A dead man is discovered in the last row seat of a rollercoaster. No one knows how he got there! There must be gangsters involved.
This is a Robert L. Richards script. He played a key role in the success of Suspense as a writer, but also as an editor of submitted scripts, submitted story ideas, and adapting published stories by successful authors.
The east network recording has survived, but the west network recording has not. The Armed Forces Radio Service recording was derived from the missing west broadcast, and its file name bears that date. Times of the dialogue differences are approximate.
East 20:28 “...and ask for a bellhop named, uh, Ted Martin”
AFRS 18:51 “...and ask for a bellhop named Ted Martin”
This story was included in Suspense Magazine #2 as “Ride to Nowhere”; a PDF of it can be downloaded from the same site as the recordings.
This was Alan Ladd’s first Suspense appearance. He was a superb radio actor. He appeared on Lux Radio Theater and other programs many times before this broadcast. Classic radio fans are especially fond of Ladd’s syndicated series Box 13 of the late 1940s. The series was produced by his own company, Mayfair Productions. You can hear many of the supporting actors of Suspense in that series.
Ladd’s film career began about a decade or so before this broadcast. His film noir classic roles in This Gun for Hire and The Glass Key that still make him a film favorite were in theatrical release a little over a year before this episode. His film roles gradually expanded into film and television production. Ladd unfortunately died at age 51 in a gun accident at home that was complicated by prescription drugs he used for his years-long issues with severe insomnia.
LISTEN
TO THE PROGRAM or download in FLAC or
mp3
https://archive.org/details/TSP440106
THE CAST
ALAN LADD (Tom Dwyer), Cathy Lewis (Sheila), John McIntire (Chief Haynes), Pat McGeehan (Terry), Lou Merrill (Ben Duffy), Hans Conried (Ferrara, the Bulletproof Auto barker), Harry Lang (Ed “Wires” McGuire), Joe Kearns (Man in Black / Johnny the ride attendant / Ted Martin), Byron Kane (Doctor), Joe Forte (Investigator Johnson), unknown (Barker / Harry)
The half-hour radio script was expanded into a 1946 movie, The Last Crooked Mile. It can be viewed on YouTube https://youtu.be/a-APuf3XuKQ Look for radio actors John Dehner and Sheldon Leonard in supporting gangster roles.
Ladd hoped to turn Box 13 into a feature-length movie, but never did. There was a TV pilot made, and it was run as an episode of General Electric Theater in December 1954. It was based on the script of episode #39, Daytime Nightmare. It can be viewed at https://archive.org/details/541205Committed
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