Suspense - Radio’s Outstanding Theater of Thrills

Originally Aired: December 15, 1949 Suspense #363, "The Flame Blue Glove," stars Lana Turner as Shadow, a former detective who left the business when she married Jimmy Conway. Her former boss Dutch refuses to let an old case rest, convinced that Jimmy murdered his wealthy first wife Eloise, whose death was ruled a suicide after she consumed dissolved sleeping tablets on New Year's Eve. Dutch belie...

Originally Aired: December 8, 1949 In Suspense #362, "For Love or Murder," pianist Tommy Lee commits the unthinkable at the urging of his lover Anne. Following a meticulously rehearsed plan, Tommy climbs the back stairs of an apartment building with a gun in hand, ready to kill Anne's husband. The drums beat in his head as he confronts the helpless victim, a fat little man who looks at him like a...

Originally Aired: December 1, 1949 Suspense #361, "Mission Completed," stars James Stewart as Tom, a paralyzed World War II veteran who has spent four years in a VA hospital, able to communicate only by blinking his eyes once for yes and twice for no. Tom's world revolves around a square on the ceiling that reminds him of Sagamo prison camp in Tokyo, where a brutal guard named Suki tortured and ki...

Originally Aired: November 24, 1949 Suspense #360, "The Long Wait," stars Burt Lancaster as Dan Vettel, a man fresh out of prison with murder on his mind. Dan's brother Richie died in jail two years earlier, and Dan blames Lois Williams, the woman who informed on Richie to protect her lover, Tim Grady. When Dan arrives in New York to exact his revenge, Lieutenant Len Bush warns him not to go throu...

Originally Aired: November 17, 1949 Suspense #359, "The Red-Headed Woman," stars Lucille Ball as Linda, a secretary whose broken engagement sends her down a dangerous path. After her fiancé Frank coldly breaks off their two-year relationship, Linda resolves to stop thinking of others and focus solely on herself. When her boss Mr. Jensen withdraws the company payroll early before his Florida vacati...

Originally Aired: November 10, 1949 Suspense #358, "The Murder of Aunt Delia," presents a chilling tale of identity theft and cold-blooded murder. Dort Sharples, a down-on-his-luck hitchhiker crossing the Arizona desert, catches a ride with Glendon Brayle, a young man heading to Santa Barbara to visit his wealthy invalid aunt after seventeen years apart. As Brayle shares intimate details of his ch...

Originally Aired: November 3, 1949 Suspense #357, "The Search for Isabell," stars Red Skelton as Dick Brown, an ordinary bank clerk whose life takes a strange turn when he receives a newly installed telephone. The phone comes with an unexpected complication: it belonged to the previous subscriber, a mysterious woman named Isabel LaRue. As calls pour in from various men seeking Isabel, Dick becomes...

Originally Aired: October 27, 1949 Suspense #356, "Momentum," stars Victor Mature as Dick Payne, a man whose life spirals dangerously out of control in a single day. Standing on a train platform with a bullet in his neck, Dick waits to meet his wife Pauline and escape to San Francisco. As snow begins to fall, he reflects on how everything went wrong since that morning when Pauline woke him at noon...

Originally Aired: October 20, 1949 Suspense #355, "Good Night Mrs Russell," stars Betty Davis as a middle-aged widow who becomes an unwitting target of danger. Mrs. Russell is a regular customer at Henry's Cafe, a small, pleasant lunch spot near her office in the Hillmar Building. Henry, the cafe's polite and solitary proprietor, seems particularly attentive to her, inviting her to try one of his...

Originally Aired: October 13, 1949 Suspense #354, "Account Payable," stars Edward Arnold as Timothy Baker, a long-suffering head bookkeeper who has endured 22 years of humiliation from his tyrannical boss, John Waterberry. Baker's life outside the office revolves around his beloved 20-year-old daughter Jessie, whose happiness means everything to him. When Jessie falls in love with a young medical...

Originally Aired: October 6, 1949 Suspense #353, "The Defense Rests," stars Van Johnson as Robert Tasker, an ex-convict on trial for murder. As his defense attorney Max Krager addresses the court, Robert reflects on the twisted irony of his situation: Krager is the only friend he's ever had, yet without him, Robert wouldn't be in this courtroom at all. The story flashes back to Robert's release fr...

Originally Aired: September 29, 1949 Suspense #352, "Blind Date," finds vaudeville performer Gloria LaFay preparing to leave Chicago after closing night when a mysterious stranger named Vincent Hawthorne arrives at her dressing room. The cultured, poetry-quoting Vincent has arranged a blind date with the young acrobatic dancer, bringing wine and roses for what he insists should be an intimate even...

