Jim Ameche stars in a Morris Lee Green and William Walker script about a man, Eddie, being stalked and threatened by the ex-husband of his wife. Her “ex-,” Carl, accuses Eddie of cavorting with her while she was still married, but that was not true. But Carl won’t listen to reason. Carl even kills the family dog. Eddie does whatever he can to try to stop the harassment. He goes to the police to try to have Carl arrested, but they can really do nothing. He sees a lawyer to find out if they can have Carl committed; it’s not really practical. Eddie is so very spooked by the threats and his helplessness that he can barely get through the day. He sees Carl everywhere he looks. The storyline seems to be headed down a familiar path, but it has a surprise ending that makes it a worthwhile listen.
Ameche has a much better performance in this episode than he did in the earlier Affair at Loveland Pass.
The program was recorded on Wednesday, September 17, 1958. Rehearsal began at 2:00pm, followed by recording at 4:30pm. That session included in-studio edits until 6:00pm. Additional production edits were completed by 8:00pm.
Two recordings have survived. The network recording is a heavily edited home recorded aircheck from WJR in Detroit. It is in low quality sound. The Armed Forces Radio Service recording (AFRS#702) is the much preferred recording.
Of the four ad slots in the network program, GMC Trucks and Congoleum flooring were booked at the time of recording. The two other slots were allocated before broadcast. The home aircheck recording does not have commercials because they were edited out.
At the conclusion of the broadcast, the next show was announced as The Wait. For some reason, this is edited out of the WJR aircheck, but it is in the hard copy of the script. There was no broadcast the following week, September 28, however. Many of the CBS affiliates had broadcast contracts with NFL football teams to broadcast their games. Suspense was tentatively moved to Saturday evenings at the beginning of October to allow for affiliates to carry football broadcasts if they had such arrangements. The Wait was finally broadcast on Saturday, October 4, 1958. (NOTE: The Wait is not mentioned in the AFRS recording, either. The title of the upcoming episode was almost always edited out by AFRS recordings because Armed Forces Radio stations played Suspense in the order in which they received the discs. Shipments did not always follow the chronological order of the network broadcasts, and AFRS show numbering was not always congruent with the broadcast order).
The title “No Hiding Place” was used again, in 1961, for a much different story. The plot of that episode was about a family’s attempt to prepare to live in their bomb shelter, but they are trapped in the shelter by a mudslide.
LISTEN
TO THE PROGRAM or download in FLAC or
mp3
https://archive.org/details/TSP580921
THE CAST
JIM AMECHE (Eddie), Larry Dobkin (Lawyer / Sergeant / Cop), Shirley Mitchell (Sue), Barney Phillips (Carl), Jack Kruschen (Detective / Bartender), Wendell Holmes (D. A.), Bill James (Dog), George Walsh (Narrator)
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