Episode 430 - Stars of "Miracle on 34th Street"

A tycoon's vacant mansion hosts holiday hijinks in the classic comedy It Happened on Fifth Avenue. It's the story of a vagrant who makes himself at home in the house when the owner heads south for the winter, and of how the true owner and his family end up as invited Christmas "guests" of their tenant. We'll hear two of the film's stars in radio thrillers - Charles Ruggles in "Suspicion" (originally aired on CBS on February 10, 1944) and Don DeFore in "The Furnished Floor" (originally aired on CBS on September 13, 1945). Then, we'll hear Messrs Ruggles and DeFore - along with their big screen co-stars Gale Storm and Victor Moore in a Lux Radio Theatre recreation of the movie in an Armed Forces radio service rebroadcast (original episode aired on CBS on May 19, 1947).  

A month-long series of classic holiday films and their casts kicks off with Miracle on 34th Street - the story of a department store Santa who says he's the real deal. We'll hear three of its stars in radio thrillers from Suspense, plus a radio recreation of the film. Maureen O'Hara is a debutante turned detective in "The White Rose Murders" (originally aired on CBS on July 6, 1943). Edmund Gwenn stars in a darkly comedic murder mystery from Dorothy L. Sayers in "The Fountain Plays" (originally aired on CBS on August 10, 1943). And John Payne is a small town sheriff with a big murder to solve in Dashiell Hammett's "Two Sharp Knives" (originally aired on CBS on June 7, 1945). Then, Ms. O'Hara and Messrs Payne and Gwenn are joined by their screen co-star Natalie Wood as they recreate their roles for The Lux Radio Theatre (originally aired on CBS on December 22, 1947).

After you hear Fred MacMurray and Barbara Stanwyck recreate their famous roles on The Lux Radio Theatre, enjoy this bit of "what if" alternate Hollywood casting of the film. Burt Lancaster, Joan Bennett, and Myron McCormick play Walter Neff, Phyllis Dietrichson, and Barton Keyes in an adaptation of Double Indemnity from The Ford Theater (originally aired on CBS on October 15, 1948).

"Noirvember" draws to a close with the cast of Double Indemnity - Billy Wilder's genre-defining adaptation of James M. Cain's novel. It's a twisted tale of greed, lust, and revenge with Fred MacMurray, Barbara Stanwyck, and Edward G. Robinson, and we'll hear each of them in an old time radio thriller courtesy of Suspense. Robinson invents a spouse to get ahead at work with unexpected results in "My Wife Geraldine" (originally aired on CBS on March 1, 1945). Ms. Stanwyck is a tough dame whose connection to a murder puts her own life in danger in "The Wages of Sin" (originally aired on CBS on October 19, 1950). And MacMurray is a jazz player in a Prohibition-era tale of the mob and murder - "The Windy City Six" (originally aired on CBS on February 8, 1951). Then, Fred MacMurray and Barbara Stanwyck recreate their film roles in a production of The Lux Radio Theatre (originally aired on CBS on October 30, 1950).  

It's an addendum to our spotlight show on The Killers as Jack Benny, his radio gang, and special guest star Edward G. Robinson present their own version of the movie. This comedic caper originally aired on NBC on November 24, 1946.

Ernest Hemingway's short story The Killers was memorably adapted and expanded for the big screen by director Robert Siodmak and an incredible cast. We'll hear the stars of that film - plus a radio recreation - as our "Noirvember" series continues. Ava Gardner slows down for a hitchhiker with murder on his mind in "Lady in Distress" (originally aired on CBS on May 1, 1947). Edmond O'Brien is a streetwise reporter out for the story of the year in "The Argyle Album" (originally aired on CBS on September 4, 1947). Burt Lancaster is in no hurry to get revenge for his brother in "The Long Wait" (originally aired on CBS on November 24, 1949). And the titular killers William Conrad and Charles McGraw reunite in "Two for the Road" (originally aired on CBS on November 9, 1958). Finally, Burt Lancaster reprises his role as The Screen Director's Playhouse presents "The Killers" (originally aired on NBC on June 5, 1949).

