1951-02-22 Back Seat Driver

Jim and Marion Jordan triumphantly return for another performance of the Sally Thorson script. Details about the original 1949 broadcast and Thorson’s interesting background are at:

• https://suspenseproject.blogspot.com/2024/01/1949-02-03-back-seat-driver.html

• https://archive.org/details/TSP490203 which is where recordings can be streamed or downloaded

The CBS publicity department injected more levity into their releases with this second appearance since the first one was so successful. These items were in the PR for the episode:

Fibber confided to Molly when the directors of Suspense asked them to repeat their initial broadcast of the thriller Back Seat Driver: “Imagine me standing up there reading lines for half an hour without getting a single laugh.” But Molly squelched him. “Don't be too sure, dearie.”

and...

McGee already has an ending for a later thriller. “The killer could be closing in on us at the end, see,” says Fibber, “when we trick him into opening our closet. What a horrible way for justice to prevail! But then again, a guy's gotta have SOMETHING to fall back on.”

Only an Armed Forces Radio Service (AFRS) recording has survived. It is sometimes numbered as #542, but that is incorrect. That number refers to the 1955 broadcast with Vivi Janiss and Parley Baer.

Why was this second performance scheduled at this particular time? News of serial killer Billy Cook’s arrest was prominent in the January 1951 news. At that time, Cook was referred to as a “spree killer.” His modus operandi was getting into cars with strangers. The manhunt and capture renewed interest in Back Seat Driver. CBS and Elliott Lewis took advantage of the situation and added it to the schedule knowing Cook was safely behind bars.

NOTE: The Cook story led to the 1953 film noir classic The Hitch-Hiker that starred Edmond O'Brien, Frank Lovejoy, and William Talman. It was directed by Ida Lupino. Background on Cook is at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Billy_Cook_(criminal) with great Life Magazine photos at https://www.life.com/people/billy-cockeyed-cook-portrait-of-an-american-spree-killer/

LISTEN TO THE PROGRAM or download in FLAC or mp3
https://archive.org/details/TSP510222

THE CAST

JIM & MARIAN JORDAN (Joe & Ellie Charles), Joe Kearns (Signature Voice / Bill / Cop), Larry Thor (Newscaster), Jeanette Nolan (Miranda), Tony Barrett (Matrick), David Ellis (Mike)

1951-02-15 The Death Parade

Agnes Moorehead stars in a story that is somewhat opposite of Sorry, Wrong Number, in that she is working to get the attention of others to prevent a murder from happening… and that crime would be against someone else, not her character. She finds a letter which claims a murder will take place, and decides to seek out the woman, whom she has never met, to save her life. All she has is the woman’s name and that the man’s name is “Jack.” The noise of a downtown parade will be used to drown out the noise of the crime (a train was used in Sorry, Wrong Number) with the woman’s body thrown from a tall building. (The show actually opens with that disturbing act before going into flashbacks). In the end, Moorehead’s character may have facilitated the crime with her misguided and annoying actions. This befuddles her since she had such good and innocent intentions. Oh… yeah… spoiler alert...

The author is radio journalist Shirley Gordon. The script was adapted by Antony Ellis. Moorehead delivers a good performance as a meddling and cranky woman in a rather pedestrian script. Some might suggest that Moorehead’s portrayal overpowers the script. Is it a surprise ending or is it a confusing and unsatisfying one?

The drama portion of the program was recorded on Saturday morning, January 27, 1951. Rehearsals started at 8:45am. Recording began at 11:45am.

Actor Jerry Hausner voices the baby cries. Not many male actors could do the generational leap so effectively.

It was during Elliott Lewis’ tenure as producer that the phrase “first lady of Suspense” was first used to describe Agnes Moorehead and her appearances.

Like other recordings from 1951, there is noticeable wow and flutter variation near the end of the recording. The surviving recordings also seem to be abridged by 30-45 seconds. It is suspected that some of the other 1951 recordings may be slightly edited in some manner. Unfortunately, most all of the collectors who worked hands-on with these recordings and might have some insights into them have passed away.

