Alan Ladd stars as a police detective whose wife is suspected of murdering a vacuum cleaner salesman. She was found unconscious at the murder scene. None of it makes sense, especially when it’s realized that there’s no vacuum cleaner! Dogged detective work leads to the conclusion that the contents of the vacuum cleaner were the impetus for the crime. Now he has to find the murderer. Imagine the perpetrator’s surprise when he finds out he placed the victim’s body in a cop’s apartment to cover up the crime. That will certainly get your crime a little extra scrutiny. Whoops. The wife recovers and everyone lives happily ever after, it seems.
Ladd delivers his usual good performance. Ignore the fact that no big city cop would be officially assigned or allowed to investigate a crime involving a family member. It is, however implausible, an element of the story that maintains the tension and urgency of the plotline. Once that’s set aside, it’s a better-than-pedestrian story with enough slowly revealed details to keep it interesting. With Ladd’s voice and the storyline, it’s easy to imagine this as an episode of his very successful syndicated series, Box 13.
The original story was written by John and Ward Hawkins and appeared in the October 1938 issue of Thrilling Detective and The Saturday Evening Post edition of November 1, 1947. They were very prolific short story mystery writers. It was adapted for Suspense by E. Jack Neuman. The story was also used on Radio City Playhouse less than a year prior. That was a different adaptation and was produced in New York.
Richard Widmark was originally planned to star in this broadcast. Almost everyone in the supporting cast doubles in the production.
This performance was recorded on the afternoon of Tuesday, March 2, 1950.
The episode received a positive review from Magee Adams, radio critic for the 1950-03-22 Cincinnati Enquirer:
One thing usually lacking in the wide range of crimes show material covered by Suspense is a straight police case. But last week’s Motive for Murder was ample proof that the type can be done well as any other.
Alan Ladd’s acting and tightly written script brought the performance close to the level of Dragnet. And in my book, that's right up at the top.
Taking the police tack might indicate that Suspense is reading the signs of over-psychological crime stuff. Whatever the reason, it’s heartening to have the CBS show putting its skill to work for the cops.
The selection of this story is curious because one of Spier’s script selection guidelines was to avoid crime detection stories. More precisely, it was to avoid typical detection stories. This obviously was believed to be different than the usual “crime fare” typically found on radio at the time.
Door-to-door sales was a common marketing strategy for vacuum cleaners and many other products. The Fuller Brush Company and Avon cosmetics were effective users of the strategy. The only vacuum cleaner company still employing the technique today is Kirby. In the post-WW2 years, it could be a lucrative and respectable job in areas that were expanding in new homes and the baby boom family growth in its early stages. Department stores, especially in suburbs and rural areas, were not yet dotting the landscapes, making the sales strategy a viable one. It faded in the 1970s and 1980s.
LISTEN
TO THE PROGRAM or download in FLAC or
mp3
https://archive.org/details/TSP500316
THE CAST
ALAN LADD (“Irish” Dave), Joe Kearns (Jock / Father / Signature Voice), John Dehner (Charlie / Eddy), Virginia Gregg (Mary / Woman), Jeanette Nolan (Landlady / Cecilia Breckenbridge), Georgia Ellis (Harrett Blodgett / Elsie), Howard McNear (Richards / Man), Larry Dobkin (Harold Dolph)
COMMERCIAL: Joe DuVal (Remingchester), Harlow Wilcox (Announcer), Sylvia Simms (Operator)
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