Stars On Suspense (old Time Radio)

Agnes Moorehead contends with a shipwreck and armed robbers in two more old time radio thrillers starring "the first lady of Suspense." First, she stars in a tale pulled from the history books as a sea captain's wife who is marooned along with her husband and his crew in "The Wreck of the Maid of Athens" (originally aired on CBS on November 30, 1952). Then, she's trapped in a closed grocery store with a pair of gun-toting thieves who want to rob the safe and eliminate any witnesses in "Weekend Special - Death" (originally aired on CBS on May 24, 1954). 

We kick off 2023 with Frank Lovejoy, star of radio (Night Beat), screen (I Was a Communist for the FBI, In a Lonely Place), and television (Meet McGraw). He co-stars with his wife Joan Banks as a married pair of entertainers caught in the path of a hurricane in "The Storm" (originally aired on CBS on March 2, 1953). Then, he's trapped in a carnival fun house with a dead body in "The Giant of Thermopalye" (originally aired on CBS on May 3, 1954). Plus we'll hear Lovejoy in "The Hangtree Affair" from The Whistler (originally aired on CBS on December 19, 1948).

In our annual holiday bonus episode, we'll hear the film's original cast reunite for a radio recreation of It Happened on 5th Avenue. Charles Ruggles, Victor Moore, Gale Storm, and Don DeFore reprise their roles in this Christmas comedy about a hobo who makes his winter home in the New York mansion of the second richest man in the world, the evicted ex-GI who moves in, and the wealthy man's daughter who falls in with these friendly trespassers. This is an Armed Forces Radio Service rebroadcast of a show that originally aired on CBS on May 19, 1947.

Before she was ten years old, Evelyn Rudie earned an Emmy nomination for her performance as Eloise in a TV adaptation of Kay Thompson's classic children's book. She also made two appearances on Suspense, including a holiday offering from "radio's outstanding theater of thrills." We'll hear her as a little girl who wants a dog for Christmas in "Dog Star" (originally aired on CBS on December 22, 1957). Then, she's got a new imaginary friend and a new game in an adaptation of Ray Bradbury's "Zero Hour" (originally aired on CBS on May 18, 1958). Plus, as a bonus, we'll hear "The Cave," another Suspense Christmas story about two boys who discover a world of adventure when they go exploring on Christmas Day (originally aired on CBS on December 20, 1955).

The Oscar-winning star of The Lost Weekend takes center stage in this bonus episode as I share my favorite episodes of Suspense starring Hitchcock villain and Columbo killer Ray Milland. First, he's a cop who crosses the line in "Night Cry" (originally aired on CBS on October 7, 1948). Next, he lands in hot water when he leaves the house without so much as a nickel in "Chicken Feed" (originally aired on CBS on September 8, 1949). Then, Milland is a gumshoe in an adaptation of Raymond Chandler's "Pearls are a Nuisance" (originally aired on CBS on April 20, 1950). And finally, he's a juror who discovers a plan to swing the verdict in "After the Movies" (originally aired on CBS on December 7, 1950).

At one time, Madeleine Carroll was the world's highest-paid actress, but she gave up Hollywood stardom to devote her life to helping children displaced by war and servicemen wounded on the battlefield. The English-born star appeared in Alfred Hitchcock's The 39 Steps and co-starred with the likes of Gary Cooper, Ronald Colman, and Bob Hope before she committed herself to her charitable works. We'll hear Ms. Carroll in her one and only Suspense show "The Morrison Affair" - a story of a woman who steals a baby and tries to pass the child off as her own (originally aired on CBS on September 2, 1948). Plus, she co-stars with Charles Boyer in a Lux Radio Theatre adaptation of The Ghost and Mrs. Muir (originally aired on CBS on December 1, 1947).

