William Redfield stars in a Walter Black story about an insurance salesman who conspires with a client to murder her husband for the insurance money, then flee to another country. He met her making a cold call visit (a sales call without setting up an appointment), and he starts to pitch the importance of life insurance. She talks to her husband, they have a meeting, and the husband dismisses the idea. When the sale seems lost, she calls the sales representative and says that the husband has changed his mind, and wants a larger policy than they had discussed! With their lawyer, they determined that he could have his business pay for the policy and could afford more than they had thought: $250,000. (That is worth almost $3 million in US$2025!) The policy is purchased, and includes a double indemnity clause in case of accidental death. (This is Suspense, so it is clear what’s about to happen next and there’s no need for a spoiler alert). The wife arranges for the husband to be in a fatal accident. When the insurance investigation is done, she and the lawyer head off to the Mexican border. The sales representative, whom she played for a patsy because she was always interested in the lawyer, learns about it and hides on the floor of the back seat of the car (back when cars were bigger and had legroom in rear seating). He’s willing to let it go for a share of the proceeds. But the insurance rep’s boss suspected something was up and is part of the (moderately) surprising conclusion.
The title of the story has always been misunderstood or at least misspelled by collectors. The word is “canvass” and not “canvas.” The latter is a manufactured material used in making various goods like bags, tarps, and other items. The former, however, is the process of soliciting orders or support, or to gather information (such as police do in neighborhoods where they are looking for witnesses) or pollsters conducting research.
The program was recorded on Wednesday, July 20, 1960. Rehearsal began at 12:30pm and ended at 4:30pm. Recording was done from 4:30pm to 5:00pm.
One recording has survived, and it is in low quality. The aircheck recording is affected by weather interference. It is likely there were storms in the area when it was being recorded. The closing announcements are clipped. It is hoped that a replacement recording may be found in the future, especially an Armed Forces Radio Service (AFRS) transcription.
LISTEN
TO THE PROGRAM or download in FLAC or
mp3
https://archive.org/details/TSP600724
THE CAST
William Redfield (Bud Phillips), Ginger Jones [replacing Charlotte Manson] (Madeleine Fouche), Les Damon [replacing Paul McGrath] (Howard Rigby), Guy Repp (Victor Fouche), Walter Black (Roger Whittier)
Damon and Jones were one of the few married couples to appear together on Suspense multiple times.
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