1944-10-26 The Night Man

The Night Man is another Lucille Fletcher offering. It has you wondering if the quandary of the lead character is imagined or real, if other characters are placating her through anxious moments or if they believe them, if they are cold to her pleas for help or realize no help is possible, or is it something else? She is convinced that her building’s elevator operator is an escaped murderer out for revenge for her testimony against him a decade ago.

The concept of an elevator operator is lost for recent generations, but the position in big city apartments was often well-paying, unionized, and of great responsibility (and the Christmas tips were great!). It was usually a uniformed position in posh apartment buildings, with suits and coats and hats, making them very recognizable. They knew the tenants, their schedules, and their habits, and often assisted bringing groceries and packages into their apartments. This is why there is such tension and suspense in the story, and likely for most urban listeners when this was broadcast. Elevator operators were carefully hired, and had to be trustworthy and reliable as well as knowledgeable about elevator operation. Our push-button elevators are so very different, making this historical context important to appreciating the story.

William Spier also used the script on 1949-04-15 Philip Morris Playhouse for his single season with that series (only a handful of recordings have survived of his year with that program). The Night Man script was also used on Suspense in 1959 and 1960. It’s a good script. As you listen you know something is up but you just don’t know what. Then when it’s revealed, you may get the sense that the end is a letdown because it is too simple and a gimmicky, and to pull off such a gimmick in real life would require very complicated coordination between numerous parties, and especially, the landlord of the building. Impractical? Maybe. It’s still a likable script, but not in the class of SWN, Fugue, or Thing in the Window, Hitch-hiker, or other Fletcher scripts. It’s still better than so many other scripts that were on the radio, and even on Suspense.

We do not know if the sole surviving network recording is from the east or west broadcast. The Armed Forces Radio Service recording is from the surviving network recording. Dialogue matches the two recordings and is also confirmed by one of the trumpets going very flat playing a note during the music cue at the close of the drama.

LISTEN TO THE PROGRAM or download in FLAC or mp3
https://archive.org/details/TSP441026

THE CAST

VIRGINIA BRUCE (Stella Rhodes), RICHARD WHORF (Lt. Tom Nixon “the Night Man,” alias Charles Foley), Wally Maher (Warden Graves), Joe Kearns (Man in Black), Harry Lang? (Gallagher)

1944-10-19 Eve

Nancy Kelly stars in a Cornell Woolrich story based on his novel The Black Angel. It was adapted by Robert L. Richards.

Kelly portrays a woman whose husband was wrongly convicted of murder. Her frantic efforts to vindicate him take a wrong turn and make the circumstantial evidence against him stronger.

Lucille Ball was the intended guest star; she was announced at the conclusion of the prior week’s broadcast. Kelly was one of the actors whom Spier felt confident in performing well even with short notice. She was in the cast of the March of Time radio series that started so many radio careers, including Spier’s. This was her first appearance on Suspense with many more to follow.

Lucille Ball’s picture is on the front cover of Suspense Magazine #2. A PDF of the story can be downloaded on the same page as the audio recording.

Only the Armed Forces Radio Service recording (#74) has survived.

LISTEN TO THE PROGRAM or download in FLAC or mp3
https://archive.org/details/TSP441019

THE CAST

NANCY KELLY (Eve Jeremy), Wally Maher (Jerry Jordan), Lou Merrill (Frank Jeremy), Joe Kearns (Man in Black / Lt. Trout)

Why was the wife’s name “Eve”? Did Woolrich select it for a biblical juxtaposition from the Garden of Eden story where Eve’s actions lead to a moral fall and guilt, and this plotline leads to a finding of innocence and redemption?

1944-10-12 The Merry Widower

Reginald Gardiner stars as a man with a delusion of fantasy about his importance and that he descends from royal blood. He does not. He is tormented by the music of the Merry Widow Waltz which plays on a music box. He fancies himself as Danilo, a key character in the operetta.

The baseline story is The Rubber Trumpet, by Roy Vickers. That story involves a child’s toy (the trumpet) and also a child murder. While a popular mystery story, it was likely that Roma turned the story down, or Spier and Richards suspected that such a subject would not be approved. Other than that, and the replacement of the trumpet with a music box and its song, the general pattern of the story is mostly retained. For example, in the original story, the main character buys all of the toy rubber trumpets in the store; in the Suspense episode, he buys all of the music boxes.

