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Transcript

Suspense - "If the Dead Could Talk" (Old Time Radio, 1949) · Suspense | Old Time Radio

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: On a traveling circus train, flying trapeze partners Joe, Fran,
• 0:04
  Speaker 1: and Tommy find their personal lives dangerously entangled. Suspense brings
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: us If the Dead Could Talk, Episode Zero, originally broadcast
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: January 2, 1949. Dana Andrews plays Joe, with Peggy Weber
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: as Fran and Tony Barrett as Tommy, in Larry Marcus's
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: adaptation of a Cornell Woolrich story, first published under Woolrich's pseudonym,
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: William Irish. Fran's engagement to Tommy changes the balance within
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: the three-person act, and the cramped routine of circus travel
• 0:39
  Speaker 1: leads toward the precision and danger of the flying trapeze.
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: Produced by Anton M. Leder for CBS and sponsored by Autolite,
• 0:49
  Speaker 1: the program runs 30 minutes. Here is the original broadcast.
• 1:00
  Speaker 2: And now, Autolite and its 60,000 dealers and service stations present... Suspense.
• 1:06
  Speaker 3: Suspense.
• 1:13
  Speaker 4: Tonight, Autolight brings you Mr. Dana Andrews in If the
• 1:18
  Speaker 4: Dead Could Talk, a suspense play produced and directed by
• 1:23
  Speaker 4: Anton M.
• 1:24
  Speaker 5: Leder.
• 1:29
  Speaker 3: Friends, you know what happens when you take a fish
• 1:32
  Speaker 3: out of water? Sure, it dies.
• 1:34
  Speaker 2: Well, by Cornelius, the same thing happens when your car's
• 1:37
  Speaker 2: battery runs out of water. It lies right down and quits.
• 1:41
  Speaker 2: No water, no life. So what did the Autolite people do?
• 1:44
  Speaker 2: They made the Autolite stay full battery with an extra
• 1:47
  Speaker 2: large liquid reserve.
• 1:48
  Speaker 3: Gave it more room for more water.
• 1:50
  Speaker 2: Result, the Autolite stay-full battery needs water only three times
• 1:54
  Speaker 2: a year in normal car use.
• 1:56
  Speaker 3: Think of it.
• 1:57
  Speaker 2: Autolite stay-full batteries need water only three times a year
• 2:01
  Speaker 2: in normal car use. Just like that, Autolite practically eliminates
• 2:05
  Speaker 2: one of your major battery bothers. So, friends, be right
• 2:08
  Speaker 2: with Autolite. Switch to an Autolite stay-full battery tomorrow.
• 2:14
  Speaker 4: And now, Autolite presents Dana Andrews in a tale well
• 2:19
  Speaker 4: calculated to keep you in suspense.
• 2:27
  Speaker 3: They'll never know how it happened. No one will ever know.
• 2:33
  Speaker 6: I knew I was going to have to kill him
• 2:35
  Speaker 6: almost from the first. That's how I am. That's what
• 2:38
  Speaker 6: my blood is. I couldn't change it even if I tried.
• 2:45
  Speaker 6: We were on a circus train, the three of us
• 2:47
  Speaker 6: in the trapeze act, going from Tulsa to St. Louis.
• 2:51
  Speaker 6: Fran had asked me to come and sit with her,
• 2:53
  Speaker 6: but she had something to tell me. When I went over,
• 2:56
  Speaker 6: she was staring out the window into the night, and
• 2:58
  Speaker 6: the dim train lights made her features kind of soft
• 3:02
  Speaker 6: and blurred. And I stood watching her, getting all choked
• 3:06
  Speaker 6: up like I always did, wanting to freeze this picture
• 3:09
  Speaker 6: of her in my brain with all the other pictures.
• 3:12
  Speaker 6: Then she saw my reflection on the window glass and
• 3:14
  Speaker 6: she turned.
• 3:15
  Speaker 7: Oh, Joe.
• 3:16
  Speaker 3: Hi.
• 3:17
  Speaker 7: Sit down, Joe.
• 3:18
  Speaker 3: Sure. What's the secret?
• 3:20
  Speaker 7: Joe, I can't keep it inside me a second longer.
• 3:24
  Speaker 7: If I do, I'll bust.
• 3:25
  Speaker 1: Hmm?
• 3:26
  Speaker 7: Tommy and me been talking about getting married.
• 3:28
  Speaker 3: Are you kidding? Well, honey, did you tell him? As
• 3:32
  Speaker 3: she told me. Congratulations. That's all? Just congratulations?
• 3:37
  Speaker 7: Well, you know Joe's a man of few words.
• 3:41
  Speaker 3: So what do you think, joy boy? At least we'll
• 3:43
  Speaker 3: be able to keep her in the act now, huh? Yeah.
• 3:45
  Speaker 8: That's probably the only reason he's marrying me.
• 3:48
  Speaker 3: The way I figured it had to be one of us. Joe,
• 3:52
  Speaker 3: you're my pal. I couldn't let it happen to you. Well... And.
• 3:57
  Speaker 6: Then Tommy threw his arm across my shoulder. I felt
• 4:01
  Speaker 6: every nerve in my body tighten up... like somebody was
• 4:04
  Speaker 6: turning a screw. And I thought, so this is how
• 4:08
  Speaker 6: your life goes smash. Rattling through the night on a
• 4:11
  Speaker 6: dinky train... with a circus fat lady sitting across the
• 4:14
  Speaker 6: aisle munching chocolates.
