Suspense 1943 - Ray and Agnes

[tonyw]

By sheer chance, I tuned in to our local community radio now running old radio serials each morning. Today's "Breakfast Serial" ffering was "The Diary of Saphronia Winters" with Ray voicing a debonair serial killer and Agnes, an early (20th Gothic heroine from a story written by Lucille Fletcher who also penned "Sorry, Wrong Number" later voiced by Agnes herself. Both were at the height of their acoustic powers and Agnes also relapsed into an Aunt Fanny mode of hysterical delivery at one point. I'm sure Jeff Wilson has heard this and I recommend it to others.

[Wich2]

SUSPENSE was a really terrific anthology, which among other things, influenced Rod Serling a good deal (THE TWILIGHT ZONE had its genesis in an earlier radio proposal of his.)

Fletcher (once Mrs. Benny Herrmann) also wrote the excellent FALL RIVER TRAGEDY, wherein Aggie (known as "The First Lady of SUSPENSE"; Joe Cotten was "First Gentleman") assayed the role of one Lizzie Borden. Other episodes she appeared in, include the unnerving THE YELLOW WALLPAPER.

There's a fun story about this show, demonstrating the power of the medium it was born in...

Merriest,
-Craig

[Wich2]

("Under-caffeinated mistake" correction)

Lucille did not write FALL RIVER (though she did pen several other estimable SUSPENSE scripts, including the Vincent Price/Ida Lupino FUGUE IN C MINOR, which bears some similarities to SAPHRONIA WINTERS.)

Merriest,
-Craig

[tonyw]

She did write some excellent Gothic material along the lines of an article written by one scholar - "I'm alone in the house and I think my husband is trying to kill me" - of which GASLIGHT is a key example. Keith Baxter once commented that the Gothich fascinated Welles so it is interesting to see his collaborators pursuing this trend in different ways.

[Wich2]

True, about Welles.

Touches of the Gothic in many of his films - strongly drawn characters, innocents in peril, corruption behind ordered facades, etc.

Merriest,
-Craig

[Wellesnet]

"The Diary of Saphronia Winters" is available on Youtube in three parts:
Part1:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1OWS8YcibpY
Part2:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=71IiKuxLONA
Part3:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3nUIwsju82M