1954-05-24 Weekend Special: Death

Agnes Moorehead stars yet again on the series, in a very good E. Jack Neuman script. She portrays an attorney’s secretary who stays late one evening and has to get some last minute shopping done on her way home. The lawyer met with a man who has financial problems, and it’s very clear he’s not a very amicable guy, either. The script is a bit predictable in that Neuman would not introduce such a character early in the storyline without using the character later for something important. The meeting ends late, and she heads to the supermarket. She is refused entry, but the guard lets her in if she promises to be quick and out by closing time. Lost in her shopping decisions, the lights are turned off and she’s accidentally locked inside the store as it closes for the night. She’s not able to attract the attention of passersby, so she finally gives up and goes to sleep. Her slumber ends when she realizes that there are a couple of burglars crawling in a window to break into the safe. Frightened, she waits and listens, and then tip-toes to a phone booth and tries to call the police. The connection is not good, but since she is afraid of being detected, she can only whisper. The operator can’t hear her, and thinking it’s a bad connection, hangs up and calls back. Then the burglars realize that they are not alone. They conduct an inch-by-inch search in the dark store, as the terrified woman tries to evade their sight. It does not go well, since one of the burglars has a gun. There’s no real spoiler alert here since the episode opens with the conclusion of the events and the details of how they got there unfolds in flashback.

It’s a very good script, Moorehead is great again. It is funny that a critical moment of the story involves her character on a telephone… who has a problem getting an operator to understand her situation! This is a traditional Suspense story with an everyday person trapped in a dangerous situation not completely of their making.

It is unlikely that Neuman’s script was influenced by the safecracking exploits of Edgar Scott Flohr. He was known as the Safeway bandit in California because he broke into so many of them, It is funny to muse about it. Flohr was in San Quentin around this time for safecracking, and wrote and sold two scripts to William N. Robson for use on Suspense in 1957.

The rehearsal and recording of the drama portion was held on Thursday, May 13, 1954. Rehearsal started at 2:00pm, and recording began at 6:30pm. The session closed at 7:00pm.

LISTEN TO THE PROGRAM or download in FLAC or mp3
https://archive.org/details/TSP540524

This link goes to the alternative cloud service for downloading; Internet Archive pages are working again but do not have complete functionality yet. The full recovery from the DDoS attacks will take a few more days. Alternative links will still be provided until that time.
https://www.mediafire.com/folder/qho181sfibu3e/Suspense_-_Weekend_Special_-_Death

The recording can be streamed at YouTube beginning at 9am US ET on October 22, 2024
https://youtu.be/J1aywp-6028

THE CAST

AGNES MOOREHEAD (Rita Dorsey), Anthony Barrett (Tony Laferro), Joseph Kearns (Fred), Hy Averback (Lieutenant Franz), Mary Jane Croft (Special Operator), Whitfield Connor (Lee Stanley), Barney Phillips (Grocer / Voice), Larry Thor (Narrator)

COMMERCIAL: Harlow Wilcox (Announcer), Jerry Hausner (Stan), Sylvia Simms (Operator)

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1954-05-17 The Revenge of Captain Bligh

Charles Laughton makes his final series appearance in a documentary-style episode drawn from the diary of Captain Bligh of The Bounty. His crew mutinied against him, and on April 28, 1789, cast him and his loyalists adrift in a tiny boat in the Pacific. He and 18 of his men survived for 41 days and rationed food at one ounce of bread per day. They faced harsh weather, rough seas, and difficult navigation… and they got on each others nerves, of course. They landed on some items looking for food and water and returned on their trip. At various times Bligh continues some of the behavior that created conditions of the original mutiny, but he gets the crew back to join him. Eventually they find a place to stay, and Bligh is able to get back to England, and eventually some of the mutineers are brought to justice. Some are never found. Some end up on the very remote Pitcairn Island. The island is so remote in the Pacific, that no one, at that time, would be likely to find them. (The Pitcairn Islands are part of the UK to this day).

Antony Ellis wrote the script and its narration based on Bligh’s actual diary, allowing the drama to be considered a documentary… at least in terms of what Elliott Lewis considered it to be for Suspense.

Why was this on Suspense? It was more likely that this was a way to attract Laughton to the show and get the favorable publicity around his appearance. Is it really suspenseful? Somewhat, but it’s not the kind of script that would draw one to the series. It’s yet another one that should not be the first episode you give to a new listener.