• 4:17
  Speaker 3: I didn't know what I was going to do. Not then.
• 4:26
  Speaker 3: At first, I tried to go on just like before.
• 4:29
  Speaker 3: When we got to St.
• 4:30
  Speaker 6: Louis, Tommy and me shared a room in a theatrical
• 4:32
  Speaker 6: hotel like always. And the three of us went on
• 4:35
  Speaker 6: through our routines on the high trapeze like always. Yeah,
• 4:42
  Speaker 6: that part was the same. That part was as natural
• 4:45
  Speaker 6: as breathing. But the other things, like the looks they
• 4:49
  Speaker 6: gave each other, they're long walks together. And nothing worked
• 4:54
  Speaker 6: for me. Drinking myself blind, taking out a different girl
• 4:58
  Speaker 6: in the show every night of the week.
• 4:59
  Speaker 3: Nothing worked.
• 5:01
  Speaker 6: I still woke up in the middle of the night shivering,
• 5:04
  Speaker 6: my heart pounding and crying her name.
• 5:05
  Speaker 3: Fran!
• 5:06
  Speaker 7: Fran!
• 5:07
  Speaker 3: Fran! Joe, Joe, what's wrong? Huh? Oh, nothing's wrong. You
• 5:15
  Speaker 3: were yelling in your sleep. I'm okay. You sure? Yeah. Yeah,
• 5:20
  Speaker 3: I'm okay. What are you getting dressed for? It's the
• 5:24
  Speaker 3: middle of the night. I'm going for a walk. But Joe.
• 5:26
  Speaker 6: Look, I want to go for a walk, so I'm
• 5:27
  Speaker 6: going for a walk.
• 5:29
  Speaker 3: Joe, Fran and I were noticing. Noticing what? You've been
• 5:34
  Speaker 3: going at this nightlight pretty hard and heavy lately.
• 5:37
  Speaker 6: A fellow who works on a trapeze 60 feet up
• 5:40
  Speaker 6: and without a net, ladies and gentlemen.
• 5:44
  Speaker 3: Well, that's not so good, Joe. What's the matter? You
• 5:47
  Speaker 3: afraid someday I won't catch you, Tommy? Look, why don't
• 5:50
  Speaker 3: you take it a little easier, kid? It's all right
• 5:52
  Speaker 3: to have a good time. Good time? So that's what
• 5:55
  Speaker 3: I'm having. What do you know?
• 6:07
  Speaker 6: I walked the dark, empty streets for hours. I didn't
• 6:10
  Speaker 6: know where I went or why. Why did it have
• 6:14
  Speaker 6: to be him and Fran over and over again? Why
• 6:16
  Speaker 6: did it have to be him and not me?
• 6:19
  Speaker 3: And then it was like coming out of a sleep almost.
• 6:23
  Speaker 6: I realized that for a long time I'd been looking
• 6:25
  Speaker 6: through the lighted window of an all-night pawn shop, looking
• 6:29
  Speaker 6: at a gun.
• 6:30
  Speaker 3: At first I started walking away fast.
• 6:33
  Speaker 9: Then I turned back and went into the shop.
• 6:39
  Speaker 3: Yes, sir. What can I do for you?
• 6:42
  Speaker 6: That revolver in the window there, the black one next
• 6:44
  Speaker 6: to the binoculars.
• 6:45
  Speaker 3: Oh, yes, that's a beauty, ain't it? I want it.
• 6:48
  Speaker 3: Good enough. Can't go wrong on that one. You got
• 6:52
  Speaker 3: your permit, of course. No, I'm just passing through town.
• 6:56
  Speaker 3: I didn't have time to get one. Well, I'm sorry, mister,
• 6:59
  Speaker 3: but I can't help you.
• 7:02
  Speaker 6: I've got a hundred dollar bill that says you can.
• 7:05
  Speaker 3: You just bought yourself a gun. It was after three
• 7:13
  Speaker 3: in the morning when I got back to the hotel.
• 7:15
  Speaker 3: The gun was in my top coat pocket.
• 7:17
  Speaker 6: As I walked through the lobby, the circus fat lady
• 7:19
  Speaker 6: was sitting on the big sofa, counting the faces that
• 7:21
  Speaker 6: went through the revolving door.
• 7:23
  Speaker 3: She stopped me as I went past her.
• 7:24
  Speaker 7: Turning in, Joe?
• 7:26
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 7:27
  Speaker 7: Lucky you can sleep. Wish I could sleep.
• 7:31
  Speaker 3: I started for the elevator and then it hit me.
• 7:33
  Speaker 6: How dumb can a guy be walking into the lobby
• 7:36
  Speaker 6: like that, being seen going up to the room?
• 7:38
  Speaker 3: Is that all you want, Joe? That he should be dead,
• 7:41
  Speaker 3: no matter what happened to you? Don't you want friends?
• 7:44
  Speaker 3: Don't you want to live?
• 7:46
  Speaker 6: I turned back and started out again. No, Patsy, I
• 7:49
  Speaker 6: guess I won't go upstairs after all.
