Game show host Ralph Edwards makes his only Suspense appearance and it is a fine performance and a very good story. He’s a radio disc jockey looking for publicity. He joins with a paranormal investigator in a stunt where they spend a night in a house in Malibu where four people committed suicide. Is the house haunted? The DJ is full of yucks and chuckles in the beginning of the visit, but he starts to change his tune. He has his tape recorder with him...
H. Russell Wakefield was a highly respected British short story writer who was well-known for his ghost and supernatural stories. This story was published in the March 1948 issue of Weird Tales and was adapted for Suspense by Walter Brown Newman.
Ralph Edwards was one of those performers, like comedians, who were asked to sign an “ad libbing - no pay” contract for their Suspense appearance. As noted previously, this was just a stunt. Suspense contracts and those of other series always had clauses that the star would follow the directions of the producers and directors. The standard phrase was “I shall fully cooperate with you in the preparation, design, construction, and presentation of my spot on the program and that I shall not improvise, extemporize, or use unapproved material.” Everyone signed that, whether comedian or not. But it did make for good publicity because people might tune in just waiting for a comedian or performer like Edwards to falter, like falling off a tightrope and plummeting down to a safety net.
Edwards was known at the time for Truth or Consequences, and had a long career producing game shows in radio and TV. His This is Your Life series was very popular in the early television era. Edwards was a pioneer in television and game shows. An overview of his long career is at Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ralph_Edwards
LISTEN
TO THE PROGRAM or download in FLAC or
mp3
https://archive.org/details/TSP490623
THE CAST
RALPH EDWARDS (Smiley Smith), Franklin Parker (Charles McDonald), Roland Winters (Thorpe), Herb Butterfield (Dr. Clarence Reed), Jeanette Rollins (Nurse), David Light (Jeff the dog), Paul Frees (Signature Voice)
COMMERCIAL: Bill Johnstone (Hap), Harlow Wilcox (Announcer), Sylvia Simms (Operator)
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