[There
are important background
notes after the episode’s
cast listing.
They review how
Suspense would
evolve under the leadership of Elliott Lewis].
The
Elliott Lewis era of Suspense
begins with with Pat
O’Brien in a play about a police detective who learns his son was
involved in a hit-and-run
killing. The script is by
future Hitchcock screenwriter John Michael Hayes and radio
writing legend E. Jack Neuman. It’s another “safe driving”
production to support the Auto-Lite corporate image and link
attentive car maintenance with road safety. Once you get past the
preachy and obligatory aspects of the dialogue that weaves in
historic statistics about car accidents and deaths, it’s a very
good story.
O'Brien portrays a veteran policeman
who is about to start a new position to be the head of the police
force. His final assignment before that rise in the ranks occurs, is
to track down a hit-and-run driver who killed a man. When he finally
succeeds in tracing the death car, he discovers to his horror that it
belongs to his own son! By the end of the story, you start to feel
bad for O’Brien’s character, who realizes he did not trust that
his son would do the “right thing” in the end. He has to submit
his resignation from the force and cannot experience the professional
recognition of a promotion. (Spoiler alert, whoops, forgot again).
This is one of the subtle lessons of the highway safety plotline,
that car accidents have far-reaching and unforeseeable consequences
beyond those of the immediate victims.
The program’s dramatic elements and
O’Brien’s closing comments were pre-recorded seven days before
(1950-08-24). The orchestra and commercials were broadcast live. Some
of the press coverage in Minneapolis noted that O’Brien would be
appearing on Suspense at the very same time he was appearing
in a night club act there at the Niccolett Hotel (a prime
entertainment venue at that time). O’Brien was starting his tour of
clubs with an act comprised of storytelling, Hollywood insights,
singing, and dancing.
Near
the end of the broadcast
(about 26:30),
O’Brien presents the
National Safety Award to
Royce Martin, President of
Electric Auto-Lite. It was
the company’s second
award.
The first was for No
Escape with James Cagney
and this second one was
for Nightmare with
Gregory Peck. The company
pushed Suspense producers
to find or develop scripts that would enhance
the company’s
corporate image position, especially
before the high volume driving holiday that Labor Day weekend had
become. Martin’s
message was scripted and
pre-recorded in
New York. It was
sent to the studio prior to the drama recording session.
This means that neither
O’Brien nor Martin were in studio.
Pre-recording
Martin’s acceptance of the award is not a surprise.
Suspense and
other programs often had bad luck with live announcements from
non-actors. One time, Suspense
had a problem with a CBS executive who had difficulties reading his
announcement. It was
on the east broadcast of 1947-05-08 Dead
Ernest and actor John
McIntire had to portray him
in the west broadcast. The
advent of tape recording technology made such appearances less of a
problem. Martin was more
likely to be in New York on business (for the company or meetings
with the ad agency or
CBS or all of them, for that matter)
at some point. It was
easier to schedule his
segment there.
After
the award presentation, Harlow
Wilcox’ closing announcements take
on a faster
than usual pace.
This is likely to compensate
for the delay
in starting the tape of O’Brien’s introduction of Martin. That
likely had Wilcox trying to pick up some of the lost seconds of that
delay, which he did.
The closing announcements
resumed their
natural pace shortly thereafter.
Technically,
this was not Lewis’ first Suspense
production. The
first was Rave
Notice, recorded in July
to accommodate Milton Berle’s schedule. That
episode would not be aired
until 1950-10-12, about six weeks after this
broadcast of True
Report. Berle even
recorded teasers for Rave
Notice in the July
session to be used at
the end of 1950-10-05
Suspense broadcast
of Rose Garden.
The strategy of pre-recorded
teases with the guest star of the following week’s program would be
used on a few shows by Lewis.
LISTEN
TO THE PROGRAM or download in FLAC or
mp3
https://archive.org/details/TSP500831
THE CAST
PAT O’BRIEN (Inspector Kennedy), Joe
Kearns (Signature Voice / Josti), Peggy Webber (Mrs. Thurston), Edgar
Barrier (Voice 2 / Morgue), Leonard Smith (Radio A / Rix), Sam
Edwards (Voice / Charles), Hal March (Geiger / Loper), Ed Max
(Sergeant / Lab), Irene Tedrow (Alice)
COMMERCIAL: Bert Holland (Hap), Harlow
Wilcox (Announcer), Sylvia Simms (Operator)
* * *
Elliott
Lewis was rewarded for his radio talents
and commitment by
becoming
the new
producer of Suspense.
It
was also a private
expression of gratitude for
his loyalty by
William Spier, who recommended him for the position. Spier did not
invent Suspense,
but he turned the show into a star.
