There
are many firsts with this broadcast. It’s the first sponsored
Suspense, the first
time under the plan for east and west broadcasts on different days,
and the first time we hear both “A
tale well calculated to keep you in … Suspense!”
and “radio's outstanding theater of thrills.” Oh, and it’s the
first time at the Suspense microphone
for Cary Grant. Suspense was
finally in the big
time, with new and recognizable tag lines for branding, and one of
the biggest names in Hollywood to
usher the new era in.
The Eastern and Central time
zones had their live performance on 1943-12-02; the Mountain and
Pacific time zones had their live performance on 1943-12-06.
The production has a different
feel. The music is richer and a more active participant in the drama.
It helps build to the tension of the scenes and accentuates key
moments in the storyline. Prior to the mid-show commercial, “the
Man in Black” (Joe Kearns) gives a quick summary of the story so
far and its cliffhanger; this feature would be de-emphasized and
phased out over time. There is a greater vibrancy to the performances
of this and the episodes to follow.
The original story is from the
Cornell Woolrich novel of the
same name of 1941. It
became a movie in 1942 with the name Street of Chance.
A man
falls on a city sidewalk and
realizes he can’t remember
his name or events of the last three years. He
soon learns he’s been
accused of murder. Somehow he has to prove his innocence… and
that means he has to find the real killer.
Grant, like Peter Lorre, has such a
distinctive voice that casting around him for radio drama was easier
than for other lead actors. Grant is also a superb radio performer as
well as having the star power Suspense wanted for its first
sponsored episode. He is excellent here.
This is what
radio critic Ben
Gross said about the
broadcast in
the 1943-12-03 NY
Daily News
Cary Grant, the movie idol, who is the
dramatic Frank Sinatra of this radio department's feminine
assistants, gave a smooth-as-silk performance in the first of the
sponsored Suspense series last night. This former sustaining
item replaced the mediocre show which starred Mary Astor, Charles
Ruggles and Mischa Auer. Cary's vehicle was Cornell Woolrich's yarn
of amnesia and murder, The Black Curtain, an attention-holding
playlet. This series is, to this listener, the outstanding whodunit
session of radio. Both the writing and the production are slick and
the mood music really does create a mood. I recommend Suspense
to every one who likes a good story well told.
Frank Martin is the
Roma announcer, a
holdover from the The Roma Show that
Roma abandoned for the
Suspense opportunity.
He may have been under a contract, so they just kept him on. Or, they
wanted continuity of the announcing because of the familiarity the
audience had with his voice and the brand. He
handles the announcing chores for the first 28 weeks. Truman Bradley
follows him for much of the 200+ Roma broadcasts, with Ken Niles
handling one season of Suspense.
It is funny that Grant’s character
could not remember details of his life since July 1940… which just
happens to be the month of the failed audition of Suspense on
CBS Forecast. This production is so very different than what
Suspense has been up to this point, that they’ve already
forgotten much of their past and are acting on a bigger and richer
vision for the series.
Note the different dates and times on
the script header on the front page. This is from a script copy that
was being used for editing prior to rehearsal. The Eastern time zone
heard Suspense at 8:00pm, with the Central time zone getting
it at 7:00pm. On Monday, the Pacific time zone heard it at 9:00pm,
and the Mountain time zone heard it at 10:00pm.
There are some edits to the original
script that are interesting to see. Many lines of dialogue are cut or
rewritten for clarity or flow. Some of the names in the hard copy of
the script were spelled differently than in the original story. This
was a safeguard against mispronunciation and also ensured consistent
pronunciation among the different performers. One of the
pre-production scripts was edited to replace “Diedrich” with
“Diedrick.” The former has proper pronunciations within families
as “deed-ritch” or “deed-rick.” The latter is “deed-rick”
for certain.
At the end of the broadcast, Kearns
says to join the program “next week.” Starting the next week, the
day is mentioned, either Thursday or Monday. This is the primary way
we are able to determine which recordings are east or west
broadcasts. Only one recording has survived of this episode, and it’s
probable that it is the east recording, but one can’t be sure. It
was not common practice at the time of the disc transfers to take
digital pictures of the labels that would have indicated such
information. Since that is the case, we must rely on information in
the broadcast, but there is none.
LISTEN
TO THE PROGRAM or download in FLAC or
mp3
https://archive.org/details/TSP431202
THE CAST
CARY GRANT (Frank Townsend, alias Danny Nearing), Lurene Tuttle
(Ruth), Hans Conried (Doctor / Franklin Dietrick), Bill Johnstone
(Police Officer), Joe Kearns (Man in Black), Bea Benaderet (Woman in
Roma commercial / Mrs. Alma Dietrick), Harry Lang (Pop the
Storekeep), Walter Tetley (Young boy), Robert Harris? ()
The Woolrich story was used in the 1942 movie Street of Chance.
It stars Burgess Meredith and a nice copy is finally up on YouTube
https://youtu.be/o8PjvD7Ya5Q
Woolrich uses a lot of New York City locations in his stories. He
lived in upper Manhattan near his alma mater, Columbia University.
Traveling around four of the five boroughs was easy by subway.
(Staten Island required use of the ferry). Tillary
Street is mentioned in the script. There
is a Tillary Street in the
Fort Greene section of Brooklyn.
“New Jericho” is likely a reference to a town on Long Island,
Jericho, that can be reached using the Long Island Railroad from
Pennsylvania Station (usually referred to among New Yorkers as “Penn
Station.”).
Van Cortlandt Park is in North Bronx. It is a massive park area
for recreation and events. It is more than 1100 acres and is known
for its cross country running trails (almost 300 acres bigger than
Manhattan’s Central Park). It is accessible to a west side subway
(#1 train, also known as the "Broadway line") on one side
and an east side subway on the other (#4 train, the "Woodlawn
line"). That train can often be seen during baseball games
televised from Yankee Stadium. Fordham
Road is also mentioned. It is
on the #4 line and was a
major shopping area with thousands of apartments convenient for
commuters working in
Manhattan. It’s not far
from Fordham University, the Bronx Zoo, and the New York Botanical
Garden.
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