Suspense - Radio’s Outstanding Theater of Thrills

Originally Aired: March 15, 1954
Suspense #543, "The Girl in Car 32," stars Victor Mature as Mahoney, a New York police detective assigned to a cross-country train trip with a dangerous mission. His target is Genevieve Josephine Johnson, known as Jenny, a young woman believed to be the girlfriend of jewel thief Fritzy Hollister. Mahoney's superior, working with LA police detective Dave, instructs him to befriend Jenny and search her luggage to discover where she's planning to meet Fritzy and his trunk full of stolen jewelry. Despite her modest background—a low-rent Hollywood apartment and a job in a Pennsylvania dentist's office—the police are convinced Jenny is part of Fritzy's criminal operation.
When a drunk passenger harasses Jenny in Car 32, Mahoney uses the opportunity to play hero and insert himself into her life. As they strike up a conversation, Jenny proves charming and seemingly innocent, talking about her brief stay in a luxurious Hollywood apartment and her journey back east to Bayside Hills, Pennsylvania. Mahoney finds himself drawn to her natural warmth and beauty, creating an uncomfortable tension between his professional duty and growing personal feelings. As the streamliner speeds eastward, Mahoney must decide whether Jenny is truly a criminal's accomplice or an innocent woman caught in his investigation.

Originally Aired: March 8, 1954
Suspense #542, "Circumstantial Terror," stars Ronald Reagan as Frank Thompson, a desperate man caught in a nightmare of circumstantial evidence. After months of unemployment following a boiler explosion at his workplace, Frank loses his temper with Sam, a rude liquor store owner, during an argument over cigarettes. Later that night, feeling guilty about his outburst, Frank returns to the store to apologize—only to hear a gunshot and see an unknown man flee the scene. When he rushes inside, he finds Sam dead behind the counter.
Before Frank can call the police, witnesses arrive who had overheard his earlier threats against Sam. Despite his protests that he saw the real killer escape, the evidence mounts against him: the murder weapon bears only Sam's fingerprints, money is scattered across the store suggesting a robbery gone wrong, and his desperate financial situation provides a clear motive. As Frank faces a grand jury indictment for first-degree murder, even his assigned public defender Ernest Gibbons struggles to believe his story. With no one willing to accept the truth about what he witnessed, Frank must find a way to prove his innocence before it's too late.

Originally Aired: March 1, 1954
Suspense #541, "The Barking Death," presents a terrifying race against time when a rabid dog escapes from a health center laboratory. Dr. Paul Miller discovers that thieves who broke in to steal microscopes and medical equipment have also inadvertently taken a black and white spotted mongrel that was being tested after biting a local man named Garrison. With rabies being 100% fatal once symptoms appear, Miller must alert the entire community of 25,000 residents to the deadly threat now loose on their streets. As police, health officials, and concerned citizens mobilize, tensions rise. Mrs. Stone and other townspeople question whether the publicity will cause unnecessary panic, but Dr. Miller grimly educates them with footage of a child suffering from the disease. Meanwhile, the petty thief Cliff has grown attached to his new "poochie," unaware of the danger he's carrying. As the hunt intensifies through neighborhoods and hills, the clock ticks toward a tragic outcome if the infected animal bites again before it can be found.

Originally Aired: February 22, 1954
Suspense #540, "Murder by Jury," stars Herbert Marshall in a chilling courtroom drama where Edward Mason stands trial for murdering his wife, Frida. Mason claims he awoke from a recurring nightmare about strangling a snake, only to discover his hands were around his wife's throat and she was already dead. As the prosecutor cross-examines witnesses, damning evidence emerges: Mason had insured his wife's life for ten thousand pounds, and her brother Hector Easterday testifies that Mason had been involved with another woman. While the defense attorney, McCrae, works to discredit the witnesses and paint Mason's confession as the truthful account of a tragic accident, the prosecution argues it was a carefully premeditated murder disguised as a nightmare.
The case grows more complex as the jury weighs the evidence. Was this truly a horrible accident caused by a vivid dream, or did Mason commit the perfect crime by staging his wife's death to look like an unfortunate sleepwalking incident? With Mason's life hanging in the balance, the truth remains elusive as both sides battle to convince the jury of their version of events.

Originally Aired: February 15, 1954
Suspense #539, "The Outer Limit," test pilot Major Bill Westfall prepares to fly the RJX1, a top-secret experimental rocket jet aircraft designed to push the boundaries of speed and altitude beyond anything previously attempted. With eight rockets capable of propelling him into unexplored regions of space, Bill faces tremendous risks as Colonel Hank and engineer Mr. Hargrove monitor the flight from ground control. The biggest uncertainty comes at takeoff—with maximum fuel capacity, Bill has just six thousand feet and seven seconds to get the heavily loaded aircraft airborne, a configuration that has never been tested before. As Bill's wife Molly and twin children wait at home, he climbs higher and faster, firing his rockets one by one and reporting back that the plane is "a doll, baby."
But as Bill fires his second rocket and climbs beyond known altitudes, something goes terribly wrong. His transmission cuts off mid-sentence, leaving Hank desperately calling for his best pilot to respond. The chase planes in their F-86s can only watch as Bill and his experimental aircraft venture beyond the outer limit of human experience, into regions where no one knows what awaits.

