1960-03-13 Revolution

Rosemary Rice and Phil Meeder star in a Peter Fernandez story about a honeymoon couple traveling in Latin America. They get caught in a political uprising and attempted assassination of the faltering dictator striving to stay in power. The husband takes a picture of the dictator at a rally just before shots are fired. Government police find them and confiscate the camera. They are detained until they produce a print of the picture of the incident that shows the identity of the shooters. But their film, implied as being developed and processed by the police, only shows pictures of the happy couple in front of local landmarks. The couple is incarcerated, and suspect that the police are part of the traitor group’s strategy to overthrow the dictator and his government. They are threatened with death unless they produce the picture, but the husband realizes he accidentally left the lens cap on the camera, and there is no picture of the assassination attempt. They can be released, except the police know that the couple figured out that the police are part of the conspiracy. The couple is driven away for their planned elimination. The couple’s terrifying experience eventually has a fortunate ending when a psychological ruse succeeds to free them by an unexpected rescuer.

The program was recorded on Tuesday, March 8, 1960. Rehearsal began at 3:00pm and ended at 6:30pm. Recording was done from 6:30pm to 7:00pm.

Two recordings have survived. The network recording is a WROW aircheck and is very listenable. The Armed Forces Radio Service recording (AFRS#777) has cleaner, richer sound, and is the preferred one of the two.

LISTEN TO THE PROGRAM or download in FLAC or mp3
https://archive.org/details/TSP600313

THE CAST

Rosemary Rice (Elizabeth), Santos Ortega (Captain Santos), Jim Boles (Lieutenant Soto), Ralph Camargo (Garcia), Ronald Dawson (Sergeant Rivera / double), Phil Meeder (Bob)

###

1960-03-06 Sleep Is for Children

Elspeth Eric stars in a script by Ralph Bell and Eugene Francis about a serial killer who wants to discourage the inflow of new residents in an upscale suburban housing development. It is in conflict with the area’s simpler rural life. There are no clues and or pattern to the killings other than the victim was home alone. As the story opens, we learn that it’s the “eggman,” the man who raises and delivers the eggs that families use to their doorstep, a bit of rural charm that probably attracted many of those new homeowners. The long-time residents can see the writing on the wall about their rural way of life. One of the residents, the killer, decides to take a vicious approach in defiance of the cascade of new residents.

There is a little girl in the story who tests her parent’s patience in what might be called “Oppositional Defiant Disorder” by some psychologists today. She learns at the end of the story that she can’t always get what she wants. An important scene is that she leaves one of her roller skates out in a hallway, causing her father to fall and bump his head. That sets up a plot element that is used later.

After the 20:45 mark in the network recording and 19:45 in the AFRS recording, the end of the story is negatively affected by what seem to be amateurish sound effects and wooden acting at that point.

One of the story elements is a call to the police, with the caller asking a telephone operator to accomplish it. The “911” service that is often taken for granted today was about 10 years away for many areas in the US, with some getting it as early as 1968. It revolutionized deployment of legal, fire, and medical response teams.

Refrigeration and proximity to supermarkets reduced the need for home delivery of milk, dairy products, and eggs. Most delivery services ended in the 1970s. There are some specialty dairies that still offer the services in limited areas. For the remote and growing housing development in the story, eggmen were being elbowed out to supermarkets, and were a part of the story’s “the city is moving to the country” theme.

The program was recorded on Tuesday, March 1, 1960. Rehearsal began at 3:00pm and ended at 6:30pm. Recording was done from 6:30pm to 7:00pm.

The working title of the script, and sent out in newspaper publicity, was “Sleeping is for Children.”

Two recordings have survived. The network recording is a WROW aircheck and is very listenable. The Armed Forces Radio Service recording (AFRS#776) has cleaner, richer sound, and is the preferred one of the two. The recording was not released with the usual “And now…” opening.

LISTEN TO THE PROGRAM or download in FLAC or mp3
https://archive.org/details/TSP600306

THE CAST

Elspeth Eric (Ellen Gordon), Ralph Bell (Walter Gordon), Sarah Fussell (Stephanie Gordon), Bill Adams (Beppler), Betty Garde (Rosa), Ruth Tobin (Mrs. Worth), Peter Fernandez (Joe), Sam Gray (Cop), Eugene Francis (Newscaster)

###

1960-02-28 Lt. Langer's Last Collection

Film and Broadway actor Frank Milan stars in a George Bamber story about a corrupt policeman has a heart attack and suddenly needs help from a man was blackmailing. Lieutenant Langer transformed from an honest rookie cop to a corrupt one as he moved through his career. He developed an extortion racket on ex-cons who might have been falling back to their old ways, getting payments from them to “look the other way” when they were suspected of committing crimes again. He visits Bruno, a pawnbroker who served time in prison, but seems to be fencing stolen goods. He asks him for $2000, which is more than $21,500 in US$2025 value! Langer soon has the beginnings of a heart attack and finds himself helpless on the sidewalk. He is belittled those who pass him, whether rich or poor. His symptoms make him seem very drunk, making him easy to dismiss and move on. Suddenly, he has to rely on Bruno, the man he was extorting, to get help. Bruno is joined by a newly commissioned officer as honest as Langer was when he was a new cop, making a strange juxtaposition in a pattern that is implied may repeat itself again in the new officer’s career.

A story that included similar reactions by passersby to a person having problems in public and being accosted by a homeless person is 1958-05-11 Subway Stop with Skip Homeier.

The program was recorded on Tuesday, February 23, 1960. Rehearsal began at 3:00pm and ended at 6:30pm. Recording was done from 6:30pm to 7:00pm.

Two recordings have survived. The network recording is a WROW aircheck and is very listenable. The Armed Forces Radio Service recording (AFRS#775) has cleaner, richer sound, and is the preferred one of the two.

Bamber likely used the script again for ABC Radio’s Theatre 5 series as “A Cup of Snow for Lt. Vogel.” Newspaper listings indicate a similar plotline. A recording of that broadcast is one of the few missing from that series, and cannot be verified unless it or a script is found.

LISTEN TO THE PROGRAM or download in FLAC or mp3
https://archive.org/details/TSP600228

THE CAST

Frank Milan (Lt. Langer), Murray Forbes (Bruno), Frank Thomas, Jr. (Chino), Ginger Jones (Woman), Jack Grimes (Eddie), Ian Martin (Wino), William Mason (Reardon)

Nelson Olmstead was originally cast as Reardon.

###

1960-02-21 The Crank Letter

Lyle Sudrow plays a highly respected surgeon in a Walter Black story. He portrays middle-aged "Dr. Donald Frazier," a surgeon whose life is tormented by an incident from the distant past. He appeals for police protection to avoid the doom threatened in a “crank letter” he received. A police lieutenant, who happens to be a patient of the doctor, tries to assure the unnerved doctor. He says that only one percent of the poison pen letters are written by dangerous people, but he does approve a bodyguard for him. Despite that close vigilance, more threatening notes reach the doctor’s desk. The most likely suspect is absolved by the intervention of an anonymous person who offers a new clue. The story, however, turns into a psychological drama about guilt about the death of a person whom the doctor knew many years ago. It is clear who the tormentor was; once known, the doctor’s fears are alleviated. The story is not Suspense at its best, nor is it “New York Suspense” at its best, either.

The program was recorded on Tuesday, February 16, 1960. Rehearsal began at 3:00pm and ended at 6:30pm. Recording was done from 6:30pm to 7:00pm.

