The return of William Spier to Suspense begins with an adaptation of a Samuel Blas short story, “Revenge,” from Collier’s 1947-01-11 edition. Retitled “Nightmare,” the story was adapted by Herb Meadow. The broadcast stars Gregory Peck as a father intent on finding and murdering the drunk driver who killed his son in a hit-and-run incident. This is the second time this title was used on the series, and the plots are very different.
Auto-Lite blocked The Hand from being presented in the prior season because of its car accident and resultant death (and other reasons), but this episode is different because of its positive outcome. The title itself is a spoiler alert that it was all a bad dream and not an actual incident. It was likely approved by Auto-Lite because its happy ending turns the story into a wholesome message promoting car safety. In the closing announcements, Gregory Peck offers news about the award Auto-Lite received for promoting highway safety and how it should be a concern for everyone.
There is also a psychological aspect to the story about how the desire for vengeance can cascade into an all-consuming evil enterprise. Peck’s character kills one man, then his wife identifies a different one as the perpetrator. This means the first man was innocent. He realizes it has spun out of control, and finally recognizes it as a terrible nightmare. Things are right again, his family is happily around him, but the dream has given him a serious and important lesson.
There are three different recordings of this episode, and the network one is the best.
Nightmare NETWORK: this is the complete network recording
Nightmare AFRS: this is the edited Armed Forces Radio Service recording issued in the 1940s; it has some background noise and mild audio defects
Nightmare AFRTS1980s LQ: This late 1970s or early 1980s release has the “strange” opening and closing segments compiled from various periods of the series; the recording has narrow range, is noisy, and many audio defects
This is the second time this title was used on Suspense. The first was 1948-03-13 in a broadcast starring Eddie Bracken. That was a Cornell Woolrich story about a man who keeps dreaming of a murder that might be real. Details are at https://suspenseproject.blogspot.com/2023/11/1948-03-13-nightmare.html and https://archive.org/details/TSP480313
This may be the only time Blas had a story published. It was a popular story and was released in other magazines and in mystery anthologies over the years. It was also performed on Alfred Hitchcock Presents in a 1950s production and again in a new presentation of that syndicated series in the 1980s.
LISTEN
TO THE PROGRAM or download in FLAC or
mp3
https://archive.org/details/TSP490901
THE CAST
GREGORY PECK (Ben), Lurene Tuttle (Elsa / Operator), Alan Reed (The Fat Man), Jeffrey Silver (Stevie), Howard McNear (Gas Station Attendant / Old Man), Ted Reid (Bartender / Sammy Crawford), Peggy Webber (Fat Man’s Girl / Old Woman), Paul Frees (Signature Voice)
COMMERCIAL: Harlow Wilcox (Announcer)
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This episode is William Spier’s return to Suspense and Norman Macdonnell was directing. Spier's aspirations seem to be elsewhere with movies and television, and this will be his final season of involvement with the series. It’s not clear how Spier and Macdonnell were dividing up their work. One of Spier’s tasks was to mentor the young and talented Macdonnell for higher and expanded responsibilities at CBS.
Spier spent a year away from Suspense as producer and director of Philip Morris Playhouse. He had turned that into a parallel version of Suspense for CBS. That was probably expensive and why Philip Morris cancelled after a single season. They switched to sponsoring the much cheaper Casey, Crime Photographer.
It is sad that so few PMP of the Spier season have survived. The only existing programs seem to be the ones that June Havoc shared with SPERDVAC in the 1970s. Like so many of radio's performers they gave little thought to saving things, just an occasional recording here and there.
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