Suspense:

“Sorry, Wrong Number”

(5/25/43).

***

CBS Mystery Theater:

Two plus Two Equals Death

(2/29/76).

***

Dark Fantasy:

“Rendezvous With Satan”

(5/29/42).

***

[audio http://archive.org/download/Nighttransmisions126-130/NighttransmissionsShow129.mp3 ]

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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.

Suspense – “Sorry Wrong Number” aired on May 5 of 1943.

Now let’s see, how much did the producers of suspense and the entertainment industry think of this Lucille Fletcher play?

How high the Moon?

Between 1943 and 1960 Suspense produced eight versions of this play, each time starring Agnes Moorhead, of which only seven have survived.

In 1948 There was a movie starring Barbara Stanwyck with Lucille Fletcher expanding and  opening up her radio script. That year The Lux Radio Theater would produce a another radio version based on the movie with Barbara Stanwyck reprising her role of Mrs. Stevenson.

This particular episode is the first of the eight   and is at a slight variance from your normal run of Suspense in that it is taken  from an Armed Forces radio rebroadcast.  The only real difference being the opening and closing which differ slightly from the standard.

Violet Louise Fletcher`s (who was born in in 1912 and died in 2000) long list of credits include another very famous radio play, The Hitchhiker. Originally Performed by Orson Welles on his Mercury Theater  Of The Air then later adapted for an episode of, The Twilight Zone. Much more recently  served as the inspiration for an episode of Supernatural.

If this one episode is insufficient for you here is a link to all seven surviving episodes of Suspense featuring, “Sorry Wrong Number” as well as the Lux Radio Theater’s version.

The CBS Radio Mystery Theater was an ambitious effort by veteran radio producer Himan Brown to revive interest in American radio drama. Every night from 1974 to 1982, host E.G. Marshall (laterTammy Grimes) ushered listeners through a creaking door — for 52 Min of “the fear you can hear.” Brown produced nearly 200 new episodes of Mystery Theater every year, using both original scripts and adaptations of classic stories by Edgar Allen Poe, Mark Twain,Robert Louis Stevenson and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. The Mystery Theater brought many veterans from radio’s golden age back before the microphone, including Agnes Moorehead, Richard Widmark,Celeste Holm, Mercedes McCambridge and Howard Da Silva. The show also featured performances from many up-and-coming stage and film actors, inc