Suspense - Radio’s Outstanding Theater of Thrills

Originally Aired: December 22, 1949

Suspense #364, "Double Entry," stars Eddie Cantor as Eddie, a bookkeeper who discovers his longtime friend and colleague Sam Crockett is in serious trouble. Sam, the company's head bookkeeper, confesses he's been embezzling money for nine years—a staggering hundred thousand dollars—not for personal gain, but to be an "unknown benefactor." He's sent kids to summer camp, supported aging cat charities, and contributed to various worthy causes. Now the auditors are closing in, and Sam knows his charitable crime spree is about to be exposed. With his ulcers raging and jail looming, Sam faces ruin just as Christmas arrives.

As Sam is summoned to meet with their boss Mr. Bartholomew and the auditors, Eddie grapples with how to help his desperate friend. The situation seems hopeless until a case of mistaken identity brings an unexpected visitor to Eddie's desk—a bookie's runner looking for a different Eddie in the building. This chance encounter may offer Eddie a dangerous opportunity to help Sam, but it means risking everything and crossing lines he's never crossed before.

Originally Aired: December 15, 1949

Suspense #363, "The Flame Blue Glove," stars Lana Turner as Shadow, a former detective who left the business when she married Jimmy Conway. Her former boss Dutch refuses to let an old case rest, convinced that Jimmy murdered his wealthy first wife Eloise, whose death was ruled a suicide after she consumed dissolved sleeping tablets on New Year's Eve. Dutch believes one of Jimmy's three lady friends, Kathy Dane, Millicent Taylor, or Judy Fleetwood, may have been involved, and he has evidence: a distinctive flame blue glove found at the scene. Shadow had once tailed Jimmy for Eloise and knows about his romantic entanglements, but she refused to testify at the inquest.

Now Dutch pressures Shadow to help him investigate, using her knowledge of the case and her desire to prove Jimmy's innocence as leverage. Despite her misgivings and Jimmy's assurances that he never loved anyone before her, Shadow agrees to work with Dutch for one week. As she begins to reexamine the evidence and the women in Jimmy's past, she must confront the terrifying possibility that her husband might be guilty after all.

Originally Aired: December 8, 1949

In Suspense #362, "For Love or Murder," pianist Tommy Lee commits the unthinkable at the urging of his lover Anne. Following a meticulously rehearsed plan, Tommy climbs the back stairs of an apartment building with a gun in hand, ready to kill Anne's husband. The drums beat in his head as he confronts the helpless victim, a fat little man who looks at him like a scared fish. After pulling the trigger, Tommy must complete the rest of the plan: strike Anne to make it look like a robbery gone wrong, steal jewelry and the victim's wallet, and escape undetected. But in his rattled state, Tommy makes a crucial mistake—he forgets to dispose of the evidence.

Racing back to the club where he works, Tommy tries to maintain his composure as just another pianist soothing sophisticated New Yorkers. When he finally attempts to dump the wallet and jewelry into a sewer, he has a close encounter with Dan, a friendly police officer who notices Tommy's jumpy behavior. As sirens wail in the distance from Fifty-Fifth Street and Tommy returns to his piano, the carefully planned murder begins to unravel around him.

Originally Aired: December 1, 1949

Suspense #361, "Mission Completed," stars James Stewart as Tom, a paralyzed World War II veteran who has spent four years in a VA hospital, able to communicate only by blinking his eyes once for yes and twice for no. Tom's world revolves around a square on the ceiling that reminds him of Sagamo prison camp in Tokyo, where a brutal guard named Suki tortured and killed his fellow prisoners. When nurse Miss Rhodes wheels Tom past a flower shop, he spots Suki through the window, recognizable by the distinctive scar Tom gave him during their time at the camp. The shock triggers something extraordinary in Tom's paralyzed body, and he realizes his condition may not be as permanent as everyone believes.

Determined to exact justice on the man who destroyed so many lives, Tom begins secretly practicing movement at night, regaining strength in muscles he hasn't used in four years. His careful plan to bring Suki within reach faces a devastating obstacle when Dr. Benson and Miss Rhodes announce he's being transferred to another hospital three thousand miles away the very next day. With only hours remaining and Saturday bringing young Jackie to wheel him around the grounds, Tom must execute a desperate plan to complete the mission that began in that Japanese prison camp.

Originally Aired: November 24, 1949

Suspense #360, "The Long Wait," stars Burt Lancaster as Dan Vettel, a man fresh out of prison with murder on his mind. Dan's brother Richie died in jail two years earlier, and Dan blames Lois Williams, the woman who informed on Richie to protect her lover, Tim Grady. When Dan arrives in New York to exact his revenge, Lieutenant Len Bush warns him not to go through with it, but Dan is determined. He retrieves a hidden gun and waits in his hotel room, ready to kill.

When Lois arrives, she stuns Dan by begging him to shoot her. She's lost everything—friends, career, and even Tim, who wants nothing to do with a squealer. Her desperate desire for death makes Dan hesitate. Instead of pulling the trigger, he makes an unexpected proposal: they'll become business partners. Using his money and her talent as a dress designer, they'll start a new business together. As Lois throws herself into the work and slowly regains hope, Dan watches and waits, but the long wait is far from over.

