1951-12-03 A Murderous Revision

[NOTE: This is an extended commentary about this episode and its history. A PDF can be downloaded at the Internet Archive.  Click here.]

Richard Widmark stars in an entertaining cynical play about what goes on behind the scenes in a big-time radio mystery series. It is a fine story, and you wonder what kinds of “digs” are being playfully made about directors, producers, actors, and others who make such enterprises possible. A fired writer for the radio series “Murder, Please” decides he’s going to get revenge about his dismissal. He will record conversations with those involved in the program, especially his producer. That program, as the jilted writer explains, would conclude with an actual murder.

The behind-the-scenes maneuverings needed to bring A Murderous Revision to the air are just as interesting as the script, and have a mystery of their own. The backstory is so big, it is easy to forget that this is a good production and another excellent Widmark performance with the superb Suspense supporting cast. Don’t let the backstory steal attention away from the appreciation of this broadcast.

The script was by S. Lee Pogostin. He was born in 1927, and claimed to be born in 1925 so he could join the Army. Somehow his enlistment papers were never matched with his draft card which had the correct date. He was not the only one. About 50,000 underage soldiers were discovered by the War Department and sent home, but it is estimated that 200,000 underage soldiers slipped through the system, some with a wink and a nod.

Pogostin’s post-Army writing career began with small theatrical productions and radio scriptwriting for shows such as Grand Central Station. This is his only Suspense script and was adapted by David Ellis. Pogostin’s career would progress to 1950s and 1960s anthology television series including Lux Video Theatre, Studio One, The Dick Powell Show, and many others. He won a Writers Guild Award and was nominated for an Emmy for an episode of The Chrysler Theatre.

One wonders what the almost 25-year old Pogostin thought. A rising young author has paradoxically written about a scriptwriter whose career has taken a swift slip to the downside and is bitter about it. What gave him the idea for the story? Was he inspired by a writer or radio producer who had that same fate or caused it? He must have been thrilled to have his script accepted by Elliott Lewis and for radio’s top mystery series. Howard Duff was supposed to be the star, which only increased the anticipation. Did he tell family to get ready to listen in February? Then, things played out in a strange way, a product of its times. Pogostin became a helpless bystander when there was backroom in-fighting about Duff’s role because of his listing in Red Channels.

The original studio recording, January 13, 1951

Howard Duff, former star of The Adventures of Sam Spade and friend of Elliott Lewis was signed to star in Pogostin’s “The Twist is Murder.” Duff and Elliott Lewis were close friends, and worked together often at the Armed Forces Radio Service where they acted, announced, and worked in production roles. Their collaboration continued, even on an informal basis. When Lewis needed someone to sit in at a Suspense rehearsal because one of the support actors was busy or could otherwise not attend, he often called Duff to read the part even if he wasn’t in the cast.

Duff was let go as the lead in Sam Spade after his name was listed in Red Channels. That publication was released on June 22, 1950 and strongly encouraged advertisers avoid performers with what they considered to be questionable political affiliations. Wildroot and their ad agency became nervous about having Duff on the program, or any actor listed there for that matter, and discontinued their sponsorship of the series. His last appearance was 1950-09-17 The Femme Fatale Caper (no recordings have been located at this time). Disappointed fans flooded the sponsor with mail asking for the show's renewal and Duff's return. That would not happen. The Spade production company was the property of William Spier, and he later convinced NBC to pick up the show with a new star, Steve Dunne. (NOTE: “Steve” was previously known as “Michael” and starred in the syndicated and very forgettable series Danger, Dr. Danfield).

Red Channels was not a well-researched document. It had many mistakes, misinterpretations, and poor context. For some performers, the information was accurate. Once something is printed, however, there is an illusion of equivalent certainty about each and every entry, accurate or not. Advertisers were worried, if not petrified, that hiring any Red Channels actor or support staff would be toxic to their brand or their sales. What is forgotten over time was that one of the goals of Red Channels was not only solely to question the loyalty of certain performers, but to give upward support to those who were not listed… or kept their beliefs to themselves. Broadcasters were scared their ad dollars would dry up, so they had to assure their advertisers that they were good stewards of their marketing investments and would protect them from bad publicity. CBS decided they would re-assure those who bankrolled their network with their own proprietary vetting process.

The Spade show, however, had another, larger blacklist issue with the character's creator, the well-known author Dashiell Hammett. He was a political activist and his associations were very public. While Hammett's activities were playing out for all to see, his characters were being taken off the air: Sam Spade, Nick and Nora Charles (The Adventures of the Thin Man), and Brad Runyon (The Fat Man). Over time, Hammett would not implicate others in court proceedings and investigations. Duff became guilty by association by playing a role (Sam Spade) created by an activist (Hammett). When Hammett died in 1961, he was buried in Arlington National Cemetery for his service in both WW1 and WW2. His political activities didn’t matter; but his military service did.