Wikipedia has a summary of the mutiny, how and why it happened, and its aftermath https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mutiny_on_the_Bounty

The 1935 MGM motion picture with Charles Laughton as Bligh, likely his most notable role, won him great accolades. It can be viewed at the Internet Archive https://archive.org/details/mutiny-on-the-bounty-1935

The script Listen, Young Lovers was originally scheduled for this date. It was held for two weeks and broadcast on 1954-05-31.

The rehearsal and recording of the dramatic portions was held on Sunday, May 9, 1954. It began at 11:00am. Recording started at 3:30pm and ended at 4:00pm.

LISTEN TO THE PROGRAM or download in FLAC or mp3
https://archive.org/details/TSP540517

This link goes to the alternative cloud service for downloading as we await the impending Internet Archive restoration from DDoS attack
https://www.mediafire.com/folder/pdgogk0athr6l/Suspense_-_Revenge_of_Captain_Bligh

The program can be streamed on YouTube
https://youtu.be/ti-x99ntfmU

THE CAST

CHARLES LAUGHTON (Captain William Bligh), Ben Wright (Midshipman Hayward), Bill Johnstone (Hallett), Charles Davis (Able Seaman Hall), Joseph Kearns (Quarter Master), Antony Ellis (Seaman Cole / Voice), Larry Thor (Narrator)

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

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1954-05-10 The Last Days of John Dillinger

Van Heflin returns to the series in a script by Morton Fine and David Friedkin about the brutal, blood-soaked career of John Dillinger. He was one of the nation’s most-wanted criminals until the much publicized “lady in red” put the finger on him to the FBI. The episode begins with Dillinger's prison break. He takes one of the guards as a hostage, and Dillinger’s innate brutal nature is quite clear in the scenes. He goes to a backwoods retreat, where he escapes from an FBI trap, and then heads to a plastic surgeon. The mob doctor gives him a new face and even removes the skin from his finger tips to blot out fingerprint identification. Dillinger then lives quietly in Chicago as he plans his next moves. One hot summer evening, his girlfriend persuades him to take her to an air conditioned movie theater and get out of the sweltering apartment. It’s a trap; the FBI was waiting for him.

Van Heflin gives another fine performance in a rather weak B-movie style script. At about 12:20 Heflin screams when a mob doctor has Dillinger put his hand in acid to alter his fingerprints to evade detection. This was after they were musing about how the plastic surgery went and how Dillinger nearly died on the operating table.

There are times the episode sounds like a Jimmy Cagney gangster movie, but the characterizations here are much better than those offered in the most recent “gangster” episode, Dutch Schultz. This is an entertaining episode. The Heflin scream going into the mid-show commercial is worth the listen by itself. It would have been really something to see and hear him do it in the studio.

The dramatic portion of the broadcast was recorded on Wednesday, May 5, 1954. Rehearsal began at 11:00am and recording commenced at 3:30pm. The session concluded at 4:00pm.

Dillinger paid $5000 for the facial plastic surgery in 1932, which would be about $110,000 in US$2024. The hands were a separate fee of $500 each, or about $11,000 for both in current 2024 terms.

Dillinger was at the Biograph Theater in Chicago on July 22, 1934. He was viewing Manhattan Melodrama, and was killed by FBI agents in a nearby alley after exiting the building. The movie may be viewed at the Internet Archive https://archive.org/details/manhattan-melodrama-1934_202201

For more information on Dillinger, the Wikipedia profile is quite extensive https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Dillinger

One character is named “Paul Harvey” and is played by Sam Edwards. Paul Harvey? The famous newscaster and commentator’s national career was just beginning. He had a national newscast on ABC television starting at the end of 1952. Very few people in the Suspense listening audience knew the name, otherwise the writers would have selected a different one for the character,

Three recordings have survived and the network recording is the best. The two AFRS recordings, one contemporary to the network broadcast, and another released in the late 1970s or early 1980s, are in low quality sound.

• Network: 1954-05-10 The Last Days of John Dillinger NETWORK.flac

• AFRS 1950s: 1954-05-10 The Last Days of John Dillinger AFRS LQ.flac

• AFRTS 1980s: 1954-05-10 The Last Days of John Dillinger AFRTS80s LQ.flac

For many years, the network recording was not in very good sound. This recording is a big improvement compared to what was originally circulating.

