Editing Suspense (radio drama) (section)

==1942–1962==
In the earliest years, the program was hosted by "The Man in Black" (played by [[Joseph Kearns]] or Ted Osborne) with many episodes written or adapted by the prominent mystery author [[John Dickson Carr]].

One of the series' earliest successes and its single most popular episode is [[Lucille Fletcher]]'s "[[Sorry, Wrong Number]]", about a bedridden woman ([[Agnes Moorehead]]) who panics after overhearing a murder plot on a crossed telephone connection but is unable to persuade anyone to investigate. First broadcast on May 25, 1943, it was restaged seven times (last on February 14, 1960){{snd}}each time with Moorehead. The popularity of the episode led to a [[Sorry, Wrong Number|film adaptation]] in 1948. Another notable early episode was Fletcher's "The Hitch Hiker" (aired September 2, 1942), in which a motorist ([[Orson Welles]]) is stalked on a cross-country trip by a nondescript man who keeps appearing on the side of the road; however, the first performance of "The Hitch-Hiker" actually took place on ''[[The Orson Welles Show (radio series)|The Orson Welles Show]]'' the previous year. "The Hitch-Hiker" was later [[The Hitch-Hiker (The Twilight Zone)|adapted for television]] by [[Rod Serling]] as a 1960 episode of ''[[The Twilight Zone]]''.

After the network sustained the program during its first two years, the sponsor became Roma Wines (1944–1947), and then (after another brief period of sustained hour-long episodes, initially featuring [[Robert Montgomery (actor)|Robert Montgomery]] as host and "producer" in early 1948),<ref>{{cite news|title=New 'Suspense' Series|url=http://www.americanradiohistory.com/Archive-BC/BC-1948/1948-01-05-BC.pdf|access-date=22 March 2017|work=Broadcasting|date=January 5, 1948|page=36}}</ref> [[AlliedSignal|Autolite]] [[spark plug|Spark Plug]]s (1948–1954); eventually [[Harlow Wilcox (announcer)|Harlow Wilcox]] (of ''[[Fibber McGee and Molly]]'') became the pitchman. [[William Spier]], [[Norman Macdonnell]] and [[Anton M. Leader]] were among the producers and directors.

''Suspense'' received a Special Citation of Honor [[Peabody Award]] for 1946.<ref>{{cite news|title=Peabody Awards for '46 Announced|url=http://americanradiohistory.com/Archive-BC/BC-1947/1947-04-21-BC.pdf|access-date=26 September 2014|agency=Broadcasting|date=April 21, 1947}}</ref>

[[File:Suspensezine.jpg|left|thumb|Second issue of the 1946 magazine tie-in]]

The program's heyday was in the early 1950s, when radio actor, producer and director [[Elliott Lewis (radio)|Elliott Lewis]] took over (still during the Wilcox/Autolite run). Here the material reached new levels of sophistication.{{opinion|date=March 2023}} The writing was taut,{{opinion|date=March 2023}} and the casting, which had always been a strong point of the series (featuring such film stars as Orson Welles, [[Joseph Cotten]], [[Henry Fonda]], [[Humphrey Bogart]], [[Judy Garland]], [[Ronald Colman]], [[Marlene Dietrich]], [[Eve McVeagh]], [[Lena Horne]], and [[Cary Grant]]), took an unexpected turn when Lewis expanded the repertory to include many of radio's famous drama and comedy stars{{snd}}often playing against type{{snd}}such as [[Jack Benny]]. Jim and Marian Jordan of ''Fibber McGee and Molly'' were heard in the episode "Backseat Driver", which originally aired February 3, 1949.

The highest production values enhanced ''Suspense'', and many of the shows retain their power to grip and entertain.{{opinion|date=March 2023}} At the time he took over ''Suspense'', Lewis was familiar to radio fans for playing Frankie Remley, the wastrel guitar-playing sidekick to [[Phil Harris]] in ''[[The Phil Harris-Alice Faye Show]]''. On the May 10, 1951 ''Suspense'', Lewis reversed the roles with "Death on My Hands": A bandleader (Harris) is horrified when an autograph-seeking fan accidentally shoots herself and dies in his hotel room, and a vocalist (Faye) tries to help him as the townfolk call for vigilante justice against him.

With the rise of television and the departures of Lewis and Autolite, subsequent producers ([[Antony Ellis]], [[William N. Robson]] and others) struggled to maintain the series due to shrinking budgets, the availability of fewer name actors, and listenership decline. To save money, the program frequently used scripts first broadcast by another noteworthy CBS anthology, ''[[Escape (radio program)|Escape]]''. In addition to these tales of exotic adventure, ''Suspense'' expanded its repertoire to include more science fiction and supernatural content. By the end of its run, the series was remaking scripts from the long-canceled program ''[[The Mysterious Traveler]]''. A [[time travel]] tale like [[Robert Arthur Jr.|Robert Arthur]]'s "The Man Who Went Back to Save Lincoln" or a thriller about a [[death ray]]-wielding [[mad scientist]] would alternate with more run-of-the-mill crime dramas.

The series expanded to television with the ''[[Suspense (U.S. TV series)|Suspense]]'' series on CBS from 1949 to 1954, and again in 1962. The radio series had a tie-in with ''Suspense'' magazine which published four 1946–47 issues edited by [[Leslie Charteris]].

The final broadcasts of ''[[Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar]]'' and ''Suspense'', ending at 7:00 pm Eastern Time on September 30, 1962, are often cited as the end of the [[Old-time radio|Golden Age of Radio]]. The final episode of ''Suspense'' was ''Devilstone'', starring Christopher Carey and Neal Fitzgerald. It was sponsored by [[Parliament (cigarette)|Parliament cigarettes]].<ref>{{cite magazine|title=Those Were the Days|magazine=Nostalgia Digest|date=Summer 2012|volume=38|issue=3|page=39}}</ref>