Stars on Suspense (Old Time Radio)

Character actress Eve McVeagh was a regular presence on the Broadway stage, the big screen, and on TV for over five decades, and during her career she starred in everything from High Noon to Petticoat Junction. We'll hear her as a woman whose auction purchase comes loaded with trouble in "Going, Going, Gone" (originally aired on CBS on May 10, 1955) and as part of a film crew who discovers real-life outlaws in a western ghost town in "Hollywood Hostages" (originally aired on CBS on February 21, 1956). Plus, we'll hear her as one of history's most infamous poisoners in "The Seven-Layered Cake of Madame Lafarge" from Crime Classics (originally aired on CBS on October 14, 1953).

In this bonus episode, I'm sharing my favorite Suspense shows starring the great James Mason. The smooth, polished star of Lolita, North by Northwest, and The Veil plays crooks, cops, and a man whose guilt or innocence may never be known for sure. We'll hear "Where There's a Will" (originally aired on CBS on February 24, 1949), "Banquo's Chair" (originally aired on CBS on March 9, 1950), "The Greatest Thief in the World" (originally aired on CBS on June 21, 1951), and "Odd Man Out" (originally aired on CBS on February 11, 1952).

Herbert Marshall returns to the podcast in two old time radio thrillers - a pair of shows where he plays a coward and a man unafraid of death who find their worldviews challenged in critical moments. He stars in an adaptation of Graham Greene's "The Man Within" (originally aired on CBS on April 27, 1953) and in "Action" (originally aired on CBS on October 5, 1953). Plus, we'll hear him as globe-trotting secret agent Ken Thurston, aka The Man Called X (originally aired on NBC on May 4, 1951).

Just in time for trick-or-treating, here are my picks for the scariest stories to ever air on "radio's outstanding theater of thrills." Orson Welles takes a long drive with an uninvited guest in "The Hitch-hiker" (originally aired on CBS on September 2, 1942), and Robert Taylor soon regrets moving into "The House in Cypress Canyon" (originally aired on CBS on December 5, 1946). Ralph Edwards goes on a "Ghost Hunt" (originally aired on CBS on June 23, 1949) and Cary Grant picks a bad spot to run out of gas in "On a Country Road" (originally aired on CBS on November 16, 1950). Finally, Vincent Price faces off against an army of rats in "Three Skeleton Key" (originally aired on CBS on November 11, 1956).

With Halloween right around the corner, I'm sharing some classic episodes of Suspense featuring some of the biggest stars of classic Hollywood horror: Peter Lorre in "Till Death Do Us Part" (originally aired on CBS on December 15, 1942); Bela Lugosi in "The Doctor Prescribed Death" (originally aired on CBS on February 16, 1943); Boris Karloff in "Drury's Bones" (originally aired on CBS on January 25, 1945); Claude Rains and Vincent Price in "The Hands of Mr. Ottermole" (originally aired on CBS on December 2, 1948); and Price again in "The Pit and the Pendulum" (originally aired on CBS on November 19, 1957).

Best known as the "Control Voice" that opened each episode of The Outer Limits, Vic Perrin was all over the dial during the golden age of radio. He was a regular resident of Dodge City on Gunsmoke, he frequently encountered Sgt. Joe Friday on Dragnet, and he co-starred with Raymond Burr on Fort Laramie. We'll hear him as a reporter who has a rendezvous with a killer in "The Lady in the Red Hat" (originally aired on CBS on August 30, 1955). Then, he's a trapeze artist with love and murder on his mind in "Gallardo" (originally aired on CBS on March 20, 1956). And he's a postmaster who has to intercept a time-bomb sent through the mail in "Fragile - Contents Death" (originally aired on CBS on May 22, 1956). Plus, we'll hear him in "Sergeant Gorse's Baby," an episode of Fort Laramie (originally aired on CBS on May 29, 1956).

Character actor John McIntire - who rode the range on Wagon Train and the mean streets of the city in a squad car on Naked City - returns to the podcast for his third starring appearance. McIntire plays a car enthusiast who takes his antique on a 500 mile tour in "The Big Day" (originally aired on CBS on May 26, 1957) and a convict who's crafted a seemingly perfect plan to escape from prison in "Rain Tonight" (originally aired on CBS on June 29, 1958). Plus, he's the host and emcee of "Report on E.S.P." - a docudrama from The CBS Radio Workshop (originally aired on CBS on March 9, 1956).

