Ray Milland, a favorite of the series, portrays a juror in a murder trial who becomes involved with some gangsters. The superb story was by Jack Finney and adapted by by David Ellis and Robert L. Richards. It’s an excellent production as you know something is just not right but you can’t really be certain what it is. Milland’s character misleads the police, but he convincingly lies to the listeners, and the betrayal leads to a surprising conclusion.
Mob thugs are trying to buy the defendant's freedom by creating a hung jury, something the corrupt defense attorney has done before. The details emerge, after the juror and his wife see a movie and drop into a nearby ice cream parlor on the way home. As they are leaving, his wife finds an envelope on the floor. It contains 10 one-thousand dollar bills (yes, $1000 bills – they were in use in 1950) and an unsigned note indicating that the money was intended as a bribe to one of the murder trial jurors. Badly frightened, she insisted that her husband call the police immediately. Before the officers arrive, they are visited by a couple of tough guys. They not only demand the money but also kidnap the wife to prevent the couple from telling what they know to the authorities. The juror gets involved with a police detective, played by William Conrad (excellent in the role), who pieces together the scheme. He 's skeptical and annoyed when realizes that there’s a lot more going on than what the juror tells him.
The original story was by Jack Finney, whose writing career would get a major boost just a few years later with his novel The Body Snatchers which would become the successful film The Invasion of the Body Snatchers. His science fiction and fantasy writing, especially for his novel, Time and Again, won great acclaim. More details about his career are at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_Finney
Once more, Suspense uses big money to get the attention of the audience. Yes, there were $1000 bills at that time, and it’s certain most all in the listening audience had never seen one. The $1000 bills were discontinued by the US Treasury on July 14, 1969 because of lack of use. The last time any of those bills were printed was 1945. Most were probably held at banks, and if any individuals had them, they were probably in safe deposit boxes at a financial institution. But listeners would have heard about their existence even if they have never set eyes on one of them. If adjusted for inflation to US$2024, those $1000 bills in 1969 would be almost $8500 each. In terms of this 1950 broadcast, those ten $1000 bills would be almost $125,000 in US$2024. Grover Cleveland’s picture was on the bills. More details are at https://www.bep.gov/currency/history/historical-currency
A key element of the story is the juror making a phone call to the police. He dials a complete seven digit number (no area code needed at that time). This was years before the 9-1-1 system was implemented. Would the details about the call need to be changed by a modern writer for this small but essential part of the story to work? Perhaps the change would just be tiny, explaining he was something calling the court house security office phone number, following general instructions to the jury members prior to beginning deliberations, to report the tampering attempt.
The drama portion of the production was recorded on Saturday evening, 1950-12-02. Rehearsal began at 7:00pm and the recording began at 11:00pm.
LISTEN
TO THE PROGRAM or download in FLAC or
mp3
https://archive.org/details/TSP501207
THE CAST
RAY MILLAND (Albert Bennig), William Conrad (Dan), Tony Barrett (Johnnie), Jack Kruschen (Sam / Elevator Operator), Cathy Lewis (Ann Bennig), Jerry Hausner (Adelson), Joe Kearns (Signature Voice)
COMMERCIAL: Ken Christy (Santa), Harlow Wilcox (Announcer), Sylvia Simms (Operator)
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