Jimsey Somers stars as a junior high student in a social commentary science fiction story about a plot to overthrow the governments of the world through a non-violent revolution. The script is by radio veteran Robert Cenedella. The revolution, however, will be led by children. Well, they’re not really children. They are mutants disguised as children, and are in an international organization of mutants hiding behind the mask of adolescence. The conspiracy is stumbled upon by an English teacher at the local junior high school. He learns of the imminence of the revolution and details of their plot. He tries to warn others, but encounter complete frustration when he tries to tell other grown-ups of his discovery. He begs the mutant leader for more time, and he’s told there’s been enough time… and the revolution starts next week.
Juvenile delinquency was a very big topic at this time in the US, with regular newspaper coverage and Congressional hearings. The title of this episode may have been confusing to listeners when they realized it was a sci-fi story, and a story theme that was common in television dramas such as Dragnet or in movies that were still in memory, such as Blackboard Jungle and Rebel Without a Cause.
Juvenile Rebellion is somewhat stilted and childish sci-fi to modern ears. Suspense had a similar story before, Ray Bradbury’s Zero Hour. There is an innocence and enthusiasm to the kids in that story which makes it more nerve-rattling than this one. Zero Hour seems hold up better over time. There is an anger and arrogance to Juvenile Rebellion. There’s no hook to the story, since they're not kids, they're aliens pretending to be kids, and that’s quite a jump for listeners. There are no aliens, so it is easy to dismiss, unlike the Bradbury premise. Juvenile Rebellion does have “preachy stuff” that makes the closing diatribe of the legendary “worst movie of all time” Plan 9 from Outer Space so hokey. (The movie is on YouTube and this link is cued to start at that scene https://youtu.be/qsb74pW7goU?si=JfJ9zvhm_iyIWiDz&t=3906) It doesn't work all that well, and really it doesn't fit Suspense. Bradbury's Zero Hour is more subtle, while this one tries to be a sledgehammer. The other moralistic Suspense sci-fi stories such as The Voice of Company A, The Outer Limit and Report from a Dead Planet, were somewhat flawed but entertaining and thoughtful. They explored the trends and dilemmas of the times in which they were written, each in a different way.
But there is a curious backstory to this episode that may be more interesting that the production. Research into the career of Robert Cenedella was always confounded by an artist of the same name. They’re related. Robert Cenedella, Sr. was the radio writer. Robert Cenedella, Jr. was his stepson. It was Senior who raised Junior after he was 12. Senior refused a loyalty oath in the 1950s blacklist period because he insisted it was unpatriotic to demand to sign one, a decision which he paid for with erratic employment and income for many years. His stepson remembered growing up in those years and they made quite an impression. They were formative in his art career. Junior became an activist through his art, giving its content a political polarization that often made his work more fascinating whether people agreed with him or not. The breadth of his work was actually wider, however. His work is far ranging, from comical, to cynical, to fanciful, to political, and more. He worked for some notable brands when he was employed by advertising agencies. He sometimes created paintings that were personal and biographical. One was of an imagined boxing match between his biological father and his stepfather. A 1977 painting, Give to Cenedella, was about Senior's plight in the lean years (it can be seen at https://robertcenedella.com/collections/all-artwork/products/give-to-cenedella). This painting shows Senior on a platform in a crowded street scene, standing on a platform, in his undies, asking for money. By the time Juvenile Rebellion is aired, Junior is 21 years old and in art studies. This Suspense broadcast was in 1961, and Senior was still reeling from blacklist years. The news is filled at this time with the Cold War, social tensions, and worries of nuclear annihilation. Senior and Junior likely had lots of kitchen table discussions of what was going on in the world, nation, and the local politics of New York City, where Junior lived with him. The city gave him access to art schools and museums and an immersion in media, as well as the social interactions of opinions and lifestyles that made the city so different from others. The trends and countertrends and cultures and countercultures all coalesced in his art and its many different directions. Those discussions between Senior and Junior are likely reflected in the dialogue of this episode.
The origins of Juvenile Rebellion are interesting when you realize this personal backstory of it. Juvenile Rebellion must have been held in better regard in its time than it is now, more than 60 years later. It was selected to be the first offering of the second week of Theatre 5 on ABC Radio on 1964-08-10. Producer Ed Byron and director Warren Somerville wanted to start that series with their strongest scripts, and this was one of them. The title for that broadcast was changed to Rebellion Next Week.
Junior is still around (as of 2025), now 84, living in Maine, and still working, and letting you know what's on his mind via his paintings. There was a movie made about him and his times. It was released in 2016, and was a winner of many awards at film festivals.
If you’re wondering about teenage mutants and a possible relation to the comic book creation of the X-Men led by Professor X, developed by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, there is none. That series did not start until its first issue was published in September 1963.
Writer Robert Cenedella lived in Milford, Massachusetts before moving to New York City. Tewksbury, and its junior high school mentioned in the story, are not that far away from Milford since I-495 was created.
This program was recorded on Thursday, August 31, 1961. The session began at 11:00am and concluded at 2:30pm.
Jimsey Somers was child and teenage actor on Broadway and early television, appearing in experimental broadcasts in the late 1940s. She was 24 at the time of this broadcast. She appeared on many radio broadcasts in the 1950s. Her IMDb listings end in 1968, indicating she may have left the business.
A 2017 interview of Junior where he talks about his father can be found at the Internet Archive https://archive.org/details/cunytv_BUNY12018
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THE CAST
Jimsey Somers (Mary Newhall), Court Benson (Ethan Miller), Joseph Boland (Chief Hobbs), Ronald Liss (Frank), Pat Hosley (Helen)
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