Suspense - Radio’s Outstanding Theater of Thrills

The Lovebirds

Originally Aired: March 3, 1949
Suspense #330, "The Lovebirds," Martha has reached her breaking point after seven long years of marriage to her ailing husband Sam. While everyone in their small town admires them as the perfect couple, calling them "the Lovebirds," Martha harbors a dark secret: she has been waiting for Sam to die so she can inherit his money and escape to the exotic destinations she secretly dreams about. When guests discover her hidden collection of travel folders during their anniversary party, and the doctor declares that travel is "out of the question" for Sam's fragile health, Martha realizes she can no longer endure her role as the devoted caretaker.
That night, when Sam asks for help reading the directions on his new sleeping pills because he cannot find his glasses, Martha sees her opportunity. She deliberately gives him false information about the dosage, telling him to take six pills instead of two. As the clock strikes through the early morning hours, Martha waits downstairs before finally going to Sam's bedroom to check if her plan has succeeded.

Where There’s a Will

Originally Aired: February 24, 1949
Suspense #329, "Where There's a Will," Charles Ridgway finds himself in desperate financial straits, owing gambler Mr. Jepson ten thousand pounds with only four weeks to pay. His salvation appears to lie in his elderly Aunt Mary's newly revised will, which names him heir to her forty thousand pound fortune instead of his cousin Miriam. When Dr. Minnell warns that Aunt Mary's weak heart could fail from any sudden shock or fright, Charles conceives what he calls a "whimsical practical joke." He installs a radio in his aunt's home, insisting it will keep her mind distracted as the doctor ordered, then secretly rigs a microphone and wire from his old amateur radio equipment.
One evening, while Aunt Mary sits alone listening to a Beethoven program, Charles speaks through the hidden microphone, impersonating her dead husband Patrick and claiming he's coming for her from beyond the grave. As Charles watches his plan unfold from the shadows, the line between practical joke and cold-blooded murder becomes dangerously blurred, with his mounting debts driving him toward an increasingly sinister solution to his financial troubles.

Catch Me If You Can

Originally Aired: February 17, 1949
Suspense #328, "Catch Me If You Can," features Jane Wyman as Margot Weatherby, a woman who has just murdered her wealthy husband Phil at an isolated Colorado mountain inn. After suffocating him with a pillow, Margot faces an immediate crisis: Phil had warned her that he called his old friend, a detective named Rocky Rhodes, and hidden pills as evidence of her earlier poisoning attempt. Now she must find that evidence before the detective arrives. Her desperate search is interrupted when three unexpected strangers appear at the supposedly closed inn during a rainstorm: Mike Sheldon, a newspaperman from Chicago; Charlie Miller, a man with a telephone reservation; and Susan Quinn, a woman Miller met on the bus.
Margot realizes that one of these three guests must be Rocky Rhodes, the detective her husband summoned. As she tries to maintain the appearance of a devoted wife tending to her sick husband, she must also determine which stranger poses the real threat and find the incriminating pills before her crime is exposed. With Phil's body upstairs and multiple suspects watching her every move, Margot's carefully planned murder begins to unravel.

De Mortuis

Originally Aired: February 10, 1949
Suspense #327, "De Mortuis," Dr. Raggen finds himself in a compromising position when two neighbors, Greg and George, arrive at his home unexpectedly. They discover him in the cellar, having just finished filling in a section of the floor with fresh concrete. When Dr. Raggen claims his wife Irene has gone to visit friends, the neighbors grow suspicious, especially since they've been seeing Irene around the village with Harry Manning, a traveling salesman staying at the local inn. The situation escalates as the men debate details about the depth of the clay beneath the house and inconsistencies in Dr. Raggen's story about where Irene has gone.
Greg and George, believing the doctor has murdered his unfaithful wife and buried her beneath the concrete, offer to help cover up the crime. They sympathize with Dr. Raggen, knowing Irene's reputation in the village and feeling somewhat responsible for not warning him before his marriage. Just as they're devising an alibi involving Irene running off with the traveling salesman, an unexpected voice calls out from upstairs, threatening to unravel everything.

Backseat Driver

Originally Aired: February 3, 1949
Suspense #326, "Backseat Driver," stars Fibber McGee and Molly in a harrowing tale of ordinary people thrust into extraordinary danger. Joe and Ellie are driving home to the San Fernando Valley after seeing a movie in Beverly Hills, listening to radio news about Lewis Matrick, a vicious mass murderer who escaped police in downtown Los Angeles earlier that day. The couple discusses the killer's description and crimes, with Ellie worrying about their children at home while Joe reassures her that such terrible things happen to other people, not to them. As they travel through the dark, quiet Cold Water Canyon, their comfortable evening takes a terrifying turn when a man with a gun suddenly appears in their backseat, pressing the weapon against Ellie's neck and ordering Joe to drive.
When headlights from a passing car illuminate their unwanted passenger, Joe catches a glimpse in the rearview mirror: light brown hair, pale eyes, and a slanted nose. The violent criminal they'd just been discussing on the radio is now holding them hostage, and Joe must navigate this deadly situation while keeping his terrified wife alive.

