Suspense Upgrades

Thanks greybelt
Both download links worked perfectly smooth
Best regards

Art

PCloud is offering 2TB lifetime for$350

Filin worked great as did Mega

Two recordings today, both better than recent upgrades.

Suspense_1955-10-11_HeavensToBetsy_wTMarson&HAverbach UPGRADE-4.mp3
MEGA [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

These clippings are new.



Suspense_1956-06-05_The_Twelfth_Rose_wPaulaWinslowe UPGRADE-7.mp3
MEGA [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

There are no newspaper clippings. At this time of the show's history, publicity budgets were almost non-existent.


I had mentioned that hubiC was being closed. This is the message account holders are getting:

The hubiC online storage service as it currently exists will soon close its doors. We will contact you soon by email to unveil the next steps.

The owner of hubiC has been active in data center applications and also purchased a company called "Shadow." The new offering is called "PC in the cloud" and they're supposed to make a big deal about it on May 18. We'll see.

In the meantime, MEGA seems to be filling our needs.

To recap:
20GB free accounts are at
MEGA [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]
Filen [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]
Products like Sync, Box, OneDrive, Google Drive, and Degoo are targeted to other markets and applications, and don't match collecting needs. I have a great dislike for Dropbox, but I got involved in a project the other day where it was clear that the service improved.

If you're on a budget, a lifetime 100GB account at Filen is US$30. As Ralph Cramden used to say "a mere pittance."

If you have interest in pCloud lifetime accounts, sign up for their newsletter first. Their marketing department has sales on a regular basis on holidays. The next one is probably US Independence Day weekend.

The IceDrive lifetime account is still the best deal on a per byte basis, 5TB for $600. At $120 per TB, that's better than pCloud's 2TB sale pricing. Last year, IceDrive said it would no longer be offering special sale prices on lifetime accounts as they reached their target goals for funding their business. Compared to other services, their regular price for 5TB is better than others.

pCloud has become the standard for OTR... until the next standard comes along... because of the ease of transferring files with other pCloud users, especially for large numbers of files at one time. This is what the Hehn Memorial Collection work group uses to great satisfaction. There are monthly bandwidth quotas that are avoided by each user having pCloud accounts. Once you have a lifetime 2TB account, emails will start offering a step-up to 4TB. Going up to 6TB requires correspondence with tech support, but it can be done. The holiday price for pCloud is often $245 for a lifetime account of 2TB, quite a savings compared to their usual offer.

WeTransfer's free 2GB for 7 days to send a file or files is a generous offering for temporary sending of files. I use it constantly in my daily stuff. You can send as many WeTransfer bundles as you like. I like it because I don't have to clutter my various cloud accounts with files that only need to be sent and not stored.

For our purposes, MEGA is working. I expect it will be for a while.

Thanks greybelt

Best regards

Art

Great summary of cloud services, greybelt. Thanks!

Today's episode has not been upgraded for 7+ years. William N. Robson wrote this episode, finally able to work at CBS again. His scripts from 1951 were credited as "William Norman," and "Christopher Anthony" to avoid complaints by Auto-Lite advertising staffers. That wasn't good enough and he did not work for CBS for several years. The blacklist executive Daniel O'Shea was eventually fired (supposedly the usual "decided to pursue other opportunities") because CBS had enough of him. This was especially after Murrow's TV specials about Senator McCarthy, and how other networks were using CBS blacklisted talent.  O'Shea went back to the movie business, heading RKO.

Though O'Shea did not leave until mid-1955, Robson was finally allowed to submit a script properly attributed to him, and produced under Antony Ellis. When this episode had repeat performances, the name was changed to the more familiar "Night on Red Mountain," itself a subtle reference to what some refer to as the Red Scare. The 1957 and 1959 broadcasts starred Richard Crenna under Robson's own direction. It was produced again under Paul Roberts in 1960 with Mandel Kramer and Lawson Zerbe. It's not known how many people inside CBS, the press, or the listening audience, picked up on the "biographical" aspects of the script, but it was obviously considered a good story and worth repeating on that basis alone.

Suspense_1955-03-08_NobodyEverQuits_wTomMcKee UPGRADE-4.mp3
MEGA [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

For details about how this episode is based on William N. Robson's blacklist exile from CBS, go to
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I discussed the episode at SPERDVAC in November 2019 -- this link goes to that moment in the presentation [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]
A letter Robson wrote to Murrow detailing his bad treatment by O'Shea is a unique window to the era.

Robson would become producer of Suspense about 18 months later.

These clips are new.



FYI: Posts will be erratic over the next 7-10 days. A lot of stuff going on here... thankfully good...

