IMPORTANT NOTE: THIS TITLE WAS USED BEFORE ON SUSPENSE. THIS 1961 PRODUCTION IS A MUCH DIFFERENT STORY. THE 1942-12-15 SCRIPT BY JOHN DICKSON CARR IS ABOUT A BRITISH PROFESSOR WHO BELIEVES HIS WIFE HAS DESIRE FOR A YOUNG AMERICAN DOCTOR. That same script was also used on the 1948-12-12 broadcast of Cabin B13. Other series have used this title multiple times for different scripts.
Sam Gray stars in a Ben Kagen script that was originally used in the Hollywood Star Playhouse broadcast of 1951-08-02 as Until Death Do Us Part. It starred Macdonald Carey, who replaced the originally scheduled Van Heflin.
You know something is just “not right” in the story as it plays out to its Whistler-like conclusion. Gray plays “Paul Vercel,” a man who decides he must get rid of his wife who deserted him ten months ago when he was ill. She suddenly returned, without remorse or apology, and has been back home for the last two months. Paul really won’t let her past absence go, and decides he must act against her. He starts forging pain killer prescriptions, stockpiling pills so he can poison her. No matter what he does, no matter the dose, or combination of other poisons, she shows no ill effects. This drives him crazy, and we eventually learn the surprising truth, expertly held until the last moments by Kagen’s scriptwriting. It is a Whistler-like ending.
This episode was recorded on Thursday, November 2, 1961. The session began at 1:00pm and concluded at 6:00pm.
As noted, this episode’s title was used twice in the series for two different scripts. The script used in this broadcast was first used on Hollywood Star Playhouse for 1951-08-02. It was a very common gimmick. The title ‘Til Death Do Us Part or some variation was a favorite of radio scripters because the typical marriage ceremony included the phrase. It was simplistic irony to title mystery stories involving one spouse working to the detriment or demise of the other. It was used three different times on The Whistler, and they were each different stories:
1944-07-30 Royce Pargill character; the surviving copy
is AFRS Mystery Playhouse; the author is not known as there is
no network recording and the script is not available in any known
archive
1948-04-14 Norman Grayson character,
written by John W. Hart and a Joel Malone
1950-11-26
Roy Layton character, written by Joel Malone
An Emil Tepperman script Till Death Do Us Part was presented three times on Inner Sanctum:
1945-10-16 with Larry Haines and Ann Shepherd
1947-10-27
with Mercedes McCambridge and Everett Sloane
1952-09-14
with Mason Adams and Bryna Raeburn
The title or a variation of it was also used for the following series:
Hollywood Theater of Stars 1949-01-12 and 1950-12-15, unknown
author
Let George Do It 1949-01-24, script by David
Victor and Herbert Little Jr.
Murder at Midnight episode
#12, script by Joseph Ruscoll
Mysterious Traveler,
1944-07-30 and 1948-11-11, script by Robert Arthur and David
Kogan
Sealed Book episode #17, script by Robert Arthur
and David Kogan
Shadow 1949-03-06, script by Edward
Adamson
Theatre 5 1965-04-06, script by Raphael David
Blau (titled “Until Death Do Us”)
and CBS Radio Mystery
Theater 1977-03-11, script by Sam Dann
Sam Gray was active in Broadway, television, movies and radio, usually as a supporting actor. He also appeared in 33 episodes of CBS Radio Mystery Theater.
Two recordings have survived, and the Armed Forces Radio Service recording (AFRS#855) is much preferred for its fuller sound and clarity. A surviving network aircheck, likely from WROW, has very narrow range and background noise.
LISTEN
TO THE PROGRAM or download in FLAC or
mp3
https://archive.org/details/TSP611105
THE CAST
Sam Gray (Paul Vercel), Elaine Rost (Mrs. Vercel), Barbara Kasarr (Girl), Carl Frank (Doctor), Jim Boles (Janitor), Herb Duncan (Druggist), Bill Lipton (Police officer)
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