by Martin Grams, Jr.
In the beginning, the series focused on stories of mystery and
suspense, such
as the classic "Sorry, Wrong Number" starring Agnes Moorehead as a
bed-ridden
invalid who overhears a murder being plotted over the phone. Too late
she
discovers that it is to be her murder. Many of the early scripts were
written by mystery novelist John Dickson Carr, including "Cabin B-13"
in
which a newlywed’s husband disappears on board ship. She finds herself
not
so much searching for him as searching to prove he existed since
everyone she
goes to for help denies having seen him. When Suspense made its first
sojourn into the realm of horror, it was with Orson Welles narrating
the
chilling story of "The Hitchhiker" who somehow manages to keep showing
up on
the road in front of him as he drives across country, always with a few
drops
of rain on the shoulders of his coat even though there has been no rain
for
days. Curt Siodmak’s "Donovan’s Brain" was Suspense’s debut entry in
the
field of science fiction. For a couple of seasons late in its run, a
majority of the episodes featured ‘real-life dramas’ such as
"Breakthrough",
about a family of four attempting to escape the Iron Curtain, before
returning to the more popular mystery and suspense genres.
At the height of its popularity, Suspense’s guest stars were the creme
of the
Hollywood crop. Of special interest to horror fans were Bela Lugosi’s
sole
appearance, in "The Doctor Prescribed Death" in 1943. Peter Lorre
created
several memorable roles, once even cast as a good guy! In addition to
starring in many suspense tales, Vincent Price reprised his chilling
"Three
Skeleton Key," as one of three lighthouse keepers trapped in their
lighthouse
by a horde of ravenous rats. Boris Karloff starred as a Scotland Yard
inspector in "Drury’s Bones." Claude Rains starred in "The Hands of
Mr.
Ottermole" with Vincent Price, and in "The Waxworks," as a reporter who
spends a night in a wax museum. His fears start to catch up with him
when he
notices one of the figures moving…
Directors William Spier (called ‘The Hitchcock of the Air’) and later
William
N. Robson set their stamps on the series. Writers John Dickson Carr,
Hugh
Pentecost and Lucille Fletcher contributed classics of the genre, while
stories from the pens of Marie Belloc Lowndes, John Collier, Agatha
Christie,
Dorothy L. Sayers, and Cornell Woolrich were adapted to great effect.
Film
composer Bernard Herrmann created the opening theme (the unforgettable
arrangement of church bells, strings, and soft wind instruments). He
also
wrote the music for each episode until the show moved from New York to
Los
Angeles. Sound effects artists including Berne Surrey created such
effects
as the sounds of walking, running, moving objects, opening doors,
gunshots,
etc. (though they were never called upon to simulate the sound of a
man’s
body being turned inside out, which occurred on the horror anthology
series
Lights Out).
In "Suspense: Twenty Years of Thrills and Chills," author Martin Grams presents us with the skeleton of Suspense ,
but
there is precious little flesh on the bones. It’s as if he made up
index
cards for every week that the show was on the air, wrote down a
paragraph of
information in the most succinct way possible, and then arranged them
in
chronological order. And while the paragraphs are single spaced, we’re
given
double spaces in between them. We’re being chiseled out of at least
three or
four more possible pages of information!
Which isn’t to say that much of interest isn’t covered in the author’s
rapid-fire like way. Such luminaries as Ray Kemper (sound effects) ,
Parley
Baer (actor), Ray Bradbury (writer), Roddy McDowall (actor), William
Spier
(producer and director) , and Lucille Fletcher (writer) recount their
fond
memories of working on this classic series. But 150 pages are simply
too few
to do justice to twenty action packed years.
The rest of the considerable number of pages (un-numbered) are given
over to
an invaluable broadcast log – dates of each of the 945 broadcasts,
director
and stars, and plot synopses. The television show is covered briefly,
with a
listing of all 260 episodes. The Suspense books and comics are
commented
upon as well. There is no index, however.
Unfortunately, Grams is ill-served by the proofreader. The book is
riddled
with typos. Not from a .44, admittedly, more like a .22. The
persistent use
of the contraction it’s for the possessive its was the most irritating.
Some
of the plot synopses are ungrammatical – nevertheless they are written
well
enough to cause the reader to want to seek out these programs, sit down
in a
quiet room, close his eyes, and use his imagination for one half hour
of
suspense!
One by one, television killed off all the radio programs. One of the
final
victims was the CBS anthology series, Suspense. The show had put up a
valiant fight – premiering in 1940 it ran steadily until 1960
(outliving its
television counterpart which ran from 1949 until 1954!) and after a
seven
month hiatus was resurrected late in 1961. The series breathed its
last on
September 30, 1962 with its 945th broadcast. (CBS’s extremely popular
insurance detective series Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar, also expired on
this
date.)
This review copyright
May 24, 2000.
If you wish to comment on this review, please email us at Book Review comments.
Are the books you want out of print? They're probably available from: www.abe.com.
This page sponsored by these books:
[A] [B] [C] [D] [E] [F] [G] [H] [I] [J] [K] [L] [M]
[N] [O] [P] [Q] [R] [S] [T] [U] [V] [X] [W] [Y] [Z]
Do you have the clearance to be the viewer of this page?
This page hosted by 
Get your own Free Home Page