Suspense Upgrades

Claire Trevor

Nancy Kelly

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Suspense_1945-02-15_Sell_Me_Your_Life_wLeeBowman UPGRADE-2.mp3
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This is yet another case of trying to get Cary Grant into another performance. Most Dangerous Game didn’t work out, and neither did this one. This episode did not have an official title until days before broadcast, or so it seems from reading the newspapers. Cary Grant’s publicity (it’s not clear if it’s from the studio or a publicist through his agent) sent out releases that he would be on this show. Something else came up, obviously, and Lee Bowman took the part. I guess Joseph Cotten wasn’t available I checked through the rest of 1945 and there’s not a hint of another attempted Suspense appearance. From the searches, it’s clear that Grant was having a very big year in his movie career, so it’s not a surprise that he could not squeeze an appearance in.

Thanks greybelt

Best regards

Art

Lee Bowman

Suspense_1945-02-22_JohnBarbey&Son_wThomasMitchell UPGRADE-6.mp3
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I was never quite certain about how the title of this show should be spelled, and finally I know what’s right

Thanks greybelt

Best regards

Art

Thank you greybelt!

Thanks greybelt

Best regards

Art

Listen to YesterdayUSA.com tonight, Fri 12/15 at 10:30pm Eastern US time -- They're making the big mistake again I'm the guest of Walden Hughes, Larry Gassman, and John Gassman. Tonight we're talking about Casey, Crime Photographer, my favorite series. (You thought it was Suspense, didn't you... I'm sure some Suspense things will come up, too). I know the show is replayed a few times in the YesterdayUSA schedule if you can't make it while we're under the grinding pressure of the live format. You can send questions or call in during the broadcast.

Thanks greybelt

Best regards

Art

Dame May Whitty

Margaret O'Brien

Suspense_1945-03-22_Heart's_Desire_wLloydNolan AFRS#96 FROM DISC.mp3
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Suspense_1945-03-22_Heart's_Desire_wLloydNolan UPGRADE-2.mp3
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Yes, join us for Heart's Desire with.... Richard Whorf???

No, Whorf did not make it to this production... fate had a much larger role for him to play in entertainment history... as a future director of The Beverly Hillbillies! He had already appeared on Suspense in a supporting role on the 1944-06-15 A Friend to Alexander, his only documented appearance in the series.


The standard image in many of the Suspense ads is a body on a couch with dagger in its chest. Few Suspense programs had this plotline, but I assume the ad agency and CBS believed it conveyed murder mysteries as a standard thriller that would draw listeners to the program.

A big thrill would be to hear the real Worf on this episode from the Holodeck of Star Trek: The Next Generation.

He would have been a legendary intergalactic radio star, but he decided to serve The Federation instead.

Thanks greybelt

Best regards

Art

I was watching some episodes of the tv version of Have Gun- Will Travel t'other day and Whorf's name showed up in the credits as director. Oddly enough, Gene Roddenbery shows up as writer sometimes.

Ugh! Is that the reason why Star Trek had that awful episode with the shootout at the OK Corral?


Whorf seems to have traded his acting career for lots of production work. Directing Jed, Granny, Ellie May, and Jethro was well below his skills, but I'm sure it paid really well.

Suspense_1945-03-29_TamingOfTheBeast_wNancyKelly UPGRADE-4.mp3
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Tomorrow... one Suspense production was postponed... twice... and the reasons had nothing to do with scheduling a performer or a script not being ready... find out why...

Thank you greybelt!

Thanks greybelt

Best regards

Art

thanks greybelt and happy holidays

Suspense_1945-06-07_TwoSharpKnives_wJohnPayne&FrankMcHugh AFRS#106 FROM DISC (better disc).mp3
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CORRECTED [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

This might be Suspense’s unluckiest episode. It was bumped from its scheduled performance twice! No, it was not some Hollywood actor changing their availability, it was history unfolding. The show was scheduled for April 12, but FDR’s death moved nearly all entertainment from the airwaves with news coverage.


The show was rescheduled for April 26. That seems safe. What else could happen?


Yet again, news kicked it off the air. The day prior to the newly scheduled broadcast was the beginning of a multi-day conference about the formation of the UN in San Francisco. It was a really important meeting that received worldwide news coverage. Details are at [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

On April 26, war news and the conference events were unfolding quickly, as the next day’s papers show. No wonder Suspense was not aired!


The European war was coming to a close, and things were happening rapidly. Mussolini would die April 28, and Hitler two days later. VE Day would follow very soon [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] The US military focus would be redirected to defeating Japan, with the war in the Pacific ending three months later.

Despite being elbowed from the schedule twice, “Two Sharp Knives” finally came to the air in June, with one of its originally announced stars, John Payne. Frank McHugh replaced Stuart Erwin. Erwin had been in the 1942 production of this script, and that ended up being his only Suspense appearance. This was the only appearance for Payne and McHugh.


Many thanks to long-time and now retired Cobaltian, completedayman, for his assistance in tracking this history down. He is doing well, pursues big band remotes and similar recordings, and has cultivated new skills in transcription recording!

Thanks for this Greybelt and especially to Completedayman. His WWII forum on here and the last incarnation of the Cobalt Club was my favorite of all-time. My parents and my aunts and uncles were deeply affected by that war and it was special to me to read the day by day accounts of it.

My hats off to you Completedayman. - Tom