Suspense: Public Defender (

Suspense: 04/20/53, episode 508
Brought to you by the Old Time Radio Researchers, courtesy of The Suspense Project
Frank Lovejoy stars in an E. Jack Neuman story as a cool and casual killer who finds himself in the somewhat unnerving position of being defended in court on a burglary charge by a lawyer whose wife he had murdered. The murder is committed in the opening moments of the story at an Armistice Day parade. Lovejoy’s character is a petty thief, looking for an easy steal of a purse. He finds a woman with one, goes up behind her, and places a knife against her back. The crowd is busy watching the parade. He senses the right time to grab the purse. When she screams, he presses the knife into her, he prevents her from falling to conceal what he has done. He waits until the crowd’s attention is diverted to an exciting moment in the parade. He walks away as she slumps to the ground. He skips town for a while to allow interest in the crime to fade away. He returns, but police visit him and question him about a robbery. It is a lesser crime, a $450 burglary; he is arrested. He claims he is innocent but tells the court that he has no money for a lawyer. An attorney is assigned to defend him: the man whose wife he murdered!
Joe Kearns has another fine performance as the skeptical public attorney, made a widower by his assigned client. It’s a good story, and Lovejoy is excellent in his unsavory role. It is a much less frantic part than he had in The Storm, just a few weeks before.
Robert Ryan was originally announced to make his third Suspense appearance and was announced at the end of the prior week’s program. Ryan appeared twice on the series, both times in the hour-long period. He was in Beyond Reason (an awful episode) and Crossfire (a superb episode). He never appeared in a half-hour format show. Some newspapers used CBS publicity about Ryan being the guest star for this episode and mistakenly stated it was his first Suspense appearance. Those weeks of hour-long episodes seem out of the collective CBS memory just five years later.
The cast change was made too late for most newspapers to report it and was probably made just a few days before the broadcast.
There are three surviving recordings, and the network recording is the best of the three. There is an aircheck that has a time tone and a gap that may have allowed some local stations to insert a news bulletin (this station did not; there was breaking news about the Korean Conflict and the release of some American soldiers; this is only speculation about the length of the gap). The aircheck is missing the reminder for listeners to call for information about their nearest Auto-Lite dealer. The network ID is also missing. There is an Armed Forces Radio and Television (AFRTS) recording of their program Mystery Theater. This was an AFRTS program in the 1970s that would add new “wrappers” to an edited version of an older program, such as Suspense. Sometimes the program would be run at a faster speed to fit the time slot the AFRTS schedule allowed. In many areas of the world in the 1970s and 1980s, AFRTS radio programs were the only way that listeners could be entertained by drama broadcasts because television stations were not always available or reliable.
The cast: FRANK LOVEJOY (Phil), Joe Kearns (Tyler), Charles Calvert (Jailer), Paula Winslowe (Woman / Mrs. Weaver), Larry Thor (Quinn / Narrator), Lou Krugman (Lacy / Kaloman), Whitfield Connor (Hale), Herb Butterfield (Magistrate)
COMMERCIAL: Tom Holland (Hap), Harlow Wilcox (Announcer), Sylvia Simms (Operator)
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Robert Ryan was originally scheduled to appear as "Phil", but couldn't make it. Frank Lovejoy filled in for him at the last minute.