Lloyd Nolan returns to the series as a police lieutenant who has
to track down stolen vials of bacteria that could create an epidemic.
The story is likely based on an October 1952 incident in New York
City.
This was probably Nolan’s best performance of the series. In
prior appearances, he had difficulty with long monologues, which are
not used in this story. Some parts of the production have a “Dragnet
feel” to them. The production is well done with fine supporting
performances.
The story begins with the theft of a lab scientist’s car. A
satchel containing test tubes with millions of deadly cholera germs,
could risk the loss of hundreds of lives of the city, or more, unless
they are found. The doctor rushes into police headquarters to report
the theft of the vehicle and is directed to go elsewhere in the
building. He persists, and tells the lieutenant that the loss of the
car is not that important, but the contents of the satchel that was
in the car is a much different matter. The lieutenant, working on the
overnight shift, gets every officer he can find to start the search
for the missing automobile. They find it, but the satchel is missing.
Concerned about creating a panic, they get in touch with hospitals
with details of symptoms to be aware of, but do not detail that there
was a potential case of cholera. Police press their search for the
vials, and soon learn that a man was admitted to a city hospital with
the violent and unmistakable symptoms. They question him, and in his
dazed state, he gives them enough information to help narrow their
search. They are led to a pawn shop where the satchel was sold. The
shop owner said that their seller emptied the satchel into a trash
can in the alley behind the store. They were not there The owner said
that neighborhood kids play in the alley, and chalk graffiti indicate
that one of the kids might be named “Louie.” The police search
for Louie as the sun rises and the city’s day begins. Will they
find him?
The script was by Gus C. Bayz and was likely inspired by a
newspaper report of stolen vials of bacteria that had national news
coverage. Bayz intensified the real-life facts by changing the
bacteria that were stolen to cholera.
There was great concern about epidemics at the time, especially of
polio. The polio vaccine was still in the research laboratories of
the time, and there were still rumors that polio could be spread by
mosquitoes, swimming pools, and other circumstances. There were also
worries that Cold War tensions might escalate into biological
warfare. Members of the public remembered family members who had not
survived the flu epidemic of 1918. A story like this one on Suspense
would therefore have a greater
level of tension among listeners. Many
of these diseases did not have available vaccinations
at the time.
These diseases created even
deeper fears than those of the recent COVID events of 2020 because so
little was known about them,
compared to current times
70 years later. Bacteriology
and virology were still
emerging disciplines, and had
yet to
benefit from DNA research, improved
lab and testing techniques,
and the relatively
new field of biotechnology.
These
are the newspaper stories
that possibly gave Bayz the idea for the script. They
were often on the front pages of the papers. Note
that
many of the script’s
elements are in them (and also
the inconsistencies of the
wire service reports). The
1952-10-14 York PA Dispatch and
other Hearst newspapers picked up the story as
follows:
DISEASE
GERMS STOLEN
13
-State Hunt Underway For Missing Vials
NEW
YORK – Police
issued a 13-state alarm for two vials. each containing 1,000,000,000
disease germs, which were stolen from automobile of
a Cleveland physician while it was parked on a street here. One of
the vials contains tuberculosis germs, the other contains a similar
number of
anthrax bacteria — an animal disease which can be transmitted
to humans. Both are labeled and carry the warning: “danger!” The
vials were in a brown plastic case which was stolen from the
automobile of
Dr. Milton H. Weiner, a 25-year-old bacteriologist who had been using
the germs in laboratory research at Columbia-Presbyterian
Medical
Center. Dr. Weiner said: “I only hope the person
who took them won't break the ampules and infect himself or let them
tall into the hands of children by tossing them in an ashcan.” He
said the germs have been weakened by continuous use and there is no
danger of
an epidemic if
they are released.
The
Associated Press report was picked up by many newspapers on
1952-10-13.
DEADLY
GERM VIALS STOLEN FROM CAR
NEW
YORK – Police broadcast a
warning today that two glass vials, each containing one billion
infectious bacteria had been stolen from a doctor's auto. The vials
contained germs of tuberculosis and of anthrax, an animal disease
which can transmitted to human beings by inoculation. Police said
they did not believe the stolen bacteria were of a “fatal
quantity.” A bacteriologist, Dr. Milton H. Weiner of Cleveland,
reported the vials were among the contents of a valise stolen from
his parked car yesterday. A 13-state police alarm was broadcast, and
radio stations were requested to broadcast warnings. Dr. Weiner said
he feared the thief might discard the vials, that they might be
broken and a dog or cat might pick up the germs and transmit them.
There was also a United Press
report picked up by other newspapers in their 1952-10-13 editions.
GERMS
ARE STOLEN FROM DOCTOR'S CAR
NEW
YORK – A young Cleveland
scientist told police today a thief unwittingly had stolen cultures
of tuberculosis and anthrax germs from his automobile. Dr. Milton H.
Weiner, 30, emphasized, however, there was no cause for panic as the
germs were encased in rugged little glass ampules. “I only hope
that the person who took them will not break the ampules and infect
himself or let them fall into the hands of children by tossing them
into an ash can,” Weiner said. The scientist said the thief could
solve the problem simply by putting the ampules in a package and
mailing it to the nearest board health. The thief broke into Weiner's
automobile which had been parked overnight in front of a dormitory n
a dark and lonely street in an isolated Manhattan section.
There
were no news reports about what happened to the stolen vials. It is
not known if the end of the script reflects
what happened. In the final moments of the story,
it was decided to withhold news of both
the loss and recovery of the
vials. Did
Bayz get his ending by
the lack of news coverage after vials
were reported stolen? The
real-life vials may never have been recovered. Unlike
the script, the loss of the vials was made
quite public and the
geography of
the police search
for them was quite large. Knowing he had a 23 minute drama limit,
Bayz could control the size of the drama by having news the loss be
limited to the locality. This
added tension to the story, because the wider geographical risk was
always hanging in the background.
The episode has one of radio’s
more interesting doubles, with Jerry Hausner playing “Sam” but
also playing the baby in the story.
Key Suspense sound effects
artist and scripter Bayz (announced at the end of the program
as “Augustus C. Bayz”), was married the day before broadcast to
Lucille Surdum who worked in the CBS script editing department. They
honeymooned in Canada, which was probably why Bill James and Tom
Hanley handled the broadcast’s effects.
Strange things you find in
newspaper searches: In 1956,
Dr. Weiner, who lost the
real-life vials, married
pioneer nuclear scientist Enrico Fermi’s daughter, Nella.
There are two surviving
recordings. The network
recording is the better of the two.
The other is a network aircheck recording.
LISTEN
TO THE PROGRAM or download in FLAC or
mp3
https://archive.org/details/TSP530518
THE CAST
LLOYD NOLAN (Holloway), Joe Kearns (Froelick), Jerry Hausner (Sam
/ Baby), James McCallion (Ruby), Truda Marson (Nurse), Martha
Wentworth (Landlady), Charlotte Lawrence (Elvie), Joseph Granby
(Pop), Clayton Post (Al / Kraus), Naomi Stevens (Woman), Jeffrey
Silver (Boy), Larry Thor (Narrator)
COMMERCIAL: Tyler McVey (Sheriff), Harlow Wilcox (Announcer),
Sylvia Simms (Operator)
###
