Suspense: 12/03/51, episode 449
Brought to you by the Old Time Radio Researchers, courtesy of The Suspense Project
Richard Widmark stars in an entertaining cynical play about what goes on behind the scenes in a big-time radio mystery series. It is a fine story, and you wonder what kinds of “digs” are being playfully made about directors, producers, actors, and others who make such enterprises possible. A fired writer for the radio series “Murder, Please” decides he’s going to get revenge for his dismissal. He will record conversations with those involved in the program, especially his producer. That program, as the jilted writer explains, would conclude with an actual murder.
The behind-the-scenes maneuverings needed to bring A Murderous Revision to the air are just as interesting as the script, and have a mystery of their own. The backstory is so big, it is easy to forget that this is a good production and another excellent Widmark performance with the superb Suspense supporting cast. Don’t let the backstory steal attention away from the appreciation of this broadcast.
The script was by S. Lee Pogostin. He was born in 1927 and claimed to be born in 1925 so he could join the Army. Pogostin’s post-Army writing career began with small theatrical productions and radio scriptwriting for shows such as Grand Central Station. This is his only Suspense script and was adapted by David Ellis. Pogostin’s career would progress to 1950s and 1960s anthology television series including Lux Video Theatre, Studio One, The Dick Powell Show, and many others. He won a Writers Guild Award and was nominated for an Emmy for an episode of The Chrysler Theatre.
Howard Duff, former star of The Adventures of Sam Spade and friend of Elliott Lewis was signed to star in Pogostin’s “The Twist is Murder.” The rehearsal and recording session was held on Saturday afternoon, January 13, 1951, from 1:30 pm to 6:00 pm for rehearsal, with the recording from 6:00 pm to 6:30 pm. The show would air sometime in February, likely tentatively slotted for 1951-02-22. Orchestra and commercials would be added live on broadcast day.
Duff was let go as the lead in Sam Spade after his name was listed in Red Channels. That publication was released on June 22, 1950, and strongly encouraged advertisers to avoid performers with what they considered to be questionable political affiliations. Auto-Lite, its ad agency, and CBS executive Daniel O’Shea would not allow a program with Duff to be broadcast. The script was set aside.
Lewis tired of waiting, and when it was clear that Duff would not be available for the Pogostin script, he went ahead and put it in the schedule for December 1951. He cast one of his favorite and most dependable performers, Richard Widmark. The program rehearsal started at 7:00 pm on Friday, November 30, the orchestra reported at 10:00 pm, and the complete drama was recorded for broadcast from 11:30 pm to Midnight. The December 3, 1951 broadcast was done. Widmark delivered another fine performance as did Suspense regulars Cathy Lewis, Joe Kearns, Charlotte Lawrence, and Jerry Hausner (who was the only actor to be in the Duff and the Widmark casts).
The drama-only recording with Duff did survive but was unused. But there’s another Duff recording that has made the rounds of hobbyists, complete with commercials, announcements, and music.
This recording originated with a classic radio collector. They prepared a compilation of the Widmark broadcast and inserted the Duff drama recording to reconstruct what the program would have been like had Duff been in the broadcast. It was their valiant effort to discover what could have been, and to pay some tribute to Duff. It was not of the Lewis era.
There are three basic recordings for this episode:
1951-12-03 A Murderous Revision, as broadcast, starring Richard Widmark;
1951-01-13 drama-only recording for The Twist is Murder, as titled on the script, with Howard Duff as the star;
1951-01-13 post-recording session studio chatter in which you can hear Duff and others and the control room (2 minutes);
The “reconstruction” of the A Murderous Revision recorded elements with the Duff The Twist is Murder drama-only recordings.
The cast: RICHARD WIDMARK (Chris Turner), Cathy Lewis (Doris / Lois), Joe Kearns (Ken Avery), Charlotte Lawrence (Harriet Crawford), Jerry Hausner (“George” / Hank), Larry Thor (Narrator)
COMMERCIAL: Tom Holland (Hap), Harlow Wilcox (Announcer), Sylvia Simms (Operator)
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The cast for the unaired version recorded on 1951-01-31 is as follows:
HOWARD DUFF (Chris Turner), Ed Max (Ken Avery), Cathy Lewis (“Doris” / Lois Avery), Marlo Dwyer (Harriet Crawford), Jerry Hausner (“George” / Hank)
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