A railroad magnate suffers from headaches and his psychiatrist begins to suspect that he has killed his wife by giving her the “wrong” medicine, killed an associate in a train “accident.” But wait… there’s more… when he was a teenager, he stranded his wheelchair-bound father on a rail line only to be run over by a train! The doctor’s quick-thinking nurse tricks Lowndes into a panic attack before he can kill again. The Robert Tallman script is well done, but you do wonder who we will find out he also murdered if the story continued.
The cast stars Thomas Mitchell, the only male actor on Suspense to win an Oscar, an Emmy, and a Tony. Mitchell is known for his role as “Uncle Billy” in It’s a Wonderful Life. (The only female actor on the series to do so was Ellen McRae, better known to the public as Ellen Burstyn).
Only the west coast broadcast of 1944-06-12 has survived, and there is a possibility that an east coast broadcast was never made. A news item in the 1944-06-09 New York Daily News indicates that Suspense was cancelled for a CBS news special about the progress of the D-Day Invasion. This was happening frequently in those days, and is likely the reason why this west coast recording has a pre-show announcement that they will break in with news if there is any. It is unclear if the east broadcast was just pre-empted in New York or throughout the CBS network.
The date on this recording overview is for the east broadcast if there was one. Research is ongoing. It appears that the only complete pre-emption was for the New York City stations.
Thomas Mitchell was a famous actor for decades, moving from stage, movies, radio, to television. His resume is very long, with notable parts in Gone with the Wind, It’s a Wonderful Life, and many others. His Wikipedia page is at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Mitchell_(actor)
LISTEN
TO THE PROGRAM or download in FLAC or
mp3
https://archive.org/details/440608
THE CAST
THOMAS MITCHELL (Edgar Lowndes), DONALD CRISP (Dr. Aaronson), Hans Conried (Ellis the salesman / Father Lowndes), John McIntire (Narrator / Jim Jenkins), Peggy Rea (Nurse Finchley / Mother Lowndes), June Shafer (Secretary), Dellie Ellis [aka Joan Lorring] (Virginia), Conrad Binyon (Edgar as a child), Gaughan Burke (Walter Winchell-esque announcer on radio)
Mitchell also appeared in two Suspense television broadcasts, and both have survived.
A Time of Innocence https://youtu.be/8oVQzcrPRmw
North of Shanghai https://youtu.be/KQRG30T0OH4
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