Radio legend, TV detective, and Rocky and Bullwinkle narrator William Conrad returns in a pair of thrillers well calculated to keep you in Suspense. First, he plays a man who confesses to murders he never committed. Charlotte Lawrence co-stars in "Case Study of a Murderer" (originally aired on CBS on January 20, 1955). Then, Conrad stars in an unusual - but excellent - episode of Suspense. It's an adaptation of Ray Bradbury's science fiction story "Kaleidoscope" (originally aired on CBS on July 12, 1955). Plus, we'll hear Conrad as a private eye long before Cannon hit the small screen. He plays Philip Marlowe in "The Anniversary Gift" (originally aired on CBS on April 11, 1950). And finally we'll hear him in his best-known radio role - US Marshal Matt Dillon in Gunsmoke (originally aired on CBS on November 21, 1953).

With a tough face, a gravelly voice, and a demeanor that meant business, Charles McGraw made memorable impressions on screen as both cops and criminals in movies like The Narrow Margin and The Killers. McGraw starred on the big and small screens as well as the stage over the course of his long career. We'll hear him in a pair of "tales well calculated to keep you in Suspense" plus the audition recording for a hardboiled police procedural drama. First, he's trying to avert a disaster in the sky in "Two Hundred and Twenty Seven Minutes of Hate" (an AFRS rebroadcast from February 24, 1957). Then, he's fresh out of prison with a plan to get revenge on the prosecutor who sent him there in "The Silver Frame" (originally aired on CBS on February 2, 1958). Finally, McGraw stars as Lt. Lou Dana in the audition recording for The Man from Homicide (recorded on or around September 16, 1950). Coming up next: A bonus episode featuring the best of Ray Milland on Suspense and on Sunday, 12/11 William Conrad returns to the po

Note: No intro; is cold season over yet? We say goodbye to Tony-winner and Oscar-nominee Nancy Kelly this week as the star of The Bad Seed and the Broadway production of Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? takes her final bow on the podcast. We'll hear her in a pair of thrillers from Suspense plus an episode of Escape for even more old time radio excitement. First, Ms. Kelly co-stars with Suspense MVP Cathy Lewis in "Dark Journey" - a script penned by the great Lucille Fletcher (originally aired on CBS on April 25, 1946). Then, she plays a lawyer who saves her client from conviction only to realize it may fall to her to make sure justice prevails in "Trial by Jury" (originally aired on CBS on June 16, 1957). Finally, we'll hear her in "The Rim of Terror," where she plays a woman helping her fiance on the lam from spies. This episode of Escape originally aired on CBS on May 12, 1950.

June Havoc wore many hats during her long showbiz career - actress, singer, playwright, director, and more. The sister of legendary burlesque queen Gypsy Rose Lee, Havoc found her biggest successes on Broadway with appearances on the big and small screens in between acclaimed stage runs. In 1948, she married William Spier - "the Hitchcock of the airwaves" and longtime producer and director of Suspense - and she starred in several episodes of "radio's outstanding theater of thrills." We'll hear her today in "Stand-In" as she plots to steal the spotlight from an aging movie star (originally aired on CBS on June 12, 1947) and "Subway," where she plans to dispose of a longtime rival on the way home from work (originally aired on CBS on October 30, 1947). Plus, we'll hear her opposite Howard Duff as Sam Spade's latest client in "The Hot Hundred Grand Caper" (originally aired on CBS on September 19, 1948).

For this bonus episode, we're celebrating "Noirvember" with five tales from crime fiction master Cornell Woolrich. His stories inspired movies like Rear Window and Phantom Lady and dozens of old time radio shows. First, Nancy Kelly is out to save her husband from a date with the executioner in "Eve" (an AFRS rebroadcast from October 19, 1944). Then, Lee Bowman stars in the search for a missing woman in "I Won't Take a Minute" (originally aired on CBS on December 6, 1945) and Robert Young hunts for his missing wife in "You'll Never See Me Again" (originally aired on CBS on September 5, 1946). Finally, Henry DeSilva and Jack Webb play cop and criminal in "You Take Ballistics" (originally aired on CBS on March 13, 1947) and Fredric March is an arson investigator whose latest case strikes close to home in "The Night Reveals" (originally aired on CBS on May 26, 1949).

Lloyd Nolan makes his final podcast visit in "Vial of Death" - the tale of a missing sample of cholera that threatens a city. This tense and timely thriller originally aired on CBS on May 18, 1953. We'll also hear the character actor in a radio adaptation of The House on 92nd Street. Nolan reprises his role as an FBI agent hunting Nazi spies in America in this broadcast from The Screen Guild Theatre (originally aired on CBS on June 10, 1946).

