Cornel Wilde plays a smooth-talking killer whose resentment over rejection by his ex-wife leads him to kill a young woman. His temper leads him to various encounters over a parking space and in a night club. When the young woman he picked up spends most of her time dancing with another man, he is fuming, and the story reaches its murderous peak in parked car when he tries to kiss her and she pushes him away.
The story moves and seems to stall and you wonder if you can listen to its unsavory foundation. Wilde’s character is such a turn off, a nasty manipulator, that listening patience can be tested if it continues. Stick with it. The broadcast takes an intriguing turn when a narrative emerges with a focus on police efforts to catch him using forensics and diligent investigation. It reaches a satisfactory conclusion, and you get to enjoy Wilde’s fine performance.
Morton Fine and David Friedkin wrote the script, and there is an interesting credit at the end of the broadcast. This story was “based on research by” Edward D. Radin, according to the announcement. It may or may not have become a Radin short story or a novel, but Fine, Friedkin, and Lewis recognized him for some type of unidentified but important contribution to their script. CBS publicity stated that the story was drawn from police records of an actual murder. Radin was one of the most respected crime writers of the day and was a founder of the Mystery Writers of America. He won Edgar awards in 1947 and 1950. He started as a police and court reporter for a Long Island newspaper, and then started a very successful freelance writing career. His most notable book about Lizzie Borden, published in 1961. He may have given Fine and Friedkin a “heads up” on something he was working on.
The drama portion was recorded on Tuesday, March 23, 1954. Rehearsal began at 3:00pm, and recording commenced at 7:30pm. The session closed at 8:00pm.
LISTEN
TO THE PROGRAM or download in FLAC or
mp3
https://archive.org/details/TSP540329R
ALTERNATIVE DOWNLOAD LINK FOR FLAC and mp3
while Internet Archive recovers from its DDoS attack
https://www.mediafire.com/folder/mubjioptb3lkp/Suspense_-_Somebody_Help_Me
The program can be streamed at YouTube
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wZbUpan9z4Q
THE CAST
CORNEL WILDE (Eddie Franklin), Mary Jane Croft (Shirley Franklin), Cathy Lewis (Eileen Hall), Paula Winslowe (Lois Anderson), Charlotte Lawrence (Toby the Car Hop), Larry Thor (Narrator), Hy Averback (Yardley / Ryan), Sam Edwards (Bernie / Gibson), Joe Kearns (Tomasino), Charles Calvert (Gilchrist)
COMMERCIAL: Harlow Wilcox (Announcer), unknown actor (Jim, the Chrysler owner)
GUEST FOR THE AUTO-LITE CHARITY PROMOTION: Mortimer Brandt, representing the National Cancer Foundation has a message designating his charity for an Auto-Lite contribution. That organization may be better known as Cancer Care. In the 1950s its focus was not on cancer research, but the financial care and counseling of cancer patients and their families. It was not related to the American Cancer Society, which became a much bigger and better known organization through the years.
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