Suspense Upgrades

Thanks greybelt

Best regards
Art

Today's episode upgrades one from 2019 from our favorite San Quentin writer, Edgar Scott Flohr. No AFRS recording has been found.

Suspense_1957-02-10_DoorOfGold_wMyronMcCormick UPGRADE-4.mp3
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When this episode was posted in 2019, I posted newspaper clippings with the fascinating and very strange Flohr story.
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Newspaper clippings were posted previously. I found a longer piece about him yesterday...


Flohr was one of the topics in my SPERDVAC presentation in November 2019. Take a listen! This link [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] automatically jumps to the Flohr discussion when you click play. There is also a marvelous surprise by OTR collector Keith Scott that is part of that section. Enjoy!

Thanks greybelt
Best regards
Art

This episode was last upgraded about 2 years ago. Only an AFRS recording survives.

Suspense_1957-02-17_Murder&AuntDelia_wGlennFord AFRS UPGRADE-3.mp3
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Newspaper clippings posted previously.

Thanks greybelt
Best regards

Art

This is a nice brand spankin' new disc recording of the AFRS version of this episode. This is another episode about private planes... it's no Long Night for realism and tension, that's for sure, but if you suspend disbelief a little more than usual, it is a good listen.

Suspense_1957-02-24_227MinutesOfHate_wCharlesMcGraw AFRS#619.mp3
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This is the prior copy that has been in circulation. I believe it is also AFRS, but is a different version. Around 10m38s there is an edit that I suspect is an AFRS PSA that has been edited out. There are no closing credits, common for AFRS recordings that circulated in the early 1970s when collectors believed such recordings as lesser than network recordings and would remove AFRS identifiers. Can anyone find other clues in the recording that might identify its source? Could this be a badly edited network recording?
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This was also a time when recording tape was expensive, and aggressively editing AFRS recordings of 1950s Suspense allowed 16 episodes to fit on a reel instead of 12. There was less concern about keeping non-network recordings intact, and there was still a thrill about finding any programs at all. The idea of getting 16 episodes was... wow!!... especially if you had to buy reels from one of the dealers. In today's dollars, a reel purchased in 1975 would be US$30... so getting 16 performances was quite a value.

This is the only newspaper clipping that could be found for this broadcast date. All the others just list the show in timetables with no details.


In this tape era, stations could record off network feeds and play Suspense at a time that they believed was appropriate for the listening patterns of their region. But these do make me wonder if this episode was originally scheduled for later than February 24 but was broadcast earlier because the intended program was not ready. I can find no other titles for a February 24 intended broadcast.

Greybelt,

That prior recording of "227 Minutes of Hate" is indeed an edited AFRTS copy. That music cue at the very end of the broadcast was used in the "Suspense" rebroadcasts that were heard on the Far East Network in the 1970s (I sent you a few of these FEN broadcasts a while back, including the 1960 "Sorry, Wrong Number" which had a PSA which I could identify as being from 1972.)

THANKS chasedad!

Indeed, 2 different AFRTS recordings...

The posting of those FEN broadcasts is coming up soon!

Today I'm going through more Kelez-Falk collection reels and finding some potential sound upgrades of the 1960s episodes... so I may need your expertise shortly...

This network version was last upgraded 2 years ago. The AFRS recording is also linked here.

Suspense_1957-03-03_Present_Tense_wVincentPrice UPGRADE-5.mp3
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The AFRS recording can be found at [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

Newspaper clippings were posted previously; these are new...

Thanks greybelt

Best regards

Art

Today's recording required the assistance of chasedad to verify what it is in relation to what we've had in the past. There has been a recording in circulation that could not be fully identified as AFRS or network because of the way it was edited and was missing its closing. We now know it was an incomplete AFRS recording. Today's file replaces it. There is no available network recording.

Burr may have been selected for the role because he was in a 1956 western, Secret of Treasure Mountain that had a similar setting. It was still in theaters as a second feature at the time of this broadcast. It was not a good movie. [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]
Lucky for Burr, better use of his talents was just months away, in the television role that would make him famous.

The spelling of the title has been seen as "Paralta" and "Peralta"; the latter is the spelling on the script.

Suspense_1957-03-10_ThePeraltaMap_wRaymondBurr AFRS UPGRADE-3.mp3
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Newspaper clippings were posted previously; these are new...

Today's episode is an upgrade of a recording from 8+ years ago. Less noisy, but still not the best.

Suspense_1957-03-24_ShootingStar_wJuneLockhart UPGRADE-2.mp3
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Thanks greybelt
Best regards
Art

This episode starring Dr. McCoy (in his alter ego DeForest Kelley) was last upgraded 7+ years ago. There is also an AFRS recording. I kept listening for it, and not once does he say "He's dead, Jim" or "I'm a doctor, not a sound effects artist." At this time in his career, Kelly was getting lots of work as a supporting actor, especially westerns.

Suspense_1957-08-04_Fleshpeddler_wDeForestKelley (Network) UPGRADE-5.mp3
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AFRS recording [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

Thanks greybelt

Best regards
Art

This episode was last upgraded 9 years ago. Only the AFRS version is available. This is another story by Jules Maitland, former prison inmate. He was highlighted in a recent post.

Suspense_1957-08-18_Peanut_Brittle_wSkipHomeier AFRS UPGRADE-4.mp3
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When he was a child actor, he was "Skippy." He was a very busy actor in lots of supporting TV roles. I remember him best, though, for some of the outlandish TV he was in, such as the awful Star Trek episode "The Way to Eden," Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea "The Amphibians," and Outer Limits "Expanding Human." If it was a reasonably successful program in the 1960s, he was in it at least once, it seems.