Many newspaper timetables cited “The Rubber Trumpet” as the source of the plotline. The timing of those news citations indicate that the change in the story may have been within a week of broadcast.

Vickers was known for “The Department of Dead Ends,” a 1935 collection of short stories about a fictional Scotland Yard Department that specialized in cold cases. The Rubber Trumpet was in the anthology of those stories.

One of the stranger aspects of Suspense and the Armed Forces Radio & Television Service is that some Suspense episodes were released with Inner Sanctum openings and closings. This was one of those episodes. No recording is available at this time, but a transcription label has been verified.

Only the west coast network recording has survived.

The Armed Forces Radio Service recording of Dateline: Lisbon (AFRS#72) includes a teaser preview of The Merry Widower. It was drawn from the east network recording. In the surviving west recording, Gardiner says at 8:48 “I'll---I'll have to hurry.” The AFRS preview has the corresponding line as “I'll have to hurry.” At about 28:10 of that preview, it seems there might be a missed cue in the east broadcast of The Merry Widower where the orchestra starts playing too soon.

LISTEN TO THE PROGRAM or download in FLAC or mp3
https://archive.org/details/TSP441012

THE CAST

REGINALD GARDINER (George Munsey, alias Daniel Prince), Raymond Lawrence (Street beggar / Inspector Davis), Ramsay Hill (Doctor), Alec Harford (Arrowsmith), Bill Roberts (singer for Prince Danielo), Joe Kearns (Man in Black / Birdie), Jeanette Nolan (Hilda Calameer), unknown (Ethel Munsey)

1944-10-05 Dateline – Lisbon

John Hodiak plays a wartime American news correspondent, William Baldwin, operating in Lisbon. Because of some of his past associations back in the States prior to WW2, he says he is unlikely to be welcomed back home, even though his is now supporting the Allies. A Nazi general wants to ensure he is not tried for war crimes, and enlists the assistance of Hodiak’s character. The story begins with Baldwin on trial for murder and then the complex flashback story begins.

The Harold Medford script was originally used on The Whistler 1944-03-12 as Lisbon Adventure. It is a missing episode. Since that series was a CBS Pacific Network program, and not a national one, it was not considered to be an issue for Suspense to use a script that was on a different series only seven months prior. (Still, I wonder if some California listeners had a sense of deja vu when they were listening).

Both the east and west recordings have survived, but it is not known which is which. One episode has no gap between the final announcement and the network ID. That recording has the notation “(dirID).” The other has a 17 second gap with music between the final announcement and the network ID. It is marked as “(17s)” The direct to ID recording is the better of the two.

There is an Armed Forces Radio Service recording (#72) that has survived. The AFRS recording was taken from the 17s to ID broadcast. In 17s recording, John Hodiak shoots the Nazi villain 6 times; in the dirID recording he shoots eight times:

• dirID 25:51: 8 shots

• 17s 25:30: 6 shots

• AFRS 21:44: 6 shots

The AFRS recording has a teaser preview for the next broadcast, The Merry Widower. There are some skips at the very end of the AFRS filler music. At about 28:10 it seems there might be a missed cue in the east broadcast of The Merry Widower where the orchestra starts playing too soon.

The story may seem to be out of sorts in its time frame as it anticipates certain events that do not occur until after the war ends. If you’re thinking of the post-war Nuremberg trials, that impression would make sense. But the United Nations established a war crimes commission on October 20, 1943. To our ears 75+ years later, it may seem that the story is “predicting” or “assuming” that there will be a “court of world democracies,” but is just using a different name for a concept that was already established in the news flow of events almost a year before this broadcast, and six months prior to The Whistler broadcast.

John Hodiak was born in Pittsburgh and grew up in Michigan. He started in radio in local productions in Detroit and performed in The Green Hornet. He moved to Chicago where he was very active on radio and performed the lead role in the short-lived L’il Abner serial adaptation of the famous comic strip. Some scripts for that series, of which no recordings are known to have survived, can be viewed at https://archive.org/details/LilAbnerScriptsJHMC/

Hodiak was 30 years old at the time of this broadcast. His career was rising with many of Hollywood’s leading men were in wartime service. He was rejected for service because of high blood pressure, while likely led to his very early passing at just 41 years old. He was a fine character actor and was married to actress Anne Baxter.

