Suspense: 04/19/59, episode 796 Brought to you by the Old Time Radio Researchers, courtesy of The Suspense Project

Jim Backus stars in a George Bamber as “Poppy,” the blind owner of a city sidewalk newsstand. He seems innocent enough, but we gradually learn that he has a criminal past, is selling “the numbers” from the stand in cooperation with a local crime syndicate. At the beginning of the episode a mobster leaves the newsstand and while walking away, Poppy tells him he left his umbrella at the stand. The man stops and tells Poppy he never uses an umbrella. That gives mobsters a clear shot at their rival and he is gunned down. Poppy is called in for questioning by the police, but he won’t give them any details about mob activities no matter how they threaten or coerce him. The syndicate, however, now fears that Poppy knows too much, and may have given information to the police. They try to eliminate him. He manages to evade their attempts and starts to figure their next steps. He thinks he has them outsmarted, but he only ends up outsmarting himself.

Backus’ career was hot at this time, and he was considered a “was recently described as a ”seven-threat man” because he was a headliner in radio (playing “Hubert Updyke III, the richest man in the world”) on the Alan Young Show, was on television in series such as I Married Joan, film, night clubs, stage performances, a writer of screenplay concepts, recording artist, and was still riding the popularity of the Mr. Magoo animation series that started in 1949.

The program was recorded on Wednesday, April 1, 1959. Rehearsal began at 2:00 pm. Recording started at 4:30 pm and, including in-studio edits, concluded at 6:00 pm. Production edits continued until 8:00 pm.

There is one surviving recording and it is from the Armed Forces Radio and Television Service (AFRTS#1020). It is complete and is in fine sound. Prior circulating recordings were heavily edited airchecks with background noise and other problems.

This was the third script by George Bamber for the series. He adapted this script five years later for the ABC Radio series Theatre 5 and changed the title to “Blind Man's Bluff.”

The cast: JIM BACKUS (Poppy), Gail Bonney (Mrs. Wells the Landlady), Norm Alden (Ed Barker / 1st hood), Lou Krugman (Carl Raber), Barney Phillips (Al Street), Dick Beals (Bobby), Sam Pierce (2nd hood), George Walsh (Narrator)

For more information visit https://suspenseproject.blogspot.com/2025/07/1959-04-19-see-how-he-runs.html