Stars on Suspense (Old Time Radio)

Latest Episodes:

Episode 345 - John Hodiak (Part 3) Jul 06, 2023

Show notes

John Hodiak battles fire and ice in his final appearances on Suspense. First, he's battling the wind, the cold, and a rival climber in order to stay alive to reach the top of an unclimbed peak in "The Mountain" (originally aired on CBS on March 16, 1953). Then he's an oil driller fighting the flames that threaten to consume his well and his livelihood in "Hellfire" (originally aired on CBS on September 28, 1953).

BONUS - Best of Comedians Jul 03, 2023

Show notes

Some of the era's best comedians left the jokes at home when they stepped up to the Suspense microphone. In this bonus episode, we'll hear these funny men and women play effectively against type in five radio thrillers. First, Danny Kaye schemes to bump off a rival and steal his girl in "The Too-Perfect Alibi" (originally aired on CBS on January 13, 1949). Then, Fibber McGee and Molly take a car trip with an uninvited passenger in "Backseat Driver" (originally aired on CBS on February 3, 1949) and Bob Hope tries to talk his way out of a date with a killer in "Death Has a Shadow" (originally aired on CBS on May 5, 1949). Finally, Milton Berle tries method acting as a way to beat a murder rap in "Rave Notice" (originally aired on CBS on October 12, 1950) and Eve Arden is a jilted woman with murder on her mind in "The Well-Dressed Corpse" (originally aired on CBS on January 18, 1951).

Episode 344 - Cathy Lewis (Part 3) Jul 01, 2023

Show notes

For years on Suspense, Cathy Lewis delivered strong supporting performances alongside stars like Cary Grant, James Stewart, and Kirk Douglas. But in the late 1950s, she stepped into the spotlight and began to star in "radio's outstanding theater of thrills." We'll hear her in "A Statement of Fact" (AFRS rebroadcast from November 23, 1958) and "Everything Will Be Different" (AFRS rebroadcast from August 9, 1959). Plus, she co-stars with Marie Wilson in the comedy My Friend Irma (originally aired on CBS on February 2, 1948).

Episode 343 - Ray Noble Jun 22, 2023

Show notes

Ray Noble composed beloved standards like "The Very Thought of You," and he led great jazz bands in his native England and in the United States. He also had a successful career on radio as a musical director and as a comedic foil for Charlie McCarthy. We'll hear him as a gentleman adventurer in "The Star of Thessaly" (AFRS rebroadcast from November 24, 1957) and as half of a murderous newlywed couple in "Just One Happy Little Family" (AFRS rebroadcast from April 6, 1958). Plus we'll hear him lead the band and woo Lucille Ball on The Charlie McCarthy Show (originally aired on NBC on January 11, 1948).

Episode 342 - Dane Clark (Part 3) Jun 16, 2023

Show notes

Self-described "Joe Average" Dane Clark plays criminals both amateur and professional in his final appearances on Suspense. First, he's an actor who tries to play a murderer in real life in "Spoils for Victor" (AFRS rebroadcast from May 23, 1946). Then, Clark kills his doppleganger in an armed robbery in "Till the Day I Die" (originally aired on CBS on September 19, 1946). Plus we'll hear him as a private eye in Crime and Peter Chambers (originally aired on NBC on April 6, 1954).

Episode 341 - Miriam Hopkins Jun 09, 2023

Show notes

Miriam Hopkins jumped from the Broadway stage to the silver screen with well-received performances in Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde and Trouble in Paradise. But her film roles began to decline in the 1940s, and she embraced the new medium of television. We'll hear her as a woman who incurs the wrath of a demented housemate in "The Rose Garden" (originally aired on CBS on October 5, 1950). Plus, she co-stars with William Powell in a Campbell Playhouse production of "It Happened One Night" (originally aired on CBS on January 28, 1940).

Episode 340 - Jeff Chandler (Part 3) Jun 02, 2023

Show notes

Silver-haired star Jeff Chandler takes his final bow on Suspense in "A Good Neighbor" (originally aired on CBS on March 31, 1957). Chandler stars as a thief who's trying to lay low after a heist, but a nosy neighbor may discover his secret. Plus we'll hear Chandler in his two signature radio roles. First he's the bashful biology teacher Mr. Boynton in Our Miss Brooks (originally aired on CBS on February 20, 1949), and then as private eye Michael Shayne he solves "The Case of the Model Murder."

BONUS - Best of Gregory Peck May 29, 2023

Show notes

In this month's bonus spotlight episode, I'm sharing my favorite Suspense shows starring Gregory Peck. The star of To Kill a Mockingbird, Gentleman's Agreement, and Roman Holiday plays a variety of characters - some good, some bad, but all starring in tales well calculated to keep you in Suspense. First, he's a man plotting to murder his wife so he can run away with a beautiful young woman in "The Lonely Road" (originally aired on CBS on March 21, 1946), and then he's a hitch-hiker who thumbs a ride with a demented killer in "Hitch-Hike Poker" (originally aired on CBS on September 16, 1948). Peck plays a man who may have a murderous alternate personality in "Murder Through the Looking Glass" (originally aired on CBS on March 17, 1949), and finally he's out for revenge on a hit and run driver in "Nightmare" (originally aired on CBS on September 1, 1949).

Episode 339 - Raymond Burr (Part 3) May 25, 2023

Show notes

Raymond Burr was a year into his iconic run as Perry Mason on television when he starred in his final episodes of Suspense. He's hunting for a pirate's loot in "The Treasure Chest of Don Jose" (AFRS rebroadcast from October 12, 1958); then he tries to survive the tortures of the Spanish Inquisition in Edgar Allan Poe's "The Pit and the Pendulum" (AFRS rebroadcast from June 7, 1959). We'll also hear Burr in the first episode of his western cavalry drama Fort Laramie (originally aired on CBS on January 22, 1956).

BONUS - Eighty Years of Wrong Numbers May 24, 2023

Show notes

Eighty years ago this week - on May 25, 1943 - listeners first heard "Sorry, Wrong Number" on Suspense. The terrifying tale from Lucille Fletcher starred Agnes Moorehead as a woman who overhears a murder plot over crossed phone lines. It would be performed on Suspense seven more times over the next seventeen years - each time starring Ms. Moorehead - and it was adapted by Ms. Fletcher for a big screen adaptation starring Barbara Stanwyck and Burt Lancaster. We'll hear two of the productions of this classic radio drama from November 18, 1948 and October 20, 1957.

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