Suspense has been recruiting some of Hollywood’s biggest box office draws in recent episodes, and this time it’s Bob Hope. It’s a good story, but Hope’s wooden performance might impede its enjoyment by modern classic radio fans not so awed by his celebrity. It’s a good thing the Suspense music and ensemble cast is there to make it palatable. Hope reads the script with no mistakes, but he’s not very good at acting what’s on the page. His Wikipedia profile has this line: “Hope had no faith in his skills as a dramatic actor.” This was an episode that had its casting for publicity purposes, but not performance. Note: spoiler alert ahead, but it really doesn’t matter.
Hope’s casting as standard fare for the CBS publicity department whenever Suspense was going to have a comedian in a dramatic role. They would say that if the comedian ad libbed, they would not be paid. This seemed to get a lot of play in newspapers. Details about this are below.
Hope plays a wealthy, arrogant lawyer… and murderer. He is accused of killing his wife Lily, has the “perfect alibi” for the crime, is acquitted in court, and then makes the mistake of not paying the hit man. Whoops. At 3:00 of the story the contract killer calls and he’ll be there at 10:00pm. Why he doesn’t want him to mail it as agreed and instead wants to collect it in person is worrisome. Does the killer have something else in mind beyond his payment? The lawyer calls around to all his acquaintances to find his friend, the police lieutenant. They finally connect. He’s looking for protection against whatever the hit man has in mind.
At 15:00 he explains his wife’s murder scene. At 17:00 he says he blacked out and could not remember what happened. At around 18:00 of the story, he recounts the courtroom closing argument by the prosecution as he discusses the case with his acquaintance, the police lieutenant. At 20:40 he admits he’s guilty, which is confusing to the lieutenant because the alibi was airtight. Now, he explains he used a hit man. Now that killer is after him to collect his payment. The police lieutenant doesn’t want any part of this encounter, and leaves, or so it seems. After he leaves the office, the lawyer realizes the killer is there. At 25:00 the killer is shot… by the lieutenant who remained in earshot of the events as they unfolded. And now he will be tried for the crime, not for the murder of his wife, which was protected by “double jeopardy” law, but for committing a felony for planning the murder. Then he tries the “I blacked out” excuse again. It won’t work this time.
The script was by veteran screenwriter and novelist Jo Pagano. His movie career began in the 1930s, and he became a very successful television scripter. His novel, The Condemned, became the film The Sound of Fury, for which he wrote the screenplay. The acceptance of Pagano’s script for Suspense was reported as a news item in Variety (including an error identifying the script as intended for NBC!). Some of the lines of the script are very awkward, but it is easy to imagine some of beloved radio pros would deliver them with a sensitivity and conviction that Hope can’t. Good writing can be obscured by bad acting, and that may be the case here. But why Hope was given a line like “her auburn hair gently suspended like someone spun fine silk around when a bullet went through that lovely head” is a mystery, and sounds so unnatural, especially from an inexperienced radio mystery performer. That should have been cleaned up and simplified during rehearsal, but it obviously wasn’t. This was Pagano’s only Suspense script. The script was revised by David Peltz.
The Waterloo IA Courier of 1949-05-16 had a column by Hope which offered these comedic thoughts about his Suspense appearance:
I just appeared in a radio drama called Death Has a Shadow in which I played the murderer and it was quite an experience. Up till now the only thing I ever killed was lines.
[Tony Leader] has it written in every contract that if the comedian ad libs any jokes he will forfeit his salary. That way, every time you think of a funny line, it's immediately followed by a terrifying thought.
I loved doing the show and I've been thinking seriously of giving up comedy entirely. Of course, my sponsor keeps insisting that I gave it up a long time ago.
Regarding that clause in the Suspense contract about no ad libs… it’s a publicity stunt. There is no such clause. The actual clause is about following the directions of the producer and director and is in the contract for every performer. It makes for great headlines, however, creating the impression that comedians were walking a tightrope (without a net) in their performance and people would tune in just to hear if they faltered. Most of the comedians sincerely wanted to do well on Suspense. They wanted to expand their opportunities for more diverse work, show their talents were broader than typically believed, and that they had an ability to take direction and perform in unfamiliar roles.
This was Bob Hope’s sole appearance on the series. He was a Hollywood legend in films and television, and was a great success on radio. His “On the Road…” movies with Bing Crosby and Dorothy Lamour were big box office successes, along with other film comedies in which he starred. An overview of his career and personal life can be found at Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bob_Hope
LISTEN
TO THE PROGRAM or download in FLAC or
mp3
https://archive.org/details/TSP490505
THE CAST
BOB HOPE (Harvey Warren), Bill Conrad (Lt. Joe Scarponi / Shaughnessy the desk cop), Hy Averback (Bolster the gunman), Eddy Fields (Police Sergeant [named Mike] / Prosecutor), Tony Barrett (Lyons Apartments clerk on phone / Photographer in Police station), Elliott Lewis (Reporter in police station), June Whitley (Madge), Ann Morrison (Operator / Woman on phone / Woman in Court), Shep Menken (Judge / Night Elevator Man), Paul Frees (Voice).
COMMERCIAL: Bill Johnstone (Hap), Harlow Wilcox (Announcer), Sylvia Simms (Operator)
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