Suspense - Radio’s Outstanding Theater of Thrills

Originally Aired: May 25, 1953

Suspense #514, "Pigeon in the Cage," Gerald Brewer, a 31-year-old paperhanger with a pregnant wife at home, finds himself trapped in a stalled elevator between floors of the Rogers house. What begins as a frustrating inconvenience turns into a nightmare when the elevator stops directly above the living room, and through a narrow gap, Gerald witnesses a chilling scene unfold below. Harry Rogers and a young woman named Janice are waiting for Mrs. Rogers to arrive home, and Gerald overhears their deadly plan: they intend to murder Rogers' wife and make it look like a robbery.

As Gerald lies frozen in the darkened elevator, terrified that any sound will reveal his presence, the tension escalates below. Janice grows increasingly paranoid that someone might be trapped in the stalled elevator, having overheard everything. Rogers tries to reassure her that the elevator frequently gets stuck when the basement door swings open. When Mrs. Rogers finally arrives home, Harry and Janice spring into action, rushing to open the safe and stage the crime scene. Gerald must decide whether to remain silent to save himself or somehow intervene before it's too late.

Originally Aired: May 18, 1953

Suspense #513, "Vial of Death," tells the harrowing true story of a race against time that unfolds over one terrifying night. When Professor Harold M. Frolick rushes into the police station, Lieutenant Joe Holloway expects a routine stolen car report. Instead, he learns that the professor's vehicle contains a black medical satchel with a vial of cholera bacteria—enough to trigger a deadly epidemic throughout the entire city within hours. The thief who stole the car has no idea that opening the wrong container, or simply discarding it carelessly, could unleash catastrophic consequences. If the vial breaks on a street, gets thrown into a reservoir, or is handled by the unwitting criminal, thousands of innocent lives hang in the balance.

Holloway immediately mobilizes over 120 officers to search the neighborhood where the car vanished. As the city health officer alerts hospitals, orders serums, and prepares for a potential outbreak, the detective faces a grim reality: somewhere out there, an ordinary car thief possesses the power to destroy an entire city. With each passing hour, the likelihood increases that the bacteria will be released, and Holloway must find both the stolen vehicle and its deadly cargo before morning arrives.

Originally Aired: May 11, 1953

Suspense #512, "Othello, Part 2," continues Shakespeare's tragic tale of jealousy and manipulation on the island of Cyprus. The villainous Iago continues his dark plot against Othello the Moor and Lieutenant Cassio. After engineering Cassio's disgrace, Iago sets his wife Emilia to work persuading Desdemona to plead Cassio's case, while simultaneously planting seeds of suspicion in Othello's mind. When Othello observes Cassio hastily departing from his wife, Iago seizes the opportunity to suggest impropriety, carefully manipulating the noble Moor with hints and insinuations rather than direct accusations.

As Desdemona innocently pleads for Cassio's reinstatement, Iago masterfully transforms her virtue into apparent evidence of betrayal. He reminds Othello that Desdemona once deceived her own father, and warns him to beware of jealousy—the "green-eyed monster"—even as he feeds that very emotion. Despite Othello's initial resistance and his faith in Desdemona's honesty, Iago's poison begins its work, turning the Moor's love into corrosive doubt.

Originally Aired: May 4, 1953

Suspense #511, "Othello, Part 1," presents Shakespeare's tragic tale of jealousy and betrayal set in motion by the villainous Iago. The scheming ensign seethes with resentment after being passed over for promotion by his commander, the Moorish general Othello, who chose Michael Cassio as his lieutenant instead. When Iago learns that Othello has secretly married the beautiful Desdemona, daughter of the Venetian senator Brabancio, he seizes the opportunity for revenge. He rouses Brabancio with news of his daughter's elopement, inflaming the father's rage against the Moor.

Brabancio drags Othello before the Duke and the Venetian council, accusing him of using witchcraft to seduce Desdemona. However, when Desdemona herself appears and eloquently declares her love for Othello was won through his tales of adventure and danger, her father's accusations crumble. The Duke dismisses the charges as urgent matters of state take precedence—the Turkish fleet threatens Cyprus, and Venice needs its most capable general to defend the island outpost. As Othello prepares to embark on this military campaign, Iago's resentment continues to simmer, setting the stage for darker machinations to come.

Originally Aired: April 27, 1953

Suspense #510, "The Man Within," presents a haunting tale of fear and betrayal. Andrews, a desperate fugitive, stumbles upon an isolated cottage where Elizabeth has just lost her father. She reluctantly shelters him, and he poses as her brother during the funeral, hiding among the mourners while terror gnaws at him. Andrews fears the vengeful Carlion, a former friend he betrayed—an informer's conscience haunting every shadow in the mist-shrouded countryside.

When Carlion himself arrives at the cottage, Andrews cowers in the shed while the charismatic smuggler confronts Elizabeth. Carlion reveals the depth of Andrews' treachery: his information sent six men to jail on murder charges after a customs guard was killed. What began as friendship has curdled into a deadly pursuit, and Carlion speaks of killing Andrews not from simple revenge, but to erase the memory of confidences shared and trust betrayed. As Elizabeth deflects Carlion's questions, the hunted man hides mere feet away, trapped between the woman who inexplicably shelters him and the man who seeks his death.