Despite the swirling controversy in Hollywood and broadcasting, Lewis saw an opportunity to keep Duff on the air by casting him in this script. He believed that because it was just one episode and not an ongoing role any objections could be set aside. Duff had been on Suspense fourteen times in supporting roles and in the lead for The Kandy Tooth. That was a previously aired two-part Spade show script to help get the new hour long Suspense format off the ground.

The Pogostin script was good and was planned for a February broadcast. It went through the usual revision process as it was prepped for production, but the “right” title seemed elusive. The other titles were “The Twist is Death” and “The Twisted Murder” and “This is Murder” and perhaps even “Murder is a Twist.” The word “twist” was wanted in the title because the script was about scriptwriting and the search for the right “twist” ending to keep listeners guessing was part of the story. By the time the script aired in December 1951 after all of its backroom casting intrigue, the title became A Murderous Revision (when the script was used years later on Suspense, it became Murder on Mike).

The “The Twist is Murder” script was finally ready for production. The rehearsal and recording session was held on Saturday afternoon, January 13, 1951 from 1:30pm to 6:00pm for rehearsal, with the recording from 6:00pm to 6:30pm. The show would air sometime in February, likely tentatively slotted for 1951-02-22. Orchestra and commercials would be added live on broadcast day.

The drama-only recording survives, but it was never broadcast. Auto-Lite, its ad agency, and CBS executive Daniel O’Shea would not allow it. “Vice president of treason” was what O’Shea was called in the back rooms in side under-the-breath conversations, a one-man wrecking crew of careers and loyalty enforcement. The loyalty hurdles that performers had to pass at CBS were so high that casting directors at other radio networks almost did not need any of their own. When performers sought work at other networks, they were routinely asked when they last worked at CBS. If you were okay for CBS, you could be hired without further scrutiny. If CBS rejected you, it might be hard to get work. If you were denied, O’Shea and his staff never said why; challenges to their decisions were met with silence. And if you did get work on another network, you might not get on-air credit or publicity. (This was mildly similar to the blacklisted Hollywood screenwriters who had others front their work. Previous Suspense producer Anton M. Leader did so for his brother-in-law Alfred Palca for the film Go, Man, Go!)

The O’Shea decision calculus included Red Channels and other sources, but also the answers to a CBS-designed loyalty questionnaire. That document was created by news legend Ed Murrow and CEO Bill Paley. There’s nary a word about their involvement in creating that document and implementing the process that caused so many problems. Murrow’s own reporting on McCarthy was what made the loyalty check process unravel. At this time in early 1951, the Red Channels paranoia among advertisers was at a height. It was clear that nothing with Duff was going on the CBS network. Like many of the blacklisted actors and production personnel, it didn’t matter if they were staunch supporters of the war effort, or whether they worked for the Armed Forces Radio Service in support of service personnel and their families.

The casting issues that led to the delay of the Duff broadcast opened that time slot for a repeat performance of Back Seat Driver. Whenever Suspense had a scheduling problem, the file drawer of favorite and proven scripts would be opened and a selection would be made. Since carjacking serial killers were in the news (in this case, the recently arrested Billy Cook), it seemed like a brilliant substitution and they made it seem that it was intended to be scheduled that way all along.

The drama recording sits on a shelf… and Duff moves on...

Duff was not pleased. His Red Channels listing made no sense to him and to those who knew him as he had only marginal interest in politics. Nonetheless, he was listed there. Luckily, he had a wise talent agent who helped him manage these difficult times. That agent’s press contacts kept Duff in the news in all the gossip columns, generally in a positive light. He did break his leg in November 1950, and even that was in the news! The only negative coverage of it was in Jimmie Fidler’s column where he stated it was from a parking lot fight, and not a fall down the stairs. Others implied he was tipsy when he fell down the stairs at home. That was the worst of it; there were no mentions of his Red Channels listing and his being dismissed from the Spade show faded. Somehow the agent got the friendly gossip reporters to comment more on the big attention-getting argyle sock he pulled over his cast and that various Hollywood starlets were helping him recover. Among them were Ava Gardner, Piper Laurie, and Swedish actress Marta Toren. One of those was Ida Lupino, mentioned as living a few doors down, who would marry him soon once her divorce was final.

(Duff’s appearance on Suspense would have had an upside in his recovery since acting on radio could allow him to sit down while he was performing).

