Abbott and Costello
Broadcast 2 December 1948. Public-domain transfer from the Old Time Radio Researchers certified set at the Internet Archive.
The run
- Network
- CBS
- Years active
- 1942–1962
- Surviving broadcasts
- 1051
- Genre
- suspense
Suspense ran on CBS from 1942 to 1962, the network's flagship thriller anthology, produced first by William Spier and later by Elliott Lewis and Antony Ellis. Hollywood stars were routinely cast against type — Cary Grant, Agnes Moorehead, Jimmy Stewart, Lucille Ball — and the scores were written by Bernard Herrmann and his successors. These transfers come from the Old Time Radio Researchers single-episode collections and are public domain.
1950 · 11949 · 11948 · 21947 · 11946 · 21945 · 11944 · 21943 · 11940 · 1
Restoration quality — measured from the surviving files
Clean transfer · 46 of 90Listenable · 44 of 90
Source collection
Old Time Radio Researchers Group
Rights
Public domain — no renewed US copyright
Cataloguing
Air dates and notes from the Archive item record
Every broadcast below carries its own provenance sheet — transfer quality, file source and rights.Archive record: OTRR_Suspense_Singles
The shape of the run
What survives, year by year
12 dated broadcasts across 23 years on the air, with 14 years where nothing is known to survive. Brightness is transfer quality; empty cells are months lost to time.
JFMAMJJASOND
1940
1941
1942
1943
1944
1945
1946
1947
1948
1949
1950
1951
1952
1953
1954
1955
1956
1957
1958
1959
1960
1961
1962
Clean transferListenableRough but complete No surviving recording
Episodes
Start here
Listen to the run in order
Restored broadcasts from 1940, in original transmission order.
- 1. Forecast The Lodger (audition) · 22 Jul 1940
- 2. Suspense 044 Banquo's Chair · 1 Jun 1943
- 3. Suspense 077 The Sisters · 3 Feb 1944
- 01
Forecast The Lodger (audition)
22 Jul 1940 · 29 min
Transferred from the Internet Archive item “OTRR_Suspense_Singles”, part of the Old Time Radio Researchers public-domain collections.
- 02
Suspense 044 Banquo's Chair
1 Jun 1943 · 28 min
Transferred from the Internet Archive item “OTRR_Suspense_Singles”, part of the Old Time Radio Researchers public-domain collections.
- 03
Suspense 077 The Sisters
3 Feb 1944 · 29 min
Transferred from the Internet Archive item “OTRR_Suspense_Singles”, part of the Old Time Radio Researchers public-domain collections.
- 04
Suspense 110 The Bluebeard of Bellac
21 Sep 1944 · 30 min
Transferred from the Internet Archive item “OTRR_Suspense_Singles”, part of the Old Time Radio Researchers public-domain collections.
- 05
Suspense 143 August Heat
31 May 1945 · 29 min
Transferred from the Internet Archive item “OTRR_Suspense_Singles”, part of the Old Time Radio Researchers public-domain collections.
- 06
Suspense 178 The Long Shot
31 Jan 1946 · 25 min
Transferred from the Internet Archive item “OTRR_Suspense_Singles”, part of the Old Time Radio Researchers public-domain collections.
- 07
Suspense 212 Statement of Employee Henry Wilson
26 Sep 1946 · 30 min
Transferred from the Internet Archive item “OTRR_Suspense_Singles”, part of the Old Time Radio Researchers public-domain collections.
- 08
Suspense 247 A Thing of Beauty
29 May 1947 · 30 min
Transferred from the Internet Archive item “OTRR_Suspense_Singles”, part of the Old Time Radio Researchers public-domain collections.
Same night on the air
2 Dec 1948
Everything else the archive still holds from the night of 2 Dec 1948.
Al Jolson
Broadcast on Syndicated. Transferred from the Internet Archive's Old Time Radio Researchers collection (public domain).
Jump Jump and the Ice Queen
Broadcast on Syndicated. Transferred from the Internet Archive's Old Time Radio Researchers collection (public domain).
Also on CBS
CBS in 1942–1962
Other series the network carried while Suspense was on the air.
Same seasons
suspense on the air then
Series in the same genre whose runs overlapped this one.
What it became
The anthology of dread
A voice, a creaking door, and a self-contained story designed to frighten you in half an hour. Suspense and Lights Out built the grammar every horror anthology still uses.
Lineage is written by our editors, not inferred from listening data.
Descendants
Working in the tradition of Suspense
Modern series carrying this form forward.
If you liked this
More to explore
Chosen by the same editors.
