Dana Andrews as a police sergeant in what is claimed to be a true story of a city living in terror of one man, a maniacal killer. The first victim is a woman. Next, it’s a waitress, who is able to give the police a clue before she dies. The assumption is that the killer is criminally insane and will strike again. There are no clues, no motives to the killings. A suspect who answers the description of the murder is picked up. There is no evidence against him so the police have to let him go, but they shadow him day and night. Every tavern insists he’s a harmless guy with a drinking problem, just a bit down on his luck. Finally, a break in the case comes when a couple is attacked, and they have a piece of the killer’s overcoat. He may have been down on his luck, but obviously his anger about it, it simmered and over time it started to boil, driving him to kill, randomly. He is finally caught.
The script is by Antony Ellis. The “truth” behind the story could easily be one of the decades-old resources for mystery writers, the killings by Jack the Ripper. He was never found. But in this story, they do, and it’s Joe Kearns. Whoops… missed the spoiler alert warning, again.
Andrews’ role is similar to that he played in 1950-09-21 The Crowd https://suspenseproject.blogspot.com/2024/04/1950-09-21-crowd.html. Joe Kearns was the killer in that episode, too.
The dramatic portion of the broadcast was recorded on Tuesday, January 5, 1954. The rehearsal began at 1:00pm and the recording began at 5:30pm. The session ended at 6:00pm.
Slight stumble by Wilcox at about 27:32 when he has trouble with the phrase “Auto-Lite-equipped electrical systems.” Some of the Auto-Lite copy is challenging, and Wilcox made so very few errors in his time on Suspense and his other assignments, especially Fibber McGee and Molly.
LISTEN
TO THE PROGRAM or download in FLAC or
mp3
https://archive.org/details/TSP540111
THE CAST
DANA ANDREWS (Sergeant Faring), Lee Millar (Driscoll), Paula Winslowe (Mrs. Mead), Charlotte Lawrence (Waitress), Joseph Kearns (Frederick Sorenson), Junius Matthews (Winters), Tom Tully (McDonnaugh / Matson), Larry Thor (Narrator)
COMMERCIAL: Tom Holland (Hap), Harlow Wilcox (Announcer), Sylvia Simms (Operator)
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