Suspense - "The Operation" (01-27-55)

The Operation (Aired January 27, 1955)

Suspense attracted Hollywood's best actors because they were allowed to play roles different from their usual stereotypes. Comedians could play killers, or heroes could play victims. Jack Benny played a Martian. Ronald Reagan played a man on the run framed for a crime he didn't commit. Lucille Ball played a cold-blooded murderer. Frank Sinatra played a psychopath. All the while, audiences were kept wondering and waiting to see what the surprise ending would be. They expected the unexpected, and they usually got it. Some of the same stories would later be adapted to TV and performed on Alfred Hitchcock Presents. Hitchcock was, after all, billed as "the Master of Suspense." And there was a certain amount of poetic justice in him borrowing from the radio series, since he was so instrumental in creating it.

THIS EPISODE:
 
January 27, 1955. CBS network. "The Operation". Sustaining. A robber holding up a doctor's office is forced to join a nurse when the two of them are forced to perform an operation at gunpoint. Mention is made during a promotional announcement that "Gunsmoke" will be heard tonight on CBS radio twice. Sam Edwards, John Trell, Herb Ellis, Bill Justine, John Stevenson, Hy Averback, Mary Jane Croft, Larry Thor (announcer), Antony Ellis (producer, director), Lucien Moraweck (composer), Wilbur Hatch (conductor). 24:11. Episode Notes From The Radio Gold Index.