Two recordings have survived. The network recording is a WROW aircheck and is very listenable. The Armed Forces Radio Service recording (AFRS#774) has cleaner, richer sound, and is the preferred one of the two.

LISTEN TO THE PROGRAM or download in FLAC or mp3
https://archive.org/details/TSP600221

THE CAST

Lyle Sudrow (Dr. Donald Frazier), Les Damon (Lt. Paul Neeman), Larry Haines (Fred Gilbert), Phil Meeder (the young Donald Frazier), Walter Black (Detective Evans)

###

1960-02-14 Sorry, Wrong Number

This broadcast was a re-use of the 1957 recording. That was the final last time Moorehead performed this famous Lucille Fletcher story for Suspense.

CBS publicity in their newspaper press releases did their best to imply that this 1960 broadcast was a new, live performance, or that there was a newly recorded production. It was not. It might be the only time that Suspense had a rerun or a previous recording. New “wrappers” by Stuart Metz were recorded on Tuesday, February 9, 1960. Additional editing of the 1957 recording was done to integrate those recordings and adjust for other aspects of the New York format.

These are links to the prior recordings and information the legendary episode. The first one is the most important one in terms of historical information and behind the scenes details about this fascinating script:

1943-05-25 (this has the most detailed background about the script and debunks many myths about the broadcast)

• https://suspenseproject.blogspot.com/2023/02/1943-05-25-sorry-wrong-number.html

• https://archive.org/details/TSP430525 is where recordings can be downloaded or streamed

1943-08-21

• https://suspenseproject.blogspot.com/2023/03/1943-08-21-sorry-wrong-number.html

• https://archive.org/details/TSP430821 is where recordings can be downloaded or streamed

1944-02-24

• https://suspenseproject.blogspot.com/2023/03/1944-02-24-sorry-wrong-number.html

• https://archive.org/details/TSP440224 is where recordings can be downloaded or streamed

1945-09-06

• https://suspenseproject.blogspot.com/2023/06/1945-09-06-sorry-wrong-number.html

• https://archive.org/details/TSP450906 is where recordings can be downloaded or streamed

1948-11-18 (the final live broadcast)

• https://suspenseproject.blogspot.com/2023/12/1948-11-18-sorry-wrong-number.html

• https://archive.org/details/TSP481118 is where recordings can be downloaded or streamed

1952-09-15 (the missing episode, and the first pre-recorded episode, with an interesting history)

• https://suspenseproject.blogspot.com/2024/08/1952-09-15-sorry-wrong-number-still.html

1957-10-20 (the final recorded episode)

• https://suspenseproject.blogspot.com/2025/04/1957-10-20-sorry-wrong-number.html

• https://archive.org/details/TSP571020 is where recordings can be downloaded or streamed

Two recordings have survived. The network recording is a WROW aircheck and is very listenable. The station was in the midst of doing its station ID and time check, and seems to be missing the “And now…” portion of the show opening from the network feed. This is curious, as the Armed Forces Radio Service recording (AFRS#773) is also missing the “And now…” opening. It may not have been part of the network feed for that day; no reason for the difference compared to other weeks is known. AFRS#773 has somewhat cleaner, richer sound, and is the preferred one of the two.

LISTEN TO THE PROGRAM or download in FLAC or mp3
https://archive.org/details/TSP600214

THE CAST

AGNES MOOREHEAD (Mrs. Stevenson), Jeanette Nolan (Chief Operator / Information), Virginia Gregg (Operator), Ellen Morgan (Henchley Hospital woman), Joe de Santis (George), Byron Kane (Boss’ voice / Western Union), Norm Alden (Sergeant Martin)

###

1960-02-07 The Mystery of Marie Roget

Jackson Beck stars in the second production of the Edgar Allan Poe story published in 1842. The script is by E. Jack Neuman. Roget might be considered an early “true crime” story. Poe’s inspiration was a news story about a young woman, Cecilia Rogers, who was murdered and her body thrown into New York City’s East River. Poe was fascinated with the story, but was far from the scene and constructed his story and perspective about the crime from sketchy newspaper accounts. When the killer was found, the story’s parallels with the actual facts were surprising. Poe had already written such details into his story… but the real-life details, including the identity of the murderer, affirmed his line of thinking… through the Dupin character.

The original production starred Cornel Wilde; details of that and the original Poe story can be found at

• https://suspenseproject.blogspot.com/2024/09/1953-12-14-mystery-of-marie-roget.html

• https://archive.org/details/TSP531214 is where recordings can be downloaded and streamed.

The program was recorded on Tuesday, February 2, 1960. Rehearsal began at 3:00pm and ended at 6:30pm. Recording was done from 6:30pm to 7:00pm.

Two recordings have survived. The network recording is a WROW aircheck and is very listenable. The Armed Forces Radio Service recording (AFRS#772) has cleaner, richer sound, and is the preferred one of the two.

LISTEN TO THE PROGRAM or download in FLAC or mp3
https://archive.org/details/TSP600207

THE CAST

Jackson Beck (Dupin), Robert Dryden (The Prefect), Ethel Everett (Dulac), Jim Boles (Anatomist), Abby Lewis (Marie / Madam), Guy Repp (Bouvet), Ronald Dawson (Judge)

###

1960-01-31 End of the Road

THIS IS THE SECOND TIME THIS TITLE WAS USED AND IS A MUCH DIFFERENT STORY THAN THE 1947-02-06 CAR SALESMAN STORYLINE. THIS STORY IS ABOUT SPOUSAL ABUSE AND FAMILY DYSFUNCTION.

Rita Lloyd and Bernard Grant star in a disturbing story of a cover-girl's disastrous love and marriage to a brutally envious ex-convict. Although constantly afraid of her husband, Willie Luciano, model Mary Gardner believed her love would eventually overcome her husband's disposition to periodic outbursts of temper violence. She worries that her husband is working in illegal activities to support the family because he can’t hold a regular job. He is provoked this time by his wife and child are fashion models and they Luciano is upset because she uses the last name “Gardner” rather than his name “Luciano,” even though “Gardner” was their professional name before the marriage. He gives her a black eye which means that she can’t do the photo shoot gig with her young daughter that she just agreed to by phone with the modeling agency. The district attorney and her lawyer offer advice to protect her and her daughter from a prior marriage. The DA had successfully prosecuted Luciano before, so he was familiar with him. They involve gathering information that will first lead to protection, and eventually divorce. But she has to be serious about charging with abandonment or possibly adultery, which is suspected. Later, Luciano visits her and she misses a meeting with the DA. She calls and claims they had reconciled. The DA and the lawyer are skeptical, and the DA refuses to act further, but tells the lawyer to follow up in six months. That seems to be the all the time it took… and then there’s a turn in the course of events… that underscores how deep the trouble was that the relationship was actually in.

The story is of its time, and some of the attitude of the district attorney, especially at the end, would not be acceptable today. Much more is known about spousal abuse and family dysfunction today than about 70 years ago when the story was first on Indictment. It is understandable that Paul Roberts would want to use what he considered a compelling and emotional story like this script on Suspense. When it was used on Indictment, the episode may have received strong positive reaction for raising the issue of domestic abuse to greater attention, especially at a time when such acts tended to be hidden. It does not fit the typical Suspense tradition, for sure, and does seem out of place. That is made more so by the subject matter in the context modern sensibilities and information as it is listened to today.

