SUSPENSE Volume 1 - 74 Episodes - DIGITAL DOWNLOAD
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OLD TIME RADIO - 74 Episodes - Total Playtime: 35:51:16
Suspense, one of the premier drama programs of the Golden Age of Radio, was subtitled "radio's outstanding theater of thrills." It was heard on CBS from 1942 through 1962. Approximately 945 episodes were broadcast during its long run, and more than 900 are extant in mostly high-quality recordings Suspense went through several major phases, characterized by different hosts, sponsors and director/producers. There were a few rules which were followed for all but a handful of episodes: Protagonists were usually a normal person suddenly dropped into a threatening or bizarre situation. Evildoers must be punished in the end. The program made only occasional forays into science fiction and fantasy. Among its science fiction entries were "The Man who Went Back to Save Lincoln" (a time travel fantasy) and an adaptation of Curt Siodmak's Donovan's Brain, as well as an adaptation of an H.P. Lovecraft short story, "The Dunwich Horror". Alfred Hitchcock directed its audition show (for the CBS series Forecast). This was an adaptation of "The Lodger," a story Hitchcock had filmed in 1926 with
Ivor Novello. Martin Grams, Jr., author of Suspense: Twenty Years of Thrills and Chills, described the Forecast origin of Suspense: On the second presentation of July 22, 1940, Forecast offered a mystery/horror show titled Suspense. With the co-operation of his producer Walter Wanger, Alfred Hitchcock received the honor of directing his first radio show for the American public. The condition agreed upon for Hitchcock's appearance was that CBS make a pitch to the listening audience about his and Wanger's latest film, Foreign Correspondent. To add some flavour to the deal, Wanger threw in Edmund Gwenn and Herbert Marshall as part of the package. All three men (including Hitch) would be seen in the upcoming film, which was due for a theatrical release the next month.
Both Marshall and Hitchcock decided on the same story to bring to the airwaves, which happened to be a favorite of both of them: Marie Belloc Lowndes' "The Lodger." Alfred Hitchcock had filmed this story for
Gainsborough in 1926, and since then it had remained as one of his favorites. Herbert Marshallportrayed the mysterious lodger, and co-starring with him were Edmund Gwenn and character actress Lurene Tuttle as the rooming-house keepers who start to suspect that their new boarder might be the notorious Jack-the-Ripper. [Gwenn was actually repeating the role taken in the 1926 film by his brother, Arthur Chesney. And Tuttle would work again with Hitchcock exactly 20 years later, playing Mrs Al Chambers in Psycho.] Character actor Joseph Kearns also had a small part in the drama, and Wilbur Hatch, head musician for CBS Radio at the time, composed and conducted the music specially for the program. Adapting the script to radio was not a great technical challenge for Hitchcock, and he cleverly decided to hold back the ending of the story from the listening audience in order to keep them in suspense themselves. This way, if the audience's curiosity got the better of them, they would write in to the network to find out whether the mysterious lodger was in fact Jack-the-Ripper. For the next few weeks, hundreds of letters came in from faithful listeners asking how the story ended. Actually a few wrote threats claiming that it was "indecent" and "immoral" to present such a production without giving the solution. In the early phase, the program was hosted by "The Man in Black" (played by Joseph Kearns or Ted Osborne) and many episodes written or adapted by the prominent mystery author John Dickson Carr. Escape was a similar anthology thriller and suspense program. Both occasionally adapted the same stories, though Escape had lower budgets--and thus, fewer sound effects and name actors.