LISTEN TO THE PROGRAM or download in FLAC or mp3
https://archive.org/details/TSP510215

THE CAST

AGNES MOOREHEAD (Ellen Johnson), Joe Kearns (Signature Voice / Police Sergeant), Jack Kruschen (Tough Man 1 / Officer Leonard), Byron Kane (Man 2), Shimen Ruskin (Waiter), Jerry Hausner (Kennet / Baby cries), Lou Merrill (Book salesman), Lou Krugman (Janitor), Jeanette Nolan (Sheila Mannix [2nd Ellen] / Landlady), Jay Novello (Druggist)

COMMERCIAL: Tom Holland (Hap), Harlow Wilcox (Announcer), Sylvia Simms (Operator)

1951-02-08 The Windy City Six

Fred MacMurray stars in a story set during 1920s Prohibition. It has speakeasies, bootleggers, and gangsters and a vintage Dixieland jazz band that’s doing its best to go from gig to gig but gets caught in the crossfire of a gangland hit and a police raid. MacMurray plays the band’s drummer, and becomes an accidental witness to the murder during the chaotic scene. When he gets back to his apartment a girl is waiting for him. He had eyes for her all night as she sat in the audience, but it was clear she was a gangster’s girl and that any involvement would her would only get him in trouble. The gangster, “Red Rocks” Farrell, sent her to “invite” the drummer and the band to play for a private party at his mountain hideout. It’s clear that it’s an invitation he can’t refuse without dangerous consequences. It’s the gangster’s trick to find out who witnessed the murder. In that process, one of the innocent band members is needlessly executed. Will MacMurray’s character be next?

MacMurray’s solid performance owes much to another well-crafted script story by E. Jack Neuman & John Michael Hayes. They develop the feel of the era by using the natural language and idioms of that time combined with the entertaining slang of jazz musicians. Some of that jargon and many of the cultural references need additional context for today’s listeners. Neuman and Hayes were writing this script in 1950, not even 25 years after the period of the story. That slang was still in much of the listening audience’s memory and vocabulary. For today’s classic radio enthusiasts, that period as of this writing is almost 100 years ago, and many of those references and words are long forgotten. These are some of the key ones in the story:

• 2:15 Moonlight on the Ganges was a very popular fox trot melody, released in 1926.

• 2:19 ...“when ‘Ah, nurse!’ was considered snappy repartee” refers to the old vaudeville gag of a voluptuous nurse in a doctor’s office. Actor and classic radio researcher Patte Rosebank explains that it “...is a censored version of the saucy old expression, ‘Hello, nurse!’. Many 1990s kids first heard that old expression on Animaniacs, where it was a recurring gag (https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ezonRf5lZeI).” A more scholarly explanation can be found at https://en-academic.com/dic.nsf/enwiki/24324304. It is also a scene in the Neil Simon play The Sunshine Boys. [A thank you hat tip to Patte].

• 2:40 “...it was a ‘speak’” means the venue was a “speakeasy,” a bar during Prohibition where if you knew somebody or “the password” you could get access to a back room or club and buy liquor.

• 2:55 the licorice is a clarinet; the Baldwin is a piano and refers to its manufacturer, known mostly for its upright models; slapping refers to playing the upright bass; the skins refers to drums.

• 4:40 Marcel bob and fingerwave were hairstyles with curls or waves, popular in the 1920s; more details are at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marcelling

• 4:50 upstate Scotch refers to liquor from an illegal and hidden distillery run by gangsters; they would often barter with others or other businesses to get things or favors they wanted in exchange for their liquor.

• 7:23 “Isham Jones was busy” was a minor insult since the Jones band was at a height of their popularity with top of the charts record sales and concerts. The insult was that the gangsters were rich and influential enough to get Jones if they wanted to, but they were telling the Windy City Six that they would settle for them. In this story, there was an ulterior motive to the invitation.

