Here’s a twist: someone is murdered, we know who did it, but we have to figure out who the detective is! Patricia McGerr was a mystery writer who used these kinds of quirky twists in her short stories and novels. Her novel of this same name was adapted by Silvia Richards. Jane Wyman stars in her only appearance in the series. The 1949-02-17 Montreal QB Gazette picked up CBS publicity about Wyman’s performance. It says that she told “Tony Leader some time ago that I’d like to play a really evil woman on Suspense.” She continued “and he fixed me up—but good.”
Her character is at an off-season lonely resort in the Colorado mountains. She is sitting at the bedside of her very ill husband. They don’t get along, and he accuses her of attempting to poison him. He started saving the pills he was given as evidence. He tells her that he’s contacted a detective friend, “Rocky” Rhodes, and told him where the pills were hidden. Rhodes will monitor his status, and in case of his demise, the pills would be tested and prove the poisoning. She is aghast, or at least acts that way. He falls asleep and then she suffocates him. Then she puts on a performance of great sorrow.
There are two problems: she does not know where the pills are and she has no idea what Mr. Rhodes looks like! She becomes paranoid, going through furniture and closets and possible hiding places, and starts assuming that every new guest who comes to the hotel is using a pseudonym, and whether man or woman, might be “Rocky” Rhodes!
It’s a good story and Wyman delivers a good performance. Listen attentively as Silvia Richards may have had difficulty getting the novel down to a 23 minute or so play. Usually, important story events are reinforced through dialogue in some manner as the production goes on. She may not have been able to do that in the way she desired. This episode, like some in recent episodes, won’t be enjoyed with passive and casual listening.
The rehearsals must have had problems staying withing the time limit of the broadcast. A minor character named “R. Davenport Cates” was edited out of the script in the days leading up to broadcast, and other dialogue was abridged or re-written.
Raymond Burr makes another Suspense appearance in the story as (spoiler alert) “Rocky” Rhodes and his role as Cates was stricken from the script. The way we find out who he is as part of a surprise ending is well done.
McGerr’s creativity in her stories was always held in high regard, but she did not achieve top status with the public or financially. She wrote novels in the 1940s and 1950s and then many short stories in Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine in the 1960s through the 1980s. More background about her work can be found at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patricia_McGerr This is the only time her work appeared on Suspense and might be the only time it was dramatized for radio.
Don’t confuse this title with the movie of the same name was released in 2002 and its original book about an imposter published in 1980. The movie was produced by Steven Spielberg and starred Leonard DiCaprio.
This is Jane Wyman’s sole appearance on Suspense. She had a very long and successful movie and television career. Weeks after this broadcast she would win a best actress Oscar for Johnny Belinda. Baby boomers may remember her better for her nine seasons on the primetime soap opera Falcon Crest. Her career and personal life have an overview at Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jane_Wyman
LISTEN
TO THE PROGRAM or download in FLAC or
mp3
https://archive.org/details/TSP490217
THE CAST
JANE WYMAN (Margot Weatherby), Frank Lovejoy (Mike Sheldon), Raymond Burr (Rocky Rhodes / Cates), Lurene Tuttle (Susan Quinn), Paul Marion (Phil Weatherby), Jerry Hausner (Charlie Miller), Paul Frees (Signature Voice)
COMMERCIAL: Bill Johnstone (Hap), Sylvia Simms (Operator), Harlow Wilcox (Announcer)
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