Suspense plays an audition episode for another series? It seems so, with the literary and movie character, The Lone Wolf. It had great success in both mediums and giving radio a try made sense.
Louis Joseph Vance created the character, and this script was adapted by Howard Harris. This was the first portrayal of the character on radio.
The Lone Wolf is the nickname of the fictional character Michael Lanyard. He was a jewel thief who learned the error of his ways and became a private detective in a series of novels in the early 1900s. The character was very successful. There was a long run of Lone Wolf movies, starting with silent movies and lasting until the late 1940s. Gerald Mohr played the character for 3 movies, taking over for Warren William who starred in 9 of them. There were 6 silent movies made and 18 more after that series.
In this story, Michael Lanyard (aka The Lone Wolf) and his sidekick Jamison are at an elite house party, invited in a mysterious telephone call. Death strikes first at the swimming pool and later during a treasure hunt.
This picture of the cast is from the 1943-12-12 Radio Life feature about Suspense.
Hopes to create a radio version did not arise from this audition broadcast. Five years later, a radio version premiered on Mutual in the Summer of 1948 and starred Gerald Mohr as Lanyard. Walter Coy took over the part in November 1948 until the series ended in January 1949. Jay Novello as Jamison in the Mutual series. Only one episode survives, starring Coy.
Warren William was a very successful Broadway actor who found great success in Hollywood. He was the first to play the character Perry Mason in movies. Eric Blore was also successful on Broadway and found himself in Hollywood in many films where he was cast as butlers and valets.
LISTEN
TO THE PROGRAM or download in FLAC or
mp3
https://archive.org/details/TSP430720
THE CAST
WARREN WILLIAM (Michael Lanyard, alias “The Lone Wolf”), ERIC BLORE (Jamison), Harry Bartell (Bill Hodges), Lurene Tuttle (Cynthia Waring / Betty Larson), Griff Barnett (Sheriff), unknown (Ralph Clinton), unknown (Rutherford Barnes), Jim Bannon (Man in Black)
The sound quality of the recording is excellent, but there may have been disc skip and scratch fixes at the opening of the recording.
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