Thanks greybelt
Best regards

Art

Greetings -- it's been a few days since posting. It's been quite busy here and it's likely there won't be another post for about 4 days. Good things are in the works.

These are four for the completists, upgrades of varying degrees of AFRS recordings...

Always loved this title. It's in the style of an Inner Sanctum title, for sure.
Suspense_1944-04-27_DeathWentAlongForTheRide_Thur EC AFRS#49 UPGRADE-2.mp3
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This is one of those AFRS recordings that we know was drawn from a missing coastal network broadcast.
Suspense_1945-10-04_Death_on_Highway_99_wMurphy (from missing ntwk rec) AFRS UPGRADE-3.mp3
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The C3DS still can't figure out which network broadcast this is from. There is a major point of difference in dialogue that would identify the specific coast broadcast that the AFRS recording is drawn from... but that scene is edited out of the AFRS copy! It's not clear why, but it may have been a damaged section of the disc that someone had to work around.
Suspense_1945-10-11_BeyondGood&Evil_wJosephCotten AFRS#124 UPGRADE.mp3
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This recording has been around forever, and the disc has never resurfaced. There's never been a fresh transfer in decades. It's clearly damaged, a scuff of some sort, perhaps, at the beginning of the program. Folks have tried all kinds of things to improve the sound of this disc transfer. It's still flawed. But this always seems like an endeavor to make the recording less worse. Maybe the disc will reappear one day...
Suspense_1945-11-01_DunwichHorror_wRonaldColman AFRS UPGRADE-4.mp3
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All four are at [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

It's been a week since the superb recreation of the missing Suspense by Project Audion. The Eavesdropper is worthwhile listening! [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

Thanks greybelt
Best regards
Art

Today's episode is an AFRS version that I knew was out there but I could not find for years and years. A generous collector sent me some files to review, and there it was!

We have east and west recordings of this episode. C3DS put the two episodes and this AFRS recording through their grueling tests and issued an official dossier. Their report began with an expression of awe at how closely the network broadcasts matched...

It took until 21:01 of the 1min4sec to ID program to find a difference of a WORD!!! They spoke their lines almost identically until then. There were ever so slight differences in inflection or nanosecond spacing but FINALLY one robber says "He came with the cops". In the 16sec to ID he says "He came ALONG with the cops." The AFRS matches the 1min4sec to ID program (at 18:40 "He came with the cops.")

Spier used the script again on The Clock 1948-05-02. See the details below.

Suspense_1945-07-19_BankHoliday_wBonitaGranville (from ntwk 1m4s to ID) AFRS#112.mp3
MEGA [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]



Here is some background about The Clock performance about three years later. Spier had left Suspense by February 1948 in the chaos of the 60-minute format situation which included issues with the CBS "suits" in the executive suite. ABC grabbed him in their effort to save The Clock and raise its statue, and find a sponsor. Spier made it a mirror of Suspense, using many of the same freelance resources, including Robert L. Richards, writer and script editor. Most weeks of the series featured Elliott and Cathy Lewis, years before their own series, On Stage. It did not last. The series had very little news coverage. The CBS publicity machine had its flaws, but it was likely the best of the major networks.

It is probably during this period that Spier enjoyed his collaboration and his appreciation of Lewis increased. The experience may have led to a a debt of gratitude to Lewis that culminated in Spier's confident and recommendation that Lewis become the producer of Suspense in 1950.

Note in this timetable clip below that The Clock was competing with the 60-minute Suspense at the time, and also the Harris-Faye show. The Clock was transcribed, which is what allowed Lewis to be Remley in this time period. It's no wonder The Clock failed with this competition. You'd think ABC would have found a better slot for it.


The two network and the AFRS AND THE CLOCK are at WeTransfer [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]


The week after Bank Holiday is the broadcast of Fury and Sound 1945-07-26. To see the amazing background of this episode, and to hear it, go to
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The crazy episode was being planned months before. I recently found this note in Variety. I had no idea it was in the works for that long. It makes you wonder how it was created among some of the high-priced radio luminaries of the time. Was there a gathering where Ries, Lawrence, Lee, and Spier conspired to concoct this storyline?


And now, another peculiar event associated with the episode. I was looking for something in the Suspense magazine adaptations, I found this in Suspense Magazine #3 as a space-filler at the conclusion of one of the stories.