This script was used twice on Indictment, 1957-12-29 and then 1958-11-16. The lead character on Indictment was assistant district attorney McCormick, and the re-used scripts for Suspense usually have his name crossed out and replaced by “Morgan,” with the other characters being unchanged. Some of the Indictment characters are portrayed by the very same actors in the Suspense productions. (Many thanks to researcher Karl Schadow who viewed the Indictment scripts archived at the Library of Congress).

The program was recorded on Thursday, January 21, 1960. Rehearsal began at 3:00pm and ended at 6:30pm. Recording was done from 6:30pm to 7:00pm.

Two recordings have survived. The network recording is a WROW aircheck and is very listenable. The Armed Forces Radio Service recording (AFRS#771) has cleaner, richer sound, and is the preferred one of the two.

LISTEN TO THE PROGRAM or download in FLAC or mp3
https://archive.org/details/TSP600131

THE CAST

Bernard Grant (Willie Luciano), Rita Lloyd (Mary Luciano), John Seymour (Linden the lawyer), Nat Polen (Mr. Morgan), Rita Sergel (Phone Voice)

###

1960-01-24 Turn About

Leonard Stone stars in a Jay Bennett story about a man with distorted ideas of justice. A close friend of long standing, a publicly respected stock broker, invites himself to the home of the District Attorney for dinner. The DA’s wife cook’s the man’s favorite meal, even though it is on short notice, showing how close the relationship of these men is. After an evening of congeniality, he announces that he is the perpetrator of a vengeful homicide the DA is investigating. He demands that a suspect now being held be prosecuted by the DA. He kills the family cat… and explains that is what can happen to them if he does not get what he wants. He seizes the wife and son as hostages until the innocent man has been framed and sentenced to death. The mother of the framed man has something to say about it in the surprising conclusion.

This story is adapted and revised from a script for Alfred Hitchcock Presents by Bennett and Sarett Tobias, My Brother, Richard that was broadcast on 1957-01-20. Bennett was the writer of Grand Central Station’s famous holiday story Miracle for Christmas. He also wrote for Bulldog Drummond, The Falcon, The Kate Smith Show, and others. He was wrote many television plays for many series in the 1950s. In his later career, Bennett wrote juvenile mystery novels and won two Edgar Awards from the Mystery Writers of America in the 1970s.

The program was recorded on Tuesday, January 19, 1960. Rehearsal began at 3:00pm and ended at 6:30pm. Recording was done from 6:30pm to 7:00pm.

Two recordings have survived. The network recording is a WROW aircheck and is very listenable. The Armed Forces Radio Service recording (AFRS#770) has cleaner sound and is the preferred one of the two.

The title on the script is “Turn About,” in two words. It was in newspapers as “Turnabout,” indicating that CBS publicity had the incorrect title.

Leonard Stone was appearing on Broadway and doing television work at the time of this broadcast. Through the 1960s and 1970s he was one of those very busy actors who was in numerous productions but no one in the public really knew who he was. He was one of those actors who is in the category of “It’s that guy… who was in that thing…” This episode was his only documented radio performance. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leonard_Stone

LISTEN TO THE PROGRAM or download in FLAC or mp3
https://archive.org/details/TSP600124

THE CAST

Leonard Stone (Walter Carlton), Neil Fitzgerald (Robert), Raymond Edward Johnson (Judge), Larry Haines (Cobb), Katharine Emmet (Mother Swenson), Ginger Jones (Emily Ross), Peter Lazer (Billy Ross), Melville Ruick (Martin Ross), Frank Milano (cat)

Roles of Robert Donley (Swenson), Arthur Hughes (Clerk) were cut from the script or deleted from the recording in editing in preparation for broadcast.

###

1960-01-17 The Time, the Place and the Death

Eric Dressler plays “Henry,” a man who believes the prognostication of a fortune teller and prepares for the end of his life. The script is by Peter Fernandez, who also appears in the production. Henry has consulted fortune tellers on every decision he has had to make in his life, including his financial investments and romances. He is wealthy, happy and submissive to the demands of destiny. Therefore, he docilely accepts the “inevitable,” but his confidence in the hand of fate eventually suffers a shock as he makes final preparations for leaving this world. He sets the time, the place, and the specific fatal accident he will have walking down a staircase with a broken step. Friends Irene and Joseph are skeptical of it all, until Joseph learns how serious he actually is. Irene gasps in shock when Joseph tells her that Henry will be leaving all his money to her. When Joseph suggests that they kill him to be sure she gets the money (with some for him, of course), she suddenly moves from shock to interest in making it happen. They decide to poison him with arsenic. When Henry arrives to visit, they offer him a drink, but he refuses. He’s just three minutes away from the proscribed time to descend the staircase… and he survives because he’s too careful walking down the stairs! Now he thinks he will live forever. It’s an amusing end to an outlandish story.

The program was recorded on Tuesday, January 12, 1960. Rehearsal began at 3:00pm and ended at 6:30pm. Recording was done from 6:30pm to 7:00pm.

Two recordings have survived. The network recording is a WROW aircheck and is listenable. The Armed Forces Radio Service recording (AFRS#769) has richer sound and is the preferred one of the two.

This script was re-used for the ABC Radio series Theatre 5, episode #132, which was broadcast on 1965-02-02.

LISTEN TO THE PROGRAM or download in FLAC or mp3
https://archive.org/details/TSP600117

THE CAST

Eric Dressler (Henry), Bryna Raeburn (the Signora Eugenia), Claudia Morgan (Irene), Peter Fernandez (Salesman), Maurice Tarplin (Rudy), Mercer MacLeod (Joseph), Dwight Weist (Clerk), Edwin Wolfe (Caretaker)

###

1960-01-10 The Long Night (home invasion storyline, not the aviation story)

IMPORTANT NOTE: THIS TITLE WAS USED BEFORE ON SUSPENSE. THIS 1960 PRODUCTION IS A MUCH DIFFERENT STORY THAN THE CLASSIC AVIATION PLAY BY LOWELL BLANTON THAT STARRED FRANK LOVEJOY.

Bill Adams and Ellen McRae star as a married couple whose home is invaded by an escaped psychopathic killer. The script was by Walter Black, who is also in the cast. Shortly after an alarm is spread through an isolated community that warns citizens that a psychopathic killer has escaped from a nearby institution, a man claiming to be a sheriff's assistant enters the home of an elderly, reputedly wealthy farmer and his young wife. Once inside, the man identifies himself as the armed maniac and demands shelter and money to escape. Another couple having car trouble was already innocently at the home to call for help. The maniac terrorizes them all and threatens them to cooperate or else he will become violent. He has heard that the farmer has a lot of money saved and his prudent and simple life belies significant wealth. Everything begins to unravel as the truth about the intruder is realized with a radio news report. The tension of the situation leads to an unexpected climax.

The program was recorded on Tuesday, January 5, 1960. Rehearsal began at 3:00pm and ended at 6:00pm. Recording was done from 6:30pm to 7:00pm.

“Uncle” Bill Adams was the “chief pretender” on the long-running popular radio children’s series Let’s Pretend.

Two recordings have survived. The network recording is a WROW aircheck and is very listenable. The Armed Forces Radio Service recording (AFRS#768) has richer sound and is the preferred one of the two.

LISTEN TO THE PROGRAM or download in FLAC or mp3
https://archive.org/details/TSP600110

THE CAST

Ellen McRae (Betty Lou Meeker), Bill Adams (Vern Meeker), Sam Gray (“George Porter” / Bill), Charlotte Manson (Patricia Jeffries), Herb Duncan (Tom Jeffries / newscaster), Walter Black (sheriff)

###

1960-01-03 Zero Hour

Nine-year-old Francie Myers stars in this third Suspense production of the favorite Ray Bradbury story that was first presented on Escape. The story was adapted by Antony Ellis. The plot involves an invasion of Earth that relies on the cooperation of children and the cluelessness of their parents.

