Suspense 80th Anniversary Observances
The Suspense Project... a daily blogpost started January 15, 2023
All of the surviving episodes of Suspense augmented by production history, episode analysis, and behind-the-scenes maneuvering, are detailed every day at...
https://suspenseproject.blogspot.com/
The project will last until all of the episode are posted; the postings will last for about two years and seven months, ending in the Summer of 2025.
Most all of the recordings will be available in lossless FLAC, selected from recordings assembled for 15+ years from numerous sources and selected for their overall sound quality and other characteristics. Numerous collectors and researchers have generously shared their collections and knowledge that have made this possible. Recently, Old Time Radio Researchers and associated groups, especially "Knights of the Turning Table," have worked to acquire the tape collections of some of the hobby's pioneer collectors. This has resulted in many new versions of recordings being found and significant upgrades to the recordings of episodes from the later years of the series. Thank you to everyone who has participated and continues to do so, diligently working to find discs and disc recordings and airchecks and restore these recordings with today's digital technologies.
Thank you especially to all of the collectors who have gone before us. Their hard work in the pre-digital age of recording is resulting in a superior and more complete collection than they could have ever imagined. This project, and all of the generous collectors who contribute to it today, stand on their strong shoulders.
New blogposts will be available every day at 5:00AM Eastern US time. Recordings will be available at the Internet Archive (link provided in each blogpost) on an individual page for each episode. The Internet Archive is supplied with FLAC recordings but also creates an MP3 file for use on various portable devices or any use that the listener finds convenient... OR an episode can be easily streamed on its page.
TWO MARATHONS hosted by Dr. Joe Webb and international voice actor Keith Scott
12 hour marathon of June 17, 2022 starts the anniversary year
AVAILABLE AT THE INTERNET ARCHIVE click here to stream or download
Episodes introduced: 1) The Hitchhiker, 2) The Locked Room, 3&4) Donovan’s Brain [two parts, one intro], 5) To Find Help [1945], 6) August Heat [1945], 7) Dead Ernest [1946], 8) House in Cypress Canyon, 9) The Thing in the Window [1946], 10) The Man Who Couldn’t Lose [1947], 11) Sorry, Wrong Number [1948], 12) Three O’Clock, 13) The Crowd, 14) On a Country Road [1950], 15) A Killing in Abilene, 16) The Diary of Dr. Pritchard, 17) The Face is Familiar, 18) Circumstantial Terror, 19) The Giant of Thermopylae, 20) Rave Notice [1954], 21) Fragile: Contents – Death [1956], 22) Long Night [1956; the aviation story], 23) Night on Red Mountain [1957], 24) Three Skeleton Key [1958]
"Special guests" included Orson Welles, Frank Sinatra, Ronald Colman, Howard Duff, Joseph Cotten, Hans Conried, Dan Duryea, Van Heflin, Dana Andrews, Cary Grant, Alan Ladd, Sir Cedric Hardwicke, Jack Benny, Ronald Reagan, Frank Lovejoy, and Vincent Price
6 hour marathon of June 16, 2023 concludes the anniversary year
AVAILABLE AT THE INTERNET ARCHIVE click here to stream or download
Episodes introduced: 1) A Friend to Alexander, 2) After-Dinner Story, 3) Fugue in C Minor, 4) Of Maestro and Man, 5) Drury's Bones, 6) Lazarus Walks, 7) The Sisters, 8) Holiday Story - Back for Christmas, 9) Mission Completed, 10) The Wreck of the Old 97, 11) The Great Train Robbery, 12) Date Night
"Special guests" included Robert Young, Truman Bradley, Otto Kruger, Vincent Price, Peter Lorre, Boris Karloff, Brian Donlevy, Paul Frees, Herbert Marshall, Jimmy Stewart, Frank Lovejoy, Frank Sinatra, Fred MacMurray
Keith Scott and Joe Webb in a panel discussion about Suspense at the 2022 Radio Enthusiasts of Puget Sound Showcase
The panel was moderated by Larry and John Gassman. It has some episode clips and audience Q&A. Enjoy!
Radio Talking Book Service celebration of Suspense
The Suspense anniversary on RTBS was orginally planned for four weeks of June 2022 but was quickly extended for an additional four weeks! And... all eight programs were be as part of a Labor Day Marathon. The anniversary was marked on the program "Dusty Attic," hosted by fellow collector Ryan Osentowski. Two episodes were on each show with opening commentary by Joe Webb.
