Suspense Upgrades

Suspense posts resume tomorrow (Oct 11 2022).

Here's some good news: two more productions of missing episodes will be presented this month. The first will be Deadline, a newspaper story that originally starred Broderick Crawford. I've wanted to hear this one for a long time. It will be presented at the REPS Showcase on the evening of October 20. [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

The second will be through Sole Twin Audio and Rachel Pulliam. It's a much earlier episode from the John Dickson Carr period, The Phantom Archer. That group did the production of Rope a few weeks ago.

This page [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] has links to all of the known recreations of the "truly missing" broadcasts.

The Good Old Days of Radio podcast recently ran Drury's Bones, starring Boris Karloff, with an interview of his daughter, Sara Karloff. The YouTube link is [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] and it is also available on numerous podcast platforms.

This is an article about the music of Suspense. Music was a key element that set Suspense apart from other programs.

Today is a missing episode, but not a "truly missing" episode that was performed only once. It's not a full episode, but it's part 2 of a missing episode. We'll take it!

It's part two of the first performance of Philomel Cottage. It is from the Summer 1942 when Suspense was just a summer replacement series with hopes for a longer tenure. The script would be re-used on 1943-10-07 and 1946-12-12. Both of those recordings exist, and we have the east and west of the 1946 broadcasts. One of them has Bill Johnstone saying "Alexander Hitchcock" when he teases future guest stars. Chasedad assures us in his C3DS role that this 1942 is consistent with its future re-performances. That won't be the case with the posting of tomorrow's episode of another part 2 of a missing episode.

This is a Harold Medford adaptation of Agatha Christie's Love from a Stranger. It stars Eric Dressler, Alice Frost, Alfred Shirley, and Richard Widmark (his second appearance on the series). The show was produced in New York. Berry Kroeger is the narrator.

Suspense_1942-07-29 Philomel Cottage (part 2 only).mp3
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Today is another part 2 of a missing broadcast. This one has a more interesting background story.

Suspense was renewed for the new radio season of 1942-1943 and the show was destined to move to California (because that's the place you oughta be, I guess). This was the last New York performance before a three-week visit to Hollywood. They returned but the decision was made that the show would move to Hollywood for good. Those shows began in mid-April 1943, but that's another story. The upcoming Hollywood broadcast would be the Bela Lugosi vehicle The Doctor Prescribed Death.

This recording stars Ralph Bellamy. He was heading toward starring role in a Broadway play Tomorrow the World which would open in April (it had 500 performances but he would eventually be replaced by Conrad Nagel). His co-star was Shirley Booth, and the cast included (little) Skippy Homeier and Joyce Van Patten. [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] The show would open the same week of Suspense's first broadcast as a Hollywood fixture. Bellamy, too, would have a long Hollywood career.

This 1943 performance of Death Went Along for the Ride is somewhat different than the one we are more familiar with. But first, here is the recording...

Suspense_1943-01-26 Death Went Along for the Ride (part 2 only).mp3
MEGA [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

Here is a link to an AFRS version of the 1944-04-27 broadcast with Gene Kelly. That second broadcast of the script was supposed to star Welles but Kelly came in to sub.
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The file name is Suspense 1944-04-27 088 Thu Death Went Along for the Ride EC AFRS#49.mp3 and was posted previously.

C3DS evaluator chasedad noted some important characteristics of this part 2 of the missing broadcast. (For those new to this thread C3DS is the Cobalt Dialogue Difference Detection Squad which toils in the high security basement lab somewhere in Cobaltia; chasedad and and fellow C3DS member lasombra are still grateful for the new coffee maker they received last year as a reward for their superb analysis of east and west broadcasts and identification of the sources of the AFRS versions of Suspense episodes in those Roma years).

Chasedad's confidential dossier includes his comments comparing this broadcast with the one to come...

