Suspense Upgrades

Thanks Greybelt
Best regards

Art

Suspense_1947-01-30_Three_Blind_Mice_wVanHeflin UPGRADE-2 (14m after gavel 'Does defendant wish to make').mp3
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There is another version of this episode where after the commercial the first line is "The defendant will rise."
Not sure which of these is East or West, but that's likely the reason for there being two versions, with an edit between performances.

Thanks Greybelt

Best regards
Art

Thanks Greybelt
Best regards

Art

Thanks, greybelt! I'm a bit late to the party, so I have a bit of catching up to do!

Best,
MJ

Suspense_1947-10-30_Subway_wJuneHavoc UPGRADE-3 TRANSCRIBED (poss WC).mp3
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Just uncovered this one in some additional reels (yeah, right, "additional"... fifty!!) and it's a curious one. The sound is nice, but I had never heard the announcement at they very end about being transcribed. I wonder if it is a recording of the east coast performance that was then played at the west coast time. Right now, that's the hypothesis I'm running with. It could be that this is the same recording that is already circulating and that announcement has been edited out. But this had an overall different sound to me, and the disc join at the middle of the show seemed a bit different (I fixed it). (UPDATE -- just learned from correspondence with an old-time collector that this particular recording was an aircheck made for Spier!)

At the time of this program, Spier's ex, Kay Thompson, was performing in Las Vegas to gain residency so she and Spier could be easily divorced. Thompson's show included the Williams Brothers (singer Andy Williams would become the best known of them). The show was quite innovative and set the standard for Vegas shows thereafter. Havoc and Spier met around June 1947 and were an item in the gossip columns after. Havoc was appearing on Spier's programs (Sam Spade, Suspense) uncredited or with the pseudonym "Armana Fargey." When Spier left Suspense in February 1948, he and Havoc married.

Thompson left a big imprint on Suspense, advising then-husband Spier to change the ending to Sorry, Wrong Number to not have police rush in to save the woman, encouraging him to reconsider his rejection of Dead Ernest, which would garner the series a Peabody Award, facilitating the appearances of many MGM stars on the program, promoting the use of musical stars in lead roles in dramas, introducing Ray Bradbury's work to the series, and even the pursuit of Frank Sinatra as a guest star. She played a big role in the selection of Howard Duff for the lead in Sam Spade.

Havoc and Spier's marriage lasted 25 years, until his death, in 1973, at age 68. They collaborated on various film and television projects, and Havoc earned two stars for her work on television and in film on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. The biggest trivia question about Havoc for years was who her sister was: Gypsy Rose Lee. They did not talk for many years, but reconciled before Lee died at age 59. Havoc died in 2010 at age 97.

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And now today's episode...

Suspense_1948-10-21_Give_Me_Liberty_wWilliamPowell UPGRADE-2.mp3
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Christine Miller's comments [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]
Old Time Radio Review comments [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]


Here we are at the close of 2018 -- it's been a great Suspense year -- and I'm pleased to say that the book I worked so hard on this past August is out of date already!! A revised version will be available sometime the beginning of the year if all goes well, with new material, too. It's official! Greybelt is retired and Mrs Greybelt is joining me... later today once her shift is over! Hooray!

We have much to be thankful for in 2018. Everyone here at Cobalt has made OTRdom so much fun with such great interest. I am especially grateful for the concerns and prayers offered as we went through the medical difficulties of my mother. Somehow, the days at end of April and beginning of May when we were bedside for the final hours, turned into her seeing her 91st birthday and now about to see a new year. Know that our prayerful support and gratitude is here for you as well.

Thank you again so very much and have a healthy and prosperous 2019.

Suspense_1949-06-09_TheLunchKit_wJohnLund UPGRADE-2 (tinny open, nice thereafter).mp3
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This script was originally used on The Whistler in 1944 as "Death Carried a Lunch Kit"

Thanks greybelt

Best regards
Art

Suspense_1949-11-10_Murder_&_Aunt_Delia_wVanHeflin UPGRADE-2.mp3
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I recently learned that the original title of this was "Murder of My Aunt"

A newspaper clipping for this program was posted recently, but here's another one that's from artatoldotr's neck of the woods

Thanks greybelt

Best regards

Art

Suspense_1950-01-19_EscapeOfLaceyAbbott_wWmPowell UPGRADE-3 (redone as MadmanOfManhattan590308).mp3
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A negative review of this episode is at [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

The fundamental problem with this episode is that it is just very, very ordinary. There's nothing conspicuously wrong with either the plot or the script, but it is all so dull that it is difficult to remember much about the episode soon after it has ended.

Some basic background information is at Christine Miller's site [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

Thanks Greybelt

Best regards
Art

This is one of those mixed feelings situations -- the program is in better sound than what we had in the collection, but it has a slightly clipped opening. As a completist, I keep both but keep hunting...

Suspense_1950-03-23_One&OnesALonesome_wRReagan UPGRADE-2 (sl clipped open).mp3
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Thanks Greybelt
Best regards
Art

Thanks Greybelt

Best regards
Art

Thanks Greybelt
Best regards

Art

Thanks Greybelt

Best regards
Art

The old mixed feelings situation again -- clipped open but nice sounding program.

Suspense_1950-09-14_OverTheBoundingMain_wDanDailey NICE SOUND BUT SCRATCH-CLIP AT OPEN.mp3
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Two additional Cobaltians have joined the roll call...


Still going through reels and finding upgrades to many late New York programs. It's been quite fascinating. We'll be posting upgrades for quite a while... and yesterday I got word another collection for review is on its way to me. I don't have time to be retired!

Thanks Greybelt

Best regards

Art