Suspense - One Hundred in the Dark (#271)
Channel: Old Time Radio Researchers
Date: 03/11/2023

Suspense: 11/20/47, episode 271
Brought to you by the Old Time Radio Researchers, courtesy of The Suspense Project

The first time Suspense was canceled after the Summer 1942 series, One Hundred in the Dark was run as the final episode on 1942-09-30. The original story was by Owen Johnson and the script was adapted by Jacques Anson Finke. Why is it running now as the final episode of the Roma Wines series? Perhaps someone believed it was a “lucky” script and that lightning, that is, a reprieve from cancellation, could happen again.

For details about the original broadcast and background about the story, go to https://archive.org/details/TSP420930 where the broadcast recording can be accessed.

Almost all of the Suspense regulars are in this production, and the entire cast was read by Truman Bradley. This was his final Suspense episode. For an unknown reason, June Havoc was billed as “Theresa Marshall.”

This was also the final time that Suspense would have separate east and west broadcasts. The east broadcast (“EC”) has a four-second pause (“4s”) before network ID; the west broadcast has a ten-second pause (“10s”). The west coast recording (WC) is better than the east. The east has some slight distortion in spots, but it is still a good recording.

Suspense was definitely cancelled but the CBS schedule had a hole in it, and a single, sustaining broadcast on Fridays would finish out the year. CBS wanted to find another sponsor to keep the series going, but they could not. The series was definitely ending by the end of 1947… at least for a couple of weeks as executives pondered their next moves.

The idea of such a highly regarded radio property disappearing from the air was not accepted well within CBS. Some executives had the idea that Suspense could find a new sponsor and build on the model of Lux Radio Theatre. That hour-long program was almost always at the top of the ratings and was extraordinarily successful and lucrative for CBS and its sponsor. Others believed they could hold on to the half-hour format and a new sponsor could be found in a few months.

By the middle of the month, plans started to come together for an hour-long Suspense that would be broadcast on Saturdays. It would be a sustaining series. It would not be long before such an enterprise would gain a sponsor and move to a better time slot during the week. In the meantime, they would work in the new format as a means to demonstrate the value of the new concept. Robert Montgomery and William Spier worked on some big plans for the series, varying it with movie adaptations, collaboration with studios, productions of classic mysteries, and the latest and best mystery novels. The hour-long Suspense looked great “on paper.” It turned out to be one of the most turbulent periods in the history of the series.

The cast: HOWARD DUFF (Mr. Peters / Mr. Harris), Theresa Marshall [aka June Havoc] (Rita Kildare), Joe Kearns (Signature Voice / Quinney), Wally Maher (Flanders), John McIntire (Rankin), Dick Ryan (Irish club member / Stanley Cheever), Frank Albertson (Steingard), Mary Jane Croft (Mrs. Cheever), Horace Willard (John the club waiter), Jerry Hausner (Enos-Jackson), Jeanette Nolan (Mrs. Jackson), Grace Gillern (Maude Lyle)

For more information visit https://suspenseproject.blogspot.com/2023/11/1947-11-20-one-hundred-in-dark.html