Stars on Suspense (Old Time Radio)

John Lund joins our five-timer's club as he makes his final four appearances on Suspense. First, he's a Marine who may have discovered paradise in the middle of the war in the Pacific in "The Island" (originally aired on CBS on January 12, 1958). Then he's a gambler who bets too much on his own system in "Winner Lose All" (originally aired on CBS on April 27, 1958). A bank robber gone straight is caught on the scene when his old gang stages a hold-up in "For Old Time's Sake" (AFRS rebroadcast from December 14, 1958), and he's a reporter trapped in the middle of a prison riot in "Eyewitness" (AFRS rebroadcast from July 12, 1959). Plus, we'll hear him as Johnny Dollar in "The Walter Patterson Matter" (originally aired on CBS on December 26, 1952).

Though she never found the fame of her sister Margaret, Barbara Whiting had a run in Hollywood as a Fox contract player. We'll hear her in "The Rim of Terror" (originally aired on CBS on December 2, 1956) as a woman who picks up a hitchhiking defector and in "One Way Trip," a story from Romance (originally aired on CBS on December 17, 1955). Plus, she reprises her breakout big screen role in Junior Miss on Hollywood Star Time (originally aired on CBS on March 24, 1946).

We've got two stars for the price of one in each of these Suspense shows! For this bonus episode, I'm sharing my favorite installments of "radio's outstanding theater of thrills" that featured a pair of big name stars at the microphone. J. Carrol Naish and Joseph Cotten are hunter and hunted in "The Most Dangerous Game" (originally aired on CBS on February 1, 1945) and Hume Cronyn and Keenan Wynn hope a big bet will bail them out of trouble in "Double Entry" (originally aired on CBS on December 20, 1945). Vincent Price joins Lloyd Nolan on a "Hunting Trip" (originally aired on CBS on September 12, 1946) and walks the streets of London with Claude Rains in "The Hands of Mr. Ottermole" (originally aired on CBS on December 2, 1948). Finally, Fibber McGee and Molly are joined by an armed and unwelcome passenger in "Backseat Driver" (originally aired on CBS on February 3, 1949), and Phil Harris and Alice Faye try to escape a small town's harsh justice in "Death on My Hands" (originally aired on CBS on May 10, 1951).

Virginia Gregg was one of the radio era's busiest and best performers. The versatile and talented actress could be heard on everything from detective dramas to westerns, often playing multiple characters in the same episode. We'll hear her as a woman held captive by a maniac in "Goodnight, Mrs. Russell" (originally aired on CBS on August 3, 1954) and as half of a murderous pair of newlyweds in "When the Bough Breaks" (originally aired on CBS on December 6, 1955). Plus, we'll hear her in a thriller from the typewriter of the great Arch Oboler - "Come to the Bank With Me" (originally aired on NBC on October 31, 1964).

To celebrate St. Patrick's Day, we've got a line-up of Irish-American stars making appearances on "radio's outstanding theater of thrills." Maureen O'Hara is an amateur sleuth hunting a killer in "The White Rose Murders" (originally aired on CBS on July 6, 1943) and Thomas Mitchell is a railroad magnate plagued by nightmares in "Case History of Edgar Lowndes" (originally aired on CBS on June 8, 1944). Edmond O'Brien plays a reporter chasing a story worth killing for in "The Argyle Album" (originally aired on CBS on September 4, 1947) and James Cagney takes a deadly trip behind the wheel in "No Escape" (originally aired on CBS on December 16, 1948). Pat O'Brien is a cop who finds a suspect close to home in "True Report" (originally aired on CBS on August 31, 1950) and Dennis Day is a beatnik - you read that right - in "Like Man, Somebody Dig Me" (AFRS rebroadcast from August 16, 1959).

We bid farewell to Joseph Cotten - an institution on Suspense. The star of The Third Man made 18 appearances on "radio's outstanding theater of thrills," and we'll hear his final shows, including an adaptation of Ambrose Bierce's "An Occurence at Owl Creek Bridge" (originally aired on CBS on December 15, 1957). In his last starring role on Suspense, Cotten plays a man trying to save one of his former soldiers from prisons both mental and physical in "Red Cloud Mesa" (originally aired on CBS on August 2, 1959). Plus, he recreates his role from Shadow of a Doubt on Academy Award (originally aired on CBS on September 11, 1946) and he pinch hits as a secret agent in The Man Called X (originally aired on NBC on July 6, 1951).

