Suspense: The Thirty-Nine Steps (

Suspense: 03/03/52, episode 462
Brought to you by the Old Time Radio Researchers, courtesy of The Suspense Project
Herbert Marshall returns to the series in one of the most famous spy stories ever written. It was presented on radio, television, and in movies for decades. It was written by a Scottish politician, John Buchan, who became a very successful author. The story was adapted for Suspense by Silvia Richards.
Marshall plays an ordinary citizen, Richard Hannay, who, through a sudden quirk of fate, becomes the target of a murderous gang of international spies. Hannay is in a hotel hallway, fumbling for the keys to his room, when an American man named Scudder walks up to him… he knows his name! He asks to be allowed into his hotel room. There he tells a story about spies who are looking for information that will lead up to war. He predicts that a man will win an election in Greece and he will make a visit to England where he will be assassinated! Scudder says that German spies are after him because they know he is the only person who can prevent the assassination. The next morning, he goes to Scudder’s room, and finds he’s been stabbed! Before he dies, he says that Hannay should look for the “thirty-nine steps.” What does Hannay do now? If he goes to the police, he’ll be accused of Scudder’s murder.
No matter, the next day, Hannay learns that the police found Scudder’s body and they’re searching for him as the killer! He makes a hasty trip to Scotland to avoid capture and learn more about the spy plot and prove his innocence. There are some cat-and-mouse moments in the story that are well done, and he finally discovers where the “thirty-nine steps” are and why they are so important.
It’s a very good production, with some minor issues. Marshall delivers a usual fine performance, but there are two flubs in his reading that may be from a missed cue or an improper one.
Marshall has a stutter at 15:25 “If you run… if you run across him…” which he does well to make seem natural;
18:35 Marshall gets into a car and the orchestra comes in to mark the change of scene and a rise in tension and the story’s pace. He starts to say “I drove…” as the orchestra begins to play, then he waits for the proper cue, and continues “All night I drove on the white roads...”
The plotline sent to the newspapers was much different than the story as broadcast. This plotline that the newspapers had reflected Alfred Hitchcock’s 1935 film and not the novel. This indicates that the script was revised considerably in the days up to the broadcast to reflect the novel. This is what the newspapers had (with some editing):
Hannay is attending the theater one evening when the performance is interrupted by a pistol shot. In the ensuing confusion. a terrified young woman grabs his arm and begs him to help her escape from a man who wants to kill her. He takes her to his apartment, where she explains that she has stumbled onto a foreign spy ring and that its agents are trying to murder her to keep her from exposing them. From his window, he can see a man loitering suspiciously in the street. His phone keeps ringing, but he yields to the girl's pleas not to answer it. He isn't sure the girl's story is true-until he enters her room the next morning and finds her murdered.
The cast: HERBERT MARSHALL (Richard Hannay), Tudor Owen (Constable), Joe Kearns (The Man / Fisherman), Ben Wright (Milkman / Bartender), Bill Johnstone (Old Codger), Charles Davis (Innkeeper), Byron Kane (Scudder / Newscaster), Raymond Lawrence (Guard), Larry Thor (Narrator)
COMMERCIAL: Tom Holland (Hap), Harlow Wilcox (Announcer), Sylvia Simms (Operator)
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