ALL EPISODES ARE PERMANENTLY AVAILABLE AT THE INTERNET ARCHIVE https://archive.org/details/Suspense80RTBS
June 4: The Burning Court (1942-06-17) and Devilstone (1962-09-30), the first and last Suspense broadcasts
June 11: The Ten Years (1949-06-02; rare complete broadcast) and Nobody Ever Quits (1955-03-08; include background about the allegorical references in the story that writer and future Suspense producer William N. Robson made about his blacklisting and multi-year CBS exile)
June 18: A Week Ago Wednesday (1945-11-29) and Death on My Hands (1951-05-10); Bruce Toews is guest host
June 25: House in Cypress Canyon (1946-12-05) and Three O'Clock (1949-03-10)ADDITIONAL FOUR WEEKS
July 2: Dead Ernest (1946-08-08) and Fury and Sound (1945-07-26)
(visit the special web page devoted to the strange history of Fury and Sound, the wildest Suspense episode ever! [click here])
July 9: Two episodes scripted by Lucille Fletcher, The Hitchhiker (1942-09-02) and Night Man (1944-10-26)
July 16: The Long Night (1956-11-18) and the never-broadcast A Murderous Revision (recorded January 1951) starring Howard Duff
July 23: Steel River Prison Break (1951-09-03) and Lazarus Walks (1946-10-31)
Celebrate the 80th anniversary of Suspense with a new recreation of still-missing episodes!
Rope
Rope is based on the Leopold-Loeb "thrill" murders of 1924, became a Broadway play by Patrick Hamilton in 1929 ("Rope's End"), and would become a Hitchcock production starring Jimmy Stewart in 1948. The Hamilton play was adapted for Suspense by Harold Medford. Sole Twin Audios is a project of Rachel Pulliam, who produced this recreation with original music and a fine cast. Thank you Sole Twin Audios, for helping preserve Suspense history!Since it's so early in the Suspense run, you can tell it's still Charles Vanda's vision for British-style mystery guiding the story selection and the production. The Vanda episodes have the feel of stage productions. Vanda would soon leave for military service where he played a key role in the creation of the Armed Forces Radio Service. William Spier would replace him, and would change the tone of Suspense to a first-person narrative (encouraged by Orson Welles).
LISTEN HEREhttps://cms.megaphone.fm/channel/MUTUAL9188504915?selected=MUTUAL1676350103ORhttps://www.ivoox.com/en/sonic-summerstock-playhouse-13-8a-sole-twin-audio-s-rope-audios-mp3_rf_91337212_1.html
For more information about Sole Twin Audios productions and Rachel Pulliam, go to the YouTube Channel https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCVr7i77UhXoJndazF61sfBw
Rachel was interviewed recently https://youtu.be/GavfJ_gwxJk
The original broadcast was 1942-07-08 and based on the Leopold and Loeb murder case of 1924. Northwestern University has a web page devoted to the original incident https://homicide.northwestern.edu/crimes/leopold/
A 1956 episode recreated with an exceptional performance: "The Eavesdropper"
In May 2022, Project Audio presented The Eavesdropper, a missing Suspense play from 1956. It was one of the best recreations of the series done in recent years. The performance is on YouTube, but listen to the audio only... then watch the video... which shows the actors and effects being done... over Zoom conference! The actors were from different parts of North America and did a superb job. The editing created the engaging video and removed the delays and other challenges of today's conference technology. It was well done throughout ... and pays respectful homage to this legendary series in a fresh and interesting way.
Information about other recreations of missing Suspense episodes can be found at
https://sites.google.com/view/suspenserecreations/home
Rare Suspense episode now available: This Was a Hero
This episode from 1946-01-10 was believed lost for many years, but Jerry Haendiges acquired an AFRS copy in 2017, and played it in his weekly nostalgia broadcast at that time. Jerry posted it again on Facebook as part of the 80th anniversary celebration. It's a good story by Martin Ryerson where a young policeman is asked by the wife of a man he shot to clear his name of a robbery.
Cast: Phillip Terry (Peter Norris), Howard Duff (Detective Hurley), Cathy Lewis (Betty Miller), Wally Maher (Police Captain), Joe Kearns (Signature Voice / Al Crown), unknown (Mike) [information from Keith Scott's Suspense log.]
Suspense experts Keith Scott and Dr. Joe Webb were interviewed on YesterdayUSA on Saturday, June 18, 2022
Collector and voice actor Keith Scott joined Joe Webb on YesterdayUSA on Saturday evening, June 18, at 7pm ET for a discussion with hosts Walden Hughes, Larry Gassman, and John Gassman. Download a PDF of Keith's excellent Suspense log at https://archive.org/details/ScottSuspense2021
For more information about the history of Suspense, go to
https://sites.google.com/view/suspense-collectors-companion