Joseph Ruscoll (born Joseph Russcol, November 2, 1906 – November 19, 1956) was an American radio and television writer, perhaps best known for his much produced and adapted radio drama, "The Creeper". Ruscoll was the cousin of producer/talk show host David Susskind and writer-producer Norman Lear.
Early life and career Born Joseph Russcol on November 2, 1906,Ellett, Ryan (1917). Radio Drama and Comedy Writers, 1928–1962. Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Company. p. 171. . "Joseph Ruscoll (November 2, 1906–November 19, 1956) worked as a freelance scriptwriter in the early 1940s before joining the CBS writing staff in mid-1943. Among his earlier credits are The Columbia Workshop (1942, 1946–1947), Treasury Star Parade (1942), Camel Caravan "Our Town" sketches (1942), The Cavalcade of America (1943), and Eyes of the Air Force (1943). Later in 1943, Russell joined the Army and received a medical discharge early in 1945. He immediately resumed his network writing on programs such as Theatre of Romance (1945), Fighting Senator (1946), The Molle Mystery Theater (1946–1947), Suspense (1948–1949), Broadway Is My Beat (1949), and Murder by Experts (1949). Ruscoll focused more on television in the 1950s, especially on crime and suspense shows, before dying at age 50 in 1956." in Boston, Massachusetts,"New York, New York City, World War II Draft Registration Cards, 1940-1947", FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:W74X-HLPZ : Sat Apr 12 16:54:04 UTC 2025), Entry for Joseph Russcol and Self, 16 Oct 1940. he was one of three children born to Russian Jewish immigrants Etta (nee Rubin) and Louis Russcol"United States, Census, 1920", FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MFMB-L26 : Thu Oct 23 01:10:57 UTC 2025), Entry for Louis Russcol and Etta Russcol, 1920. In a brief interview conducted more than 35 years later, he recalled being "a skinny little kid [who] talked to myself and wore glasses".
Russcol attended the Jehuda Halevi Religious School in Boston, and later Suffolk Law School, graduating in 1928. The following year, he passed the bar in Massachusetts."LIST SUCCESSFUL CANDIDATES FOR BAY STATE'S BAR: Massachusetts Association Notifies 334 Men and Women That Exams Have Been Passed". The Morning Union. October 5, 1929. p. 6. "Massachusetts men and women who successfully passed the bar examinations held in June, were announced today, as follows: Alex M. Alpert, Augueta E. Altman. Harris Altman, Howe C. Amee, Henry C. Anderson, [...] J. Miiton Rowe, Paul F. Rowe, Alford Rudnick. Joseph Russcol, Francis H. Russell," At various points during that decade (presumably in order to help cover the cost of tuition), Russcol had worked in Boston, first as a bellhop, and later as a short-order cook.
During the nineteen thirties, Russcol practiced law in Boston for a number of years, before moving to New York, where he worked initially as "a Bowery social worker".
The first published mention of Ruscoll as a dramatist—as well as the first in-print usage of that slightly altered family-name spelling under which he would continue to be credited throughout his career—came in the fall of 1939, when the New York Daily News reported that Ruscoll's first published play, a comedy titled Mr. Silver Blows Town, was deemed "a sure thing" by two prominent literary agents, Audrey Wood and Maxim Lieber, both of whom began to shop the play around once they had "managed to stop laughing". The following April, the Arts section of The New York Times reported that both New York's Theatre Guild and noted producer / playwright-screenwriter Ben Hecht had expressed interest in the play, leading to speculation regarding a possible Broadway opening for the upcoming season. The story concludes with the barest thumbnail outline of Mr. Silver's plot, which concerns "the disappearance of the head of a house [and how that] affects other members of a family". In the meantime, the late-summer surfacing of Ruscoll's sophomore effort, Before the Sun Comes Down, was noted that August by agent Wood, via the New York Herald Tribune. In the end, notwithstanding the undeniable buzz generated by these stories, the next two theatre seasons came and went with no indication that either play had ever been—nor was about to be—produced by anyone, least of all on Broadway.IBDB search engine. Internet Broadway Database.
