A motion picture director turns detective to track down Nazi agents. The story was written by Robert L. Richards. There are several inside jokes in the script:
At about 11:30, Cotten has a funny line "Well, if you know so much, what are you doing up here acting like a Suspense radio character?"
At about 12:50 a character uses the word "paramount" and Cotten says "let's leave Paramount out of this," which is funny to say as he is portraying a film producer
It's also an in-joke as Spier's wife Kay Thompson worked for MGM and facilitated a steady flow of MGM stars to make appearances on Suspense
Overall, it’s a good story and there are likely more inside jokes that we don’t have enough background to detect or appreciate.
Only the east network broadcast has survived.
This story was included in Suspense Magazine #2 a PDF can be downloaded at the same link as the recordings.
LISTEN
TO THE PROGRAM or download in FLAC or
mp3
https://archive.org/details/TSP440323
THE CAST
JOSEPH COTTEN (Frank Henderson), Hans Conried (Edwards, alias Sarko), Dennis Hoey (Captain McNeill), Joe Kearns (Man in Black / Interviewer / Callett), Cathy Lewis (Ruth in movie / Convent girl), John McIntire (Studio executive / Informant), Robert Bruce (Leading man in movie)
Cotten was originally announced for a script called The Dark Tower. The script was held for Orson Welles upcoming appearances on the show in May. Cotten was part of the Mercury Theater run by Welles.
Cat and Mouse with Sonny Tufts was originally scheduled for this date. There is a legend that Joseph Cotten announced the him as the next week’s guest on this episode by saying with great incredulity “Sonny… TUFTS?” Tufts did not have a good reputation and was considered to be a poor actor hired for movies mainly as “eye candy.” Cotten’s joke never happened on air. It likely did happen in rehearsal. Spier ran very loose rehearsals (except for “dress” rehearsal when they were timing the show), and there was lots of horsing around and joking and snide comments as the cast bonded and became familiar with the scripts and their roles. This was especially the case with people who had known each other for a very long time. Cotten and Spier knew each other from their time on March of Time in the early 1930s. But everyone knew when it was broadcast time, and they put on their professional personas to deliver top notch performances.
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