Stars on Suspense (Old Time Radio)

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BONUS - Halloween Haunts: The Abominable Snowman Oct 15, 2021

Show notes

We head into the mountains with William Conrad in this week's Halloween bonus episode. Here, he's part of a hunting party searching the Himalayas for the mythical yeti. It's a terrifying tale from Escape - "The Abominable Snowman" (originally aired on CBS on September 13, 1953).

Episode 260 - Frank Lovejoy (Part 3) Oct 14, 2021

Show notes

Frank Lovejoy returns to the podcast in two of the mot intense stories to ever air on Suspense. First, Lovejoy and real-life wife Joan Banks run out of gas right in the middle of a classic radio horror story - "On a Country Road" (originally aired on CBS on January 4, 1954). Then, he tries to talk an inexperienced pilot down to the ground safely in "The Long Night" (originally aired on CBS on November 18, 1956).

BONUS - Halloween Haunts: Zero Hour Oct 08, 2021

Show notes

This week's bonus scary story comes from the mind of science fiction master Ray Bradbury. It stirred up controversy when it aired on CBS, and it still provides chills nearly 70 years later. It's "Zero Hour" (originally aired on CBS on April 5, 1955), a tale of a child's backyard game with catastrophic consequences.

Episode 259 - Jack Carson (Part 2) Oct 07, 2021

Show notes

Character actor and comedian Jack Carson closes out his run on Suspense with three old time radio thrillers. First, he's an ambitious circus employee with the gift of gab in "Death Pitch" (originally aired on CBS on March 29, 1951). Then, Carson narrates a tense tale of a malfunctioning atomic bomb at a test site in "Misfire" (originally aired on CBS on October 6, 1957). Finally, he arrives at his psychiatrist's office with some shocking news in "Analytical Hour" (originally aired on CBS on June 28, 1959).

BONUS - Halloween Haunts: The Waxwork Oct 01, 2021

Show notes

Our countdown to Halloween kicks off with one of the scariest shows to air on Suspense! The great William Conrad stars in "The Waxwork" (originally aired on CBS on May 1, 1956) - a psychological horror story where he plays every role.

Episode 258 – Otto Kruger Sep 30, 2021

Show notes

Suave and silver-haired, Otto Kruger made a name for himself as debonair villains on screen. He memorably ran a deadly domestic spy ring in Alfred Hitchcock's Saboteur, menaced Philip Marlowe in Murder, My Sweet, and many more. We'll hear him in his only Suspense appearance - the Cornell Woolrich story "After Dinner Story" (originally aired on CBS on October 26, 1943). Then, he joins the cast of Laura in a recreation on The Lux Radio Theatre (originally aired on CBS on February 5, 1945).

BONUS - Best of Orson Welles Sep 24, 2021

Show notes

In this bonus episode, I'll share my picks for the best Suspense installments starring the legendary Orson Welles. We'll hear him first on a cross-country trip into a nightmare in "The Hitch-Hiker" (originally aired on CBS on September 2, 1942). Then, in a rare Suspense two-parter, Welles plays a scientist whose innovation could bring about the end of the world in "Donovan's Brain" (originally aired on CBS on May 18 and May 25, 1944).

Happy Birthday, Mickey Rooney Sep 23, 2021

Show notes

Happy Birthday, Mickey Rooney (September 23, 1920 - April 6, 2014)

Rooney was perhaps best known for his films of the 1930s and 1940s, including the Andy Hardy series and his collaborations with Judy Garland.

Nearly all of Rooney's life was spent in show business. Laurence Olivier called him "the greatest actor of them all." He was nominated for four Academy Awards and five Emmys (winning one). After he passed away in 2014, Vanity Fair dubbed Rooney - married eight times with a career that went up and down after World War II - "the original Hollywood train wreck." While his personal travails may have overshadowed his work for much of his life, Mickey Rooney's performances are still celebrated.

Rooney made three visits to Suspense, and I've featured all of them on Stars on Suspense:

In "The Lie," Rooney plays a young man freshly expelled from another college who returns home to find his stepmother dead. He plans to take the fall to save his father, who he suspects to be the killer (4/28/1949).

Then in "For Love or Murder," Mickey Rooney is a lovestruck pianist who conspires with his lover to bump off her husband (12/8/1949).

Finally, he stars in "Alibi Me" as a small time hood who needs to work backwards to come up with an alibi after he impulsively murders a rival (¼/1951).

Episode 257 – Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. Sep 23, 2021

Show notes

Though he was born into Hollywood fame - the son of one of the movies' first major stars - Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. hadn't intended on becoming an actor. Ultimately, his screen successes were just one chapter in a rich and colorful life including wartime service in counterintelligence. We'll hear the star of Little Caesar and Gunga Din in "Deep Into Darkness" (originally aired on CBS on July 22, 1948). Plus, he stars in the espionage drama "The Big Kill" from The Silent Men (originally aired on February 3, 1952).

Episode 256 – Victor Jory (Part 2) Sep 09, 2021

Show notes

Stage and screen star Victor Jory makes his final appearances on Suspense in a pair of episodes that didn't belong on "radio's outstanding theater of thrills." We'll hear the actor from Gone With the Wind and A Midsummer Night's Dream in "Old Army Buddy" (originally aired on CBS on September 8, 1957) and "Death Notice" (originally aired on February 8, 1959). Plus, he stars as a dogged detective in "You Take Ballistics," a Cornell Woolrich story adapted for the audition recording of The Hunters (from November 29, 1948).

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