• 7:51
  Speaker 9: Oh?
• 7:52
  Speaker 3: Nothing to do till tomorrow afternoon, anyhow. Maybe I'll take
• 7:55
  Speaker 3: in an all-night show.
• 7:56
  Speaker 7: I haven't seen a show since I was a little girl.
• 8:01
  Speaker 7: Can't fit in the seat.
• 8:09
  Speaker 3: I went around to the back of the hotel. Tommy
• 8:11
  Speaker 3: and me roomed three stories up next to the rusty
• 8:13
  Speaker 3: fire escape.
• 8:14
  Speaker 9: It was so quiet there I could hear the pounding
• 8:17
  Speaker 9: inside my head.
• 8:19
  Speaker 3: The first rung of the fire escape was a good
• 8:21
  Speaker 3: ten feet off the ground. I jumped for it and
• 8:24
  Speaker 3: pulled it down. It made enough noise to wake up
• 8:28
  Speaker 3: half the building. I scrambled up into the shadows.
• 8:29
  Speaker 9: I expected the lights to start going on in every window.
• 8:34
  Speaker 6: But nothing happened. So I started up the fire escape.
• 8:41
  Speaker 6: I started up Fatami. I reached the landing. The room
• 8:51
  Speaker 6: was dark. The window was closed. I tried raising it,
• 8:56
  Speaker 6: but it was locked. Why did everything have to go
• 8:59
  Speaker 6: bad for me?
• 9:01
  Speaker 3: Wait a minute.
• 9:02
  Speaker 6: He never locked the window before. Why did he lock
• 9:04
  Speaker 6: it now? What was he afraid of? How could he
• 9:07
  Speaker 6: know what was inside me? Well, suddenly I had to
• 9:09
  Speaker 6: do something, so I smashed the window with my fist.
• 9:12
  Speaker 3: I didn't care. Let him know it was me. Let
• 9:14
  Speaker 3: him know what was coming. I reached in, unlocked the window,
• 9:18
  Speaker 3: went over the sill. I took the gun out of
• 9:21
  Speaker 3: my pocket.
• 9:22
  Speaker 9: I could feel the blood running warm down my arm.
• 9:26
  Speaker 3: And then I saw that he was gone. The room
• 9:28
  Speaker 3: was empty.
• 9:29
  Speaker 6: I sat down on the bed. I felt weak in
• 9:32
  Speaker 6: my knees. I sat there a long time, numb. Then
• 9:37
  Speaker 6: I heard a key in the door.
• 9:39
  Speaker 3: It was him. He'd come back. I put the gun
• 9:42
  Speaker 3: back in my pocket. I held it there. The door
• 9:46
  Speaker 3: swung open. I saw him framed in the light from
• 9:49
  Speaker 3: the hall. And I thought, now, do it now.
• 10:01
  Speaker 4: For Suspense, Autolite is bringing you Mr. Dana Andrews in
• 10:05
  Speaker 4: radio's outstanding theater of thrills, Suspense.
• 10:17
  Speaker 2: Amp, you know this spell of freezing weather that drifted
• 10:20
  Speaker 2: over sunny California by mistake last week?
• 10:23
  Speaker 3: I'll see. Well, bye, Cornelius.
• 10:25
  Speaker 2: I haven't had so much fun since my Autolite Stay
• 10:27
  Speaker 2: Full battery.
• 10:27
  Speaker 3: Last needed water, and that's a mighty long time ago.
• 10:30
  Speaker 3: You mean you enjoyed the cold, huh? You bet.
• 10:33
  Speaker 2: Listen, I was purring along up in the mountains in
• 10:35
  Speaker 2: my Autolite-equipped car, you see, when I spied a stricken
• 10:37
  Speaker 2: stranger stuck in the snow. He had on a raccoon
• 10:40
  Speaker 2: coat and a coonskin cap, and he was looking under
• 10:43
  Speaker 2: the hood of his car, muttering... Water, water everywhere, not
• 10:46
  Speaker 2: a drop in my battery. Friend, I said to this
• 10:49
  Speaker 2: shivering shambles, if you had an Autolite stay-full battery in
• 10:52
  Speaker 2: that thirst-starved convertible, you'd be singing How Deep is the
• 10:55
  Speaker 2: Ocean instead of How Dry I Am.
• 10:58
  Speaker 3: What do you mean, asks he.
• 10:59
  Speaker 2: So, of course, I told this chap that Autolite stay-full
• 11:01
  Speaker 2: batteries have an extra-large liquid reserve. Autolite stay-full batteries, I said,
• 11:06
  Speaker 2: need water only three times a year in normal driving.
• 11:09
  Speaker 3: You get that, pal? Only three times a year.
• 11:11
  Speaker 2: And then I explained that thanks to extra plates and
• 11:14
  Speaker 2: special fiberglass insulation, Autolite stay-full batteries have extra power and
• 11:18
  Speaker 2: extra long life, too.
• 11:20
  Speaker 6: But, Harlow, did you get the poor fellow unstuck?
• 11:22
  Speaker 3: Sure did.
• 11:23
  Speaker 2: I just happened to have an extra Autolite stay-full battery
• 11:26
  Speaker 2: in my trunk. So I lent it to him until
• 11:28
  Speaker 2: he could get one of his own at his nearest
• 11:29
  Speaker 2: Autolite dealers. I'll sure switch to Autolite, he said as
• 11:33
  Speaker 2: he zoomed off. And I answered, you're right with Autolite.
