Stars on Suspense (Old Time Radio)

For the 350th episode of Stars of Suspense, we'll hear a recreation of the film noir classic Crossfire for "radio's outstanding theater of thrills" with its original stars Robert Young, Robert Mitchum, and Robert Ryan. A man is murdered, and a homicide detective and an Army sergeant conduct parallel investigations to figure out whodunnit. This sixty-minute adaptation originally aired on CBS on April 5, 1948.

The "First Lady of Suspense" is back, and she becomes the inaugural member of our "ten-timer's club." We'll hear her as an artist haunted by the same gruesome image in "Death and Miss Turner" (originally aired on CBS on May 19, 1957). Then she's a woman plagued by a sinister unseen force in an adaptation of Charlotte Perkins Gilman's "The Yellow Wallpaper" (originally aired on CBS on June 30, 1957).  And finally, she selects the wrong recipient for a chain letter - with deadly results - in "The Chain" (originally aired on CBS on March 9, 1958).

NOTE: Due to some technical issues, this episode meant for July 28th isn't being uploaded until today. Sorry for the delay! In this bonus episode, I'm sharing my favorite Suspense shows starring Academy Award-winner Charles Laughton. One of the most frequent guests on "radio's outstanding theater of thrills," Laughton made ten visits to the program and his appearances rank among some of the series' best. First, he co-stars with his wife Elsa Lanchester in an adaptation of Agatha Christie's "The ABC Murders" (originally aired on CBS on May 18, 1943). Next, in "Wet Saturday," he's a wealthy patriarch whose weekend is ruined when his daughter bashes her ex-lover's head in (originally aired on CBS on December 16, 1943). Laughton meets a man who may have invented a way to get away with murder in "The Man Who Knew How" (originally aired on CBS on August 10, 1944) and he plays one of history's most notorious killers in "Neil Cream, Doctor of Poison" (originally aired on CBS on September 17, 1951).

In this special bonus show, we salute the late, great Tony Bennett with one of the legendary crooner's old time radio appearances. In this May 9, 1954 episode of Guest Star, Bennett promotes savings bonds and sings "Cheek to Cheek" and Hank Williams' "There'll Be No Teardrops Tonight."

Stage star, screen actor, and train imitator - no, really - Reginald Gardiner was an in-demand comedy star in the 1940s. He appeared alongside Charlie Chaplin and Barbara Stanwyck, and he memorably impersonated train engines for a royal audience at Buckingham Palace. We'll hear him in a murder mystery on an ocean liner with Olivia de Havilland in "Voyage Through Darkness" (originally aired on CBS on September 7, 1944). Then, he's haunted by music and plagued by deadly delusions of grandeur in "The Merry Widower" (originally aired on CBS on October 12, 1944). Plus, Gardiner plays a debonair detective in the audition recording for the comedy-mystery The Gentleman.

Veteran radio actor and superb character actor John Dehner returns to the podcast to star in a pair of thrillers. First, he's a doctor who arrogantly believes he cannot be murdered and devises an experiment to put his theories to the ultimate test in "The Last Letter of Dr. Bronson" (originally aired on CBS on November 4, 1954). Then, Dehner is plagued by recurring dreams of Aaron Burr, Alexander Hamilton, and their infamous duel in "A Friend to Alexander" (originally aired on CBS on August 15, 1956). Finally, we'll hear Dehner as Paladin in the radio version of the hit TV western Have Gun - Will Travel. He plays the cultured gunfighter in "A Matter of Ethics" (originally aired on CBS on February 1, 1959).

In this bonus episode, we're celebrating the return of one of the greatest heroes of the movies with a film that inspired his creation. Charlton Heston - who unfortunately never made it to Suspense - recreates his role as rogue adventurer Harry Steele (a direct inspiration for the character of Indiana Jones) in Secret of the Incas on The Lux Radio Theatre (originally aired on NBC on December 14, 1954). 

George Murphy went from singing and dancing in movie musicals to the floor of the US Senate. Murphy retired from Hollywood in 1952 and was elected to a single term as one of California's senators in 1964. We'll hear two of his pre-politics performances from Suspense; first, he's a hit and run driver with an uncooperative eyewitness in "Death on Highway 99" (originally aired on CBS on October 4, 1945). Then, Murphy is a lumberjack who may be marked for death in the remote woods in "The Death of Me" (originally aired on CBS on May 26, 1952).

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).

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).