Suspense is compounded of mystery and suspicion and dangerous adventure. In this series are tales calculated to intrigue you, to stir your nerves, to offer you a precarious situation and then withhold the solution… until the last possible moment when we again hope to keep you in…Suspense!Suspense (1942-1962) aired “Fire Burn and Cauldron Bubble” on April 6, 1943 as the 36th of its 945 episodes.
As recounted in the introduction to the more than 50 episodes of Suspense we’ve shared over the past eleven years (the last being in August of this year), it was such a rich goldmine of superlative stories that when we found this one—a delightfully grisly tale well suited for the Halloween season—we couldn’t resist. Suspense was one of the most well produced, written, acted, and critically acclaimed of all radio shows during the Golden Age of Radio, many a film star jumping at the chance to perform in an episode, among them Cary Grant, Orson Welles, Jimmy Stewart, Susan Hayward, Vincent Price, Charles Laughton, Loretta Young, Peter Lorre, and Rita Hayworth. After many another radio show had gasped its last breath during the 1950s, Suspense finally closed shop in September of 1962 whereupon radio historians proclaimed the Golden Age of Radio dead, television having become the medium of choice in America.
“Fire Burn and Cauldron Bubble” was written by John Dickson Carr (1906-1977), a frequent contributor to Suspense. It stars Hungarian-American actor Paul Lukas (1894-1971, photo at right), lauded primarily for his roles in Alfred Hitchcock’s The Lady Vanishes (1938), and his Oscar winning role as Best Actor opposite Bette Davis in 1943’s Watch on the Rhine (screenplay by Dashiell Hammett), where he works in the anti-fascist underground against Germany during World War II. In “Fire Burn and Cauldron Bubble” he plays a master magician cum one-off sleuth who soon finds himself attempting to solve a gruesome murder that has taken place at a performance of Macbeth with no one in the audience of thousands the wiser. How this brazen crime has been planned and executed forms the crux of the story and as usual, Suspense withholds the resolution until the very end, and a good one it is, the denouement being the reason this episode fits so easily into the hair-raising Halloween spirit with its particularly repulsive way to die exposed. It doesn’t hurt that Paul Lukas sounds very much like—and can’t help but remind one of—fellow Hungarian-American horror actor Bela Lugosi, both imbued with that thick, distinctive Hungarian accent.
Play Time: 29:46
“Fire Burn and Cauldron Bubble” was written by John Dickson Carr (1906-1977), a frequent contributor to Suspense. It stars Hungarian-American actor Paul Lukas (1894-1971, photo at right), lauded primarily for his roles in Alfred Hitchcock’s The Lady Vanishes (1938), and his Oscar winning role as Best Actor opposite Bette Davis in 1943’s Watch on the Rhine (screenplay by Dashiell Hammett), where he works in the anti-fascist underground against Germany during World War II. In “Fire Burn and Cauldron Bubble” he plays a master magician cum one-off sleuth who soon finds himself attempting to solve a gruesome murder that has taken place at a performance of Macbeth with no one in the audience of thousands the wiser. How this brazen crime has been planned and executed forms the crux of the story and as usual, Suspense withholds the resolution until the very end, and a good one it is, the denouement being the reason this episode fits so easily into the hair-raising Halloween spirit with its particularly repulsive way to die exposed. It doesn’t hurt that Paul Lukas sounds very much like—and can’t help but remind one of—fellow Hungarian-American horror actor Bela Lugosi, both imbued with that thick, distinctive Hungarian accent.{This episode of Suspense aired on a Tuesday evening. The following afternoon after school found the neighborhood gang at one of their favorite haunts, the corner newsstand, where they were eager to add to their growing stacks of magazines. Planet Stories (1939-55) was among a handful of favorites where not an issue was missed. Colorful adventure fare was the name of the game with Planet Stories (as it was with Startling Stories) and one of the most popular authors was Leigh Brackett, featured on the cover below. Planet Stories was a quarterly in 1943. Startling Stories (1939-55) was a member of the triumvirate of SF pulp magazines (along with Planet Stories and Thrilling Wonder Stories) known for the unfettered imagination and page-turning action of their stories. Each issue was a wild roller-coaster ride of unpretentious entertainment and young readers loved it. Though 1943 was in the middle of the war years when many magazines felt the paper shortage (some even folding), Startling Stories still managed five issues. Weird Tales (1923-54) was the undisputed king of the macabre, supernatural story, escorting its readers (for 15 cents) into dark realms rarely visited in fiction but perfect for young minds eager for forbidden thrills. “The Unique Magazine” was a bi-monthly in 1943.}
[Left: Planet Stories, May 1943 – Center: Startling Stories, March 1943 – Right: Weird Tales, May 1943]
To view the entire list of weekly Old Time Radio episodes at Tangent Online, click here.