The Thing in the Window

Originally Aired: January 27, 1949
Suspense #325, "The Thing in the Window," Martin Ames, an actor with too much time on his hands, becomes obsessed with what he believes is a corpse sitting motionless in a window across the street from his apartment. For days, he watches the gray-suited figure slumped in a high-backed chair behind blue draperies on the tenth floor. When his housekeeper Mary can't make out what he sees, Ames takes matters into his own hands, approaching the building superintendent Mr. Anson with his grim discovery. The window belongs to apartment 9B, home to the Landis sisters, two prim former schoolteachers who live alone.
Despite Anson's reluctance and assurances that the elderly spinsters couldn't possibly be harboring a dead body, Ames persists and eventually involves the police. The refined Miss Landis sisters react with shock and indignation when officers arrive at their door with a search warrant, insisting they live completely alone. As the confrontation escalates and the door is about to be breached, the question remains: what exactly has Martin Ames been watching in that window, and what will the police find inside the Landis apartment?

If the Dead Could Talk

Originally Aired: January 20, 1949
Suspense #324, "If the Dead Could Talk," stars Dana Andrews as Joe, a trapeze artist caught in a tortured love triangle. Joe is hopelessly in love with Fran, his partner in a three-person circus act, but she chooses to marry Tommy, Joe's best friend and roommate. Unable to accept losing Fran to his closest companion, Joe spirals into drinking and sleepless nights, haunted by visions of the couple together. His anguish builds until one desperate night when he purchases a gun from an all-night pawn shop, determined to eliminate his rival.
Joe returns to the hotel where the circus troupe is staying and climbs the fire escape to the room he shares with Tommy, smashing through the locked window with bloody determination. Gun in hand, he waits in the darkness for Tommy to return, ready to commit murder. But when the door finally opens and Tommy appears framed in the hallway light, Joe must confront the terrible choice before him. The episode explores whether friendship, jealousy, or desperation will ultimately guide his hand in this tense thriller of passion and betrayal.

The Too Perfect Alibi

Originally Aired: January 13, 1949
Suspense #323, "The Too Perfect Alibi," stars Danny Kaye as Sam Rogers, a man hopelessly in love with Catherine, the woman of his dreams. When Catherine and her fiancé Jack Stewart announce they're getting married on Monday, Sam's world shatters. Catherine is lovely and kind, while Jack is a handsome former football hero now working as a clerk in a sports shop. Despite his resentment of Sam's generosity and wealth, Jack accepts Sam's offer of help securing a lucrative position as sales manager at Allegheny Sporting Goods, asking only that Catherine not know about Sam's involvement. What Jack doesn't realize is that Sam has no intention of helping him get the job.
Consumed by jealousy and desperation, Sam hatches an elaborate plan to eliminate his rival before the Monday wedding. He carefully constructs what he believes is the perfect alibi, attending a party where he makes sure to be seen by numerous guests throughout the evening. At precisely ten o'clock, Sam slips away to meet Jack under a dark tree on a street corner, his murderous scheme ready to unfold.

To Find Help

Originally Aired: January 6, 1949
Suspense #322, "To Find Help," stars Ethel Barrymore as Mrs. Gillis, an elderly widow living alone with her maid Sarah and her aging dog. When a mild-mannered young man named Howard Wilton appears at her door seeking odd jobs, Mrs. Gillis hires him to do heavy cleaning work despite warnings from her roomer, Mr. Armstrong. At first, Howard seems harmless enough, but his behavior quickly becomes unsettling. He obsesses over keeping his coat safe from moths, barely makes progress on the floor he's supposed to be cleaning, and grows increasingly agitated when Mrs. Gillis checks on his work.
The situation grows more disturbing when Howard accuses Mrs. Gillis of hating him because he wasn't in military service like her two sons, both of whom served and are memorialized in photographs around her home. His paranoid outbursts escalate, and he finally reveals the chilling reason he was rejected from the army: they found something wrong with his mind. Now Mrs. Gillis finds herself trapped in her isolated home with an unstable stranger, desperately hoping to find help before the situation turns dangerous.

Break-Up

Originally Aired: December 30, 1948
Suspense #321, "Break-Up," follows Marty Connors, a disgraced ex-cop who has crossed over to the wrong side of the law. Suspended from the police force after being set up by a woman who stole his gun during a drunken encounter, Marty angrily rejects the warnings of his former partner, Detective Kivlahan, and takes a job as a bodyguard for criminals Doc Williamson and Max Shale. Despite Kivlahan's pleas to stay clean and wait for reinstatement, Marty bitterly throws away his career, driven by resentment toward Captain Brandt and the department that he feels betrayed him.
Now riding in a car on the Queensborough Bridge, Marty finds himself in a horrifying position: Max Shale has ordered him to prove his loyalty to the organization by murdering Kivlahan, his former partner. As Marty reflects on how his involvement with Williamson and Shale—and his dangerous attraction to Rita, the sultry redhead at Doc's club—has led him to this moment, he must decide whether to pull the trigger and become a cop killer, sealing his fate on the wrong side of the law forever.