1944-07-20 Of Maestro and Man

Peter Lorre plays a boxing manager called “Maestro” with a gambling problem. He keeps going deeper and deeper into debt with a loan shark who demands payment. He wants the contract of a talented and rising young boxer (played by Richard Conte) that Maestro is managing. Maestros’ debt is too big to overcome, and he reluctantly sells the contract… but soon learns the boxer wants to leave the dangerous sport and start a new life as a family man. That’s a problem for Maestro if the loan shark finds out that their deal is off…

This script is by Jo Eisinger, who would later become a scripter for The Adventures of Sam Spade. His novel The Walls Came Tumbling Down was broadcast a few weeks ago. Eisinger’s Maestro script was later adapted for Sam Spade 1947-02-16, Inside Story on Kid Slade, which is not in circulation.

Only the west broadcast of 1944-07-24 of this episode has survived.

The broadcast has some inside jokes after 25:00 delivered by the airport public address announcer:

• a passenger is named “Mr. Gluskin,” a nod to the series music director Lud Gluskin

• another passenger is “Miss Thompson,” referencing William Spier's wife, Kay Thompson

• there is an announcement for “Colonel Joy” to go to the reservation desk, a reference to Dick Joy, then a tenured announcer at KNX who would become known as the announcer for Sam Spade and other programs, and later become a successful radio station owner

• another name, “Jay Stevens,” is an obscure and uncertain reference at this time, but could possibly refer to CBS conductor Leith Stevens

This story was included in Suspense Magazine #3, and can be downloaded as a PDF from the same web page as the audio file.

This is the first of two Suspense appearances for Richard Conte. He was one of those highly dependable and very busy actors who never won awards but always gave solid and notable performances. He was in more than 100 films and numerous television programs. One of his final roles was as Don Barzini in The Godfather. He was not on radio often except for some of the movie-related series like Lux Radio Theatre and Screen Guild Theater.

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https://archive.org/details/440720

THE CAST

PETER LORRE (The Maestro), RICHARD CONTE (Ricky Martin), Joe Kearns (Man in Black), Lou Merrill (Game Caller / Airline PA announcer), Hans Conried (Sam), John McIntire (John Cripp), unknown (Lynne Carter)

The 1944-07-25 Radio Daily reports this interesting item:

Producer William Spier, of the CBS Suspense thriller dramas, this week auditioned virtually every radio actor and actress in Hollywood to build a "talent bank" of unusual character portrayals for his mystery series.

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1944-07-13 The Beast Must Die

This story is considered a classic mystery. Its author is Nicholas Blake, but that is a pseudonym of British poet and author Cecil Day-Lewis. It was published in 1938. It is known for its opening lines:

“I am going to kill a man. I don't know his name. I don't know where he lives. I have no idea what he looks like. But I am going to find him and kill him.”

The story is about a father seeking revenge for the hit-and-run death of his son. He does not know who is responsible, and his search for the identity of the killer is the core of the story.

The original story is a detective novel with Blake’s continuing character Nigel Strangeways. That character has been removed to employ the Suspense “first person narrative” style to tell the story from the father’s perspective.

The title is drawn from Ecclesiastes 3:19:

For what happens to the children of man and what happens to the beasts is the same; as one dies, so dies the other. They all have the same breath, and man has no advantage over the beasts, for all is vanity.

Ecclesiastes is recognized for its opening “vanity of vanity, all is vanity” which is better translated as “vapor of vapors, all is vapor.” The book dwells on the transience and often discouraging meaning of life day-to-day and in its grander context of a lifetime. Many current translations now use “animal” instead of “beast.” But “beast” is a richer word in terms of the title of this story because of its broader range of literary meanings. It can imply a wild spirit inside one’s heart that must be tamed to be civilized, or that anger and envy are beasts that must be controlled, or as a description of the evil inside the killer. It could be the father angrily dealing with the beast of revenge, or the killer, whose insensitivity to life is a beast as well. The title likely resonated better in the time of its writing when there was broader familiarity with scriptural texts than there is taught or experienced today.

The scripture was also the inspiration for a Brahms piece, Denn es gehet dem Menschen wie dem Vieh, which may have been familiar to many in the listening audience.

The story can be a bit complex, with some surprises, which makes it good for Suspense. What makes the plotline special is when things take an odd turn for the father, Felix Lane (played by Herbert Marshall). He learns the identity of the driver but that man turns up dead! Felix becomes a suspect… but there is enough suspicion and motive that can be spread around to others.

William Spier liked the story so much he had a screenplay written for it and announced the beginnings of a movie production for it weeks after the broadcast… which did not come to pass. The story has been done in movies and television, and was recently a series on cable/streaming.

