This episode is the second of two scripts by San Quentin inmate Edgar
Scott Flohr. It is the better story of the two. A Hungarian doctor
agrees to follow a woman and her daughter to the USA and New York
City on behalf of their Communist government. His orders are to kill
the woman, a freedom fighter in the spirit of the failed Hungarian
Uprising, before she is able to give secret information to the United
Nations. The story is good, and it looks like it is about to
conclude, but there is a surprise ending that goes into a different
direction.
Again, William N. Robson casts the program with some performers with
ties to Eastern Europe and WW2 in some way.
The program was recorded on Wednesday April 17, 1957. Rehearsal
started at 1:00pm and ended at 6:30pm. Recording began at that time
and concluded at 7:00pm.
There are three surviving recordings of this episode and the Armed
Forces Radio Service one (AFRS#932) is the best of them.
The network recording is an aircheck from WGDI of Scranton,
Pennsylvania. It has been edited and has very narrow range and other
defects. There is an Armed Forces Radio and Television Service
(AFRTS) aircheck that is likely from the Armed Forces Network – Far
East Network, but that cannot be verified. This recording has
encoding defects and also instances of tape squeal.
The lead role is played by Francis
Lederer, and is his sole
Suspense appearance. He
was born in what is now the
Czech Republic in 1899.
He was trained as an actor as a teenager. After serving in WW1, he
was in touring theater companies in Europe. In the 1930s, he
performed on stage in London and then on Broadway. During WW2, he
stayed in the US and worked on stage on Broadway and in motion
pictures. In addition to a
very busy acting career, he
became a very successful real estate investor in the Los Angeles
area, active in civic
affairs and philanthropy.
His final film was in 1959,
and final TV appearance in 1971. A
summary of his career can be found at
Wikipedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francis_Lederer
Norma Jean Nilsson made a few appearances on the program. Her first
was Freedom, This Way, and this is her second. At the time of
this broadcast, she was just 19. But she was a radio veteran. In
1947, she was reported to be the highest-paid child actress in radio,
and was reported to be the first child actor to make more than 500
radio appearances. Details about her movie and radio career can be
found at Wikipedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norma_Jean_Nilsson
LISTEN
TO THE PROGRAM or download in FLAC or
mp3
https://archive.org/details/TSP570428
THE CAST
Francis
Lederer
(Goellner), Norma Jean Nilsson (Girl / Daughter), Margie Liszt
(Zanova), Charles Hradilak
(Kogos), Jack Kruschen (Chekov / Soviet / Austrian), Dick Beals
(Boy), Fritz Feld (Interrogator / Guard), Paul Dubov (Soldier), Ted
de Corsia (Molnar), George Walsh (Narrator)
There were cast changes as the script was reviewed and rehearsed in
the days before broadcast. The story is a bit involved, so they may
have had problems getting the drama to fit into the time slot. The
parts of “Soldier” and “Commie” (yes, that was the exact name
for the role on the script) were originally assigned to Paul Dubov.
The “Commie” role was dropped. The “Interrogator” role was
assigned to Fritz Feld; the role of “Guard” was added as a double
for him.
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