One of the most obvious differences is the narration from the "Man in Black" throughout this version, which is largely unnecessary anyway and easily removed via some changes to the dialogue. But the '44 version was a major rewrite in all sorts of other ways, including an entire scene set at a carnival which was taken out of the later version (possibly because the addition of commercials made it necessary to trim the script's length, but also possibly because it's sort of a nonsensical scene). The one-armed man who'd menaced Gavery makes it all the way to the end of the story here, which means the scene in the first half of the '44 version where Javery runs the one-armed man's car off the road and kills him had to have been added for that version. And there are all sorts of changes to the dialogue throughout, including the addition of a new closing line in the latter version, plus in this earlier version the villain is killed exclusively through his own stupidity, whereas in the revised script Gavery lends a hand in that by throwing open a window curtain at a crucial moment.

His comments led us to find the script for the 1944 broadcast since this 1943 one is not available. Sure enough, a major clue is right on the front page. The 1943 script was written by Henry Denker and Ralph Berkley, as announced at the close of this recording. The 1944 script adds Robert Richards to the credits. Richards was a very important member of the Suspense production team. He was Spier's editor when he wasn't scripting his own episodes -- so he's the one who did all of the re-writing for this episode. It was Richards who gave the series a consistency in approach but also a guiding hand (and ear) for that made all of the story adaptations the series converted to radio all the more effective. His comment about the "Man in Black" is interesting... mystery programs had hosts, like Raymond on Inner Sanctum, and The Whistler, and Geoffrey Barnes on Molle... it was an audience expectation. Spier eventually realized Suspense did not need such a gimmick, but it's here in this recording and getting in the way of things. That's easy for us to say since we can see the entire series from beginning to end, but they were making decisions in their time every week. But I digress...

Chasedad's report continues

...this '43 version doesn't sound terribly well-rehearsed. At the 8:00 mark Bellamy and his scene partner start in delivering their dialogue in a new scene, only to have Ted Osborne come in with his narration on top of them. The two actors stop (or the technicians killed their mikes) while Osborne finishes the narration, after which the actors go back and start their scene again.

This part 2 recording begins, as one would expect, about halfway into the script. This seems to be an area of significant re-writing that Richards did.

###

Thanks greybelt

Best regards
Art

Thanks, greybelt! Also thanks to Chasedad for the report!

This is a missing single performance for which we have "always" had part 1. I don't remember a time when it wasn't circulating. This recording is an upgrade.

Suspense_1943-02-23 Will You Walk into My Parlor (part 1 only) UPGRADE-2.mp3
MEGA [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

The full performance was recreated by American Radio Theater in 2015
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Sorry, Wrong Number was a big deal for the legitimacy of Suspense in its sustaining era, but Donovan's Brain may have been the big event of the early Roma 2x/week period of the next year. The script was supposed to be presented in October 1943, but Republic Pictures was late in its release of its adaptation of Curt Siodmak's Donovan's Brain novel, Lady and the Monster. (It's at [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] but the video and audio seem slightly out of sync to me).

By the time Spring of 1944 arrived, the popularity of Suspense was growing, and another Welles appearance would get even more attention. Donovan's Brain was still popular. Republic wouldn't mind the extra publicity of the radio show because their movie was still in theaters. Getting Welles to do the story was publicity in itself, only at 29, already a legend with War of the Worlds and Citizen Kane in his rear-view mirror. He had great appreciation of William Spier since it was Spier who gave him his first radio job for March of Time almost a decade earlier.

The importance of the Suspense production was the role it played in legitimizing the idea that science fiction stories could become serious radio productions accepted by a wide adult audience. It also showed that the "right" multiple-part stories could be successful in radio's prime time. (Though Suspense never really did it again until the Lewis years for Othello and Edwin Drood, which were more "artsy" productions by Elliott Lewis; two-parters would later be for other sci-fi such as Earth Abides on Escape and Brave New World on CBS Radio Workshop). The other aspect of its popularity was that it was so well executed. "Sure, sure, sure..." was a marvelous gimmick Welles created to indicate the transformation of Dr. Corey to be driven by Donovan's thoughts. As outlandish as the story concept is, it all works. Radio sci-fi isn't just for kids as afternoon serials.