LISTEN TO THE PROGRAM or download in FLAC or mp3
https://archive.org/details/TSP44105

THE CAST

JOHN HODIAK (William Baldwin), Jeanne Bates? (Teri Moore), Ramsay Hill (Judge), Charlie Lung (Bellboy / Jury Foreman), Joe Kearns (Man in Black), George Sorel (Man speaking foreign language), unknown (General Von Klaus), Sidney Miller (Moska)

###

1944-09-28 The Man Who Couldn't Lose

Gene Kelly stars in one of the more amusing Suspense episodes. A gambler runs into the most unlikely and improbably lucky events after killing his nagging wife. Her nagging was very well-deserved. He is the most unlikable character and a terrible husband. Part of the fun of the story is that as he gets each undeserved lucky break, you hate him more and more.

This is another Suspense that with a little bit of adjustment could have easily been on the less sophisticated Inner Sanctum. There’s a good reason why: the author is Emil Tepperman who wrote many scripts for that series. The script is adapted by Robert Richards who keeps the crazy story well in Suspense high standards.

There are three recordings available. The surviving network recording marked “(8s)” is the best sounding recording. This episode has never been available in crisp, clean, sound. The recording posted here is much better than what has been in circulation. There are two different Armed Forces Radio Service recordings, but they are each in lesser sound quality than the surviving network recording. The AFRS openings are different. These are the names of the three files:

• Suspense 1944-09-28 The Man Who Couldn't Lose (8s) (this is the best sounding file)

• Suspense 1944-09-28 The Man Who Couldn't Lose AFRS#99 (from missing network)

• Suspense 1944-09-28 The Man Who Couldn't Lose AFRS#71 (from missing network-different open)

The surviving network recording and the AFRS ones are from different coast broadcasts. It is not known which is east or west.

• Network at about 26:20 “…you can’t lose…you can’t lose…naw, you can’t lose….”

• AFRS at same point of the story “...you can’t lose…naw, you can’t lose…you can’t lose…”

The best sounding broadcast recording of this script is from 1947-12-12 starring Dan Duryea. His performance has makes the lead character even more unsavory than Kelly’s rendition. It can be accessed at https://archive.org/details/80thAnnivSuspenseMarathon/19+Suspense+1947-12-12+Man+Who+Couldn't+Lose.mp3 

LISTEN TO THE PROGRAM or download in FLAC or mp3
https://archive.org/details/TSP440928

THE CAST

GENE KELLY (Leonard Snell), Joe Kearns (Man in Black / Sam Mossley / Conductor), Lucille Meredith? (Celia Snell), Jerry Hausner (Floyd Heustis), Lou Merrill (Police Lt. / Banker), Ken Christy (Gangster), Harry Lang (Streetcar passenger / Gangster #2), Dick Ryan (Counterman), Jeanette Nolan? (Mrs. Mossley / Hysterical woman), Bill Johnstone (Jerry Malone), Jim Doyle (Radio Voice), Joe Forte?

The Radio Life issue of 1945-12-09 had some interesting news:

Although Gene Kelly played the title tole in the CBS Suspense drama, The Man Who Couldn’t Lose, when it was aired, several months ago. Robert Montgomery, another Suspense guest star, has engaged author Steve Fisher to write the radio drama into a screen play in which Montgomery will play the starring role.

The project did not come to fruition.

###

1944-09-21 The Bluebeard of Bellac

Merle Oberon stars in a story about a French doctor and his wife who are members of the French underground. They set a trap for a German colonel in their home. The wife lures the Nazi officer when she tells him that she suspects her husband of being the local “Bluebeard Killer.” That mysterious killer has been murdering Gestapo officials.

The story is by Silvia Richards, wife of Suspense editor Robert L. Richards. Silvia wrote many Suspense scripts and also some screenplays.

There are two network recordings of this episode, and is not known which coast they are for. One ends with Joe Kearns saying “Next Thursday, ladies and gentlemen” and the other ends with “Next Thursday, same time.” There is no Armed Forces Radio Service recording.

