A Raymond Chandler short story about a missing necklace comes to Suspense as an amusing comedy. The pearls are missing, but are they the real ones or the fake ones? This is a satire about detective novels, and it seems that this adaptation turns the satirical level up a notch by including William Bendix and Allyn Joslyn, both familiar names in comedic performances, in the cast. If you enjoyed the Suspense broadcast The Walls Came Tumbling Down, you’ll enjoy this one, too.
East and west recordings have survived; both are good recordings, with the east being slightly better. An Armed Forces Radio Service recording is known to exist (#100) but is not available at this time.
Ranald MacDougall developed the script adaptation. His screenwriting career was about to get a big boost for Mildred Pierce which earned him an Oscar nomination for best screenplay. He was an late 1930s and early 1940s radio scripting veteran. He wrote many scripts for the Peabody Award winning series The Man Behind the Gun as well as other series. He has another classic radio tie-in as screenwriter who adapted the original story that became the 1954 movie The Naked Jungle, which classic radio enthusiasts know better as “Leinengen Versus the Ants.”
This was the first of many appearances on Suspense for William Bendix. He was known more for his portrayal as the lead in the popular comedy series Life of Riley. Hans Conried’s appearance was during his one-month leave from the service. He would not return to the air until 1946, a year after the Pacific War ended.
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https://archive.org/details/TSP450419
THE CAST
WILLIAM BENDIX (J. Henry Eichelberger), ALLYN JOSLYN (Walter Gage), Joe Kearns (Signature Voice / Lew Scandisi), Hans Conried (Mug / Bank Teller), Wally Maher (Contact Man), Lurene Tuttle (Ellen McIntosh), Howard McNear (Gallimore)
For the second time, Two Sharp Knives was promoted as the following week’s program. It was pre-empted by news coverage of the United Nations peace conference. It finally aired on June 7.
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