Re: Suspense Upgrades

by greybelt 4/18/2022, 3:24 pm

Today's episode has not been upgraded for 4+ years. This upgrade is less muddy and is at proper speed. Only one of the network recordings exists, and the AFRS release was sourced from this broadcast.
Suspense_1945-03-15_Cricket_wMOBrien&DMWhitty (direct to ID) UPGRADE-3.mp3
hubiC [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

The AFRS recording is from disc and sounds a little better. Both the network upgrade and the AFRS version are at [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

1945-03-15 Atlanta GA Constitution

1945-03-15 Orlando FL Evening Star

1945-03-15 Scranton PA Times-Tribune

1945-03-15 Shreveport LA Times

by artatoldotr 4/19/2022, 10:15 am

Thanks greybelt
Best regards
Art

by greybelt 4/19/2022, 11:29 am

This recording upgrades one from about 18 months ago. This is the only recording, with no indication of east or west. No AFRS version has been located.
Suspense_1945-11-15_Murder_Off_Key_wZacharyScott (22sec to ID) UPGRADE-5.mp3
hubiC [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

The short story version appeared in Suspense Magazine #4
[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

This clip is new.

1945-11-15 Corpus Christi TX Caller-Times

by greybelt 4/20/2022, 7:00 am

Two recordings that are slight upgrades today and have better sound than any of the other versions that we have of each.

We have only one of the network broadcasts of this one, intended coast unknown, and an AFRS version that is different. George Brent was supposed to star in this, the second time he was to star in the series, with Paul Henreid subbing for him both times. The other was Angel of Death at the beginning of the year. We don't know if the substitution was announced the prior week because we do not have a network recording of Black Path of Fear with Cary Grant for 1946-03-07. Brent would never appear on Suspense. Did William Spier have Brent's picture tacked to a dartboard in his office? Smile

Suspense_1946-03-14_No_More_Alice_wPaulHenreid (1sec to ID) UPGRADE-4.mp3
hubiC [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

The C3DS reports

AFRS recording differs from the network, implying one is east and one is west
AFRS copy begins "In the car, I had the radio on"
Network begins "Driving along there, I had the radio on."

This story was included in Suspense Magazine #1
[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

1946-03-14 Indianapolis IN News

1946-03-14 Orlando FL Sentinel

The change did make one of the New York Metro papers

1946-03-14 Central NJ Home News

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Three recordings exist, east and west and AFRS, but the coast can't be identified. The AFRS recording befuddled the C3DS, different than both surviving network recordings. Could east and west network discs have been mixed and incorrectly paired when these were transferred in the 1970s? The break between discs was usually always at the same point of the program. Was there a problem with one of the network transcriptions and the 2nd disc was used for both?
Suspense_1946-03-28_Out_Of_Control_wBrianDonlevy (5sec to ID) UPGRADE-4.mp3
hubiC [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

C3DS reports

east and west recordings, cannot specifically identify which is which; two recordings sound the same at a key position
at 24:23 in the 5 seconds to ID recording and 24:21 in the direct to ID recording Donlevy says "That's your method, Mar-CEE-ah" for "Marcia"
in the AFRS recording he pronounces it as "Marsha" at 21:15

1946-03-26 Lima OH News

1946-03-26 Corpus Christi TX Times

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

I've always found stories of blind detectives to be interesting. Marvel Comics had Daredevil who was blind attorney Matt Murdock in his real life (his blindness replaced by super senses created by contact with radioactive materials... but every 1960s superhero seemed to have contact with radioactivity, such was the era...). Springbok Radio in South Africa had a series Sounds of Darkness that ran from 1968-1974 that is worth seeking out.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

All of the episode versions mentioned above are available at WeTransfer [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

by artatoldotr 4/20/2022, 9:21 am

Thanks greybelt

Best regards

Art

by greybelt 4/21/2022, 7:41 am

This recording was last updated about 18 months ago. This is a re-use of the script Night Reveals that was performed 1943-03-02 when Suspense was sustaining and again on 1943-12-09 when the series was newly sponsored by Roma and was quickly accumulating a bigger and broader audience, many of whom had not heard the script performed before. This time the reason for Night Reveals was not a bigger or broader audience, it was something went wrong in prepping for the intended performance. We have one network recording and an AFRS recording from the missing network broadcast... and a home recording (the sound is not that great).

Something went wrong after the prior week's broadcast of Name of the Beast with Vincent Price. Return Trip was originally scheduled for this Keenan Wynn performance, and it was heavily promoted in the papers and its plotline was teased by Price in the previous broadcast. When did it fall apart? Whenever there's a problem in the schedule, Spier opens the magic file cabinet and reaches for one of his favorite scripts, Night Reveals. What happened? Did the Return Trip script need extra work? Was Wynn not as good a match for the lead role as was originally thought? Some of the newspapers may have received news that there would be a change and ran the information that Wynn would be appearing but did not offer a storyline or title for the substitution. Return Trip would be presented weeks later on 1946-06-27 and starred Elliot Reid.