East and west network broadcasts have survived. The west recording is the much better of the two.

John McIntire is the “Man in Black” for the Thursday/east broadcast, and Joe Kearns returns to the role for the Monday/west broadcast.

The story was adapted by John Moore and John Marshall. They were each active writers and served in various production positions for many different programs in their careers.

This is Herbert Marshall’s first appearance on Suspense. He would have an additional 19 starring appearances. Marshall was also in the Forecast pilot of the series in 1940. Marshall was on radio often, and many classic radio fans enjoy the light spy drama in which he starred for many years, The Man Called X. That series was produced by William N. Robson; he would take over the Suspense series as producer in October 1956.

Marshall’s career began in British theater and movies, and he moved to Hollywood for a multi-decade movie, radio, and television career. His career and personal life have far too many elements and twists and turns to summarize here, but there is an extensive Wikipedia profile of him https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herbert_Marshall

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https://archive.org/details/440713

THE CAST

HERBERT MARSHALL (Felix Lane), Bea Benaderet (Lena), John McIntire (Carfax), Dennis Hoey (George Rattray), Hans Conried (Witness), John McIntire (The Man in Black [east]) Joe Kearns (The Man in Black [west]), Vicki Marsden? (Violet), unknown (Inspector Blunt), unknown (Phil Rattray)

Marshall’s nickname was “Bart,” imposed by his mother who feared he would be called “Bertie.” You can hear him referred to as “Bart” in casual conversations on variety and other programs. He lost part of a leg in World War I and did much charitable work and private visits to WW2 veterans in hospitals who faced similar challenges. His injury was mentioned only rarely in the press.

During WW2 Cecil Day-Lewis worked in the Ministry of Information… wonder if he and John Dickson Carr could be seen having lunch together…

Cecil Day-Lewis would become the British Poet Laureate in the late 1960s.

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1944-07-06 The Search for Henri LeFevre

This is a Lucille Fletcher story that’s a little different than others. It deals with recovering from a mental illness rather than a spooky or threatening situation. It also involves music, one of her favorite subjects. Paul Muni plays Adolphus Flynn, a composer who completes his biggest work, turns on the radio, and hears it playing. He is so upset about the stealing of his composition that he is compelled to find the announced author of the work, Henri LeFevre.

It sounds like a possible time-shifting Twilight Zone story, but it’s actually all occurring in his head. He has lost some of his memory and the synchronization of memories with their time and the present. The story is not spoiled by knowing this: listening how Fletcher reveals the facts behind his predicament is the real entertainment here.

The east and west network recordings have survived. The Armed Forces Radio Service recording is drawn from the east recording. The network recordings are better for listening.

• East Joe Kearns is the “Man in Black”; the closing music bridge under dialogue at about 27:24 “If I could only get it out of mind I might be able to be able to work again... [the music rises] I might be happy as I once was happy. I might look out of my window…” This matches AFRS at about 23:30

• West John McIntire is the “Man in Black” as Kearns is likely on vacation; the closing dialogue is at about 27:08 “If I could only get it out of mind I might be able to be able to work again. I might be happy as I once was happy. I might look out of my window,” and then the music rises.

A Radio Life profile of 1945-06-03 mentions that Kearns spent a week in Mexico on vacation in 1944 and became ill while he was there. This week’s time away could be that Mexico trip.

Paul Muni did not start in New York on Broadway, he started in the Yiddish Theater in Chicago. He was beloved by those audiences in his fledgling career. He was a master of makeup and at a very young age, and was playing elderly roles in a convincing manner. His parents were actors and taught him many of the make-up techniques he employed in his career. He made his Broadway debut in 1926, and later moved to Hollywood. The film role that brought him the greatest recognition was starring role in The Story of Louis Pasteur in 1935, for which he won a 1936 Oscar. He was nominated for four others in his career. Muni was noted for immersing himself in research about the characters and the context of their times. He wanted to know everything he could about a part before he went on screen, or even the microphone. One can only wonder if he had conversations with Fletcher about her script. He was not one to would jump into a studio stand before a microphone. Muni did not appear on radio often; this is his only Suspense appearance.

Muni’s incredible life and career cannot be summarized in this space; the Wikipedia page for him is highly recommended as a good start https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Paul_Muni&oldid=1144411748

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https://archive.org/details/440706

THE CAST

PAUL MUNI (Adolphus), Lurene Tuttle (Lucille Le Fevre), Hans Conried (Dr. Pickard / Radio voice), Lucille Meredith? (Suzette), Joe Kearns (Man in Black [East]), John McIntire (Man in Black [West])

There are some online radio resources that mistakenly attribute this story to John Dickson Carr (or the doubly incorrect “John Dixon Carr”) or even Orson Welles!