I couldn't find any documentation about the event and I wondered if it was just radio legend or one of those poorly documented radio situations that could never be fully verified. Karl Schadow found it in the WaPo archives at his home away from home, the Library of Congress. It did not appear in all WaPo editions, but Karl kept hunting... and there it is. Suspense's craziest episode itself had a random crazy event. Gosh, how did the station prepare up with a concise and precise explanation of this wacky show's conclusion for its befuddled listeners? The ending mentioned in the news clip is very unsatisfactory. The program was never repeated on radio.

Please note that The Clock 1948-05-02 is labeled 1948-04-30 on the audio file.

THANKS!!!
Everyone should please take note that The Clock corrected file name is
Clock 1948-05-02 Bank Holiday.mp3
I can't change it in a WeTransfer file, so be sure to change it after you download and unzip the file.

Some further research... the listing for the program in RadioGoldindex

106066. The Clock. May 02, 1948. ABC net. "The Bank Holiday". Sustaining. An engaged couple each work at the same bank. The marriage is to be kept secret from the other bank employees. The day starts off with a bank robbery. The story was previously broadcast on ABC on June 1,1947, with the title, "The Right Man.". Cathy Lewis, Elliott Lewis, William Spier (producer, director), Basil Adlam (music director), Robert Richards (writer). 28:00. Audio Condition: Excellent. Complete.

I can find no documentation of any broadcast as such on any series.

Thanks greybelt

Best regards

Art

This must be what Goldin is referring to:

The Clock-30-The Right Man 06-01-47

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Quick note re The Clock "The Right Man":
The recording is a syndicated Australian production from 1955-1956 era. It seems that someone added a US opening to it. It mentions Spier, but he could not have been on the series then because he did not start on the series until 1948. I am working on this with Ian Grieve to track this down, but it does not appear in his show documentation. Yet, anyway.
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Somewhere along the line, The Clock syndicated Aussie series was assigned US dates in its file names by an early collector. (There are times in documenting OTR that you realize collectors had the best of intentions and unfortunately created problems for later collectors. We'll figure it out -- they didn't have the incredible tools and data access that we have now, so it should not be held against them.)

Jerry Haendiges log of The Clock has the date in question as its title being unknown.
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Overally, there were 49 NY productions of The Clock and 13 Hollywood productions. These were the Spier productions mentioned earlier. Only 4 of the 13 have survived. Five of the 13 were prior Suspense scripts or would become Suspense scripts when Spier would return to the series for the 1949-1950 season.

The Grace Gibson syndicated series used US scripts exclusively. If Bank Holiday of Suspense was performed, it was because it was a US The Clock script.

The story of Grace Gibson is fascinating, and I highly recommend her biography [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]
I read it as a Kindle book. Details about her dealings with the US producers and her own broadcasts was very interesting. It's written by people who worked for and with her.


And now... today's episode...

A Sleeping Draft has not been upgraded for almost 9 years. This is the network broadcast with less noise and fuller sound. The AFRS version is known to exist, #869, but a copy has not been located yet. Help appreciated!

The story was also produced on Escape twice, 1950-10-01 and 1953-04-05. Background is at Christine Miller's blog [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

There has been confusion over the correct spelling of the title. Is it "A Sleeping Draught" or is it "A Sleeping Draft"? It's "draft." All three Escape and Suspense scripts use "draft." The online Suspense log has been updated accordingly.

Suspense_1956-06-19_ASleepingDraft_wBWright&ASofaer UPGRADE-4.mp3
MEGA [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

I could find only one newspaper clip that had more than a timetable listing. The publicity neglect of Suspense would end just a few months from now, with the assignment of William N. Robson as producer.

Today's episode is a "missing" AFRS version of Freedom This Way that fell out of circulation. It and its network recording are about the same quality. The original title was "Flight to the West."

Suspense_1957-01-27_FreedomThisWay_wHansConreid AFRS.mp3
MEGA [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

Both network and this new AFRS are at WeTransfer [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

There's just one new clipping...


This is the script cover of the episode... note that the title has a comma. Log corrected to reflect that.


Note some of the unfamiliar names... Margie Liszt, Miliza Milo, Charles Hradilak. One of the CBS programs that Robson worked on, and one of his proudest efforts, was Operation Underground about freedom fighters and resistance during WW2. When he had a similar storyline in Suspense, he would cast actors from Eastern Europe and other oppressed countries or who had ties to them. Many of these actors did not have big careers or any notoriety other than as background players, usually uncredited, and were essentially unknown as radio actors. Robson liked using them for these roles, especially, as the parts had a deeper meaning to those actors.

Liszt is in IMDb for many 1950s and 1960s background TV and movie roles, many uncredited [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] She did have a somewhat busy radio career in the late 1940s.

