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)
###
