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.
###