EPISODES LIST:
400722 000 The Lodger (audition)
420617 001 The Burning Court
420624 002 Wet Saturday
420819 010 The Cave of Ali Baba
420902 011 The Hitch-Hiker
420916 012 The Kettler Method
420923 013 A Passage to Benares
420930 014 One Hundred in the Dark
421027 015 The Lord of the Witch Doctors
421103 016 The Devil in the Summer House
421110 017 Will You Make a Bet with Death
421117 018 Menace in Wax
421124 019 The Body Snatchers
421201 020 The Bride Vanishes
421215 021 Till Death Do Us Part
421222 022 Two Sharp Knives
430105 023 Nothing up My Sleeve
430112 024 The Pit and the Pendulum
430119 025 The Devils Saint
430202 027 The Doctor Prescribed Death
430209 028 The Hangman Wont Wait - 1st Half Only
430216 029 In Fear and Trembling
430223 030 Will You Walk into My Parlor - 1st Half Only
430323 034 The Customers Like Murder
430330 035 The Dead Sleep Lightly
430406 036 Fire Burn and Cauldron Bubble
430413 037 Fear Paints a Picture
430420 038 The Moment of Darkness
430427 039 The Diary of Sophronia Winters
430504 040 Death Flies Blind
430511 041 Mr Markham Antique Dealer
430518 042 The ABC Murders
430525 043 Sorry Wrong Number
430601 044 Banquos Chair
430608 045 Five Canaries in the Room
430615 046 Last Night
430622 047 The Man Without a Body
430629 048 Uncle Henrys Rosebush
430706 049 The White Rose Murders
430720 050 Murder Goes for a Swim
430727 051 The Last Letter of Dr Bronson
430803 052 A Friend to Alexander
430810 053 The Fountain Plays
430821 054 Sorry Wrong Number
430828 055 The Kings Birthday
430902 056 The Singing Walls
430909 057 Marry for Murder
430916 058 The Cross-Eyed Bear
430923 059 The Most Dangerous Game
430930 060 The Lost Special
431007 061 Philomel Cottage
431019 062 Lazarus Walks
431026 063 The After Dinner Story
431102 064 Statement of Employee Henry Wilson
431109 065 Cabin B-13
431116 066 Thieves Fall Out
431123 067 The Strange Death of Charles Umberstein
431202 068 The Black Curtain
431209 069 The Night Reveals
431216 070 Wet Saturday
431223 071 Back for Christmas
431230 072 Finishing School
440106 073 One-Way Ride to Nowhere
440113 074 Dime a Dance
440120 075 A World of Darkness
440127 076 The Locked Room
440203 077 The Sisters
440210 078 Suspicion
440217 079 Life Ends at Midnight
440224 080 Sorry Wrong Number
440302 081 Portrait Without a Face
440309 082 The Defense Rests
440316 083 Narrative About Clarence
440323 084 Sneak Preview
Suspense, one of the premier drama programs of the Golden Age of Radio, was subtitled "radio's outstanding theater of thrills." It was heard on CBS from 1942 through 1962. Approximately 945 episodes were broadcast during its long run, and more than 900 are extant in mostly high-quality recordings Suspense went through several major phases, characterized by different hosts, sponsors and director/producers. There were a few rules which were followed for all but a handful of episodes: Protagonists were usually a normal person suddenly dropped into a threatening or bizarre situation. Evildoers must be punished in the end. The program made only occasional forays into science fiction and fantasy. Among its science fiction entries were "The Man who Went Back to Save Lincoln" (a time travel fantasy) and an adaptation of Curt Siodmak's Donovan's Brain, as well as an adaptation of an H.P. Lovecraft short story, "The Dunwich Horror". Alfred Hitchcock directed its audition show (for the CBS series Forecast). This was an adaptation of "The Lodger," a story Hitchcock had filmed in 1926 with
Ivor Novello. Martin Grams, Jr., author of Suspense: Twenty Years of Thrills and Chills, described the Forecast origin of Suspense: On the second presentation of July 22, 1940, Forecast offered a mystery/horror show titled Suspense. With the co-operation of his producer Walter Wanger, Alfred Hitchcock received the honor of directing his first radio show for the American public. The condition agreed upon for Hitchcock's appearance was that CBS make a pitch to the listening audience about his and Wanger's latest film, Foreign Correspondent. To add some flavour to the deal, Wanger threw in Edmund Gwenn and Herbert Marshall as part of the package. All three men (including Hitch) would be seen in the upcoming film, which was due for a theatrical release the next month.
