This Dorothy L. Sayers story about a cook who may be a poisoner has its third production on Suspense. The script was adapted by Irving Ravetch who may have referenced one of the earlier scripts by Peter Barry in building the story out to an hour. The script was first used in the Summer 1942 series on 1942-08-12. No recording has survived of that broadcast. The 1944-02-10 broadcast details may be found at
https://suspenseproject.blogspot.com/2023/03/1944-02-10-suspicion.html
https://archive.org/details/TSP440210 is where a recording may be accessed
This broadcast was originally planned for Boris Karloff, but he was not available and replaced a couple of days prior to broadcast by Sam Jaffe.
This was Robert Montgomery’s final week as Suspense producer and host. He would appear as guest star in 1949 in a performance of The Thing in the Window, which would be his final appearance on the series.
The story was also produced on the Suspense television series and may be viewed at https://youtu.be/hrJngr59YLw?si=Rm3JuO93st6oMpEe
There are two surviving recordings. On has a time tone followed by a news bulletin about a Federal judge ordering striking coal miners back to work, which happened shortly before broadcast. This recording is the better of the two. The other recording does not have the tone or the bulletin. It is possible that they are from the same set of transcription discs but the tone and bulletin were edited out from the final reel tape that was saved.
This was Sam Jaffe’s only appearance on Suspense. He was not on radio often, but was best known for his film and television work. Science fictions fans know him for his supporting role in Day the Earth Stood Still and television fans know him as “Dr. Zorba” for the popular medical series Ben Casey. Information about his decades-long career is at Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sam_Jaffe
LISTEN
TO THE PROGRAM or download in FLAC or
mp3
https://archive.org/details/TSP480403
THE CAST
SAM JAFFE (Edward Mummery), Lurene Tuttle (Ethel Mummery), Alan Reed (Brooks), Bill Johnstone (Signature Voice / John DeVries), Gloria Gordon (Mrs. Sutton), Ramsay Hill (Dr. Maysbury), Berry Kroeger (Dimthorpe the chemist), unknown (Mrs. Andrews), Doris Kemper? (Mrs. Wellbeck), unknown (Thomas), unknown (Vicki)
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