Edward G. Robinson returns to Suspense as a milkman who is declared dead in an accident, but it’s a case of mistaken identity. When they hear about it from the police, they think it’s an April Fools Day joke, but it’s not. He and his wife decide to take advantage of the situation and collect his insurance. It turns out his wallet was stolen, and the thief was killed in a hit-and-run car accident. Police assume that the wallet belongs to the accident victim. The wife seems to be the motivating force behind the scheme to get the $20,000, which is more than $250,000 in US$2024. She sends her milkman husband off to Chicago, where he won’t be recognized. When he calls home, something seems fishy, and he thinks his wife has taken the money and her “widow freedom” as an opportunity for a love interest. Robinson’s character inadvertently falls into a relationship with a woman he met at a Chicago bar. She has her eyes on some of the insurance money, too. His liquor-assisted loose lips spilled details about the scheme. Now the girlfriend wants him to eliminate the phony widow. As for the ending… remember it’s April Fools Day.
The story is by radio veteran Joseph Ruscoll and adapted by Walter Brown Newman. Since Ruscoll was an experienced radio scripter, Brown’s work may have been in editing to the Suspense format and time requirements. The attribution at the end of the broadcast is that Brown “prepared” the script for the show.
The story would not work in the age of modern forensics. Another factor is that drivers licenses in all states have pictures. Pictures were not common until the late 1950s and grew in use into the 1970s.
An Armed Forces Radio Service recording (AFRS#278) is known to exist but is not available at this time.
LISTEN
TO THE PROGRAM or download in FLAC or
mp3
https://archive.org/details/TSP490331
THE CAST
EDWARD G. ROBINSON (Sam Brown), Ross Forrester (Luther / Voice), Jeanette Nolan (Katie), Frank Gerstle (Announcer), Peter Prouse (Ryan the Cop’s Voice / Man), Hal K. Dawson (Harry / Captain), Betty Lou Gerson (Cleo Carter / Operator), Paul Frees (Signature Voice)
COMMERCIAL: Bill Johnstone (Hap), Harlow Wilcox (Announcer), Sylvia Simms (Operator)
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