After the Thursday, May 18 production for the east stations (the broadcast recording survives, but is not as good as the Monday performance below), Welles and Spier went out for dinner. Quietly kept out of the newspapers and gossip columns was that Spier had a heart attack during their meal. It was his second one. He dealt with heart issues for the rest of his life. This was at a time well before the development of bypass surgeries and stents, cardiac imaging, and numerous medications. The most common treatment included rest and limitation of physical exertion and avoidance of stressful situations. Spier was only 37 at the time. The remaining three performances (the Monday performance of part 1, and the subsequent performances of part 2) were likely under the supervision of CBS executive Robert Shayon. Spier's heart issues would persist and trouble him the rest of his life and interrupt his work. He died of a heart attack at age 66 in 1973.

These two recordings are very nice. In the early days of the hobby, there were two noisy airchecks in circulation with disc rumble and hum and scratch. The studio discs were found later, and they were transferred a few different times over the decades. All these years later, we can enjoy them even more, and hear them in a way that listeners could not when they were originally broadcast. The Monday, May 29 part 2 broadcast for the west is still missing. An AFRS recording has never surfaced; it may have never been released by them because of its two-part format. That seems to be one of the things we may never know... until one is found.

Suspense_1944-05-22_Donovans_Brain_Pt1_wOrsonWelles UPGRADE-3 WC Monday.mp3
MEGA [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

Suspense_1944-05-25_Donovans_Brain_Pt2_wOrsonWelles UPGRADE-5 EC Thursday.mp3
MEGA [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

Here are some clippings picked up recently...



Shayon's Wikipedia page is awful; his NY Times obituary is better. [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]  

He was a visionary in radio terms, producing and writing one of the first big-budget radio documentaries about a social subject. The Eagle's Brood about juvenile delinquency set the standard for documentaries, even into the television era.

Time magazine of March 17, 1947 has excellent background about the program.
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You can hear the program at [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

Thanks greybelt

Best regards

Art

Thanks, Doc. LOVE "Donovan" - and wish some others, like FRANKENSTEIN, have been given 60 min.

And here's an invite to NYers... It's suspenseful, and SUSPENSE did do Doyle (his "Lost Special," which was also Sherlock-ized by Edith Meiser, and which we recreated for Baker Streeter Bill Nadel at FOTR.)

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A good company (winner of awards from the National Audio Theater and the National Federation Of Community Broadcasters), in a good show (The author's own favorite: "A grim story ...that... I am sure will be on every list."), for a GREAT cause: one of the oldest Performing Arts charities* in the world (and COVID hit that community VERY hard.)

This Monday, October 17th!

Happy Halloween,
- Craig

This is an upgrade of one of the original performances of Dead Ernest. The other is 4sec to ID and was posted a while ago. Yet again, we know we have east and west but no way of knowing which is which.

The brief background for those who might be new here (or have forgotten, or just enjoy the story) is that Spier rejected the script, originally named "Articles of Death." Then-wife Kay Thompson had a habit of reading the rejected pile and she told him to look at it again. He did, gave it a much, much better name, and ran it in the summer when everyone is off on vacation and it's hard to get Hollywood stars. That... was a great idea. The performances by the day-to-day radio pros are superb.

Last year I had a brief chat with Wally Maher, Jr., and this was his father's favorite show. What was supposed to be a light filler show turned into one of the series' best. It's not often something can be serious, amusing, creepy, and comedic in the span of 25 or so minutes of drama. The episode was submitted to the Peabody folks and got the series an award, and forced Roma Wines to back away from its cancellation... for a few months (if I was the ad manager, I would have cancelled, but I wasn't born yet).