• 11:37
  Speaker 3: Right, Harlow. But right now, suspense.
• 11:41
  Speaker 4: And now, Autolite brings back to a Hollywood soundstage Mr.
• 11:46
  Speaker 4: Dana Andrews as Joe in a tale well calculated to
• 11:51
  Speaker 4: keep you in suspense.
• 11:57
  Speaker 3: I held the gun in my pocket. The door swung
• 12:00
  Speaker 3: open and I saw him framed in the light from
• 12:02
  Speaker 3: the hall. And I thought, now! Do it now! When'd
• 12:06
  Speaker 3: you come back, Joe? A while ago.
• 12:08
  Speaker 9: Where's that light switch?
• 12:11
  Speaker 3: Don't turn the lights on, Tommy. What's the matter with you?
• 12:13
  Speaker 3: I said... What do you got against lights? How can
• 12:16
  Speaker 3: you just sit there in the dark?
• 12:18
  Speaker 6: You know, Fran and I wondered what happened to you.
• 12:20
  Speaker 3: We were out looking for you.
• 12:23
  Speaker 6: I held tight to the gun in my pocket. I
• 12:27
  Speaker 6: followed him with it as he moved around the room.
• 12:30
  Speaker 6: stopping at the dresser to comb his hair whistling because
• 12:33
  Speaker 6: he was getting frowned and it was such a good
• 12:35
  Speaker 6: feeling and all i had to do was just squeeze
• 12:39
  Speaker 6: the trigger come.
• 12:40
  Speaker 5: On in say honey that tells me that oh you got.
• 12:45
  Speaker 7: Back joe yeah yeah what did you do to yourself
• 12:48
  Speaker 7: look at that arm tell me His arm, it's bleeding.
• 12:51
  Speaker 3: I didn't notice that.
• 12:52
  Speaker 7: Joe, you take your coat off. I'll get some towels
• 12:54
  Speaker 7: and Mercurochrome from the bathroom.
• 12:57
  Speaker 3: What'd you do, get yourself in a bra? Oh, not exactly.
• 12:59
  Speaker 7: Tommy, where's the Mercurochrome?
• 13:00
  Speaker 3: Hurry up. I'll show you where it is.
• 13:02
  Speaker 7: Get your coat off, Joey.
• 13:04
  Speaker 10: Here.
• 13:06
  Speaker 6: I hurried to the dresser, dug the gun out of
• 13:08
  Speaker 6: my pocket and put it in the drawer. Fran came
• 13:12
  Speaker 6: back with an armful of stuff. Her fingers started to
• 13:15
  Speaker 6: probe my arm while she was rolling up my sleeve.
• 13:18
  Speaker 5: Look what this guy did to himself. Joey, you big,
• 13:21
  Speaker 5: silly kid, you. What are you fighting for?
• 13:25
  Speaker 7: Tommy, get enough.
• 13:26
  Speaker 3: Hey, what happened to this window? Oh, that's how I
• 13:29
  Speaker 3: cut myself just now. I thought it was stuck. You
• 13:31
  Speaker 3: know me, long on muscles and short on brains.
• 13:35
  Speaker 7: It's all right. Just a little cut. Our boy's going
• 13:39
  Speaker 7: to be all right, Tommy. The show goes on, doesn't it, Joey?
• 13:42
  Speaker 3: Sure, sure.
• 13:44
  Speaker 7: Such a sweet, helpless guy this is. We got to
• 13:48
  Speaker 7: take better care of our boy, Tommy.
• 13:49
  Speaker 11: Yeah.
• 13:49
  Speaker 5: You know, our Joey's just a great big kid. He
• 13:53
  Speaker 5: likes to go on adventures with silly blondes, but there's
• 13:57
  Speaker 5: nobody got wrists like this man to catch my Tommy
• 14:01
  Speaker 5: when he flies through the air with the greatest of ease.
• 14:04
  Speaker 5: You know, Joe, I wouldn't trust Tommy's life in anybody's
• 14:08
  Speaker 5: hands but yours.
• 14:11
  Speaker 3: And she leaned over me and I could smell her hair.
• 14:15
  Speaker 3: And her warm breath danced around my eyes. And him
• 14:18
  Speaker 3: and that whistling. Why shouldn't he whistle? He had the world.
• 14:22
  Speaker 3: He had Fran. There.
• 14:24
  Speaker 7: How's that feel, Joey?
• 14:26
  Speaker 3: Her talking into my face. Smoothing my hair.
• 14:30
  Speaker 7: Now don't you punch any more windows in the nose,
• 14:32
  Speaker 7: you understand?
• 14:34
  Speaker 3: Didn't she see what she was doing to me? Didn't
• 14:37
  Speaker 3: they see what was happening to me? How could two
• 14:39
  Speaker 3: people be so blind? Couldn't they see?
• 14:42
  Speaker 7: Feel better, Joey?
• 14:44
  Speaker 3: I asked you. Leave me alone. Leave me alone!
• 14:57
  Speaker 6: So I went walking in the streets again, burning inside
• 15:00
  Speaker 6: like a guy with a 105 fever, still smelling the
• 15:03
  Speaker 6: perfume in her hair, still hearing her voice in my head.
