Stars on Suspense (Old Time Radio)

Donald Crisp took home on Oscar for his powerful performance in How Green Was My Valley, but that was just one notch on his belt during a long Hollywood career that stretched from the silent era to the 1960s and included stints as actor, producer, and director. We'll hear him in "Banquo's Chair" - the story of a Scotland Yard inspector with an ingenious method to catch a killer (originally aired on CBS on June 1, 1943). Then, Crisp is a psychiatrist who tries to discover what haunts a railroad tycoon in "Case History of Edgar Lowndes" (originally aired on CBS on June 8, 1944). Plus, he recreates his Academy Award-winning role in The Screen Guild Theatre (originally aired on CBS on March 22, 1942).

To celebrate 400 episodes of Stars on Suspense, I'm sharing five of my favorites from the first decade of "radio's outstanding theatre of thrills" - a star-studded showcase of classic chillers. First, Orson Welles wishes he only had a brain...and gets one with disasterous results in "Donovan's Brain," a two-part sci-fi/horror epic (originally aired on CBS on May 18 and May 25, 1944). Then, Robert Young isn't a father and he doesn't know best in "You'll Never See Me Again," a classic story from Cornell Woolrich (originally aired on CBS on September 5, 1946). Edward G. Robinson plays himself and "The Man Who Thought He Was Edward G. Robinson" in a comedic thriller (originally aired on CBS on September 30, 1948). Brian Donlevy is a psychiatrist whose new patient is a human lie detector in "Lazarus Walks" (originally aired on CBS on October 31, 1946). And finally, Lucille Ball is a crook who catches a bigger fish - a serial killer - in her trap in "A Little Piece of Rope" (originally aired on CBS on October 14, 1948).

We're ringing in 2025 with the great Frank Lovejoy in three radio thrillers, including a belated New Year's Eve story. First, he tries to talk an amateur pilot safely down to the ground in "The Long Night" (originally aired on CBS on July 13, 1958). Then, an unusual watch leads him to find a lot of time on his hands in "The Thirty-Second of December" (originally aired on CBS on December 28, 1958). Finally, he's a bank teller with the inside track to steal $100,000 from a safe deposit box in "Death in Box 234" (originally aired on CBS on March 15, 1959). Plus, we'll hear Lovejoy in an episode of his own outstanding radio drama Night Beat - a show known as "The Football Player and the Syndicate" (originally aired on NBC on June 12, 1950).

Before we sign off for the year, it's time for our annual presentation of a classic Christmas film recreated for radio. This year, it's the holiday romantic comedy Remember the Night, recreated with original stars Barbara Stanwyck and Fred MacMurray in a broadcast from The Lux Radio Theatre (originally aired on CBS on March 25, 1940).