• 7:40 “Isadora Duncan’s finale” refers to the famous dancer and choreographer’s tragic and brutal death in 1927 in France; her long scarf became entangled in the wheel and axle of the car in which she was a passenger, strangling her and nearly decapitating her; in the script, this is a threat that the invitation to perform had a bad and terminal consequence if refused.

• 15:45 “the years of the big thirst” refers to the years of Prohibition, which spanned from 1920 to 1933.

• 18:25 “I was going to write him a bread and butter letter first thing in the morning”; such a letter was a brief thank you for hospitality, very functional, with no flourishes or embellishments.

• 25:20 “This is a job for the John Laws” means that some honest police officers would be handling the aftermath of the crash; this is contrast to the corrupt cops who would look the other way about Donovan’s rackets.

• 25:40 “Mike Donovan in vital statistics” is a reference to demographic statistics related to births and deaths (“vital” coming from the Latin vita, which means “life”). This means that Mike Donovan died in the crash, and therefore was listed in the numerical statistics of deaths in a locality.

• 25:50 “complete with old shoes and new rice” means that MacMurray’s character and Cora were married. There was a very old tradition of throwing shoes at weddings to symbolize that the care and upbringing of a bride’s family, especially the protection by her father, was was now turned over to the financial and emotional support of her new husband. By the 1920s, no one was throwing shoes, but the expression was widely known and used. Rice is still used at many weddings as a wish of good fortune and the fertility to raise a family.

There is a particularly brutal scene in the story at about 13:30 when the gangster shoots into a snowman. Blood appears. It was clear that the murdered band member’s body was hidden inside that snowman. The act was designed to intimidate the surviving members of the band into revealing the identity of the witness. (Suspense is not for kids, in case you needed a reminder). It’s a real turning point in the story, especially for the character Cora. It turns her against life with the gangsters, and she wants to leave and will do what it takes to do so.

At 23:00 the car has trouble starting. It’s a crank engine. Though Auto-Lite did not invent the electrical starter for cars (Charles Kettering did around 10 years prior to this story’s setting), it was a major part of their business. The ad agency reviewers and any Auto-Lite executives who read the script probably chuckled when they read this scene. It may have been devilishly tempting to stick an Auto-Lite commercial in that spot.

The inclusion of Red Nichols and his Five Pennies certainly enhances the setting of the story and also the show publicity. His band was a very popular recording act in the 1920s and 1930s. He is a member of the Big Band and Jazz Hall of Fame. More details on his notable career and his band can be found at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Nichols?wprov=sfti1 and there is a film of his band in 1950 at https://youtu.be/EqlSQ5Q8qEo and an earlier film at https://archive.org/details/RED_NICHOLS_HIS_FIVE_PENNIES_Entrance_of_the_Gladiators

For jazz jargon, this site might be helpful https://www.the-jazz-cat.com/jazz-slang-dictionary.html

This was Fred MacMurray’s first appearance on the series. How fitting it was in the casting that he was a saxophone player before turning to acting. He played a wide range of movie roles, including comedies, but his role as the unscrupulous insurance sales representative in 1944’s Double Indemnity was strongly embedded in public memory at the time of this broadcast. Among baby boomers he is known as the star of the 1960s sitcom My Three Sons. He was also known to be one of Hollywood’s best investors. An overview of his long and successful career is at Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fred_MacMurray

LISTEN TO THE PROGRAM or download in FLAC or mp3
https://archive.org/details/TSP510208

THE CAST

FRED MACMURRAY (Carstairs “Ham” Hamilton), Mary Jane Croft (Cora Lee), Jack Kruschen (Chick), Eddie MacDonald (Big Mike Donovan), Hy Averback (Corny), Clayton Post (Bull Hurley), Frank Richards (Red Rocks Farrell), Lee Millar (Policeman / Thurber Jones), Jerry Hausner (Rip), Joe Kearns (Signature Voice)

COMMERCIAL: Tony Barrett (Pepito), Harlow Wilcox (Announcer), Sylvia Simms (Operator)

