The idea of an unfinished Charles Dickens novel being presented on Suspense was an attention-getter to people who did not know there even was an unfinished novel. It was not some big discovery. Then, even more fascinating, Elliott Lewis was convening a team of expert writers to ponder what ending world work since Dickens died with that secret. But that’s not true. Implying that, however, makes for much better publicity. This broadcast another case where the publicity was a bigger opportunity than the actual production, and Lewis tries to nudge Suspense toward some higher-brow respectability by presenting the classic work of a legendary author.
Herbert Marshall stars as John Jasper, a middle-aged music teacher and first person narrator of the story. His jealousy assumes psychopathic proportions when he finds himself in love with the same girl, Rosa, as his handsome young nephew, Edwin. Rosa also has another suitor, Neville Landless. There is great tension between the young men. Jasper decides to intervene and have Edwin and Neville come to an agreement, especially since Edwin and Rosa are officially engaged and Neville should back off. The two seem to come to an understanding and Jasper sends them out to see how the nearby river changes in a heavy storm (not making this up!) Edwin disappears and is presumed dead. Jasper is so creepy that he proposes marriage to Rosa and she makes it clear that she has no intention of accepting. She was actually repulsed by the idea. She decides to accept the proposal of Neville, and we learn that Edwin and Rosa had already decided to end their engagement and that this was known just before Edwin disappeared. That removes Neville from the suspect list! There is a line in the story that is very clear about what happened when Jasper blurts out the rather incriminating “Edwin didn’t have to die!” Why would Edwin have to die? It’s pretty obvious what was on Jasper’s mind. Sorry, spoiler alerts. Jasper did it. Just like Dickens planned. Jasper admits to it all after a ruse by a detective and Rose claiming that Edwin is in London, and they have letters to prove it.
Oh, Dickens left a clue. Edwin Drood is an anagram of “I drowned” with an “o” left over. Another funny one is that Drood had gotten a sizeable inheritance. In contrast, Neville Landless had no such wealth, as noted by his last name… he owns no land!
It’s a good and enjoyable production, but it does not live up to the hype built around it. Dickens told enough people around him (especially his illustrator) what the ending would be. Those letters and comments came out in the years after his demise, so the ending should not be a surprise. Lewis gives the ending away in the very first lines of the narrative. Because Suspense is limited in time for the storytelling, the story and the number of characters on whom Dickens could cast as possible suspects was far greater than even an hour-long Suspense production could allow. The original Dickens work was far more complex as one would expect a long novel to be. The radio broadcast was split into two parts with a week in between. The audience would have to remember to many details about the story unless the number of characters was of a smaller size. Lewis also dropped some of the subplots and other background, to ensure continuity from one week to another. Opium plays an important part in the novel, for example, including an opium den run by a very colorful character (“Her Royal Highness the Princess Puffer”). That Jasper has a problem is implied in the Suspense production. It could be almost anything that makes suffer blackouts. The radio version of Drood turns out to be greatly simplified.
The publicity for The Mystery of Edwin Drood started early, weeks before the usual schedule. This was from 1952-12-16 Radio Life:
Suspense Provides Ending for Unfinished Dickens Classic
A famous and controversial mystery story left unfinished by the death of the great Charles Dickens will be completed by a group of modern mystery writing experts on CBS’s Suspense.
Elliott Lewis, producer-director of the series, explains: “Ever since Dickens's death, in 1870, writers have speculated on how to end The Mystery of Edwin Drood. No one, of course, will ever know, but I thought it would be interesting to try to develop a logical ending, in key with the rest of the story, and present it on Suspense.
This experiment is scheduled to be aired in two installments, January 5 and 12. Guest stars are vying with one another to appear on what can well be one of Suspense’s most unusual dramas.
Some newspaper coverage had additional information that originated with CBS publicity. This was in the 1952-12-20 Cincinnati OH Enquirer:
Lewis will meet with the script writers during the coming weeks to work out the ending. “We decided to present it in two parts,” he adds, “in order to retain as much of the original Dickens flavor in the radio version as we possibly can.”
There is no record who the consulting mystery writers were. There are safe guesses. You could assume it was Lewis himself, and whomever he was meeting for lunch. That would include Mort Fine and David Friedkin because they worked with Lewis so often, Spier, and some of the other regular writers on the series and in the CBS script department as they happened to bump into Lewis at meetings or were passing his office.
