Suspense - Radio’s Outstanding Theater of Thrills

Originally Aired: December 17, 1951

Suspense #452, "The Case History of a Gambler," Matt Miller drags himself through the streets with a bullet in his body, six blocks from the hospital, as his mind drifts back to where it all began three years earlier. The story unfolds through flashback as Matt recalls borrowing $10,000 from his friend Frank to bet on a rigged prizefight, part of a $100,000 gamble spread across the country. When his fighter wins at twenty-to-one odds, Matt suddenly finds himself with two million dollars and uses it to open a massive suburban gambling casino.

Flush with success, Matt becomes known as an easy touch for desperate criminals and grifters who need operating capital, always collecting his debts through intimidation and threats. When his bookkeeper Lou mentions how insurance policies protect the wives of men like Charlie, one of Matt's debtors, it sparks a sinister new scheme. Matt consults his lawyer about forming a dummy corporation to sell life insurance policies, with himself named as beneficiary on policies sold to the very men he loans money to, creating a twisted business model where their deaths become his profit.

Originally Aired: December 10, 1951

Suspense #451, "Blackjack to Kill," presents the chilling story of Johnny Damon, a cold-blooded assassin who makes his living killing on contract. When crime boss Moyer deals the high card to Johnny among five hired guns, Johnny wins a lucrative job: travel to Havana and eliminate a target for ten thousand dollars up front, with another fifteen waiting when he returns. The assignment takes an intriguing turn when Johnny meets his employer, Jose Deonte, a wealthy Cuban businessman who reveals the target: Penny Cullen, a deported American gangster who has fled to Cuba and is now trying to muscle in on Deonte's operations. For Johnny, this becomes personal - Penny Cullen is a man from his past, someone he once fingered and had deported, and someone he deeply hates.

Johnny accepts the job with cold professionalism, employing the methodical approach Penny himself once taught him. He spends three days observing Cullen's routine through binoculars, watching as the exiled crime boss sits on the same bench each evening at six o'clock, feeding breadcrumbs to pigeons and gazing out over the Havana waterfront. As Johnny meticulously notes every detail of Penny's habits, the stage is set for a fourth day when the hunter will strike.

Originally Aired: December 3, 1951

Suspense #450, "A Murderous Revision," takes listeners inside the increasingly volatile relationship between Christopher Turner, a frustrated radio scriptwriter, and Ken Avery, the demanding producer of the show "Murder Please." After two years of writing a murder a week for Avery's program, Chris has reached his breaking point. When Avery butchers yet another script ending and then fires him, Chris snaps and vows to show his producer what a real murder sounds like. In a chilling act of premeditation, Chris begins secretly recording what he calls "an actual murder" using concealed microphones in his office.

Chris carefully orchestrates his deadly plan by luring Avery's daughter Lois to his office under the pretense of offering her scriptwriting advice, knowing this will eventually bring Ken himself to the scene. As he speaks into his hidden microphone, Chris narrates every step of his preparations, from loading his gun to making his calculated phone calls, all while creating what he believes will be his masterpiece: a real murder recorded for radio broadcast, dedicated to the very producer who drove him to this desperate act.

Originally Aired: October 29, 1951

Suspense #445, "The Hunting of Bob Lee," brings listeners a dramatization of one of Texas's most notorious feuds. Bob Lee, a prosperous rancher returning home after the Civil War, finds himself targeted by his less fortunate neighbors who resent his success. When Lee rides into the village of Pilot Grove wearing a distinctive plumed hat, townsman Hugh Evans and his allies confront him, mocking his fancy dress as an insult to their poverty. The confrontation turns violent, and Evans dies in the scuffle. Though Lee insists it was a fair fight and accidental death, the men of Pilot Grove—including Bowerin, Sam Bear, and others—vow revenge.

What begins as a street brawl escalates into a deadly manhunt. Lee returns to his ranch, preparing for the worst with his brother Henry and wife Cloy by his side. When two apparent Union soldiers arrive to arrest him for murder, Lee surrenders peacefully, trusting in military justice. Too late, he discovers they are imposters who deliver him directly to his enemies in Choctaw Bottom, where he finds himself tied to a tree, surrounded by the very men who want him dead.

Originally Aired: October 22, 1951

Suspense #444, "The Log of the Marne," presents a harrowing true story of a British gunboat trapped on the Yangtze River under relentless Communist fire. When HMS Marne is ambushed by Chinese batteries while on a routine supply mission, the devastating attack kills the captain and most of the crew within minutes. Lieutenant Bennett Moore, critically wounded with shell fragments in his lung, struggles to maintain command as the ship runs aground with its communications and weapons systems destroyed. Lieutenant Hugh Fraser arrives on the shattered bridge to find carnage all around, and together they desperately try to save what remains of the vessel and crew.

As casualties mount to over thirty dead and dozens wounded, Lieutenant Commander James Harland arrives by seaplane to assume command, bringing a medical officer and limited supplies. Now Harland faces an impossible situation: trapped 140 miles from help with only 41 men left from an original complement of 149, no functioning guns, damaged communications, and burned navigation charts. With the Communists continuing to shell the crippled vessel, Harland must decide whether to attempt refloating the Marne and making a desperate run for safety.

