Suspense - Radio’s Outstanding Theater of Thrills

Originally Aired: December 2, 1954
Suspense #574, "The Shot," stars William Conrad as Lieutenant Zachary Peyton, a man consumed by an incomplete duel from seven years past. When Benjamin Rolls drew the first shot in their duel, he fired and missed—but Peyton refused to take his return shot, declaring that he would choose his own time and place. Rolls walked away laughing and eating cherries, seemingly indifferent to death itself, which only deepened Peyton's obsession. Now Peyton has tracked Rolls down, discovering his former adversary has inherited a fortune and just married Marcia Pemberton, a woman he loves deeply. Peyton practices relentlessly with his dueling pistols, terrifying his landlord Mr. Temple, who watches him shoot playing cards off a fence post from his bed with chilling accuracy.
As Peyton's old friend Jim Stockwell tries to dissuade him from his revenge, it becomes clear that Peyton has been waiting for this precise moment—when Rolls finally has something precious to lose. The question that haunts Peyton is whether the man who once laughed down a gun barrel can still face death so carelessly now that he has found love and happiness worth living for.

Originally Aired: November 18, 1954
In Suspense #572, "Blind Date," Gloria Le Fay, a contortionist performing her late mother's act in a Chicago theater, waits in her dressing room after closing night. She's agreed to meet a mysterious admirer named Vincent Hawthorne who sent her a note earlier that day. Against her better judgment and relying on a fortune-teller's assurance that the handwriting shows him to be a gentleman, Gloria accepts this unusual blind date. Vincent arrives with champagne and roses, insisting they celebrate in her dressing room rather than at Gregory's restaurant where Gloria had hoped to go.
As Vincent becomes increasingly controlling and unsettling, Gloria grows uneasy. He produces an enormous trick knife to open the champagne bottle, knows disturbing details about her stage act, and seems determined to keep her isolated in the empty theater. The callboy's earlier warning that her stage door Johnny is "no improvement" begins to ring true. Gloria realizes too late that she may have invited danger into her dressing room, and with everyone else gone for the night, she's completely alone with this strange man who seems to have sinister intentions beneath his polished gentleman's facade.

Originally Aired: November 11, 1954
In Suspense #571, "The Sure Thing," Phil Brannon is an independent bookie who has built his success on a sharp understanding of horses and calculated risks. When Marty, a syndicate representative, offers Phil a place in their organization, Phil refuses, confident he can eventually buy his way in on his own terms with their money. Phil has been making steady wins against the syndicate while supporting his girlfriend Eileen, who grows impatient waiting for him to earn enough to divorce his wife Barbara and start fresh.
Phil's ambitions take a dramatic turn when a mysterious stable boy tips him off about a fixed race. After verifying that the favorite will be scratched, Phil sees his opportunity for the big score he's been waiting for. He places a staggering quarter million dollars on Happy Wanderer, betting money that isn't his. As Phil frantically pushes through the crowd at the track with Eileen, desperate to witness the finish of the eighth race, his carefully constructed plans hang in the balance. The sure thing he's been chasing may prove far less certain than he believed.

Originally Aired: November 4, 1954
Suspense #570, "The Last Letter of Dr Bronson," Dr. Bronson writes an urgent letter to his colleague Dr. Mosher as midnight approaches, explaining a dangerous year-long experiment that has led to his current predicament. Bronson has been testing his theory that five basic checks restrain men from committing murder: fear of the law, religious principles, and three others yet to be revealed. To prove his hypothesis, he systematically finds five different men, gives each a compelling motive to kill him, then relies on one of his theorized checks to prevent the murder. Dr. Mosher himself becomes the first test subject, illustrating how fear of legal consequences prevents murder. A devout church clerk named Tutton demonstrates the power of religious conviction when he refuses Bronson's offer of five thousand dollars to administer poison. The small-time criminal Matt Doyle, whom Bronson once saved from death, represents the third test. As the clock ticks toward midnight and Bronson hurries to complete his letter, something has clearly gone terribly wrong with his carefully calculated experiment.

Originally Aired: October 28, 1954
Suspense #569, "The Shelter," a woman finds herself stranded at a remote bus stop on a dark night, waiting for the midnight bus. She takes refuge in the shelter, only to discover she's not alone. A talkative stranger sits in the darkness, rattling off obscure facts gleaned from magazines and rambling about human anatomy, counting systems, and peculiar theories. At first his chatter seems merely eccentric, but the woman grows increasingly uneasy as his monologue continues and his behavior becomes more controlling.
The tension escalates when the man mentions a radio broadcast warning that a patient has escaped from the nearby mental hospital and may be dangerous. He insists the woman must stay in the shelter with him where it's "safe." As she sits trapped in the pitch-black space, unable to see her companion clearly, the woman begins to recognize familiar patterns in his relentless talking and odd mannerisms. Memories from her past surface, hinting at a connection she hadn't initially realized, while the stranger's behavior grows more unsettling with each passing moment.