• 15:08
  Speaker 3: It was after four in the morning when I got
• 15:10
  Speaker 3: back to the hotel. Nobody in the lobby.
• 15:14
  Speaker 6: Nobody but the room clerk, taking a snooze at the desk.
• 15:17
  Speaker 6: This time, Tommy was in bed, asleep. I sat on
• 15:21
  Speaker 6: the edge of the bed for a long time, listening
• 15:23
  Speaker 6: to his breathing. Then I went to the drawer and
• 15:30
  Speaker 6: got the gun. I laid it aside for a moment,
• 15:33
  Speaker 6: and I scattered the stuff on the drawer like a
• 15:35
  Speaker 6: burglar would if he was looking for something.
• 15:38
  Speaker 9: Then I went over to where his pants were hanging
• 15:40
  Speaker 9: on a chair.
• 15:41
  Speaker 6: I guess I got a little excited as I grabbed
• 15:42
  Speaker 6: for the pants the chair fell over.
• 15:51
  Speaker 9: I waited, my heart hammering away like it was trying
• 15:54
  Speaker 9: to break loose.
• 15:56
  Speaker 6: But he didn't wake up. I found his wallet and
• 16:00
  Speaker 6: his pants. Then his watch on the nightstand. Then I
• 16:04
  Speaker 6: went over to the broken window and looked down.
• 16:06
  Speaker 3: The dark... Not a sound.
• 16:09
  Speaker 6: Tomorrow, all the cops in the city would be looking
• 16:11
  Speaker 6: for the burglar who came up the fire escape and
• 16:14
  Speaker 6: killed his victim when caught in the act.
• 16:17
  Speaker 3: I went back to the dresser for the gun. I
• 16:20
  Speaker 3: went over to the bed. I wouldn't let him take
• 16:23
  Speaker 3: her away from me. Simple as that. I raised the
• 16:27
  Speaker 3: gun barrel level with his head.
• 16:29
  Speaker 6: My finger curled around the trigger. I felt a tiny
• 16:32
  Speaker 6: nerve start throbbing in my wrist.
• 16:34
  Speaker 3: I squeezed the trigger. What is this?
• 16:38
  Speaker 10: You, Joe.
• 16:39
  Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah. Go to bed, Joe.
• 16:42
  Speaker 1: Okay.
• 16:49
  Speaker 9: When Tommy had gone back to sleep, I broke open
• 16:51
  Speaker 9: the gun.
• 16:52
  Speaker 3: It was empty.
• 16:53
  Speaker 6: But it had been loaded before. They must have found
• 16:56
  Speaker 6: the gun after I left. But why had they taken
• 16:58
  Speaker 6: the bullets?
• 16:59
  Speaker 3: I didn't understand.
• 17:01
  Speaker 6: How could they know anything? All of a sudden, I
• 17:03
  Speaker 6: was afraid... I put the wallet and the wristwatch back.
• 17:07
  Speaker 6: I put the gun back in the drawer. What was
• 17:09
  Speaker 6: I going to do? I flopped down on the bed
• 17:13
  Speaker 6: and tried to think. But somewhere along the line, I
• 17:18
  Speaker 6: fell asleep. I slept until almost noon. When I woke up,
• 17:31
  Speaker 6: Tommy was gone. I dressed and went down the hall
• 17:34
  Speaker 6: to Fran's room.
• 17:35
  Speaker 3: She was gone.
• 17:36
  Speaker 6: At the desk, they didn't know what had happened to them.
• 17:39
  Speaker 6: I went down to the armory where we were playing
• 17:41
  Speaker 6: and went around there. It was getting close to the matinee.
• 17:45
  Speaker 6: I went to the dressing room. No sign of either
• 17:47
  Speaker 6: of them. Then, just a few minutes before we'd go on,
• 17:51
  Speaker 6: the door burst open.
• 17:52
  Speaker 3: And they were standing there. We thought we were going
• 17:56
  Speaker 3: to make it.
• 17:56
  Speaker 7: That's no kidding.
• 17:57
  Speaker 3: Where were you?
• 17:58
  Speaker 8: Just feast your eyes on the little gold object third
• 18:02
  Speaker 8: finger left hand, sometimes called a wedding ring.
• 18:08
  Speaker 3: Well, aren't you at least going to say bon voyage, partner?
• 18:12
  Speaker 8: Sure, sure.
• 18:13
  Speaker 3: Best of everything.
• 18:18
  Speaker 6: Fran left the change into her costume and Tommy started
• 18:20
  Speaker 6: getting ready.
• 18:21
  Speaker 3: Happy as a lark.
• 18:27
  Speaker 9: And I felt the hate choking me until I couldn't breathe.
• 18:30
  Speaker 3: Burning in me like fire.
• 18:33
  Speaker 9: Then I realized something that sent the cold shivers through me.
• 18:36
  Speaker 3: If I went up on that.
• 18:37
  Speaker 6: Trapeze today, and if his life depended upon my catching him,
• 18:40
  Speaker 6: he would die. It made me sick thinking about it.
• 18:45
  Speaker 6: Everybody's got to have some kind of belief. I grew
• 18:47
  Speaker 6: up different, not like most people. The only belief I had.
