This episode stars Ava Gardner as a woman who picks up a hitch-hiker and his bag full of storyline coincidences. This story is packed with many “just so happens” details that keep unfolding and unfolding and end up straining our common sense. Yet, it is interesting after a while. A police officer’s wife picks up a hitch-hiker who has just escaped from prison. We soon learn that her husband was the officer who put him there. The criminal wants his revenge and plans to kill him by placing a car-ignition bomb while the vehicle sits idle in its garage. It turns out that she doesn’t really like her husband, and thinks the ignition bomb idea might be workable. All this… and more… in about 24 minutes of drama! There’s much to dislike about the story, but it is Suspense and it is better than most series, and this episode has a prize inside.
The story was by John Michael Hayes. He was at the beginning of his screenwriting career and supporting himself with radio writing. Among the other series that used his work were Sam Spade, Inner Sanctum, My Favorite Husband, Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar among others. He would make it big in some of Hitchcock’s successful mid-1950s movies. Those included Rear Window, To Catch a Thief, The Trouble with Harry, and The Man Who Knew Too Much. A dispute over screen credit led to his break-up with Hitchcock. He had a long and successful career that also included the screenplay for the movie Peyton Place (1957).
The east and west broadcasts have survived. The east broadcast includes a tease to stay tuned for The FBI in Peace and War. The west broadcast includes a closing ad for Cresta Blanca wine. The opening of the west broadcast is slightly clipped by about 8 seconds. The west broadcast is the better of the two despite missing the few seconds at the beginning.
But that’s not the backstory of interest...
This was Ava Gardner’s only Suspense appearance, but the episode might be better known for the cameo visit of Orson Welles! It occurs just before the 15:00 mark in the episode. Welles was recently separated from Rita Hayworth and had filed for divorce. She was divorced from Artie Shaw in 1946. Researcher John Scheinfeld had an interview with William Spier that offered perspective on Welles’ unplanned appearance. It was reported differently in the press, and this is how it was reported in Variety 1947-05-02:
Incidentally, that was Orson's dreamy voice you heard as the gas station attendant on Bill Spier’s Suspense airshow yesterday. He took over the one-line part to startle Ava Gardner, who was the guest star on the show. The gag backfired because Spier tipped Ava off and she retorted with “Who do you think you are, Orson Welles?”
The story, as best as can be pieced together from the Scheinfeld interview and other sources is that Gardner came to the KNX complex on time, but had unexpectedly brought a “date,” Orson Welles. William Spier and Welles were very close friends and admired each other greatly. Spier hired Welles for March of Time when he was starting out, and Welles was always grateful. Spier was appreciative of what Welles did to help establish the Suspense franchise. The final time he appeared on Suspense was in the popular and ground-breaking Donovan’s Brain two-part episode.
Spier sent word down that Welles should come up to the studio. Spier decided to write in a few lines for Welles since he would be there all afternoon and for the east and west performances. The lines were for a gas station attendant!
The Variety report and the Spier interview are different. CBS publicity would often try to make things “more interesting” than they actually were. But the possibility of an inside joke with Ava mentioning his name could very well have occurred. Gardner's line might have been ad libbed, but it is unlikely because it was her first appearance on the show. Knowing Spier, he may have given her the line but not told Orson. It was a joke enjoyed in the studio for the east broadcast, when it was a surprise, and repeated for the west broadcast. No one in the listening audience was wise to Welles appearance but regular listeners may have wondered if something was up once they heard a familiar voice.
The cameo clip alone is on the same page as the full program recordings. The clip is drawn from the west recording and lasts 19 seconds.
The American Federation of Radio Artists (AFRA) payroll report lists Welles with the other cast members. “Re-broadcast” refers to the west performance of the program. (Special thank you to the Thousand Oaks Library for their documentation about this episode).
Some newspaper reports suggest that Welles made the cameo appearance because he lost a bet with Spier. The interview with Spier does not report that. The two likely made friendly bets with each other. This was common among friends in the day, and usually involved only small sums of money or dinner.
Ava Gardner had great success in the movies but had many ups and downs in her private life. Many of those were not so private. An overview of her life and career is at Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ava_Gardner
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https://archive.org/details/TSP470501
THE CAST
AVA GARDNER (Evelyn Harris), Howard Duff (Sullivan), Wally Maher (Ralph Harris), Frank Albertson (Diner Man), Ted Reid [Elliott Reid] (Motorcycle cop), Joe Kearns (Signature Voice / Sergeant Thompson), Lurene Tuttle (Operator), Orson Welles (Gas station mechanic)
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