Danny Kaye stars in a complex story written by Martin Stern and adapted by Ken Crossen. It’s a very good script and a very good performance. It is possible to miss some of the important elements of the scheme, so it’s worth paying close attention. Knowing a little New York City geography can help imagine the story and its logistics. The website oldtimeradioreview.com rates this episode five out of five stars, which it deserves.
Kaye’s character, Sam, is generous to the point of annoying people. His sights are set on a young woman, Catherine. She is newly engaged to Jack. Her fiance is upset that the gifts and generosity are meant to embarrass him for his lower social status and the implication that he can’t give her the life she deserves. Jack is right in questioning his motives, but Sam wants more than that. He wants to eliminate Jack and figures his record of generosity will divert the attention of police when they investigate Sam for the murder. Sam also agrees to be the best man for their wedding, which adds to an alibi. He arranges a $20,000 a year job that he arranges for the engaged man, which is more than $250,000 in 2023$US inflation-adjusted terms. How could anyone ever believe that Sam could hold any ill will toward Jack? Then Sam starts to carry out his nasty plan.
Sam tells Jack to drive in from his home in Staten Island to meet him in Manhattan. Sam is attending a big party among wealthy friends, and arranged a time for Jack to meet him outside on the sidewalk. Jack arrives and Sam lures him into a quiet place, murders him, hides the body in Jack’s own car. Sam returns to the party until it ends, building his alibi at every opportunity. He makes a point of meeting or saying goodbye to every possible guest. After the event ends, Sam drives the car to the Staten Island Ferry. Earlier in the day, he had purchased a ferry ticket to avoid the chance a nighttime ticket agent might be able to identify him. He drives onto the ferry, parks the car, and walks up to the deck. He drops the knife used to commit the murder into the harbor waters. When the ferry docks, Sam drives to Jack’s house nearby and leaves the car there. He walks back to the ferry dock for the trip back to Manhattan as a passenger.
In the end, his cover-up is so airtight that the bride-to-be is accused and convicted of the crime! She had argued with Jack earlier in the day. After the conviction, Sam’s guilt gets to him… but no matter whom he tells that he is the real murderer, including the innocent woman, they are all so struck by his past generosity that no one believes he could commit such an act. An innocent woman is executed, and his life is changed forever.
The story is by Martin Stern and adapted by Ken Crossen. It seems the author is better known as Richard Martin Stern, mystery writer. His book, The Tower, was one of two novels that were combined to become the highly successful 1973 movie, The Towering Inferno. He wrote under the names Richard Stern, Martin Stern, and his full name. He was a prolific author, and his long list of published short stories can be viewed at http://www.philsp.com/homeville/fmi/n08/n08890.htm#A94 His Wikipedia profile is at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Martin_Stern It is possible that this script was from a short story or from a story outline, hence the need for Crossen’s services. There is no short story with this name that can be found. It may be unique for Suspense or there was a title change for the broadcast. This was the only Stern story used on the series.
Croton is Croton-on-Hudson, now considered a suburb for New York City because of highways and commuter rail connections added in the 1950s and 1960s. At the time of the story, it was a place for summer cottages, weekend getaways, and day picnics in nearby parks for city-dwellers.
The Manhattan address mentioned in the story, 3365 East 56th Street, does not exist. If there was such an address, it would be in the middle of the East River.
The Staten Island Ferry links the New York City borough of Staten Island with southern Manhattan. The Ferry is a favorite among tourists because of its views of the Statue of Liberty and the Manhattan skyline. Cars could use the ferry until 2003.
The title of the play is “The Too-Perfect Alibi.” Coming out of the mid-show commercial, Paul Frees says “A Too-Perfect Alibi.”
How could Sam hide the body in the car? Cars were much roomier in 1949. Current era cars that include compacts and subcompacts are much smaller and aerodynamic for the sake of fuel efficiency than those of decades ago. It would be easy to hide the body on the floor of the back seat area. It would be very difficult to do so in modern vehicles.
The William Saroyan play that is mentioned as a topic of overheard party conversation is likely “Don’t Go Away Mad.” It was being shopped to theatrical producers at the time. It never made it to Broadway, but was produced in other cities over the years, and is still available for local productions. News coverage of Saroyan’s meetings implied that he was asking too much money for rights to the script.
The April 1949 Radio Mirror announced that Suspense won its award for the best radio mystery series. That issue had pictures from the rehearsal for this episode. Kaye and all of the players and effects staff can be seen in photos. (Bill Johnstone is misidentified as John Johnson; must have been bad handwritten notes by the reporter that day). The feature is interesting in that it explains that Leader made rushed revisions to the script before broadcast, likely to ensure proper use of time. There was also a heated discussion about the episode’s music between Lucien Moraweck and Lud Gluskin. These things happened to one degree or another for any episode of any high-profile program. Once the broadcast began, the magic of top-notch radio was created and delivered, with no hint of any rehearsal trepidation. The PDF document of the article is available for review on the same page as the recordings. Many thanks to worldradiohistory.com for their steadfast dedication to historical preservation and it its extensive library of broadcast magazines.
This is the first of two Suspense appearances by Danny Kaye. Kaye was multi-talented, acting in dramas, comedies, stand-up performances, singing, and dancing. He would often do silly songs and slapstick to win the applause of audiences in theater, movies, and television. His career and personal life is too long and too complex to summarize here. An overview can be found at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Danny_Kaye The Kaye movie in the theaters at the time of broadcast was A Song Is Born.
LISTEN
TO THE PROGRAM or download in FLAC or
mp3
https://archive.org/details/TSP490113
THE CAST
DANNY KAYE (Sam Rogers), John McIntire (Inspector Vanelli), Hal March (Jack Stewart), Mary Shipp (Catherine Gilpin), Ted Von Eltz (D. A.), Paul Frees (Simon Blade / Signature Voice), Johnny Jacobs, Charles LaTorre, Fred Campbell, Bud Widom
COMMERCIAL: Bill Johnstone (Hap), Sylvia Simms (Operator), Harlow Wilcox (Announcer)
