Suspense: 04/28/52, episode 470
Brought to you by the Old Time Radio Researchers, courtesy of The Suspense Project

Frank Lovejoy portrays one of the most notorious outlaws in American history in the “true” story of Billy the Kid. The script is by Silvia Richards. Lovejoy was not the planned guest star; that was Donald O’Connor, who excused himself from the assignment.

The real Billy the Kid got involved in numerous altercations and feuds, killing sixteen men by the time he was 18 years old. He was offered a full pardon by the governor of New Mexico if he would stand trial and become a law-abiding citizen. Billy turned it down because he was convinced that his enemies would murder him the moment he put aside his guns. He gives himself up later, however, to get a priest for a dying comrade, and is sentenced to hang. Billy makes a spectacular escape from jail, and from that moment on, he was hunted day and night.

Billy the Kid was the subject of numerous film and television characterizations, as well as radio. There often was a glamorization of his life in the media. He died at age 21, shot.

The original star was planned and announced as Donald O’Connor. It was teased at the close of the prior week’s broadcast. Newspapers and press releases active, were still promoting O’Connor’s appearance, some appearing in newspapers on the day of broadcast.

Usually, such cast changes would be attributed to a change in the announced guest performer's schedule. This time, it seemed different. Here, the replaced actor is quoted as saying the part was not right for him. This is how the 1952-04-28 North Hollywood Valley Times reported it:

Donald O’Connor pulled out of radio's Suspense in favor of Frank Lovejoy because “I just didn't feel the script was right for me.”

Frank’s voice seems too mature to be “the Kid,” making it seem that the story is about “Billy the Adult,” something that “the Kid” did not live long enough to achieve. Lovejoy delivers his usual fine performance, but one wonders what an O’Connor rendition would have been like.

Two nights earlier, CBS debuted Gunsmoke, and its first production was Billy the Kid. That was a much different presentation, authored by Walter Brown Newman. William Conrad was the only performer in both productions.

There are two surviving recordings. No network disc recording has survived, but there was an incomplete home disc recording that became available in the late 1970s.

Thankfully, a clean Armed Forces Radio Service transcription (AFRS#410) recording of this episode was found in 2018. This AFRS recording is the much better of the two and provides an enjoyable listening experience.

The cast: FRANK LOVEJOY (Billy Bonney), William Conrad (Pat Garrett), Parley Baer (Jack / Boyle), Jack Kruschen (Joe / Pete), Joe Kearns (Charlie), Russell Simpson (Wallace), Tony Barrett (Bob / Jose), Lillian Buyeff (Girl), Earl Lee (Poe / McSween), Charles Calvert (Man), Larry Thor (Narrator)

COMMERCIAL: Tom Holland, Harlow Wilcox (Announcer), Sylvia Simms (Operator)

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