Duff’s agent kept him working, advising him to take all movie jobs no matter how small they might be. Throughout his CBS exile, there was always a movie or several that had Duff’s name in the newspaper movie listings. As long as his name was in the movie ads, the strategy was a success.

None of this would have worked if Duff played his Spade loss badly in public. He was gracious throughout and he attributed it to the sponsor needing to adjust their budgets in light of the economy and the rise of television. Any time he was asked, he was always positive and diplomatic. He may have been seething inside, but it never showed. He was disappointed that William Spier continued Spade without him, but they eventually came to an understanding about it. It was Spier, at the urging of his then-wife, Kay Thompson, who put Duff in that role and led to his celebrity and high appreciation of his talents. Steve Dunne, whom Spier cast to replace Duff, later appeared in Lady Possessed, the failed movie that the Spiers (Bill and June Havoc) and the Masons (James and Pamela Kellino) produced. We don’t know if Duff would have been involved in that production if Red Channels had not happened. Perhaps his temporary falling out with Spier prevented him from being invited to be in a film that was embarrassing in its box office and critical result. Lady Possessed gave Dunne a new opportunity for obscurity.

As hampered as he was with the Red Channels listing, Duff salvaged a career in this period while others could not. An advantage he had in his favor was his romance and subsequent marriage to Ida Lupino. Her star as an actress was rising, and she had great business and production acumen. As a studio, if you wanted to work with Lupino, you couldn’t spurn working with Duff in some manner. He was often in a supporting role in her movies. She was one of the most powerful women and executives in Hollywood, and an important figure in television production. Her influence in that era is often overlooked today.

Duff would not appear on CBS radio again until December, 1956. The “vice president of treason,” Daniel O’Shea, was fired a few months earlier once the public, and CBS, tired of the “Red Scare.” Murrow’s reporting about Senator Joe McCarthy was the catalyst for CBS to re-evaluate their system. Suspense benefited from the O’Shea departure. William N. Robson was appointed as producer of Suspense in October 1956, his CBS exile officially ended. When Duff returned to the network for Suspense, it was not with his “tail between his legs.” It was more of a “success is the best revenge” moment. He returned because CBS made a big investment in a new TV situation comedy featuring him and Ida Lupino, Mr. Adams and Eve https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mr._Adams_and_Eve (there are some episodes available on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLxfZS-hxExHF9ILKzFAkxMtVqbjdFILQB). Suddenly, CBS liked being associated with Howard Duff and the success of that show. The network worries about what was might be “red” turned to... delight over “green”?

The December 1951 broadcast… with Richard Widmark

Lewis tired of waiting, and when it was clear that Duff would not be available for the Pogostin script, he went ahead and put it in the schedule for December 1951. He cast one of his favorite and most dependable performers, Richard Widmark. The program rehearsal started at 7:00pm on Friday, November 30, the orchestra reported at 10:00pm, and the complete drama was recorded for broadcast from 11:30pm to Midnight. It was done all in one session, no real editing required, and there was no need for a separate broadcast session with the drama playing on tape and the orchestra performing live. Just 11 months before, with Duff’s recording session, the plan had been for a separate drama tape and a live orchestra at the time of broadcast. This was the procedure for the 1950-1951 season and before. For this broadcast, in the 1951-1952 season, however, everyone was in the studio at the same time. There may have been separate, but simultaneous, recording of the drama and recording of the orchestra in case editing was needed.

As for Howard Duff, even if he had permission to appear, he would not have been available, as he moved on with his life. He and Lupino were in the process of getting married and taking a short honeymoon. They were very busy with their various other projects. Lupino was waiting for her divorce to be official (October 20), and they married the next day (October 21). Their schedules were so full that they could not have an extended honeymoon vacation. They took a brief break in San Francisco, but that trip involved some work there. They did get away for a little while in Palm Springs, and in December they learned that Lupino was pregnant. The whirlwind of events in those weeks would have hindered Duff’s availability.

The episode had various titles over those months of 1951, and was still in flux even as the broadcast neared. It started as "The Twist is Death," became "The Twist is Murder," and also "The Twisted Murder." A Murderous Revision became the title days before the recording session. It was changed too late to make it to the newspapers. Though it seems like a good title, it didn't stick, either. When the script was used again in 1957, it became Murder on Mike. Even that wasn’t certain until the days got closer. The week before that 1957 broadcast the upcoming episode was announced as “The Twisted Murder”!

The December 3, 1951 broadcast was done. Widmark delivered another fine performance as did Suspense regulars Cathy Lewis, Joe Kearns, Charlotte Lawrence, and Jerry Hausner (who was the only actor to be in the Duff and the Widmark casts). That should have been the end of the backstory. There’s more. The backstory now turns to the hobby and curiosity of classic radio enthusiasts.