###

1951-02-01 Fragile – Contents: Death

Paul Douglas portrays a postmaster who receives an anonymous telephone warning that somewhere among the thousands of undelivered packages in the stations delivery trucks and personnel is a time bomb. The telephone tipster says the person who mailed the bomb forgot to set the timer to 7pm, as he intended, and it is adjusted to go off at 2:30 in the afternoon, just five hours away. He explains that he has telephoned because, “maybe some poor guy like mailman will get it instead of the guy who's supposed to." The postmaster sends out an emergency call for postal inspectors, and has a fluoroscope flown from a nearby city in a frantic effort to locate the bomb, which is set to go off if the package is opened. Despite their furious (while careful and systematic) efforts, however, the hours, minutes and seconds tick off relentlessly, with no clue as to whereabouts of the deadly package.

This is the second of two John F. Suter scripts used on Suspense. Suter was a chemist at duPont with radio scripting and mystery writing as sidelines during his professional career. His first Suspense script was Short Order, and was an excellent production. This script is also quite good. It was presented once more in 1956 under producer Antony Ellis. That second broadcast, starring Vic Perrin, is considered the better performance of the two. Perrin, an accomplished radio performer, seems better able to communicate the pressure the postmaster is under than Douglas was able to.

This story was likely inspired by a real event, and perhaps was one of the inspirations for Suspense to change its strategy to include more real-life stories starting with the Fall 1951 season. The event is mentioned at about 9:50. In January 1949, there was a bomb in the mail at the Bowling Green, Kentucky post office. A 29-year-old postal worker, William Henry Osborne, was handling a package with an inaccurate address when it exploded. He lost both hands and sight of both eyes. Four other postal workers were injured. The bomb was small, about 2.5x2x1.5 inches in size. Despite being confident they would find the bomber, they never did. The package was in the bag of a Bowling Green letter carrier for part of the day before it was returned to the station.

Osbourne, a veteran, was married three years with two children. Local fundraisers were held for him and his family. He died in December 2000 at 82. His wife died in 1999; they were married 53 years. They started a successful frozen foods business and he also worked selling advertising. More details about him can be found at https://www.bgdailynews.com/man-injured-in-a-1949-postal-blast-dies-at-home/article_48f27d0e-9622-595f-bcfd-abb47c169faa.html

There are jargon and details in the story that need some context; below are the approximate times:

• 7:10 “Special Delivery” was mentioned. It was 20 cents to send a letter by Special Delivery at that time; a first class letter was 3 cents. That made Special Delivery more than 6x that of First Class. That’s about $2.50 and about 40 cents in US$2024, respectively. The Special Delivery service was discouraged by the USPS in the late 1960s and forward as First Class Mail service improved with the shift to more and more air transport of letters. Express Mail was introduced in 1977 by USPS. As overnight services like FedEx and others became more popular, especially because of their package tracking technology and heavy discounted contract prices to high volume users, Special Delivery volume eroded considerably with these other services, and USPS having greater emphasis on sorting and distribution productivity. The service was discontinued in 1997.

• 7:55 At the time of this episode, it was very common for people to drop small packages into streetside mailboxes. That practice essentially ended after the 9/11 attacks as postal officials worked to change regulations and have all packages dropped off at post offices rather than mailboxes. USPS also decreased the number of curbside mailboxes since that time to reflect the reduced volume of First Class Mail, but also for greater security and safety in the flow of mailed materials.

• 9:20 A fluoroscope is flown in from another city to screen suspect packages. It is an X-ray device, and is now a mainstay in airport security and other applications. X-ray technology revolutionized the practice of medicine, and also the routing and inspection of packages, and even the inspection of structures, airplanes, and many other things. The “fluoroscope” term is not heard often today.

• 20:40 The bomb is submerged into water with a “wetting agent” added. This chemical reduces the surface tension of water, allowing it to penetrate a porous material faster and more thoroughly. It was added to water in this episode to seep into the shipping box and help disable the explosive. Today, there are numerous chemicals in this category. Suter, a chemist, would be very familiar with them.

