CBS Radio Mystery Theater presents "Murder on the Space Shuttle"

The CBS Radio Mystery Theater presents Jacques Futrell's "Murder on the Space Shuttle" dramatized by Lewis, G. Frederick and staring Velia Greay, Gordon Heath, Paul Hecht, and Gilbert Mack. Episode #1169 first aired on March 9th, 1981.

"Murder on the Space Shuttle"

Internet Archive...

The CBS Radio Mystery Theater (or CBSRMT) was an ambitious and sustained attempt in the 1970s to revive the great drama of old-time radio. Created by Himan Brown (who had by then become a radio legend due to his work on Inner Sanctum Mysteries The Adventures of Nero Wolfe and other shows dating back to the 1930s), it aired on affiliate stations across the CBS Radio network. The series began its long run January 6, 1974; the final episode ran December 31, 1982.

The show was broadcast nightly and ran for one hour, including news and commercials. Typically, a week consisted of three to four new episodes, with the remainder of the week filled out with reruns. There were 1,399 original episodes broadcast.

CBS Radio Mystery Theater [Wikipedia]

Complete series

"Suspense"...OTR offering--"Donovan's Brain"

Another Halloween offering from Old Time Radio's Suspense when your mind's eye was paramount. Here is a radio adaptation of Curt Siodmak's 1942 science fiction novel Donovan's Brain staring Orson Welles.

Wikipedia...

The novel is written in the form of diary entries by Dr. Patrick Cory, a middle-aged physician whose experiments at keeping a brain alive are subsidized by Cory's wealthy wife. Under investigation for tax evasion and criminal financial activities, millionaire megalomaniac W.H. Donovan crashes his private plane in the desert near the home of Dr. Cory. The physician is unable to save Donovan's life, but removes his brain on the chance that it might survive, placing the gray matter in an electrically charged, oxygenated saline solution within a glass tank. The brainwaves indicate that thought—and life—continue. Cory makes several futile attempts to communicate with it. Finally, one night Cory receives unconscious commands, jotting down a list of names in a handwriting not his own—it is Donovan's. Cory successfully attempts telepathic contact with Donovan's brain, much to the concern of Cory's occasional assistant, Dr. Schratt, an elderly alcoholic.

Gradually, the malignant intelligence takes over Cory's personality, leaving him in an amnesiac fugue state when he awakes. The brain uses Cory to do his bidding, signing checks in Donovan's name, and continuing the magnate's illicit financial schemes. Cory becomes increasingly like the paranoid Donovan himself, his physique and manner morphing into the limping image of the departed criminal. Donovan's bidding culminates in an attempt to have Cory kill a young girl who stands in the way of his plans. Realizing he will soon have no control over his own body and mind, Cory devises a plan to destroy the brain during its quiescent period. Cory resists the brain's hypnotic power by repeating the rhyme "He thrusts his fists against the posts and still insists he sees the ghosts." With Dr. Schratt's help, he destroys the housing tank with an ax and leaves the brain of Donovan to die, thus ending his reign of madness.

Part 1

Part 2