Eva Le Gallienne was a legend of the American stage - not only for her performances on Broadway but for her support of the development of off-Broadway and regional theatrical companies across the country. She made only one appearance on Suspense in "Phobia" (originally aired on CBS on June 26, 1947), where she played a wealthy wheelchair-bound woman with a fear of metal, a kleptomaniac sister, and a corpse in the house. Then she plays one of theatre's richest and most complex villainesses as Lady MacBeth in "MacBeth" from Great Plays (originally aired on NBC on July 12, 1953).

June Havoc - actress, singer, and younger sister of Gypsy Rose Lee - returns to the podcast in a sixty-minute adaptation of Cornell Woolrich's "The Black Angel" (originally aired on CBS on January 24, 1948). She plays a woman who plays detective to clear her husband of murder, only to get close to the man who may be the real killer. Then, she recreates one of her big screen roles opposite George Raft in a Lux Radio Theatre adaptation of "Intrigue" (originally aired on CBS on May 10, 1948).

We'll turn on the TV this week with three radio thrillers featuring future television stars. Before he was Bart Maverick, Jack Kelly led the frantic search for a deadly snake on a boat in "A Shipment of Mute Fate" (originally aired on CBS on January 6, 1957). Beloved TV mom June Lockhart of Lassie and Lost in Space is an actress who's had enough poor treatment at the hands of a producer in "Shooting Star" (originally aired on CBS on March 24, 1957). And Richard Anderson, who'd later give orders to the Six Million Dollar Man and the Bionic Woman, plays an inexperienced cavalry officer who's too eager for action in "Command" (originally aired on CBS on September 14, 1958).

To the Batcave! In this bonus episode, we'll hear five Suspense stars who played Gotham City bad guys opposite Adam West and Burt Ward on Batman. We'll hear Vincent Price (Egghead) and Ida Lupino (Dr. Cassandra Spellcraft) in "Fugue in C Minor" (originally aired on CBS on June 1, 1944), Roddy McDowall (Bookworm) in "One Way Street" (originally aired on CBS on January 23, 1947), Anne Baxter (Zelda the Great, and Olga, Queen of the Cossacks) in "Always Room at the Top" (originally aired on CBS on February 20, 1947), Van Johnson (The Minstrel) in "The Defense Rests" (originally aired on CBS on October 6, 1949), and Milton Berle (Louie the Lilac) in "Rave Notice" (originally aired on CBS on October 25, 1950).

John Dickson Carr - one of the giants of the golden age of mystery fiction - penned dozens of scripts in the early years of Suspense with stories ranging from historical crime drama to international espionage to good old fashioned murders. We'll hear a tale of spies and sorcery in "The Lord of the Witch Doctors" (originally aired on CBS on October 27, 1942) and of a sabotage plot exposed in Madame Toussaud's in "Menace in Wax" (originally aired on CBS on November 17, 1942). Carr takes us back to London in the early 1800s when you could earn a living robbing graves in "The Body Snatchers" (originally aired on CBS on November 24, 1942), and an Italian honeymoon could turn into a funeral in "The Bride Vanishes" (originally aired on CBS on December 1, 1942).

In this bonus episode, we salute some of the singers who stepped up to the Suspense microphone and traded trills for thrills. Lena Horne is caught up in wartime espionage in "You Were Wonderful" (originally aired on CBS on November 9, 1944), and Frank Sinatra is the handyman from hell in "To Find Help" (AFRS rebroadcast from January 18, 1945). Ezio Pinza is an opera singer who leaves them dead in the aisles in "Aria from Murder" (originally aired on CBS on January 25, 1951), and Dinah Shore sings and stars in the tale of "Frankie and Johnny" (originally aired on CBS on May 5, 1952). Rosemary Clooney headlines a bloody tale of the Roaring Twenties in "St. James Infirmary Blues" (originally aired on CBS on February 23, 1953) and Ethel Merman is a cabaret singer who takes the wrong newcomer under her wing in "Never Follow a Banjo Act" (originally aired on CBS on February 1, 1954). Finally, Margaret Whiting is a sharp dressed woman with murder on her mind in "The Well-Dressed Corpse" (AFRS rebroadcast from October 13, 1957).

