Stars on Suspense (Old Time Radio)
Stars on Suspense (Old Time Radio)
Mean Streets Podcasts
Presenting the biggest legends of Hollywood starring in "Suspense," radio's outstanding theater of thrills! Each week, we'll hear two chillers from this old time radio classic featuring one of the all-time great stars of stage and screen.
Episode 373 - John Lund (Part 5)
John Lund joins our five-timer's club as he makes his final four appearances on Suspense. First, he's a Marine who may have discovered paradise in the middle of the war in the Pacific in "The Island" (originally aired on CBS on January 12, 1958). Then he's a gambler who bets too much on his own system in "Winner Lose All" (originally aired on CBS on April 27, 1958). A bank robber gone straight is caught on the scene when his old gang stages a hold-up in "For Old Time's Sake" (AFRS rebroadcast from December 14, 1958), and he's a reporter trapped in the middle of a prison riot in "Eyewitness" (AFRS rebroadcast from July 12, 1959). Plus, we'll hear him as Johnny Dollar in "The Walter Patterson Matter" (originally aired on CBS on December 26, 1952).
Apr 21
1 hr 58 min
Episode 372 - Barbara Whiting
Though she never found the fame of her sister Margaret, Barbara Whiting had a run in Hollywood as a Fox contract player. We'll hear her in "The Rim of Terror" (originally aired on CBS on December 2, 1956) as a woman who picks up a hitchhiking defector and in "One Way Trip," a story from Romance (originally aired on CBS on December 17, 1955). Plus, she reprises her breakout big screen role in Junior Miss on Hollywood Star Time (originally aired on CBS on March 24, 1946).
Apr 6
1 hr 32 min
BONUS - Best Two-Handers
We've got two stars for the price of one in each of these Suspense shows! For this bonus episode, I'm sharing my favorite installments of "radio's outstanding theater of thrills" that featured a pair of big name stars at the microphone. J. Carrol Naish and Joseph Cotten are hunter and hunted in "The Most Dangerous Game" (originally aired on CBS on February 1, 1945) and Hume Cronyn and Keenan Wynn hope a big bet will bail them out of trouble in "Double Entry" (originally aired on CBS on December 20, 1945). Vincent Price joins Lloyd Nolan on a "Hunting Trip" (originally aired on CBS on September 12, 1946) and walks the streets of London with Claude Rains in "The Hands of Mr. Ottermole" (originally aired on CBS on December 2, 1948). Finally, Fibber McGee and Molly are joined by an armed and unwelcome passenger in "Backseat Driver" (originally aired on CBS on February 3, 1949), and Phil Harris and Alice Faye try to escape a small town's harsh justice in "Death on My Hands" (originally aired on CBS on May 10, 1951).
Mar 26
3 hr 4 min
Episode 371 - Virginia Gregg
Virginia Gregg was one of the radio era's busiest and best performers. The versatile and talented actress could be heard on everything from detective dramas to westerns, often playing multiple characters in the same episode. We'll hear her as a woman held captive by a maniac in "Goodnight, Mrs. Russell" (originally aired on CBS on August 3, 1954) and as half of a murderous pair of newlyweds in "When the Bough Breaks" (originally aired on CBS on December 6, 1955). Plus, we'll hear her in a thriller from the typewriter of the great Arch Oboler - "Come to the Bank With Me" (originally aired on NBC on October 31, 1964).
Mar 23
1 hr 31 min
BONUS - When Irish Stars Are On Suspense
To celebrate St. Patrick's Day, we've got a line-up of Irish-American stars making appearances on "radio's outstanding theater of thrills." Maureen O'Hara is an amateur sleuth hunting a killer in "The White Rose Murders" (originally aired on CBS on July 6, 1943) and Thomas Mitchell is a railroad magnate plagued by nightmares in "Case History of Edgar Lowndes" (originally aired on CBS on June 8, 1944). Edmond O'Brien plays a reporter chasing a story worth killing for in "The Argyle Album" (originally aired on CBS on September 4, 1947) and James Cagney takes a deadly trip behind the wheel in "No Escape" (originally aired on CBS on December 16, 1948). Pat O'Brien is a cop who finds a suspect close to home in "True Report" (originally aired on CBS on August 31, 1950) and Dennis Day is a beatnik - you read that right - in "Like Man, Somebody Dig Me" (AFRS rebroadcast from August 16, 1959).
