The Empty Chair: Suspense (September 21, 1953)

“The Empty Chair” is an episode of Suspense, the old-time radio show, first broadcast September 21, 1953. Listen free on Stupid Potato.

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What happens

Miss Barbara Warner, a high school teacher, begins the new school year and boards with the Morrison family. Her landlady, Mrs. Morrison, worries about her 17-year-old son Bobby, who drives recklessly and has been racing his car. Miss Warner learns that Mr. Douglas, the driver education teacher, is concerned about Bobby too. Later that evening, Miss Warner and Mr. Douglas go to a roadhouse called the Hub, where young drivers gather for races, and they try to keep a younger boy named David from joining in. The Suspense episode aired on September 21, 1953, starring Agnes Moorehead, and was presented by AutoLite with a traffic safety message.

A town in the United States in the late summer of 1953, including a high school, a family home, and a roadside hamburger stand called the Hub on State Highway 52.

Characters: Miss Barbara Warner, Bobby Morrison, Mrs. Morrison, Mr. Douglas, David Cooper, Charlie Phillips, Officer Cleaver

Listen for: Mrs. Morrison's worried conversations with Miss Warner, and the tense scene at the Hub where the young drivers prepare to race.

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.