An early member of Hollywood royalty, if there was truly such a thing, was actress Dolores Costello. She started as a child actor in 1909, went through the silent movie era, married into the Barrymore dynasty for a time, and continued to 1943. This Suspense broadcast was to be he last formal acting event, and for the most part, it was.
This is the second of the Saturday broadcasts of Suspense, with east and west broadcasts. That was odd for a sustaining series. It does seem to be an “experiment” in support of finding a series sponsor. At this point it was Colgate that seemed to be involved. The program aired at 7:30pm ET (with production at 4:30 PT in the studio) and again 8pm PT (with everyone in the studio again).
It’s WW2, and Denmark’s king has a Nazi-sympathizing Count informed that the Count will commit suicide on the night of the King's birthday. (Well, that certainly “takes the cake!” to make a bad joke about it all). It turns out okay in the end.
The story is by Louis Pelletier who scripted many New York based programs such as FBI in Peace and War. Pelletier was a Corporal in the Army at this time.
It was rare for Dolores Costello to appear on radio. He her final movie was This is the Army in 1943, released just a month before this broadcast. As memories of her successful career faded from memory, she became better known as Drew Barrymore’s grandmother! A summary biography is at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dolores_Costello
Martin Kosleck’s film career began in his native Germany in 1927. With the Nazi party rising in influence, he spoke out against them. Realizing he was in danger, he left in 1931 and arrived in Hollywood in 1932 via England. When the Nazis came to power in 1933, was placed on the Gestapo’s list of “undesirables.” He had a long career portraying evil Nazi officers and historical leaders. One of the movies, Bomber’s Moon, was released just weeks before this broadcast.
LISTEN
TO THE PROGRAM or download in FLAC or
mp3
https://archive.org/details/TSP430828
THE CAST
DOLORES COSTELLO (Countess Elsa), MARTIN KOSLECK (Gauleiter Lt. Reichman), GEORGE ZUCCO (Dr. Ericson), Ian Wolfe (Old Peter of Cromwell Castle), Lou Merrill (Count Victor), Jim Bannon (Man in Black)
This story was included in Suspense Magazine #2, and a PDF is available for viewing or download on the Internet Archive page.
The east coast broadcast mentions that Suspense will be changing to Thursdays and offers both Eastern and Pacific times of the broadcasts. The west coast broadcast mentions only the Pacific time. The east broadcast has slightly better sound.
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