Though never considered a bankable star by the studios, Martha Scott worked steadily on the big and small screens for fifty years. She earned an Oscar nomination for her performance in the film version of Our Town and she set baby Moses in the basket in The Ten Commandments. She stars in a very odd episode of Suspense as a mother who experiences a frightening vision of her child's future in "Crisis" (originally aired on CBS on August 19, 1948). Plus she recreates one of her film roles in "Cheers for Miss Bishop" on The Lux Radio Theatre (originally aired on CBS on March 17, 1941).

For this bonus episode, we're saddling up with the best Suspense stories of the old west. Alan Ladd hunts for his brother's murderer in "A Killing in Abilene" (originally aired on CBS on December 14, 1950). Then, Richard Widmark fights a bloody feud in "The Hunting of Bob Lee" (originally aired on CBS on October 29, 1951) and he tracks a deadly panther through the snow in "The Track of the Cat" (originally aired on CBS on February 18, 1952). Frank Lovejoy stars as one of the west's most infamous gunslingers in "The Shooting of Billy the Kid" (originally aired on CBS on April 28, 1952) and Richard Widmark returns - this time as another notorious outlaw - in "The Spencer Brothers" (originally aired on CBS on January 26, 1953). Finally, Victor Mature stars as a legendary bandit in "The Love and Death of Joaquin Murietta" (originally aired on CBS on February 16, 1953).

Whether he was keeping the peace in Dodge City or playing a villain on Suspense, William Conrad was one of radio's all-time greatest performers. We'll hear the man with one of Hollywood's best voices in three old time radio thrillers. First, he's a hired killer whose plans never quite pan out in "A Matter of Timing" (originally aired on CBS on June 12, 1956). Then, he's on a cross-country drive that gets detoured when he and his friend are wrongfully accused of murder in "Two for the Road" (originally aired on CBS on November 9, 1958). Finally, Conrad narrates a tense tale of an effort to fix an active atomic bomb at a test site in "Misfire" (AFRS rebroadcast from November 30, 1958). And as a bonus, we'll hear him in his signature radio role as Matt Dillon in "The Buffalo Hunter" from Gunsmoke (originally aired on CBS on May 9, 1953).

In this bonus podcast episode, a collection of characters makes the St. Valentine's Day massacre look like a picnic. We'll hear five Suspense stories about romances gone wrong with husbands and wives at each other's throats. Peter Lorre plots to get rid of an unfaithful wife in "Till Death Do Us Part" (originally aired on CBS on December 15, 1942), and even though his wife isn't real, Edward G. Robinson still winds up accused of her murder in "My Wife Geraldine" (originally aired on CBS on March 1, 1945). Robert Young's wife vanishes into the night in "You'll Never See Me Again" (originally aired on CBS on September 5, 1946) and Kirk Douglas plans to bump off his wife instead of sharing an inheritance in "Community Property" (originally aired on CBS on April 10, 1947). Finally, Joan Fontaine is a Mrs. planning to do away with her Mr. in "The Lovebirds" (originally aired on CBS on March 3, 1949).

In this bonus episode, I'm sharing my favorite installments of Suspense starring Oscar-winner Van Heflin. First, he's an executive with a murderous plan to climb the corporate ladder in "Three Blind Mice" (originally aired on CBS on January 30, 1947) and he's a man caught by his own trap for his unfaithful wife in "Three O'Clock" (originally aired on CBS on March 10, 1949). Heflin plays a hitchhiker who plots to take the place of the man who gives him a lift in "Murder of Aunt Delia" (originally aired on CBS on November 10, 1949) and he plays a reporter invited to a midnight meeting with a serial killer in "The Lady in the Red Hat" (originally aired on CBS on November 30, 1950). Finally, Heflin stars as America's first Public Enemy Number One in "The Last Days of John Dillinger" (originally aired on CBS on May 10, 1954).

Parley Baer may be best known to old time radio fans for his many years in Dodge City as Deputy Chester Proudfoot on Gunsmoke, but he lent his voice to hundreds of radio shows across nearly every genre on the air. We'll hear him in a Suspense western as a man hunting his brother's murderer in "A Killing in Abilene" (originally aired on CBS on February 3, 1955). Then, he's a husband planning a deadly summer getaway for his wife in "Variations on a Theme" (originally aired on CBS on February 7, 1956). Finally, we'll hear Baer in his signature radio role in "Westbound" from Gunsmoke (originally aired on CBS on January 3, 1953).

