Marsha Hunt’s character is tired of being married for money. Her husband announces he will be away for three months as he establishes a business office in South America. As her hiatus from him begins, an old boyfriend is in town and they start seeing each other again. She manipulates her charms to convince her smitten ex-beau to participate in a plot kill her rich husband when he returns from the trip. She neglects tell him one important thing: she intends to frame him for the crime and then run off with someone else. In the end, she gets her due because she’s still married at the end of the story as a case of mistaken identity at the worst possible time unravels the murder plot. Spoiler alert… late again.
That “someone else” is played by Gerald Mohr in one of his few Suspense gigs. He’s almost constantly on The Whistler and this script has all the elements of the style and format of the “surprise ending” that made the series so popular.
The story was by Arthur Julian and Howard Leeds. In the 1947-10-19 Akron OH Beacon Journal, radio critic Bee Offineer believed the plot was “too transparent.” It was, but it’s a fun listen despite its obvious direction. (Offineer was a superb critic, her life cut short by cancer at age 34, three years after this broadcast.)
The episode was directed by series creator Charles Vanda. Spier was away for an unspecified reason. Vanda may be uncredited, but he’s in the story dialogue. There’s an in-joke after 21:00 with Kearns saying “We're having dinner with the Vandas tonight” and “Charlie’s very important to me.”
Subway with June Havoc was originally scheduled for this date. It is likely that Spier and Havoc were away together to plan their Spring 1948 nuptials. Gossip columns of this time mentioned the event was in the works.
One network recording has survived. It is not known to which coast it was broadcast. The closing announcements go directly to the network ID (“dirID”).
Louis Jourdan was announced again as an upcoming guest, but it was not to be. Some guest contracts were being cancelled as the Roma contract was coming to an end. This was an economy move; some new scripts would be delayed, too, likely to save them for a new sponsor.
LISTEN
TO THE PROGRAM or download in FLAC or
mp3
https://archive.org/details/TSP471016
THE CAST
MARSHA HUNT (Barbara Newall), Gerald Mohr (Alex Maynard), Wally Maher (Fred Dexter), Joe Kearns (Signature Voice / Jonathan Newhall), Lurene Tuttle (Mimi Carlyle)
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