Suspense Upgrades

Todays Suspense is Portrait Without a Face. Michele Morgan, in her only Suspense appearance, portrays a French refugee. She is asked to use an old love relationship with an artist to advance the resistance against the Nazis. The painting, "Portrait Without a Face" by her ex-lover is shocking... It shows Morgan’s character with the dead body of a French traitor general at her feet, implicating her in his murder! Now what happens?

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The script is by Corporal Louis Pelletier, who would become more associated with FBI in Peace and War later in his career.

Today's Suspense is The Defense Rests starring Alan Ladd. He plays Robert Tasker, a young ex-con who is rehabilitated by a criminal attorney who hired him to be a clerk in his firm. A lawyer in the same firm is the former DA who convicted Tasker. Things had to be a little tense around the water cooler and passing through the hallways every day... When that ex-DA is murdered, everyone knows who the likely suspect is: Tasker! Yikes! Ladd was always good on Suspense.
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The story is written by Rowland Brown, writer of the screenplay for the film Angels with Dirty Faces.

greybelt wrote:April 8 and 9 have important posts for the project. April 8 is Donovan's Brain, and that needs to be spread far and wide. April 9 is Fugue in C Minor.

I have been surprised recently with recordings that have come to the project "out of the blue" because someone has seen a blogpost and get a sense of how serious and devoted all of the people in this project are. These are not just Suspense recordings that are coming to us.

Also, there seems to be a group of followers who are new to the hobby. We need to cultivate enthusiasts to ensure what we do continues as various infirmities and life commitments find us old timers.

The mini-marathon on Stay Tuned America has been confirmed for Friday, June 16 starting at 4pm US Eastern time.

Today's Suspense is "Narrative About Clarence," a strange and nebulous (a/k/a "bad") title. This was Laird Cregar's second but final appearance on Suspense before his tragic passing.

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It seems that Uncle Clarence has just returned from India and decides to mess with his family’s heads using the black magic powers of hypnotism. The story seems very dated with modern understanding of hypnotism. BUT THAT'S OKAY! As classic radio fans, we’ve relished the idea of someone being able to “cloud men’s minds so they cannot see him.” We love every moment of that illusion, so why not this one?  Enjoy!

This was Laird Cregar's second but final appearance on Suspense before his tragic passing.

Strange saying this, but yesterday's root canal was the best one I ever had.

Today's Suspense episode is Sneak Preview starring a series favorite, Joseph Cotten. He is one of the links back to a key series in radio history, March of Time and also Mercury Theater's stage and radio productions that culminate in William Spier's leadership of Suspense. The episode has some light and snarky moments that include some inside jokes. Oh... before we forget.. the story is about a motion picture director who turns detective to track down Nazi agents.

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Whether serious or light, Cotten could always be counted on for superb performances. The blogpost also discusses the "Sonny Tufts?" supposed blooper and how the story may have originated. Enjoy!

greybelt wrote:

Today's Suspense episode is Sneak Preview starring a series favorite, Joseph Cotten. He is one of the links back to a key series in radio history, March of Time and also Mercury Theater's stage and radio productions that culminate in William Spier's leadership of Suspense. The episode has some light and snarky moments that include some inside jokes. Oh... before we forget.. the story is about a motion picture director who turns detective to track down Nazi agents.

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Whether serious or light, Cotten could always be counted on for superb performances. The blogpost also discusses the "Sonny Tufts?" supposed blooper and how the story may have originated. Enjoy!

greybelt wrote:

Today's Suspense episode is Sneak Preview starring a series favorite, Joseph Cotten.

Known as "The First Gentleman Of SUSPENSE" ~



~ at least at this point in his career, when he's no longer occasionally scabbing as "Joseph Wool"!

Great weekend, all!
- Craig

Today's Suspense episode is Cat and Mouse, based on the 1940 Hugh Pentecost novel. It's about two "ham" radio operators who are in distant parts of the country but are partners in a valuable wartime invention. One of the operators is murdered by mysterious strangers during their conversation, forcing the other, played by Sonny Tufts, to find the killer, protect the invention, and save his own life.