Dan Dailey shed his musical comedy persona for his two appearances on Suspense. The Oscar nominee and Golden Globe winner starred as a pair of men caught in deadly love triangles, First, he's a carnival performer who spends his days buried alive in a glass coffin while his wife and his barker get closer in "Six Feet Under" (originally aired on CBS on April 13, 1950). Then, he boards a chartered fishing boat only to discover his wife and the captain have plans for a surprise burial at sea in "Over the Bounding Main" (originally aired on CBS on September 14, 1950).

In addition to being an amazing actress, Lillian Gish pioneered the craft of film acting - the more nuanced performance choices that a camera could capture vs. the broad techniques designed to reach the back of a theatre. Her career stretched from the silent era all the way to the late 1980s, and along the way she starred in films made by D.W. Griffith and stared down Robert Mitchum in The Night of the Hunter. We'll hear her in "Marry for Murder" (originally aired on CBS on September 9, 1943). Then, we'll hear her as a guest panelist in two episodes of Information Please (a partial recording of an episode from October 25, 1938 and another show from July 4, 1939).

We close out 2023 with a break from radio thrillers. Instead, it's our annual showcase of a classic Christmas film recreated for radio. This year, it's one of the best as James Stewart and Donna read recreate their roles as George and Mary Bailey in a Lux Radio Theatre recreation of It's a Wonderful Life (originally aired on CBS on March 10, 1947).

Jack Kruschen earned an Oscar nod for his performance as Jack Lemmon's kindly and concerned neighbor in The Apartment, but before that he was a busy and very versatile radio performer. With a knack for accents and dialects, it wasn't uncommon for Kruschen to play multiple roles in the same thirty minutes. We'll hear him as a gangster who prepares an explosive Christmas gift for a rival in "A Present for Benny" (originally aired on CBS on December 14, 1955). Then, he's a nightclub mind reader who tries to use his powers to find the man who killed his wife in "With Murder in Mind" (originally aired on CBS on June 24, 1962). Plus, as a holiday bonus, we'll hear an adaptation of "Back for Christmas" from Escape (originally aired on CBS on December 24, 1947).

We're back! And with Christmas right around the corner, I'm sharing my favorite holiday stories from "radio's outstanding theater of thrills." Peter Lorre has a killer idea for a present for his wife in "Back for Christmas" (originally aired on CBS on December 23, 1943) and Dennis Day turns to crime on Christmas Eve to save his family in "Christmas for Carol" (originally aired on CBS on December 21, 1950). Two boys share a Christmas adventure when they explore "The Cave" (originally aired on CBS on December 20, 1955), and Raymond Burr is a Santa Claus looking for revenge on the man who sent him to prison in "Out for Christmas" (originally aired on CBS on December 21, 1958). Finally, a ghost is on the scene to help an ex-con keep a Christmas promise to a dying man in "Yuletide Miracle" (originally aired on CBS on December 17, 1961).

Frank Lovejoy joins our five-timer's club and flies the unfriendly skies in a pair of thrillers involving pilots and their dangerous flight plants. First, he's overseeing the first flight of an experimental plane whose pilot returns with a warning from beyond the stars in "The Outer Limit" (originally aired on CBS on March 17, 1957). Then, Lovejoy plays a pilot who commits a cross-country murder and plans a perfect alibi with a fast flight home in "Jet Stream" (originally aired on CBS on December 1, 1957). Finally, we'll hear him in an outing from Escape where he's offered a fortune in exchange for a murder in "A Letter from Jason" (originally aired on CBS on November 29, 1949). Note: Still no intro - fingers crossed I'll be back on the air next time!

Alan Baxter made a name for himself playing dangerous characters on screen - moody men on the wrong side of the law. He turned to television as film roles dried up in the postwar years, and he was busy on the small screen up through the 1970s. In his one and only visit to Suspense, Baxter played a bank teller with an elaborate plan to get away with robbery in "Money Talks" (originally aired on CBS on July 3, 1947). We'll also hear Mr. Baxter in two more thrillers: "Make No Mistake" from The Mollé Mystery Theatre (originally aired on NBC on April 30, 1948) and "Law of the Jungle" from the syndicated series Crime Does Not Pay. Note: No intro this week; allergy season claimed my voice again but hopefully I'll be back soon!

Veteran character actor John McIntire is back in the spotlight in two episodes of Suspense. First, he's a promising poet who suddenly becomes a killer in the sixty-minute production of "House by the River" (originally aired on CBS on February 28, 1948). Then, McIntire is a father desperate to keep his son out of an institution in "John Barbie and Son" (AFRS rebroadcast, originally aired on CBS on March 29, 1959).