Jack Carson plays a down-on-his-luck pianist who spurns the marriage desires of his long-term girlfriend. He finally admits he’s married but separated from his wife for 14 years. He has not seen her during that time. He promises to ask his “ex” for a divorce when he learns that she is in town. When he visits her, he realizes his wife is not well and suffering from paranoia. It’s so bad that she feeds her pet macaw samples from her meals to be sure she is not being poisoned. To make a long story short, the wife dies from poisoning by his tampering with her medicine. Her doctor is blamed for the crime. For $50,000 ($700,000+ in US$2023), he will offer a different explanation for the crime that exonerates the doctor, and himself. The doctor’s lawyer quietly pays him, he offers his explanation to the police, and the pianist and his girlfriend head to California, confident of a happy new life together, finally free to marry. This is Suspense, so you just know that this can’t work. The law… and the macaw (that rhymes), follow him to California.
The script is by Sidney Renthal. He was a Chicago-based scripter who wrote for The Whistler, First Nighter, and other series.
Dane Clark was originally planned for this role. He was re-cast for the recent broadcast Till the Day I Die, a more serious role, instead. This script was probably shifted to Carson once he agreed to appear on the series (Suspense was planned out six to eight weeks in advance, with contingent plans for sudden changes in guest availability). Carson was a good choice with competence in drama and also for his ability to deliver the various sarcastic and amusing lines in the script. Spier always endeavored to match the various scripts they selected with the personalities and skills of their guest stars.
The use of the macaw in the story (“voiced” by Paul Frees) led to a line about 25:30 that was “Dr. Ditmars of the Bronx Zoo finally tipped us off.” One might think it was a in-joke about radio composer and musician Ivan Ditmars, but it’s not. It’s a reference to the head of the New York Zoological Society, and the Bronx Zoo, Dr. Raymond Ditmars. He was widely known around the country for decades for his research and his movies about wildlife. What’s really funny is that the script was broadcast in 1946… but Ditmars died in 1942! Is this the germ on an idea for an Inner Sanctum plotline about a famous zoologist whose ghost assists law enforcement to deliver justice from the grave?
East and west network broadcasts of the episode have survived. The recordings can be differentiated by the tease for The FBI in Peace and War at the end of the east broadcast. The west broadcast is the better of the two.
This is comedian Jack Carson’s first appearance on Suspense. This is a publicity photo of Carson and producer William Spier from Suspense Magazine #4.
.jpg)
Carson started in vaudeville and made his way to Hollywood. He played lighter roles in movies in the 1930s but grew into more serious roles as his career developed. He was popular on radio, and is often overlooked in many radio retrospectives. He hosted Comedy Caravan and had his own series for four years before starring in Village Store for a season. His versatile talents led to a successful career that spanned movies, radio, and television. Details about his life and career are at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_Carson
LISTEN
TO THE PROGRAM or download in FLAC or
mp3
https://archive.org/details/TSP461107
THE CAST
JACK CARSON (Paul Bentley), Cathy Lewis (Ellen), Wally Maher (Harrison / Paperboy), Paul Frees (Macaw / Martin / 2nd Paperboy / Cop), Joe Kearns (Signature Voice / McNulty / 2nd Cop), Betty Lou Gerson (Martha), Ted Von Eltz? (Robert the butler)
###