• The better recording is the file named
  Suspense 1944-09-21 The Bluebeard of Bellac ('Same Time')

The story was included in Suspense Magazine #4 as “A Sense of Smell.” A copy of the story can be downloaded as a PDF at the link below.

This is Merle Oberon’s sole appearance on Suspense. She was born in India and was of Welsh and Ceylonese descent. Her biggest role was in 1939’s Wuthering Heights, which brought her great accolades. She had a fine career and was in many films in the 1940s and early 1950s, with acting roles continuing at a lesser pace in the late 1950s and 1960s.

This is the second and final appearance of Ludwig Donath who was in the earlier Strange Death of Charles Umberstein, also a story about WW2 European front espionage. He began his acting career in Vienna, and fled the Nazis in 1940. He was a very busy actor, best remembered for playing Al Jolson's father in The Jolson Story and Jolson Sings Again. He had and many ethnic character roles in movies and on television.

 

LISTEN TO THE PROGRAM or download in FLAC or mp3
https://archive.org/details/TSP440921

THE CAST

CAST: MERLE OBERON (Mlle. Cecile Cambre), LUDWIG DONATH (Kreutzer), John McIntire (Dr. Pierre Cambre), Joe Kearns (Man in Black), Bill Shaw (Streletez), Jeanette Nolan (Mlle. Boget), Ferdinand Munier?, Stefan Schnabel?

###

1944-09-14 You'll Never See Me Again

The new season of Suspense finally had the program airing nationally on the same day. This made it easier for the program attract Hollywood guest stars and much easier to manage.

That didn’t mean there wasn’t any chaos to navigate. Movie stars had busy schedules and production was always affecting their availability. That was always combined with the challenging logistics of putting on a top-rated program.

The episode for this evening was announced as Joseph Cotten appearing in The Man Who Couldn’t Lose. That story was set aside for “I’ll Never See You Again,” a Cornell Woolrich story (under the name William Irish) adapted by Robert Tallman.

Man Who Couldn’t would be delayed to the next week and star Gene Kelly. Then the Woolrich story’s title was changed to You’ll Never See Me Again, the original Woolrich title, which captures the undertone of the story (the “I’ll” title sounds like it could be a romantic tale). Then they learned that Kelly could not be around the next week, so that was bumped another week, and they slipped in Bluebeard of Belloc for the next week. The show was always shifting scripts and stars and dates to match availability and also the acting range of the guest. Suspense usually had a rolling six week plan, with contingencies mapped out for each week so they would never miss a broadcast.

Cotten, one of Spier’s favorites, plays newlywed Ed Bliss. He and his wife had an argument, and she storms out of the house. He figures she’d cool off and return after she stays at her mother’s home… but she’s not there. Bliss starts looking for her… and the story is not what it seems.

One network recording has survived, and the Armed Forces Radio Service recording (#96) is also available. The network recording is in excellent sound and is best for listening. The recordings are different, one from the east and one from the west, but it is not known which is which.

• Surviving network at approximately 4:24 “…it’s the…one, two, three…lemme see…no, fourth driveway on your right”

• AFRS “…it’s the…one, two…ah, let me see…it’s the fourth driveway on your right”

The AFRS recording of the prior week’s episode Voyage Through Darkness has a teaser of You’ll Never at its conclusion.

IMPORTANT NOTE ABOUT EAST AND WEST RECORDINGS in the single-night Roma era: There are times it is not possible to identify the network coast recordings. There are times when there are clues inside the programs related to announced teaser of the upcoming program in the schedule. Other times, notes from the transfers of the discs were made by the collector from the label of the transcription disc, and those carried forward through the years. A way of identifying recordings until further information is available is by the number of seconds from the final announcement to the network ID (usually “this is CBS, the Columbia Broadcasting Network”). For this particular recording it is four seconds, and identified with a “(4s)” in the file name. It has been our experience that this time varied considerably depending on the timing of the performance, but the network identification always had to be given at a designated moment of the clock, regardless of the conduct of the performance. Should another recording become available, this would be one of the first comparisons to be made. Since we know that there is a dialogue difference in the AFRS recording, that comparison to a prospective “new” network recording would be made as well before designating it as the broadcast for the other coast. The two-coast performances ended with the conclusion of the Roma sponsorship in November 1947.