• 18:51
  Speaker 3: Was the act. I had to keep the act clean.
• 18:54
  Speaker 3: I couldn't let it happen that way. But it would happen.
• 18:58
  Speaker 3: If I went up there, it would happen.
• 19:01
  Speaker 11: Marine Lewis!
• 19:02
  Speaker 3: Okay. Well, better be getting out of here, Joey, huh? Well, Joe,
• 19:07
  Speaker 3: come on, come on. I'm not going.
• 19:09
  Speaker 9: What?
• 19:09
  Speaker 3: What are you talking about? I'm not going on. Can't
• 19:12
  Speaker 3: you understand English?
• 19:13
  Speaker 7: But, Joey.
• 19:13
  Speaker 3: I'm not going on! He couldn't do anything with me,
• 19:18
  Speaker 3: and time was running out.
• 19:20
  Speaker 6: He left, and I thought, what I'd better do is
• 19:22
  Speaker 6: just pack and leave and never see either of them again.
• 19:25
  Speaker 9: Then, just beyond the door, I heard him whispering to somebody.
• 19:28
  Speaker 3: I knew what it was. He was putting her to
• 19:31
  Speaker 3: work on me.
• 19:32
  Speaker 6: I didn't want to see her. I went to close
• 19:33
  Speaker 6: the door, but she was already standing there, her hand
• 19:36
  Speaker 6: on the doorknob. But it was the wrong hand. It
• 19:40
  Speaker 6: was the hand with the ring on it.
• 19:42
  Speaker 3: His ring.
• 19:44
  Speaker 7: Is it something to do with the act, Joe?
• 19:46
  Speaker 3: No, nothing with the act. Well, then... Don't ask me
• 19:48
  Speaker 3: to go out there, friend.
• 19:50
  Speaker 7: You know we can't go on without you.
• 19:52
  Speaker 6: Well, do what you can. Fake those triple plays. Look
• 19:54
  Speaker 6: pretty and swing hard. Just don't ask me to go
• 19:56
  Speaker 6: out there.
• 19:57
  Speaker 8: Joey, what's wrong with you lately? Look, don't... I'm worried
• 20:00
  Speaker 8: about you. You've been acting so funny the last week
• 20:03
  Speaker 8: or so. What were you doing with a gun, Joey? I...
• 20:08
  Speaker 8: We found it in your dresser last night. Scared me
• 20:11
  Speaker 8: to death. I made Tommy take the bullets out.
• 20:14
  Speaker 3: I just bought it for protection, that's all.
• 20:16
  Speaker 7: Protection from what? Joe, you've been so moody, so melancholy.
• 20:22
  Speaker 7: I'm so afraid you might hurt yourself.
• 20:25
  Speaker 3: You think that's why I bought the gun, to hurt myself?
• 20:28
  Speaker 7: Gosh, I hope not.
• 20:29
  Speaker 3: I could.
• 20:30
  Speaker 7: It's our cure. Come on, Joe.
• 20:33
  Speaker 3: She moved up close to me. Her hand touched the
• 20:37
  Speaker 3: side of my face. Soft and warm.
• 20:40
  Speaker 7: We'll be waiting for you. We won't go on without you.
• 20:46
  Speaker 3: She left.
• 20:47
  Speaker 6: I didn't know what to feel. Inside me, some of
• 20:50
  Speaker 6: the hate was unwinding. I didn't want to hate him.
• 20:54
  Speaker 6: I began thinking maybe I could... I could get by
• 20:57
  Speaker 6: today after all. And after today, I'd just beat it
• 21:00
  Speaker 6: and never see him again. I began thinking how lucky
• 21:03
  Speaker 6: it was that everything had gone wrong last night.
• 21:06
  Speaker 3: I started for the door.
• 21:10
  Speaker 3: Then I saw.
• 21:10
  Speaker 9: The two of them behind some props, kissing each other
• 21:14
  Speaker 9: while they were waiting for me.
• 21:17
  Speaker 3: I'd never seen him kissing her before.
• 21:20
  Speaker 6: I felt cold and empty. I went back into the
• 21:24
  Speaker 6: dressing room. On the table was the tube of Vaseline
• 21:27
  Speaker 6: I used to hold my hair in place. I stuck
• 21:30
  Speaker 6: the tube into the waistband of my trunks. I didn't
• 21:33
  Speaker 6: worry anymore about hurting the act. The act went off
• 21:47
  Speaker 6: like clockwork.
• 21:48
  Speaker 3: It always did. It was such second nature to us
• 21:51
  Speaker 3: by now.
• 21:52
  Speaker 6: The precision climb up the ladders to the two little
• 21:54
  Speaker 6: takeoff platforms, me on.
• 21:56
  Speaker 3: One side of the ring, the two of them on
• 21:58
  Speaker 3: the other.
• 21:59
  Speaker 6: I felt good like I always felt up here. I
• 22:02
  Speaker 6: knew what was going to happen, but I wasn't fighting
• 22:04
  Speaker 6: it anymore. When it came, it came, that's all. And
• 22:08
  Speaker 6: then it was time.
• 22:12
  Speaker 3: All the easy stuff was over. We were ready for
• 22:14
  Speaker 3: a big specialty. Tommy's triple somersault.