For such an important show in Suspense history, I'm surprised it wasn't repeated more often. It was done as a Peabody victory lap in May 1947 and then with Auto-Lite in March 1949 under Tony Leader. This means that Spier skipped it for his year of Philip Morris Playhouse when he used other Suspense scripts, even Cypress Canyon, and when he returned to Suspense after Leader was not rehired. The script was passed over by Elliott Lewis, Antony Ellis, Norman Macdonnell, Bill Robson, and the New York crew. How could no one want to bring the Peabody winner back? Elliott and Cathy Lewis were in the 1946 and 1947 casts. Bob Bailey was in this 1946 one as a police officer.

You already know my feelings about the TV version (if you don't, here it is: mostly awful). It's at [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]  It proves the power of radio drama in comparison. But TV technology and production was primitive. I suspect even modern video could not save it and an audio performance would still offer more compelling engagement.

Suspense_1946-08-08_Dead_Ernest_wWallyMaher (2sec to ID) UPGRADE-3.mp3
MEGA [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]
CORRECTED LINK [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

Wrong show, it's Suspense_1943-02-23 Will You Walk into My Parlor (part 1 only) UPGRADE-2

It has been corrected
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greybelt wrote:(if I was the ad manager, I would have cancelled, but I wasn't born yet).

(#$!* SUITS!!!)

But seriously, thanks, Doc.

- Craig

Thanks greybelt
Best regards

Art

When you keep checking so many, many collections of a series, it's easy for everything that's been found and learned to blur together.  And, I've learned my limits about such things. That's why we are so lucky to have the C3DS to help us as they did a few posts ago. For a recent one (Death Went Along for the Ride), chasedad was the main evaluator. For this one, it's lasombra. This time it's Smiley with Donald O'Connor.

This required unraveling the mystery we had with multiple recordings of the same program, one of which may have been "doctored." The key to the solution was lasombra's keen eye and ear and the strategy of starting with a comparison/control copy, a recording for which we had perfect knowledge of its source. For those of you who aspire to join C3DS one day and go through their demanding training program, this is an essential lesson in proper laboratory practice and record-keeping... and it's worth emulating. So pull out your lab notebooks, you know the one, it has the marbleized cardboard covers and the graph paper pages inside. Set aside the Bunsen burners (make sure they're completely off!), and take notes. (We still don't know why the burners are in the C3DS lab, but the sales guy in the loud plaid jacket said in order to be an official lab you need them, just for professional credibility, even if you don't use them. He got us a deal, he told us. There was this little old lady who used her Bunsen... oh, never mind...)

Smiley was done during the same-day-east/west Roma years, but for some reason we had three different recordings. That really messed stuff up -- one of the recordings seemed to be an edited recording that someone made, perhaps to make the recording fit on a cassette side or to fit meet a targeted duration of a rebroadcast. Some key parts of the show close were edited out. In the process, we went back into our own archives of recordings that had been removed or just stored and we found a better recording. Lasombra's control copy helped make things more clear.

The C3DS is exceptionally skilled at finding small differences in recordings, usually seeking multiple differences, and documenting them. This serves two purposes -- the first to verify/identify/classify any new recording in comparisons, and to find markers that will identify the source of an AFRS recording if one is found. We still don't know which of these is east or west, but they are different.

We had easily detected a difference in the recordings of the time to ID but one of the three recordings had the network ID edited out. The recordings mentioned John Lund as the upcoming guest star, but there was also a longer list of guests in future weeks that was not in all of the recordings. The documented listening led to the identification of the "doctored" recording and that was swiftly eliminated. But how about the two real recordings?

In one of them, the word "Muscatel" seems slurred by Truman Bradley in the middle commercial. We have always made the amusing but unverifiable assertion that the west broadcasts would have more mistakes because the cast went to the KNX "commissary" (as they called it, see below) when the east performance was finished. The restaurant, and others nearby, served various adult beverages that could... ummm... help performers overcome mic fright or other problems... ahem.... but the downside is that could make it an unexpected challenge to say "Muscatel." We couldn't really decide if this is a flub or a bad editing of the recordings of the two discs being joined to create a seamless recording. (I personally think it's a disc join issue). We've heard Bradley cough or clear his throat in many broadcasts, but his mis-readings are very, very rare. (He does make one in Riabouchinska, where he says "RiabouchinsKEE," but wait... that was a west performance... hmmmmmm...). Comments welcome.... Enjoy!

