Teri Keane and Larry Haines portray an estranged married couple whose husband is too conniving for his own good. He is itching for a divorce and has a mistress, Laura Morgan. He claims he killed Laura, accidentally. He asks his wife to help cover up the crime and pretend to be Laura as part of a ruse that Laura has traveled to Europe. There’s a “problem” that actually becomes part of the husband’s scheme: Laura was a witness to a mob hit. Because the mob knows she saw their killing, they need to eliminate her. Did the husband kill Laura? Or is he demanding his wife imitate Laura, training her to dress and sound like her, in hopes the mob kills his wife? This would let him and Laura live a happily-ever-after life together. The story comes to a rapid close, and the husband’s ruse that seemed so brilliant and possible is suddenly not.
The story is one of the better ones in the final months of the series. It was written by long-time CBS staff writer Gladys F. Gallant. Her work in the 1950s was usually in the background, rarely credited. This was her only Suspense script. Unfortunately, Gallant would pass away in 1965 at age 45.
The program was recorded on Thursday, May 24, 1962. The session began at 1:30pm and concluded at 5:00pm.
The script cover does not hyphenate the title as “Stand-In.”
The surviving recording of this episode is a WROW aircheck, and is in much better sound quality than what has been in circulation among collectors for many years.
This is producer Fred Hendrickson’s first Suspense episode, replacing Bruno Zirato, Jr. Hendrickson was assigned to Suspense and Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar until the end of the series on September 30, 1962. It's likely that Zirato had some "command presence" over the first few Hendrickson episodes, giving advice on casting and other matters. The first scripts of the Hendrickson run were likely selected by Zirato before he learned of his reassignment to the game show To Tell the Truth.
Hendrickson is too often discounted as "just" a production engineer. He worked for CBS for 30 years, from the time he was 18. He was an electrical engineer, and was Arthur Godfrey's director or producer or other roles for Godfrey's radio and TV at various times, and other assignments. Fred was well-known at CBS and in his community of Mamaroneck (near White Plains and New Rochelle in the Westchester suburbs). He worked in local charitable events, sometimes arranging for CBS celebrities to appear. Unfortunately, he passed away at age 48 in 1965.
LISTEN
TO THE PROGRAM or download in FLAC or
mp3
https://archive.org/details/TSP620603
THE CAST
Teri Keane (Kay), Larry Haines (Jim), Claire Niesen (Laura Morgan), Toni Darnay (Jiffy Cleaning Services Rep / lady on street), Jack Grimes (Lieutenant Kelly), Ivor Francis (Phil, the actor on tape / Brady, the doorman), Joseph Julian (radio announcer on tape / Captain Blaine), Bob Readick (reporter on phone / Killer), Bill Lipton (man on street)
The original script cover had the role “Operator,” such as a phone operator, but that may have been edited out or changed to a different character. Many thanks to classic radio enthusiast and researcher Karl Schadow for identifying the actors and their roles. They were not noted on the script cover, and they were not announced in the closing credits.
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