGRAM or download in FLAC or
mp3
https://archive.org/details/TSP421222
THE CAST
STU ERWIN (Scott Anderson), Santos Ortega, Mark Smith, Ian Martin, Paul Luther, William Podmore, Berry Kroeger, Mercedes McCambridge?, Ted Osborne (Signature Voice),
This script would be used again on Suspense in 1945.
Producer William Spier would later acquire the rights to produce Sam Spade as a radio series, and used Two Sharp Knives as a Spade story that explained why he left his job with the police and became a detective. It’s likely that the script was re-written from scratch for that to include more smart-alecky comments appropriate for the Spade character. That broadcast had Sam’s partner as “Wally Shane,” likely played by Wally Maher. He was the star of the mid-1940s radio series Michael Shayne, Private Detective. Maher was one of radio’s great actors and was beloved by his fellow actors. He was usually in supporting roles. The 1946-08-16 program is not in circulation but sounds like it was hilarious and packed with inside jokes and ad libs.
###