THE FOLLOWING FILE Suspense_1947-08-14_Smiley_wDonaldOConnor (has ID, no upcoming guest annc).mp3
HAS HAD A NAME CHANGE but is the same recording as previously posted
Suspense_1947-08-14_Smiley_wDonaldOConnor (9sec to ID, only Lund but no upcoming guests).mp3
3:02 I just smile at everybody, lady
14:21 "Muscatel" slurred (could be less than perfect disc join edit)
There is a 9 second delay between final announcement and network ID
MEGA [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

THIS OLD FILE Suspense_1947-08-14_Smiley_wDonaldOConnor (no ID has upcoming guest annc) UPGRADE-2.mp3
IS NOW UPGRADED AND REPLACED BY
Suspense_1947-08-14_Smiley_wDonaldOConnor (dir to ID, Lund & future guests anncd).mp3
2:58 I just naturally smile at everybody, lady
14:19 "Muscatel" without slur
There is no delay between the final announcement and network ID
MEGA [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]


That "commissary" was Brittingham's Restaurant. This is a nice story about it and the CBS radio complex [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

In Suspense history, this is where Spier was when he saw that Ava Gardner brought Welles along for her guest appearance on May 1, 1947. The show as Lady in Distress, and Spier wrote in the brief scene while they were together that added Welles as a gas station attendant.

We don't know if it's where Welles and Spier had dinner after the initial broadcast of Donovan's Brain; I suspect that was at a different, perhaps fancier restaurant, but there's no information about where that happened that we can find.

The peculiar history of The Ten Years with Joan Crawford was previously discussed in a May 9, 2022 post at [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] (which is on page 18 of this thread). There was a prior one from three years ago at [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]  

The recording is important in Suspense history because it was its first transcribed program designed to be assembled and edited after the dramatic portion of the program was recorded. It would be combined with the live performance of others who were not needed for the drama recording. Eventually, all of the elements of a Suspense program would be pre-recorded, but that would be years later. All of the prior Suspense broadcasts were live until this one. The desire to have the elusive Crawford as a Suspense star, combined with her radio microphone fright, led to this intriguing production. We get special insight into how it was done because of the multiple recordings that have survived. The prior posts on this thread have lots of detail about the tremendous publicity this received at the time.

(A digression for clarity and precision It is possible that the three recordings from New York City in Summer 1947 were performed live once and then a full as-broadcast transcription was played for the west coast. Sam Spade was moved to New York City so Howard Duff could film his scenes for Mark Hellinger's movie The Naked City. This meant Spier had to go with him, which meant that Suspense had to move, too. [Spier had another motive at the time as he was courting June Havoc and she was appearing in a play nearby in his native Connecticut]. It is suspected that because of the time of day in New York and the extra costs of hiring support crew and actors and musicians for that late of a performance that there was no live west coast performance. The west heard a full recording of the east's live broadcasts for those weeks. That situation was something totally different than this one with Crawford).

In the most recent post about the broadcast of The Ten Years, there were four different recordings identified and linked, and I mentioned that a fifth recording recently became available but I could not post it then. The links to the four recordings noted in the May 9 post have expired because hubiC shut down their cloud service. All of those links have been replaced and converted to MEGA and are now the active links in that forum post. Here's the link to the post again [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

This new, fifth recording is an aircheck from WCBS-AM in New York City. The purpose of this aircheck is not known. The recording was on split over three professionally made discs. It is likely that it was done by an ad agency or another firm. Airchecks are marvelous things because we get to hear how radio actually sounded to the people listening during the original broadcasts.

There were 3 discs recorded on both sides, running at 78rpm. It is suspected that this set of discs was made in the 1950s from a copy of an original (and similar) set of discs made on the day of broadcast. Some of the narrower audio range and background noise may be the result of its being a copy and the kind of transcription media was used at higher turntable speed.