LISTEN TO THE PROGRAM or download in FLAC or mp3
https://archive.org/details/tsp540510a

This is the alternative page to download the FLAC and mp3 files while the Internet Archive works to restore services after its DDoS attack:
https://www.mediafire.com/folder/rkdhg4bmduf7f/Suspense_-_Last_Days_of_John_Dillinger

Stream the episode from YouTube
https://youtu.be/iVG73sgAi8s

THE CAST

VAN HEFLIN (Dillinger), Cathy Lewis (Woman / Anna), Michael Ann Barrett (Molly), Joseph Kearns (Rowley the Cop), Roy Glenn (Herbie), Parley Baer (Ernie / Voice 2), Sam Edwards (Paul Harvey), Joe Granby (Doctor), Larry Thor (Narrator), Tom Brown (Nelson), Jimmie Eagles (Voice)

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

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1954-05-03 The Giant of Thermopylae

Frank Lovejoy stars in an E. Jack Neuman story about a murder at a carnival fun house. Lovejoy portrays a tough guy who can’t seem to stay out of fights. The story begins the morning after one of those altercations with his released from a jail cell at the sheriff’s office. He was kept overnight for punching a stranger during an argument. A woman involved in the altercation is waiting outside, and she thanks him for intervening on her behalf. He doesn’t even remember it – he just wanted to fight. She soon realizes that he wasn’t defending her at all. Realizing that he’s kind of a heel, she tells him to leave. But in the process of their discussion, he learns the name of the person who hit him, Tim Bennett, her date for the night. He’d like to take another shot at him. She tells him that Bennett is at the amusement park, of which he was part owner. She tells him to leave after some unsuccessful advances toward him; he’s more interested in drinking and getting some revenge against Bennett. He decides to go to the amusement park to take another punch or two at him. He goes to the park and learns he is in the fun house. There he runs into the surprise of his life: the attraction has a 9 foot tall giant mechanical man that blocks the exit and spooks the customers and they run out through the front door. And it gives a sense of being alive, but the whirring and the clanking and the cycling of the actions makes it clear that it’s not. He knows Tim Bennett is working the mechanical man… but when he goes looking for him, he finds Bennett’s body. He has four stab wounds, and has been murdered. He tries to escape after an altercation with a carnival employee that they realize that the giant was bleeding and screaming. Was that real? Lovejoy’s character is convinced it was. He suddenly wakes up back at the sheriff’s jail… and we learn what really happened.

The sound effects for the giant and the production are superb. They are provided by Suspense regulars Gus Bayz and Gene Twombley. This is a good and entertaining story, and the effects are a key element to the enjoyment.

The mid-show commercial is a little later than usual (17:30) to allow for development of the storyline.

The drama portion was rehearsed and recorded on Sunday, April 25, 1954. The session began at 11:00am with recording starting at 3:30pm and ending at 4:00pm.

At 29:05, Wilcox delivers a public service announcement for the YMCA. He slightly stumbles over the word “recreation.”

The script does not spell “Thermopylae” correctly, but it was correct in all of the show publicity. The script has it with an “o” instead of a “y.” Thermopylae is in Greece, and is famous for a battle there in 480 BCE as part of the Greco-Persian wars.

At one time, this episode may have originally been scheduled for 1954-05-10. Suspense often shuffled its broadcast plans because of changes to the availability of the guest star. Pre-taping the dramatic portions made it easier to get the guests onto the program and it eliminated much of the chaos involved in adjusting to changes in their movie (and now TV) obligations.

Recordings of this broadcast circulated for many years in lesser than average sound, had disc surface noise, and a clipped opening. Somewhere along the line, the disc must have be re-transferred or a different set of discs was found. While the recording has very minor defects (minor sibilance in some places), it is now in very pleasing sound.

An Armed Forces Radio Service recording (AFRS#485) recently became available. It has not been in circulation for decades. It is in excellent sound. The network and AFRS recordings are in equivalent and sound quality. The network recording may be preferred as it offers the full network broadcast. and is in better sound than has been circulating in the past.

