The first hour-long version of Suspense was presented with great hopes and great plans. A group of CBS executives decided to re-invent Suspense along the lines of one of radio’s most successful and lucrative hour long franchises, Lux Radio Theatre. That series was often the top-rated of all dramatic series, usually in first place, always in the top five. This was an experiment that they believed would attract a big sponsor who would support a diverse range of material that would appear on the show. William Spier and the newly hired Robert Montgomery saw a range of programs from classic literature, popular authors, movie- and theatrical-related productions, as well as the kinds of original stories Suspense was famous for. They had plans for future productions that went out through the Summer of 1948.
It fell apart quickly. The program was on Saturday evenings, when many people were otherwise occupied. Families and workers tended to “cocoon” at home during the week, and listen to programs because they had school and work and other obligations that made “settling in” for entertainment and relaxation a habit. Weekend listenership, however, was quite different. The programs were sustaining. A west coast program at 5pm on Saturday evenings was not going to be popular. Stations sometimes transcribed the program and played it later in the evening. You could tell that things were not working out when even in Los Angeles, Suspense was broadcast a day later at 4:30pm on Sunday afternoons.
The new format have those kinds of strikes against it already… but it was an experiment… could Suspense work in the new format? The decision to try it was made in a rush, and no original hour-long scripts were ready. There was no truly original hour-long Suspense until mid-February.
And finally, it was clear that CBS leader William Paley did not believe in it. He was quietly undermining the new format by having conversations with potential sponsors about the half-hour format returning. Auto-Lite became interested just six or seven weeks into the new format.
William Spier became so frustrated he left. He got his personal life in new order with his marriage to June Havoc in February. Then he was hired by ABC to move The Clock to Hollywood and attempt to grow its franchise and attract a sponsor. He was given 13 weeks. That didn’t work, but his leadership was missed, as were two of the series most reliable performers, Elliott and Cathy Lewis. They became regular stars for The Clock.
Robert Montgomery wasn’t happy either. He was the new producer (in many ways “in name only,” but he had an executive mind for production of radio and movies and later television), but was promised producer pay for every episode and performer pay for the ones in which he was cast. This caused great friction among the CBS executives. He probably figured out that something was up behind the scenes, anyway.
There will be more details as each episode is presented.
The inaugural broadcast showed the weakness of a rushed schedule. They decided to use stories that were previously presented on the series but in new adaptations. They would be able to better develop the characters, add more scenes, create more complex dialogue. The pace of the show could enhance the drama. From a technical standpoint, it worked. From a practical standpoint, listeners no longer held their breath to find out what was next. The excited pace of the half-hour Suspense was a key factor in making the show great. Stories had to get down to their core elements, quickly, without getting bogged down in extraneous details. You had to be more creative writing for a half-hour show, and you had to listen harder. This is what made the hour long show seem padded.
There was another difference between Lux and the new Suspense. Lux was cutting down a 90 minute movie script to fit 45 minutes or so of drama time. Listeners were less engaged in the story and more interested in hearing their favorite stars. Hour-long Suspense was in some ways creating a movie-length equivalent of its stories. Lux had long and multiple breaks for commercials, so things could get done in the home when the next one came around. Suspense had no such leisurely opportunities. You had to belt yourself into the seat… and pay really close attention. The whole idea seemed doomed from the start. Suspense usually had a steady background of heightened and building tension in 24 minutes of story. The hour-long version often turned that tension on and off and did not have a sustaining sense of it. The hour-long Suspense is more like a movie, where you sit in your seat for most of it, while the radio version often had you on the edge of that seat from for the bulk of the presentation.
The first episode in the new format was a familiar one. A rewrite of The Black Curtain. This was the third production of the Cornell Woolrich on Suspense. It was an important script because it was the first for the Roma Wines sponsorship, then presented a year later as a Roma sponsorship anniversary, each time starring Cary Grant.
The background of the story and details about those broadcasts are at:
1943-12-02
1944-11-30
Why did they use it again? Perhaps it was for “good luck.” The first time they used it, they got four years of paid sponsorship. Maybe they’d get lucky again. The bottom line of it was that it was a very good and respected story. Spier likely called the shots on the schedule knowing that the story had good listener response before.
It was newly adapted by Jo Eisinger, whose first work on Suspense was The Walls Came Tumbling Down. Its sarcastic dialogue was a pattern for the new project that William Spier had in mind. That script was re-worked to become the unaired audition for The Adventures of Sam Spade. Eisinger became one of the regular scripters for the Spade series. The original George Corey adaptation of Black Curtain could not be used, of course. By this time, the Suspense style was more firmly set and the presentation had to be reconfigured to it.
It is the same story but the longer format allowed the addition of some characters and scenes, and more time for development. And that’s the point… was the radio drama any better with this extra content? Likely not. Was Cary Grant better in the prior productions? It seems so. What if someone was not familiar with the half hour broadcasts? Would they be impressed by this production? Probably. It is well done.
LISTEN
TO THE PROGRAM or download in FLAC or
mp3
https://archive.org/details/TSP480103
THE CAST
ROBERT MONTGOMERY (Series host / Frank Townsend, alias Danny Nearing), Lurene Tuttle (Ruth Dillon), Cathy Lewis (Ada Dietrich), Jeanette Nolan (Mrs. Hudson the landlady), Sidney Miller (Pop the store-keep / Irish policeman), Conrad Binyon (Boy), Jack Kruschen (Doctor / SP guard), William Conrad (“Gray Eyes” the detective, alias Slattery), Jerry Hausner (Elevator operator), Paul Frees (Dengler / Guard), Ira Grossel (Franklin Dietrich / Conductor), Junius Matthews (Mr. April the station master), Harry Lang (Accident bystander), Joe Kearns (Signature Voice / Old man)
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