It's almost disturbing and disorienting to see a Mutual network label on a Suspense disc set! But WOR in New York City was involved in many for-hire audio recording services to those who needed them, including airchecks and making copies of recordings. Its recording studio hosted many jazz musicians, like Thelonious Monk, where they recorded sessions for LP and other audio releases.

The broadcast starts with the time tone. One of the first things you notice is that it does not have the full audio range of a studio recording. How lucky we are to hear so many of the recordings from studio discs; we usually hear classic radio in better sound than its contemporary listeners did. But this recording is quite good compared to other airchecks. "Transcribed" is stated at the top of the program (see the prior post about this show for some background about this). The opening is pre-recorded and Harlow Wilcox delivers the Auto-Lite ad live with Bill Johnstone... as a listener we can't detect what's live and what's not, which is the way it was intended to be. The middle commercial break is after 11:40 and ends at 12:35. The broadcast ends at 29:23 with an announcement that the program was transcribed (again!). At 29:32 a local announcer tells listeners to stay tuned for Crime Photographer and provides the station ID. At 29:33 there is a locally-inserted "mm-mm-good" Campbell Vegetable Soup commercial. At 29:55 there is yet another network ID.

This was a marvelous find! Many thanks to the many collectors who helped fund this special acquisition and were willing to act when it came to their attention!

Suspense_1949-06-02_TheTenYears_wJCrawford WCBS-NY AIRCHECK.mp3
MEGA [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

For convenience, all five recordings are at WeTransfer [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]
The link expires on October 20, 2022.

Thanks greybelt

Best regards

Art

This is a very special recording that is the result of many, many generous collectors who helped finance the acquisition and to provide their equipment, sound processing time, and talent.

It is an aircheck of the full version of 1951-03-15 Strange, for a Killer starring Van Johnson. It's home recorded on tape from WJR in Detroit.

All we have had to listen to, for decades, is the recording of the drama portion only. That element of the program was recorded on 1951-03-03 and would be merged, later, with announcements, sound effects, and music. This new practice of creating episodes was made possible by the use of recording tape. It's no accident that the constant number of guest changes and replacements for a particular broadcast date ended with the adoption of tape. Johnson's recording was made on a Saturday, when his schedule was more flexible and was less likely to be called away to a movie set. Suspense broadcasts were still being done live for many episodes, but many hard-to-get guest stars were attracted to the series with this newfound capability. For example, Suspense was off the air in Summer 1950, but Rave Notice with Milton Berle was recorded in July and the show aired three months later.

The complete 1951 recording of Strange, for a Killer has never been available, and no AFRS recording has ever surfaced (it would be #360 or thereabouts). Almost no one has heard the full program since the day of broadcast; our suspicion is that only the person who recorded it in 1951 and the person who offered it for sale last year, and perhaps a small handful of others, may have been the only ones who heard it in all those 70 years.

The script was performed again in 1955 and 1958. The other performances were 1955-09-06 with John Dehner and 1958-06-15 with Dan O'Herlihy. They are in circulation, and always seemed to be.

This 1951 broadcast is mostly all intact except for some pause-button edits to be sure as much of the broadcast could be recorded to its conclusion without running out of tape. It was recorded on a 5" reel of paper-based recording tape, common for home machines in that era. To get a good playback, you need a deck with pressure pads that apply extra pressure on the tape against the play head. Not many of those units are around any more, but one of the group of collectors had a deck, a refurb'd 3M Wollensak that did. The difference was notably better compared to the backup copy made when I ran it on my "newer" equipment.