• 24:15 At about the 24 minute mark, it is mentioned that a package had “advertising pencils.” These were usually pencils painted in a non-yellow color with an advertising message printed on them typically a retail business name and phone number. It could also be a plain pencil with the name of a company or person foil embossed into the pencil. They are usually called “promotional pencils” today.

IMPORTANT: This recording has wow and flutter (similar to Aria from Murder) and is more evident in the closing scenes and music of the broadcast. This is a problem with many 1951 recordings.

The correct punctuation of the title is on the script as “Fragile – Contents: Death.” This title has a colon, which is not an acceptable character in computer file names since it is used in operating systems for other purposes. For that reason, the recording’s file name excludes the colon.

In a 1952 interview, Elliott Lewis said he thought this script would have been more compelling on television as they could have created a greater sense of terror by one box with the bomb among thousands in the postal facility. These comments were found in the New York Daily News of 1952-02-26:

...we once did drama called Fragile — Contents: Death. The story concerned the planting of a bomb in the post office the due to explode within three hours, and all the desperate efforts by police to find it. Can you imagine, in terms of TV, the terror effect of cameras panning up to one package, among thousands, containing the bomb? I’m convinced we should have left the story for television.

We know of Lewis’ long and deep affection for radio drama. Having viewed Suspense TV episodes from that period and the seeing the limitations of the small screen and the small studio sets they had to use because of the large size of early video cameras and other issues, it is unlikely it could have been done with the same impact. The Suspense TV show did use filmed segments of outdoor scenes, and perhaps some indoor scenes from a warehouse filled with packages could have been added to such a broadcast. But like Dead Ernest was vastly better as a radio production than it was on television, it’s likely the same would have been the case with this story as well.

This broadcast was the first of two appearances for Paul Douglas. His Broadway career began in 1936 and continued in theater until he started in Hollywood in 1949. His career overview is at Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Douglas_(actor)

LISTEN TO THE PROGRAM or download in FLAC or mp3
https://archive.org/details/TSP510201

THE CAST

PAUL DOUGLAS (Douglas Jordan), Joe Kearns (Signature Voice/ Ed Williams), Howard McNear (Joe Stewart), Lee Millar (Hartley the clerk), Lou Merrill (phone voice / Sergeant Malloy), Joy Terry (Operator), Herb Butterfield (Fox / Sergeant Rock the driver), Mary Lansing (Alice Jordan), Naomi Stevens (Mrs. Bates)

COMMERCIAL: Ken Christy (Oscar), Harlow Wilcox, Sylvia Simms

###

1951-01-25 Aria from Murder

Ezio Pinza, famous international opera star, was still basking in the glow of his popular breakout with his Broadway success in South Pacific. Here, he offers a fine performance as an opera baritone who is also a murderer. A witness to that murder, committed on stage in what he thought was an empty theater, is blackmailing him. Pinza’s character is a philanderer, and his misdeeds are finally catching up to him. The Richard-George Pedicini story has a near-Whistler ending that makes it a worthwhile listen.

Pinza’s character, Nicolo Mezzini, is being blackmailed by the manager of the opera company because of the affair he is having and the debts he has incurred. Gifts for his ladies do get expensive, and he has overdrawn all of his credit accounts. The manager sees this as an opportunity to have Nicolo under his thumb by threatening to expose him to scandal and disgrace. For that reason, Nicolo decides to do away with him.

The publicity folks at CBS had some fun with Pinza’s appearance. The press release said:

The “wonderful guy” from South Pacific says his role as murderer will not be entirely new to him. “You see, I have killed so any times before in the opera,” says Pinza. “The difference is that this time I do not sing while I commit murder. I didn't know it was legal to kill somebody without singing.” Pinza is pleased, nevertheless, with the idea of doing a straight dramatic role. “I don't sing a complete song in the entire play,” he says proudly. “Just warm up my voice a bit, on one occasion, and then, at the end, there's just a bit of an aria in the background. The rest is all acting.”