Mar 15
2 hr 53 min
Episode 370 - Joseph Cotten (Part 8)
We bid farewell to Joseph Cotten - an institution on Suspense. The star of The Third Man made 18 appearances on "radio's outstanding theater of thrills," and we'll hear his final shows, including an adaptation of Ambrose Bierce's "An Occurence at Owl Creek Bridge" (originally aired on CBS on December 15, 1957). In his last starring role on Suspense, Cotten plays a man trying to save one of his former soldiers from prisons both mental and physical in "Red Cloud Mesa" (originally aired on CBS on August 2, 1959). Plus, he recreates his role from Shadow of a Doubt on Academy Award (originally aired on CBS on September 11, 1946) and he pinch hits as a secret agent in The Man Called X (originally aired on NBC on July 6, 1951).
Mar 6
1 hr 52 min
Episode 369 - Martha Scott
Though never considered a bankable star by the studios, Martha Scott worked steadily on the big and small screens for fifty years. She earned an Oscar nomination for her performance in the film version of Our Town and she set baby Moses in the basket in The Ten Commandments. She stars in a very odd episode of Suspense as a mother who experiences a frightening vision of her child's future in "Crisis" (originally aired on CBS on August 19, 1948). Plus she recreates one of her film roles in "Cheers for Miss Bishop" on The Lux Radio Theatre (originally aired on CBS on March 17, 1941).
Mar 1
1 hr 37 min
BONUS - Suspense Goes West
For this bonus episode, we're saddling up with the best Suspense stories of the old west. Alan Ladd hunts for his brother's murderer in "A Killing in Abilene" (originally aired on CBS on December 14, 1950). Then, Richard Widmark fights a bloody feud in "The Hunting of Bob Lee" (originally aired on CBS on October 29, 1951) and he tracks a deadly panther through the snow in "The Track of the Cat" (originally aired on CBS on February 18, 1952). Frank Lovejoy stars as one of the west's most infamous gunslingers in "The Shooting of Billy the Kid" (originally aired on CBS on April 28, 1952) and Richard Widmark returns - this time as another notorious outlaw - in "The Spencer Brothers" (originally aired on CBS on January 26, 1953). Finally, Victor Mature stars as a legendary bandit in "The Love and Death of Joaquin Murietta" (originally aired on CBS on February 16, 1953).
Feb 27
3 hr 2 min
Episode 368 - William Conrad (Part 4)
Whether he was keeping the peace in Dodge City or playing a villain on Suspense, William Conrad was one of radio's all-time greatest performers. We'll hear the man with one of Hollywood's best voices in three old time radio thrillers. First, he's a hired killer whose plans never quite pan out in "A Matter of Timing" (originally aired on CBS on June 12, 1956). Then, he's on a cross-country drive that gets detoured when he and his friend are wrongfully accused of murder in "Two for the Road" (originally aired on CBS on November 9, 1958). Finally, Conrad narrates a tense tale of an effort to fix an active atomic bomb at a test site in "Misfire" (AFRS rebroadcast from November 30, 1958). And as a bonus, we'll hear him in his signature radio role as Matt Dillon in "The Buffalo Hunter" from Gunsmoke (originally aired on CBS on May 9, 1953).
Feb 22
1 hr 54 min
BONUS - Romance Gone Wrong
In this bonus podcast episode, a collection of characters makes the St. Valentine's Day massacre look like a picnic. We'll hear five Suspense stories about romances gone wrong with husbands and wives at each other's throats. Peter Lorre plots to get rid of an unfaithful wife in "Till Death Do Us Part" (originally aired on CBS on December 15, 1942), and even though his wife isn't real, Edward G. Robinson still winds up accused of her murder in "My Wife Geraldine" (originally aired on CBS on March 1, 1945). Robert Young's wife vanishes into the night in "You'll Never See Me Again" (originally aired on CBS on September 5, 1946) and Kirk Douglas plans to bump off his wife instead of sharing an inheritance in "Community Property" (originally aired on CBS on April 10, 1947). Finally, Joan Fontaine is a Mrs. planning to do away with her Mr. in "The Lovebirds" (originally aired on CBS on March 3, 1949).
Feb 13
2 hr 33 min
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