| Genre: | Anthology drama |
| Director: | Robert Mulligan (1952-54) Byron Paul (1953) John Peyser (1950) Robert Stevens (1949-52) |
| Presenter: | Rex Marshall |
| Composer: | Henry (Hank) Sylvern Bernard Herrmann |
| Country: | United States |
| Language: | English |
| Num Seasons: | 6 |
| Num Episodes: | 260 |
| Producer: | Robert Stevens (1949-52) John Peyser (1950) Martin Manulis (1952-54) David Heilweil (1954) |
| Executive Producer: | William Dozier (1953) |
| Runtime: | 25 min. (1949 pilot episode) 30 min. (March 1, 1949-Aug. 17, 1954) |
| Channel: | CBS |
Suspense is an American television anthology series that ran on CBS Television from 1949 to 1954. It was adapted from the radio program of the same name which ran from 1942 to 1962.[1]
The show was broadcast live from New York City to stations on CBS's eastern and midwestern networks. Kinescope recordings were made for transmission via KTTV in Hollywood. It was sponsored by the Auto-Lite corporation,[2] and each episode was introduced by host Rex Marshall, who promoted Auto-Lite spark plugs, car batteries, headlights, and other car parts.Some of the early scripts were adapted from Suspense radio scripts, while others were original for television. Like the radio program, many scripts were adaptations of literary classics by well-known authors. Classic authors such as Edgar Allan Poe, Agatha Christie, and Charles Dickens all had stories adapted for the series, while contemporary authors such as Roald Dahl and Gore Vidal also contributed. Many notable actors appeared on the program, including Bela Lugosi, Boris Karloff, Cloris Leachman, Brian Keith, Franchot Tone, Robert Emhardt, Leslie Nielsen, Felicia Montealgre Bernstein and Lloyd Bridges.
The ninety existing episodes are available today on three DVD box sets. Tubi is also streaming episodes of the show.[3]
In 1949, Marvel Comics began publishing Suspense comics licensed from CBS; a box on the cover of the first eleven issues (out of 29 total issues) read "Based on gripping CBS radio - television series".[4]
A review in The New York Times of the program's premiere episode, "Revenge", commended the "great technical skill" of mixing filmed segments with live studio shots, a technique that the review labeled a "novel aspect".[5] Beyond that, however, reviewer Jay Gould found little to like about the episode, which he wrote was "a badly contrived piece of trivia", described elsewhere in the review as having "a drab story and an inexcusably poor supporting cast".[5] Even so, he wrote that with improvements "the mystery show should be a serviceable staple on video."[5]
The trade publication Variety commented in a review of the same episode that "Suspense made an inauspicious debut" on television, comparing the episode to a B film.[6] The reviewer blamed a "weakly motivated" adaptation for causing the direction and acting to suffer. Robert Stevens, who produced and directed, was cited for failing to add excitement to an already weak script.
| No. in series | No. in season | Title | Writer | Guest Stars | Original air date | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | "Goodbye New York" | Cornell Woolrich | Meg Mundy | January 6, 1949 | ||
| Departing New York by train, Mary Gardner (Meg Mundy), worries that a mysterious man (Gage Clarke) is following her while she waits for her husband, Ray. In a flashback, Mary returns to her apartment, and runs into the superintendent (Philip Coolidge), who demands the back rent. She manages to stall for time, but smells gas as she enters the apartment. Mary discovers Ray collapsed on the floor, but revives him. Ray cannot find work and has been blacklisted by his former employer. Wondering where Mary has gotten money for groceries, she reveals that she has pawned her wedding ring. Ashamed, Ray hurriedly leaves the apartment. Mary follows him but stops when she sees a suspicious-looking man eyeing her. Ray returns later that evening with $500. The next morning, the couple read about the murder of Ray's boss in the newspaper, and Mary, realizing what has happened, decides that they must leave the city. At Grand Central Station they board the train separately to avoid suspicion. Flashing forward to the present, Ray catches up with Mary on the train. The mysterious man is then revealed to be sitting in front of them, and as the tickets are being collected, he flashes a badge to the conductor.[7] | |||||||