Thanks greybelt
Best regards

Art

These are 2 upgrade recordings, one network and one AFRS, and they join another AFRS release that was received more than 10 years ago. How do you spell "Leinengen"? That's the way this episode's script cover has it. It's wrong, and I explain why, below.

This show was a favorite of fans but also the people who participated. Robson produced it for Escape for the adaptation's initial broadcast in January 1948. It is classic, for sure. The story was made into a 1954 movie, Naked Jungle, but it does not have anything like the excitement that the radio performance has. Robson does a pretty good job here, considering the tighter budget and other constraints as well as the switch to more recorded music and effects. I prefer the Escape productions. But this Suspense broadcast, it must be remembered, still brought the classic to a new audience who may never had heard it before.

Suspense_1957-08-25_LeinengenVsTheAnts_wWilliamConrad (Network) UPGRADE-3.mp3
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Suspense_1957-08-25_LeinengenVsTheAnts_wWilliamConrad AFRS#645 FROM DISC.mp3
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AFRS #945 (Marvin Miller PSAs) [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

Newspaper clippings posted previously; these are new...


The story was originally published in Esquire's December 1938 issue. I went to find the issue at archive.org because I wanted to be sure how "Leiningen" should be spelled. This particular episode brought that into question because on the script cover the spelling is "Leinengen." There's no better place to check than the original story. Here is the heading of the page...


There is a PDF scan of the original story, and a re-typed copy of the story (since the scan is not the best) at this WeTransfer link. It expires in a few days, so be sure to get it there as soon as practical.
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This is a complete AFRS recording of today's episode. The only version that has been circulating was an edited AFRS copy. No network recording is known to exist.

Suspense_1957-09-08_Old_Army_Buddy_wVictorJory AFRS#647 FROM DISC.mp3
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This is the 1957 SWN episode that was the last time Agnes Moorehead performed the script in the studio. The 1960 episode used this recording and put new "wrappers" around it. In 1960, the publicity made it seem like she was in the studio again. The research site has updated details about how many times Moorehead performed it on radio.
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In the 1950s, Moorehead had a one-woman-show that she took around the country and she always included scenes from the script. Much as she was unhappy about not getting the movie role, she kept pounding away at the idea that SWN was her distinctive property. Like lawyers told me about trademarks, if you don't use them and defend them, you lose them.

This spring, in my hunt for background papers about the series, especially a copy of the 1948 script, a college archives indicated that they had some papers, but they did not know what they were. They remembered that the papers did say "Sorry,... something" on them. It turned out to be the script for the 1947 Decca record performance with all kinds of penciled notations on them! Moorehead kept refining the script and her performance of them. I'll post images some time soon.

SWN became a successful product for Decca Records and they sold it as a set of 78s, and re-released it as an LP. In the late 1950s, they released it as an LP that included Poe readings by James Mason. The recordings are at [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] Moorehead made sure SWN stayed associated with her, decades later, even as radio ebbed.

Suspense_1957-10-20_SorryWrongNumber_wAgnesMoorehead (Network) UPGRADE-4.mp3
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Suspense_1957-10-20_SorryWrongNumber_wAgnesMoorehead AFRS#653 FROM DISC.mp3
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This AFRS version was posted about 11 years ago...
Suspense_1957-10-20_SorryWrongNumber_wAgnesMoorehead AFRS#955 FROM DISC.mp3
Degoo only [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

Newspaper clippings posted previously.

Thanks greybelt

Best regards

Art

can your post on another link?
Suspense_1957-10-20_SorryWrongNumber_wAgnesMoorehead AFRS#955 FROM DISC.mp3

this recording was only 15 min log?

This episode has not been updated in more than 7 years. This is believed to be a heavily edited network recording; a complete one has never been found. It is also believed that an intact AFRS#662 of this recording is out there... somewhere... but has not been located. This episode is also available one of those recordings in those awful 1970s butchered... the word is used carefully because of this show's title... and released by AFRTS. We have that recording, but I will spare everyone the pain of listening to the Frankenstein hacking and piecing together that occurred. One can only hope the recruits who did it are on KP duty where they might do less harm.

Suspense_1957-12-29_NeverStealAButcher'sWife_wWConrad&CLewis UPGRADE-2.mp3
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Newspaper clippings were posted previously.


In case you did not see this message yesterday, posted elsewhere...

Doug Hopkinson is trying to preserve an important early radio program, Cecil and Sally, with the purchase of a large number of discs. He has posted a Kickstarter project at [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] A generous OTR fan has offered to pay for one-year SPERDVAC memberships for anyone who contributes $100 or more (I think up to 30 subscriptions). The other incentives for contributions include recordings of the discs and recordings of rare programs Doug has transferred from discs. I have known Doug for a long time, and aside from being one of the most skilled transcription recordists and preservationists, he is generous with his time and knowledge to the hobby and is one of our best archivists. Please consider supporting the project.

Doug has been a true "right hand" in advising me about the discs in the Hehn project and has been a big behind-the-scenes supporter of the Suspense project.

Thanks greybelt

Best regards

Art

This is a new AFRS version that joins another one. There is no network version available.

Suspense_1958-02-09_TheLongShot_wHerbertMarshall (AFRS#668) UPGRADE FROM DISC.mp3
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The other AFRS version was posted about 10+ years ago.
Suspense_1958-02-09_TheLongShot_wHerbertMarshall (AFRS#967) UPGRADE FROM DISC.mp3
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