LISTEN TO THE PROGRAM or download in FLAC or mp3
https://archive.org/details/TSP440914

THE CAST

JOSEPH COTTEN (Ed Bliss), Lurene Tuttle (Janet Bliss), Wally Maher (Bus Driver / Stillman), Joe Kearns (Man in Black), John McIntire (Joe Alden), Jeanette Nolan (Mrs. Alden), unknown (Ticket Clerk)

Cotten plays "Ed Bliss," which is the name in the original Woolrich story, but they may have been chuckling in the control room with a coincidental inside joke about former Suspense director Ted Bliss. Bliss had just jumped to NBC to produce Eddie Cantor's show and others. So the title and the character name may have brought some wry amusement among the staffers and cast that Bliss would not be back at CBS, in keeping with the “you’ll never see me again” title of the episode. He would return to CBS, however, to produce Ozzie and Harriet a few years later.

Where did the name "Ed Bliss" come from? Perhaps it was Woolrich's own little inside-joke from the popular phrase "wedded bliss" or "married bliss," as in "weddED BLISS."

###

1944-09-07 Voyage Through Darkness

This episode is Olivia deHavilland’s only appearance on Suspense, and Reginald Gardner’s first of two. This is the final production of Suspense that required separate broadcast days for east and west. Finally, Suspense would have a single day for its broadcasts. This made it easier to attract guest stars and also made the program easier to publicize.

A young American woman is on a cruise home from England. Her deceased employer’s coffin is on board. She was directed her to supervise the burial-at-sea to fulfill her employer’s wishes. It is a cruise, and this is Suspense, so of course there’s a stowaway on board. That’s not just any stowaway, it’s believed to be “the Blackout Killer” of London. On the way, she meets a strange man, and who she begins to suspect he is the killer. His true identity is established, just in time, and they live happily ever after, together. There’s no spoiler in stories that telegraph the likely resolution of the plotlines. This is not one of the more mystifying Suspense episodes, but it is fun, nonetheless.

The east network broadcast has survived in two forms, network and Armed Forces Radio Service. The network one is the better sounding of the two. The Armed Forces Radio Service recording is derived from the east broadcast. At approximately 3:00 de Havilland stumbles on a line “It seemed as if the tr…Sou…the trip to Southampton…” which matches the AFRS copy at about 1:43. The AFRS recording concludes with a 5 minute teaser clip of the following week’s production You’ll Never See Me Again.

The story is by veteran radio scripter Joel Malone, best known for his work on The Whistler. He also wrote for 1950s television, including the syndicated version of The Whistler.

Olivia de Havilland had a long and prominent movie career from the 1930s through the 1980s. Her career is summarized well at Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olivia_de_Havilland Her radio were not many, except for Lux Radio Theatre, on which she had many appearances.

Reginald Gardiner started in theater and radio in England in the 1920s and 1930s, and moved to Hollywood in the mid-1930s. He did well in Hollywood, and later in television, through the mid-1960s.

LISTEN TO THE PROGRAM or download in FLAC or mp3
https://archive.org/details/TSP440907

THE CAST

OLIVIA DE HAVILLAND (Judith Webster), REGINALD GARDINER (Alan Bruce, alias Charles Drew), Herbert Rawlinson (First Officer), Joe Kearns (Man in Black / Passenger), Alec Harford (Steward), unknown (Train conductor), unknown (Newsboy), unknown (Woman passenger)

Reginald Gardiner had a comedy act in his early stage career in England. It was about trains, and it became a popular recording for children. It can be heard at https://youtu.be/mgZlT1IA8-U It was very popular and was still being sold into the 1970s.

###

1944-08-31 The Black Path of Fear

Suspense presents another Cornell Woolrich story, adapted by Robert Tallman. Set in Central America, the wife of a gangster is stabbed and killed just as a photographer snaps her picture. Her companion, the gangster’s ex-chauffeur, fled with her to escape his treatment and start a new life together. The chauffer is accused of the stabbing. He has to clear himself with the police and avoid being killed by the gangster's men.

Blogger Christine Miller writes about the adaptation of the Woolrich novel:

Suspense's version abbreviates the novel by leaving out the opium fiends, sinister Chinese smugglers, and violent ending, but it is still a good adaptation.