Our celebration of "Noirvember" continues with the cast of The Maltese Falcon - the classic adaptation of Dashiell Hammett's celebrated novel. Peter Lorre plays a husband with a plot to dispose of his wife and her lover in "Till Death Do Us Part" (originally aired on CBS on December 15, 1942). Mary Astor is on the other side of the equation, as she plans to kill her husband and his girlfriend before they bump her off in "In Fear and Trembling" (originally aired on February 16, 1943). Humphrey Bogart stars in an adaptation of James M. Cain's gangland drama "Love's Lovely Counterfeit" (originally aired on CBS on March 8, 1945). And Sydney Greenstreet portrays John Dickson Carr's master sleuth Dr. Gideon Fell in the surviving half of "The Hangman Won't Wait" (originally aired on CBS on February 9, 1943)...and since only fifteen minutes of Mr. Greenstreet just won't do, we'll also hear him as Rex Stout's Nero Wolfe in "The Case of the Careworn Cuff" (originally aired on NBC on October 27, 1950). Then, all four stars recreate their film roles for The Screen Guild Theatre (originally aired on CBS on September 20, 1943).

Beginning with this episode, Stars on Suspense goes to the movies and shines a spotlight on the cast of a Hollywood classic. Up first is Laura, the 1944 Oscar-nominated mystery that the American Film Institute hailed as one of the ten best of all time. We'll hear three of its stars in "radio's outstanding theatre of thrills" - Dana Andrews in "Two Birds With One Stone" (originally aired on CBS on May 17, 1945), Clifton Webb in "The Burning Court" (originally aired on CBS on June 14, 1945), and Vincent Price in "The Name of the Beast" (originally aired on CBS on April 11, 1946), and . Plus, we'll hear a radio recreation of the film featuring Andrews, Webb, and Gene Tierney from The Lady Esther Screen Guild Theatre (originally aired on CBS on August 20, 1945).

Happy Halloween! We're celebrating with a spooky collection of some of the big screen's most famous monsters in old time radio thrillers. Orson Welles is the count who never drinks...wine in "Dracula," presented by the Mercury Theatre On the Air (originally aired on CBS on July 11, 1938), and Suspense presents its own version of the horror classic "Frankenstein" (originally aired on CBS on June 6, 1955). Robert Louis Stevenson's "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde" walk the streets in a syndicated story from The Weird Circle, and a group of climbers hunt for the legendary beast of the Himalayas in "The Abominable Snowman" from Escape (originally aired on CBS on September 13, 1953). A mysterious island is home to a creature that's howling mad in "W is for Werewolf" from Dark Fantasy (originally aired on NBC on February 13, 1942). Finally, Basil Rathbone dons the mask of "The Phantom of the Opera" on The Lux Radio Theatre (originally aired on CBS on September 13, 1943).

Our journey through the years of "radio's outstanding theatre of thrills" ends with my favorite installments from the final years of Suspense. Ray Bradbury presents a terrifying tale of a popular new kids' game in "Zero Hour" (originally aired on April 5, 1955), and a pharmacist races to correct a potentially fatal error in "To None a Deadly Drug" (originally aired on CBS on October 25, 1955). A man meticulously plots how to dispose of his wife's body in "Variations on a Theme" (originally aired on CBS on February 7, 1956), and William Conrad delivers a tour de force one-man performance in "The Waxwork" (originally aired on CBS on May 1, 1956). A postal inspector tries to intercept a bomb before it reaches its intended target in "Fragile: Contents Death" (originally aired on CBS on May 22, 1956), and DeForest Kelley is a talent agent who finds an act to die for in "Flesh Peddler" (originally aired on CBS on August 4, 1957). A defiant man stares down an army of ravenous ants in "Leiningen vs. the Ants" (originally aired on CBS on August 25, 1957), and anybody could be a killer on a train in "The Man Who Murders People" (originally aired on CBS on November 13, 1960).