OTR Halloween Day 3: The Clock

The Clock started out as an ABC anthology program in 1947-1948. Today, most of what we have of the Clock comes from an Australian version made during the 1950s. A few of those program used the same scripts as the ABC version so it does give us a picture of what the show was like - because, unfortunately, we only have a little of the 1947-1948 version.

What makes the Clock stand out, though, is the talent behind it. It was produced by William Spier, best-known for giving us Suspense. Most episodes starred the husband-wife team of Elliott and Cathy Lewis and there were many other familiar names from Suspense. For this Halloween, I'm concerned with the episode dubbed "Nicky." It starts out sounding very much like other radio programs: a gangster's girlfriend is plotting to fake his execution on death row; the undertaker who learns of the plot blackmails his way in. And then events get a bit surreal and very supernatural!

"Nicky" featured a few other Suspense names, including William Conrad as the host/narrator and Hans Conreid as the undertaker. You can hear "Nicky" at the Old-Time Radio Researcher's Group.