Only the east coast network broadcast has survived.

The Woolrich story was adapted for the movie The Chase with Robert Cummings. It can be viewed at the Internet Archive https://archive.org/details/thechase1946_202002 and YouTube https://youtu.be/1AZn4CBtnwg

The Black Path of Fear was also adapted for the first TV episode of Suspense. Retitled “Revenge,” it aired on 1949-03-01 and starred husband and wife Eddie Albert and Margo. Unfortunately, a kinescope of the broadcast has not survived.

Brian Donlevy’s career began in New York in the 1920s when he appeared in stage productions and some silent files. Broadway roles began to come his way, as did movie opportunities. In the mid-1930s and through the early 1940s, he was in numerous A and B movies. His career turned to television, but he continued to be busy in movies. He won an Oscar for supporting actor in Beau Geste in 1939, but he was generally one of those actors who was more successful for a longer time in his broad career than many award winners. He is best remembered in radio for his lead role in the Dangerous Assignment spy series, in which he also starred in a 1950s television syndication series.

LISTEN TO THE PROGRAM or download in FLAC or mp3
https://archive.org/details/TSP440831

THE CAST

CAST: BRIAN DONLEVY (Bill Scott), Lurene Tuttle (Eve Spinelli), Joe Kearns (Man in Black / Pepe Campos), Wally Maher (Spinelli), Hans Conried (Driver / Officer), John McIntire (Inspector Acosta), Jeanette Nolan (Midnight), Charlie Lung (Mr. Chin), Jay Novello (Clerk)

This script was used again with Cary Grant on 1946-03-07.

###

1944-08-24 Actor's Blood

Noted actor Fredric March makes his second appearance on Suspense in this Ben Hecht play based on his short story. Hecht narrates this account of a strange dinner party staged to trap the murderer of a prominent actor’s daughter. It’s almost like Banquo’s Chair and an Agatha Christie novel decided to meet in Tinseltown.

Both east and west network recordings have survived. The close of the east recording mentions “next Thursday” and the close of the west recording mentions “next week.” The east recording is slightly better than the west, but both are good.

March’s first appearance on Suspense was 1943-03-02 in The Night Reveals. Unfortunately, that recording is missing.

Fredric March started his prominent entertainment career in New York in films and on Broadway. He moved to Hollywood and had great success with five Oscar nominations, winning best actor award twice. He would often return to Broadway, and had three Tony nominations. He, and Helen Hayes, are the only actors to win two Oscars and two Tonys.

LISTEN TO THE PROGRAM or download in FLAC or mp3
https://archive.org/details/TSP440824

THE CAST

FREDRIC MARCH (Maurice Tillihugh), BEN HECHT (Himself, the narrator), John McIntire (Alfred O’Shea / Clerk), Hans Conried (Walter / Fritz Von Klauber), Harry Lang (Morey Stein), Joe Kearns (Man in Black / Butler / Doctor), Jeanette Nolan? (Marsha Tillihugh / Rina)

###

1944-08-17 The Diary of Sophronia Winters

Details about the prior 1943-04-27 broadcast of this Lucille Fletcher script, with plot background, are at https://suspenseproject.blogspot.com/2023/02/1943-04-27-diary-of-sophronia-winters.html

Mercury Theater veterans Agnes Moorehead and Ray Collins are in the cast once more. CBS publicity teased the episode as “weird tale of oddly assorted couple on a honeymoon which soon takes on macabre overtones.” The more straightforward tease was “The drama concerns an old maid who falls prey to an attentive man, marries him and he plots to kill her because she reminds him of his sister-in-law.”

There are newspaper items that imply that this is the Sophronia Winters episode in which sound effects artist Berne Surrey accidentally stuck his hand with an ice pick and required stitches. There is no information about whether that occurred during the east or west broadcast. Surrey went to medical school in his “free time” and became an MD in the 1950s.

Only the east network broadcast has survived. There are two recordings. The complete recording has the opening “Now, Roma Wines present…” but is in low quality (marked “LQ”). The much better recording lacks that opening but is otherwise intact, and should be preferred for listening enjoyment.