Before you listen -- it's worthwhile to hear to the recording of the 1951-03-15 drama segments AND THEN listen to the aircheck. If you've heard it before, listen again with this different purpose. The glory of Suspense that separated it from other mystery programs was its custom-written and performed music. Other shows could get guest stars or be picky about scripts and such, but Suspense spent proportionately more on music than others did. This attribute is not mentioned often enough, but it's always done here. This is a great opportunity to finally hear how it all works with the drama alone and then the full production. I'm not a fan of this story, but my sense of the production changed once I heard this aircheck. I got a much better appreciation about how the music enhances the story (and especially Johnson's acting), changes moods and scenes, and emphasizes events and dialogue, and builds anticipation for any major development in the story.

Here's the unedited drama portion of the program.
Suspense_1951-03-15_StrangeForAKiller_wVanJohnson UneditedDramaPortion UPGRADE-3.mp3
MEGA [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

And now here's the broadcast aircheck as it has survived for us, now preserved in digital form.

Suspense_1951-03-15 Strange for a Killer NETWORK WJR HOME AIRCHECK.mp3
MEGA [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

Here are newspaper clippings about the broadcast...


Everyone should know that this recording was from the generosity of a group of collectors who each volunteered their own hobby funds to help acquire it. This recording was very expensive to get. One never knows what final bid prices will be... sometimes you can get a satisfactory and appropriate one and sometimes you have to really stretch and sometimes there is a bargain, but those seem to be rather infrequent. The cost, when spread among many donors, can be a little easier to take.

Contact me if you might like to help out in the future. The OTRR Purchasing Group often assists in similar acquisitions, as they do in the logistics of many of the reel tape acquisitions that this thread has benefited from these past couple of years. Membership is inexpensive ($5 a month) and appreciated.

Thanks greybelt
Best regards

Art

greybelt wrote:This is a very special recording ... Strange, for a Killer starring Van Johnson.

Very cool indeed.

My first question - though I know the home recording is of much lower fidelity - is if the record pauses there could be, at least partially, replaced by sections from the "older" version?

Re: you point about SUSPENSE and music:

YES!

As I said to my company as we put together last night's SPECKLED BAND, to me, it is self-evident that the best Audio Drama treats Dialogue, Music and SFX as equal partners. The best of classic material evidences that; and for me, that's one way in which much American material has been better than British:

BBC stuff, however well written and acted, can sometimes come of as what I call, "Three Guys At A Mic." It's analogous to seeing a stage play done in front of nothing but plain gray flats.

- Craig

Craig -- I have wondered if greater skilled enthusiasts with much patience might overlay the drama recording onto the aircheck. The sync challenge would be enormous. But when I think about it... it may sound just awful since the effects and the music would not have its own quality boost.

I still hope an AFRS version may be found one day.

Today's episode is Steel River Prison Break starring Ira Grossel and written by William Norman. You know them better as Jeff Chandler and William N. Robson.

Chandler changed his name for the entertainment business. He would be credited at times in supporting roles, such as Lux Radio Theatre, he would use Ira Grossel. When he was starring or had a prominent role, such as in Our Miss Brooks, he’d be Jeff Chandler. That’s of course when he wasn’t “Tex Chandler” on the series Frontier Town. He had an incredible voice and this performance shows that he was just as much at home in radio comedy as he was in a dramatic role like this one.

Originally, William Holden was contracted to be the star of this episode for the opening of the new Suspense season. They changed it to Report on the Jolly Death Riders. I think Jeff Chandler was a much better choice for Steel River Prison Break, and perhaps that's what Elliott Lewis thought, too, and why they swapped scripts. Many of the newspapers had incorrect listings, indicating it was a late decision by CBS after the publicity had gone out. CBS did release the revised schedule and some papers did get it in time for their editions.

This script was submitted to Suspense by William N. Robson during the chaotic time of CBS and Auto-Lite trying to make sense of Red Channels. Auto-Lite didn’t want to be associated with anyone listed there. Elliott Lewis knew he had a good script, so Bill Robson agreed to be credited as “William Norman.”