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From a historical perspective Sonny was not regarded as a top Hollywood talent, but his career was rising at the time of this broadcast. He had some success in musicals through the 1940s, often cast as a handsome supporting actor. He never really broke through as a star. His performance was lacking and is considered by many to be one of the weakest episodes of Suspense. That may not be a fair judgment of the script’s quality. This script was re-used by Suspense producer William Spier on 1948-12-17 when he was running the 1948-1949 season of Philip Morris Playhouse. For that performance, he cast Dennis O’Keefe in the starring role. Unfortunately, that broadcast has never been found.

Ham radio and OTR have a collecting link. One of the biggest radio clubs in OTR was the ORCATS which met every Sunday morning at 8am over ham radio for decades. It was a very close-knit group and enjoyed meeting at the FOTR and other conventions and had the legendary ORCATS summer picnic every year.

Today's Suspense is The Woman in Red starring Katina Paxinou. A young woman is held hostage and abductors try to convince her she is mentally ill and is actually someone else! Paxinou was a Greek actress who fled to Britain at the start of WW2, and then moved to Hollywood. She won a supporting actress Oscar for her first film performance in For Whom the Bell Tolls. After a few more films, she returned to Greece in the early 1950s. This is her only Suspense appearance.

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The story was also adapted for the 1945 movie My Name is Julia Ross. That film can be viewed on YouTube.

Today's Suspense is The Woman in Red starring Katina Paxinou. A young woman is held hostage and abductors try to convince her she is mentally ill and is actually someone else!

This Suspense episode is The Marvelous Barastro with Orson Welles. He loved the chance to play TWO rival magicians! We get to hear producer William Spier as an actor!

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The story is by Ben Hecht, somewhat forgotten nowadays, but a well-known and highly influential writer, screenwriter, and commentator, and was even an early TV talk show host. He wrote the short story almost 20 years earlier about a magician named "Sarastro." Back then, its title was "The Shadow," but for radio purposes that name was already taken. (Hmmmm... what show was that?!) The title was changed for Suspense.

Welles so enjoyed the story that he bought movie rights in late 1944 but never exercised them. In 1947, a screenplay was shopped around Hollywood, but the project never got off the ground. The broadcast received strong reviews with critic Ben Gross saying "The brilliant talents of an incisive writer and of an outstanding actor combined to give meaning to the title of that radio series Suspense."

greybelt wrote:We get to hear producer William Spier as an actor!

Today's Suspense is The Palmer Method. Ed Gardner is the star of this episode as the show casts him as a fast thinking petty forger (think of his character Archie from Duffy’s Tavern with a deeply evil criminal streak) who tries to escape arrest by fleeing to Madrid to join Spanish Loyalists in the war.

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This was the first time an established and notable radio comedian was cast on Suspense. Comedic actors were cast before, but no radio comedy headliner had been in the lead before. Gardner’s on-air comedic talents were well known, but the public was not aware of the business acumen and entrepreneurial instincts that radio insiders saw. Gardner was not a good actor in a technical sense and consistency, which often made his portrayal of Archie all the more spontaneous and endearing. It may have driven Spier and the cast crazy. There are lots of differences in the east and west performances, made more obvious by their four-day separation.

The story was written by rising CBS executive Ernest Martin who would soon become head of Hollywood programming. He would become a Broadway producer, and brought Guys and Dolls to the stage.

greybelt wrote:Today's Suspense is The Palmer Method. Ed Gardner ... Gardner’s on-air comedic talents were well known, but the public was not aware of the business acumen and entrepreneurial instincts that radio insiders saw.

Today's Suspense is Death Went Along for the Ride with Gene Kelly. This is a significant re-write of an earlier production (only the 2nd half of that one survives) with a better script and a better performance. It also benefits from the bigger production budget for effects and music that the Roma sponsorship provided.

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Both the east and west broadcasts have survived and each have different "inside jokes" in the dialogue! In the east recording, a bellhop announces "call for Mr. Spier!" in a hotel lobby scene. In the west it's "call for Mr. Carr!", a CBS studio engineer. I'm often asked why east and west recordings are so important because they're the same story. It's little things like these that offer a glimpse in the behind-the-scenes goings on of the personalities and the nature of their relationships. These enrich our understanding of the series and its times. Enjoy!

greybelt wrote:Today's Suspense is Death Went Along for the Ride with Gene Kelly.

greybelt wrote:I wonder how many Suspense submissions were rejected and were shuffled off elsewhere because of the ill-fated 60 minute folly.