**Note: Intros aren't back yet. Thanks for your patience! In his final appearance on the podcast, Charles Laughton menaces June Havoc and recreates one of his classic screen roles. First, he co-stars with Ms. Havoc in "Blind Date" (originally aired on CBS on September 29, 1949). Then, Laughton is back in the uniform of the infamous Captain Bligh. He earned an Academy Award nomination for his performance as Bligh in the 1935 big screen adaptation of Mutiny on the Bounty, and he returns to the role for the story of what happened after the captain was set adrift. We'll hear "The Revenge of Captain Bligh" (originally aired on CBS on May 17, 1954). And finally, we'll hear Laughton in another of his memorable screen performances as Academy Award presents Ruggles of Red Gap (originally aired on June 8, 1946).

We close out this Halloween season of bonus spooky shows with an encore production of "The Hitchhiker" - Lucille Fletcher's harrowing account of horror on the highway that was later adapted for television by Rod Serling as an episode of The Twilight Zone. We've heard Orson Welles in the 1942 Suspense production of the story; today, we'll hear Welles return to the role of cross-country driver Ronald Adams - the man who encounters the sinister stranger thumbing a ride on the side of the road - in this episode of The Mercury Summer Theatre of the Air (originally aired on CBS on June 21, 1946). 

Note: No intro - 'tis the season for colds, congestion, and froggy voices. The name Edgar Allan Poe is synonymous with suspense and horror, and his tales of terror continue to give readers thrills and chills today. We'll hear a pair of Poe's stories adapted for "radio's outstanding theater of thrills." First, Henry Hull stars in the Inquisition-era tale of torture "The Pit and the Pendlum" (originally aired on CBS on January 12, 1943). Then, Poe's brilliant detective C. Auguste Dupin (played by Jackson Beck) solves "The Mystery of Marie Roget" (originally aired on CBS on February 17, 1960). Finally, we'll close with a trilogy of Poe stories presented on The NBC University Theatre - "Nose-ology," "The Cask of Amontillado," and "The Fall of the House of Usher" (originally aired on NBC on March 6, 1949).

H.P. Lovecraft's classic chiller comes to life on radio in this week's bonus scary story. Ronald Colman stars in the Suspense adaptation of "The Dunwich Horror" (Armed Forces Radio Service rebroadcast from November 1, 1945).

On radio, Stacy Harris chased crooks as a G-man, menaced Jack Webb on Dragnet, and lent his voice to Batman. Harris was a great actor who could be heard all over the dial and - later - seen on the big and small screens. We'll hear him in three old time radio thrillers, beginning with a terrific radio adaptation of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein (originally aired on CBS on June 7, 1955). Then, he stars in a what-if drama about the first atomic submarine in "Report on the X-915" (originally aired on CBS on November 8, 1955). Finally, Harris is a jewel thief whose trouble really begins when he tries to dispose of the merchandise in "The End of the String" (originally aired on CBS on January 17, 1951).

In this week's bonus scary story, we catch a ride with The Mysterious Traveler as the sinister storyteller relates the tale of an archeological expedition gone horribly wrong. It's "Behind the Locked Door" (originally aired on Mutual on November 6, 1951).

The son of radio actor Frank Readick, Robert Readick made his first radio appearances when he was a child, and he'd racked up nearly 7,000 broadcasts by his early 20s. He starred in shows like 21st Precinct, The Cavalcade of America, and as Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar. We'll hear Readick in four old time radio thrillers from the sixties Suspense era: "Two Came Back" (originally aired on CBS on June 5, 1960); "Bon Voyage" (originally aired on CBS on July 3, 1960); "The Green Lorelei" (originally aired on CBS on November 6, 1960); and "The Black Door" (originally aired on CBS on November 19, 1961).

Our annual countdown to Halloween begins with the great Peter Lorre as a man haunted by an unseen presence. Lorre stars in "The Horla," an adaptation of the short story by Guy de Maupassant from Mystery in the Air (originally aired on NBC on August 21, 1947).