onesmedia Store HOME | BOOKS | JEAN SHEPHERD | MOVIES | OLD TIME RADIO AUDIO CD | OLD TIME RADIO mp3 CD ROM |OLD TIME RADIO mp3 DVD ROMTHE SUSPENSE COLLECTION Volume 5OLD TIME RADIO - 12 AUDIO CD - 24 SHOWSSuspense, one of the premier drama programs of the Golden Age of Radio, was subtitled "radio's outstanding theater of thrills." It was heard on CBS from 1942 through 1962. Approximately 945 episodes were broadcast during its long run, and more than 900 are extant in mostly high-quality recordings Suspense went through several major phases, characterized by different hosts, sponsors and director/producers. There were a few rules which were followed for all but a handful of episodes: Protagonists were usually a normal person suddenly dropped into a threatening or bizarre situation. Evildoers must be punished in the end. The program made only occasional forays into science fiction and fantasy. Among its science fiction entries were "The Man who Went Back to Save Lincoln" (a time travel fantasy) and an adaptation of Curt Siodmak's Donovan's Brain, as well as an adaptation of an H.P. Lovecraft short story, "The Dunwich Horror".Alfred Hitchcock directed its audition show (for the CBS series Forecast). This was an adaptation of "The Lodger," [1] a story Hitchcock had filmed in 1926 with Ivor Novello. Martin Grams, Jr., author of Suspense: Twenty Years of Thrills and Chills, described the Forecast origin of Suspense:On the second presentation of July 22, 1940, Forecast offered a mystery/horror show titled Suspense. With the co-operation of his producer Walter Wanger, Alfred Hitchcock received the honor of directing his first radio show for the American public. The condition agreed upon for Hitchcock's appearance was that CBS make a pitch to the listening audience about his and Wanger's latest film, Foreign Correspondent. To add some flavour to the deal, Wanger threw in Edmund Gwenn and Herbert Marshall as part of the package. All three men (including Hitch) would be seen in the upcoming film, which was due for a theatrical release the next month. Both Marshall and Hitchcock decided on the same story to bring to the airwaves, which happened to be a favorite of both of them: Marie Belloc Lowndes' "The Lodger." Alfred Hitchcock had filmed this story for Gainsborough in 1926, and since then it had remained as one of his favorites. Herbert Marshall portrayed the mysterious lodger, and co-starring with him were Edmund Gwenn and character actress Lurene Tuttle as the rooming-house keepers who start to suspect that their new boarder might be the notorious Jack-the-Ripper. [Gwenn was actually repeating the role taken in the 1926 film by his brother, Arthur Chesney. And Tuttle would work again with Hitchcock exactly 20 years later, playing Mrs Al Chambers in Psycho.] Character actor Joseph Kearns also had a small part in the drama, and Wilbur Hatch, head musician for CBS Radio at the time, composed and conducted the music specially for the program. Adapting the script to radio was not a great technical challenge for Hitchcock, and he cleverly decided to hold back the ending of the story from the listening audience in order to keep them in suspense themselves. This way, if the audience's curiosity got the better of them, they would write in to the network to find out whether the mysterious lodger was in fact Jack-the-Ripper. For the next few weeks, hundreds of letters came in from faithful listeners asking how the story ended. Actually a few wrote threats claiming that it was "indecent" and "immoral" to present such a production without giving the solution.In the early phase, the program was hosted by "The Man in Black" (played by Joseph Kearns or Ted Osborne) and many episodes written or adapted by the prominent mystery author John Dickson Carr. Escape was a similar anthology thriller and suspense program. Both occasionally adapted the same stories, though Escape had lower budgets--and thus, fewer sound effects and name actors.THESE ARE REGULAR AUDIO CDCAN BE PLAYED IN ANY CD PLAYER, DVD PLAYER OR COMPUTERSTHIS COLLECTION WILL BE DELIVERED IN A BOX SET WITH ART WORKWe guarantee delivery of your item. If your item doesn't get there or is damaged, please notify us and we'll reship for you.FULL REFUND IF NOT SATISFIEDSHOWS LISTCD 1 The Ten Grand - 1944-06-22 Episode 97 The Walls Came Tumbling Down - 1944-06-29 Episode 98 CD 2 The Search For Henri Lefevre - 1944-07-06 Episode 99 The Beast Must Die - 1944-07-13 Episode 100 CD 3 Of Maestro And Men - 1944-07-20 Episode 101 The Black Shawl - 1944-07-27 Episode 102 CD 4 Banquo's Chair - 1944-08-03 Episode 103 The Man Who Knew How - 1944-08-10 Episode 104 CD 5 The Diary Of Sophonia Winters - 1944-08-17 Episode 105 Actor's Blood - 1944-08-24 Episode 106 CD 6 The Black Path Of Fear - 1944-08-31 Episode 107 Voyage Through Darkness - 1944-09-07 Episode 108 CD 7 You'll Never See Me Again - 1944-09-14 Episode 109 The Bluebeard Of Ballaco - 1944-09-21 Episode 110 CD 8 The Man Who Couldn't Lose - 1944-09-28 Episode 111 Dateline Lisbon - 1944-10-05 Episode 112 CD 9 The Merry Widower - 1944-10-12 Episode 113 Eve (The Black Angel) - 1944-10-19 Episode 114 CD 10 The Night Man - 1944-10-26 Episode 115 The Singing Walls - 1944-11-02 Episode 116 CD 11 You Were Wonderful - 1944-11-09 Episode 117 The Dead Of The Night - 1944-11-16 Episode 118 CD 12 The Fountain Plays - 1944-11-23 Episode 119 Black Curtain - 1944-11-30 Episode 120FEEDBACKOur feedback record is excellent but if any problems arise, contact us before leaving any kind of neutral or negative feedback or if you plan on rating us anything less of five stars in all DSR areas. We, always, will take care of any kind of problems.PUBLIC DOMAIN NOTEThis item is the public domain and was created between January 1, 1923 and December 31, 1971This item is in the public domain due to failure to comply with required formalitiesAfter a careful search of the Library of Congress and the United States Trademark and Patent Office, it has been determined that the programs listed for sale here are in the Public Domain. They are being offered with the understanding that no valid or active copyright, trademark, and/or patent exist for them. These recordings are sold for private home listening and use only. No broadcast rights are stated, implied, or given. I assume no responsibility for unauthorized use of these programs. They are listed in accordance with current eCRATER policies concerning selling Public Domain materials.