Episode 417 - Favorites from 1946

Not-so perfect alibis, a missing wife, and some supernatural horrors are on deck with my favorite Suspense episodes from 1946. Joseph Cotten commits an impulsive murder and has to reverse engineer an alibi in "Crime Without Passion" (originally aired on CBS on May 2, 1946), and J. Carrol Naish hopes he can disappear into the crowd after killing his wife in "Commuter's Ticket" (originally aired on CBS on August 1, 1946). Robert Young searches for his wife when she leaves after a fight - and disappears - in "You'll Never See Me Again" (originally aired on September 2, 1946). Brian Donlevy is a psychiatrist whose new patient is a human lie detector in "Lazarus Walks" (originally aired on CBS on October 31, 1946), and Robert Taylor stars in what may be the scariest Suspense story ever - "The House in Cypress Canyon" (originally aired on CBS on December 5, 1946).

It's a mix of two-handers, adaptations, comedy, mystery, and horror with my favorite Suspense shows from 1945! Joseph Cotten is hunted by J. Carrol Naish in "The Most Dangerous Game" (originally aired on CBS on February 1, 1945), and William Bendix hunts for a missing necklace in "Pearls are a Nuisance" (originally aired on CBS on April 19, 1945). John Payne is a small town police chief in hot water in "Two Sharp Knives" (originally aired on CBS on June 7, 1945), and J. Carrol Naish is a blind cobbler with an ear for murder in "Footfalls" (originally aired on CBS on July 12, 1945). A customer from hell may run Joseph Kearns out of business in "Short Order" (originally aired on CBS on August 16, 1945), and a monster from hell may destroy the world - and Ronald Colman - in "The Dunwich Horror" (originally aired on CBS on November 1, 1945).

Our journey back through the years of Suspense continues with my favorite episodes from 1944. Lucille Ball is a taxi dancer who hopes to avoid a murderous dance partner in “Dime a Dance” (originally aired on CBS on January 13, 1944), and Charles Ruggles suspects his new housekeeper may be too good to be true in “Suspicion” (originally aired on CBS on February 10, 1944). Orson Welles stars in a rare two-part Suspense science fiction drama “Donovan’s Brain” (originally aired on CBS on May 18 and May 25, 1944), and Vincent Price and Ida Lupino co-star in “Fugue in C Minor,” a Gothic horror drama from the pen of Lucille Fletcher (originally aired on CBS on June 1, 1944). Charles Laughton encounters a strange man who claims to have invented an undetectable method for murder in “The Man Who Knew How” (originally aired on CBS on August 10, 1944), and Gene Kelly enjoys a seemingly supernatural streak of luck…until he doesn’t in “The Man Who Couldn’t Lose” (originally aired on CBS on September 28, 1944).

Join me on a trip back to 1943 and my favorite episodes of Suspense from that year. It was the year production of the show moved from New York to Hollywood, which meant it was easier for film stars to make appearances, and it picked up a sponsor in the form of Roma Wines. We’ll hear Maureen O’Hara as a debutante turned detective in “The White Rose Murders” (originally aired on CBS on July 6, 1943), and Warren William reprise his big screen role as The Lone Wolf - a reformed jewel thief turned sleuth - in “Murder Goes for a Swim” (originally aired on CBS on July 20, 1943). Agnes Moorehead cements her status as the “first lady of Suspense” in the legendary “Sorry, Wrong Number” (originally aired on CBS on August 21, 1943), and Orson Welles plays a hunter who tracks human prey in “The Most Dangerous Game” (originally aired on CBS on September 23, 1943). Finally, Charles Laughton is a patriarch whose family reputation may be sullied by murder in “Wet Saturday” (originally aired on CBS on December 16, 1943), and Peter Lorre finds his foolproof murder scheme had an unexpected complication in “Back for Christmas” (originally aired on CBS on December 23, 1943).

