As I watched the Grammy Awards show this past weekend my mind drifted to the Suspense episode "Never Follow a Banjo Act."
The star of this episode is Ethel Merman, and even if you aren't a big Ethel fan, you will probably enjoy this. She plays Rosie Jones, a singing star of "mature talents," who is asked to work with a heart-throb boy singer named Terry Dane. She accepts but quickly finds out that the deal she made isn't all it is cracked up to be.
This episode is surprisingly creepy and dark, and it makes memorable statements about greed, the pop music industry, and "tousled hair". Why hasn't this episode ever been turned into a movie?
Suspense broadcast this episode twice. The first presentation starred Ethel Merman on February 4, 1954, and the second starred Margaret Whiting on March 2, 1958. Ethel's is the better version. "Never Follow a Banjo Act" was written for Suspense by James Poe.
Yes this would make a good movie as the radio version is too short but still covers all the bases and ends with an acceptable conclusion. A very nice little twisted tale.
Posted by: Kevin | October 10, 2009 at 05:54 AM