When
Spier and CBS parted ways over the backroom double-dealing related to
the hour-long version of the
series, Spier was quickly
hired by ABC to save The
Clock. Long a New York
production, ABC moved it to Hollywood for what they hoped would
transform
into a sponsored and profitable series. Nearly every week, if not
every week, Cathy and Elliott Lewis were in the cast. The
13-week excursion with The
Clock ended,
unsuccessful in its attempt to find a sponsor. The
Lewises would also often appear on Philip
Morris Playhouse for the
1948-1949 season that Spier produced that series. Spier
knew Elliott was multitalented from his work on Suspense
in the Roma era. He
acted, announced, wrote, and contributed in other ways to the series.
He also saw his work on Sam
Spade, another
Spier production,
and numerous
comedies and dramas through the 1940s. Everyone
knew Lewis could act and write. Spier and CBS staffers may
have been particularly impressed by
Lewis’ productions
of Broadway’s My Beat
and
Pursuit.
Those were
running concurrent with the Spier-Macdonnell season of Suspense.
Spier had no problem
recommending Lewis for the Suspense
position. The
Spiers were ready to move on from radio to different opportunities.
They
headed off to pursue movie projects first and then
television projects later.
Lewis, however, was ready
for much deeper
involvement in radio production and management.
The
Lewis Suspense years
were at a time of
entertainment industry
restructuring.
Television was being adopted in major cities, but the radio audience
was still very large and
important. Only
10% of households had TVs at this time.
Being in the top metro areas
often meant a high technology adoption rate in those areas among
concentration of higher-earning households, and that television’s
importance in marketing communications was growing in those areas.
Auto-Lite
was sponsoring the Suspense
TV series, with little
involvement of Lewis beyond
occasional advice. While
the radio audience was
large, the 1940s
habits
of radio listening were
starting to change as
the post-WW2 population began to spread, suburbs began to grow, and
out-of-home listening grew.
Lewis had to be a bit more
creative to
capture and retain a loyal audience.
The Fall 1950 season was a
traditional one, with
script
selection and casting were
very similar to what preceded it. As the season went on,
it was clear
he was working to broaden
the variety of programs and approaches. He
was an experimenter. Some of
the efforts
fell flat. He was willing to
take those risks.
In
his second season, the
concept
of tying scripts
to current news or
historical events was
expressed. This
was an effort to make the radio
Suspense as
distinct from the television
version to keep audiences tuned in to
both franchises. Some
of the show openings would explicitly state the strategy
in its opening signature
that indicated the story had
a historical basis. This
was somewhat amusing. Scriptwriters
were always getting ideas from the inside
pages of newspapers as they reported crimes and curious events. To
keep their writing
creativity and their incomes
going, they were always looking for ideas, especially
if they had some “writer’s block.” So many radio scripters
would say that if they needed an idea, they’d pick up a newspaper.
Some would even keep a clippings files
or notebooks
of ideas they would find in everyday reading and conversation. The
concept was not new. The marketing of it was.
The
desire
for more aggressive
implementation of the concept
originated with
Auto-Lite marketing
executives and its ad
agency. They believed it would make Suspense
more relevant and not just a collection of pure fiction short stories
adapted for audio performance
that leveraged Hollywood
glamour and notoriety. In that way, Suspense started to differentiate
itself from radio's typical offerings and give TV watchers a reason
to keep the radio on. Lewis
was always open to plainly good original stories. Not every one had
what is commonly referred to as a “ripped from the headlines”
plot. The true story could be from 100 years ago. The good story
could be Othello,
which Lewis turned into a two-part production. The goal of Lewis was
to attract and retain the audience with a potpourri of surprise.
Hollywood
was becoming
less dependent on radio for its publicity. You
can sense it from the changes in Lux
Radio Theatre, not just
Suspense. This
meant star power of Suspense
was no longer a magnet for
the stars, agents, and studios.
There
were still stars on the program, but the publicity hubbub around an
appearance was considerably reduced. Just
looking at newspapers of the time makes it clear that the
amount of editorial space that newspapers were devoting
to radio coverage was
dwindling. There
were fewer columns of publicity teases. Only
the schedule of programs presented as a timetable was dependable. By
the end of Lewis’ tenure, even the timetables were shrinking in
size.
Appearing
on Suspense was
a strategy for a performer’s
career advancement and to
demonstrate
one’s range of acting abilities.
These skills were
sometimes
pushed to the background
by a star’s better-known
comedic or musical prowess. A
guest slot on Suspense
could help
land a better role in some
future movie or television broadcast.