Best known to radio fans as Throckmorton P. Gildersleeve's on again/off again fiancee, Shirley Mitchell had a long career on the air and the big and small screens. We'll hear her meet a man and his knife in "Blind Date" (originally aired on CBS on November 18, 1954). Plus, she's Leila Ransom opposite Harold Peary in The Great Gildersleeve (originally aired on NBC on September 26, 1943).

The great character actor John Dehner signs off with his final starring role on Suspense. He plays a husband and father who tries to keep his family safe after an armed fugitive breaks into their home in "Strange for a Killer" (originally aired on CBS on September 6, 1955). Plus, we'll hear him as the narrator in one of the best (and scariest) Suspense episodes - "Zero Hour" (originally aired on CBS on April 5, 1955). We'll also hear Dehner in his two signature western radio roles: the Frontier Gentleman ("Aces and Eights" - originally aired on CBS on April 20, 1958) and Paladin in the radio version of Have Gun, Will Travel ("Strange Vendetta" - originally aired on CBS on November 23, 1958).

Happy Birthday, Hitch! This month, we celebrate the birthday of the big screen master of suspense with the audition recording for The Alfred Hitchcock Show - a series that would have featured the director as narrator of thrillers and chillers. Joseph Kearns stars in an adaptation of "Malice Aforethought," hosted and narrated by Alfred Hitchcock.

A busy character actor on the big and small screens, Sam Edwards was also a versatile radio performer. Even in his 30s, he could still play teens - to comedic effect on Meet Corliss Archer or in dramas like Gunsmoke and Dragnet. But he was also effective at playing adults in shows all around the dial, including Suspense. We'll hear him as man on the run, accused of murder and without shoes, in "Too Hot to Live" (originally aired on CBS on June 29, 1954). Then, he stars in a tense tale of Russian roulette - "The Game" (AFRS rebroadcast from March 15, 1955). Finally, Edwards plays a jealous man who plots revenge against his boss and the woman they both love in "This Will Kill You" (originally aired on CBS on November 29, 1955).

Radio, TV, and big screen star Frank Lovejoy returns to the podcast in a trio of stories that show off his talents as well as the variety of tales that Suspense could tell. First, he's a human guinea pig (and co-stars with his wife, Joan Banks) in an experiment to expand his senses in "Man from Tomorrow" (AFRS rebroadcast from September 1, 1957). Next, Mr. and Mrs. Lovejoy star in the story of a bookkeeper who owes a pile of money to his bookie - "Win, Place, or Die" (AFRS rebroadcast from April 13, 1958), and he tries to save the woman he loves from a forced marriage in "Affair at Aden" (AFRS rebroadcast from September 28, 1958). Plus, we'll hear Lovejoy in his own radio series as Chicago reporter Randy Stone in "The City at Your Fingertips" from Night Beat (originally aired on NBC on July 31, 1950).

Vivi Janiss was one of the radio era's most versatile and talented actresses, and she lent her voice to roles in comedies, westerns, thrillers, and everything in between. We'll hear her on a long car ride with her husband and an armed fugitive in "Backseat Driver" (originally aired on CBS on July 19, 1955), and she plays the wife of a man about to be executed in "Waiting" (originally aired on CBS on October 2, 1956). Plus, she appears in a dual role as a pair of twin sisters at the center of a mystery in "The Dancing Hands" from The Adventures of Philip Marlowe (originally aired on CBS on March 19, 1949).

We bid a fond farewell to actor, director, and occasional Suspense host Robert Montgomery. In addition to acting as emcee and narrator, Montgomery plays a man who may (or may not) be the homicidal maniac stalking the streets of London in "The Lodger" (originally aired on CBS on February 14, 1948). Plus, he recreates his big screen role of Philip Marlowe in "Lady in the Lake" from The Lux Radio Theatre (originally aired on CBS on February 9, 1948).