Suspense - The Wages Of Sin

(3.5 stars; 4 reviews)

Barbara Stanwyck: What A Bitch! Suspense - The Wages Of Sin October 19, 1950 When it comes to playing a bad bitch, Barbara Stanwyck is without peer.  We take a not-so-guilty pleasure in her manipulative nature, regardless of whether she is spiralling toward catastrophe, as in Sorry, Wrong Number or Double Indemnity, or being redeemed by the inherent selflessness of others, as in Meet John Doe or Remember The Night. The Wages of Sin definitely belongs in the former category.  This 1950 episode of Suspense features Stanwyck as Ruby Miller, whose apartment is the scene of a murder.  With bitch persona firing on all cylinders, she establishes her acid-tongued character with her first few lines.  Any remaining doubt is eliminated with her two-word reaction to seeing a murdered man on the floor of her apartment:  "My rug!" Ruby, with airtight alibi and no connection to the victim, knows that she has nothing to fear from the police.  What she may have to fear, it turns out, is their absence.  When the police tire of being stonewalled by her cocky, confrontational nature, they pull back and leave her to her own devices, which may not be enough to ensure her safety. The climactic confrontation between Ruby Miller and Lt. Salvador features them going toe-to-toe, trading verbal blows with no mercy asked or given.  Rather than backing down in response to having her character assassinated by the police lieutenant, Miller makes an irrefutable case for the behaviour of every bad girl, going for the jugular with machine-gun delivery.  The scene is unremitting, and ranks with the best of Stanwyck performances, in any medium. Glossary: The 400:   "I even got tapped by the 400."   The upper echelon of high society.  In the second half of the 19th century, New York socialite Caroline Webster Schermerhorn Astor became concerned with the invasion of society by unworthy people, such as nouveau-riche mid-westerners and other such undesirables.  Under the patronage of Mrs. Astor, arbiter of high society Ward McAllister formulated a list of the 400 people who 'really mattered', and deserved inclusion in New York's highest rungs of society.  This led to the phrase 'The 400' becoming shorthand for the upper crust. Broker's Tip and The Yankees:   "Of course, I was sort of a late starter, but so were Broker's Tip and The Yankees."   Two legendary come-from-behind sports victories.  One, long shot Broker's Tip winning the Kentucky Derby, had taken place almost two decades earlier.  The other, the 1950 New York Yankees winning the pennant after a mediocre 9-7 season start and a sub-.500 15-17 record in June, then winning four straight games against the Philadelphia Phillies to sweep the World Series, had reached its conclusion less than a fortnight before the airing of this episode. Ruby Millers's off-the-cuff citing of sports trivia, particularly of a betting sport, may have been writer's shorthand to indicate that her interests and hobbies lay outside those of a pillar of society. Kinsey:    "Don't tell me about them; I hear Kinsey's in town."   Alfred Kinsey, the sexologist and professor who, in 1947, founded The Institute For Sex Research at Indiana University.  He was well known for performing hundreds of interviews to compile the 'Kinsey Reports':  Sexual Behaviour In The Human Male, published in 1947, and Sexual Behaviour In The Human Female, published in 1953. Noël Coward:   "Look, stupid; didn't you ever read anything but Noël Coward?"   British playwright, composer, and performer known for sophisticated characters, society settings, and clever banter. Links: To visit the OTRR's Suspense page, with over nine hundred episodes available, click here . For another take on this episode, from the website Escape And Suspense, click here . To visit Introduction To Old-Time Radio's Suspense page, click here . To view the entire ITOTR collection, click here . Digitally restored George Hurrell photo of Barbara Stanwyck courtesy of Doctor Macro . Text © 2016 W.H.Wilson

This recording is part of the Old Time Radio collection.