The first Antony Ellis production is a John Dunkel story about a husband and wife staying at a ski lodge in the Swiss Alps. They are there for relaxation and for him to finish writing his book. The husband, however, has a vivid premonition of a deadly avalanche in which he and others will lose their life. The images and the sensation were so strong for him that he tells everyone they need to evacuate. They don’t believe him, provide myriad reasons why it could never happen, and that history proves there is no need to be concerned. All of the people at the lodge decide to stay.
You just know what’s going to happen next when you hear the line at about 18:40 when you hear that the husband is writing a “scientific note” about his premonition “when someone finds it.” Call it a… premonition…
It is a good story and production, like many of the Ellis productions will be. The Ellis period has an emphasis on storytelling, relies less on being driven by events in the news, and even tackles some psychological dramas. There will be 93 productions before Suspense replaces him with William N. Robson in mid-October 1956.
There is a sense in this period that CBS was rather ambivalent about radio drama and Suspense in terms of the support they would give it. During the Ellis period there is very little news coverage of the series, and that is a sign that CBS’ publicity effort on behalf of the series was meager, at best. All these years later, it is a great benefit for classic radio enthusiasts to hear these programs because many of the Ellis shows are “hidden gems” because of CBS’ marketing neglect at the time. Robson would be more successful at squeezing the CBS “suits” for promotional and money for fees for higher profile actors. Ellis relied on the radio pros enthusiasts have come to love all these decades later, and the productions benefit from their marvelous skills.
LISTEN
TO THE PROGRAM or download in FLAC or
mp3
https://archive.org/details/TSP541223
THE CAST
Larry Dobkin (Tony), Charlotte Lawrence (Gwen), Edgar Barrier (Braun), John Dehner (Rouge), Fritz Feld (Landeck), Joe Cranston (Sergeant), Nan Boardman (Madame Rouge), Ben Wright (Radio Announcer)
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Bernard Herrmann stops by to visit Suspense to conduct the orchestra, something he had not done since 1943-09-16 The Cross-Eyed Bear. Lud Gluskin was obviously not available, possibly for some Christmas holiday break. Herrmann’s simple but haunting Suspense theme was used throughout the 20-year run of the series in many different contexts.
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