Myron McCormick took home a Tony for his performance as gruff but lovable sailor Luther Billis in the original Broadway production of South Pacific, and before his premature passing at the age of 54 he logged several memorable turns on the stage and screen. We’ll hear him as an archeologist who may have found a lost treasure in “Door of Gold” (originally aired on CBS on February 10, 1957) and as a mental patient who escapes from the hospital with revenge on his mind in “Madman of Manhattan” (originally aired on CBS on March 8, 1959). Plus, he plays detective in “No Time for Murder” from Crime Club (originally aired on Mutual on September 25, 1947).

One of the busiest (and best) actors of the radio era, Harry Bartell could be heard everywhere - as an announcer chatting with Nigel Bruce on Sherlock Holmes, as cowboys on Gunsmoke, and as suspects on Dragnet. We'll hear him as a man who cooks up what he thinks is a perfect swindle in "Final Payment" (originally aired on CBS on January 13, 1955) and as a pharmacist racing to correct a fatal mistake in "To None a Deadly Drug" (originally aired on CBS on October 25, 1955). Plus, Bartell plays Doc Holiday in Gunsmoke (originally aired on CBS on July 19, 1952) and as Archie Goodwin opposite Sydney Greenstreet's Nero Wolfe in "The Case of the Disappearing Diamonds" (originally aired on NBC on March 9, 1951).

Radio and big screen star Frank Lovejoy makes his final appearances on Suspense in a pair of shows where he plays characters both scary and sympathetic. First, he's a man with an unhealthy fixation on his Army buddy's wife in "Friend of Daddy's" (AFRS rebroadcast from May 17, 1959). Then, his wife is going into labor when their car breaks down on the Hollywood Freeway in "Ivy is a Lovely Name" (originally aired on CBS on June 21, 1959). Plus, we'll hear him as a con man in "Windfall" from The Whistler (originally aired on CBS on May 5, 1947) and as Chicago reporter Randy Stone in "The Night is a Weapon" from Night Beat (originally aired on NBC on February 13, 1950).

For seven years on radio, Jackie Kelk portrayed cub reporter and Superman's pal Jimmy Olsen, and he helped to define the character for generations of depictions in comics, cartoons, and films. We'll hear him in a pair of Suspense thrillers - first as a man who murders his brother to preserve their childhood home in "Shadow on the Wall" (originally aired on CBS on September 22, 1957), and then in a western drama as a young gunfighter out for revenge in "Sundown" (originally aired on CBS on May 4, 1958). Plus we'll hear him as Jimmy in "The Mystery of the Flying Monster" from The Adventures of Superman (originally aired on ABC on March 7, 1949).

Elsa Lanchester achieved cinematic immortality with her iconic portrayal of the Bride of Frankenstein in the Universal horror classic. But her work in the realm of monsters was just a part of her long career on the stage and screen - a career that included two Oscar nominations and a dozen films where she co-starred with her husband Charles Laughton. We'll hear the couple in a Suspense adaptation of "The ABC Murders" (originally aired on CBS on May 18, 1943) and in a true crime historical drama from Columbia Presents Corwin ("The Moat Farm Murder," originally aired on CBS on July 18, 1944). Plus, Elsa Lanchester leads an all-female cast in a Suspense thriller set at a girls schoool - "Finishing School" (originally aired on CBS on December 30, 1943).

Best known as Effie, the loyal secretary to Sam Spade in The Maltese Falcon, Lee Patrick enjoyed great success on the Broadway stage and worked steadily as a character actress on the big and small screens. We'll hear her in a pair of shows from Suspense: first, she's half of a murderous married couple in "Just One Happy Little Family" (originally aired on CBS on April 6, 1958), and then she plays a woman whose part-time job takes a turn for the dangerous in "My Dear Niece" (originally aired on CBS on November 16, 1958). Plus, she recreates one of her great Broadway roles alongside Orson Welles and Jack Benny in a Campbell Playhouse production of "June Moon" (originally aired on CBS on March 24, 1940).