Suspense Upgrades

Today in Suspense history...
October 13
1949 Account Payable
1952 How Long Is the Night
1957 The Well-Dressed Corpse


It's the new radio season of Fall 1952. What does Suspense do? They kicked off the season with SWN (the recording is a missing show), with Lewis bringing Spier in to produce and direct as a courtesy. Stars will make people listen! That was the Suspense formula but it was becoming more of a challenge. In 1950, 1 in 11 US households had televisions. By this time, it's already 1 in 3. But that means 2 in 3 did not, so Suspense was still important appointment listening. The direction of it all was so very obvious, however, as about 500,000 TV sets were being sold every month.


The 1952 SWN is an interesting session, and more details are at [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

And now, the second offering of the new season. It would be repeated later in the series with the title Groom of the Ladder on March 13, 1956 with Hans Conried. I'm not a fan of this episode, really (neither is the oldtimeradioreview.com site, which gives it one star). But even if not, it's still Suspense, and though it's a weaker entry, it's better than most of what was on radio at the time. This particular recording is a "missing" AFRS version, and is the last of this little run of discs we have had the pleasure of hearing.

Suspense_1952-09-22_JackKetch_wCharlesLaughton AFRS #417 FROM DISC.mp3
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NOTE: The "quartette" is mentioned in some news accounts. The "First Drama Quartette" was Agnes Moorehead, Charles Boyer, Sir Cedric Hardwicke, and Laughton. They were performing "Don Juan in Hell" and it was supposedly quite a successful show, and was also a successful record set. For four consecutive weeks, Suspense would feature each of these stars while they were performing in Los Angeles. An easily accessible recording is at [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] but it is also available at archive.org and doubtless other nooks and crannies of the Internet.

Thanks greybelt
Best regards
Art

Love Charles Laughton

This day in Suspense history...
October 14
1948 A Little Piece of Rope
1954 Lost

About 43 years ago last week, William N. Robson was handed the reins Suspense, about a year and a half after his CBS blacklist exile ended. This is how it was announced in Variety.


Note how in this next news item, CBS is piling up its best drama offerings into late Sunday. By this time, television viewing was an established pattern of media use within families, with 70% of households owning TVs. They were still selling at about a rate of 500,000 per month, some replacing old units, and some households getting their second unit. Weekend television offerings were rather weak until it was time for the primetime Sunday night programs. So this schedule by CBS Radio was strategic and probably wise counterprogramming to catch listeners before they settled into their somewhat new habit of family TV viewing. Radio drama, however, was evolving into an audience that had a greater composition of individual listeners, hence Robson's personal introductions to Suspense were quite appropriate for its time. Note also that the end of YTJD's serial format is mentioned in this item and that Suspense under Robson is called "revamped."




And now today's entry, Three Skeleton Key. This was the first time it aired on Suspense, but the fourth time on the air. The first Escape broadcast featured Elliott Reid, and I know that many fans have special affection for that broadcast, including one OTRR FB page member who is an occasional lurker here. He knew Reid in his later years, likes this performance, and believes Reid's work does not get the high level appreciation it should. I agree, but there is still something about the way Vincent Price says "rats" that hooks me into his rendition all the time...

Suspense_1956-11-11_Three_Skeleton_Key_wVincentPrice AFRS UPGRADE-2.mp3
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The short story is available at [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

Thanks greybelt

Best regards

Art

Thanks for this greybelt! Speaking of Three Skeleton Key, I wonder if anyone has thoughts on something I've been curious about for a while: the connection between Vincent Price and the writer James Poe. Poe's written a number of my favorite episodes of Suspense and Escape, and over the years Vincent Price starred in quite a few of them. For Suspense - Rave Notice, Present Tense and Three Skeleton Key (twice) and for Escape - Present Tense, Three Skeleton Key and Blood Bath. I looked on IMDB to see if they were involved in any films together but it doesn't look like it. Is this just a coincidence? Were they friends? Any thoughts?

This day in Suspense history...
October 15
1951 The Flame
1961 Seeds of Disaster

Suspense_1957-05-12_Tarawa_Was_Tough_wJohnLund AFRS UPGRADE-3.mp3
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Newspaper clippings for this episode were posted previously.

Thanks greybelt

Best regards
Art

This day in Suspense history...
October 16
1947 Self Defense
1956 The Prophecy of Bertha Abbott
1960 Inferno

Suspense_1957-08-11_Pigeon_in_the_Cage_wLloydBridges UPGRADE-2.mp3
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Cobaltian nickp57 asked if there was any connection between Vincent Price and writer James Poe. Price appeared in many Poe written or adapted scripts over the years, notably Present Tense, "that show about the rats," Blood Bath, and Rave Notice.

Poe and Price were art collectors. This clip from a 1947-12-18 Oakland Tribune shows the association. There are many newspaper clippings of their attendance at meetings and exhibitions and general support of art. Thanks for making me look! Who knew?

Poe was a busy radio, screen, and television writer. Unfortunately, he passed away at age 58.
His RadioGoldindex page is at [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]
His IMDb page is at [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

Poe is yet another person associated with the March of Time franchise. In his case, it was mainly the films. William Spier started his radio career there, where he hired Orson Welles for his first radio role, and numerous others who would be players in the Mercury Theater productions and move to success in Hollywood... and many would appear on Suspense or contribute to the program. The more I listen to interviews related to Suspense, the more it is clear that both March of Time and Columbia Workshop played critical roles in whom we heard and the writing and production talent of all dramatic radio throughout the golden age.