Spier
and Macdonnell realized
that pre-recording shows on
tape was a means of getting better cooperation of stars and studios
to appear on the series.
Now, they
could
schedule weekend or daytime recording sessions to accommodate guest
schedules. Pre-recording also meant a much less frantic planning
pace, with less disaster preparation with scripts and substitute
guests waiting to hear if they might be needed to keep the weekly
broadcast commitment intact. Lewis’
first Suspense production
was not True Report,
the first broadcast of the
Fall 1950 season on 1950-08-31. It
was Rave Notice with
Milton Berle, in July 1950, six weeks before the Fall 1950 season
would even begin, and almost three months before that
episode would even air.
While
the Lewis productions
sometimes
feel uneven, they are usually
technically
superb with the growing
familiarity and use of the
latest tape recording and
editing tools.
Suspense under
Lewis sometimes
ventures into experimental
productions in
the tradition
of Columbia Workshop.
Some fall flat. The
Suspense musicals
was one of those experiments that did not do well, except for The
Wreck of the Old 97,
which was a superb and an
exceptional production.
Lewis
was always under pressure to keep Suspense
thriving and a notch
above other programs. There
was also an internal competition for ad budget dollars with the
television version. At the
close of his first season, Fall 1950 to Spring 1951, Auto-Lite
attempted to drop their
sponsorship of the radio
series and fund only the television productions. They
knew how television was growing in influence and effectiveness in the
big markets where it was introduced. After
some hard negotiating, and CBS’ refusal to break apart the
sponsorship, the company agreed to continue. Auto-Lite
was sponsoring the Suspense
franchise, not just a TV
show, not just a radio show. It’s
likely they won budget concessions from CBS in
the process. Lewis
likely had to trim production costs. Auto-Lite
would bankroll
Suspense until
Spring 1954, when they would cut sponsorship of both versions
in reaction to the recessionary economic environment and changes in
their product
distribution strategy. CBS
and others were surprised when it happened. Lewis
believed the there was no future for sustained, unsponsored programs.
He
left Suspense a
few weeks after the final Auto-Lite broadcast. He
moved his efforts into television. When
he started Suspense,
television was in 10% of households. By the time he left, it was in
half of them. He kept
Suspense vibrant
while other radio programs were dropping from the schedules.
Over
his years of leadership, there were some very notable productions. He
had to navigate a dynamic
audience with changing
listening habits, new
production technologies, competition from new media, the
profitable economics of the
radio business being sapped
to fund television, swirling
social changes, and the political
undertow of Red
Channels and CBS loyalty
tests. He referred to CBS executive Daniel O’Shea as “the vice
president of treason” because
his office that had to approve
every casting choice for
first-time appearances.
Years later, Lewis
would dismiss
any suggestions that Red
Channels and
all its emanations affected
his ability to cast programs in the way he wanted. We
know that’s not true. There were instances where he could not get
the casting he wanted. Those are documented in upcoming posts. His
dismissal of the
Red Channels effects
was more likely his lack of desire to talk about the subject and
to push conversation
to a different
topic. Lewis
had a
personality that considered
the past to
be past, with
little value other than as
a springboard to the next
program.
All
the time of his
Suspense tenure,
Lewis was the driving force
of The
Line-Up, Crime
Classics, Broadway’s
My Beat, On
Stage. He
delighted in playing the
Remley character on the Phil
Harris and Alice Faye Show.
It was
a happy pause from his responsibilities for the other programs. He
never made Remley seem like work, it seemed like just plain fun.
Somehow, Lewis
navigated all that he took
on, producing
or participating
in some of the highest
quality offerings of the radio drama era.
* * *
Collector,
performer, and researcher Keith Scott adds this comment:
I
recently went through my Sam
Spade logs and noticed
an interesting fact. When William
Spier went to NYC
in mid-1947
to do the three Suspense
and four Spade
from Manhattan, he missed one Suspense
in Hollywood: 1947-06-19
Dead of Night.
As I noted in the log Elliott Lewis directed a Spade
episode
for 1947-06-15
and Charles Vanda
did the 1947-06-19
Suspense.
It only now struck me that as early as two years before he became a
full-time producer-director for CBS, Lewis was highly enough regarded
by Spier to fill in on that Spade
show. I also
had forgotten that Lewis also filled in for Spier on three 1950 dates
for Spade:
1950-06-18,
1950-06-25
and a few weeks later on 1950-08-27,
just days before the broadcast of True
Report,
Lewis’s first aired
Suspense
episode!
And Lewis did a final Spade
sub for Spier on 1950-12-29,
at NBC!! They were obviously pretty close pals even if they totally
different personalities.
###
