Suspense: 04/05/51, episode 422
Brought to you by the Old Time Radio Researchers, courtesy of The Suspense Project
Jack Benny makes a landmark appearance on the series. This is not your typical Suspense episode. It holds a beloved and distinct place in Suspense history, a highly entertaining sidebar for the program. It showed Benny’s stature and Suspense's as a successful radio franchise. The production does not take itself too seriously, but it does not squander an opportunity for a notable production, either. It is a marvelously written script by Richard-George Pedicini, prepared especially for Benny at the request of Elliott Lewis, fits his subtle comedic skills and his public persona.
Richard-George Pedicini was recruited to create this script, especially for Benny. A recording of Pedicini talking about the process and the experience of working with Benny is available on this page. The Pedicini comments were part of a 1996 installment of the Los Angeles radio program Same Time, Same Station hosted by collectors John and Larry Gassman and also included classic radio enthusiast and researcher Keith Scott as a guest. (Pedicini and Scott had become friends in Australia when Pedicini retired there; Scott is a native Australian.)
CBS was promoting the appearance a full month before the broadcast date. In the publicity for the broadcast, the CBS press release had a description and a quote:
Jack Benny, convinced that 39 is still young enough to launch a new career... “I'm afraid if I confine myself to comedy roles much longer, I'll be in danger of being typed.”
Benny plays “Hercules Remington” [just a marvelous name that Pedicini created]. He’s a harassed piano tuner whose troubles begin when he finds a bag containing $25,000. (That’s more than $300,000 in US$2024!). Remington’s story begins on a crowded New York City subway where he accidentally swaps his bag containing his piano-tuning tools for a look-alike one containing bundles of crisp, ten-dollar bills. He leaves the train for his destination and when he gets there, he realizes the mistake. His first impulse is to keep the money. The cash is obviously not his, so the desire to surrender the money to the police and do the right thing gets into his conscience. He’s had nothing but tough luck all his life, he figures, and this must be a happy stroke of fate to turn things around. He starts to rationalize why he should keep it. His wife, who would like the better life it might provide, tells him that he must give the money back. His uncle, living with them since the 1939 World’s Fair, suggests he should keep it. It’s clear that the uncle does not have the best of moral scruples, and you suspect the uncle has plans to take some of it for himself one day. Hercules’ dreams of luxury are soon shattered. He gets a telephone call from a man who identifies himself as the holder of the bag. He located Remington from the address tag attached to it. The caller has the piano tools and Hercules has the money, and that means a swap will happen, with subtle “I know where you live” threat about the money. The caller demands that Hercules meet him at a deserted spot that very night to return it, and he will give Hercules his bag of tools. Remington goes to the location, but the man is dead, and Remington’s tuning hammer is alongside the body! Now what?
Joe Kearns does a fine job playing Remington’s shady uncle who keeps insisting that the money, stolen from a post office, be kept. It just so happens he has a perfect hiding place for it. Kearns and Benny had a well-practiced acting relationship since Kearns played “Ed,” the guard of Benny’s underground vault on Benny’s show, as well as many other roles. Lewis made sure to cast the performance with people Benny was comfortable and confident working with. Using RadioGoldindex, Kearns and Bea Benederet (who plays Mrs. Remington) each appeared on the Benny show more than one hundred times, and likely even more.
The end of the broadcast includes the Benny violin theme and a joke about his penny-pinching. The character he was known for never wanted to spend money, not even at a pay phone. The Pedicini interview indicates that Elliott Lewis suggested this amusing ending for the story, which Jack loved.
There are other jokes, such as a policeman complaining about having to work on a Sunday. That was the broadcast day of Benny’s own show.
The drama content of this episode was recorded on Monday, March 19, 1951. Rehearsals started at 1:30 pm with the recording beginning at 6:30 pm.
The cast:
JACK BENNY (Hercules Remington), Bea Benaderet (Martha), Joe Kearns (Signature Voice / Herman), Jack Kruschen (Boiler), Larry Thor (Lieutenant), Paul Frees (Baldy), Clayton Post (Sergeant / Clerk)
COMMERCIAL: Bert Holland (Hap), Harlow Wilcox (Announcer), Sylvia Simms (Operator)
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7 окт 2024
