Suspense: The Case History of a Gambler (

Suspense: 12/17/51, episode 451
Brought to you by the Old Time Radio Researchers, courtesy of The Suspense Project

It’s the 1920s and John Hodiak stars in a story about a gangster who scores a $2 million win on a boxing match (about $35 million in US$2024) and turns that into a new enterprise: insurance! The scam includes creating an insurance company and then insuring some of his loan shark clients. If they don’t pay, he’s protected as a beneficiary. Any problems can be handled by the thriving casino business he has and money he has stashed away in safe deposit boxes at multiple banks. Everything starts to turn sour. The insurance company he started couldn’t fulfill its obligations and is bankrupt in receivership. He ends up on the wrong side of a loan he takes from another gangster, and is shot… but somehow struggles along the streets to get to a hospital… where he expires before he can get help.

For “a story taken from ‘life’,” it does not seem very plausible. It’s claimed to be “a dramatic report” from a “factual document.” Too many complex acts are compressed in too short a time for all of this to happen. Even in the 1920s, when this was supposed to be taking place (just because the script says it does, not because of anything that occurs in the story), it took time to start an insurance company and offer common stock on the market. Yes, there were regulations on that before the 1929 crash. The demise of the company, however, was so 1920s as he could get away with it because the financial disclosure laws were so lacking.

This is not a Suspense best, for sure, so you have to let a lot of details slip and just go along for the ride. Sure the script has some flaws, such as not affirming the backdrop of the 1920s and not making it clear that enough time has passed for the plotline details. But, the backstory is more entertaining because it includes a new author for the series.

The script author is sound effects artist Ross Murray. It’s his first Suspense script and there will be many more. CBS noted his participation with a playful publicity twist. The gimmick is that Murray would be “fired” by Elliott Lewis for just the night of the broadcast because he might be too nervous to do his job correctly. The publicity department and the radio columnists had fun with the concept. The following is from the Walter Ames column of the 1951-12-17 Los Angeles Times, the day of the broadcast:

Ross Murray, ace soundman of the Suspense show, was “fired” off tonight's program but there's a very good reason. He wrote the script. Producer-Director Elliott Lewis didn't really give Murray the gate, he merely told him to take the night off and try to relax. “I was afraid he'd give me hoofbeats instead of footsteps and gunshots instead of door chimes,” explained Lewis...

The sound man-writer said his one night layoff was in the best interest of the show. “I'd probably get carried away by the sounds of my own words and forget to watch the sound cues,” he confessed.

Murray was still listed as one of the effects artists on the script cover, so he might have been at least involved in rehearsal and planning, then spent the broadcast time with Lewis in the control booth, and not sitting around at home with his ear to the radio. Other sound effects artists on the series would also pen scripts in the 1950s.

The publicity for the episode had a change that reflected a change in the script. Originally, Hodiak’s character was to win $3 million in a horse race. It was probably switched to $2 million on his boxer because boxing matches are easier to “fix” than it is a horse race since fewer people need to be in on the scheme. Most newspapers teased the plotline as him using the proceeds of a horse race.

The cast: JOHN HODIAK (Matt Miller), Lillian Buyeff (Ellen), Bill Bouchey (Chris), Joe Kearns (Lou), Lou Merrill (Papa / Voice), Herb Vigran (Voice / Frank), Martha Wentworth (Mama / Nurse), Charles Calvert (Charlie), Clayton Post (Gus), Larry Thor (Narrator)

COMMERCIAL: Ken Christy (Oscar Auto), Harlow Wilcox (Announcer), Sylvia Simms (Operator)

For more information visit https://suspenseproject.blogspot.com/...