Gregory Peck plays a police officer who has great empathy for a young man who has addiction problems. He sees an innate goodness and potential in him, but those were thwarted by a problematic upbringing. Despite his behavior and always “being in the wrong place at the wrong time with the wrong people,” Peck’s character stands up for him and puts his reputation on the line to prevent harsh legal penalties and get him treatment that will lead to his recovery from drug use and drug dealing.
This is the first announced production that was officially promoted as “suggested by actual events.” A disclaimer was opened the broadcast, read by Joe Kearns. It was intended to grab the attention of listeners to let them know they would be hearing something quite different than the usual Suspense fare. In fact, the story was so very true and realistic, that the people involved might suffer some harm if Suspense revealed their names. The hope was that such a warning would shock listeners and make them hungry for details, that they were getting some inside information that they had never heard before. It served two purposes. It was a legal protection for the series. It also gave them great flexibility to assemble the details of the story in whatever way they wished, with their concerns about confidentiality giving them license to do so. After all, they didn’t want anyone to “suffer” because of realism or facts.
Suspense had other event-based storylines, with the most recent one being Fragile – Contents: Death, based on a post office bomb event in Bowling Green, Kentucky. Lewis and Auto-Lite had to do something to retain interest in the show, especially since the radio show competed with Suspense television show. That series was available in some major metropolitan areas as TV was rolling out. Ratings for radio Suspense were going down as television penetration was going up. Other programs, such as The Big Story and Dragnet had “fictional but authentic” stories for a while and captured listeners because of it. When Lewis started the current season, television was in 10% of households. By the time he would leave in 1954, it was 50%. Suspense was in about 15% of radio households according to Hooper ratings in 1950; when Lewis left, it was about 7%. For more ratings details, go to https://suspenseproject.blogspot.com/2023/05/what-were-ratings-for-suspense.html
It is interesting that this strategy was being used at the end of Lewis’ first season. Auto-Lite was pressing CBS to be let out of their radio sponsorship and retain only the TV one. They did come to a financial agreement that allowed the dual sponsorship to continue. This switch to include “actual event” stories may have been an experiment at the end of the season as they began planning for the Fall series. The strategy was developed by Lewis, the Auto-Lite agency, and Auto-Lite executives. These “actual event” stories would continue, but Lewis expanded them to include historical events, not just “ripped from the headlines” ones. This was the creative difference that Lewis brought to the strategy. You could make the case that his entire Crime Classics series fit this new strategy, with stories that were decades and centuries old.
This may not have been as big a step for the show’s scripters as it might seem. One of the greatest resources for radio authors, especially when they had writer’s block, was the daily newspaper. They would often clip stories that seemed interesting for future story ideas. Suspense may have been using “actual event” stories but never knew it. Many of the scripters and mystery writers were also very familiar with classic literature and plays, and would use those plotlines for basic ideas. The warning at the beginning of the episode was like the shiny object a magician might tell the audience to look at when there was slight of hand out of their view to perform the trick.
The authors of this script were Forrest Barnes and Roxy Roth. Barnes was a well-established scripter for radio and film from the early 1930s and became a very influential member of the Writers Guild. Roxy Roth was an actor and writer from that period as well, and became a writer for Milton Berle and Jackie Gleason. The story was adapted by by Antony Ellis.
There was a rehearsal of this broadcast on June 1, 1951, but no pre-recording was done.
The original transcription discs were damaged and not stored well. There is surface noise and some clicks throughout, but the sound quality is overall very listenable.
LISTEN
TO THE PROGRAM or download in FLAC or
mp3
https://archive.org/details/TSP510614
THE CAST
GREGORY PECK (MacIntyre), William Tracy (Jerry Baxter), John Dehner (Sergeant Holly), Clayton Post (Banister), Joan Banks (Peggy / Announcer), Shep Menken (Officer 1), Hy Averback (Officer 2), Joe Kearns (Signature Voice / Chairman / Harry)
COMMERCIAL: Bert Holland (Hap), Harlow Wilcox (Announcer), Sylvia Simms (Operator)
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