Suspense_1946-04-18_TheNightReveals_wKeenanWynn (direct to ID) UPGRADE-4.mp3
hubiC [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

All three of the versions are available at [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

C3DS reports

The AFRS recording is sourced from whichever network recording is missing
AFRS 22m18s "She even tried to give me sleeping pills...."
Surviving network 26m34s "She even tried to g-give me sleeping pills..."
Home recording matches the surviving network broadcast

These clips are new...

1946-04-18 Los Angeles CA Evening Citizen News

1946-04-18 Cincinnati OH Enquirer

1946-04-18 Scranton PA Times-Tribune
This is a generic ad that just mentions Wynn's appearance

1946-04-18 Corpus Christi TX Times
This ad mentions Wynn in a playful and curious manner;
perhaps someone at CBS publicity gave stations a "heads up"?

1946-04-19 NY Daily News
Whoops! I guess the broadcast was AFTER
the copy was sent to the composing room!
(or someone went home early!)

by artatoldotr 4/21/2022, 8:30 am

Thanks greybelt
Best regards

Art

by greybelt 4/22/2022, 4:41 am

This is a better sounding upgrade from the version posted 18 months ago. It is not known if this is east or west, but the low quality surviving AFRS recording was derived from the missing one.

Suspense_1946-06-06_The_High_Wall_wRobertYoung (direct to ID) UPGRADE-4.mp3
hubiC [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

The network and AFRS recordings can be downloaded together at [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

C3DS reports that the AFRS recording is from the missing network broadcast

Network 3:43 "This wasn't a hospital.."
AFRS 3:04 has "It wasn't a hospital..."

Network 4:36 "...I was taken to the office..."
AFRS 3:55 "...I was taken down to the office..."

These clips are new...

1946-06-06 Lima OH News

1946-06-06 Corpus Christi TX Caller-Times
This ad for KEYS mentions Gregory Peck and Ray Milland, a reference to their 1945 hit movies Spellbound and Lost Weekend, respectively.

1946-06-06 NY Daily News
The CBS affiliate in NYC at this time was still named "WABC" and it changed on November 2, 1946. "ABC" originally meant "Atlantic Broadcasting Company."

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

BIG NEWS!
Project Audion [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] will be posting their recreation of the missing episode The Eavesdropper on May 13, 2022. There will be more details as we get closer to the date.

by artatoldotr 4/22/2022, 2:36 pm

Thanks greybelt

Best regards

Art

by greybelt 4/23/2022, 8:05 am

Today's recording has not been upgraded for 8+ years. We have both the network and the AFRS versions. Both are in good sound, but the network one posted today is better. These upgrade posts have now jumped past mid-1946 and are now a few weeks into the Auto-Lite era. The east-west separate broadcasts ended with the Roma contract. Thank you again, C3DS, for your valiant efforts in documenting that special era of Suspense history.

Suspense_1948-08-12_BewareTheQuietMan_wAnnSothern UPGRADE-5.mp3
hubiC [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

The network and the AFRS files are at [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

Sothern had a very long and very successful career but her work is not often remembered
[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]
She was involved in what was considered to be one of the worst TV series ever aired: My Mother the Car.
[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]
What were they thinking? This interview with Allan Burns explains it [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]
She supplied the voice of the car which only her son, Jerry Van Dyke, was able to hear. She was reincarnated as a vehicle! Of all the things YouTube has taken down so that fans cannot appreciate, they persist in keeping MMtC available so that everyone can see it and be comedically traumatized. The only positive is that Avery Schrieber plays a vintage car dealer (Captain Manzini) who wants to buy the car, but Jerry won't sell it. I always thought Schrieber was hilarious in most everything he did. The show was a disaster and the DVD set is thankfully out of stock... except for one listing at Amazon where someone is trying to sell the 30-episode set for $299. Whew! At least it's not $300, because that would be way too much.

1948-08-08 Portland ME Press Herald
This was part of WGAN ad

1948-08-09 Chicago IL Daily Calumet

1948-08-12 Cincinnati OH Post

1948-08-12 Los Angeles CA Evening Citizen News

1948-08-12 Madison WI Capital Times

1948-08-12 Miami FL Herald

1948-08-12 Modesto CA Bee
Guess they didn't like the show title
so they just went ahead and changed it!

1948-08-12 Pasadena CA Independent

1948-08-12 Richmond VA Times Dispatch

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

A few weeks before CBS released news about the big stars who were coming up in the following weeks!