CBS issued more publicity as the project was finishing. This was from the 1952-12-30 Meriden CT Journal:
Suspense radio scripters are putting the finishing touches on an ending which they have devised for The Mystery of Edwin Drood, a thriller on which the great Charles Dickens was working when he died. Producer-director Elliott Lewis says he is pleased with the conclusion furnished by the Suspense writers, because he feels it is perfectly in keeping with the rest of the story.
The adaptation was by Sidney Marshall, his only Suspense production. Marshall had worked on Man Called X, Family Theater, The Saint, and The Line-Up. Marshall would write for television in the 1950s and 1960s, but would become associate producer on two 1970s box office smashes, The Poseidon Adventure and The Towering Inferno. Nostalgia fans likely remember seeing his name in the credits for Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea as story editor or story consultant for many of the episodes. That series is likely how he first connected with producer Irwin Allen for Poseiden and Inferno.
It is a surprise that both parts were not recorded on one day. It was a live presentation both times. With recording tape technology available, it would seem that recording at one time would be safer. It is inexpensive insurance against losing a cast member for sickness or unforeseen circumstance. You also have the benefit of keeping actors in character ensuring a better flow of the production. That's what Lewis did with the upcoming production of Othello.
It would be a good idea to listen to both parts in one session. That’s something the listeners of 1952 were not able to do, but as modern classic radio enthusiasts we can do with great ease.
What is Lewis doing with this and similar productions? He is attempting to broaden Suspense into different and more classical storytelling. Perhaps it is helpful to consider what Lewis is doing on a continuum. At one end is Lux Radio Theatre in which Hollywood stars appeared just because they were Hollywood stars and their films and careers needed the high-level publicity that Lux could give. At the other end is Theater Guild, a more cultured selection of stories that one might find on Broadway or other high-end stage venues with stage stars who often did not have as much celebrity as those on Lux. This is the direction that Lewis will explore whenever he can with the right material, and he obviously believes Drood is one of them. He keeps moving Suspense to different places along the continuum, being careful to avoid the Lux end because that is satisfied by watching television at this time, but he really wants to explore the Theater Guild end of the continuum.
It must be noted, as was done in a prior blogpost, that Lewis’ plan for Suspense is very similar to the long-range plan that William Spier and Robert Montgomery had for the hour-long Suspense. That is, until Bill Paley pulled the rug out from under them. It just so happens that The Mystery of Edwin Drood was in their list of planned 60 minute Suspense broadcasts!
For the history of the Drood story, Wikipedia has a very good page https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Mystery_of_Edwin_Drood
The Drood story was a two-part production on the Suspense television program in March 1952. Kinescopes of the TV production have not been found. For a long time it was assumed that the radio production adapted those scripts, but that was not the case. It starred John Baragrey as Jasper and was adapted by Halsted Welles. The details of the storyline were different than that found in the radio script. Variety’s review in the 1952-04-02 edition was not kind after the first episode: “… a look at the first chapter would hardly persuade the average viewer to wait with bated breath for the concluder.” The reason the story was different was that radio could create a scene and circumstance that was limited only by the listener’s imagination. Television was not like that. Suspense was broadcast live, and could show only what could fit in the studio in front of a camera and displayed on a somewhat blurry small television screen. Fitting all these scenes and moving the heavy and big primitive television equipment around was quite a challenge.
LISTEN
TO THE PROGRAM or download in FLAC or
mp3
https://archive.org/details/tsp52010512
THE CAST
Part 1:
HERBERT MARSHALL (John Jasper), Terry Kilburn (Edwin Drood), Betty Harford (Rosa), Ben Wright (Neville Landless), Joe Kearns (Dean Crisparkle), Bill Johnstone (Durdles), Larry Thor (Narrator)
COMMERCIAL: Ken Christy (Oscar Auto), Harlow Wilcox (Announcer), Sylvia Simms (Operator)
Part 2:
HERBERT MARSHALL (John Jasper), Ben Wright (Neville Landless), Betty Harford (Rosa), Joe Kearns (Dean Crisparkle), Ramsay Hill (Mr. Datchery), Charles Davis (Joe), Bill Johnstone (Mr. Sapsea / Durdles), Larry Thor (Narrator)
COMMERCIAL: Ken Christy (Senator), Harlow Wilcox (Announcer), Sylvia Simms (Operator
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