Stars on Suspense (Old Time Radio)

Latest Episodes:

Episode 314 - Nancy Kelly (Part 3) Nov 23, 2022

Show notes

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.

Episode 313 - June Havoc Nov 17, 2022

Show notes

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).

BONUS - Noirvember with Cornell Woolrich Nov 16, 2022

Show notes

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).

Episode 312 - Lloyd Nolan (Part 4) Nov 13, 2022

Show notes

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).

Episode 311 - Charles Laughton (Part 5) Nov 06, 2022

Show notes

**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).

BONUS - Halloween Haunts: The Hitchhiker (1946) Oct 28, 2022

Show notes

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).

Episode 310 - Edgar Allan Poe Oct 27, 2022

Show notes

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).

BONUS - Halloween Haunts: The Dunwich Horror Oct 21, 2022

Show notes

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).

Episode 309 - Stacy Harris Oct 20, 2022

Show notes

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).

BONUS - Halloween Haunts: Behind the Locked Door Oct 14, 2022

Show notes

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).

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