Suspense - Fugue in C Minor (#93)
Channel: Old Time Radio Researchers
Date: 2023-04-09

Suspense - 06/05/44, episode 93
Brought to you by the Old Time Radio Researchers, courtesy of The Suspense Project

This Lucille Fletcher script is beloved by many Suspense fans for many reasons. A widowed musician, played by Vincent Price befriends a woman, played by Ida Lupino. They are romantically attracted to each other by their mutual love of music. As their relationship develops, however, she learns that his children believe their mother’s body is hidden in a small room behind the mechanism of their father’s magnificent pipe organ. The instrument is so large it is part of the very structure of the house. It’s a creepy story, made creepier by the fact that children were involved, and they’re kind of creepy, too.

Both the east and west network recordings have survived. The west recording is better, and not just because of sound quality. The east recording is actually good. The west is a better performance.

For many years in the classic radio hobby, a version of the west coast program that was circulating incomplete and missing its closing “next Monday” that would have identified it as that specific broadcast. The east recording was complete, but it seemed to have missteps in many respects that caused many collectors to believe it was a rehearsal. Many collectors had no clue at the time that there were east and west copies as they only had one recording. They didn’t have the following details.

These are the big dialogue differences between the two performances (times are approximate).

East 7:56 They won't...they don't let me play when they're at home.
West 7:53 They don't want me to play when they're home.

East 12:06 Please. Please don't start them off, Amanda.
West 11:59 Don't start them off again Amanda, please.

East 17:26 Why doesn't Papa give us a key? If he'd only let us .... have it...
West 17:28 Oh, why doesn't papa give us a key? If he'd only give us a key…

East 17:45 That's where they.. that's where the big pipes are. And inside it's all dark. But where are the.. but there are.. there are tunnels... there's a little room... a little room ... that's where she's hiding
West 17:37 That's where the big pipes are. And inside it's all dark. They... There are tunnels in there and little rooms that go all throughout the house and that's where mama is.

At the 17- to 19-minute mark of the east broadcast, the child actors seem to be having trouble with their lines. There are long pauses, and Lupino sounds like she is being patient, encouraging, and concerned all at once. They do get through the scene. The west broadcast is much, much smoother.

The cast: VINCENT PRICE (Theodore Evans), IDA LUPINO (Amanda Peabody), John McIntire (Man in Black), Bea Benaderet (Lizzie Cholmley), Mary Lou Harrington? (Daphne), Tommy Cook? (David)

For more information visit https://suspenseproject.blogspot.com/2023/04/1944-06-01-fugue-in-c-minor.html