Stars on Suspense (Old Time Radio‪)‬ Mean Streets Podcasts

Cathy and Elliott Lewis were two of the busiest - and best - performers of the radio era. Both could get laughs (Cathy on My Friend Irma and Elliott on The Phil Harris-Alice Faye Show) and could be heard on mysteries, including "radio's outstanding theater of thrills." Cathy co-starred in several of the show's best episodes, and Elliott directed the program during some of its most innovative years. We'll hear the couple starring together in the story of a comedian who turns to murder in order to be taken seriously in "Joker Wild" (originally aired on CBS on December 3, 1952) and in the tale of a man who picks up a hitch-hiker and ends up on a dangerous drive in "Run, Sheep, Run" (AFRS rebroadcast from July 13, 1954). Plus, the Lewises co-star in "Statement of Fact," a thriller from their own anthology show On Stage (originally aired on CBS on May 14, 1953).

His star in Hollywood didn't burn bright for long, but Zachary Scott made memorable impressions as mysterious villains in movies like Mildred Pierce. In his one and only appearance on Suspense, Scott plays a man accused of bumping off an annoying neighbor in "Murder Off Key" (originally aired on CBS on November 15, 1945). Plus, he stars as the infamous Dr. Samuel Mudd - the man who treated John Wilkes Booth when the assassin was on the lam and later stood trial as a co-conspirator - in "The Prisoner of Shark Island" from Encore Theatre (originally aired on CBS on August 13, 1946).

Joseph Kearns - the longtime voice of "The Man in Black" - makes his final starring appearance on Suspense as a trigger-happy store owner who learns a tragic lesson in vigilante justice in "Hold-Up" (originally aired on CBS on August 29, 1956). Then, he stars in a pair of thrillers from The Whistler - "Final Returns" (originally aired on CBS on October 29, 1945) and "Murder in Haste" (originally aired on CBS on February 25, 1946).

In this bonus show, I'm sharing my favorite Suspense shows starring Robert Young. Before he made rounds as kindly old Marcus Welby or showed how Father Knows Best, Young made several memorable appearances on "radio's outstanding theater of thrills." First, he's tormented by dreams of one of history's most infamous duels in "A Friend to Alexander" (originally aired on CBS on August 3, 1943). Next, he's an arson investigator who finds a firebug close to home in "The Night Reveals" (originally aired on CBS on December 9, 1943). Finally, he's on a frantic search for his missing wife in "You'll Never See Me Again" (originally aired on CBS on September 5, 1946).

Whitfield Connor broke out on the Broadway stage in the 1940s, and he returned to the theatre in the 1960s as a manager and producer. In between, he made two starring turns on Suspense. First, he's an editor who finds a perfect murder plot in a manuscript in "Sequel to Murder" (originally aired on CBS on June 22, 1954). Then he's a prosecutor investigating a death that could be a heart attack or murder in "The Thimble" (originally aired on CBS on November 22, 1959). Plus, we'll hear him face off with Jack Webb in "The Big Try" from Dragnet (originally aired on NBC on September 29, 1953). 

Lucille Fletcher penned some of the best old time radio thrillers of all time - stories that can still keep listeners on the edge of their seats over eighty years later. She wrote "Sorry, Wrong Number," "The Hitch-hiker," and many more episodes that rank among the best of Suspense. We'll hear Mildred Natwick starring in a tale of a boarding house with a ghostly new tenant in "The Furnished Floor" (originally aired on CBS on September 13, 1945). Then, a woman is convinced her mother's killer has escaped prison and is out to kill her next in "The Night Man" (originally aired on CBS on October 23, 1960). Plus, we'll hear some of her non-Suspense shows: "Carmilla," an adaptation of a pre-Dracula vampire tale from The Columbia Workshop (originally aired on CBS on July 28, 1940), and "Bela Boczniak's Bad Dreams," a story of a man haunted by nightmares in his waking life from The Clock (originally aired on ABC on April 25, 1948).