There is a broad generalization is that opera singers are not usually considered to be good stage actors. The challenges of opera are so different than stage acting or singing that the talents are probably better considered to be distinct. It is clear is that Pinza, however, is more than competent as an actor, and does surprisingly so considering the unusual subtleties of acting on radio.

It is not clear if this script was submitted to Suspense prior to the casting of Pinza or if it was written with Pinza in mind. In general CBS publicity about the series, there was an “interview” with Lewis where he says “...the quality of the actor’s voice has a lot to do with the kind of roles can play. Ezio Pinza, for example, was cast as an opera singer because his rich basso tones make it pretty obvious that's what he is.”

The story title fits the pattern of classical music titles that are parts of larger works or state the kind of work and then its title. It states that it is an “aria,” for example, and then the larger work from where it is taken. A later Elliott Lewis creation also has this pattern found in classical music titles: Concerto for Killer and Eyewitness. That story will be heard later and has a fascinating backstory.

The drama of this broadcast was recorded on 1950-12-30.

IMPORTANT: This recording suffers from wow and flutter at the very end of the broadcast. Many of the disc transfers of 1951 shows have this issue. One of the collectors involved in transferring the transcription discs to tape had a tape recorder with a problem. It did not stay on speed as the tape was coming to its end. The little speed-ups and speed-downs are annoying and caused by faulty tension and tape transport. Collectors of the time realized there was a problem and intended to go back and re-record the discs, but unfortunately never did. The problems are usually at the end of the recordings during the closing credits and do not affect the core drama content of the broadcasts. Some of the 1951 recordings also vary in quality because multiple people with different equipment configurations, procedures, and skills transferred the discs.

This was Pinza’s only appearance on the series. He was a famous opera singer who performed worldwide. He best known for his 22 seasons at the Metropolitan Opera in New York. He retired from there in 1948 and took on the challenge of Broadway in the Rogers and Hammerstein classic musical South Pacific. That led to many other more popular projects. His long career and personal life are summarized at Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ezio_Pinza

You can hear Pinza singing one of the most famous selections from South Pacific, the solo Some Enchanted Evening at https://archive.org/details/lp_south-pacific_mary-martin-ezio-pinza-richard-rodgers/disc1/01.05.+Some+Enchanted+Evening.mp3

Later in 1951, Pinza starred in the film Mr. Imperium, which did not do well at the box office. But, it was a big studio production. The film can be viewed at https://archive.org/details/Mr.Imperium

He seemed not be be afraid to experiment and take some risks with his reputation and popularity. This recording is a particular example. Pinza and the Sons of the Pioneers recorded a novelty record that did well in the stores https://archive.org/details/78_the-little-ol-state-of-texas_ezio-pinza-and-the-sons-of-the-pioneers-cahn-brent-sa_gbia0035948b Some opera fans may have gasped at the mere thought of it. Pinza even had a short-lived NBC TV comedy series in the Fall of 1953. It was Bonino, where he played a recently widowed father faced with taking care of a large family of kids.

LISTEN TO THE PROGRAM or download in FLAC or mp3
https://archive.org/details/TSP510125

THE CAST

EZIO PINZA (Nicolo), Junius Matthews (Charlie the doorman / Sergeant), Cathy Lewis (Leola), Joe Kearns (Signature Voice / Felix Levine), Wally Maher (Lt. Morgan Redd), Howard McNear (Stage Manager), Tony Barrett (Hemp)

COMMERCIAL: Tom Holland (Hap), Harlow Wilcox (Announcer), Sylvia Simms (Operator)

###

1951-01-18 The Well-Dressed Corpse

Eve Arden makes her only Suspense appearance in a role that is so darkly opposite to the happy but often befuddled high school teacher “Connie Brooks” of the hit radio series Our Miss Brooks. The script is another collaboration of radio scripter E. Jack Neuman and future Hitchcock movie screenwriter John Michael Hayes.

