Jerome Thor stars in the second performance of a Larry Marcus and Robert Light script about a necktie sales representative who finds an apartment where he can sleep after the long days of selling his goods. The landlady originally said she had no apartment for him, but after sizing him up, she decides to show him a room that was being held for a tenant who was away. The room was untouched, and had not been lived in, for ten years! It belonged to a young woman, Laverne, who was trying to start a stage career. He senses that she is around… and hears her voice… and her crying. What happened to her? He’s intent on finding out what happened.
Lloyd Nolan starred in the original 1945 broadcast. Details about that broadcast and other aspects of the production can be found at
https://suspenseproject.blogspot.com/2023/07/1945-11-22-nineteen-deacon-street.html
https://archive.org/details/TSP451122 which is where the recordings can be found for download or streaming.
This episode was recorded on Friday, January 17, 1958. Rehearsal began at 12:30pm and ended at 3:00pm. Recording began at that time, and including in-studio edits concluded at 5:30pm. Post-production edits were done in the early days of the following week.
The exact title is still an open question. The script has a comma after the word “nineteen.” It appears that the CBS publicity department sent newspapers had the title as “19 Deacon Street.”
There are two surviving recordings of the episode, both from the Armed Forces Radio Service (AFRS#965 and an unidentified recording that is likely AFRS#666). AFRS#965 is the better recording. The two recordings can be differentiated by the announcement after the Robson opening monologue:
likely AFRS#666: the work of the FBI
AFRS#965: NATO
No network recording has survived. Ad spots were for Kent cigarettes, Grove Laboratories, and Ex-Lax. An additional ad spot was allocated closer to the broadcast date.
He was not related to actor and announcer Larry Thor. Both adopted “Thor” as their stage names. Jerome’s actual name was Jerome Perlmutter. Larry Thor’s name was derived from his last name, Arnlelfur Lawrence Thorsteinson. Larry was best known for his role in Broadway Is My Beat as “Lt. Danny Clover.” Because his voice became so recognizable as a police officer, Elliott Lewis regularly cast him in Suspense in those roles, somewhat as an inside joke, as if there was a rule “if it’s a cop, Larry has to play it.”
LISTEN
TO THE PROGRAM or download in FLAC or
mp3
https://archive.org/details/TSP580126
THE CAST
Jerome Thor (Maury Swartz), Paula Winslowe (Landlady), Sydna Scott (Laverne / Voice), Jack Kruschen (Little Joe), Ted de Corsia (Jasper Florenz), Norm Alden (Officer), George Walsh (Narrator)
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