1948-07-31 Davenport IA Daily Times

by artatoldotr 4/23/2022, 9:33 am

Thanks greybelt
Best regards

Art

by greybelt 4/24/2022, 4:32 am

This episode has not been updated for 4+ years. Only the network version survives
Suspense_1948-08-19_Crisis_wMarthaScott UPGRADE-4.mp3
hubiC [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

1948-08-19 Ottawa ON Citizen

1948-08-19 Orlando FL Evening Star

1948-08-19 Madison WI Capital Times

1948-08-19 Los Angeles CA Evening Citizen News

1948-08-19 Durham NC Sun

1948-08-19 Cincinnati OH Enquirer

1948-08-19 Charlotte NC Observer

by greybelt 4/25/2022, 6:18 am

Today's episode was last updated 4+ years ago. Only the network recording survives. Heflin was one of the successful film actors who was equally adept standing at the microphone.
Suspense_1948-08-26_SongOfTheHeart_wVanHeflin UPGRADE-4.mp3
hubiC [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

1948-08-26 Ottawa ON Citizen

1948-08-26 Los Angeles CA Evening Citizen News

1948-08-26 Latrobe PA Bulletin

1948-08-26 Chicago IL Daily Calumet

by greybelt 4/26/2022, 7:50 am

Today's first episode is a mild upgrade of one posted very recently. Some might consider it a toss-up. It was announced that the story would be “Break-up,” but that was held for 1948-12-30 with William Bendix starring. This is also available as a strange AFRS recording, edited with Inner Sanctum wrappers around the Suspense performance. Put that AFRS production shift on KP duty, peeling potatoes all day, that's what I say. No proper AFRS recording is available.

Big Shot originally appeared in the October 22, 1938 issue of Argosy, written by Davis Dresser, who used the pseudonym of Brett Halliday, especially for his Mike Shayne stories. It's interesting that for this broadcast they used the Halliday name, likely because it was much better known by this time.

Suspense_1948-09-09_TheBigshot_wBurtLancaster UPGRADE-7.mp3
hubiC [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

See the link at the bottom of today's post to get ALL of the recordings mentioned.

These clips are new.

1948-09-09 Miami FL Herald

1948-09-09 Los Angeles CA Evening Citizen News

1948-09-09 Los Angeles CA Lincoln Hts Bulletin-News
This was a curious item... there's no sign that Lancaster ever became a radio producer... or an investor

These clips reflect the original broadcast plans...

1948-09-09 Scranton PA Times-Tribune

1948-09-09 Ottawa ON Citizen

1948-09-09 Madison WI Capital Times

* * * * * * * * * * * *

This second episode is a nice upgrade to one posted relatively recently, too. There is an AFRS recording available as well. The network recording is the better one.
Suspense_1948-09-30_ManWhoWantedToBeEGRobinson_wRobinson UPGRADE-6.mp3
hubiC [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

These clips are new.

1948-09-30 Ottawa ON Citizen

1948-10-04 Bloomington IL Pantagraph
EGR makes reference to Larry Parks playing
Al Jolson in The Jolson Story as the reason
he had to play himself on Suspense

* * * * * * * * * * * *

The network and AFRS recordings mentioned above are available together at WeTransfer [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

by artatoldotr 4/26/2022, 10:01 am

Thanks greybelt

Best regards

Art

by greybelt 4/27/2022, 9:46 am

This is an upgrade of a file from 2+ years ago. There is also an AFRS recording. This network is better; prior to this, it was a toss-up. Harlow Wilcox officially becomes the Auto-Lite spokesperson with this broadcast.

Suspense_1948-10-07_Night_Cry_wRayMilland UPGRADE-4.mp3
hubiC [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

This recording and the AFRS one can be downloaded at [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

These clips are new.

1948-10-07 Miami FL News

1948-10-07 Chattanooga TN Daily Times

by artatoldotr 4/27/2022, 12:38 pm

Thanks greybelt

Best regards
Art

by greybelt 4/28/2022, 2:41 pm

Today is two upgrades of higher profile broadcasts. Both have fuller sound, and both have been upgraded in the last 18-24 months. There are no AFRS recordings available.

This is the last of the live broadcast Sorry, Wrong Number performances. For details on the history of SWN, go to
[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] which was recently updated. SWN history could fill a book on its own.

Suspense_1948-11-18_SorryWrongNumber_wAgnesMoorehead_v5 UPGRADE-4.mp3
hubiC [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

No new clippings.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Back Seat Driver was written by one of the Suspense "one-hit-wonder" authors, Sally Thorson. She was active in radio in San Francisco in local productions and then got into sales and marketing for broadcast equipment. This appears to be her only script for a national program.

Suspense_1949-02-03_Backseat_Driver_wJim&MarionJordan UPGRADE-4.mp3
hubiC [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

One new clipping...

