Suspense - Back Seat Driver (#325)
Channel: Old Time Radio Researchers
Date: 2024-01-05

Suspense: 02/03/49, episode 325
Brought to you by the Old Time Radio Researchers, courtesy of The Suspense Project

Occasional radio author Sally Thorson provides a fine story for Suspense and Tony Leader’s casting of Jim and Marion Jordan boosts its entertainment value. Fibber and Molly are nice and well-intentioned characters, which carried over to the public perception of the Jordans. Having a threatening stowaway in a vehicle with them adds more tension to the production. 

Sally Thorson might be close to being considered a “one-hit wonder” Suspense writer, but she was actually an atypical radio veteran. This was her only Suspense script and she had two scripts performed on The Whistler. She was active in local dramas in the Chicago and San Francisco areas early in her career and then took a job selling production equipment. In her case, she sold the Sonovox. The special effects technology was used to make the sound of the train in Dumbo sound like a voice. Advertisers were experimenting with it in the 1940s. It was likely used on the Bromo Seltzer commercials that are in some Inner Sanctum episodes. 

Thorson’s script received a positive review in Variety of 1949-02-09:

… Sally Thorson turned out a top-drawer script, Back Seat Driver, which provided an excellent vehicle for the McGees. The story was that of a husband and wife driving home after a night at the movies and finding a desperate murderer in the back seat. The situation built up plenty of suspense, at the same time allowing F&M scope for good dramatic acting. It was pretty much all the McGees and they handled the assignment masterfully. It showed, once again, that comics can play it straight and that switch casting can put some spice into the radio diet.

Back Seat Driver was produced three times on Suspense. The first two performances were with the Jordans. The final time it was presented was after the Suspense star system ended, when it starred Parley Baer and Vivi Janis.

The cast: JIM JORDAN (Detective Joe Charles), MARIAN JORDAN (Ellie Charles), Jack Edwards (Lloyd Matthews [alias Lewis Matrick]), Will Wright (Bill / Policeman), unknown (News Reader / Kennedy), unknown (Miranda), Paul Frees (Signature Voice)

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

For more information visit https://suspenseproject.blogspot.com/2024/01/1949-02-03-back-seat-driver.html