LISTEN TO THE PROGRAM or download in FLAC or mp3
https://archive.org/details/TSP440817

THE CAST

AGNES MOOREHEAD (Sophronia), RAY COLLINS (Hiram Johnson), Joe Kearns (Man in Black), unknown (Nurse)

###

1944-08-10 The Man Who Knew How

This broadcast of Suspense was on 1944-08-10. Charles Laughton stars in a Dorothy L. Sayers story adapted by Evelyn Keller. His character is especially curious about how one might go about committing an undetectable murder. He meets a stranger who seems to know a little bit too much about the subject. You’d think that would make him worry. The stranger explains that just by using a few chemicals it was easy to do. A few days pass and the newspapers have stories about people who died exactly that way. Was that the person whom he met on the train? It's an interesting story and Laughton does it well.

The east and west network recordings have survived, and an Armed Forces Radio Service recording (#64) is also available. The main identifier is Laughton's last line in the story:

• East and AFRS: coast: “Sulfate…sulfate of…thanatol…”

• West: “Sulfate of…sulfate of…sulfate…thanatol…”

The west network broadcast is the better of the three recordings.

LISTEN TO THE PROGRAM or download in FLAC or mp3
https://archive.org/details/TSP440810

THE CAST

CHARLES LAUGHTON (Everett Pender), Ian Wolfe (Charles), Hans Conried (Smith, alias William Buckley), Joe Kearns (Man in Black / Salesman / Second Man at Club), Raymond Lawrence (First Police Officer), John McIntire (Man at Club), unknown (Mrs. Digby / Bartender), unknown (Second Police Officer)

###

1944-08-03 Banquo's Chair

This episode is a new performance of this script originally broadcast on 1943-06-01. For background details about the story, go to https://suspenseproject.blogspot.com/2023/02/1943-06-01-banquos-chair.html

A Scotland Yard detective assembles suspects in an unsolved crime and attempts to trick the perpetrator into confessing.

This is the second of three times this script would be used in the series. Among collectors, the first broadcast was unfortunately better known for its announcement about problems in the prior week’s Sorry, Wrong Number broadcast.

Only the east broadcast has survived.

LISTEN TO THE PROGRAM or download in FLAC or mp3
https://archive.org/details/TSP440803

THE CAST

DONALD CRISP (Sir William Brent), JOHN LODER (Arthur Grange), Ian Wolfe (Layne), Joe Kearns (Man in Black), Gloria Gordon (Martha Ferguson / May Wakefield), Hans Conried (John Bedford), Esta Mason? (Roberta Stone), unknown (Hilda), Fred Shields (commercial announcer)

###

1944-07-27 The Black Shawl

Dame May Whitty and Maureen O’Sullivan star in a story about a young Irish girl who takes a job as a companion to an old woman. The way the job is described is just to be a live-in companion, with no real household duties. She discovers after she starts work that the elderly woman has an insane son living there, too… and realizes she’s trapped in the house… and that the son’s presence threatens the her life.

The story is written by Richard R. Lewis (in publicity he was noted as “Dick Lewis”). The story also appeared in Suspense Magazine #3, and a PDF is available on the same page as the audio recordings.

This was the first of four appearances on Suspense for Dame May Whitty, and the first and only for Maureen O'Sullivan.

Only the east broadcast has survived.

Whitty started in theater (1890) and continued in films (1912) in England. Her title was in recognition of her charity work. Her first Hollywood movie appearance was age 72. Whitty was 78 at the time of this appearance; she passed away at age 82.

Maureen O’Sullivan had a long career in movies and television. She is remembered by many for playing “Jane” in Tarzan movies opposite Johnny Weismuller. Had she not had a successful film career in the 1930s, the “Jane” role could have limited her future opportunities. She worked in movies and television through the 1980s, with her final TV role in an episode of Hart to Hart in 1994.

 

LISTEN TO THE PROGRAM or download in FLAC or mp3
https://archive.org/details/440727

THE CAST

MAUREEN O’SULLIVAN (Susan), DAME MAY WHITTY (Mrs. Masters), Joe Kearns (Man in Black / George / John / Adams), Pat McGeehan (Robert), Fred Shields? (commercial announcer)

A news item in the 1944-08-29 Waterbury CT Democrat reports that a professional whistler was hired for this episode.

###