Comedian and “Mr. Television” or “Uncle Miltie” Milton Berle makes his sole Suspense appearance in a very strong script by Oscar-winner James Poe. Berle had radio experience before, but his slapstick and visual comedy did not play as well as it did in television. Berle’s success was growing rapidly, and the 1950-1951 television season had some of his best ratings. His performance in this episode is quite good. Baby boomers may no longer hold Berle in high regard, but at the period of this broadcast he was at the top of his game. Later generations may know him for his notoriously bad appearance on Saturday Night Live, a broadcast that was withheld from syndication from many years because of problems on the set and with Berle’s performance, embarrassing producer Lorne Michaels. But if you’re curious about what all the Berle fuss was about in the 1950s, this episode shows that he was a talented performer before his career and celebrity began to ebb.
This Poe script is superb and was repeated on Suspense twice more in later years. One starred Hans Conried with Vincent Price in the other. Each of them brought their own special flair to the script. This is such a good story and well-crafted script that all of the productions are good.
An actor becomes angry at a play’s director when he is replaced in the cast. He decides to murder him, then act insane to avoid conviction, incarceration, and execution. When interrogated by doctors and police, he’s given incorrect information to rattle his concocted story and his act. Who are the better actors, now?
The drama portion of the program was recorded on 1950-07-21. It was the first Elliott Lewis production of the series. They knew it would not air until almost three months later. It was likely held until after the Fall television season started to build publicity for the appearance.
Berle gets close to the line of overacting, but is in control enough to keep listeners engaged in the story without dismissing it as silly. Most of the publicity for the show had little to do with the story, but more about Berle’s appearance. While the CBS publicity did not haul out the “there’s a no ad lib clause in the contract” charade that they did automatically each time a comedian was about to step to the microphone, there was an undercurrent to the publicity that people would be surprised at how good Berle is. Remember, however, everyone at CBS had already heard the performance because it was recorded three months earlier. There was no risk to them in saying that they considered Berle’s performance to be good because they already knew it was.
Berle’s character says that his acting is based on the “Stanislavsky system.” That is a standard approach to teaching the craft of acting, and not a name that was made-up for the script. Variations of the system are still used in acting schools today.
The July recording date allowed for a photo shoot during the session. Pictures appeared in Quick magazine, sometime in September 1950. Because of that long lead time, publicity could be planned better. Previously, photos of rehearsals and broadcasts would not appear in magazines until months after they aired.
Two network recordings have survived. One is from the network feed and the other is an aircheck from KNX in Los Angeles. Both recordings are flawed with disc noise and light scratch in some places. They are roughly equivalent in overall sound quality, but the network recording is slightly better.
LISTEN
TO THE PROGRAM or download in FLAC or
mp3
https://archive.org/details/TSP501012
THE CAST
MILTON BERLE (Sam), Joe Kearns (Signature Voice / Norman / Judge), Peter Leeds (Guard), Howard McNear (Doctor / Man 2), Herb Butterfield (Second Doctor / Man [Actor]), Hal March (Shopkeeper / Driver), Hy Averback (Second Guard / Judge), Sidney Miller (Lawyer)
COMMERCIAL: Ken Christy, Harlow Wilcox (Announcer), Sylvia Simms (Operator)
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