Radio Ruscoll made his radio writing debut in March 1942 on Columbia Workshop, with "The Test", and followed in June on Treasury Star Parade, with "A Modern Scrooge", starring Lionel Barrymore in the title role. By October, both of these scripts had become available to the public, the former via a radio writing textbook written by director Earle McGill, and the latter, in an anthology of TSP's best, penned by producer Bill Bacher.
In February 1943, actor Edmund Gwenn starred as Hercules Mulligan in "The Plot to Kidnap General Washington", an episode of Cavalcade of America adapted by Ruscoll and his wife Janet from information gathered by writer-researcher Carl Carmer. The play was produced at least once more on radio—in 1950, retitled "Mulligan the Mighty", starring James Gleason on CBS's Skippy Hollywood Theatre—and on television in a 1952 episode of NBC's Hallmark Hall of Fame, featuring Joshua Shelley.
On March 31, 1949, Edward G. Robinson starred in "You Can't Die Twice", an episode of Suspense adapted by Walter Newman from a story by Ruscoll.
Television It seems fitting that Ruscoll's first TV credit should involve his signature work. Adapted in 1949 by Frank Gabrielson for Suspense, "The Creeper" featured Nina Foch, the fifth of eight actresses to play Ruscoll's much imperiled protagonist.
In Variety's review of "Nightmare", the fourth episode of CBS's recently unveiled Joseph Schildkraut Presents (and the first of 2 penned by Ruscoll), Land—aka Robert J. Landry, the trade paper's newly installed managing editor—cannot help but note the stark contrast between this and what he had been compelled to sit through just three weeks prior. Its fourth Wednesday night show, 'Nightmare' by Joseph Ruscoll, made 100% more sense than the unfortunate debut script. Although dealing, as its title suggests, with a horror dream and produced with lots of tilted-camera shots, this one was light-years ahead in the department of plot intelligibility. Story was triangular and allowed a closeup treatment most of the way. It neatly fit Schildkraut himself as a sweet-talking but cheating spouse. [...] All in all, the imaginative and quasi-arty slants upon which the Schildkraut undertaking (really ambitious for DuMont) was premised now seems to be showing through.
Personal life and death From at least 1940 until his death, Ruscoll was married to fellow writer Janet Ruscoll.Bacher, William A. (1942). The Treasury Star Parade: 27 Radio Plays. Farrar & Rinehart. p. 90. "'The Awakening of Johnny Castle' by Joseph and Janet Ruscoll" They had three children, the eldest being daughter Cynthia and son Ricky."United States, Census, 1950", FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:6XTK-DV8X : Tue Oct 03 02:35:41 UTC 2023), Entry for Joseph Ruscoll and Janet Ruscoll, 13 April 1950. The former, at least during her preteens, performed professionally as a ballet dancer, appearing in a production of The Nutcracker in 1955 at New York City Center.
On November 19, 1956, eighteen days after his fiftieth birthday, Russcoll suffered a fatal heart attack at his home in Jackson Heights, New York. He was survived by his wife and three children.
