Suspense: Hollywood Hostages (

Suspense: 02/21/56, episode 637
Brought to you by the Old Time Radio Researchers, courtesy of The Suspense Project
Eve McVeagh (playing “Grace”) and Tom Brown (“Tommy”) star in an odd story of two actors who are lost in a middle-of-nowhere abandoned town. They are on a location scouting trip for a new movie. Brown’s character thinks it’s all a practical joke by a director, Murphy, who has a long history of annoying him and testing his patience with jokes and stunts. But it is real: two bank robbers are using a decrepit building to take care of one of them who is injured. When Tommy sees a car with bullet holes, he doesn’t even consider it could be real. It’s a prop, in his mind, and he makes a joke that the bullet holes are for air conditioning. One of the criminals runs to their car and drives away. He thinks that’s a joke to strand them in the town. When they encounter the injured and unresponsive criminal, he thinks it’s play acting. When leaving the town to escape, the head of the robbers hides under a blanket in the back seat when they get to a police roadblock. He play acts and tells the officer they have not seen any of the criminals. Others involved in the bank heist have the money, and the still clueless man thinks that driving to them under gunpoint is part of the joke. After a shooting incident there, they find the money. The money “looks real,” but he attributes it to Murphy’s reputation for buying good props. Cops arrive, and he still thinks it’s all a show. When he realizes blood on an unresponsive hoodlum is not ketchup, but real, he collapses. And that’s your happy ending. They may have been hostages to the robbers, but Tommy is a hostage to his hatred of Murphy. That’s one of the meanings behind the title.
It’s a very predictable story. Its gimmick starts to wear thin fairly early, but it all ends before it gets really grating. If you have low expectations going in, it can be very amusing as it plays out. If you have high expectations for a good fast-moving high tension Suspense drama, it will be disappointing.
Cultural references in the dialogue:
Conrad Hilton “buying the joint”: In 1954, Hilton bought the Statler Hotel for $111 million (about $1.6 billion in US$2025), which was the largest real estate deal “ever.”
“Dreary looking spot, Charles Addams does the decorations”: The “Addams Family” cartoons in The New Yorker began appearing in 1938. Multiple collections of his cartoons were published in the 1950s and were very popular. It was not until the single-panel cartoon was turned into a television show in the mid-1960s that the characters received names from Addams.
Murphy’s ability to drag out jokes: The Rogers and Hammerstein musical Oklahoma! is mentioned for its long duration as similar to Murphy’s stringing jokes along. That Broadway show was extraordinarily successful, with over 2200 performances.
The “Derby”: The original “Brown Derby” restaurant was on Wilshire Boulevard in Los Angeles, with a second location in Hollywood, and a later one in Beverly Hills. The restaurants became a hangout for entertainment figures. The original building was known for its shape, like a large domed hat.
“I’ve seen more guns today than Gene Autry”: Gene Autry made 93 movies, mostly westerns. He had essentially stopped making movies by 1953. Autry remained widely known for decades later.
Polaroid camera: Instant photography, first sold to the public in 1948, was a very big hit in the 1950s. Images were black and white. For this episode, location scouts would likely take Polaroid images to have immediate feedback for post-trip meetings. They would also take pictures with traditional cameras for finer detail and color. Those color images would take days to see unless they were delivered to a processing lab for quick turnaround for which a high fee was paid.
This was scriptwriter Jerry D. Lewis’ second series script. The first was Lost which was broadcast on 954-10-14. Lewis was head writer for This is Your FBI in its early years and became a successful television writer, director, and producer. Neither of his Suspense scripts were particularly compelling. This particular one reworks significant story elements from This Is Your FBI 1951-08-31 Ghost Town.
There are two recordings, and both are in good sound and enjoyable listening. The network recording is the slightly better of the two. The Armed Forces Radio Service recording (AFRS#571) only has minor issues of disc noises like little clicks.
This episode was originally scheduled for 1955-11-08.
The cast: Eve McVeagh (Grace), Tom Brown (Tommy), Don Diamond (Fred), Frank Gerstle (Tex Parker), John Larch (Police Officer), George Walsh (Narrator)
For more information visit suspenseprojec...