Originally Aired: November 17, 1949

Suspense #359, "The Red-Headed Woman," stars Lucille Ball as Linda, a secretary whose broken engagement sends her down a dangerous path. After her fiancé Frank coldly breaks off their two-year relationship, Linda resolves to stop thinking of others and focus solely on herself. When her boss Mr. Jensen withdraws the company payroll early before his Florida vacation, Linda sees an opportunity. She steals $21,000 from the office safe, takes Jensen's gun, and heads for the Texas border, convincing herself that a fresh start is all she needs.

Her escape takes an ominous turn when she encounters a stranded motorist on a lonely detour road during a rainstorm. The dark-complexioned man in a light gray suit matches the radio description of a bank robber who participated in a violent Abilene holdup with a red-headed female accomplice. As Linda realizes this dangerous coincidence could make her a suspect in a far more serious crime than embezzlement, she must decide how far she's willing to go to protect her getaway and newfound independence.

Originally Aired: November 10, 1949

Suspense #358, "The Murder of Aunt Delia," presents a chilling tale of identity theft and cold-blooded murder. Dort Sharples, a down-on-his-luck hitchhiker crossing the Arizona desert, catches a ride with Glendon Brayle, a young man heading to Santa Barbara to visit his wealthy invalid aunt after seventeen years apart. As Brayle shares intimate details of his childhood and reveals that Aunt Delia is his only living relative, Sharples sees an opportunity too lucrative to resist. In a desolate stretch of highway, Sharples murders Brayle and assumes his identity, memorizing every detail the trusting victim revealed about his past.

Armed with childhood memories that aren't his own and accompanied by his girlfriend Rena Zita, Sharples arrives at Aunt Delia's mansion to claim his inheritance. The reunion goes smoothly as the invalid woman welcomes her long-lost nephew home, reminiscing about spankings, favorite foods, and childhood nicknames. However, as Sharples settles into his new life, he must maintain his dangerous charade while dark plans form regarding Aunt Delia's uncertain future and her considerable fortune.

Originally Aired: November 3, 1949

Suspense #357, "The Search for Isabell," stars Red Skelton as Dick Brown, an ordinary bank clerk whose life takes a strange turn when he receives a newly installed telephone. The phone comes with an unexpected complication: it belonged to the previous subscriber, a mysterious woman named Isabel LaRue. As calls pour in from various men seeking Isabel, Dick becomes increasingly intrigued by this elusive woman he's never met. Among the callers are wealthy, powerful men like Harold Mason and the playboy gambler John Worthington, all desperate to reach her. Dick begins fantasizing about Isabel, constructing an idealized image of her beauty and sophistication in his mind.

The situation turns sinister when John Worthington calls in an agitated state, demanding to speak with Isabel and threatening to cause trouble at the Beverly Towers if she doesn't contact him. The next morning, Dick discovers that Worthington has leaped to his death from the Beverly Towers. While newspapers attribute the suicide to gambling debts, Dick knows the truth: it was because of Isabel LaRue. As Dick finds himself dreaming about Isabel obsessively and growing strangely sympathetic to Worthington's fate, he realizes he may be falling under the same dangerous spell that destroyed the playboy gambler.

Originally Aired: October 27, 1949

Suspense #356, "Momentum," stars Victor Mature as Dick Payne, a man whose life spirals dangerously out of control in a single day. Standing on a train platform with a bullet in his neck, Dick waits to meet his wife Pauline and escape to San Francisco. As snow begins to fall, he reflects on how everything went wrong since that morning when Pauline woke him at noon, reminding him he's been unemployed for six months while she supports them. When she tells him they're being evicted, Dick's anger and pride drive him to confront his former employer, Mr. Burroughs, demanding payment for an invention he claims was stolen from him.

Dick's confrontation with the respected businessman escalates as Burroughs denies any wrongdoing and credits the invention to his longtime foreman, Tim Riley. As Dick's desperation and rage build, the situation begins gaining its own deadly momentum—each decision leading to the next like a snowball rolling downhill, leaving a trail of bodies in its wake.

Originally Aired: October 20, 1949

Suspense #355, "Good Night Mrs Russell," stars Betty Davis as a middle-aged widow who becomes an unwitting target of danger. Mrs. Russell is a regular customer at Henry's Cafe, a small, pleasant lunch spot near her office in the Hillmar Building. Henry, the cafe's polite and solitary proprietor, seems particularly attentive to her, inviting her to try one of his dinners. When Mrs. Russell works late one evening and stops by the cafe alone at night, she notices Henry acting strangely—suspicious, nervous, listening for something unseen. Despite her unease, she returns weeks later for another late-night meal, this time ordering the number four dinner again.

As Mrs. Russell chatters about her late husband Leonard and her son killed in the war, Henry grows ominously quiet, watching her with a blank expression. Then, without warning, she becomes dizzy and ill, realizing too late that something is terribly wrong. Now trapped with dawn approaching, Mrs. Russell knows Henry plans to kill her, and argument and reasoning have proven useless. The episode builds to a chilling confrontation as the trusting widow discovers the deadly intentions of the man she thought she could help.