1961 New York Suspense under Bruno Zirato, Jr.

• Some of the better 1961 episodes are listed below with links to the Internet Archive pages that include commentary about them:

• 1961-06-25 Call Me at Half-Past https://archive.org/details/TSP610625 
• 1961-07-02 Night of the Storm https://archive.org/details/TSP610702 
• 1961-08-20 Murder Is a Matter of Opinion https://archive.org/details/TSP610820 
• 1961-10-01 No Hiding Place https://archive.org/details/TSP611001 
• 1961-10-22 Witness to Murder https://archive.org/details/TSP611022 
• 1961-10-29 Death of an Old Flame https://archive.org/details/TSP611029 
• 1961-11-12 The Imposters https://archive.org/details/611112 

• Actress Barbara Kasarr - who is she?

• Kasarr sometimes appears in OTR research as "Cossar" or "Kossar" in Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar and Suspense. The spelling was phonetic, as there were no script covers we could find that had that name. Some of the script covers had character names only, but no casting details. There was one script cover that was quite different. That one had, in barely legible handwriting, a cast member "Barb Readick." No directories had her listed anywhere with that name. The handwriting looked hurried... perhaps it was a mistake. Then the detective hunt began; we tried all kinds of varied spellings of the name. We found some minor 1950s newspaper references to her as aspiring actress "Barbara Kasar." They were mainly in gossip columns about her on and off relationship with Marlon Brando. Now that we had a rough spelling of the name, "Kasar," with the help of Karl Schadow and John Abbott, we started to piece together she was Bob Readick's wife at the time Suspense was in New York.

• Karl found a July 1958 article about the Readicks in TV-Radio Mirror... but the article does not mention her last name https://archive.org/details/radiotvm00mac/page/50/mode/1up?view=theater 

• Using genealogical sites, the story started to come together using some clues found in the story. Bob Readick married Barbara Kossower in Greenwich, CT on 1955-05-08. That led to some other records now that we knew her legal name. "Kasarr" was a stage name, likely used for simplicity in pronunciation and spelling. 

• She was born on 1934-01-28 in The Bronx. She died 2004-08-20 in Los Angeles. The names and aliases on her Social Security record are Barbara Ruth Kossower, Barbara Readick, Barbara Kasarr, Barbara Joachim, and Barbara Holden. Barbara and Bob must have gotten divorced sometime in the 1960s or 70s. She married Lawrence Joachim in Los Angeles on 1976-02-25.

• The Black Door of 1961-11-19 was Readick's first radio appearance after leaving YTJD five months earlier because of his medical troubles. He was replaced by Mandel Kramer just a week after Kramer played a supporting role in the series. Readick's difficulties with depression caused his medical hiatus. They would probably have had more options for treament and been more successful if it was happening today. Barbara Kasarr's appearances on Suspense and YTJD begin after he exited that leading role, and they ended when he retuned to Suspense.  It may be that the Suspense producers wanted to be sure that the Readicks still had income from radio, and would accommodate that need until Bob could return.

• Readick made 10 appearances on Suspense after exiting YTJD. Bob and Barbara had only had one joint appearance on Suspense, in 1962-05-06's The Second Door. There are no records indicating any other radio appearances for her in any other series thereafter.