The is the first of four Suspense scripts by former San Quentin convict Jules Maitland. The story is based on his own experience visiting Death Row inmates there. In this script, Harry Bartell stars as a death row inmate getting closer to execution. The events of that day for him, family, chaplain, and administration are followed as they await a decision from the governor about a delay or commutation of his sentence.
The title refers to the wait for that call from the governor’s office. If there is no call, the phone “died” before the inmate.
Maitland was in prison for forgery and passing bad checks. After his release, he became a somewhat noted screen and television writer of the late 1950s and early 1960s. He was one of three San Quentin inmates who had scripts accepted for Suspense. The others were Edgar Scott Flohr and Elmer Parsons. It is not known if Flohr or Maitland knew each other. Flohr and Parsons did some writing together in and out of prison; their stories are somewhat unique. Maitland turned his life around, while Flohr and Parsons had great difficulties leaving criminal life behind.
Maitland’s success in radio, television, and movies came from his his acquaintance with two criminals: killer Donald Bashor and Caryl Chessman. Both men were executed in the gas chamber. Chessman's case was more newsworthy in that it raised questions about the death penalty because his execution was for a series of crimes that did not include murder.
After his release, he returned to the prison to record interviews with Bashor. They became a 3-hour radio documentary by Maitland, Judgment, that won a Writers Guild award. Those interviews would become the basis of a Playhouse 90 episode (Portrait of a Murderer with Tab Hunter https://archive.org/details/playhouse-90-portrait-of-a-murderer) and also a theatrical play (Pieces of Time).
As the years passed, Maitland found it more difficult to get scripting gigs. He developed a business writing eulogies for families and business executives to be that could be delivered by them, or about them, at funerals, religious services, and memorial events.
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THE CAST
Harry Bartell (Frank Bruner), Barney Phillips (“Cap” Bradley), William Justine (Sergeant Rowe), Tom McKee (Guard / Chaplain), Jack Kruschen (Whitey), Herb Ellis (Lucky / Lawyer), Richard Crenna (Kid), Eleanore Tanin (Ruth Bruner), George Walsh (Narrator)
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