Milo is in IMDb for three uncredited movie roles [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]  RGI lists her as "Melitza" and has her in two Escape episodes and in the Suspense episode A Matter of Timing. Keith Scott picked up that spelling in his Suspense log, but it is being corrected in the next edition (we have gotten many more script covers since that was released last July -- many revisions and additions are in process)

Hradilak is in IMDb for many 1950s roles, and often played ethnic characters [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]  Can't find him in RGI -- could be a spelling issue there.

One of the authors was Erno Verebes, who left Germany after the Nazi party came into power. He retired from acting in 1953. Robson must have known him somehow in his various travels. Max Colpet (also as Max Kolpe) was a writer whose family moved around 1900s Europe escaping various political upheavals. His parents died in the Holocaust, and he found himself in the US through the 1940s and most of the 1950s, becoming a citizen in 1953. In the 1930s, he wrote screenplays with Billy Wilder (also a German refugee). Again, how did Robson get to know him? Colpet left the US in 1958 to live in Munich.

Robson would cast some of these actors again in a few weeks in Escape to Death. That script was by our favorite San Quentin writer, Edgar Scott Flohr... which is, as we know, a story in and of itself...

One thing we don't know is how many Operation Underground scripts found their way into Escape and Suspense when Robson was running those series. There is only a pilot episode of that series available. OU is mainly known to collectors as the series that Gunsmoke replaced in the CBS schedule.

Today's episode has not been upgraded for 4+ years. It has a slightly clipped open, but has better sound.

This is one of the Indictment scripts that was repurposed into a NY-produced  Suspense script. Indictment is a very interesting series of which few are circulating. They are based on the experiences of lawyer Eleazar Lipsky when he served in a NYC disctrict attorney office. (Lipsky wrote the story that became the movie Kiss of Death). Allan Sloane, who was a writer for The Big Story and many other series, including religious programs such as Eternal Light, wrote most of the stories in collaboration with Lipsky. Paul Roberts was the producer, and used at least three of the Indictment scripts when he took over Suspense. More details are at [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]  Most all of the surviving recordings are flawed airchecks.

Suspense_1959-10-11_Infanticide_wSantosOrtega UPGRADE-2 SL CLIPPED OPEN.mp3
MAGA [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

These clips are new...



Allan Sloane's papers are at U of Georgia
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I've been curious about Indictment for many years, and it appears that many of the scripts are there. Perhaps some enterprising Cobaltian can figure a way to create a log of the series there?

Thanks greybelt
Best regards

Art

Before we begin, if you are following The Big Story, please go to [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]


Three episodes today since two are mild upgrades.

This episode was last upgraded 3+ years ago. Script by George Bamber, our favorite California avocado farmer. Richard C. Hottellet was one of CBS' WW2 correspondents who worked with Ed Murrow.
Suspense_1959-11-01_ReEntry_wLyleSudow (includes Hottellet news) UPGRADE-2.mp3
MEGA [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

The Last Trip was written by Ralph Bell and Eugene Francis. Both had gotten caught up in Red Channels. Francis was an actor and a writer, and active in union leadership. When actor Joe Julian sued the Red Channels authors (in an effort to reclaim his career), Francis testified. [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] It's interesting to read as Francis seemed to admit he had not read the publication thoroughly and had unwittingly participated in limiting Julian's opportunities. Bell, of course, was one of radio's most recognizable voices, and became a regular on CBSRMT.
Suspense_1959-11-08_The_Last_Trip_wRalphBell&ConnieLembcke UPGRADE-3.mp3
MEGA [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

Virginia Payne was a radio legend, playing the elderly Ma Perkins for 27 years... she started when she was 23... and never missed an episode. The role would end about a year after this Suspense episode in the famous purge of CBS radio soaps at the end of November 1960. Suspense was cancelled, too... for almost seven months. Of today's three episodes, this is the biggest improvement.
Suspense_1959-11-15_The_Companion_wVirginiaPayne UPGRADE-2.mp3
MEGA [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

The three recordings above and these three different versions...
- Suspense_1959-11-01_ReEntry_wLyleSudow ENCODE INCREASE-2 (HAS WROW OPEN).mp3
- Suspense_1959-11-08_The_Last_Trip_wRalphBell&ConnieLembcke HAS PRE-SHOW COMML WROW.mp3
- Suspense_1959-11-15_The_Companion_wVirginiaPayne (Air Force ad at open).mp3
... are available at [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

Thanks greybelt

Best regards

Art

Today, some general catch-up with some items that are more for completists. Starting to lose track of some things here with so many sets to go through. I believe these have not been posted.