• 22:18
  Speaker 12: Ladies and gentlemen, your kind attention, please.
• 22:23
  Speaker 7: It is once.
• 22:24
  Speaker 12: Again my privilege to present the most breathtaking trapeze stunt
• 22:31
  Speaker 12: in all the world.
• 22:33
  Speaker 6: I was already on the lower trapeze, lolling on the crossbar.
• 22:37
  Speaker 6: It was Tommy's stunt, so no one noticed me. I
• 22:42
  Speaker 6: reached up into the waistband of my trunks and flicked
• 22:44
  Speaker 6: the cap off the tube of grease. I pinched the
• 22:47
  Speaker 6: tube and a call of Vaseline spurted into my palm.
• 22:51
  Speaker 6: I greased my wrists until they were as slippery as
• 22:54
  Speaker 6: a pair of eels. That was where he was going
• 22:56
  Speaker 6: to hang on to. Where he was going to try
• 23:01
  Speaker 6: to hang on.
• 23:04
  Speaker 3: The greatest miss will mean instant death. Tommy signaled that
• 23:10
  Speaker 3: he was ready. I was ready too.
• 23:16
  Speaker 6: I turned lazily on the bar until my head hung down.
• 23:19
  Speaker 6: I was dangling by my legs, flexing my arm, my
• 23:24
  Speaker 6: eyes running over the row upon row of tiny upturned faces.
• 23:28
  Speaker 9: It was a matter of seconds now. 5,000 pairs of
• 23:32
  Speaker 9: eyes watching.
• 23:34
  Speaker 6: 5,000 hearts starting to speed up. Even the peanut and
• 23:37
  Speaker 6: popcorn boys had stopped. Just the roll of the drums building.
• 23:40
  Speaker 3: Up louder and louder.
• 23:42
  Speaker 6: Without looking, I knew Fran was putting on Tommy's blindfold.
• 23:47
  Speaker 6: In another second, I'd swing around and face them and
• 23:51
  Speaker 6: begin the count.
• 23:52
  Speaker 3: I began turning. What happened? I turned quickly.
• 23:58
  Speaker 6: Fran was alone on the platform. For a split second,
• 24:01
  Speaker 6: I couldn't figure it out. And then I saw Tommy
• 24:03
  Speaker 6: falling through the air. He grabbed at a guy wire
• 24:05
  Speaker 6: as he passed.
• 24:06
  Speaker 3: And he held on. He slid down the wire, spiraling
• 24:08
  Speaker 3: down in.
• 24:09
  Speaker 6: A sickening, crazy corkscrew, down all the way to the bottom,
• 24:11
  Speaker 6: but never letting go.
• 24:13
  Speaker 3: He landed in a huddle at the bottom.
• 24:15
  Speaker 6: But then he picked himself up. So he was all right,
• 24:18
  Speaker 6: nothing broken. Except the way he held his hand, you
• 24:21
  Speaker 6: could tell it was as raw as if he'd cut.
• 24:22
  Speaker 3: It open with a knife. I swung around and looked
• 24:26
  Speaker 3: up at Fran... She caught my eye and formed the words,
• 24:29
  Speaker 3: my fault, with her lips. And then, sorry. Then she
• 24:35
  Speaker 3: had made him slip. She had kept him from swinging
• 24:37
  Speaker 3: out on that trapeze. But why? I swung back. All
• 24:40
  Speaker 3: of a sudden, I wanted to get down. I wanted
• 24:43
  Speaker 3: to get away.
• 24:44
  Speaker 6: While my back was turned to her, she must have
• 24:46
  Speaker 6: passed along the signal because.
• 24:47
  Speaker 3: Suddenly I heard... Ladies and.
• 24:49
  Speaker 12: Gentlemen, this unforeseen accident will not in any way change
• 24:55
  Speaker 12: our spectacular triple somersault.
• 24:58
  Speaker 3: The event will continue with.
• 25:01
  Speaker 12: The great Thomas's understudy, the lovely Frances.
• 25:14
  Speaker 3: I guess at first I was just too shocked to think.
• 25:16
  Speaker 3: This was something I'd never figured out.
• 25:18
  Speaker 6: Sure, she'd done the trick before, but then there was
• 25:20
  Speaker 6: a split second in which she signaled me to drop.
• 25:22
  Speaker 3: My head and begin the count.
• 25:24
  Speaker 6: And then before I could get my own desperate signal
• 25:26
  Speaker 6: back to her to stop, not to go.
• 25:27
  Speaker 3: Ahead, the black mask had.
• 25:29
  Speaker 6: Dropped over her eyes and I was cut off from her.
• 25:32
  Speaker 3: Fran, don't do it! Don't do it!
• 25:35
  Speaker 6: But the drums had already begun that time. My voice
• 25:38
  Speaker 6: couldn't reach her now. She'd swung the empty trapeze out
• 25:42
  Speaker 6: into space. The count had begun. One, as she let go. Two,
• 25:50
  Speaker 6: as the trapeze made its arc. Three, as it returned.
• 25:56
  Speaker 6: Twice more the empty trapeze would swing out, and then
• 25:59
  Speaker 6: on its return she.
• 26:00
  Speaker 3: Would grab it. Friend! Don't do it! Don't do it!
• 26:05
  Speaker 3: But I knew she could only hear the drums.
