Crank Letter: Suspense (February 21, 1960)

“Crank Letter” is an episode of Suspense, the old-time radio show, first broadcast February 21, 1960. Listen free on Stupid Potato.

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What happens

Dr. Donald Fraser receives a threatening letter accusing him of killing a patient, and he takes it to Lieutenant Neiman. The lieutenant assigns Detective Evans to guard the doctor, and the patient's son, Fred Gilbert, becomes the obvious suspect. Fraser insists he has no enemies and cannot think who could hold a grudge. The lieutenant investigates the doctor's past, looking for an answer in the doctor's hometown and the people from his life before medical school. This is a Suspense broadcast from 1960, with Lyle Soudro as Dr. Fraser and Les Thayman as Lieutenant Neiman.

A city where Dr. Fraser practises medicine, with his police station, hospital and apartment, and his hometown of Haydenville.

Characters: Dr. Donald Fraser, Lieutenant Neiman, Detective Evans, Fred Gilbert, Donald Fraser (as a young man)

Listen for: Dr. Fraser's sudden change of mood when he first shows the lieutenant the letter, and the question of who could have sent it.

Written from the episode itself; it never gives away the ending. Every recording is remastered for the stream: cleaned of rumble, hiss and mains hum (and the old TV whine where we found it), then levelled in two passes to steady broadcast loudness, so one show is never quieter than the next.