Originally Aired: September 22, 1949 Suspense #351, "Experiment 6-R," Morris Brandt has spent twelve long years as assistant manager at the Carlton Plaza Hotel, enduring daily humiliation at the hands of his boss, Paul Koblenz. Each afternoon at precisely 3:15, Brandt must perform a degrading ritual: delivering coffee, unlocking the liquor cabinet with Koblenz's key, and serving brandy while being...

Originally Aired: September 15, 1949 Suspense #350, "Last Confession," Jesse, a young woman living with her roommate Edna, becomes increasingly disturbed by newspaper reports of a brutal murder. Thomas L. Howard has been found stabbed to death in Woodland Grove, and Jesse's overactive imagination begins to spiral. As she pores over the details, she's struck by the victim's resemblance to Henry Hac...

Originally Aired: September 8, 1949 Suspense #349, "Chicken Feed," stars Ray Milland as Ralph Clark, a San Francisco attorney whose marriage spat over a nickel spirals into a nightmare. After storming out of his house following an argument with his wife Mary about giving their son Junior a nickel, Ralph drives fifty miles to cool off. He stops in Lansing, California—a notorious speed-trap town—for...

Originally Aired: September 1, 1949 Suspense #348, "Nightmare," stars Gregory Peck as Ben, a family man whose tranquil Fourth of July fishing trip turns into a harrowing tragedy. After a near-miss with children playing baseball the previous evening leaves him shaken, Ben drives his wife Elsa, who is recovering from a nervous breakdown, and their young son Stevie into the trout country. When the ca...

Originally Aired: June 30, 1949 Suspense #347, "The Day I Died," stars Joseph Cotten as Wells Galloway, a wealthy lawyer whose life has crumbled around him. Having embezzled bonds from an estate he was entrusted to manage, Wells retreats to his isolated cabin at Lake Latima to contemplate his desperate situation. His wife Leslie has fallen in love with another man, Norman Vale, and his money is go...

Originally Aired: June 23, 1949 Suspense #346, "Ghost Hunt," disc jockey Smiley Smith embarks on a publicity stunt that goes terribly wrong. Looking to boost ratings and help property owner Mr. Thorpe sell a notorious house known as "the death trap," where four people have committed suicide since 1939, Smiley plans to spend the night there with psychic investigator Dr. Clarence Reed. Using walkie-...

Originally Aired: June 16, 1949 In Suspense #345, "The Trap," Agnes Moorhead stars as Helen Crane, a physician's secretary living alone in a large, labyrinthine house. Helen becomes convinced that someone is secretly living in her home when she's awakened in the middle of the night by whistling echoing through the empty rooms. The police find no signs of forced entry or burglary, dismissing her co...

Originally Aired: June 9, 1949 Suspense #344, "Lunch Kit," brings a chilling tale of sabotage and betrayal at an atomic plant. Jonathan, a young man torn between duty and conscience, reluctantly helps his father execute a deadly plan. His father, a fanatic convinced that atomic fission will destroy the world, enlists an old-timer mechanic named Gus to build a bomb disguised inside an ordinary lunc...

Originally Aired: June 2, 1949 Suspense #343, "The Ten Years," stars Joan Crawford as Clara, a woman confined to an institution, haunted by memories of her sister Adele. Clara recounts their childhood promise to remain together "always and forever" after their mother's death, a vow that binds them into adulthood. When Clara falls in love with Douglas Foley and marries him despite Adele's desperate...

Originally Aired: May 26, 1949 Suspense #342, "The Night Reveals," presents Frederick March as Harry Jordan, a fire insurance investigator whose world begins to unravel during a single strange night. When Harry awakens at 2 a.m. to find his wife Marie's bed empty, he questions the elevator operator and learns she left half an hour earlier. Marie claims she only stepped out for aspirin ten minutes...

Originally Aired: May 19, 1949 Suspense #341, "Consequence," stars James Stewart as Dr. Phil Martin, a physician whose seemingly perfect life conceals deep unhappiness. When his old college friend Ted Wolf visits after ten years, Phil confesses a shocking truth: he despises his marriage to Gwen, who has forced him to abandon his dreams of meaningful medical work to maintain their wealthy lifestyle...

Originally Aired: May 12, 1949 Suspense #340, "The Light Switch," stars Claire Trevor as Mrs. John Winston, a wealthy banker's wife who makes a fateful decision to visit a run-down detective agency on East Main Street. Hiring the down-on-his-luck private investigator Skid Webb to follow her husband John, she insists nothing is wrong but simply wants to check on his late nights at work. When Webb r...

Originally Aired: May 5, 1949 Suspense #339, "Death Has a Shadow," finds attorney Harvey Warren trapped in his office building late at night, waiting for a call that could save his life. Still reeling from his wife Lily's murder, Warren sits alone in his office when he receives an ominous phone call from a man named Bolster, who insists on picking up his money in person rather than having Warren m...