Lucille Ball plays an unsavory woman who takes financial advantage of the deviant impulses of strange men. Do you need any more proof that Suspense is not for kids? She uses her youthful appearance, accented by dressing as a school girl, to trap these men, attack them with a blackjack, and take their money. She counts on them being so ashamed of the criminal circumstance that she will not be reported to the police. Ball’s character concocted the scam because her childish looks worked against her getting steady acting jobs.
There’s a serial strangler in town, and she realizes that the man she’s with is that very person. How can she tell the police about him without revealing her own nefarious scam? The way the story turns we’re actually rooting for a criminal, Ball’s character, to succeed! How strange is that?
Whatever the case, or how disturbing the circumstances and characters are, this is one of Ball’s best appearances in the series and one of its better stories.
Ball is getting more attention as a comedic actress at this time, making this episode quite the example of casting against type. Her show My Favorite Husband is becoming more popular. We all know that endeavor was an important stepping stone to her gargantuan success on television and as a production executive.
The author of the script is Virginia Cross, but no information can be found about her. There is a science fiction short story in Other Worlds magazine in 1955 which may or may not be written her. She may be a freelance “one-hit-wonder” for Suspense or it could be a pseudonym.
LISTEN
TO THE PROGRAM or download in FLAC or
mp3
https://archive.org/details/TSP481014
THE CAST
LUCILLE BALL (Isobel), Berry Kroeger (Alex Rice, aka Benjamin Carney / Man 2), Harry Bartell (Radio voice), Paul Dubov (Sergeant Thompson / Man / News Voice), Sylvia Simms? (Mrs. Tilford / Girl / Mrs. Jay), Norman Field (Man 3 / Burke), Paul Frees (Signature Voice)
COMMERCIAL: Bill Johnstone (Hap), Sylvia Simms (Operator), Harlow Wilcox (Announcer)
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