Today's Suspense episode is The Dark Tower, and it's not your usual Suspense fare. The plot is supposedly that a well-known actor turns to murder to save his sister from her unhappy marriage. But it's really a satire about the stage and movies and those who engage in such enterprises. If you like a play overflowing with Orson Welles being Orson Welles and delivering lines often drenched with innuendo, you may find this an unexpected pleasure.

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Welles deliberately overacts in this play, and he practically makes it about himself. The original story was a 1933 Broadway play by George S. Kaufman and Alexander Woollcott. (I kept thinking about Jon Lovitz of SNL doing his character "Master Thespian").

At about the 4:30 mark of the broadcast, the character comments about being asked to stop drinking. He says he told her “Would you have me subsist entirely on food? And reach the gargantuan proportions of an Orson Welles?” There are many other inside jokes.

The broadcast is not for everyone, but if you enjoy Welles, you'll like it. If you're not a Welles fan, do your best to find the plotline and enjoy the story.

Today's Suspense is The Visitor, and stars Eddie Bracken. It's an adaptation of a best-selling novel about a man, presumed dead by drowning three years earlier, returns to identify his killer. But… is he an imposter?

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Critic Ben Gross reviewed Bracken's performance in a way that explains why so many musical and comedic performers (and their agents) sought roles on Suspense to broaden their opportunities: "Eddie Bracken, better known as a comedian, demonstrated his ability to play a straight dramatic role in a chiller-diller..."

The story was a relatively new and popular novel by journalists Carl Randau & Leane Zugsmith. It went to Broadway in Fall 1944, lasting only 23 performances. It somehow garnered $2 million in US$2023 for the movie rights. The film was never made. This story works best on radio and it's hard to imagine it being convincing in a visual medium, though imposter storylines are often tried in movies and television. This Suspense treatment is a good one.

Today's Suspense is Donovan's Brain, presented in two broadcasts. Orson Welles delivers a serious, insightful, and engaging performance without bluster. These broadcasts were groundbreaking for radio drama. They demonstrated that a science fiction story could work for a general adult radio audience and that superior stories could be told over multiple weeks and still retain listenership. These two broadcasts further reinforced the rising stature of the Suspense series.

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Originally scheduled for October 1943, Donovan's Brain was delayed for months. The Republic Pictures version, The Lady and the Monster, fell behind its schedule and did not start filming until mid-October. The studio had rights to release its movie before a version could air on radio. The film was finally in theaters in very late March 1944 with full release in mid-April. As the Suspense production drew near, the studio promoted its movie aggressively, with large format ad space and heavy publicity. The promotion strategy also included simultaneous syndication of the 1942 Curt Siodmak book, chapter by chapter, in newspapers. The synergy of the media placements were designed to boost ticket sales as the Suspense broadcast date approached. After the radio broadcasts, many movie ads cited the Suspense productions to affirm the movie's entertainment value. If Suspense thought it was a worthwhile offering, the movie version must be worth seeing.

Listeners accustomed to typical radio mysteries had to think that this was an odd story for Suspense. It almost seems laughable: a doctor places a dead man’s brain in a tank and conducts experiments to keep it alive. That premise becomes almost unimportant as it's a mechanism to explore aspects of evil, morality, and personal responsibility, themes that were consistent in the best episodes of the Spier era.

Welles' gimmick of muttering to indicate when Donovan had telepathic influence over interactions and behavior of the doctor, rather than the doctor's own will, was very effective for radio. The gimmick was even used in the 1953 movie. It is the opinion of many that the Suspense broadcasts were the best of all the media interpretations of the intent of Siodmak’s vision.

Producer and director William Spier was in the control room for only the east broadcast of part one. He had a heart attack while dining with Welles after that broadcast. His command presence in the production studio, however, was very strong. It meshed with the instincts of Welles and the skills of the cast who continued a high production standard despite his absence.

The episodes are favorites among Suspense and many sci-fi fans. As classic radio enthusiasts in the digital age, we're lucky to be able to listen to episodes multiple times, rewinding and replaying interesting portions. We discover and savor subtle aspects of performances and sound effect artistry. Something special and different can be heard with each listening. Enjoy!

Today's Suspense episode is The Dark Tower ... Welles deliberately overacts in this play, and he practically makes it about himself.

The E.C. version of Donovan's Brain recording sounds a lot better than when I uploaded it a few years ago on Internet Archive.

1947-05-02 Variety