The Thirty-Second Of December - Suspense Old Time Radio Episode

So as we quickly move to the end of 2013, there is a great episode of Suspense that I would like to share.  Suspense is one of the most famous radio series that ran from 1942 to 1962.  It was one of the last regular series that was being broadcast in the early 1960s.  The home for much of that run was the above building, Columbia Square in Hollywood.  Seeing it in October was very cool for a radio geek like me.

The episode I want to share is  "The Thirty-Second Of December."  This was broadcast on Sunday December 28, 1958.  Interestingly, that was the same day that the New York Giants and Baltimore Colts played The 1958 National Football League Championship Game at Yankee Stadium.  It is long considered the "Greatest Game Ever Played" as Baltimore defeated New York in overtime, 23-17.  But we are not talking about football today.

Anyway, "The Thirty-Second Of December" is a great episode from Suspense, featuring Frank Lovejoy, Norman Alden, Joan Banks, Barney Phillips, with Morris Lee Green & William Walker (writers) and William N. Robson (producer, director).  Frank Lovejoy has been in a large number of episodes, including Suspense, Escape, many Norman Corwin productions, and his own series, Nightbeat.

Frank Lovejoy plays Joe, a man in a tough situation with one day left to pay off a $1000 gambling debt to the mob. (According to the Inflation Calculator, What cost $1000 in 1958 would cost $7830.90 in 2012).  But anyway...Joe takes his wife's ring to a pawn shop.  While getting money for it, he was distracted by a special watch.  This watch had special powers, the ability to bend time.  If you controlled time, then all of your problems would go away.  Or will they?  This is the lesson that Joe learns about the hard way.

Happy New Year and Welcome to 2014 - unless we hit the 32nd of December.

Here are the links to episodes:

• Thirty-Second of December (originally aired December 28, 1958)
• Episode information from Escape and Suspense
• All episodes of Suspense (from the Internet Archive)
• Suspense entry in the Wikipedia
• Plot summaries for Suspense (from Plot Spot)
• Nightbeat (radio series staring Frank Lovejoy - from the Internet Archive)