Works Radio
Columbia Workshop "The Test" (1942) – writer "Anniversary" (1946) – writer "Natural History of Nonsense" (1947) – adaptor Treasury Star Parade "The Modern Scrooge" (1942) – writer Cavalcade of America "The Plot to Kidnap General Washington" (1943) – adaptor Everything for the Girls All episodes (1944) – written with Sgt. Virginia Rich"For Boys to Play". The Tech. August 25, 1944. p. 2. "'Everything for the Girls,' the WACs' radio program you've read much about in this column, continues to draw attention weekly of its listening audience over WBZA and its studio audience at New England Mutual Hall [...] [A]s usual the program is written by Sgt. Virginia Rich and Private Ruscoll, and produced and directed by Pfc. Ed Newman." Colgate Theatre of Romance "One Sunday Afternoon" (1944) – adaptor "Accent on Youth" (1944) – adaptor "Miracle in the Rain" (1945) – adaptor Mollé Mystery Theatre "The Creeper" (1946) – writer "The Further Adventures of Kenny Andrews" (1946) - writer "Triangle of Death" (1947) - writer "Kenny Andrews Returns" (1947) – writer "Primer for Murder" (1947) – writer "Five Bullets for Baldwin" (1948) – writerGrams, Martin (2001). The Alfred Hitchcock Presents Companion. Churchville, MD: OTR Publishing. p. 126. . "EPISODE #14. 'A BULLET FOR BALDWIN' Broadcast on January 1, 1956. Starring: John Qualen as Benjamin Step, Sebastian Cabot as Nathanael Baldwin / Mr. Davidson [...] Teleplay written for Alfred Hitchcock Presents by Eustace and Francis Cockrell, based on the radio play 'Five Bullets for Baldwin' by Joseph Ruscoll, originally broadcast on The Molle Mystery Theater on April 16, 1948." Studio One "Wuthering Heights" (1947) – adaptor Suspense "Break-Up" (1948) – writer "You Can't Die Twice" (1949) – author Murder by Experts "Prescription for Murder" (1949) – writer "The Creeper" (1949) – writer (as Joe Russell) "Dig Your Own Grave" (1949) – writer "I Dreamt I Died" (1949) – writer "The Case of the Missing Mind" (1949) – writer The MGM Theater of the Air "Hideout" (1949) – adaptor Skippy Hollywood Theatre "Mulligan the Mighty" (1950) – written by (with Janet Ruscoll) The Chase "The Creeper" (1953) – writer
Television
Suspense Season 1 Episode 6 "The Creeper" (1949) - story The Clock Season 1 Episode 31 "Lease of Death" (1949) – adaptation Season 1 Episode 36 "Who Is This Man?" (1950) – written by Season 1 Episode 37 "Dig Your Own Grave" (1950) – written by Robert Montgomery Presents Season 2 Episode 6 "The Canterville Ghost" (1950) – adaptation Big Town Season 1 Episode 26 "Anything for Money" (1951) – Writer Season 1 Episode 35 "Honeymoon Cottage" (1951) – written by Season 1 Episode 37 "The First Robin" (1951) – written by Season 1 Episode 44 "The Turning Point" (1951) – Writer Season 1 Episode 45 "Success Story" (1951) – written by Season 1 Episode 35 "Many Happy Returns" (1951) – written by Season 2 Episode 4 "The Juke Box" (1951) – written by Season 2 Episode 5 "The Fifth Floor" (1951) – written by Season 2 Episode 7 "The Three Rs" (1951) – written by Season 2 Episode 10 "The Doll" (1951) – written by Season 2 Episode 14 "Solitaire" (1951) – written by Season 2 Episode 17 "The Canary Shop" (1951) – written by Season 2 Episode 21 "The Laundress" (1951) – written by The Web Season 1 Episode 22 "The Creeper" (1950) – written by Season 1 Episode 55 "Breakup" (1951) – adaptation Season 1 Episode 59 "The Edge of Error" (1951) – adaptation Season 4 Episode 43 "The Treadmill" (1954) – written by Lux Video Theatre Season 2 Episode 7 "Route 19" (1951) – adaptation Hallmark Hall of Fame Season 1 Episode 8 "The Plot to Kidnap General Washington" (1952) – writer Eyewitness Season 1 Episode 2 "Apartment 4-D" (1953) – written by Season 1 Episode 3 "Dilemma" (1963) – adaptation Harlem Detective Season 1 Episode 2 "Pay You Saturday" (1953) – written by Joseph Schildkraut Presents Season 1 Episode 4 "Nightmare" (1953) – writer Season 1 Episode 12 "Claim Check" (1954) – writer Ford Television Theatre Season 2 Episode 3 "Ever Since the Day" (1953) – original Season 5 Episode 14 "Fear Has Many Faces" (1957) – story The Stranger Season 1 Episode 23 "Eyewitness" (1954) – written by The Pepsi-Cola Playhouse "A Husband Disappears" (1955) – writer The Big Story Season 6 Episode 39 "A Sound Like the Wind" (1955) – written by Your Play Time Season 3 Episode 7 "A Husband Appears" (1955) – writer Alfred Hitchcock Presents