Suspense - Radio’s Outstanding Theater of Thrills

Originally Aired: May 4, 1950

Suspense #383, "Statement of Mary Blake," stars Joan Bennett as Mary Blake, a young assistant who accepts a position working for the brilliant and charming Dr. Gregory Martin. Initially dazzled by the luxurious surroundings and the opportunity to work with such a renowned scientist, Mary soon notices troubling undercurrents in the household. Dr. Martin's beautiful wife Lorna appears frightened and insecure despite her husband's public displays of affection, and Mary overhears what sounds like violence late one night. In the laboratory, Dr. Martin becomes strangely fixated on a vial of amber liquid that he claims is the fastest-acting poison in existence, ominously telling Mary he wouldn't attempt his most exciting experiment without her assistance.

As Mary works alongside both Dr. Martin and his wife, the atmosphere grows increasingly sinister. The episode opens with Mary trapped in a dark corridor, watching a blind man approach with a tapping cane, his face bearing marks of pain and evil. The question looms: what happened during those long days in the laboratory, and how did this promising opportunity turn into a nightmare of suspense and danger?

Originally Aired: April 27, 1950

Suspense #382, "The Chain," stars Agnes Moorhead as Leonora Cofferner, a bitter housewife who receives an ominous chain letter warning that whoever breaks the chain will meet with evil. Consumed by jealousy over her husband George's relationship with his secretary, Betty Holden, and resentful of her social rival Abby Reynolds, Leonora sees the superstitious letter as an opportunity for petty revenge. She dutifully sends copies to both women, then watches as her already crumbling marriage deteriorates further.

When George confronts her about sending the foolish letter to Miss Holden, their argument escalates into a devastating confrontation about trust, respect, and the state of their marriage. George moves out to the guest room over the garage, leaving Leonora alone with her resentment and the growing realization that her actions may have consequences. As the townspeople begin to whisper and Leonora tries to justify her behavior, she insists she merely followed the letter's instructions out of fear—but the question remains whether the evil that follows will come from supernatural forces or from the poison of her own making.

Originally Aired: April 20, 1950

Suspense #381, "Pearls Are a Nuisance," Walter Gage is enjoying a leisurely morning of doing nothing when his fiancée Ellen McIntosh calls with an urgent request. Mrs. Penruddock's pearl necklace has been stolen, and Ellen insists Walter must recover it. The twist? The pearls are fake. Mrs. Penruddock secretly sold the real pearls her husband gave her for their golden wedding anniversary and replaced them with imitations. Now she fears the thief will discover the deception and blackmail her, exposing her secret to Mr. Penruddock. Ellen is certain the culprit is their former chauffeur, Henry Eichelberger, a massive brute of a man who tried to kiss her before leaving suddenly two days earlier.

Armed with righteous indignation over the attempted kiss, Walter tracks Eichelberger to a seedy hotel above a Chinese laundry. After bribing the manager and searching the room unsuccessfully, Walter confronts the six-foot-three chauffeur and attempts to defend Ellen's honor with his fists. The encounter doesn't go quite as planned, and Walter finds himself on the floor wondering how he'll recover the stolen pearls and his dignity.

Originally Aired: April 13, 1950

Suspense #380, "Six Feet Under," finds carnival performer Jack Daly trapped in more ways than one. Ten hours a day, he lies buried alive in a coffin while paying customers stare down at him through a glass window, his survival dependent on an air pump that seems to beat in rhythm with his heart. Above ground, Jack drowns his misery in whiskey, haunted by the knowledge that he abandoned his dreams of a successful juggling act for this morbid spectacle. His beautiful wife Miriam seems increasingly distant, and Jack's suspicions grow darker when Cliff, a former accountant who inexplicably joined the carnival, admits he's dying and would do anything to make Miriam happy, even kill Jack.

As tensions escalate, Jack finds himself caught in a deadly triangle. Cliff buries him each day and digs him up each night, holding Jack's life literally in his hands. When Jack overhears a conversation between Miriam and Cliff about making things different after tomorrow night, his worst fears seem confirmed. Trapped six feet under with only his paranoid thoughts for company, Jack must wonder whether the air pump will keep running or if this performance will be his last.

Originally Aired: April 6, 1950

Suspense #379, "Salvage," stars Van Johnson as Danny Connor, a down-on-his-luck pilot who gets an unexpected visit from his ex-flame, Gloria Davis. She offers him a lucrative flying job working for her husband, Wendell H. Davis, and his newly formed Intercontinent Salvage Corporation. The company claims to be in the business of recovering Spanish gold from sunken galleons in the Caribbean, and Davis needs Connor to scout ahead of their salvage vessel by air. The job pays ten thousand dollars, but Connor must follow orders, keep quiet, and ask no questions.

Despite the generous pay, Connor grows increasingly uneasy about the operation. The salvage ship is a decrepit old tub that barely looks seaworthy, and Davis's vague answers and insistence on secrecy raise red flags. When Connor learns they'll be flying across the Gulf of Mexico in a cheap war surplus plane, his suspicions deepen. As the ship prepares to sail, Connor confronts Gloria in the darkness, admitting he's considering backing out of the dubious venture before it's too late.