The mysterious Duff recording…

The drama-only recording with Duff did survive, but was unused. But there’s another Duff recording that has made the rounds of hobbyists, complete with commercials, announcements and music and commercials.

For decades, it was believed that in October 1951, Lewis supervised the editing and production of a “no name” guest performance from that unused Duff drama-recording. He wanted to see if that would be approved. It was complete with Auto-Lite commercials, but there was no guest star announcement and no performer credits in the closing announcements. This was assumed to be an “if the guest star won’t be mentioned, neither will the supporting cast” situation, a passive-aggressive act by Lewis. According to prior speculation, the recording was presented to CBS, Auto-Lite’s marketing executives and their ad agency, to no avail. They still spiked it. This scenario was appealing and seemed plausible.

Recent discoveries of notes in recorded tapes of this program indicate that the speculation is incorrect.

The Duff “broadcast” was prepared after the Widmark broadcast, and it may have been assembled many years later.

The Old Time Radio Researchers Group has been transferring the reel tapes of pioneer collector into digital format since 2020. One of those pioneer collections is that of Jerry Haendiges. The collection expanded over the years to include tapes of many other collectors who passed away and their families gave their reel collections to Jerry. These included notable collectors of the late 1960s and early 1970s, including Chris Lembesis, Bill Stanley, and many others.

The Los Angeles area, where Jerry and these other collectors were located, was a hotbed of classic radio collecting and discovery. There were thousands of transcription discs that became available, and there were many collectors with production positions in the entertainment and media industries. They often had sophisticated equipment and skills in audio production.

A reel was discovered in the collection that was labeled as such:

This was quite a surprise to find.

• A key phrase is at the top of the label: “Suspense Reconstruction.” This is not a phrase that would have been used if the recording was done in a professional broadcast studio, but is the jargon of a collector.

• The next line gives the name “This is Murder” and is followed by the parenthetical “Never Aired.”

• The third line gives the date as “01-13-51” which is the Duff recording date. The fourth line has an important clue “Music added from Suspense 12-3-51.”

• Then finally, the last line is “2 Track” and “7-1/2 IPS” This means that it is not a reconstruction of the Lewis era, and it was done much later as it is formatted for a consumer reel deck. The tape decks that were being used in the Lewis era were usually full track ones. This recording was a stereo left and right quarter track reel, but the two tracks were exactly the same when played. This was not, therefore, a tape made contemporary to its broadcast or Lewis’ time.

There was also a note in the reel box, presumably from the person who made the reconstruction or who knew the person who created it. Please note the words that have had underline and bold added for emphasis for purposes of this discussion:

Howard Duff recorded the drama portion of this Suspense program titled “A Murderous Revision,” minus the open, close, and music. The final program would be edited later. However, before the program could air, Howard Duff was blacklisted by the House of UnAmerican Activities Committee. The show finally aired starring Richard Widmark. This program is a compilation of the Howard Duff recording and the program with Richard Widmark, which aired December 3, 1951, a tribute to Mr. Duff, who would not surrender his rights.

This statement indicates that this was not a Lewis compilation to get approval for Duff, but a compilation to reconstruct what the program would have been like had Duff been in the broadcast! It didn’t exist in Lewis’ time, and therefore there was not an attempt to get approval for Duff as long as he was not announced as star.

It is important to clarify some historical items in this note. Duff was not blacklisted by HUAC. This was a common mistake in referring to the blacklist era. HUAC, Red Channels, Senator Joe McCarthy, all swirl together and are treated as one thing. HUAC began in 1938 as a temporary committee and became a permanent committee in 1946. Red Channels was published in 1950. McCarthy’s hearings began in 1953, but his political rhetoric began a few years before.

Duff was listed as having political affiliations of concern in Red Channels in 1950. He was only blacklisted internally at CBS and was still working at the movie studios. The Hollywood Blacklist of HUAC was a list of those who refused to testify to HUAC when requested or subpoenaed. Hammett did not testify at a HUAC meeting until 1953, well after Duff lost Spade and after this Suspense situation occurred. Where the note says “Howard Duff was blacklisted by the House of UnAmerican Activities Committee,” it is incorrect in fact and timeline. For Duff, the Red Channels listing caused enough problems all by itself.

Collectors in the early years of the classic radio hobby did not have access to the kinds of research resources and tools that are available today, at their fingertips (and keyboard). It is so much easier in the Internet Age to gather information from multiple sources without the arduous research effort and time commitments that were required in the 1960s and 1970s. Those pioneer collectors were most concerned about saving the recordings and did their best about gathering the history when they could. And after a while all of the “Red Scare” events and “blacklists” just kind of meld together and are incorrectly but popularly referred to as “McCarthyism,” even though McCarthy was really at the tail end of it. It was a very confusing and politically charged time. Mistaken attributions should be generously forgiven. They saved the recordings. That’s what matters today.