1955-04-05 Isa Ashdown: Details about the first Suspense broadcast starring Isa Ashdown and further background of the story can be found at

• https://suspenseproject.blogspot.com/2024/12/suspense-1955-04-05-zero-hour.html

• https://archive.org/details/TSP550405 and is where recordings can be downloaded and streamed.

1958-05-18 Evelyn Rudie: Details about the second broadcast and Rudie’s second series appearance (after Dog Star a few months prior)and further background of the story can be found at

• https://suspenseproject.blogspot.com/2025/05/1958-05-18-zero-hour.html

• https://archive.org/details/TSP580518 and is where recordings can be downloaded and streamed.

“Francie Myers” was also appearing on early television as a child actor and moved on to have mainly television roles billed as “Fran Myers.” She eventually had a long and successful career writing network TV soap operas, such as Days of Our Lives and Another World, and also acted in The Guiding Light.

The program was recorded on Tuesday, December 29, 1959. Rehearsal began at 3:00pm and ended at 6:00pm. Recording was done from 6:30pm to 7:00pm.

Two recordings have survived. The network recording is a WROW aircheck and is very listenable. The Armed Forces Radio Service recording (AFRS#767) has much richer sound and is the preferred one of the two.

LISTEN TO THE PROGRAM or download in FLAC or mp3
https://archive.org/details/TSP600103

THE CAST

Francie Myers (Mink Morris), John Gibson (Henry), Ginger Jones (Mrs. Morris), Sarah Fussell (Anna, Mink’s Friend), Vivian Smolen (Helen)

###

1959-12-27 Moonlight Sail

Frankie Thomas stars in this William N. Robson script as “Steve,” a charter boat captain on the French Riviera. He is assisted in his adventures by his first mate, Marius. Steve is hired by a man named “Jacques” for an “out and back” two-hour moonlight sail with a young woman. It’s implied to be a romantic excursion, but when the man gets on board with the woman, things seem different, and the itinerary is changed south toward Africa. When the man’s attention is diverted, the woman, Adele, approaches Steve in a panic, asking where here fiancé, Chuck Dawson, is. The man grabs her and tells her to she will know “everything in good time.” The man is soon seen trying to push the woman overboard. Steve turns the boat around and heads back to shore. It is learned that Adele is being kidnapped and the man hired by Chuck’s mother to disrupt her marriage intentions with Chuck. The mother is a wealthy woman, and does not want Adele to marry Chuck, and may have hired the man to kill her! Steve sneaks near the home of the mother, and overhears her speaking with Jacques, discussing a new plan to throw Adele out of the balcony of her tall building! Steve finds Adele and explains she is in danger, and that he knows Chuck is fine and is at the casino. He lowers her by rope from her room to Marius who takes her to safety. In the meantime, Jacques sneaks into the room expecting to throw Adele over the balcony, but Steve immobilizes him and sends him to the fate that Jacques planned for Adele. Steve climbs down the rope and joins Marius and Adele at the boat, and they head to the casino. Adele finally sees Chuck, and Steve tells them to find a place to get married before the mother has a chance to act against them. And they all live happily ever after, it seems.

Moonlight Sail was most definitely a script Robson wrote when he was exiled from CBS and was producing the Errol Flynn radio series The Modern Adventures of Casanova for Mutual. Mutual was not skilled in its publicity efforts. The series is listed in timetables but there is rarely and plotline information. Reviews for the series were rather... gruesome. The episodes were panned for their light and outlandish plots, and this episode is a good example of it.

No script can be found to identify the program recording date.

There are two surviving recordings. The network aircheck is very good. There is an Armed Forces Radio Service recording (AFRS#766) that is the better of the two.

Thomas is making his third Suspense appearance with this as his only starring role. He was a successful child actor and continued his career, unlike many child performers, well into adulthood. He was very active in early television. He became known among nostalgia fans for his television role in Tom Corbett, Space Cadet. He was also a writer, and composed scripts for the ABC Radio series Theatre 5.

Also in the cast is Joan Lazer, the older sister of Peter Lazer, who starred in the 1959-08-30 episode A Matter of Execution. Joan had a slightly longer radio career than Peter, and also made many appearances on the series Eternal Light.

LISTEN TO THE PROGRAM or download in FLAC or mp3
https://archive.org/details/TSP591227

THE CAST

Frank Thomas, Jr. (Steve), Luis Van Rooten (Jacques), Jim Boles, Joan Lazer (Adele), Ethel Waite Owen (Mrs. Dawson), Jack Manning (Chuck), Sam Raskyn (customs guard), Guy Repp (croupier)

###

1959-12-20 A Korean Christmas Carol

Bill Lipton stars in a script George Bamber wrote while he was serving in Korea and was assigned to the Armed Forces Korea Network station as an announcer. When his military commitment was completed, he was working at the CBS mail room in Los Angeles, and submitted the script to William N. Robson. It was rejected. Bamber submitted it to Paul Roberts when he became the show’s producer, and Roberts accepted it. This was Bamber’s first radio script. It was performed on his station sometime between 1955 and 1957 with a cast of co-workers who were also assigned there. They produced their own sound effects, including recording some of the trucks they used, since there were no sound effects records at the station.

The story takes place in Korea in the early 1950s. Lipton plays US Army Private First Class Larry Connelly. He has a mystical experience in the course of duty while driving on a lonely highway. He was ordered by his sergeant to drive a truck to Seoul and then return on a cold, snowy Christmas Day. Connelly picks up a hitch-hiker who is out of military uniform. He claims he is a GI and tells Connelly how he spent Christmas Day 1951 on some strange duty with others. Connelly listens to the story and it is soon time to drop the GI off at his destination. He drives along a little while and realizes that the GI left his knapsack in the truck. Connelly tries to return it and experiences an eerie adventure he will never forget. The experience has a special warmth of the best of the Christmas season though he is far away from home.

Keep an ear out for the name of the GI and details about him as they are clues to what is learned at the conclusion to tie it all together.

No script can be found to identify the program recording date.

The surviving recording is a complete network aircheck from WROW in very pleasing sound.

LISTEN TO THE PROGRAM or download in FLAC or mp3
https://archive.org/details/TSP591220

THE CAST

Bill Lipton (Pfc. Connolly), Lyle Sudrow (Whitey), Phil Meeder (Soldier), Guy Repp (Walker), Larry Robinson (Brownie), Lawson Zerbe (Harry), Alan Manson (Stevens)

###

1959-12-13 The Country of the Blind

Bernard Grant stars in this second Suspense broadcast of the famous 1904 HG Wells short story. It was presented three prior times on Escape. The story was adapted by John Dunkel.

Grant plays a mountaineer lost in the rocky peaks of Ecuador and finds a valley of blind people, cut off from the world for generations. They have a vibrant society and culture that has found ways to thrive. He lives with them as an outsider, and becomes integrated in their way of life. That is, until they truly want him to be just like them. The story has a surprise ending.

The story was done on Suspense two years earlier with Raymond Burr. Details about that broadcast and the original story are at

• https://suspenseproject.blogspot.com/2025/04/1957-10-27-country-of-blind.html

• https://archive.org/details/TSP571027 is where recordings can be downloaded and streamed

No script can be found to identify the program recording date.

