The episode was originally planned with a different title, as noted in the Long Beach CA Independent of 1943-02-02:
"The Boomerang" is the title of the nerve-stirring tale which will star villain Bela Lugosi on KNX tonight at 6:30. Written by J. Donald Wilson, whose psychological studies in crime have long thrilled listeners to his Sunday mystery "The Whistler." The story concerns a half-mad psychologist whose hair-raising theories on suicide and murder get him into a precarious situation.
J. Donald Wilson, as mentioned above, was on the team that created The Whistler, heard only on the CBS Pacific Network at this time. This script was used on that series about 17 months later, on 1944-06-11. In 1946, The Whistler broadcast a performance titled Boomerang, but it was a much different story.
This is likely an example of William Spier coming up with a more compelling title than what was submitted. The “Dead Ernest” original title was “Articles of Death,” and “Sorry, Wrong Number” was originally “She Overheard Death Speaking.” There are many changed and improved titles through Suspense history in the Spier period.
Bela Lugosi was a horror movie legend, especially for Dracula, but that downplays a career that was more varied than that, especially in the 1920s. He had complicated career and a very complicated personal life. It is summarized well at Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bela_Lugosi
Lugosi was not on radio often. RadioGoldindex has a list of surviving recordings where he appeared.
LISTEN
TO THE PROGRAM or download in FLAC or
mp3
https://archive.org/details/TSP430202
THE CAST
BELA LUGOSI (Dr. Antonio Basile), Lurene Tuttle (Gladys Tanner), Lou Merrill (Morton Hellman / Lt. Davis), Jeanne Bates? (Myra Basile), Ken Christy (Sergeant Rankin), Joe Kearns (Man in Black)
Keith Scott notes that this was the first of three weeks for Suspense originating from Columbia Square in Hollywood. Joseph Kearns was cast as The Man in Black, and it seemed like he was trying to force his voice to emulate Ted Osborne’s delivery; Kearns would portray the “Man in Black” persona regularly just weeks later in a more natural voice and style.
The casting information for the Hollywood productions is usually more complete than the New York productions.
In addition to this appearance on radio Suspense, he appeared on the TV version of the series six years later in A Cask Of Amontillado. It can be viewed at https://youtu.be/jBJhwIJBvPs where the supporting cast is Romney Brent, Ray Walston (My Favorite Martian), and Frank Marth (too many shows to mention, including Star Trek and The Honeymooners).
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