The original plan for Orson Welles’ four-week stint on Suspense was to use the last two weeks for the two-part presentation of Donovan’s Brain. The plans were scrapped and delayed. The production schedule for The Lady and the Monster, the movie based on the Donovan’s Brain novel, slipped and was going to miss its original target release date. The studio did not want the Suspense broadcast to be the first release of the property. Welles had used the Republic Pictures script to develop the radio adaptation.
You can usually tell which scripts William Spier liked best by whether he used them again or not. This is a repeat performance of repeat of 1942-07-29 Philomel Cottage, and is the first full production that has survived. Only the second part of the 1942 performance is available. Details about that broadcast is at https://suspenseproject.blogspot.com/2023/01/1942-07-29-philomel-cottage.html and the recording is at https://archive.org/details/TSP420729 Spier will use the script again at the end of 1946.
The story is based on Agatha Christie’s Love from a Stranger about a newlywed who suspects her husband is planning to have her killed. It was adapted by Harold Medford.
Many of the newspapers did not receive the information about the delay of Donovan’s Brain and likely surprised listeners with the unexpected and very dissimilar Philomel. The first production of this play had little publicity because Suspense was “just a summer replacement” and did not get the full attention of the CBS promotional team. Now, this “last minute” change meant that the script had almost no promotion again. But… everyone knew that Orson Welles would be on the air for Suspense once more.
The only surviving recording seems to be an aircheck. It has background noise and a constrained audio range and requires closer-than-usual listening compared to the other Suspense recordings in the project. The broadcast begins with a promotional announcement about the Durante-Moore show.
LISTEN
TO THE PROGRAM or download in FLAC or
mp3
https://archive.org/details/TSP431007
THE CAST
ORSON WELLES (Gerald), GERALDINE FITZGERALD (Alix Martin), Joe Kearns (Man in Black / Narrator), Lou Merrill (Dick), unknown (George the gardener), unknown (Police constable)
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