This episode was written by Malvin Wald and adapted by Pamela Wilcox. Both have interesting backgrounds for Suspense and its production staff. Wald would have a notable film and television writing career.
Wald authored the story that became the 1948 movie The Naked City. This script received the Stephen Vincent BenĂ©t Award from Stanford University as the best radio play of 1946. Originally titled “Sound as a Bell,” it was written in collaboration with Pamela Wilcox. Rights to it were purchased by Suspense. Wilcox worked on the Suspense adaptation.
Joan Bennett stars in the story as the neglected wife of a famous pianist and composer. He is somewhat deaf, a fact made abundantly clear in the beginning scenes of the story. You know it will play a role in the plotline. Listen for it! (Sorry, could not resist saying that). The composer mentors individual up-and-coming talent, and Howard Duff has that role. In yet another plotline of unhappy spouses and a budding affair, the his student is very attracted to Bennett’s character. They create a scheme that will lead the husband’s demise. But wait… this is Suspense, so evil acts are never wrapped in a package you expect. In this case, the ending is like The Whistler or The Diary of Fate.
East and west network recordings have survived. The east broadcast is the better one.
Malvin Wald is 29 years old at the time of this broadcast, and The Naked City would set the pattern for police procedural movie and television dramas through the 1950s to this very day. It was produced by famous movie producer Mark Hellinger, who passed away a few months before the release. Wald may have come to the personal attention of William Spier because Spier produced The Adventures of Sam Spade. Howard Duff was cast in the movie, and Spade had to be moved to New York for a few weeks in the summer of 1947 to allow for Duff’s movie schedule. Suspense was moved to New York for those weeks, too. The full movie is online https://youtu.be/V-W4MZI3T38?si=yH0apT9XQqYW2a-6 An overview of Wald’s prolific career can viewed at Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malvin_Wald
Pamela Wilcox was 27 years old, and had moved to the US to become a writer in Hollywood. She was the daughter of famous British movie producer Herbert Wilcox. In her autobiography, Wilcox implies that she started a relationship with Suspense editor and writer Robert L. Richards. He was married at the time, to Silvia. The relationship became more intense and in 1947 there are six scripts penned or adapted by Wilcox. The Wilcox scripts were adapted by Richards. Sometime in 1947, Silvia and Robert divorced. Robert and Pamela married in October 1947 in Las Vegas. Their relationship lasted longer than their marriage. They separated after a few months and divorced in October 1948. Wilcox returned to Britain.
In 1950, Richards would marry Ann Roth Morgan, secretary of The Writer’s Guild. She became an author’s agent, according to Census records. Both would be caught up in the HUAC hearings of the 1950s. Silvia married film producer and writer Albert Bezzerides 1953. Their relationship began in the late 1940s while separated from Robert. Wilcox' 1977 biography about her battle with alcoholism and homelessness, Between Hell and Charing Cross, details her Hollywood experiences. She uses disguised names and her chronology was not reconstructed well and conflicts with public records. Some of the facts may have been obscured and blurred by time and personal events along the way. The book is hard to find but can be borrowed at The Internet Archive. https://archive.org/details/betweenhellchari0000wilc/page/n7/mode/2up
This was Joan Bennett’s first appearance on Suspense. She was active in stage, film, and television. Her career went from the 1920s through the 1970s. Nostalgia fans may know her for her roles in the television serial Dark Shadows https://darkshadows.fandom.com/wiki/Joan_Bennett She appeared one more time on Suspense. Her radio work was usually on variety programs as herself and on movie-related series such as Lux and Screen Guild.
An overview of her career and life is at Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joan_Bennett
LISTEN
TO THE PROGRAM or download in FLAC or
mp3
https://archive.org/details/TSP470106
THE CAST
JOAN BENNETT (Franzy Whitmer-Allen), Howard Duff (Mark Allen), Bill Johnstone (Professor Ira Whitmer / Doctor), Hans Conried (Mark’s manager), Joe Kearns (Signature Voice / Lieutenant Scott), Wally Maher (Justice of the Peace), Jeanette Nolan (Diva / Nurse), Horace Willard (Porter)
(NOTE: Many thanks to Kenneth Narde at the OTRR Facebook page who helped identify many of the resources used for this episode’s background).
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