This is a production of the Old Time Radio Researchers (OTRR) Group located at Old Time Radio Researchers Website (Old Time Radio Researchers Facebook Group, and Old Time Radio Researchers Group. See "Notes" Section below for more information on the OTRR. A moment when the thrill of the nightime led the listener along the path of intrigue, horror and dangerous adventure.įrom the Old Time Radio Researchers Group. SUSPENSE was a golden moment in a golden age. Now the great medium of radio where imagination can run free has been reduced to the occasional brilliant drama airing sporadically in some corner of the world. When SUSPENSE left the air, radio was never to see the likes of such a series again. Nearly all (approximately 895) are available to collectors. The show was on the air for a little over twenty years beginning in January, 1942 and was rarely pre-empted. While a number of film actors continued to star occasionally, many of the stars were from radio and television since radio as a dramatic art form was beginning to lose its popularity and budgets were tightened. The series continued to produce high-quality drama, though there were many repeats as well as borrowing of scripts from other radio shows. He also was not afraid to experiment using the series slot for classic "murder" stories such as "Othello." Actors such as Jack Benny, Red Skelton and Ozzie Nelson. Lewis brought in comic actors to play serious roles. Probably the biggest change in SUSPENSE came under the producing eye of Elliott Lewis. Fibber McGee & Molly appeared in a tale about a killer on the loose in "Backseat Driver." Jimmy Stewart appeared in an excellent story about a paralysed war veteran who thinks he has found the man who imprisoned and tortured him. Leader, who came from producing another horror radio program, MURDER AT MIDNIGHT, added some lighter SUSPENSE stories which focused more on the central characters. It was at this time that William Spier left and over the years others came to produce the shows, each setting his own unique mark. This format lasted only six months most probably due to the realization that the show worked best within a thirty minute framework. The actor Robert Montgomery was brought in to introduce the plays, replacing the "Man in Black" character and occasionally star in them. In 1948 the series had become popular enough that it was decided to broadcast for a complete hour, instead of the former thirty minutes. The series had a generous budget from its network, CBS. Jimmy Stewart, Cary Grant, Humphrey Bogart, Lucille Ball, Olivia De Havilland and many others all made at least one appearance. There rarely was a famous actor who did not appear on the series at some time. But what foreboding does the hitchhiker hold for the driver?Īnother rule William Spier established was to make the series a place to hear the talents of Hollywood's famous actors. Listen to the likes of "The House in Cypress Canyon" as a young couple encounters something in the closet of their new home, something horrible and dangerous or "The Hitchhiker" in which a man driving cross-country seems to be haunted by an ominous figure, who keeps reappearing trying to get a ride. The series also drew from the mystery writers of the day as well as the horror writers of literature writers such as Edgar Allen Poe, H.P. Richards, Morton Fine and David Friedkin. Others were by such fine writers as Lucille Fletcher, whose SUSPENSE play, "Sorry, Wrong Number" was turned into a major motion picture Robert Arthur, Robert L. Many of the early stories were written by the mystery writer, John Dickson Carr. Spier determined that the series should deal with life-and-death situations established near the beginning of each play and then through the use of Bernard Herrmann's musical coloring and the writer's characterizations slowly tighten the knot of SUSPENSE. It was the series' first producer, William Spier, who set the framework of rules that was to stay with the show for most of its run. The golden age of radio was truly the golden age of SUSPENSE as show after show broadcast outstanding plays which were "calculated to intrigue.stir nerves." What began as a "new series frankly dedicated to your horrification and entertainment" took on a life of its own mostly due to the talents of some outstanding producers and adaptations and original stories from the cream of mystery writers of the time. Ironically, the episode was titled "Devil Stone" and was the last dramatic radio play from a series that had its roots in the golden age of radio. On Septema major milestone in radio drama came to an end with the final episode of the long running series, SUSPENSE. Click on one of the above for a different OTRR Suspense - Single Episodes page. The individual episodes have been broken down into several different pages:
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