Originally Aired: March 30, 1950

Suspense #378, "Blood Sacrifice," presents Joseph Cotten as John Scales, a playwright whose success is entirely tied to the brilliant actor Garrick Drury. After a triumphant meeting about film rights to their hit play "Bitter Laurel," disaster strikes outside the theater when a car skids out of control. Gary is thrown through a storefront window, severing an artery in his arm. As the actor bleeds out on his dressing room couch, frantic efforts to reach a doctor consume precious minutes. When help finally arrives, the physician determines that Gary needs an immediate blood transfusion to survive.

The situation becomes critical when the doctor reveals that Gary has a rare type three blood, requiring either an exact match or a universal donor. Gary's devoted valet Walters desperately volunteers to give his life for his employer, but the doctor must first test everyone present to find a compatible donor. As John Scales watches Gary's life slip away, he faces an impossible choice that will test the depths of his gratitude and the price of his newfound success.

Originally Aired: March 23, 1950

Suspense #377, "One and One's a Lonesome," Ronald Reagan stars as George Bellock, a man whose profitable side venture is about to collide with his boss's conscience. When Henry Grover left town for a two-month vacation, he entrusted George with managing his modest lumber yard. George saw opportunity and transformed the business, installing slot machines and gambling tables in the warehouse's back room. The money pours in like gangbusters, and George begins to believe he might own the place outright. Then Henry returns home with his new wife Marie, a sharp-tongued woman who immediately sizes up the situation and George himself.

When Henry discovers what George has done with his business, he's appalled and demands George remove all the illegal equipment immediately. But George has anticipated this confrontation and laid a trap: the gambling operation is registered in Henry's name, making the lumber yard owner legally responsible for everything. George offers to buy the business for fifteen thousand dollars, claiming he'll soon have the cash. With Marie watching the power struggle unfold and the threat of police involvement looming, Henry faces an impossible choice that could cost him everything.

Originally Aired: March 16, 1950

Suspense #376, "Motive for Murder," stars Alan Ladd as Detective Dave Murphy, whose world shatters when he comes home to find a murdered stranger in his apartment and his wife Mary passed out drunk beside the body. The victim, Victor Hamilton, supposedly came to demonstrate a vacuum cleaner, but no vacuum cleaner is found at the scene. All the evidence points to Mary: her fingerprints on the murder weapon, lipstick on the dead man's cheek, and whiskey on her breath. Even Dave's partner, Lieutenant Jock Dusan, can't fight the facts, though he tries to give his fellow officer every consideration.

Refusing to believe Mary is guilty, Dave turns in his badge to investigate on his own. Working from the principle that strangers rarely kill each other, he becomes convinced there must be a third party involved, someone who drugged or knocked out Mary, killed Hamilton, and staged the scene. Dave pursues his theory that Hamilton was murdered for that missing vacuum cleaner, following a trail that leads him to Hamilton's landlady. As the evidence mounts against his wife and pressure builds from the District Attorney's office, Dave races against time to find the real killer before the system he's always believed in destroys the woman he loves.

Originally Aired: March 9, 1950

Suspense #375, "Banquo's Chair," stars James Mason as Sir William Brent, the recently retired head of English criminal investigation, whose illustrious career has been marred by only one failure: the unsolved Bedford murder case. Three years ago, John Bedford brutally murdered his wealthy aunt, Miss Martha Ferguson, in the gloomy Victorian mansion known as Turret House, but his perfect alibi prevented Sir William from securing a conviction. Now, unable to let the case rest, the obsessive detective has spent three years planning an elaborate trap. He invites mystery writer Roberta Stone and crime reporter Arthur Grange to Turret House on a stormy November evening, instructing both to come armed. As Sir William explains his "diabolical scheme," he recreates the night of the murder in vivid detail, showing how Bedford strangled his aunt for her inheritance.

The detective reveals that Bedford himself will soon arrive for dinner, and shockingly, so will his victim, Miss Ferguson. Sir William's patient and methodical plan promises to finally bring the murderer to justice through an unconventional method that skirts the legal prohibition against trying Bedford twice for the same crime. The stage is set for a night of psychological manipulation and terror.

Originally Aired: March 2, 1950

Suspense #374, "Lady Killer," stars Loretta Young as Peg Lincoln, a woman who buys a last-minute airplane ticket from a stranger named Nordlinger to catch a fully-booked flight. Aboard the plane, she meets the talkative Grant Benton, who strikes up a conversation just before Peg suddenly becomes violently ill. Benton rushes her to the hospital, where doctors discover symptoms of poisoning. While he appears to be her rescuer, Peg grows suspicious of Benton's overly attentive behavior and his suspiciously expert diagnosis of her condition.

As Peg recovers, her doubts deepen. She realizes the poison may have been intended for the woman whose ticket she purchased, and Benton's knowledge seems too convenient. When a telegram addressed to Miss Nordlinger mysteriously appears in her pocket after leaving the hospital, Peg confronts her supposed savior. Despite Police Chief Longman vouching for Benton's character, Peg cannot shake the feeling that the charming insurance investigator knows more about her near-death experience than he is letting on.