Suspense - The Trap (#344)
Channel: Old Time Radio Researchers
Date: 2024-02-18

Suspense: 06/16/49, episode 344
Brought to you by the Old Time Radio Researchers, courtesy of The Suspense Project

Agnes Moorehead portrays a lonely woman who has inherited a very large house. She begins to realize that she’s not alone. Are the noises she hears the normal sounds of a creaky old house? How does that explain the whistling, the items suddenly missing from the kitchen, and other things that are just not right? It almost seems someone wants her out of the house. When she mentions this to others, they tell her she’s just imagining things. There is someone in the house… and they want revenge for what Moorehead’s character did to her many years ago.

This script was based on a story written by Virginia Myers and adapted by Walter Brown Newman and. Ralph Rose. Myers was at the beginning of her writing career at the time of this broadcast. Her first published short story was the year before. Through the 1950s and 1960s, she had many short stories and romance novels published. She received the Romance Writers of America Golden Treasure Award in 1985 for her lifetime achievements as a writer. Her 1949 contract with CBS paid her $250 for this script. That is a little over $3200 in US$2024.

Two recordings have survived. The network recording is in better sound. The Armed Forces Radio Service recording is very noisy, has distortions, and has a narrow range. It is labeled “VLQ” as it is very low quality.

The cast: AGNES MOOREHEAD (Helen Crane), Paul McVey (Detective), Herb Vigran (Eddie / Harry Penning), Ken Harvey (Marcus / Newsman), Joseph Greene (Holm / Driver), Robert Gist (Coleman), Ann Morrison (Information / Mrs. Holm), Meredith Leeds (Jessica / Classifieds), Paul Frees (Signature Voice)

COMMERCIAL: Bill Johnstone (Hap), Harlow Wilcox (Announcer), Sylvia Simms (Operator)

For more information visit https://suspenseproject.blogspot.com/2024/02/1949-06-16-trap.html