Originally Aired: October 21, 1954
Suspense #568, "Rave Notice," presents a chilling psychological portrait of Sam, a struggling actor whose ego proves as dangerous as any weapon. When director Norman strips Sam of his cherished role in a new play, declaring him "not right for it" and even suggesting he's "no actor," Sam's wounded pride explodes into murderous rage. Despite Norman's dismissive cruelty, Sam's response is anything but theatrical—he calmly purchases a shotgun and waits outside the stage door on 45th Street, methodically planning his revenge.
After shooting Norman in cold blood, Sam faces the electric chair for premeditated murder. His lawyer sees no defense until mentioning insanity as a possibility. Suddenly, Sam seizes upon a darkly ironic solution: he'll give the performance of his lifetime by convincing psychiatrists he's been insane all along. Drawing on his training in the Stanislavski method, Sam begins mining his deepest memories for moments of genuine madness, dredging up a childhood incident involving a cat and searching for the emotional truth that will make his greatest role—that of a homicidal maniac—utterly believable and save him from execution.

Originally Aired: October 14, 1954
Suspense #567, "Lost," finds Alice wandering the streets of New York City in a state of complete amnesia. Unable to remember her own name, where she came from, or why she's there, she desperately seeks help from a policeman at 59th Street. Detective Mark Neal takes her to the precinct, where the only clues to her identity are the name "Alice" stitched into her belongings and a wedding ring on her finger. Her photo is distributed to newspapers and television stations, and she's transferred to City Hospital's psychiatric ward for treatment. But Alice's situation takes a dark turn when she awakens to find herself behind barred windows in the prison ward.
Dr. Corday reveals the disturbing truth: Alice has been arrested for shooting someone named Joyce Carlyle. Her husband, Ted Parker, a struggling 24-year-old songwriter, arrives at the hospital and explains their turbulent relationship to the doctor. Twelve years younger than his wealthy wife, Ted admits their marriage is volatile, fueled by Alice's intense jealousy. As Alice struggles to piece together her fragmented memories, she must confront the terrifying possibility that she attempted to murder her husband's associate in a fit of rage.

Originally Aired: October 7, 1954
Suspense #566, "Chicken Feed," begins with an ironic twist of fate. Ralph Clark storms out of his San Francisco home after a petty argument with his wife Mary over giving their son a nickel. Driving fifty miles to cool off, he stops in the small town of Lansing, California, where he discovers he left his wallet at home - he doesn't have a single coin to make a phone call. When Clark tries to explain his predicament, the suspicious local officer takes him to the police station for identification. There, the phone lines are down for outgoing calls, and Clark's only option is the pay phone - if he can get a nickel. His wife Mary refuses to accept his collect call, hanging up on him in anger. The officer locks Clark up on suspicion of car theft and defrauding the cafe. Now trapped in a cell, Clark becomes desperate to obtain just one nickel to call his partner for help. His only potential source: two unsavory cellmates and As Phillips, a condemned bank robber and killer awaiting transfer to Utah's electric chair, who watch with sinister amusement as Clark's desperation grows.

Originally Aired: September 30, 1954
In Suspense #565, "A Little Matter of Memory," Edward Mansell and his wife Joan are recuperating in an isolated cottage on the English moors when they discover two disturbing notes. One is an obscenely worded death threat from escaped lunatic Barrington Howard, who has already murdered five people after sending similar warnings. The other is from George Beale, a curate offering protection through the dangerous night. As Edward and Joan attempt to flee toward the village of Buckworth, they encounter a helpful constable who persuades them to return to their cottage. He shares crucial information about Howard: the former actor and acrobat has one peculiar trait that led to his original capture—a compulsive total recall about Germany that he cannot help but display when the topic arises.
Back at the cottage, Edward and Joan barricade themselves inside and wait nervously in the dim lamplight. With both the homicidal Howard and the protective curate expected to arrive, the couple faces a terrifying question: when someone finally knocks on their door, will they be able to tell the rescuer from the killer?

Originally Aired: August 10, 1954
Suspense #564, "Never Steal a Butcher's Wife," Harry Carr is fresh off the bus from New York when he lands a job as a liquor clerk in a Los Angeles supermarket. His trouble begins the moment he locks eyes with Mary, the beautiful checkout girl who works the cash register. Despite warnings from Nick, the vegetable man, Harry can't resist her. There's just one problem: Mary is married to Andy Krauss, the market's hulking butcher, a strange man with thick glasses and a habit of whistling while he works with cleavers and meat mallets.
When Mary starts waiting for Harry after closing time, their dangerous liaison sets off alarm bells. Krauss grows suspicious, confronting his wife with tears and biblical ravings about Babylon. Soon the jealous butcher approaches Harry with a bottle of beer and unsettling questions about his wife. As Krauss's suspicions intensify and Mary continues to draw Harry deeper into her web, the young clerk finds himself trapped in a nightmare playing out among the meat coolers and empty aisles of the supermarket after dark.