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)
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