Since the discovery of this reel another recording from a different pioneer collector was found that is a copy of this one. It was labeled “special compilation,” indicating that it was assembled after the Widmark broadcast. This other collector likely traded with the person who created it and knew its origin and proper description.

The bottom line: This recording originated with a classic radio collector. The were skilled in audio editing in the analog tape era or knew someone who was. It was their valiant effort to discover what could have been, and to pay some tribute to Duff. It was not of the Lewis era.

The surviving recordings

There are three basic recordings for this episode:

• 1951-12-03 A Murderous Revision, as broadcast, starring Richard Widmark;

• 1951-01-13 drama-only recording for The Twist is Murder, as titled on the script, with Howard Duff as the star;

• 1951-01-13 post-recording session studio chatter in which you can hear Duff and others and the control room (2 minutes);

• The “reconstruction” of the A Murderous Revision recorded elements with the Duff The Twist is Murder drama-only recordings.

Other notes

• The broadcast lacks the “actual events” or similar wording in its opening. The script was held over from the previous season, obviously, and created before that story strategy and branding was established.

• The 1952-06-17 Los Angeles Evening Citizen News reported that The Columbia Players Lab received top honors for its production of “The Twist of Murder.” The “lab” was an ensemble of CBS employees who produced plays and other entertainment. CBS used this internal theater group to identify and develop talent, and as a social activity. They obviously liked the Pogostin script enough to use it in this venue. (No recording exists, and it is likely that none was made).

• In a private 1970s interview, Lewis denied that he had any problems with Red Channels and his stewardship of Suspense. Facts seem quite different. It is likely Lewis did not like talking about the subject and he had an attitude of “the past is the past” as he focused on his next project or assignment. In his tenure, he had to navigate the various directives of CBS executives to keep Suspense as a thriving and profitable enterprise. Getting caught up in these outside matters while he was producing and directing multiple programs would hamper the accomplishment of his corporate obligations. Speaking about these issues years later, when there was nothing that could be done about it, it was not worth his time and wanted to move to a different subject. He had an earlier run-in with O’Shea and Auto-Lite regarding actor John Garfield and the episode Concerto for Killer and Eyewitness. That script was recorded in October 1950 and not used performed until after Garfield’s death; it starred Lewis. That backstory will be provided when that episode is in the chronology.

• The letter that William N. Robson sent to Edward R. Murrow in 1953 about his problems with his CBS exile and Daniel O’Shea is a like a “Rosetta Stone” that demystifies the executive suite machinations of the era. Details can be found at https://sites.google.com/view/suspense-collectors-companion/click-for-home-arrow-for-more/the-blacklist-and-suspense?authuser=0#h.p_I60z386iaLmh

• The biography of CBS reporter Don Hollenbeck is a highly recommended account of this era in news and media and at CBS. Hollenbeck committed suicide in 1954, his act precipitated by his treatment in the era combined with his personal issues. The 2011 book, CBS’s Don Hollenbeck: An Honest Reporter in the Age of McCarthyism, is by Loren Ghiglione and published by Columbia University Press. Hollenbeck was a fine reporter and a victim of the era.

• A copy of Red Channels can be viewed at The Internet Archive https://archive.org/details/red-channels-the-report-of-communist-influence-in-radio-and-television

MANY THANKS to the following collectors who assisted over these many years in understanding the history of this broadcast: Keith Scott, John Scheinfeld, Patte Rosebank, Don Ramlow, Karl Schadow, Barbara Watkins, John Barker, and many others. There is still much to be learned about this episode and the series.

LISTEN TO THE PROGRAM or download in FLAC or mp3
https://archive.org/details/TSP511203

THE CAST

RICHARD WIDMARK (Chris Turner), Cathy Lewis (Doris / Lois), Joe Kearns (Ken Avery), Charlotte Lawrence (Harriet Crawford), Jerry Hausner (“George” / Hank), Larry Thor (Narrator)

COMMERCIAL: Tom Holland (Hap), Harlow Wilcox (Announcer), Sylvia Simms (Operator)

* * *

The cast for the unaired version recorded on 1951-01-31 is as follows:

HOWARD DUFF (Chris Turner), Ed Max (Ken Avery), Cathy Lewis (“Doris” / Lois Avery), Marlo Dwyer (Harriet Crawford), Jerry Hausner (“George” / Hank)

###