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 “The Man Without a Body” on June 22, 1943 as the 47th of its 945 episodes.
As recounted in the introduction to the more than 50 episodes of Suspense we’ve shared over the past sixteen years, it was such a rich goldmine of superior stories that we found each one has had something unique to offer. 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 (along with Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar) 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.
Written by famous mystery author John Dickson Carr (1906-1977, photo top right), “The Man Without a Body” illustrates with keen insight, albeit in an entertaining front story, the propensity toward gullibility inherent in the human species, and how it can lead to counterintuitive perceptions of reality, both positive and negative, great or small, depending on specific circumstances. “The Man Without a Body” is a delightful example of how the human mind is capable of playing tricks on itself and has shown the ability—if such a thing is possible—to gaslight itself.
(The linked CD at top includes this episode and 19 others, all digitally remastered and restored.)
Play Time: 29:54
{Summer vacation was in full swing in late June of 1943 when this episode of Suspense aired, and it led the neighborhood gang the following morning to the doors of the local newsstand, therein hopefully to discover more avenues of adventure and excitement down which they could travel via the pages of some of their favorite magazines. As was often the case, they were in luck. Astounding SF (1930-present, now Analog) had long been a must buy and this issue was no exception, with a new story by Lewis Padgett teasing readers who knew that Padgett was one of the pseudonyms used by the popular husband and wife writing team of Henry Kuttner and C. L. Moore. ASF was a monthly in 1943. The Phantom Detective (1935-53) was Standard Magazine’s answer to Street & Smith’s The Shadow Magazine (1931-49). Although The Phantom Detective ended up with fewer issues (175) than The Shadow Magazine (325) due to its going from a monthly to a bi-monthly and ending as a quarterly, it nevertheless holds the record as the longest-running single character pulp. Though a bi-monthly in 1943, it managed to squeeze in a 7th issue between its January and April issues. Science Fiction Stories (1941-43) saw its first issue, cover dated October 1941, as Future combined with Science Fiction, but by its October 1942 issue would change to Future Fantasy and Science Fiction, and then again for its final two issues (April & July 1943) as Science Fiction Stories, the one shown below being its final issue. It was a high profile couple of months for Henry Kuttner, having cover stories in both current issues of Astounding (as Lewis Padgett with wife C. L. Moore) and Science Fiction Stories, which was a bi-monthly in 1943.}
[Left: Astounding SF, 6/43 – Center: The Phantom Detective, 6/43 – Right: Science Fiction, 7/43]
To view the entire list of weekly Old Time Radio episodes at Tangent Online, click here.