Originally Aired: April 20, 1953

Suspense #509, "Public Defender," Philip James Penn finds himself in serious trouble when police arrive at his boarding house on a Sunday morning. Sergeant Quinn and Sergeant Lacey question him about a burglary at the Ace Haberdashery, where Penn worked briefly over Christmas. The store's owner, Walter Callaman, reports that four hundred dollars was stolen, and both he and his wife claim they saw Penn lurking outside the establishment the night of the crime. Penn insists he was home sleeping, but his landlady Mrs. Weaver won't corroborate his alibi, and police discover Callaman's store key in Penn's coat pocket—a key Penn swears he returned.

As the evidence mounts against him, Penn grows increasingly nervous, though not because he's guilty of the burglary. He has a far darker secret: he's the man who murdered Mrs. Tyler during the Armistice Day parade months earlier, stabbing her while stealing her purse as crowds watched the festivities. Now, facing interrogation by Hale from the district attorney's office and possible seven-year prison sentence for a crime he didn't commit, Penn fears that too many questions will uncover the murder he actually did commit.

Originally Aired: April 13, 1953

Suspense #508, "The Great Train Robbery," features Fred MacMurray as Walter Beaumart, a forty-two-year-old everyman who has spent sixteen years working at a toy manufacturing company for sixty-two dollars a week. Living in Oakland with his wife Bess, Walter has watched his youthful dreams and ambitions fade under the weight of endless bills and responsibilities. When Cousin Eugene comes to visit, he brings more than pleasant conversation to the dinner table. Eugene takes a keen interest in Walter's frustrated aspirations and soon presents him with a tantalizing proposition: split twenty-five thousand dollars by robbing a train carrying cash from the casinos of Reno, Nevada.

Eugene has worked out the details meticulously. Every Thursday at eleven o'clock, a train leaves Reno carrying money destined for banks in Oakland and San Francisco. Between the stops at Soda Springs and Dutch Flat lies a twenty-minute stretch of lonely desert where the train could be stopped and robbed before authorities could respond. Walter, the plain and unremarkable man who wouldn't merit a second glance on the street, finds himself contemplating whether those very qualities that have kept him invisible might be exactly what he needs to pull off the perfect crime.

Originally Aired: April 6, 1953

Suspense #507, "Around the World," presents the thrilling true story of the 1908 international automobile race from New York to Paris by way of Siberia. George Miller, an American driver, pilots a stock Thomas Flyer against specially built racing cars from Europe, including Frenchman Bossier de Saint-Chafrey in a De Dion, German Lieutenant Hans von Kopen in a Protos, and Italian Anthony Scafulio in a Zust. Accompanied by navigator Montague Roberts and journalist Mr. Colby, Miller battles treacherous conditions as they push through rain, mud, and the American wilderness. Despite stopping to help the French team escape a muddy trap, Miller and his crew pull ahead of the competition, gaining a four-day lead as they race through Buffalo, Chicago, and into the Western territories.

The adventure takes a dangerous turn outside Ogden when the team decides to drive on railroad tracks to avoid tumbleweeds and cross a river. As they navigate a precarious trestle, a train appears behind them, forcing Miller to race desperately for the other side. Just when they seem to have escaped disaster, the crew discovers their clutch shaft has cracked, stranding them in the middle of their round-the-world journey with their hard-won lead suddenly in jeopardy.

Originally Aired: March 30, 1953

In Suspense #506, "Tom Dooley," Confederate veteran Tom Dooley returns home to the North Carolina Smokies after four years of war, only to discover that Laura Foster, the woman he loves and fought to return to, has fallen for someone else. That someone is Paul Cabot, a Yankee doctor who has come to the defeated South. In a rage, Tom assaults Cabot and confronts Laura, reminding her of the tearful goodbye they shared when he rode off to war and the blood he shed believing he had her love waiting for him. Laura insists her feelings have changed and that she now loves the gentle Northern doctor.

Despite his fury, Tom appears to accept the situation and even offers friendship to Cabot, volunteering to play his fiddle at Laura and Paul's betrothal party. But as Tom plays for the celebrating couple, dark currents run beneath his calm exterior. His cousin Noah and the other mountain men watch with suspicion, knowing Tom Dooley's nature and wondering what schemes lie hidden in his "black, black heart." When Tom hands off his fiddle and slips away to find Laura alone in the darkness, the true test of his acceptance begins.

Originally Aired: March 23, 1953

Suspense #505, "The Signalman," a railway signalman keeps a lonely vigil at an isolated cutting where trains thunder into a dark tunnel. When a writer arrives unexpectedly to interview him for a biographical article, she finds him strangely unsettled by her greeting of "Hello, below there!" The signalman, who has spent thirty-four years at this desolate post after abandoning his early promise as a student of natural philosophy, reacts with inexplicable dread, insisting he has seen her before - standing by the red signal light at the tunnel's mouth. Though the writer explains she was simply drawn back to this childhood haunt on impulse, the signalman seems to sense something more sinister at work.

As they talk in his small shack beside the tracks, the signalman's behavior grows increasingly peculiar. He questions why she chose this particular moment to visit, suggesting forces beyond their control may have brought her here. The writer notices his educated mind seems at odds with his humble station, but the signalman cryptically admits there are things he regrets about his position - regrets that seem connected to the mysterious dread that grips him whenever he looks toward that ominous red light.