Suspense:
“Sorry, Wrong Number”
(5/25/43).
***
CBS Mystery Theater:
Two plus Two Equals Death
(2/29/76).
***
Dark Fantasy:
“Rendezvous With Satan”
(5/29/42).
***
[audio http://archive.org/download/Nighttransmisions126-130/NighttransmissionsShow129.mp3 ]
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Suspense is one of the classics of old time radio. Some fans have special favorites in the thriller/chiller/macabre genre, but most agree that Suspense is right at the top.
The guiding light of this show was William Spier, whose formula of human drama set in interesting situations attracted the best of Hollywood and radio actors. Orson Welles was in many episodes. Cary Grant said, “If I ever do any more radio work, I want to do it on Suspense, where I get a good chance to act.”
Spier’s method with actors was to keep them under-rehearsed, and there-by a bit uneasy. He got great performances, and the show gained great popularity.
All the production values were first class. With Bernard Hermann, who had worked with Orson Welles on the Mercury Theater and would work with Alfred Hitchcock, doing the musical scores.
Suspense – “Sorry Wrong Number” aired on May 5 of 1943.
Now let’s see, how much did the producers of suspense and the entertainment industry think of this Lucille Fletcher play?
How high the Moon?
Between 1943 and 1960 Suspense produced eight versions of this play, each time starring Agnes Moorhead, of which only seven have survived.
In 1948 There was a movie starring Barbara Stanwyck with Lucille Fletcher expanding and opening up her radio script. That year The Lux Radio Theater would produce a another radio version based on the movie with Barbara Stanwyck reprising her role of Mrs. Stevenson.
This particular episode is the first of the eight and is at a slight variance from your normal run of Suspense in that it is taken from an Armed Forces radio rebroadcast. The only real difference being the opening and closing which differ slightly from the standard.
Violet Louise Fletcher`s (who was born in in 1912 and died in 2000) long list of credits include another very famous radio play, The Hitchhiker. Originally Performed by Orson Welles on his Mercury Theater Of The Air then later adapted for an episode of, The Twilight Zone. Much more recently served as the inspiration for an episode of Supernatural.
The CBS Radio Mystery Theater was an ambitious effort by veteran radio producer Himan Brown to revive interest in American radio drama. Every night from 1974 to 1982, host E.G. Marshall (laterTammy Grimes) ushered listeners through a creaking door — for 52 Min of “the fear you can hear.” Brown produced nearly 200 new episodes of Mystery Theater every year, using both original scripts and adaptations of classic stories by Edgar Allen Poe, Mark Twain,Robert Louis Stevenson and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. The Mystery Theater brought many veterans from radio’s golden age back before the microphone, including Agnes Moorehead, Richard Widmark,Celeste Holm, Mercedes McCambridge and Howard Da Silva. The show also featured performances from many up-and-coming stage and film actors, including Tony Roberts, John Lithgow, Morgan Fairchild, Mandy Patinkin and Sarah Jessica Parker.
The CBS Radio Mystery Theater won the George A. Peabody Award in 1974.
After eight years and 1,399 shows, the show ended its run on December 30, 1982. And was inducted into the Radio Hall of Fame in 1990.
CBS Mystery Theater – Two plus Two Equals Death Part 1 April 29, 1976.
In this play by Alfred Bester, an aspiring architect is drawn into the world of the circus when he falls in love with one of the beautiful ballerinas in the show. Unfortunately, his beloved has a cruel, heartless, identical twin sister. Can he marry one without marrying them both.
Bare in mind that this was written by Alfred Bester so it may turn out a bit different.
CBS Mystery Theater – “Two plus Two Equals Death” part 2.
Also in this segment, What’s He Doing in There?
What’s He Doing in There? is a short story from Fritz Leiber and was originallypublished in Galaxy Science Fiction for December 1957.
“He went where no Martian ever went before—but would he come out—or had he gone for good?”
Originating from WKY in Oklahoma City Dark Fantasy was a short lived program (producing only 31 episodes) dedicated to tales of the unknown on Friday nights for parts of 1941 and 1942.
Oklahoma City was far from alone in producing it’s own successful series. In point of fact many excellent programs were produced in places that today would seem surprising. Of course, thinking about it, the barriers to entry to radio production were and are much lower than for movies or television. All you really need is a little equipment and a few talented people of which there was then, and is now, no monopoly of in Hollywood.
Dark Fantasy had a shoestring of a budget which the show was able to rise above through the creative establishment of an effective but spare atmospheric ambiance resulting in an excellent show that was, in some ways, well ahead of it’s time.
Dark Fantasy was written by Scott Bishop, who would later write for The Mysterious Travelerand The Sealed Book.
Keith Paynton served as announcer.
Dark Fantasy – Rendezvous With Satan May 29 of 1943.
This episode of Dark Fantasy begins at a funeral where there is a bit of a commotion when somebody sees the corpse’s hand move. You see while his body is lying in the church Carl Fisher’s soul is in a much warmer place you can guess the place, another hint, the air is filled with brimstone. Don’t worry about Carl, well on second thought, maybe you should worry about Carl. One thing is for sure though…
Carl, won’t be lonely not with the devil for company. Maybe it’s not as bad as it seems. It seems that the devil has a offer for him .
I guess Carl has never read Faust.
May-hap it’ll work out better for him.
Night Transmissions 
Apr 22, 2012 @ 10:36:22
Gary,
Thanks so much for playing my request of Suspense this week. It was great to hear that episode after so many years. Keep up the great work and I look forward in next weeks program.
Regards,
Todd