For many years, the only copy of this program was a low quality highly edited network aircheck. The surviving network recording is fully intact and is highly listenable with mildly narrow range. There is an Armed Forces Radio Service recording (AFRS#765) that is the much better of the two.

LISTEN TO THE PROGRAM or download in FLAC or mp3
https://archive.org/details/TSP591213

THE CAST

Bernard Grant (Juan Nuñez), Lynn Loring (Medina-Saroté), Ralph Camargo (Pedro), Arthur Kohl (Señor Cartwright), Jackson Beck (Gregor), Santos Ortega (father)

###

1959-12-06 Dynamite Run

Mason Adams stars in a Peter Fernandez script about a truck driver making his last run as a carrier of explosives. The family needs the extra pay from this very run to afford a nurse for their sick daughter. He promises his wife that this will be last run and he will transport safer cargo after it’s over. He assures his boss that he will not drive faster than 30 miles per hour. So now listeners know the daughter’s care hangs in the balance, he may not live long enough to get an opportunity for that job, and that he’ll be exceeding the self- and cargo-imposed speed limit. These three tension points swirl together when he is forced at gunpoint to pick up a murderer and bank robber. The criminal threatens to shoot into the dynamite unless he is driven where he wants to go and at top speed. The rattled father makes careful decisions about how and where he drives at high speed. He attempts to get police attention while not tipping off his rider who threatened to kill him if he did. It’s a good story and Mason Adams delivers a fine performance.

Adams was a fine radio performer, often heard on Inner Sanctum and other New York shows, but also an exceptional stage, film, and television performer. If the voice sounds familiar, he was the voice of Smucker’s jams and jellies television commercials for many years. He was often on CBS Radio Mystery Theater. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mason_Adams

Peter Fernandez appeared in stage, radio and movies and made his Broadway stage debut with Ethel Barrvmore in Whiteoaks in 1938. He turned to writing radio and TV scripts after establishing himself as an expert in adventure magazine stories in publications such as Texas Rangers, Range Riders, and others. Among nostalgia and anime fans, he was known as the voice of the 1960s series Speed Racer as well as supporting roles for Astro Boy, Gigantor, and others. He was a guest at Friends of Old Time Radio conventions. Fernandez wrote nine Suspense scripts and appeared as a performer eight times, with four of those times in scripts he authored.

Two other Suspense episodes involving hauling of dynamite are 1957-06-23 A Load of Dynamite and 1959-01-18 Ride Down Cajon.

No script can be found to identify the program recording date.

For many years, the only copy of this program was a low quality network aircheck with background noise and narrow range. Now, there is an Armed Forces Radio Service recording (AFRS#764) that is the much better of the two. It has a rich, clean sound.

LISTEN TO THE PROGRAM or download in FLAC or mp3
https://archive.org/details/TSP591206

THE CAST

Mason Adams (Ben), Larry Haines (Zuckert), Elaine Rost (Kate), Jim Boles (Jake), Robert Dryden (Jardine), Herb Duncan (officer 1), Bill Lipton (officer 2)

###

1959-11-29 Leiningen Versus the Ants

Radio veteran and character actor Luis Van Rooten stars in this second Suspense broadcast about “the ants.” The original story was written by Carl Stephenson and was adapted for Escape by Robert Ryf.

The first broadcast on Suspense starred William Conrad. Details about the original short story and its other productions on radio and film are at:

• https://suspenseproject.blogspot.com/2025/04/1957-08-25-leiningen-versus-ants.html

• https://archive.org/details/TSP570825 and is where recordings can be downloaded and streamed.

The Escape productions of this classic episode are considered to be the “gold standard” of this story. The 1957 Suspense production is considered to be better than this 1959 one because of the presence of Conrad and the Hollywood sound effects team. The New York production is very competently produced, with its main problem being that the prior productions have such legendary status.

There is some confusion about the title in this New York production. At the show open, it is “Leiningen Versus the Ants,” but in the closing credits, it is “Leiningen and the Ants.” It is not known if the change was made on the script or if announcer Stuart Metz “flubbed.” It is likely the former and not the latter.

Keith Scott notes that in this New York production, “Leiningen” was pronounced with a hard “g.” That pronunciation was likely what director Paul Roberts believed it should be. He also notes that script adapter Robert Ryf had a surname that rhymed with “life,” but Metz pronounces it as “riff.” That is likely a difference in the New York staff not being familiar with CBS staff writer Robert Ryf personally or the pronunciation one would get from knowing him.

No script can be found to identify the program recording date.

For many years, the only copy of this program was a very low quality network aircheck with background noise and very narrow range. Now, there is an Armed Forces Radio Service recording (AFRS#763) is the much better of the two. It has a rich, clean sound. There is some light background disc scratchiness at the beginning of the recording but it is resolved by the time the drama begins, it is resolved. The recording is new to circulation among hobbyists.

LISTEN TO THE PROGRAM or download in FLAC or mp3
https://archive.org/details/TSP591129

THE CAST

Luis Van Rooten (Leiningen), Martin Blaine (The Commissioner), Ralph Camargo (Blas the Foreman), Ronald Dawson (Vicaru the police officer), Sam Raskyn (Tonayo the worker on horseback)

###

1959-11-22 The Thimble

Whitfield Connor stars as an assistant district attorney who receives a visit just two hours before the burial of a wealthy widow who was a well-known artist. Her only child, a 23-year-old daughter, goes to the police to demand an autopsy be performed because her death was suspicious. The woman was believed to be the victim of a common heart attack after being diagnosed with cardiac issues for many years. The daughter had previously been hospitalized for mental illness, and that fact made people skeptical about the request. She insists that while she might be legally incompetent, she is sane enough to know her mother did not have a heart attack, and believes her doctor was the one who did it. The doctor seems to have unimpeachable credentials, and had even written about police forensics related to the heart. The assistant DA is suspicious, as something does not seem right, and delays the funeral. The medical examiner is requested to do an autopsy and finds something shocking that indicates a homicide, but they are not certain exactly how it was done. All of the people involved, especially the doctor and his wife, the father of the distressed daughter, are questioned before the grand jury meets. The title of the story is a clue. The father’s view of a clock in an art gallery when he picks up a dropped thimble belonging to the doctor’s wife is a key fact for the solution to the case. The killer and the motive for the murder are very surprising.

A thimble is a small pitted cup worn on the finger that protects a finger from being pricked or poked by a needle while pushing it into cloth.

The story was originally broadcast on Indictment 1956-03-04 and was written by Eleazar Lipsky and adapted by Allen Sloane.

No script can be found to identify the program recording date.

For many years, this program circulated in very low quality sound, and there are now two highly listenable recordings available. The network recording is an aircheck from WROW in Albany, New York. The Armed Forces Radio Service recording (AFRS#762) is the much better of the two. It has a rich, clean sound. The recording is new to circulation among hobbyists.

