[A complete broadcast recording of this episode has never been available, until now. It is an aircheck from Detroit station WJR recorded on that 1951 night. Read about the importance of this particular recording after the cast listing, below.]
Van Johnson returns to the series with a good performance in an excellent story. He plays an ordinary family man who is dropped off from his ride-share partner and starts walking home. A police officer stops him. The entire block where he lives is surrounded by police. A wanted killer is on the run from the police and is now holed up in an apartment. Police are waiting for him to make a move that will lead to his capture. Police refuse to let the husband through the cordon to go home. He telephones his wife and senses a strangeness in her voice and tenseness in her phone demeanor. Now he’s worried. Is the killer hiding in his very own apartment? If so, he is holding his wife and baby hostage.
The worried husband and father alerts the police to his suspicions. He talks them into letting him through and going home. He’s told that if they do not get a phone call from him promptly, they will assume that he, too, is being held prisoner by the fugitive. If that’s the case, he’s warned that he’s on his own and police can’t guarantee his safety or that of his family. He heads home and enters the apartment. Everyone is okay, but the menacing killer is suspicious to know why so much time passed between the phone call and his arrival at the apartment. The fugitive is worried how much the police knew and what they are planning to capture him. He concocts a plan to escape that puts the husband in danger. He forces Johnson’s character go onto the fire escape to pose as him as a decoy and draw police attention so he can escape through the apartment door. Shots are fired and the husband is hit. The killer doesn’t have a chance to leave because an act of conscience deters him in the show’s surprise ending.
The drama portion was in rehearsal starting at noon on Saturday, March 3, with the recording starting at 5:00pm.
The story is by Robert Esson, his only Suspense script. He was a radio actor and wrote for 1950s television. The script was adapted by Antony Ellis. It was repeated in 1958 and starred Dan O’Herlihy. The story was also used on the Suspense television show on 1951-09-11. It starred John Forsythe and Anthony Ross (the first radio Lt. Danny Clover when Broadway Is My Beat was a New York production). The teleplay was adapted by Max Erlich. The kinescope has never been found.
Larry Thor plays a police officer on Suspense… again.
Two recordings have survived. The better recording is an aircheck of the original broadcast recorded off the air from WJR-Detroit. It is missing the mid-show commercial and has narrow range and some background noise. The other recording is the drama only that was pre-recorded. It has gaps for music and other elements that were done live on the broadcast day.
LISTEN
TO THE PROGRAM or download in FLAC or
mp3
https://archive.org/details/TSP510315
THE CAST
VAN JOHNSON (Henry Haydon), Joe Kearns (Charlie / Signature Voice), Larry Thor (Police Captain Case), Jack Kruschen (Officer Roeder), Jack Moyles (Roy Djaleska), Dick Benedict (Buck), Michael Ann Barrett (Jessy Haydon)
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This is a very special recording that is the result of many, many generous collectors who helped finance the acquisition and to provide their equipment, sound processing time, and talent.
This is an aircheck of the original broadcast of 1951-03-15. It was home recorded on paper tape from WJR in Detroit.
For decades, the only recording that classic radio fans had of this production was the pre-recorded drama portion of the program. That was recorded on Saturday afternoon, 1951-03-03 and would be merged, later, with announcements, sound effects, and music on the day of broadcast.
The complete broadcast was never been available, and no AFRS recording ever surfaced (it would be #360 or thereabouts). This aircheck recording is mostly all intact. There are for some pause-button edits as the recordist wanted to be sure that the broadcast would be fit to its conclusion and not out of tape. It was recorded on a 5” reel of paper-based recording tape. This was common for home machines in that era, but was expensive. It is fortunate that it was saved since recordings were recorded over as tapes were re-used.
Before listening to the complete broadcast, it is worthwhile to hear to the recording of the drama segments and then listen to the aircheck. The glory of Suspense that separated it from other mystery programs was its custom-written and performed music. Other shows could recruit guest stars or be picky about scripts, but Suspense spent proportionately more on music than others did. This is a great opportunity to finally hear how it all works with the drama alone and then the full production. Listen to how the music enhances the story (and especially Johnson's acting), changes moods and scenes, emphasizes events and dialogue, and builds anticipation for any major development in the story.
This recording was acquired through the generosity of a small group of collectors who each volunteered significant hobby funds to share in the costs of acquiring it. Their support of this project, and many others, is greatly appreciated.
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