Arden’s character is a moody, narcissistic, business executive. She’s into all the trappings of success (a $40,000 salary is one of them, almost $500,000 in US$2024 value), and the clothes, and every best amenity of daily life. She falls in love with a successful businessman and writer she meets at a luncheon. She is celebrated as one of the nation’s “ten best dressed” women there. He’s handsome and also considered “best dressed” among his peers. The two of them have a level of local celebrity that their companionship is mentioned in the gossip columns. They have a certain chemistry, it seems, since they seem to have so much in common. Over time, however, she misinterprets the direction of their friendship, believing it will soon head to a permanent relationship. He, however, has different plans, and claims to be engaged. She feels humiliated and wants revenge on both him… and his fiancé. She carries out her violent plan. In the end, she suffers the worst humiliation of all.

Arden’s character sees only what she wants to see. She is incapable of blunt introspection and has great difficulty detecting the nuance of conversation or relationships. It is somewhat rattling to hear Arden in this role, which is exactly the point of this kind of casting that Suspense so successfully employed.

A key to the story is that her personality is so intimidating that this very successful man, whom all must believe is strong and decisive in his profession, cannot bring himself to utter the real reason behind his answer about the engagement.

This is an excellent production with a good surprise ending. There are some lines, however, where it seems Arden is hesitant but does not stumble, handling them naturally and convincingly. In the end, you wonder who exactly is the well-dressed corpse. (Spoiler alert!) Is it the man, is it Arden’s character when she is ultimately punished for murder, or is it her already corrupt soul that has been the well-dressed corpse all along?

Larry Thor gets to portray yet another police officer not named “Clover.” This time he’s Lieutenant Rourke. Two other Broadway Is My Beat regulars are in this cast. Charles Calvert, “Sergeant Gino Tartaglia” in that series, plays “Sergeant Collins” here. Jack Kruschen, “Sergeant Muggavan” in that series, plays the bartender in this production. Many of the supporting actors in Well-Dressed Corpse made regular appearances in episodes of that series, too, as witnesses, bystanders, victims, and ne’er-do-wells.

It is possible that the working title of this episode was “The Dressed Corpse.” That title appeared in some early newspaper announcements about the broadcast.

Eve Arden became best known for her lead role in the Our Miss Brooks radio and television series. Though this Suspense casting may seem very odd for her, it is because the Connie Brooks character is so beloved by radio fans. It looms so very large in comparison to her prior and future roles, obscuring her other successes. Arden’s movie career began in the 1930s, but in the mid-to-late 1940s, and included some non-comedic film noir roles. Her almost 60 year career was very varied and included Broadway, stage, movies, television, and radio, of course. Her personal and performing lives are summarized at Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eve_Arden

LISTEN TO THE PROGRAM or download in FLAC or mp3
https://archive.org/details/TSP510118

THE CAST

EVE ARDEN (Ruth Franklin), Joe Kearns (Signature Voice / Percy Hamilton), Jack Kruschen (Tony the bartender), Charles Calvert (Sergeant Collins), Howard McNear (Apartment neighbor / Policeman at end), Clayton Post (Eddie / Yates), Larry Thor (Lt. Rourke), Lamont Johnson (Roy Mason), Mary Jane Croft (“Petey” Wright), Irene Tedrow (Woman in Alley / Elsie), Peter Virgo (Joe, the cop)

COMMERCIAL: Jerry Hausner (Sam the Autolite dealer), Harlow Wilcox (Announcer), Sylvia Simms (Operator)

###

1951-01-11 Vamp ’til Dead

Film star Ginger Rogers makes her only appearance on the series as a woman out to solve her sister's murder by imitating her in a psychological ploy to trap her murderer. It’s a B-movie style plotline, but it’s very well done, Rogers is excellent, and the (almost) surprise ending makes listening worthwhile. One aspect of the story is that we don’t realize what she’s doing until we’re well into the story, which means we, as listeners, get trapped, too!

