One by one, television killed off all the radio programs. One of the final victims was the CBS anthology series, Suspense. The show had put up a valiant fight – premiering in 1940 it ran steadily until 1960 (outliving its television counterpart which ran from 1949 until 1954!) and after a seven month hiatus was resurrected late in 1961. The series breathed its last on September 30, 1962 with its 945th broadcast. (CBS’s extremely popular insurance detective series Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar, also expired on this date.) In the beginning, the series focused on stories of mystery and suspense, such as the classic "Sorry, Wrong Number" starring Agnes Moorehead as a bed-ridden invalid who overhears a murder being plotted over the phone. Too late she discovers that it is to be her murder. Many of the early scripts were written by mystery novelist John Dickson Carr, including "Cabin B-13" in which a newlywed’s husband disappears on board ship. She finds herself not so much searching for him as searching to prove he existed since everyone she goes to for help denies having seen him. When Suspense made its first sojourn into the realm of horror, it was with Orson Welles narrating the chilling story of "The Hitchhiker" who somehow manages to keep showing up on the road in front of him as he drives across country, always with a few drops of rain on the shoulders of his coat even though there has been no rain for days. Curt Siodmak’s "Donovan’s Brain" was Suspense’s debut entry in the field of science fiction. For a couple of seasons late in its run, a majority of the episodes featured ‘real-life dramas’ such as "Breakthrough", about a family of four attempting to escape the Iron Curtain, before returning to the more popular mystery and suspense genres. At the height of its popularity, Suspense’s guest stars were the creme of the Hollywood crop. Of special interest to horror fans were Bela Lugosi’s sole appearance, in "The Doctor Prescribed Death" in 1943. Peter Lorre created several memorable roles, once even cast as a good guy! In addition to starring in many suspense tales, Vincent Price reprised his chilling "Three Skeleton Key," as one of three lighthouse keepers trapped in their lighthouse by a horde of ravenous rats. Boris Karloff starred as a Scotland Yard inspector in "Drury’s Bones." Claude Rains starred in "The Hands of Mr. Ottermole" with Vincent Price, and in "The Waxworks," as a reporter who spends a night in a wax museum. His fears start to catch up with him when he notices one of the figures moving… Directors William Spier (called ‘The Hitchcock of the Air’) and later William N. Robson set their stamps on the series. Writers John Dickson Carr, Hugh Pentecost and Lucille Fletcher contributed classics of the genre, while stories from the pens of Marie Belloc Lowndes, John Collier, Agatha Christie, Dorothy L. Sayers, and Cornell Woolrich were adapted to great effect. Film composer Bernard Herrmann created the opening theme (the unforgettable arrangement of church bells, strings, and soft wind instruments). He also wrote the music for each episode until the show moved from New York to Los Angeles. Sound effects artists including Berne Surrey created such effects as the sounds of walking, running, moving objects, opening doors, gunshots, etc. (though they were never called upon to simulate the sound of a man’s body being turned inside out, which occurred on the horror anthology series Lights Out). In "Suspense: Twenty Years of Thrills and Chills," author Martin Grams presents us with the skeleton of Suspense , but there is precious little flesh on the bones. It’s as if he made up index cards for every week that the show was on the air, wrote down a paragraph of information in the most succinct way possible, and then arranged them in chronological order. And while the paragraphs are single spaced, we’re given double spaces in between them. We’re being chiseled out of at least three or four more possible pages of information! Which isn’t to say that much of interest isn’t covered in the author’s rapid-fire like way. Such luminaries as Ray Kemper (sound effects) , Parley Baer (actor), Ray Bradbury (writer), Roddy McDowall (actor), William Spier (producer and director) , and Lucille Fletcher (writer) recount their fond memories of working on this classic series. But 150 pages are simply too few to do justice to twenty action packed years. The rest of the considerable number of pages (un-numbered) are given over to an invaluable broadcast log – dates of each of the 945 broadcasts, director and stars, and plot synopses. The television show is covered briefly, with a listing of all 260 episodes. The Suspense books and comics are commented upon as well. There is no index, however. Unfortunately, Grams is ill-served by the proofreader. The book is riddled with typos. Not from a .44, admittedly, more like a .22. The persistent use of the contraction it’s for the possessive its was the most irritating. Some of the plot synopses are ungrammatical – nevertheless they are written well enough to cause the reader to want to seek out these programs, sit down in a quiet room, close his eyes, and use his imagination for one half hour of suspense!

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