Suspense:

“A Good and Faithful Servant”

(6/2/52).

***

”Inquest”

(8/3/47).

***

X minus one:

“Martian Sam”

(4/3/57).

***

Murder at Midnight:

“The Lodger”

(8/14/47).

***

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In this segment is an episode of Suspense  that first aired on June 2 of 1952 starring none other than Mr. Jack Benny.

Suspense is one of the classics of old time radio. Some fans have special favorites in the thriller/chiller/macabre genre, but most agree that Suspense is right at the top.

The guiding light of this show was William Spier, whose formula of human drama set in interesting situations attracted the best of Hollywood and radio actors. Orson Welles was in many episodes. Cary Grant said, “If I ever do any more radio work, I want to do it on Suspense, where I get a good chance to act.”

Spier’s method with actors was to keep them under-rehearsed, and there-by a bit uneasy. He got great performances, and the show gained great popularity.

All the production values were first class. With Bernard Hermann, who had worked with Orson Welles on the Mercury Theater and would work with Alfred Hitchcock, doing the musical scores.

Jack Benny is one of the great American comedians. His work spans the 20th century, from vaudeville to radio and movies to TV. In vaudeville, he delivered the snappy comebacks and one liners with intelligence and wit, but it was only with the continuing development of his personal trait comedy that he really became the Jack Benny we all know so well. “Who else could play for four decades the part of a vain, miserly, argumentative skinflint, and emerge a national treasure?The secret of his success was deceptively simple: he was a man of great heart.” That’s John Dunning’s assessment from “On the Air, The Encyclopedia of Old Time Radio,” 

In the Suspense program, “A Good and Faithful Servant,” Jack Benny stars as a man who devises his own retirement plan by faking a robbery and hiding the loot in his desk. It just goes to show that even the most “perfect” employees, may not be what they seem.

“A Good and Faithful Servant” was written by Richard M. Powell and produced/directed by El