Cornel Wilde stars in another Suspense story about pyromania and arson. This time he commits arson out of his distorted sense of generosity and empathy. Of course, that warped act works out in the exact opposite way intended, to a devastating end, and sets the stage for a turn in the plotline. The script is by Richard-George Pedicini and reflects the legitimate fears of fire of that time. Today’s listener would not be as rattled with this story as one of the 1940s and 1950s. Fires were more common than today. Family members were likely to be related to victims and know others whose lives were affected by fires. It is a far less common experience these many decades later. The fire prevention and detection technologies and procedures that we benefit from today were still being developed at that time and were not yet understood or widely available,
This is a very good story and Wilde is convincing as the mentally unstable perpetrator, menacing while seeming innocent until others finally realize what he has been doing.
Wilde’s character has a fascination with planning and setting fires, but also has a peculiar interest in drawing pictures of the fires when they are ablaze, especially against the night sky. A friendly storekeeper’s wife needs medical attention, but the cost is too high for him. Wilde’s character figures that burning the store and collecting the insurance will eradicate the financial challenge. It was not to be. The storekeeper tragically dies when he is trapped in the building as he attempted to put the fire out and rescue his belongings. While saddened by this bad outcome, the arsonist gets another opportunity for his interest. This time, he is recruited to burn down a money-losing warehouse for the insurance money. Another tragedy results.
Because of the valid concerns about fire, pyromania was an interesting topic for stories in all media, fiction and non-fiction, audio or visual. For Suspense, the topic was part of episodes The Night Reveals and Murder for Marya (which starred Wilde). Over the decades, however, insurance companies, fire departments, and others, shared information that have led to the development of new building materials and construction standards.
The story is “based on actual events,” and definitely not a singular one. This is a general story with the “actual” tease intended to draw the audience in to something that might have actually happened. Fires were so common that a good writer would have enough practical familiarity for plotline creation just by reading newspapers on a daily basis.
The publicity for the episode (and the series) includes phrases that attempt to re-position Suspense and its new strategy in the minds of readers and listeners. Releases state that the series “...brings to the air actual cases based on events selected from law enforcement the world over. Each adventure is complete with details, only substituting names and places in the story of intrigue.” The releases continue to use the hyphenated word “semi-documentary.”
Sadly, ten years after this broadcast, Elliott Lewis and his wife Mary Jane Croft (Elliott and Cathy divorced in 1958) lost their home to the November 1961 wildfires of Bel-Air. All of Elliott’s papers (and presumably hundreds of scripts) were lost in the flames. Almost 500 homes were lost, and about another 200 damaged, in the 16,000 acres that were burned. Incredibly, there was no loss of life attributed to the fires. A 30-minute movie, Design for Danger, was released by the Los Angeles Fire Department in 1962. It described the fires, the devastation, and the fight against it. The film was narrated by William Conrad. The movie can be viewed on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UxnC1WW95XE&ab_channel=LAFD Recollections from a fire-fighter perspective can be read at https://www.lafra.org/lafd-history-the-bel-air-fire-november-6-1961-revisited-2/
Classic radio researcher and modern-day performer Patte Rosebank noted the following on the Old Time Radio Researchers Facebook Group page about a 1943 fire incident:
This was the second time Elliott had been burned out of a home. About 18 years earlier, before he'd married Cathy, and before he was assigned to the AFRS, he was given two weeks' leave from the Army. On his first night at his mother's house, it burned down! He spent his leave helping her find a new home, during the wartime housing crisis.
A Suspense television episode, Mr. Matches, was sometimes assumed to be an adaptation of this episode. It is not. To view that episode anyway, go to https://archive.org/details/Suspense--Mr_Matches or https://youtu.be/JMqDmLyy9mQ It is from season 5 of the television series.
Like many of the 1951 Suspense recordings, this has some mild defects from a poorly maintained reel tape deck that caused wow and flutter issues, especially at the end of the broadcast. These do not affect listening to the drama and other parts of the broadcast in any significant way. In the opening minute or so, there is some mild and quick change in volume and sound that indicates a damaged tape. These are in “all” copies of this broadcast. Some portions may have a sibilance issue (sometimes referred to as “essing”), but this recording has less than most. Many copies of this broadcast have clipped openings that made Larry Thor’s first words incomplete. For that reason, some collectors just deleted Thor’s opening, while others just tolerated the missing five words (“You are about to hear”) and just marked their recordings as “clipped opening.” This recording, however, is complete and is likely the best overall sound for a complete broadcast that has been available.
LISTEN
TO THE PROGRAM or download in FLAC or
mp3
https://archive.org/details/TSP511015
THE CAST
CORNEL WILDE (Andy), Joe Kearns (Boyajan), Cathy Lewis (Mary Lee), Sidney Miller (Needles), Bert Holland (Ralph / Man), Harry Bartell (Shapiro / Man 2), Charles Calvert (Man 3), Larry Thor (Narrator)
COMMERCIAL: Ken Christy (Oscar Auto), Harlow Wilcox (Announcer), Sylvia Simms (Operator)
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