LISTEN TO THE PROGRAM or download in FLAC or mp3
https://archive.org/details/TSP591122

THE CAST

Whitfield Connor (Morgan), Teri Keane (Miss O'Neill), Paul McGrath (Dr. Cypress), Joe de Santis (Detective Russell), Dan Ocko (Uncle), Maurice Tarplin (Dr. Wyman), Ruth Tobin (Miss Brady), Jane Rose (Mrs. Cypress)

###

1959-11-15 The Companion

Virginia Payne stars in a Walter Black script. Payne plays a frail elderly woman sitting out a severe storm with her married daughter and a hired companion. The daughter did not feel comfortable staying with her mother while her husband was traveling, which seems to be often. She believes the marriage is slipping away. The daughter seems obsessed with fear of being robbed or attacked. The companion, Miss Lord, is hired to assist in the mother’s care and with household duties. The mother does not like her from the start. The daughter is a panicky sort, and begins to distrust the companion when supposedly strange things start occurring in the house. During the storm, the daughter finds that the wires that bring phone service to the house have been cut, and she is certain that Miss Lord did it. They are locked in the house, and can’t get out. The daughter takes a gun and confronts Miss Lord, accusing her of having an affair with her husband. She hired Miss Lord in an attempt to stop the affair and possibly even kill her. It seems to be taking a terrible turn, but the husband comes home to bring an end to this terror-filled version of a soap opera. It is clear that the wife has serious psychological issues, and that there was no affair at all.

Virginia Payne was one of radio’s most successful performers, especially for one continuing character. She started playing the elderly Ma Perkins when she was 23 and continued in the role for 27 years.

This is the first of ten Walter Black scripts for Suspense. He was an actor and a writer, mainly for 1950s television, but he also wrote for the legendary Jonny Quest animation series and other 1960s Hanna-Barbera properties. His 1960s and 1970s writing included comedies such as Gilligan’s Island, Green Acres, and Family Affair and mystery-adventure series Hawaii Five-O, Mod Squad, Rawhide, and others. He acts in this episode and most of the other Suspense he authored.

No script can be found to identify the program recording date.

For many years, this program circulated in very low quality sound, and there are now two highly listenable recordings available. Two recordings have survived. The network recording is an aircheck from WROW in Albany, New York. It is in very listenable sound. The close of the recording is slightly clipped. The Armed Forces Radio Service recording (AFRS#761) is the much better of the two. It has a rich, clean sound. The recording is new to circulation among hobbyists.

LISTEN TO THE PROGRAM or download in FLAC or mp3
https://archive.org/details/tsp591115a

THE CAST

Virginia Payne (Mrs. Stinson), Elizabeth Lawrence (Lois Hughes), Rita Lloyd (Miss Lord), Walter Black (Kent Hughes)

###

1959-11-08 The Last Trip

Ralph Bell and Eugene Francis star in a script production they co-authored. Ralph plays “Harry,” a husband, and Eugene plays “Ted,” the man having an affair with Harry’s wife, Myra. Ted and Myra are conspiring to kill Harry so they can be together. The story, however, might have been acceptable in 1959, but would get a lot more scrutiny in modern times. The story involves placing a bomb in Harry’s suitcase. It is timed to explode while in flight. The wife claims it is a “birthday gift” that he should not open until he arrives at his destination. Setting that unsavory and destructive aspect of the story aside, the plan is thwarted by the weather delaying the flight with Harry returning home with his suitcase, with the timer still set. This story almost turns comedic as Ted and Myra have to figure a way to get the suitcase away from Harry so they don’t get caught in the explosion. But it’s hard to enjoy that when you know what the original murder plot was.

It is doubtful that such a script would be approved today (similar to the 1947-10-23 The X-Ray Camera) that would bring so many people to their death just so a couple can selfishly run away together. With today’s screening and other security precautions, the script’s entire concept is obsolete. Airplane security in 1959 was lax, almost like getting on a local bus. Security is much different since the time of the late 1960s plane hi-jackings and through the post-9/11 security changes. The script has its shortcomings, for sure, but the attempts to separate Harry from the suitcase come close to redeeming it.

At the Old Time Radio Researchers Facebook page, current day performer and classic radio researcher Patte Rosebank stated believes that this 1949 event described in a YouTube video may have given Ralph Bell and Eugene Francis the plotline premise: https://youtu.be/R0J42cDEuWA?si=3K0vS29B8Q_CDm3Q There are also details at https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/sault-au-cochon-plane-crash-1949-1.5274763

No script can be found to identify the program recording date.

Two recordings have survived. The network recording is an aircheck from WROW in Albany, New York. It is in very listenable sound. The Armed Forces Radio Service recording (AFRS#760) is the much better of the two. It has a rich, clean sound. The recording is new to circulation among hobbyists.

LISTEN TO THE PROGRAM or download in FLAC or mp3
https://archive.org/details/TSP591108

THE CAST

Ralph Bell (Harry Jason), Connie Lembcke (Myra Jason), Bob Dryden (newscaster, Sgt. Duran), Eugene Francis (boyfriend Ted)

###

1959-11-01 Re-Entry

Lyle Sudrow stars in a George Bamber story about a test pilot’s reactions during the first flight into outer space. Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin would not make his trip until 1961, and US astronaut John Glenn’s would not be until 1962. Bamber’s story is highly speculative at this point, and simplistic, and listeners would absorb what he scripted with little skepticism. The program can best be enjoyed by having that same context. Bamber can’t be blamed for what was not yet known, of course, since the space flight experts didn’t know that much yet, either. He was influenced by his favorite genres, science fiction (especially X Minus One) and The Twilight Zone, and it coalesces in an entertaining story. There are scenes that seem so odd now, like the pilot leaving home for the flight and his wife making sure he has his briefcase, deciding which car he should drive that morning, and that he’ll see the kids at dinner time. We know astronauts are sequestered in work and preparation for quite a while before they are allowed to board their spacecrafts.

The story follows his radio communications with ground control and reveals his reactions at various stages until the re-entry trip begins. The pilot becomes euphoric while on the flight. He doesn’t want to return to Earth because the experience of space is so exhilarating. His mind is racing with existential thoughts of possibilities and opportunities to unlock mysteries of life. Bamber has an ending that would have pleased Twilight Zone creator Rod Serling.

No script can be found to identify all of the actors and their roles with specificity. The program recording date and related information is not available.

Two recordings have survived. The network recording is an aircheck from WROW in Albany, New York and includes CBS news at its conclusion. It is in very listenable sound. The Armed Forces Radio Service recording (AFRS#759) is the much better of the two. It has a rich, clean sound. The recording is new to circulation among hobbyists.

Lyle Sudrow was a well-known New York radio actor for many soap operas, especially The Guiding Light. He was on many of the prime time shows such as Mysterious Traveler, Columbia Workshop, The Big Story, and in X Minus One. His work expanded into television in the early 1960s in occasional supporting roles.

LISTEN TO THE PROGRAM or download in FLAC or mp3
https://archive.org/details/TSP591101

THE CAST

Lyle Sudrow (Pappy), Margaret Draper (Erin), Les Damon (General Brighton), Bob Readick (Ground Control), Frankie Thomas, Jr. (technician), Bob Donley (Sergeant), Mason Adams (Dave Miller), Jim Boles (Dr. May), Frank Butler (E3 = Telemetrics), Whitfield Connor (Ed = aircraft commander)

###

1959-10-25 The Easy Victim

Paul McGrath plays a man whose gambling debts are so large that the gangsters to whom he is beholden suggest an interesting solution: find a way to marry into big money. It doesn’t have to be anyone he has romantic interest in, just be very rich. He does so, and arranges life insurance for him and his new wife. The gambling thugs are getting impatient that he took too long to get married and it’s getting too long to get their money. He soon constructs ways to have her die accidentally, but she foils him at every turn. It seems he’s not very good at this. In a surprise ending, however, it turns out she that she is the experienced one and knows how this scam works. Who is the “easy victim” in the story? It’s definitely not her.

An episode that shares some aspects of this plotline’s elements is 1958-04-06 Just One Happy Little Family, and is just as entertaining.