| 2 | 2 | "Revenge" | Cornell Woolrich | March 1, 1949 | based on the 1943 novel The Black Path of Fear[8] | ||
| 3 | 3 | "Suspicion" | Sylvia Berger & Dorothy L. Sayers | Ernest Truex Sylvia Field Ruth McDevitt | March 15, 1949 | previously adapted for Suspense radio show on 12 August 1942, 10 February 1944, & 3 April 1948. | |
| A couple has separate health issues. One of them is arsenic. | |||||||
| 4 | 4 | "Cabin B-13" | John Dickson Carr | Charles Korvin Eleanor Lynn | March 29, 1949 | previously adapted for Suspense radio on 13 March 1943 & 9 November 1943. In 1948 it inspired its own short-lived radio program. | |
| 5 | 5 | "The Man Upstairs" | Cornell Woolrich | Mildred Natwick Anthony Ross | April 5, 1949 | ||
| 6 | 6 | "After Dinner Story" | Cornell Woolrich | Otto Kruger | April 12, 1949 | previously adapted for Suspense radio on 26 October 1943. | |
| 7 | 7 | "The Creeper" | Frank Gabrielson & Joseph Ruscoll | Nina Foch Anthony Ross | April 19, 1949 | ||
| 8 | 8 | "A Night at an Inn" | Lord Dunsany & Halsted Welles | Boris Karloff Anthony Ross Jack Manning Barry Macollum Joan Stanley | April 26, 1949 | ||
| A pilot flies unknown shipments to a mystery spot in the Arctic. | |||||||
| 9 | 9 | "Dead Ernest" | Reginald Denham, Seeleg Lester, & Mary Orr | Margaret Phillips Tod Andrews Will Hare Patricia Jenkins | May 3, 1949 | previously performed on Suspense radio on 8 August 1946, 8 May 1947, & 24 March 1949. | |
| Ernest Bowers suffers an attack of catalepsy while crossing the street, lapsing into a coma that resembles death. Believing he was killed by a passing car, his body is sent to the city morgue. His coat, with a note in the pocket describing his medical condition, is taken by the owner of a secondhand clothing store and quickly sold. The couple who purchase the jacket finds the note and begins a race to save Ernest from a premature embalming. | |||||||
| 10 | 10 | "Post Mortem" | Cornell Woolrich & Frank Gabrielson | Sidney Blackmer Peggy Conklin Richard Coogan Julian Noa | May 10, 1949 | previously performed on Suspense radio program on 4 April 1946. | |
| Following the sudden death of her husband, Josie marries Doc Archer, the man named beneficiary of her husband's life insurance policy. Investigator Westcott is suspicious after learning the doctor has a history of collecting such payouts. Westcott informs Josie that she is in danger of becoming her husband's next heavily insured "accident." She doesn't believe him—until she's almost killed when Doc "accidentally" knocks a sunlamp into the tub while she's bathing. | |||||||
| 11 | 11 | "The Monkey's Paw" | Frank Gabrielson & W.W. Jacobs | Boris Karloff Mildred Natwick | May 17, 1949 | ||
| 12 | 12 | "Murder Through the Looking Glass" | Reginald Denham, Mary Orr, & Craig Rice | William Prince Peter von Zerneck | May 24, 1949 | performed for Suspense radio program 17 March 1949. | |
| 13 | 13 | "The Doors on the Thirteenth Floor" | Edward Mabley & Marie Rodell | May 31, 1949 | |||
| Elderly Agatha Leighton returns from a trip to find her apartment on the thirteenth floor has been robbed. As she attempts to call the police, someone grabs her. Sally, who lives down the hall, attempts to visit the old lady as she'd promised, but finds she's been locked in her apartment and the phone is dead. Through the door's peephole, she sees the building's desk clerk leaving Agatha's apartment. Sally realizes something bad has happened to the old lady. | |||||||
| 14 | 14 | "The Yellow Scarf" | Thomas Burke & Halsted Welles | June 7, 1949 | |||
| 15 | 15 | "Help Wanted" | Reginald Denham, Stanley Ellin, & Mary Orr | Otto Kruger D.A. Clarke-Smith Peggy French George Mathews Ruth McDevitt | June 14, 1949 | later adapted as an episode of Alfred Hitchcock Presents on 1 April 1956. | |
| 16 | 16 | "Stolen Empire" | James Sheehan & Halsted Welles | Audrey Christie Ken Lynch | June 21, 1949 | ||
| 17 | 17 | "The Hands of Mr. Ottermole" | Thomas Burke & Frank Gabrielson | Ralph Bell | June 28, 1949 | ||