Jeanne Crain stars in a drama about mental illness in a claimed “actual events” broadcast. The opening explains the story as “a factual document from medical reports.” The episode is most likely an original script that is just labeled as an “actual event.” It may be a “personal event” and not a “news” one.
Crain may be the star, but William Conrad steals the show. He delivers a wide-ranging performance that he rarely had the opportunity to give in his best-known roles. It is another Arthur Ross script, and it challenges the capabilities of actors and the listeners to absorb it all.
This script is very “un-Suspense” and so very “Elliott Lewis.” He’s experimenting, taking the program into a different direction of drama for this episode. Suspense was usually a story about people in trouble of their own making and their attempts to get out of it, concluding with how they were punished by their own misjudgments or circumstance, or saved despite them. This episode, however, is about the mental illness of a husband that we hear deteriorate with every minute, and we suffer along with his wife (of only two years) as she comes to terms with his need for psychiatric care. The hope of a happy marriage is crumbling before her.
The writing is excellent. The performances are superb. The only “suspense” in the story is how much worse the husband’s condition will become.
Conrad’s character is as a husband obsessed with all the murder in the news. The husband believes he is responsible for almost all of killings he reads and hears about. He wants to confess to the crimes, but, thankfully, no one believes him. False confessions are a serious problem in the justice system, whether created by interrogation and intimidation, the desire for someone to cover up the actions of a loved one, a desire for attention, or other reasons. They divert and delay the discovery of the truth of a matter and may undermine the capture of the guilty. DNA technology has helped reduce the effects of false confessions, but it is not many decades ago that people making false confessions could easily be wrongly incarcerated. Legal authorities would consider a case closed when a confession was made if it was plausible enough so they could move on to another case in their backlog. In this production, however, it is obvious that Conrad’s character is delusional and needs help.
A sizable portion of the audience was probably quite uncomfortable hearing this broadcast and wondered what they tuned into.
The story also played into a great fear of psychiatric care of the time. This was a time when lobotomies were considered a pioneering treatment (the developer won a Nobel Prize in 1949) and shock treatments we being attempted to cure numerous mental problems. Over the decades, many other treatments became available, notably of a pharmacological nature. There was also a significant stigma to being admitted to a psychiatric facility, and there seemed little hope that the person could ever improve.
Classic radio enthusiast and researcher, and modern-day performer Patte Rosebank offers some insights about the production. (Many thanks for her extraordinary contribution).
Jeanne Crain's portrayal seems unnatural, that her movie experience of always “looking good in front of the camera” no matter what the scene is comes off as shallow. This is an issue for Crain in this radio production... “even when playing a gritty scene. I keep thinking of how realistically Cathy Lewis would play it.”
She much prefers the 1955-01-20 repeat broadcast, also with William Conrad, but with Charlotte Lawrence as the wife. “Jeanne Crain's performance really makes the reassuring words seem hollow. But Charlotte Lawrence speaks them from her heart.” She notes that Conrad's performance in that 1955 has subtle differences as he “adjusts his performance to match his leading lady’s, as professional actors do. Acting is about listening and responding to your castmates.”
She continues about Conrad, stating that he “was known for playing tough guys who were in charge of a situation. This adds to the power of this episode's message: that mental illness can strike anyone, no matter how tough they are. All it takes is one traumatic event, or a succession of stressors that keep piling up, and, sooner or later, even a tough guy like William Conrad can fall apart. It's shocking when that tough guy starts to cry. He's scared; he's in deep emotional pain, and the shame of it hurts him so much more.”
“As for the story, it's a cautionary tale, warning that you can love a mentally ill person with all your heart, but it won't cure them. They need professional help, and could be a danger to themself and to you, if they don't get it. What's left unsaid is that some people will never respond to treatment. In the 1950s, this was believed to be personal weakness, as was mental illness itself. Today, we know that it's all due to the individual's biology, so mental health treatments are never one-size-fits-all, and it takes careful trial and error to find the most effective [treatment].”
It is odd to consider this as a lesser Suspense broadcast, but it is. How odd that seems, when all of the elements of the drama are so well done. It’s just not right for the series. It is, however, memorable and compelling listening, and should be held aside and considered distinct from the mainstream series. Perhaps doing so will bring more attention to all of the positive elements it has as a dramatic production and for Conrad’s performance. This is not one of those episodes you recommend to someone as for their first experience listening to a Suspense episode.
This episode’s drama portion was recorded on Sunday, September 30, 1951. Rehearsal began at 6:00pm and recording was done from 9:30pm to 10:00pm.
This was Jeanne Crain’s only appearance in the series. She appeared in many popular movies from the mid-1940s and through the 1950s. She was nominated for a best actress Oscar in 1949. An overview of her and career is it Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeanne_Crain
LISTEN
TO THE PROGRAM or download in FLAC or
mp3
https://archive.org/details/TSP511001
THE CAST
JEANNE CRAIN (Beth), William Conrad (Hank), Howard McNear (Doctor Broughton), Larry Thor (Radio Voice / Narrator)
COMMERCIAL: Hal March? (Sheriff), Harlow Wilcox (Announcer), Sylvia Simms (Operator)
###
