Suspense - Radio’s Outstanding Theater of Thrills

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.

Originally Aired: August 3, 1954
Suspense #563, "Goodnight Mrs Russell,"
Mrs. Russell is a pleasant, middle-aged widow who frequents Henry's small cafe near the Hillmar building where she works. Henry, the polite and meticulous cook who runs the establishment alone, seems especially attentive to her, though she notices his odd habit of suddenly freezing and listening to sounds only he can hear. When Mrs. Russell ventures to the cafe alone one evening after working late, she senses something unsettling about Henry's behavior. He seems suspicious of her presence at night, insisting there's a difference between her daytime visits with friends and coming alone after dark.
Against her better judgment, Mrs. Russell returns to the cafe alone three weeks later, determined to prove she enjoys Henry's cooking and perhaps help the troubled young man who reminds her of her late son. As she chatters about her family and her dead husband Leonard, Henry grows eerily quiet, watching her with a blank expression. Then Mrs. Russell's head grows heavy, she becomes dizzy, and as consciousness fades, she realizes with horror that Henry has done something terrible. Now, as dawn approaches, she waits in dread, knowing Henry is silently planning how he will kill her.

Originally Aired: July 27, 1954
Suspense #562, "Destruction," presents a harrowing portrait of a man dying from the inside out. Joe Porter lies in a hospital emergency room, clinging to life after collapsing in the street from a coronary seizure, as doctors work desperately to save him. Through fragmentary memories, the events leading to his collapse unfold: a devastating morning when his wife Vera tells him their marriage is over, that she's seeing another man and feels nothing for him anymore. At work, colleague Herb tells him he's unwelcome at the poker game for unpaid debts, while office gossip Phyllis confirms the rumors about Vera's affair. Then Joe's boss, Mr. Collins, delivers the final blow, firing him despite his desperate pleas for a pay cut rather than termination.
Each humiliation becomes another small death, chipping away at Joe's will to live. The play explores how a man can be murdered without weapons or violence—destroyed instead by rejection, failure, and the relentless erosion of dignity. As Joe fights for survival in the emergency room, the question remains whether the will to live can overcome such complete devastation.

Originally Aired: July 20, 1954
Suspense #561, "Telling," presents a troubled young man desperately seeking validation and respect. Terry Ellis returns home to England after being dismissed from his job in Ceylon, the latest in a string of failures that includes expulsion from school and Cambridge. His father warns him this is his last chance, while his successful older brothers John and Charles stand in stark contrast to his own shortcomings. Terry believes that winning the love of Josephine, a young woman with chestnut hair who treats him with polite but distant affection, will prove his worth. When his brother Charles warns him that Josephine isn't the settling type and hints at her reputation, Terry's obsession intensifies.
As Terry stands in the ruins of an old chapel, his mind racing through these recent memories, he notices with sudden surprise the blood on his hands. The gardener's fresh-cut grass lies nearby, and Terry grows anxious at the thought of someone discovering him. What has driven this desperate young man to violence, and what terrible act has he committed to finally make people believe in him?