This is not an upgrade but it has the KQW ID at the end. You can tell that it was used for one of the circulating versions that have been around, but someone cut the ID out. This means that this direct-to-ID copy is the west coast peformance. The other copy is 6-sec-to-ID and is therefore the east coast broadcast. AFRS is from the east broadcast.
Suspense_1945-12-20_DoubleEntry_wKeenanWynn-HumeCronyn WC (dir to ID) KQW.mp3

These are all AFRS upgrades of some recordings that are not in the best sound. These are only a little better.
Suspense_1949-02-10_De_Mortuis_wCharlesLaughton AFRS UPGRADE.mp3
Suspense_1949-09-01_Nightmare_wGregoryPeck AFRS UPGRADE.mp3
Suspense_1950-02-02_Consideration_wRosalindRussell AFRS UPGRADE-2.mp3
Suspense_1956-03-06_QuietNight_wStacyHarris AFRS UPGRADE-2.mp3

They are at [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]
The link expires in 7 days

Multiple recordings again. The first two are not complete recordings, and seem to have circulated in this format for decades. Luckily, some fuller AFRS recordings have been found over the years. In fact, we have multiple AFRS versions for some of them with different PSAs and sometimes different editing of the final show announcements.

Some of these recordings were chopped up (instead of edited) to remove ads and such in an effort to save recording tape. These must be closer to the original sources than the ones that have been around in the past. The Country of the Blind recording makes me wonder if it came from a network production tape that had not been fully assembled. We may never know!

All three sound better than what's been around. See the link below to get these three and the AFRS ones, all transfers from discs over the last 10 years or so.

Suspense_1957-08-25_LeinengenVsTheAnts_wWilliamConrad (Network) UPGRADE-4.mp3
MEGA [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

Suspense_1957-10-27_CountryOfTheBlind_wRaymondBurr UNKNOWN SOURCE NICE SOUND.mp3
MEGA [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

Suspense_1958-03-09_The_Chain_wAgnesMoorehead (Network) UPGRADE-4.mp3
MEGA [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

For all three files and their AFRS versions go to [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] (expires in 7 days).

No new newspaper clippings.

Thanks greybelt

Best regards
Art

Suspense celebrates its "oak anniversary" -- yeah, that's what it is, no kidding, really -- on June 17. So far this is what's lining up:

Radio Talking Book Service is having a Suspense month with brodcasts of two shows each week with commentary by yours truly. The program is "Dusty Attic" and it's hosted by fellow collector Ryan Osentowski. It can be streamed live. Downloads will be available after the last of the broadcasts.
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Saturday 11pmET/10pmCT starting this weekend, June 4
Sunday 10pmET/9pmCT is the repeat play

Streaming channel Stay Tuned America [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] (worth keeping on any day in the background) will be running 12 consecutive hours of Suspense on June 17. I'm waiting to get the exact start time. It will begin at 10am US Eastern time. I'm helping select episodes. The usual inclination for such an event is to pick episodes like "first this, last that, this guest, etc." I'm trying to select the best 24 episodes, especially with a new listener in mind. Suggestions greatly appreciated. My list includes these so far: The Hitchhiker, Donovan’s Brain Part 1, Donovan’s Brain Part 2, Dead Ernest (1946), House in Cypress Canyon, Sorry, Wrong Number (1948), The Crowd, Night on Red Mountan (1957), Date Night, Three O'Clock, The Long Night (the aviation story). Your suggestions along with a reason why you think that episode is special or intriguing would be appreciated.

(If it's the "oak" anniversary do we have to do Death at Live Oak?)

Keith Scott will be joining me on YesterdayUSA on Saturday evening, June 18, at 7pm ET for a discussion (it will be Sunday morning for him in Australia) with hosts Walden Hughes, Larry Gassman, and John Gassman. The show has call-ins, so join in the fun!

There are more things coming -- any suggestions for other ways to commemorate the event?


It's been 10 years since this version of this episode has been upgraded. It's another Eleazer Lipsky storyline from the Indictment series.
Suspense_1959-11-22_The_Thimble_wWhitfieldConnor BETTER SOUND-3 no station ID.mp3
MEGA [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]


It's been 14 years for this full version of this broadcast to be upgraded. There is a better edited copy available (see below).
Suspense_1959-11-29_LeiningenVsTheAnts_wLVanRooten UPGRADE HAS COMMLS.mp3
MEGA [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

This clip is new.



Today's two recordings plus a complete but low quality The Thimble that includes a pre-show commercial, plus a better sounding Leinengen with commercials edited out can be downloaded at [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]  The link expires in 7 days