Suspense - Radio’s Outstanding Theater of Thrills

Originally Aired: June 7, 1951

Suspense #432, "Tell You Why I Shouldn't Die," stars Richard Widmark as Nat, a smooth-talking Coney Island pitchman who must literally talk for his life. Charlie stands with a gun pointed at Nat's head, ready to kill him for stealing his girlfriend Eileen. With the police on their way, Nat launches into an elaborate pitch to convince Charlie he shouldn't pull the trigger. Through a series of flashbacks, Nat recounts how he deliberately pursued Eileen, wooing her away from the devoted Charlie with professional calculation and romantic manipulation.

As Nat spins his version of events, he presents himself alternately as an honest man just following his heart and as a worthless pitchman unworthy of revenge. He argues that Eileen was too susceptible to temptation to ever be faithful to Charlie, that she never truly loved him, and that Charlie is better off without her. With each carefully crafted argument, Nat tries to talk his way out of the deadly confrontation, using every trick in his repertoire to keep Charlie from pulling the trigger before time runs out.

Originally Aired: May 31, 1951

Suspense #431, "Over Drawn," stars Dick Powell as Robert Farley, a bank teller who has spent 17 monotonous years waiting for the perfect opportunity. When armed robbers storm the bank one afternoon at closing time, chaos erupts and a guard named Pete Johnson is shot. While everyone crowds around the fallen man, Farley seizes his chance. He quickly stuffs his briefcase with the remaining cash from his drawer and calmly joins the confused crowd. As police question employees and check packages at the door, Farley nearly panics and abandons his briefcase, but the young teller Graves helpfully retrieves it for him. Bank president Mr. McPherson vouches for his trusted employee of 17 years, allowing Farley to walk out with over $28,000.

Back in his apartment, Farley counts his unexpected fortune and takes a celebratory nap. But when Graves shows up at his door with a bottle of liquor, suggesting Farley might need a drink, the nervous teller must wonder: does the young man suspect something, or is this just a friendly gesture after a traumatic day?

Originally Aired: May 17, 1951

Suspense #429, "Another Man's Poison," follows Claude Bourry, a 46-year-old real estate man of modest means who stumbles upon a brown paper package containing $98,000 while picking wildflowers. Despite his wife Elise's insistence that he turn the money over to the police immediately, Claude consults his lawyer friend Tom Haskell, who explains that the law allows him to keep possession of the money for twelve months while making his claim known to authorities. Claude files the required affidavit with the skeptical Lieutenant Gaston, who warns him that publicizing the find will attract every con artist and criminal in the country.

As the months pass, Claude receives countless fraudulent claims and threatening letters, but nothing prepares him for the midnight phone call from Kansas City. A mysterious voice orders him not to spend the money, not to recognize any claims, and not to contact the police until they meet. The caller clearly knows something about the money's origins, and Claude realizes someone dangerous has been watching and waiting for the right moment to make their move. Now Claude must face the terrifying consequences of his decision to keep the money, as fear and paranoia consume him while he waits for the inevitable confrontation.

Originally Aired: May 10, 1951

Suspense #428, "Death on My Hands," finds bandleader Dixie seeking refuge in a quiet New England valley town, looking forward to a simple one-night stand at the local high school dance. After an unexpectedly successful performance, Dixie runs into Julia, his former band singer, and the two plan to catch up after the show. But backstage, a teenage fan named Emily sneaks in begging for an autographed photo. When she reaches for Dixie's suitcase—which contains two weeks' worth of cash and a loaded gun—tragedy strikes. The girl falls, fatally wounded, and Dixie carries her through the streets desperately searching for help.

As news of Emily's death spreads through the small town, the locals don't wait for the police inquest Dixie promised to attend. An angry mob gathers outside the Embassy Hotel, hurling rocks and threatening notes through his window. Trapped and terrified, Dixie faces a grim reality: this peaceful little town is ready to hang him for what he insists was an accident. When Julia appears at his door offering help, Dixie must decide whether friendship can save him from a lynch mob's noose.

Originally Aired: May 3, 1951

Suspense #427, "When the Bough Breaks," stars Rosalind Russell as Evelyn Stryker, a woman in her late thirties who has just been acquitted of murdering her wealthy grandfather. As newlyweds Harry and Evelyn move into their new home, they believe the nightmare is behind them. However, their fragile fresh start is immediately threatened when newspaper reporter Corcoran arrives at their door with congratulations laced with suspicion. He reminds them of a chilling fact: while Evelyn can never be tried again for the same crime, Harry was never charged at all. If Evelyn were to claim that Harry, a photographer with access to cyanide, actually obtained the poison and conspired with her to kill the old man for his fortune, Harry could still face murder charges.

Corcoran plans to write a feature story highlighting this precarious dynamic, noting that Evelyn now holds her husband's life in her hands. As the episode unfolds, the power balance in this marriage shifts dangerously. What began as a calculated partnership to secure an inheritance transforms into a psychological trap, where one word from Evelyn could send Harry to the gallows.