Author Harold Huber passed away September 29, 1959. This is the last of the scripts he had penned for the series. His wife, Ethel, would continue with the series and be responsible for managing the music content of the programs.

There are two surviving recordings. The network version has slightly narrow range, has a clipped opening that is missing a few words of the opening introduction but is otherwise complete. It is likely a home aircheck, and is very listenable. The Armed Forces Radio Service recording (AFRS#758) is the much better of the two. It has a rich, clean sound. The recording is new to circulation among hobbyists.

The program recording date and related information is not available.

LISTEN TO THE PROGRAM or download in FLAC or mp3
https://archive.org/details/TSP591025

THE CAST

Paul McGrath (Art), Elspeth Eric (Ella), Robert Readick (Herbert), Leon Janney (Don)

###

1959-10-18 The Crisis of Dirk Diamond

Bernie Grant stars in a Sam Locke story about a comic strip artist whose work is falling out of favor with readers. He is hungry for ideas, and is tiring of the “Dirk Diamond” character he created. His publisher says he needs more vicious and nasty villains to retain readers and grow the strip’s audience. As a set-up for this plotline’s outcome, the publisher says to the artist “Murder is what people have come to expect from Dirk Diamond.” When asked for a new idea, the artist develops a character from a traumatic childhood memory. Rather than pretending to have an imaginary friend that is a common childhood experience in playtime, he had an imaginary bully named “Freddy.” As he uses the character in the strips, readership grows. The strip’s audience loves it and more newspapers are picking up the feature. The artist is not pleased with the rebound because it means he has to descend into and expand his torturous memory for the strip stories. He starts believing the evil character is real and will to do him great physical harm. He starts seeing Freddy in others around him, and sees Freddy eventually in himself.

The opening of the story has an excellent “hook” to capture listener interest. It sounds like you’re listening to the planning of mob hits, and the word “syndicate” is used. The context makes it sound like a “murder for hire” storyline. You quickly learn it’s a play on words, and not a criminal “syndicate” but a meeting of a syndicator of comic strip features to newspapers. The story hooks the listeners, but the story slowly squanders that interest in the style of a bad Murder at Midnight story. The plotline is somewhat common in pre-code horror comic books (and even some Shadow radio plots) where a person is taken over by a separate and opposite evil personality. It’s not particularly good, and it would be a poor choice to offer it to attract a new listener to the classic radio hobby or Suspense. (NOTE: “Pre-code” in terms of comic books refers to comics published prior to the 1954 founding of The Comics Code Authority 1954 by the comic book publishers as a means to self-manage the content of stories. Starting about 1948, the industry was confronted with accusations that comic books contributed to a rise in juvenile delinquency. In 1954, the publication of Dr. Frederic Wertham’s Seduction of the Innocent was a compilation of his speaking and writing about the topic and became a prime factor in the formation of the CCA).

Sam Locke was a prolific television writer of the 1950s and 1960s, especially for comedy programs. This script was re-used from one of his earliest professional efforts. It was produced for a popular early TV series, The Web, and was broadcast on 1951-01-31. Locke was the author of the Broadway play Fair Game which Paul Roberts directed and Ellen McRae made her Broadway debut. It is the play where Roberts met McRae, whom he married months later.

There are two surviving recordings. The network version has narrow range, has a slightly clipped opening but is otherwise complete. It is likely a home aircheck, and is very listenable. The Armed Forces Radio Service recording (AFRS#757) is the much better of the two. It has a rich, clean sound. The recording is new to circulation among hobbyists.

The program recording date and related information is not available.

LISTEN TO THE PROGRAM or download in FLAC or mp3
https://archive.org/details/TSP591018

THE CAST

Bernard Grant (Mike), Luis van Rooten (Welby), Eric Dressler (Freddie), Ian Martin (executive), Larry Haines (George, conductor), Maurice Tarplin (inker = Mike's assistant), Sam Raskin (fingerprint tech), Frankie Thomas, Jr. (Joe), Ellen McRae (Western Union operator, lady on train), Ruth Tobin (telephone operator)

###

1959-10-11 Infanticide

Santos Ortega stars as a psychoneurotic man whose secret guilt complex over loving a foster son more than his own biological son drives him to murder. This is a disturbing story that was first produced on the series Indictment on 1958-09-21. The story is by Allan Sloane, known best for his work on The Big Story franchise of both radio and television. Sloane was an award-winning writer for television and movies. The stories of that series were from the experiences of Eleazar Lipsky, an author, and assistant district attorney in Manhattan in the 1940s. A manuscript he authored became the screenplay for the famous movie Kiss of Death. Lipsky was in private legal practice until he died at age 81 in 1993. His real-life encounters with criminals, victims, law enforcement, and social services were a rich source of material for the ground-breaking Indictment series. The series was produced by Paul Roberts. When Roberts became producer of Suspense and was in need of scripts, he selected three. This episode is the first produced on Suspense.

The story does not seem “right” for Suspense, but it is done well. A disturbed man, unsaid but implied as suffering from what would be considered as PTSD in modern terms, has two sons. He is estranged from his wife, but that is covered up in the story by claiming she is at work. The sons are with him and his elderly mother who watches them. The older son is biological with his wife. The other son, Wilfred, Junior, was fathered by another man while he was in the Army. He accepted him as his own from the time he first saw him. There is great pain in the household, as the little boy suffers from asthma, which was not as well-understood as it is today. The father is torn between the two sons. He has great difficulties coping with the younger sick son and while having a strained relationship with the older boy. The story begins with the discovery by the grandmother that Wilfred, Jr. is dead. She had assumed he was fine and just sleeping until she went to wake him up in the morning.

The police investigate, and it is clear that Wilfred, Sr. has great trouble with basic matters as to the day and time, where he is, made worse by his being overwhelmed by the loss of the son. When he relates a series of events from the recent past to the police, he is not certain of the times, details, or sequence of events. In the end, it is very clear that the father was physically responsible for the death, but the story ends with the dilemma of whether or not he really knew what he was doing or had control of his emotions. This is the kind of story that might be found on today’s Law and Order: SVU series.

No script can be found to identify all of the actors and their roles with specificity. The program recording date and related information is not available.

There are two surviving recordings of this broadcast. The network broadcast has a narrow range and a slightly clipped open, but is otherwise intact. The better recording is the Armed Forces Radio Service one (AFRS#756) and is newly available to Suspense enthusiasts from a find of AFRS discs in 2013.

LISTEN TO THE PROGRAM or download in FLAC or mp3
https://archive.org/details/TSP591011

THE CAST

Santos Ortega (Mr. Catman), Nat Polen (Ed Morgan), Ruth McDevitt (Grandma Catman), Ralph Bell (Sam Russell), Frank Butler (Velie), Dan Ocko (resident, Sgt. Bowen)

###

1959-10-04 Room 203

Ellen McRae plays a woman visiting a downtown hotel with her husband for a relaxing stay. It doesn’t last long: she insists that she witnessed a murder, and it was not a hallucination. She tells her husband a secret that she withheld from him: she was once treated for mental illness. This casts doubt on what she saw. Her husband doubts her, but she goes to the police station and cannot pick anyone of of their mug shots file. The detective confirms with the hotel that no one was registered in room 203 for the day of the claimed murder or the day before. When she and her husband leave the police station, she confides that she knew who the killer was: the detective assigned to the case! She was too scared to say that while he was there beside her. She is certain it was him. The story moves to a dramatic conclusion. This is the first of the 1959 New York Suspense productions to rise to the level of production that long-time Suspense listeners had come to expect.