1949-02-03 Latrobe PA Bulletin

by artatoldotr 4/29/2022, 10:34 am

Thanks greybelt
Best regards
Art

by greybelt 4/29/2022, 3:16 pm

IT'S OFFICIAL!!

This is one of the "truly missing" Suspense episodes for which the script was never repeated on the series. There are 13 such missing broadcasts. We have to hope that an AFRS recording emerges one day. This period of AFRS and Suspense did not always have numbering that was in lockstep with the actual order of broadcast, and the episodes were released multiple times by AFRS. A number can't be identified but one release series would put it as AFRS#566ish and another release as AFRS#845ish. The author is Don Yerrill who wrote The Shelter on Suspense 1954-10-28 and the On Stage episode The Dreamer 1954-03-03. His name is sometimes misspelled as "Don Yarrow" in RGI. He also wrote for Romance for 1954-10-23 The Smoking-out of the Lexington Vale.

Yerrill was Scottish and had his plays performed in the UK and Australia, and did some US TV writing in the 1950s. He was also a prolific crossword puzzle author, using the pseudonym Tantalus, for the UK's Times Literary Supplement.

THANKS so very much to Project Audion and everyone involved -- I am so looking forward to hearing this performed!

by Larynxa 4/29/2022, 5:02 pm

Thank you for posting this. I'm tremendously honoured to have been asked to direct and perform in "The Eavesdropper".

My cast is scattered over North America, connected by Zoom. Trevor Rines (a relative of bandleader & jingle-writer Joe Rines) and I are in Toronto, Canada. Duane Noch is in NYC. Bob Beaumont is in California, Tim Burns is in Kansas, and our producer Larry Groebe is in Texas.

by greybelt 4/29/2022, 5:29 pm

Today's episode was last upgraded 4+ years ago... and this is a nice one. It's been hard to find this in nice sound, and the recording it replaces had a hollow-type sound. This is much better. Late last year we posted an AFRS recording that had fallen out of circulation. This network recording is the better sounding of the two.
Suspense_1949-02-10_De_Mortuis_wCharlesLaughton UPGRADE-4.mp3
[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

The network and the AFRS can be downloaded at WeTransfer [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

Tony Leader staged the production differently than typical productions to help the actors visualize the dramatic elements of it all...

1949-03-03 Ottawa ON Citizen

These clips are new...

1949-02-06 Sioux City IA Journal

1949-02-10 Durham NC Sun

by greybelt 4/30/2022, 5:36 am

Today's episode is a nice upgrade of the third and final presentation of the Peabody-winning episode for the series. Well, it was actually performed for the fifth time, because the first two times there were same-day east and west performances. We have them all, but strangely there are no AFRS recordings, not even one of those strange 1970s AFRTS recordings around for us to grouse about.

As a quick recap, then-Spier-wife Kay Thompson saved the script "Articles of Death" (as in "articles of clothing") from the trash bin, it got a new title, and a cast comprised of the Suspense support ensemble with Wally Maher in the lead. The show gets a Peabody and delays the Roma cancellation by two 13-week contracts. In a sense, we're disappointed that they put a big movie star in the lead role this time for another Peabody victory lap. Hey, it happens. Why this script was not presented again in the Spier/Macdonnell year, the Lewis years, etc etc is beyond me.

Suspense_1949-03-24_Dead_Ernest_wPatO'Brien UPGRADE-5.mp3
hubiC [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

No new newspaper clips.

Dead Ernest was presented on TV just a few weeks later on May 3, 1949, the eighth of the fledgling Suspense TV series. The video version is not compelling, hindered by the primitive TV technology and techniques of the time. But even if the TV technology was that of today, it would still not match the vivid nature of the audio broadcast as each listener adds squeamishness of their own making and imagination to their engagement with the performance.
[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

by artatoldotr 4/30/2022, 10:01 am

Thanks greybelt
Best regards

Art

by greybelt 5/1/2022, 6:39 am

This is a slightly richer sounding upgrade with slightly less background noise. This was last upgraded about 18 months ago. If that sounds like Rocky the Flying Squirrel in the opening Auto-Lite skit playing the 1950 New Year baby, there's good reason. It's June Foray. Rocky would not start until almost 10 years later. This is the last episode with Paul Frees as the narrator voice of Suspense. The network recording has survived, but no AFRS recording has been found.

Suspense_1949-12-29_The_Bullet_wIdaLupino UPGRADE-4.mp3
hubiC [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

No new newspaper clips.

* * * * * * * * * * * *

At this point in the upgrades backlog, the upcoming posts will not be chronological. That's just a "heads up" in case you think you might have missed something. The backlog is in evaluating and processing the recordings. For the next couple of weeks the posts may not be daily, but there's plenty more to come.

by Sponsored content