Robert Wagner and Mona Freeman make their sole appearances on the series. The script is by Morton Fine and David Friedkin, and is “from” a report by David Camelon. The story was about escaping from behind the Iron Curtain and Communist rule. The original story by Camelon appeared in Sunday newspaper magazine supplements a year earlier. Fine and Friedkin (and Lewis) took many liberties with the basic story that are detailed below. They changed it from a family to a young couple, and they added complicating factors, including a suicide pact between them if they were not able to complete their journey.
In terms of the episode’s storyline, it details a daring escape through the Iron Curtain from Communist Slovakia of two university students. Freeman and Wagner portray Milada and Jinrich, two Czech students who risk their lives together as they attempt to cross the border of their homeland with the dream of reaching Strasbourg, Germany and the free university there. To reach the American zone, they must cover, on foot, 300 miles of obstacles. Their journey can be thwarted by many different challenges, including guards and border patrols, wilderness, and hunger and hiding. And if they are caught, each carries a small vial of poison; they would rather die together than suffer what they will be the harsh treatment or death inflicted by their captors. With freedom within their reach, the sweethearts are accosted by Russian guards on the International Bridge. Their fate is at the hands of the Communists, and they fulfilled their pledge to take poison together. Somehow, they get to the American side, and they survive. They send a message to those back home through Radio Free Europe to keep the courage and dreams alive of all those they left behind.
The program and the publicity stated that “Actual names of the couple will not be disclosed to protect relatives still living under Communist rule.” There was no couple. The Camelon story was the account of an entire family’s travels to freedom. Nor was there any poison. That was created as a dramatic device.
Our Escape to Freedom appeared in American Weekly (a Sunday newspaper magazine supplement for Hearst). It was published in two parts in June 1953. The author’s name was not withheld. It was Ludevit Ollarek, and his story about how his family escaped was told to reporter David Camelon. The names that were withheld were the names of family and acquaintances they left behind. Fine and Friedkin used the articles as the basis of the script, but they embellished and changed it as they wanted. A PDF of the original story as it appeared is included on the same page as the recordings, but can be accessed directly at this link https://archive.org/download/TSP540531/American%20Weekly%20-1953-06%20story%20on%20which%20Listen%20Young%20Lovers%20is%20based.pdf
Camelon passed away two years later of a heart attack at age 52. The Ollarek family became US citizens; research did not indicate any additional details after 1956 for the husband and wife.
The episode was originally planned to be broadcast on May 17, 1954 and was instead played two weeks later on May 31. It may have been held to be broadcast closer to Memorial Day, which was the day before, May 30. That date may have been more appropriate in the minds of Lewis and CBS in relation to the memorial remembrance of WW2.
They had plenty of flexibility to have an earlier broadcast date. The drama portion of the episode was recorded on Tuesday, May 4, 1954. Rehearsal began at 2:00pm and recording commenced at 6:30pm, with the studio work completed at 7:00pm.
Recordings of this episode have never been in the best sound with much background noise and narrow range. Some of the attempts to minimize defects resulted in dull recordings with almost no high frequencies. The recording associated with this blogpost is in much better sound with some minor defects. It offers a much better listening experience than prior circulating recordings.
These were the first and only appearances on Suspense by Robert Wagner and Mona Freeman. Wagner had a long and successful movie and television career. His movie career was starting to rise at the same time that radio drama’s was starting to ebb. Robert Wagner had appeared on Lux Radio Theatre in 1953, his only other surviving radio drama appearances. He was 24 at the time of this broadcast. Wagner’s life and career overview is at Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Wagner
Mona Freeman’s movie career was very active from the mid-1940s through the 1950s, and then television through the 1960s. She was 28 at the time of this broadcast. Because she was four years older that Wagner, her career had more overlap with the radio era. Freeman appeared multiple times in Family Theater and other radio programs as a guest or a commercial spokesperson. Her life and career overview is at Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mona_Freeman
LISTEN
TO THE PROGRAM or download in FLAC or
mp3
https://archive.org/details/TSP540531
Alternative download while Internet Archive works to resume its recovery from the DDoS attack
https://www.mediafire.com/folder/eykvrmf0r5qk6/Suspense_-_Listen%2C_Young_Lovers
The recording may be streamed on YouTube
https://youtu.be/MFGsjECCSRI
THE CAST
ROBERT WAGNER (Jinrich), MONA FREEMAN (Milade), Sam Edwards (Joe, the American Corporal), Frank Goss (Radio Voice [V.O.F.C.]), Joseph Kearns (Stefan), Steve Roberts (Czech / Soldier), Harry Bartell (Farmer), Lou Merrill (Radik), Jack Kruschen (German / Corporal), Edit Angold (Woman), Jimmie Eagles (American Sergeant), Larry Thor (Narrator)
COMMERCIAL: Tom Holland (Hap), Harlow Wilcox (Announcer), Sylvia Simms (Operator)
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