Series favorite Jimmy Stewart returns to Suspense for an intriguing episode that involves the psychological residue of war service. He portrays a paralyzed veteran who was tortured in a Japanese prison camp. Today, it is likely his character would be considered to be suffering from PTSD. It is a good story that involves grudges, revenge, mistaken identity and a surprise ending.
His character believes that one of his barbaric captors is working at the hospital under an assumed identity. He works out a plan to kill him. Unable to communicate with others except for blinking an eye once for “yes” and twice “no.” Stewart has little to do but stare at the ceiling and his surroundings, his wartime trauma feeling as real as the days they happened. When a nurse is wheeling him around outdoors, he catches sight of a familiar face behind the glass of a florist's window… his torturer. The experience enrages and invigorates him. Suddenly, his fingers seem to tighten around the arms of his wheel chair, his legs are pushing against the floor. He starts to concoct a plan for revenge, and recruits others to help. The ending is a surprise, and has implausible aspects to it, but it is actually a relief that it yields a positive ending. The story heads down a very dark path until the time of the surprising conclusion.
Overall, it is a good script, and Stewart is marvelous in the role. The fact that he took on this role of a shell shocked veteran makes this Suspense appearance very intriguing.
A 2016 biography of Stewart detailed his war experiences and his having “shell shock.” His leadership missteps, his overriding concerns about jeopardizing the lives of those who reported to him, and an incident of his squadron bombing the wrong town, haunted him for the rest of the war and after. The biography, by Robert Matzen, explains how the filming of It’s a Wonderful Life helped Stewart come to better terms with the issues; those issues never really passed, but Stewart’s health, confidence, and demeanor improved. The particulars that Matzen writes about were not widely known at the time, but most people were aware of Stewart’s reluctance to discuss his wartime service.
Matzen’s book is Mission: Jimmy Stewart and the Fight for Europe and is still in print. More details can be found at the publisher’s site https://www.goodknightbooks.com/titles/mission-jimmy-stewart/ An interview with the author by the Chicago Tribune can be accessed at https://www.chicagotribune.com/2016/11/30/how-jimmy-stewarts-war-service-affected-its-a-wonderful-life/
Two recordings have survived, the network broadcast and an Armed Forces Radio and Television Service (AFRTS) recording likely from the late 1970s or early 1980s. The network recording is the better of the two. It has some light crackling in the first two minutes but is otherwise excellent.
The author of the script was John R. Forrest, often referred to as “Johnny.” He started in radio in the 1930s and was a radio personality, news reader, and performer. Between 1939 and 1945 he as in Los Angeles and worked on Lux Radio Theatre as a writer and performer, usually uncredited. He returned to his native Seattle area as a broadcast executive but his wide range of skills and interests had him in numerous on-air roles over the years. He was even a songwriter and a playwright. His two Suspense scripts were Mission Completed and The Daisy Chain, broadcast on 1960-06-26. It is likely these are the only two scripts he solely authored that were presented in prime time network radio.
The lead role for this broadcast was originally planned for Cary Grant! It is not known if the casting was changed for availability or because Stewart was a better fit for the role.
Gracie Allen makes a cameo appearance at the end of the broadcast to promote The Burns & Allen Show.
LISTEN
TO THE PROGRAM or download in FLAC or
mp3
https://archive.org/details/TSP491201
THE CAST
JAMES STEWART (Tom Warner), Lurene Tuttle (Nurse Ginny Rhodes), John Dehner (Murdock’s voice / Dr. Benson), Jeanette Nolan (Janet / Phone operator), Jeffrey Silver (Jacky), Larry Dobkin (Bill Mason / Jimmy Cato), Harry Bartell (Orderly / Cop), Paul Frees (Signature Voice)
COMMERCIAL: Harlow Wilcox (Announcer), Ken Christy (Auto-Lite guy), Sylvia Simms (Operator)
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