Originally Aired: February 8, 1954
Suspense #538, "Death at Skirkerud Pond," presents a harrowing true story of moral crisis in Nazi-occupied Norway. When George Helman arrives home wounded after helping blow up a Nazi troop train, his parents Miklas and Anna face terrible danger. The underground resistance, led by Arnie and Hansen, reluctantly agrees to guide the elderly couple across the border to Sweden—for a price. The Helmans, once proud and prosperous citizens, must now flee the country their son shed blood to defend.
The treacherous journey through twenty miles of frozen wilderness quickly deteriorates as the aging couple struggles to keep pace. Miklas grows defiant and threatens to betray the underground to the Gestapo if they don't accommodate his demands for rest and better treatment. As dawn approaches and Nazi patrols draw near, Arnie and Hansen face an agonizing decision: the Helmans have become a threat not only to their own mission, but to the entire resistance network and the lives of hundreds of others fighting for freedom.

Originally Aired: February 1, 1954
Suspense #537, "Never Follow a Banjo Act," stars Ethel Merman as Rosie Jones, a veteran nightclub singer whose career has seen better days. When legendary agent Ray Cram offers her a lucrative contract to perform with his hot new discovery, teenage heartthrob Terry Dane, at a Las Vegas casino, Rosie jumps at the opportunity. However, Cram delivers a stern warning: stay away from Terry off-stage. The young singer is moody and shy, still recovering from the tragic death of his girlfriend Constance Green, who died in a bizarre shower door accident during Cram's "My Darling Died" publicity campaign.
As Rosie and Terry begin performing together at the Cactus Retreat, tensions simmer beneath the surface. Terry displays an unsettling charisma with audiences, particularly women, yet seems strangely fixated on Rosie's apparent immunity to his charms. When Cram catches Terry whispering to Rosie backstage and reinforces his warning for her to keep her distance, it becomes clear that something sinister lurks behind the glamorous Vegas showbiz facade. The episode's ominous title takes on new meaning as Rosie finds herself in increasingly dangerous territory.

Originally Aired: January 25, 1954
Suspense #536, "Want Ad," presents a chilling portrait of a calculating criminal who has perfected a deadly method of making his living. The protagonist needs only three tools: the morning newspaper, a telephone, and a gun. After settling into domestic life with his wife Wilma, he continues his routine, scanning the classifieds for wealthy women selling expensive items like fur coats. When he spots an advertisement for a mink coat, he calls Mrs. Phelps, claiming to be an interested buyer named Mr. Vernon who wants to purchase the coat as a gift for his wife.
Mrs. Phelps welcomes him into her home, eager to sell the $4,500 mink coat her husband bought her. She demonstrates the coat's quality, discusses the price, and after some negotiation agrees to his offer of $3,400 in cash. But when it comes time for payment, the con man reveals his true intentions at gunpoint, transforming what seemed like a legitimate transaction into an armed robbery that leaves Mrs. Phelps terrified and helpless.

Originally Aired: January 18, 1954
Suspense #535, "The Face Is Familiar," stars Jack Benny as Tom Jones, a down-on-his-luck man with an unusual talent: he never forgets a face. While wandering through a train station, Tom spots Harry Edmonds, someone he remembers from their old neighborhood on 12th Street and 2nd Avenue. Harry doesn't remember Tom at all, but Tom eagerly approaches him anyway, rattling off names and places from their shared past. What Tom doesn't realize is that Harry and his associate Joe are criminals planning a bank robbery, and they're desperately searching for someone new to help them pull it off—someone whose face won't be recognized.
Harry and Joe quickly see an opportunity in the eager, talkative Tom. Here's a nobody, a man so unremarkable that no one would look at him twice—the perfect accomplice. They lure Tom in with flattery and promises of a lucrative job, playing on his obvious need for money and acceptance. As Tom enthusiastically reminisces about old times and boasts about his modest career, he remains oblivious to the dangerous situation unfolding around him, his harmless talent for remembering faces about to pull him into a world of crime.

Originally Aired: January 11, 1954
Suspense #534, "The One Man Crime Wave," presents a chilling dramatization based on actual events as a city descends into terror. When a neighborhood woman is brutally stabbed to death while simply walking to mail a letter on a Tuesday evening, Sergeant Farring and his new partner Driscoll begin investigating what appears to be a senseless killing. The victim, a mother with children, had no known enemies, leaving police with virtually no leads. Days later, the killer strikes again on Washington Street, fatally attacking a 37-year-old waitress named Miss who manages to survive long enough to provide Farring with a vague description of her assailant before dying while holding the detective's hand.
With two murders committed on opposite sides of the city and no discernible pattern, Farring faces a nightmare scenario: a probable criminally insane killer striking at random. As the story breaks in the newspapers, panic spreads through the community while Farring's phone rings constantly with tips from frightened citizens. Working with limited information and facing mounting pressure, the detective must somehow find this one-man crime wave before he kills again.