LISTEN TO THE PROGRAM or download in FLAC or mp3
https://archive.org/details/TSP540503

This is the alternative page to download the FLAC and mp3 files while the Internet Archive restores services from its DDoS attack:
https://www.mediafire.com/folder/n270owa88a64v/Suspense_-_The_Giant_of_Thermopylae

Stream the episode from YouTube
https://youtu.be/zpto2e2Lx3E

THE CAST

FRANK LOVEJOY (James Bernard Walters), Charlotte Lawrence (Mary Jane Kennedy), Joseph Kearns (Sheriff), Jerry Hausner (Hot Dog Vendor), Paul Frees (Ticket Seller 2 / Giant’s Laughter), Herb Ellis (Barker / Owen), Larry Thor (Narrator)

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

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1954-04-26 The Bertillion Method

[NOTE: The correct spelling of “Alphonse Bertillon” appears to be “-on” and not “-ion.” The Suspense script uses “-ion.” Newspapers of his time in the early 1900s used both spellings. The “-ion” spelling is more phonetic, to capture the French pronunciation for English readers and speakers. Though technically incorrect, the “-ion” spelling has been retained for the file names and the commentary because it is used in the original script.]

Charles Boyer returns to the series in a Morton Fine and David Friedkin script. The story  is based on the career of one of the world's great real-life detectives, and the innovator behind many of the biometric methods used in forensics today. Boyer portrays Alphonse Bertillion of the French Surete who solves the case of a murdered man whose body was wrapped in tar paper and bound tightly with rope. There is no identification on his person (his wallet is later found and is turned into the police station… no master sleuthing needed for that), but there are no apparent clues to the identity of the killer and the relationship to the man. But Bertillion is relentless in his examination, going over the body and clothing of the man. They learn his identity and profession, Bertillion reconstructs the crime, and slowly comes to the realization of who the killer is… despite the initial skepticism of his superiors.

Wikipedia has a profile of Bertillion that is worthwhile reviewing before listening just to understand the character better. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alphonse_Bertillon

The story feels like a regular and simplistic mystery story. Perhaps a way to describe it is as a cross between Hercule Perot and Sherlock Holmes. It’s enjoyable and relatively light listening.

The real person was curious about so many things, particularly the measurement of bones as a means of identification. He was probably the developer of the mathematics of height and weight estimation that we see on today’s forensic television programs, where they find a bone and then extrapolate something about the victim.

His work was the impetus behind front and side mugshots, but he was actually skeptical of fingerprinting. He did not believe they could be as unique as we now know them to be. Since he had a scientific curiosity of trial and error and proof, he probably would had accepted them with the confidence we have now, had he lived longer.

His techniques were new and therefore relatively untested. He had many hypotheses about proof and identification. His hubris unfortunately contributed to the conviction of Alfred Dreyfus (historically known as the “Dreyfus Affair” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dreyfus_affair ). In the trial, he proposed a theory of “autoforgery” and accused Dreyfus of imitating his own handwriting. He was convincing, despite having no data, because of his reputation. The judges were impressed in the trial, but the explanation was not true. That was not known until after Dreyfus was convicted. It is easy to speculate that other innocent persons were convicted because of his authoritative standing in the use of science methods that he created that had not been tested.

The rehearsal and recording of the dramatic portion was on Friday, April 16. 1954. The session began at 2:00pm, with recording beginning at 6:30pm, and ending at 7:00pm.

There are two recordings of the episode, and the network recording is superior. The Armed Forces Radio Service (AFRS) recording is noisy with limited range, and is therefore considered as low quality.

LISTEN TO THE PROGRAM or download in FLAC or mp3
https://archive.org/details/TSP540426

The alternative download page while the Internet Archive is recovering from its DDoS attack is at
https://www.mediafire.com/folder/4lvooirrevrdp/Suspense_-_Bertillion_Method

The recording can be streamed at YouTube
https://youtu.be/6C9BjaXHTHY

THE CAST

CHARLES BOYER (Alphonse Bertillon), Herb Butterfield (Chief Camascasse), John Dehner (Narrator / Jacque the Hotelier), Vic Perrin (Girard / Dumier), Jane Webb (Marceline / Mrs. Cabassou), Edgar Barrier (Marcel Cabassou), Larry Thor (Narrator)

COMMERCIAL: Harlow Wilcox (Announcer), Bob Emerick (on-the-spot interviewer)

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1954-04-19 The Card Game

Richard Widmark returns to the series in an E. Jack Neuman script about a gambler whose life is falling apart. The only way he might stop gambling is if he ends up a broken man and loses more than his savings. This inveterate gambler who clings to the belief that all he has to do to become wealthy is to find the right card game. His pregnant wife is weary of his broken promises to reform and get a respectable job. She has decided to leave him. Desperate now, he has a plan to find that one card game he’s been looking for. He has to look the part of a big gambler to have a chance at getting into one of those no-limit games, and he has to look like he has big money so he can get into the game on credit. He goes to a store he’s been to before, but not in a while, and gets a $300 suit ($3500 in US$2024) on a promise to pay later. The owner is skeptical because he’s always paid cash. He convinces that very store owner to let him borrow his plush $10,000 car ($120,000 in US$2024), to put up a flashy front. He succeeds and gets himself invited to sit in on that no-limit poker game. The ruse worked so well, they gave him credit to play the game without putting up his own cash. Now all he has to do is win. 