This recording is an upgrade of a complete recording of the episode. For many years, the only copy around had some of the credits cut out and a sound quality change in the closing credits. Now we can hear it as it was broadcast. Robson would submit three more scripts to Suspense, but they were under the name “Christopher Anthony,” the names of his young boys. One of them, Mission of the Betta, used some production techniques and scripting from a Man Behind the Gun episode, and is unfortunately still lost. I suspect it would be hard to recreate as a live performance because of that technique, but I still keep hoping someone does. The others were Treasure Chest of Don Jose and The Wreck of the Old 97.

This is one of my "sleeper" favorite Suspense episodes. It's rarely on anyone's "top 10" Suspense lists. There's something about prison breaks in hard rain that paralyzes a community with its flood and thwarts the bad guys and the good guys in ways they're not prepared for. We hope never happens in real life, of course, but is a great basis for a story and an opportunity to surprise the reader or the listener. The ending is “Whistler-like,” and I'm always a sucker for those ever since I read my first O. Henry short story.

Both Jolly Death and Steel River were done live, and not pre-recorded.

Suspense_1951-09-03_SteelRiverPrisonBreak_wJeffChandler COMPLETE UPGRADE.mp3
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These newspaper clippings are new...



This is the last of the Suspense upgrades for a little while. There are some OTR projects that demand a different kind of attention these next couple of weeks.

Watch for news about the two recreations of missing episodes that will become available. The first will be Deadline from 1950-06-15 which originally starred Broderick Crawford. It will be presented at the REPS Showcase that starts tomorrow. Sometime around Halloween, The Phantom Archer from 1943-03-09 should be ready for listening from Sole Twin Audios.

Thanks greybelt

Best regards

Art

Dear Joe & gang -

greybelt wrote:Mission of the Betta, used some production techniques and scripting from a Man Behind the Gun episode, and is unfortunately still lost. I suspect it would be hard to recreate as a live performance because of that technique, but I still keep hoping someone does.

Hard, yes - impossible, no. Gotham Radio Players did a MAN/GUN a few years back, and it's one of their best. Due to good performances by the late Jeff David (whose Brutus I was blessed to Cassius opposite at FOTR), and one of the best of their troupe, Paul Becton; and PRODIGIOUS post-production by Max Schmid.

greybelt wrote:The others were Treasure Chest of Don Jose and The Wreck of the Old 97.

Haven't heard JOSE, but really enjoy 97. (Until age 5, I lived in a trailer beside train tracks!)

greybelt wrote:The ending is “Whistler-like,” and I'm always a sucker for those ever since I read my first O. Henry short story.

Just referenced that ol' teller of tales Monday night, in the Intro to my group Quicksilver's live SPECKLED BAND. He was a member of the legendary Little Church Around The Corner (though he was likely hung over most Sunday mornings!), upstairs of which lies the Episcopal Actors' Guild Hall where we performed. We've done his COP AND THE ANTHEM there, and down in the church, several of his short stories, one of which involves a wedding there. (Fun fact: radio historian and Baker Streeter Bill Nadel is a relative of said William Sidney Porter.)

greybelt wrote:Watch for news about the two recreations of missing episodes that will become available. The first will be Deadline from 1950-06-15 which originally starred Broderick Crawford. It will be presented at the REPS Showcase that starts tomorrow.

Did you say that that will be Zoomed? The Wife and I are being brought out to do several shows there this weekend, but I did not know they might be webcast?

Happy Halloween,
- Craig

RE Treasure Chest of Don Jose
You've got three to choose from: J. Carroll Naish, Edgar Barrier, Raymond Burr. Much as I love Burr, I kind of like the Naish better. Burr did it when Robson was the Suspense producer, so he finally had a chance to produce and direct his own play, under his own name.

RE Wreck of the Old 97
I really have always wanted to like this one. Elliott Lewis "went all Columbia Workshop" on us trying to do anything unique to keep the series fresh. The only thing that keeps me attached to the presentation is Frank Lovejoy. Of all the Suspense "musicals," this is the best of them.

REPS is not being Zoomed as best I know. I think it's a nice thing they're doing for me since I suggested the script and helped them with the background of the production. I do have permission to share the audio once it's available.