DeForest Kelley makes his only Suspense appearance as a talent agent, also referred to with the disparaging term, “flesh peddler.” He’s visiting a carnival with his wife. She cajoles him into sitting through a ventriloquist act. He’s not optimistic, but he does it anyway and is impressed with the remarkable skill of the ventriloquist but not the barely-comedic routine. He tries to meet with him, but he is discouraged from doing so by one of the carnival employees. He finally meets with him, but is turned away.
Daws Butler plays a dim-witted knife thrower, and it is amusing to hear him in the role. He mistakenly thinks that the talent agent is for him. He makes the point, however, that carnival folks stick together, and don’t like meddlers. He persists and learns that the ventriloquist “lost his mind” many years ago. He is tortured by the idea that he murdered a woman many years ago. The agent persists and is turned away again. The ventriloquist surprises him with a phone call after midnight, and asks for a visit to his trailer. He has changed his mind… and tells the story. He says that he saw the woman, and stalked her when he realized he had fallen in love with her. She spurned him, however. He was so distraught with her rejection that he shot her. It’s then that the story takes a very, very strange and unbelievable turn and we learn why his ventriloquist act was so much better than others.
This episode was the first script by Robert Juhren, who worked in the CBS transcription department. His other Suspense scripts were Shadow on the Wall and The Amateur. Years later, he contributed 30 scripts to CBS Radio Mystery Theater.
CBS spelled DeForest Kelley's first and last names incorrectly in the show publicity as “DeForrest Kelly.”
Kelley’s first movie was the 1947 Fear in the Night. The underlying story was by Cornell Woolrich (but published as William Irish). That same story was used on Suspense with the title “Nightmare” on 1948-03-13. The film can be viewed at https://archive.org/details/Fear_in_the_Night
This episode was recorded on Friday, July 12, 1957. Rehearsal began at 2:00pm and concluded at 5:00pm. Recording began at that time and was completed with editing by 7:00pm.
There are two surviving recordings, and both are in very pleasing sound. The network recording may be preferred because it was the way it was first heard by listeners. The Armed Forces Radio Service recording (AFRS#947) has equivalent sound quality.
DeForest Kelley is introduced in William N. Robson’s monologue as “a bright new luminary in the Hollywood firmament.” (The comment reminds one of the old saw that it takes many years to become an overnight success). Kelley was relatively busy in Hollywood, especially in television. His bigger break before this Suspense appearance was as Morgan Earp in Gunfight at the O.K. Corral. It did not make him a star, however. The supporting television roles continued. He got the big break. He achieved celebrity status for his role as “Dr. McCoy” on the original Star Trek. His career and life are profiled at Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DeForest_Kelley
LISTEN
TO THE PROGRAM or download in FLAC or
mp3
https://archive.org/details/TSP570804
THE CAST
DeForest Kelley (Peter Harris), D. J. Thompson (Bernice), Gretchen Kanne (Gloria), Daws Butler (Barker / Arthur), Howard McNear (Alexander Wilson), Dick Beals (Oliver the Dummy), George Walsh (Narrator)
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