Thanks greybelt
Best regards
Art

Oh fascinating! I knew Price was a big art collector but now that clears up something I’ve wondered about for years. Thanks so much for digging into that!

This day in Suspense history...
October 17
1946 The Man Who Thought He Was Edward G. Robinson

There is no network copy of this episode in circulation. Despite the poor sound, it is an upgrade.
Suspense_1958-08-17_TheBridge_wCathyLewis AFRTS LQ UPGRADE-2.mp3
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This copy has had the hum reduced. There may be some occasional notable digital artifacts that briefly affect enjoyment as a result of the processing. There are some artifacts in the original recording I worked with.
Suspense_1958-08-17_TheBridge_wCathyLewis AFRTS LQ UPGRADE-2 DENOISED.mp3
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Thanks greybelt

Best regards

Art

Thanks!

Thanks Greybelt

greybelt wrote: ... Note how in this next news item, CBS is piling up its best drama offerings into late Sunday. ... this schedule by CBS Radio was strategic and probably wise counterprogramming to catch listeners before they settled into their somewhat new habit of family TV viewing.

Profiled by Lawrence Lipton in a 1957 issue of Frontier magazine, Robson was asked "if there was any chance that American radio would ever adopt the special audience policy of the BBC and its three-level programming." And Robson responded:

"I think it is already happening ... Some weeks ago they shuffled the schedule, cancelled all the nighttime dramatic shows, and set up a solid Sunday line-up. It goes like this: Philharmonic, Workshop, Suspense, Gunsmoke, all the big guns on Sunday afternoon. A kind of Third Programme. My guess is that this was done also because on Sunday afternoon you catch people in automobiles. You can't get TV in the car or in a canoe. So you see, the limited special audience thing is being done — by time arrangement — when you can get an optimum radio audience of a certain I.Q. BBC doesn't use time but different transmission channels to stratify the audience. Here we always have the 'music stations', of course, but even their programs change with the hour of the day."

This day in Suspense history...
October 18
1945 Summer Storm
1955 Life Ends at Midnight
1958 Three Skeleton Key
1959 The Crisis of Dirk Diamond

This is still LQ and remains the only network recording available, made on a home recorder. This copy was from a 1970s reel so I was able to make a clean encode and process from there. We have posted an AFRS version previously, in much better sound.
Suspense_1958-09-14_Command_wRichardAnderson NETWORK UPGRADE-3 STILL LQ.mp3
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Thanks so much for that quote, emruf7 -- if you can advise by private message or other means about a link to that article that would be greatly appreciated as well.

Now, 60 years later, in the age of smartphones and wireless broadband, this line seems so archaic...

You can't get TV in the car or in a canoe.

Those kids today don't know how hard we had it back then, when you couldn't make a phone call from your canoe... or watch YouTube... or stream radio...

I wonder how that fertile mind of Robson would be programming today with this incredible array of options for listening and viewing at a time, in a place, and a circumstance of our whims.

Thanks greybelt
Best regards

Art

"You can't get TV in a car or in a canoe."

After 35 years, I still vividly remember listening to the CBC Radio comedy show "Frantic Times", on the car-stereo in my parents' boat. I remember which episode it was, and I remember thinking how cool it was that I could listen to it while sailing on Lake Ontario.

When I listen to an aircheck of that episode, I can still smell the heady mix of rotting fish and fibreglas fumes.

This day in Suspense history...
October 19
1943 Lazarus Walks
1944 Eve
1950 The Wages of Sin
1953 My True Love's Hair

This is a missing AFRS version
Suspense_1958-11-01_DealingsOfMrMarkham_wJames&PamelaMason AFRS.mp3
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They could never really make up their minds if it's supposed to be Doctor or Mister... and is it "dealing" or "dealings" I'm trying to verify what it should be according to the script. When I know for certain, I'll post it. In this version, Robson announces "dealings" and "Mister," just like the 1945 version did. The fact that "Doctor" shows up in two newspapers, and others, implies that the error was made in the CBS publicity department and not at the newspapers.

Thanks greybelt
Best regards
Art

This day in Suspense history
October 20
1949 Good Night Mrs Russell
1952 The Death of Barbara Allen
1957 Sorry, Wrong Number (this is final "new" performance of SWN; 1960's broadcast would use an edited version of this recording)

Suspense_1958-11-08_TwoForTheRoad_wWConrad&CMcGraw AFRS UPGRADE.mp3
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Conrad and McGraw were in the 1946 movie, The Killers, together. Robson mentions that in his opening monologue. Robson wrote the script, but we don't know if he had the pair in mind when he sat down at the typewriter. Here's how the two of them looked at that time. A syndicated movie review column called Conrad "moon-faced" and McGraw "icy-eyed"!! At the time of The Killers release, Conrad's radio career was just starting to get some serious traction; he has 1218 citations in RadioGoldindex, among the top in the data base with 1946 being a very big year for him. McGraw's radio career was second to his movie work; he's in RGI only 26 times.

The opening sequence of the movie with McGraw and Conrad is at [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] -- the clip is less than 7 minutes, and they appear starting at 1:30.

Thanks greybelt

Best regards

Art

Thank you greybelt!

Thank you sir!