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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