Originally Aired: October 15, 1951

In Suspense #443, "The Flame," Cornell Wilde stars as Andy, a troubled young man whose dangerous obsession with fire threatens to spiral out of control. When Andy's sister Mary Lee asks him to help Mr. Boyerjean, a kindly dry goods store owner whose wife is gravely ill, Andy agrees to mind the shop. But when Mr. Boyerjean mentions in passing that he wishes his store would burn down so he could collect the insurance money to pay for his wife's medical care, something dark awakens in Andy's mind. His late-night fixation with fires and his compulsive need to draw and color pictures of flames suddenly finds a terrible purpose.

As Andy begins planning to "help" Mr. Boyerjean by setting fire to the store, his sister Mary Lee grows increasingly concerned about his strange behavior. She worries about his aimless life, his nighttime wanderings, and his obsessive sketching. When she catches him conducting suspicious experiments with her cake tin, the warning signs become impossible to ignore. The story builds tension as Andy's pyromaniac tendencies threaten to destroy not only property but innocent lives, while those around him remain unaware of the danger lurking in their midst.

Originally Aired: October 8, 1951

Suspense #442, "Betrayal in Vienna," Colonel Alfred Radel, commander of the VIII Corps and creator of Emperor Franz Joseph's feared Black Cabinet, faces a devastating personal and professional crisis. When he learns that his dearest friend, Captain Oscar Helsinger, has been executed as a spy in St. Petersburg, Radel makes a fateful decision to flee Vienna. At the post office, he retrieves envelopes containing fourteen thousand kronen, adding to the three hundred thousand he already has hidden in a Roman bank. This routine transaction takes an ominous turn when Radel narrowly escapes detection, realizing he may have nearly stepped into the very trap he once set for others.

As Radel prepares for his final evening in Vienna, donning his dress uniform one last time and dining at Holbaum's, he reflects on the secret life that began two years earlier. His brilliant career creating an espionage network to rival Scotland Yard seems to be crumbling around him. The master spymaster who once commanded fear throughout Europe's capitals now finds himself on the run, his infallible memory forcing him to relive every step that led to this moment of betrayal and flight.

Originally Aired: October 1, 1951

Suspense #441, "The Case Study of a Murderer," Beth Lathrop reflects on her marriage to Hank, a man she thought she knew until troubling changes emerge. When a series of brutal murders near Lincoln Park dominates the news, Hank becomes obsessed with following every detail in the papers. His fixation intensifies after he loses his job, and Beth watches helplessly as her sweet, wonderful husband transforms into someone she barely recognizes. He grows paranoid, argumentative, and increasingly erratic, making strange accusations and contradicting himself about simple things like whether windows should be open or closed.

As the summer heat bears down and the killer remains at large, Hank's behavior becomes more disturbing. Beth begins to sense that her husband is harboring dark secrets, even from himself. She describes him as two different men, one she loved and another she's only now discovering. Speaking from an uncertain present, Beth reveals she's expecting a baby and has been assured by doctors that whatever mental sickness afflicted Hank cannot be inherited. Her haunting narration suggests that Hank tried to ask for help the only way he could, but his plea came too late.

Originally Aired: September 24, 1951

Suspense #440, "The McKay College Basketball Scandal," presents the story of Fred Hudson, a 20-year-old junior and star basketball player at McKay College, where the sport isn't just a game but a way of life for the entire town. As Fred takes the court, something is clearly wrong with his performance. He's fumbling plays, losing the ball, and playing far below his usual all-state caliber. The pressure mounts from all sides: his feuding parents at home, where his unemployed father lives vicariously through his son's athletic glory while his mother resents that Fred has no job skills beyond basketball, and the campus community that has built its entire identity around the basketball brigade. Two mysterious strangers have come to town asking about Fred, and his professors reveal he's flunking most of his classes except history.

Based on actual headlines about bribes offered to college athletes, Tony Curtis stars as the troubled young player caught in circumstances that threaten to destroy everything he's worked for, while the town that once celebrated him begins to turn against his inexplicably poor performance on the court.

Originally Aired: September 17, 1951

Suspense #439, "Neal Cream, Doctor of Poison," presents the chilling story of Dr. Neal Cream, a calculating murderer who slowly poisons his wife Emily over six months. After her death is attributed to a refined intestinal disorder, Cream relocates to London and takes lodgings at a boarding house run by the widow Mrs. Minnes and her daughter Daisy. Though he finds Daisy charming and honest, Cream decides it's too soon to pursue her. Instead, he turns his attention to Mildred Vickers, a sweet young woman with rosy cheeks whom he meets at a pub in Hammersmith and showers with flattering attentions.

When Millie suddenly breaks off their relationship because her young man is returning from sea, Cream's veneer of civility begins to crack. His desperation and anger surface as he insists on one last conversation, revealing the dangerous obsession lurking beneath his gentlemanly facade. Based on the true story of history's most notorious poisoner, this episode stars Charles Lawton as the sinister Dr. Cream, whose murderous impulses threaten to claim another victim.