Originally Aired: April 26, 1951

Suspense #426, "The Thirteenth Sound," Mrs. Skinner has meticulously planned and executed the murder of her husband George. She shoots him four times in the back as he attempts to climb through a window at the abandoned Johnson house, then carefully stages the scene to make it appear as though an unknown assailant committed the crime. When Jonathan Brown from the sheriff's office arrives to deliver the news, she performs the role of the shocked, grieving widow to perfection.

At the coroner's inquest, Mrs. Skinner's carefully constructed facade begins to crack. As Brown recreates the crime scene on a blackboard, the scraping sound of chalk against the board perfectly mimics the horrifying noise her husband's fingernails made as he desperately clawed at the building's stucco wall trying to save himself. The sound triggers something visceral in Mrs. Skinner, causing her to faint in open court. Now she must wonder: was her reaction simply an unfortunate accident, or has the observant Mr. Brown begun to suspect that the grieving widow knows far more about her husband's death than she claims?

Originally Aired: April 12, 1951

Suspense #424, "Early to Death," follows Evie Weston and her lover Ben Faber as they execute an elaborate scheme to steal a $300,000 company payroll during a flight over Mexico. The pair stages a plane crash, deliberately leaving their pilot Duke to die while they parachute to safety with the money, which they bury in the mountains. After convincing investigators that the payroll burned in the wreckage, they separate and wait for things to cool down before retrieving their fortune. Evie returns to New Orleans while Ben continues flying, and their plan seems foolproof.

Their carefully constructed scheme unravels when Rico Sebastian, a mysterious man in a dirty Panama suit, approaches them with a chilling revelation: he witnessed their parachute jump and knows exactly what they did. Rico demands a quarter of the stolen money, forcing Ben and Evie into an impossible position. When Ben goes to negotiate with their blackmailer, the situation turns deadly. Evie arrives at Rico's apartment to find police waiting and Ben's bullet-riddled body, leaving her facing murder charges while the cunning Rico positions himself as her unlikely ally.

Originally Aired: April 5, 1951

Suspense #423, "Murder in G Flat," stars Jack Benny as Hercules Remington, a mild-mannered piano tuner who finds himself in police custody after making an extraordinary discovery. When Hercules accidentally switches identical brown bags with a mysterious bald-headed man on the subway, he expects to find his tuning tools when he arrives at the Lippinridge School of Music. Instead, he discovers twenty-five thousand dollars in crisp ten-dollar bills. Bringing the windfall home to his wife Martha and his freeloading Uncle Herman, Hercules faces an immediate dilemma: should he turn the money over to the police, as the sensible Martha insists, or keep it as found treasure?

As Hercules tells his story to a skeptical police lieutenant on a Sunday night, the stakes become increasingly clear. His innocent subway mix-up has entangled him in something far more dangerous than he imagined, and his failure to contact Martha since that fateful morning only deepens the mystery. The seemingly simple case of mistaken baggage spirals into a web of treachery and greed that will test Hercules's honesty and survival.

Originally Aired: March 29, 1951

Suspense #422, "Death Pitch," stars Jack Carson as Nick Arnold, a carnival worker who decides that words will be his weapon to eliminate anyone standing between him and what he desires. Nick works for a struggling circus co-owned by Duke and Lee, though Duke runs everything while Lee drowns himself in drink and memories of his glory days as a lion tamer. Nick has his eye on both the beautiful trapeze artist Annette and ownership of the show itself. He knows that with Lee out of the way, Duke would control everything—fattening him up like a turkey for the slaughter.

Nick begins his deadly scheme with Lee, exploiting the broken man's alcoholic nostalgia and wounded pride. As Lee looks through old photographs and boasts about his former prowess with lions and tigers, Nick plants a suggestion about Jezebel, the circus's killer cat that Duke plans to destroy. Through careful manipulation and well-chosen words, Nick goads the drunken has-been toward a fatal encounter, demonstrating that sometimes the deadliest weapon isn't a gun or knife, but simply knowing exactly what to say.

Originally Aired: March 22, 1951

Suspense #421, "Three Lethal Words," stars Joan Crawford in a chilling tale of obsession and revenge. Jane Winters, a screenwriter recently recovered from illness, arrives at the office of Philip Lewis, now head of a studio story department. She pitches him what she claims is a new story idea about Sally Summers, a 43-year-old screenwriter married to Chris, an actor 19 years her junior. In Jane's narrative, Sally waits anxiously as Chris comes home late one night, and their confrontation reveals the cruel reality of their May-December marriage. Chris has endured constant mockery at the studio about their age difference, with colleagues making cutting remarks that compare Sally to his mother and reference Sunset Boulevard. When Chris announces he's leaving her, declaring he's finally gotten wise, Sally's desperate pleas turn to something darker.

As Jane continues her pitch to Philip, the line between the story she's telling and her own life begins to blur in disturbing ways. Her nervous energy, the bottle of nitric acid she's carrying, and the intimate details she provides all suggest this may be more confession than fiction, leading toward a revelation about those three lethal words.