Richard Crenna stars in the second broadcast of this William N. Robson script that is about a man who decides to leave his old life and start new. His old life still claws him back. The story is actually about Robson’s experience with the CBS Blacklist that banned him from the network for about four years. It was originally broadcast on 1955-03-08 as Nobody Ever Quits. This is the first time that Robson is producing this script that is essentially about himself.
The name was changed before broadcast, but was done in time for CBS publicity to release the new title to newspapers.
The details about that first broadcast and Robson’s ordeal are an important part of Suspense and CBS Radio history. That information can be found at:
https://suspenseproject.blogspot.com/2024/12/1955-03-08-nobody-ever-quits.html
https://archive.org/details/TSP550308 is where recordings of that first broadcast can be downloaded or streamed.
There are two surviving Armed Forces Radio Service recordings of this episode. They can be differentiated by the announcements after Robson’s opening monologue:
AFRS #648: warnings about counterfeiting, and an explanation of the Secret Service
AFRS (number unknown likely in the 940s): description of Communist government operations
The recordings are actually fairly close in sound quality. The AFRS recording without the AFRS number is slightly better sounding and preferred recording. No network recording is known to have survived.
The program was recorded on Thursday, September 12, 1957. Rehearsal began at 2:00pm and finished at 5:00pm. Recording commenced at that time and was completed with editing at 7:00pm.
LISTEN
TO THE PROGRAM or download in FLAC or
mp3
https://archive.org/details/TSP570915
THE CAST
Richard Crenna (Walt, alias Joey Parino), Ann Diamond (Sally / 2nd Operator), Norma Jean Nilsson (First Operator), Joe De Santis (Big Pete Parelli / Dad), Peter Leeds (Bat), Barney Phillips (Sergeant Toohey), Sam Pierce (Highway Patrol radio announcer), George Walsh (Narrator)
The original casting was for De Santis to double as “Bat” and “Dad,” and for Nilsson to double as “Sally” and “1st Operator.” Diamond was originally cast as “2nd Operator” and then assigned to double as “Sally.”
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