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1944-06-29 The Walls Came Tumbling Down

Keenan Wynn plays a smart-aleck Broadway gossip-columnist for a newspaper. When a priest friend is murdered and he starts getting visits about finding a Bible owned by the priest, he gets drawn into a plot to find a valuable painting.

Jo (not “Joe”) Eisinger wrote the original novel; it became a 1946 movie. Robert Tallman adapted the story for Suspense. Spier liked the story and adaptation so much that this script was used for the audition recording for The Adventures of Sam Spade, with the title Sam Spade and the Walls of Jericho (unfortunately no recording is available, and it was never broadcast). This accounts for some of the deja-vu feeling in the dialogue if you’ve heard a Spade show or two before hearing this episode. It was clearly the kind of writing Spier wanted for that series, and he became a regular scripter for it. Eisinger and others like Robert Tallman were not credited in early Spade shows because Spier wanted to create a sense that Dashiell Hammett had a pivotal role in the show.

Eisinger wrote for Suspense with The Kandy Tooth (in the 60-minute series, originally broadcast as a 2-part Spade story) and adapting James M. Cain’s Love’s Lovely Counterfeit. Eisinger was a writer for Jack Webb’s radio series Pete Kelly’s Blues. Some of his radio work was under the name “Jason James.”

Eisinger had a very successful screenwriting career. Two of his screenplays are considered classics of film noir: Gilda and Night and the City. He also wrote for the TV series Danger Man which was actor Patrick McGoohan’s series prior to Secret Agent and The Prisoner.

Listen for Hans Conried’s very amusing and over-the-top performance as Helms, a key part of the lighter nature of the production.

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https://archive.org/details/440629

THE CAST

KEENAN WYNN (“Darcy,” alias Patrick O’Donnell), John McIntire (O’Daigis the attorney), Gloria Gordon (Catherine Walsh), Norman Field (Father Walsh), Lurene Tuttle? (Patricia Behrens), unknown (Susan Finch), Lou Merrill (Captain Griffin / Klinger), Hans Conried (Ernst Helms / Hotel man), Joe Kearns (Man in Black)

The address of the columnist’s office is the same street name, Sutton Place, as Mrs. Stevenson in Sorry Wrong Number.

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1944-06-22 The Ten Grand

This is another Lucille Ball appearance. Her character realizes her purse is stolen… she finds it… and it’s got $10,000 in it! That’s more than $170,000 in 2023US$… What will she do? The script is very demanding as most of it is a near-monologue of narration with only incidental interactions.

The script was written by Virginia Radcliffe, 30 years old. It was her only Suspense script in a long radio writing career. She was best recognized for many years of writing for Cavalcade of America. She also contributed two scripts to Theater Five, one of which was nominated for a Writers Guild Award. In her post-radio career, she wrote extensively about conservation. She died in 1976 at 62.

Only the east recording has survived.

The New York Subway plays a role in the story, and it’s surprising how much of its station stops are inaccurate. Spier lived and worked in the City, so he and others might have sought some better congruence with the actual system. The train station used is 161st Street, also known as the Yankee Stadium stop which is used by the 4, B, and D lines of the system. You can sometimes see that train on television as it runs behind the stadium bleachers during games. That run of the lines is elevated above the street. In the story, the "old lady" needs to get off at 169th Street and there is no station at that street, but the closest is 167th Street.

It’s not just the broadcast that has the issue. This story was included in Suspense Magazine #3. That version has stops at 157th and 163rd. It's likely the magazine editor/adaptor worked with the script that Radcliffe originally submitted, prior to any subsequent versions with edits by Robert L. Richards, Spier, and any production specifications were added. It may seem like quibbling over nothing, but Suspense often made a point of getting these kinds of things right. A PDF of the story is available on the same page as the audio files.

At the very end of the drama, "meatless Tuesday" is mentioned as a humorous item as she can’t get the steak she kept thinking about (the joke is set up early in the story). This was a wartime initiative to preserve meat supplies to ensure there would be enough for the armed forces.

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https://archive.org/details/440622

THE CAST

CAST: LUCILLE BALL (Ge Ge Lewis), Pat McGeehan (The Greek), John McIntire (Wino / Axis agent), Harry Lang (Fat man / Whistling for old lady), Jeanette Nolan? (Old lady / waitress), Joe Kearns (Man in Black), unknown (Conductor)

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