There does not seem like there’s a lot of suspense in the story, but it all comes at the end (spoiler) when he loses big, really big, and has to admit he has no money. This does not go over well, and they take him for “a ride.” He’s left in a ditch, and he’s beaten up so badly no one who sees him helps him. He realizes he’s put the lives of his wife, his newborn child, and his own, in jeopardy. Perhaps now that it has shifted from certain financial harm to potential physical harm, something in his thinking may finally click. Maybe the suspense is whether or not this is finally the life-changing tragedy of his own doing that finally gets him to stop gambling and keep his many promises.

Widmark is good, yet again, in this different role and a very different story. It is definitely not a Suspense classic, but it is an intriguing episode, nonetheless. If someone is new to classic radio or Suspense, this is not one that you suggest as one of their first listens.

The dramatic portion of the program was rehearsed and recorded on Sunday, April 11, 1954. Rehearsal began at 11:00am and recording started at 3:30pm, concluding at 4:00pm.

LISTEN TO THE PROGRAM or download in FLAC or mp3
https://archive.org/details/TSP540419

THE CAST

RICHARD WIDMARK (Chick Regan), Clayton Post (Harry / Max), Cathy Lewis (Jenny), Jay Novello (Jim Santo), Hy Averback (Walshie), Eddy Fields (Phil Archer), Lou Krugman (Lew Humboldt), Joe Granby (Larry), Larry Thor (Narrator) [Joe Kearns was originally cast for Walsh & a character named Charlie, but for whatever reason he wasn’t in the show]

COMMERCIAL: Harlow Wilcox (Announcer), Bob Emerick (on-the-spot interviewer)

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1954-04-12 Parole to Panic

Broderick Crawford stars in a Ross Murray story about a paroled ex-con whose former associates believe he turned state’s evidence against them. On his release after two years incarceration, he wants to make amends to his wife and find a decent job. After arriving home, he learns that several members of the gang he belonged to intend to kill him for what they regard as “ratting” on them. Some of the gang members were never arrested, but want revenge for the others who were. After a threatening phone call, the ex-con and his wife pack hastily and leave town. After only a few miles drive, they realize that their car is being followed. Desperately, they try to lose their pursuers. After stopping for gas, they realize they’ve been spotted. They scramble, and leave before the gas attendant could put the cap on the tank, which luckily results in a small spill on their drive that assists attentive police find their location when they are rescued later… but much happens in the meantime. Well, almost much. The ending is not all that exciting to everything that led up to it. It’s an entertaining listen, but lets down a little in the end, even though it has a happy conclusion.

It is funny to hear names of characters be the same as those of celebrities much later on. Hy Averback plays “Roger Miller.” That’s the same name as the highly popular country music composer and entertainer of the 1960s and 1970s.

The dramatic portion of the episode was rehearsed and recorded on Sunday, April 4, 1954. The session began at 11:00am, and recording started at 3:30pm. It concluded at 4:00pm.

At the close of the broadcast, Betty Goode, Editor of Radio-TV Mirror magazine, gives Elliott Lewis a gold medal and a scroll to mark the magazine’s readers selection of the series as their favorite mystery program. Goode’s remarks were pre-recorded, as was Lewis’ acceptance.

LISTEN TO THE PROGRAM or download in FLAC or mp3
https://archive.org/details/TSP540412

Alternative download site for FLAC and mp3 files
https://www.mediafire.com/folder/2uoe17pacpkpa/Suspense_-_Parole_to_Panic

Stream the episode at YouTube starting at 9am US ET on October 16, 2024
https://youtu.be/pb-ntzjuUIM

THE CAST

BRODERICK CRAWFORD (Paul), Paula Winslowe (Jenny), Joseph Kearns (Warden / Police Lieutenant), Junius Matthews (Mr. Miller), Hy Averback (Roger Miller), Barney Phillips (Voice / Gas Station Attendant), Larry Thor (Narrator)

COMMERCIAL: Harlow Wilcox (Announcer), Bob Emerick (on-the-spot interviewer)

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