The story is by E. Jack Neuman and John Michael Hayes from an original story by “Catherine Lee.” That person is “Catherine Lee Lewis,” aka Cathy Lewis, in the regular ensemble of the series and wife of Elliott. Some newspaper clippings originally noted that this was an Antony Ellis adaptation of a script by “Catherine Lee.” That was corrected to Neuman and Hayes and announced in the usual closing credits at the conclusion of the broadcast.

Her character arrives by train in a small town to start a job as secretary to a writer whom she never has met. This has an opening like some horror movies do. She asks the railroad station agent to hail a taxi for her, and tells him her destination. He tells her to take the next train back home, instead! She doesn’t get the chance. Before the agent can explain why, her new employer appears to take her to his home. Even if the agent explained why, she already knows her plan and would have no intention of going back, but as listeners we’re in the dark whether she would heed his warning. Her new boss, a very strange man, gets into conversation with her and fesses up to having a strange reputation in town. He tells her that he is generally believed to be his wife’s murderer, although there was no proof, and asks her if she wishes to take the job, anyway. The housekeeper tells her she looks almost exactly like the murdered woman… but that’s Rogers’ character’s plan, which is still secret. It’s not long before her new employer starts calling her by the name of his dead wife! Like many B-movies, there’s a local newspaper reporter to help complicate matters and create enough confusion about the true murderer to keep the story interesting.

The classic radio blog at Oldtimeradioreview.com notes that:

The tale shares themes in common with a couple of Hitchcock films, Rebecca (based, of course, on a Daphne Du Maurier novel) and Vertigo, since it similarly concerns a female character who is compared throughout to a dead woman, and because the latter's death occurred in mysterious circumstances.

The commentary continues:

...the lengths to which Rogers' character is prepared to go to expose her brother-in-law are quite startling… All this makes for a gripping, intriguing episode, with some strange undercurrents.

The title includes the word “vamp,” an interesting choice, in that the word has multiple meanings and both meanings apply here. In music, to “vamp” means to repeat a short piece of music, such as the opening bars of a song, before another musician starts to play or sing or to buy time for them to compose themselves before they begin. The musicians make their vamping seem natural, and may even improvise to keep the audience interested and hide the fact they are buying time for the singer or other band members. “Vamp” can also refer to a woman who is confident that she is very attractive and makes use of her “looks” to get what she desires. In this story, the “vamping” is playing along with the flow of the relationship until her trap of the murderer can be sprung. Rogers’ character is also using her alluring impersonation of her sister to have him do as she wants. We know that’s working because he starts calling her by her sister’s name. There’s also another meaning… that she will keep her dangerous and risky plan of entrapment until she’s possibly murdered, herself.

What is the correct title of the production? The script has the title as “Vamp ’till Dead” which is an obvious typographic error throughout. The contraction of the word “until” is “’til.” Newspapers all report it as “Vamp ’til Dead” which means it was supplied to them in that corrected form by CBS publicity. Therefore, the name of this blogpost and the recording has been adjusted accordingly.

Rogers’ character (and her murdered sister) played piano. The instrument is used extensively in scenes and orchestral bridges in this episode.

This is Ginger Rogers’ only appearance on the series. She was originally scheduled to star in Angel Face on 1950-03-30 and was rescheduled again for 1950-04-06, but the appearance for that script was postponed. Rogers was one of Hollywood’s biggest stars for decades, known most for her dancing musicals with Fred Astaire. That’s just a small portion of her successful career, which is summarized at Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ginger_Rogers

LISTEN TO THE PROGRAM or download in FLAC or mp3
https://archive.org/details/TSP510111

THE CAST

GINGER ROGERS (Amy Watkins), John Hoyt (Paul Gentry), Jeanette Nolan (Jenny), Ed Max (Al Pender), Joe Kearns (Signature Voice)

COMMERCIAL: Tom Holland (Hap), Harlow Wilcox (Announcer), Sylvia Simms (Operator)

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