Suspense's "A Present for Benny" is yet another story about a time-bomb that goes missing, but it is also an endearing Christmas story about making friends with your enemies.
This is a tale of two neighborhood gangsters who want each other out of the way. As the story opens, Ricky McQueen reads aloud from a letter of holiday greetings that he has received from Machine-Gun Benny. In it, Benny explains that he and his boys plan to bump Ricky off the next time they see him. Ricky, in response, decides to send Benny a Christmas present -- the kind that goes "BOOM!"
While this is going on, Ricky's wife is steadily campaiging for the Christmas present she wants the most, an ermine coat. When Ricky does buy her the coat, he asks the salesman at the department store for an extra box. His plan is to put the bomb in the extra box and have the store deliver it the next day. So now, he has two presents wrapped in identical boxes. One box contains the gift for his wife, and one contains the present for Benny. Do the two boxes get mixed up? Of course they do.
"A Present for Benny" was written, produced and directed by Antony Ellis. Jack Kruschen starred as Ricky. Also appearing were Eve McVeagh, Stacy Harris, Joseph Kearns, Junius Matthews, and Benny Rubin. This episode aired on December 13, 1955.
. Download Suspense_1955.12.13_APresentforBenny.mp3
(Image from Stock.xchng)
Who else but SUSPENSE would do a Christmas story about a time-bomb... and turn it into a Runyonesque comedy??
Posted by: Mike Hobart | December 14, 2007 at 01:09 AM