• 26:08
  Speaker 6: If there were only some way to stop the drums.
• 26:12
  Speaker 3: Ah!
• 26:15
  Speaker 6: I heard the terrified roar of thousands of throats, and
• 26:19
  Speaker 6: I knew it was death.
• 26:32
  Speaker 3: And who is the next of kin of the deceased?
• 26:34
  Speaker 11: Look, officer, I told you I'm only the manager of
• 26:37
  Speaker 11: this outfit. Why don't you ask those two over near
• 26:39
  Speaker 11: the body?
• 26:40
  Speaker 3: They know all about it. They're part of the act.
• 26:41
  Speaker 10: I told you I'd get to them. Now, how exactly
• 26:45
  Speaker 10: did the deceased... Listen, officer, why so many questions? It
• 26:48
  Speaker 10: wasn't murder, you know. It was just an accident. Slipped
• 26:51
  Speaker 10: and fell off the trapeze. I guess it was the
• 26:54
  Speaker 10: excitement of seeing Tommy take that bad spill.
• 26:57
  Speaker 11: Why can't you just put it down as an accident
• 26:59
  Speaker 11: and let it go at that?
• 27:00
  Speaker 3: Look, I'm only following the rules, mister. I don't tell
• 27:03
  Speaker 3: you how to run your circus.
• 27:04
  Speaker 11: Yeah, yeah, but when you're all finished with your questions,
• 27:06
  Speaker 11: it'll still add up to the same thing. An aerialist
• 27:10
  Speaker 11: named Joe Crosby was accidentally killed while giving a performance.
• 27:14
  Speaker 11: Just as simple as that.
• 27:16
  Speaker 3: Yeah, poor Joe himself couldn't tell you any more. Even
• 27:20
  Speaker 3: if the dead could talk. Thank you, Dana Andrews, for
• 27:47
  Speaker 3: a splendid performance. Mr.
• 27:49
  Speaker 4: Andrews will return in just a moment.
• 27:52
  Speaker 3: Hello. Yes, Hap? A question. Shoot. Do you ever run
• 27:56
  Speaker 3: out of words? Oh, now, Hap, be sensible.
• 27:58
  Speaker 2: How could any guy run out of words with those
• 28:00
  Speaker 2: sensational auto lights stay full.
• 28:02
  Speaker 3: Batteries to talk about? I got my answer.
• 28:05
  Speaker 2: Why, Hap, those auto lights stay full batteries have the
• 28:07
  Speaker 2: start of a jackrabbit, the power of a bulldozer, and
• 28:10
  Speaker 2: the life of a redwood all wrapped up in one.
• 28:13
  Speaker 2: And to top it all off, they need water only
• 28:16
  Speaker 2: three times a year in normal car use. So, friends,
• 28:19
  Speaker 2: when you buy a battery, buy the best. Switch to Autolite,
• 28:23
  Speaker 2: makers of over 400 automotive, aviation, and marine products in
• 28:27
  Speaker 2: 27 plants from coast to coast. Autolite, the lifeline of
• 28:31
  Speaker 2: your car. Always remember, Autolite means batteries.
• 28:35
  Speaker 3: Stay full, batteries. Autolite means spark plugs. Ignition-engineered resistor spark plugs.
• 28:41
  Speaker 3: Autolite means ignition systems. The lifeline of your car. And
• 28:53
  Speaker 3: now here again is Mr. Dana Andrews.
• 28:55
  Speaker 6: My thanks to Tony Leda for the opportunity of appearing
• 28:58
  Speaker 6: again on Suspense.
• 28:59
  Speaker 3: It is always a pleasant and rewarding experience.
• 29:02
  Speaker 6: And you'll have a pleasant and rewarding experience, I'm sure,
• 29:04
  Speaker 6: next week when radio's outstanding theater of thrills brings you
• 29:07
  Speaker 6: Robert Montgomery in another gripping study in Suspense.
• 29:13
  Speaker 2: Dana Andrews appears through the courtesy of Samuel Goldwyn, producers
• 29:16
  Speaker 2: of Enchantment. Tonight's suspense play was adapted by Larry Marcus
• 29:19
  Speaker 2: from the short story by William Irish. Music was composed
• 29:22
  Speaker 2: by Lucian Morawieck and conducted by Lud Bluskin. The entire
• 29:26
  Speaker 2: production was under the direction of Anton M.
• 29:28
  Speaker 3: Leder.
• 29:30
  Speaker 2: In the coming weeks, suspense will present such stars as
• 29:33
  Speaker 2: Vibber McGee and Molly, Charles Lawton, James Wyman, James Mason,
• 29:38
  Speaker 2: and many others. Make it a point to listen each
• 29:40
  Speaker 2: Thursday to Suspense, radio's outstanding theater of thrills. Next Thursday,
• 29:47
  Speaker 2: same time, hear Robert Montgomery.
• 29:59
  Speaker 7: Remember, you're right with Autolite.
• 30:02
  Speaker 3: So switch to Autolite. Good night.
• 30:05
  Speaker 2: This is CBS, the Columbia Broadcasting System.
• 30:26
  Speaker 1: Suspense now lowers the curtain on If the Dead Could
• 30:30
  Speaker 1: Talk from January 2nd, 1949. Follow Suspense for more classic broadcasts.