Both Marshall and Hitchcock decided on the same story to bring to the airwaves, which happened to be a favorite of both of them: Marie Belloc Lowndes' "The Lodger." Alfred Hitchcock had filmed this story for
Gainsborough in 1926, and since then it had remained as one of his favorites. Herbert Marshallportrayed the mysterious lodger, and co-starring with him were Edmund Gwenn and character actress Lurene Tuttle as the rooming-house keepers who start to suspect that their new boarder might be the notorious Jack-the-Ripper. [Gwenn was actually repeating the role taken in the 1926 film by his brother, Arthur Chesney. And Tuttle would work again with Hitchcock exactly 20 years later, playing Mrs Al Chambers in Psycho.] Character actor Joseph Kearns also had a small part in the drama, and Wilbur Hatch, head musician for CBS Radio at the time, composed and conducted the music specially for the program. Adapting the script to radio was not a great technical challenge for Hitchcock, and he cleverly decided to hold back the ending of the story from the listening audience in order to keep them in suspense themselves. This way, if the audience's curiosity got the better of them, they would write in to the network to find out whether the mysterious lodger was in fact Jack-the-Ripper. For the next few weeks, hundreds of letters came in from faithful listeners asking how the story ended. Actually a few wrote threats claiming that it was "indecent" and "immoral" to present such a production without giving the solution. In the early phase, the program was hosted by "The Man in Black" (played by Joseph Kearns or Ted Osborne) and many episodes written or adapted by the prominent mystery author John Dickson Carr. Escape was a similar anthology thriller and suspense program. Both occasionally adapted the same stories, though Escape had lower budgets--and thus, fewer sound effects and name actors.
EPISODES LIST:
400722 000 The Lodger (audition)
420617 001 The Burning Court
420624 002 Wet Saturday
420819 010 The Cave of Ali Baba
420902 011 The Hitch-Hiker
420916 012 The Kettler Method
420923 013 A Passage to Benares
420930 014 One Hundred in the Dark
421027 015 The Lord of the Witch Doctors
421103 016 The Devil in the Summer House
421110 017 Will You Make a Bet with Death
421117 018 Menace in Wax
421124 019 The Body Snatchers
421201 020 The Bride Vanishes
421215 021 Till Death Do Us Part
421222 022 Two Sharp Knives
430105 023 Nothing up My Sleeve
430112 024 The Pit and the Pendulum
430119 025 The Devils Saint
430202 027 The Doctor Prescribed Death
430209 028 The Hangman Wont Wait - 1st Half Only
430216 029 In Fear and Trembling
430223 030 Will You Walk into My Parlor - 1st Half Only
430323 034 The Customers Like Murder
430330 035 The Dead Sleep Lightly
430406 036 Fire Burn and Cauldron Bubble
430413 037 Fear Paints a Picture
430420 038 The Moment of Darkness
430427 039 The Diary of Sophronia Winters
430504 040 Death Flies Blind
430511 041 Mr Markham Antique Dealer
430518 042 The ABC Murders
430525 043 Sorry Wrong Number
430601 044 Banquos Chair
430608 045 Five Canaries in the Room
430615 046 Last Night
430622 047 The Man Without a Body
430629 048 Uncle Henrys Rosebush
430706 049 The White Rose Murders
430720 050 Murder Goes for a Swim
430727 051 The Last Letter of Dr Bronson
430803 052 A Friend to Alexander
430810 053 The Fountain Plays
430821 054 Sorry Wrong Number
430828 055 The Kings Birthday
430902 056 The Singing Walls
430909 057 Marry for Murder
430916 058 The Cross-Eyed Bear
430923 059 The Most Dangerous Game
430930 060 The Lost Special
431007 061 Philomel Cottage
431019 062 Lazarus Walks
431026 063 The After Dinner Story
431102 064 Statement of Employee Henry Wilson
431109 065 Cabin B-13
431116 066 Thieves Fall Out
431123 067 The Strange Death of Charles Umberstein
431202 068 The Black Curtain
431209 069 The Night Reveals
431216 070 Wet Saturday
431223 071 Back for Christmas
431230 072 Finishing School
440106 073 One-Way Ride to Nowhere
440113 074 Dime a Dance
440120 075 A World of Darkness
440127 076 The Locked Room
440203 077 The Sisters
440210 078 Suspicion
440217 079 Life Ends at Midnight
440224 080 Sorry Wrong Number
440302 081 Portrait Without a Face
440309 082 The Defense Rests
440316 083 Narrative About Clarence
440323 084 Sneak Preview