Milton Lewis wrote for radio and television. This episode was adapted from his script for Philip Morris Playhouse that aired on 1953-10-08 and starred John Beal and Nina Foch. No kinescopes of the program are available.

Program recording date and related information is not available.

Ellen McRae and producer Paul Roberts were married about 18 months prior to this broadcast. She was a rising star and had the lead role in the Broadway play Fair Game that ran from November 1957 to May 1958. Roberts was director of that play. The marriage, unfortunately, did not last. She would marry again and become better known as Ellen Burstyn. She is one of the few performers to have received Tony, Emmy, and Oscar awards and has had a very long and successful career.

There are three surviving recordings of this episode. One network recording is in fine sound but has been edited down to the drama only. A second network recording is missing the show’s opening but does have the closing announcements and the tease for the following week’s program. The recording, however, is in low quality sound. The best sounding program is the Armed Forces Radio Service (AFRS#755) recording that is complete. This recording is new to circulation.

LISTEN TO THE PROGRAM or download in FLAC or mp3
https://archive.org/details/TSP591004

THE CAST

Ellen McRae (Toni), Bernard Grant (Chris), Ralph Bell (Detective Green), Eric Dressler (Mr. Spencer), Joseph Julian (Dr. Barnes), Edwin Wolfe (Night Editor), Charles Colman (bellboy, taxi driver)

###

1959-09-20 The Beetle and Mr. Bottle

John Gibson stars as Eldon Bottle in the second broadcast of an entertaining Richard Chandlee script about a man who loves caring for his garden and will do most anything to protect it. Eldon is recently widowed, and his daughter suggests that he should marry once more rather than living alone. He innocently and unfortunately falls for a conniving woman who has a habit marrying widowers and fleecing them of their property, and she wants to take over the garden.

The first broadcast of the script on 1955-08-23 starred Eric Snowden. Information and recordings can be found at

• https://suspenseproject.blogspot.com/2025/01/1955-08-23-beetle-and-mr-bottle.html

• https://archive.org/details/TSP550823 is where recordings can be downloaded or streamed.

John Gibson was one of radio’s most talented and ubiquitous performers. He began his career in the 1930s (he can be heard in Speed Gibson of the International Secret Police) but became best known for his many years as “Ethelbert, the bartender” on the series Casey, Crime Photographer. He was also a regular in bit parts in New York television and can be seen in a few of the “Classic 39” episodes of The Honeymooners. There was probably no major New York radio drama that did not have him in a supporting role for at least an episode in the golden era.

No script can be found with program recording information.

The surviving network recording has a slightly clipped open and a clipped close. The recording has narrow range.

Suspense and Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar are pre-empted next week for a special with Maurice Chevalier. The next program is announced as “Room 202,” but the title was corrected before broadcast to “Room 203.”

LISTEN TO THE PROGRAM or download in FLAC or mp3
https://archive.org/details/TSP590920

THE CAST

John Gibson (Mr. Bottle), Cathleen Cordell (Ethel), Mason Adams (Charlie), Patricia Baxter (Diana), Ian Martin (Constable Wiggins), Guy Repp (Dr. Penrose)

###

1959-09-13 Death and the Escort

Don McLaughlin stars as a crime witness who insists, against his wife’s objections, on volunteering to identify a racketeer under indictment for murder. The plotline is predictable if you listened to enough radio detectives and watched TV detectives and police procedurals. They send a special officer to escort him to the hearing, and someone knocks that officer out and impersonates him. The proof of credentials for officers today would make the situation in the story highly improbable with photo IDs, data bases, and digital fingerprint or other biometric recognition. Some of the scenes as the real officer tries to convince others of his identity are drawn out, but it finally resolves itself in a moderately amusing scene. The ending, which takes place at an airport, redeems some of the flaws of the storytelling. The wife was right about being worried.

The script is by Harold Huber, and this is his final acting performance before his unfortunate demise a few weeks later.

No script can be found to identify the actors and their roles, or with program recording information.

The recording is likely a network aircheck that was heavily edited and has no open or close. It has low sound quality. Some previous copies had the opening of a different episode a patched to the beginning of the recording. That has been removed.

Don McLaughlin was one of radio’s New York regulars, and was best known for his portrayal of “David Harding” in the espionage series Counterspy. He was on the television soap opera As the World Turns for 30 years, one of many New York actors who found success in that genre after radio drama left the airwaves.

LISTEN TO THE PROGRAM or download in FLAC or mp3
https://archive.org/details/TSP590313

THE CAST

Don MacLaughlin (Ed), Elspeth Eric (Jan), Bob Dryden (Capt. Hale), Joseph Julian (Lt. Payne), Harold Huber (Lt. Neal), Larry Haines (Officer #1 - Tom), Leon Janney (Sgt. Burns), Maurice Tarplin (Officer #2), Ian Martin (drunk)

(Many thanks to classic radio researcher Karl Schadow for identifying the cast.)

###

1959-09-06 After the Movies

Kevin McCarthy stars in this second production of the Jack Finney story that was adapted by David Ellis and Robert L. Richards. It’s an excellent script as you know something is just not right but you can’t really be certain what it is. McCarthy’s character misleads the police, but he convincingly lies to the listeners, and the betrayal leads to a surprising conclusion. Mob thugs are trying to buy the defendant's freedom by creating a hung jury, something the corrupt defense attorney has done before. After the juror and his wife see a movie and drop into a nearby ice cream parlor on the way home and his wife finds an envelope on the floor. It contains $10,000 with unsigned note indicating that the money was intended as a bribe to one of the murder trial jurors.

Unfortunately, the only surviving recording of this episode has no open or close, commercials (if network) or announcements (if Armed Forces Radio Service), or cast information. The sound is very low quality. To hear the story, the 1950-12-07 production with Ray Milland and William Conrad in an excellent supporting performance. Information and recordings are at

• https://suspenseproject.blogspot.com/2024/05/1950-12-07-after-movies.html

• https://archive.org/details/TSP501207 and is where recordings can be downloaded and streamed.

Because of the truncated recording, and that no script of this broadcast is available, cast and recording date information are not available. Newspaper resources are minimal. While the production of Suspense moved to New York, the publicity effort behind the show seemed to have a difficult start-up.

This is the first of two appearances on the series by Kevin McCarthy. He had a long and varied career across stage, film, and television. Nostalgia fans would know him best for his starring role in the 1956 sci-fi film Invasion of the Body Snatchers. https://archive.org/details/invasionofthebodysnatchers1956_201911 McCarthy was a founding member of The Actors Studio, and his breakthrough film role was in the adaptation of Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman (1951) https://archive.org/details/death-of-a-salesman_202501 At the time of this broadcast, McCarthy was likely in preparation for a supporting role in Advise and Consent on Broadway, which would open about 60 days later. That cast included some with radio acting pedigrees, notably Ed Begley and Staats Cotsworth. The play had over 200 performances. Wikipedia has background about his life and career. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kevin_McCarthy_(actor)

LISTEN TO THE PROGRAM or download in FLAC or mp3
https://archive.org/details/TSP590906

THE CAST

 KEVIN McCARTHY (Albert Benning), Margaret Draper (Ann Benning), Bob Donley (Dan), Murray Forbes (Mr. Adelson), Dan Ocko (Johnny), Sam Grey (Sam/elevator operator)

(Many thanks to classic radio researcher Karl Schadow for identifying the cast.)

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