This is the third time this John Collier story with an “O. Henry style ending” appeared on Suspense. It is the second time that Herbert Marshall starred in it. The story is generally regarded as a classic of sorts even though it conveys no positive sentiments for the Christmas holiday. The first broadcast in 1943 starred Peter Lorre whose voice and style always add a sinister sense to productions. The 1948 production with Herbert Marshall was rushed to the microphones and used the name “Holiday Story” which barely fits the joy of the season. There was another production being prepared that never made it to broadcast. Details are at the following
1943 Peter Lorre
https://suspenseproject.blogspot.com/2023/03/1943-12-23-back-for-christmas.html
https://archive.org/details/TSP431223 at which the audio files may be downloaded or streamed.
1948 Herbert Marshall; these have the details about the program and script, “Rich Man, Poor Man,” that was heavily promoted but never made it to the studio, and how Back for Christmas made it back on the air.
https://suspenseproject.blogspot.com/2023/12/1948-12-23-back-for-christmas-holiday.html
https://archive.org/details/TSP481223 at which the audio files may be downloaded or streamed.
Classic radio enthusiast, researcher, and international voice actor Keith Scott notes that there were changes made to Bob Tallman’s script for this 1956 broadcast, and it was likely Robson who made them. Robson’s first production of the story was for Escape and starred Paul Frees on 1947-12-24.
Two recordings have survived, with the network recording is slightly better than the other. Both recordings are in generally satisfying sound. The Armed Forces Radio & Television Service recording (AFRTS Christmas Library C-57) has some mild defects, but is better than many recordings of other programs. AFRTS would assemble libraries of music and holiday recordings that were differentiated from their regular recordings. This way programmers would easily recognize recordings appropriate for a season rather than guessing.
Suspense was pre-empted on 1956-12-30 for a special news program Years of Crisis: 1956 with Edward R. Murrow. It was a roundtable discussion with foreign news correspondents. It had reports and analysis of the year's major news developments. They are Howard K. Smith from London, Winston Burdett from Egypt, Richard C. Hottelet from Vienna, Robert Pierpoint from Asia, David Schoenbrun from Paris, Daniel Schorr from Moscow, and Eric Sevareid from Washington. The hour-long program was on television and on radio.
LISTEN
TO THE PROGRAM or download in FLAC or
mp3
https://archive.org/details/TSP561223
THE CAST
HERBERT MARSHALL (Herbert Carpenter), Irene Tedrow (Hermione), Ellen Morgan (Marion / Mrs. Wall), Paula Winslowe (Mrs. Goodenough / Stewardess), Ben Wright (Freddie Sinclair / Philip Wall / Desk clerk), Jack Moyles (Bellboy / Airport P.A. voice), George Walsh (Narrator)
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