Ida Lupino stars in The Bullet, by Larry Marcus. Her character is an unwilling participant in a terrorizing form of “Russian Roulette.” Her character’s husband has just returned from jail, almost a stranger to her. Embittered from his incarceration, he is jealous of the success she has made of their business during his absence. They can afford all of the comforts of life they dreamed of, all earned through the innate business acumen she could not express when he was in charge. She asks for a divorce (she has a potential love interest), but he imposes a condition: she must sign a release giving him her share of the business. She refuses the grossly unfair deal. He picks up a gun and slowly counts, “one, two, three” and as she screams, pulls the trigger. There is only a click. The gun is empty. But this is a little game, he warns her, that he will play frequently until she signs the release. One day, he says, the gun will be loaded! Her fear increases with each repetition of this “game.” She is unable to get police protection, so she sneaks into her husband's office one night and loads the gun. Before she can get away, he comes in, unexpectedly. One more game?
Some listeners consider this episode’s conclusion to be a letdown. The reasons why are detailed in the review at oldtimeradioreview.com. While the end seems possible, it is not as satisfying as it could be. It could be considered open-ended. The husband could do all of this again, or she could be more aggressive in sending him packing. But it’s like Larry Marcus teased us, got us ready for a big ending, and it never came.
This is not the first time that Larry Marcus used the gimmick of a gun that was unloaded or had the “is it really loaded” doubt as part of the script. Classic researcher and professional performer Patte Rosebank notes that Marcus used it in the 1946-05-14 broadcast of Dark Venture in the episode A Practical Joke. He repeats some of that exact exchange of dialogue in this Suspense episode. A recording of that Dark Venture broadcast is not available, but the script is. Patte notes that the dialogue overlap begins at about page 14 in the script corresponds to the scene in The Bullet at about 20 minutes into the broadcast. Patte says the circumstances of the overall Dark Venture plot are quite different and the details of the ending are as well. Dark Venture is very similar to The Whistler; not many episodes have survived.
This is the last of the broadcasts with Paul Frees as the signature voice of Suspense. Joe Kearns returns to the role starting with the next broadcast. Frees was superb in the role. It is possible he had a calendar year contract that ended with the last show of 1949, and not with the end of the season.
It is possible that there were some smirks in the rehearsals for the show or when Lupino saw the script since she was in process of divorcing husband Collier Young at this time. She was being seen around Hollywood with Howard Duff. After the divorce, Young would marry Joan Fontaine, and Lupino married Duff. Young and Lupino remained friendly and were business partners. Young was executive director of Lupino's CBS sitcom Mr. Adams and Eve, which starred Lupino and Duff. Later, Young was producer of shows most boomers would remember: Ironside, One Step Beyond, and The Wild, Wild West.
Young, Lupino, Fontaine, and Marcus would work on a motion picture, The Bigamist, released in 1953. It can be viewed at https://youtu.be/c9SxWhURBYA and https://archive.org/details/the_bigamist Lupino was the director, the story by Marcus and screenplay adaptation by Young. Young added personal touches of his real life with both women to his script. More details are at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Bigamist_%281953_film%29
LISTEN
TO THE PROGRAM or download in FLAC or
mp3
https://archive.org/details/TSP491229
THE CAST
IDA LUPINO (Ruth Martin), Elliott Lewis (Harry Martin), Edgar Barrier (Customer / Gun clerk), John Dehner (Worker / Lawyer), William Conrad (George Groves / Policeman on phone), Sidney Miller (Police Officer), Paul Frees (Signature Voice)
COMMERCIAL: June Foray (Happy), Harlow Wilcox (Announcer), Sylvia Simms (Operator)
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