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)
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