Suspense.
This is the Man in Black, here again to introduce Columbia's program, Suspense.
Our star tonight is one of the most compelling actresses in America today, Miss Agnes Moorhead.
Miss Moorhead returns to our stage to appear in a new study in terror by Lucille Fletcher
called Sorry, Wrong Number.
This story of a woman who accidentally overheard a conversation with death, and who strove
frantically to prevent murder from claiming an innocent victim, is tonight's tale of suspense.
If you have been with us on these Tuesday nights, you will know that suspense is compounded
of mystery and suspicion and dangerous adventure.
In this series, our tales are calculated to intrigue you, stir your nerves, to offer you
a precarious situation, and then withhold the solution until the last possible moment.
And so it is with Sorry, Wrong Number, and the performance of Agnes Moorhead, we again
hope to keep you in suspense.
Oh dear.
Your call please.
Operator, I've been dialing Murray Hill 70093 now for the last three quarters of an hour,
and the line is always busy.
I don't see how it could be busy that long.
Will you try it for me please?
I'll be glad to try that number for you.
One moment please.
I don't see how it could be busy all this time.
It's my husband's office.
He's working late tonight, and I'm all alone here in the house.
My health is very poor, and I've been feeling so nervous all day.
Ringing Murray Hill 70093.
Hello?
Hello?
Hello?
Is Mr. Stevenson there?
Hello?
Hello?
Oh hello, George.
Yes sir, this is George speaking.
Hello?
Who's this?
What number am I calling please?
I'm here with our client now.
He says the coast is clear for tonight.
Yes sir.
Where are you now?
In a phone booth.
Don't worry, everything's okay.
Very well.
Now you know the address.
At eleven o'clock, the private patrolman goes around to the bar on Second Avenue for a beer.
Be sure that all the lights downstairs are on.
There should be only one light visible from the street.
At eleven fifteen, a train crosses the bridge.
It makes a noise in case her window is open and she should scream.
Hello?
What number is this please?
Okay, I understand.
Now make it quick.
As little blood as possible.
Our client does not wish to make us suffer long.
Will a knife be okay, sir?
Well, a knife will be okay and do you remember the other details?
Yeah, yeah, I know.
Remove the rings and bracelets and the jewelry in the bureau drawer.
That's right.
Our client wishes it to look like simple robbery.
Don't worry.
Everything is going to be okay.
All right then.
Be sure that...
Oh, how awful.
How unspeakably awful.
Your call, please.
Operator, I've just been cut off.
I'm sorry.
What number were you calling?
Why, it was supposed to be Murray Hill seven, oh, oh, nine, three, but it wasn't.
Some wires must have got crossed.
I was cut into a wrong number and I've just heard the most dreadful thing.
Something about a murder.
And, operator, you'll simply have to retrace that call at once.
I beg your pardon.
May I help you?
Oh, I know it was a wrong number and I had no business listening, but these two men,
they were cold-blooded fiends and they were going to murder somebody,
some poor innocent woman who was all alone in a house near a bridge
and we've got to stop them.
We've got to...
What number were you calling, please?
Well, that doesn't matter.
This was a wrong number and you dialed it for me and we've got to find out what it was immediately.
What number did you call?
Oh, why are you so stupid?
What time is it?
Do you mean to tell me you can't find out what that number was just now?
I'll connect you with the chief operator.
Oh, I think it's perfectly shameful.
Now, look, look, it was obviously a case of some little slip of the finger.
I told you to try Murray Hill seven, oh, oh, nine, three for me.
You dialed it, but your finger must have slipped and I was connected with some other number.
And I could hear them, but they couldn't hear me.
Now, I simply failed to see why you couldn't make that same mistake again on purpose,
why you couldn't try to dial Murray Hill seven, oh, oh, nine, three in the same sort of careless way.
Murray Hill seven, oh, oh, nine, three.
I will try to get it for you.
Thank you.
Oh.
I'm sorry.
Murray Hill seven, oh, oh, nine, three is busy.
I will call you when...
Operator, operator.
Operator, will you answer me?
Your call, please.
Well, you didn't try to get that wrong number at all.
I asked you explicitly and all you did was dial correctly.
I'm sorry.
What number are you calling?
Oh, can't you for once forget what number I'm calling and do something for me?
Now, I want to trace that call.
It's my civic duty, it's your civic duty to trace that call and apprehend those dangerous killers.
And if you won't...
I will connect you with the chief operator.
Please.
Oh.
What happened to the answer?
This is the chief operator.
Oh, chief operator, I want you to trace the call, a telephone call immediately.
I don't know where it came from or who was making it, but it's absolutely necessary that it be tracked down
because it was about a murder that someone's planning.
A terrible cold-blooded murder of a poor innocent woman tonight at 1115.
I see.
Well, can you trace it for me?
Can you track down those men?
I'm not certain, it depends.
Depends on what?
It depends on whether the call is still going on.
If it's a live call, we can trace it on the equipment.
If it's been disconnected, we can.
Disconnected?
If the parties have stopped talking to each other.
Oh, but of course they must have stopped talking to each other by now.
That was at least five minutes ago and they didn't sound like the type who would make a long call.
Well, I can try tracing it.
May I have your name, please?
Mrs. Stevenson, Mrs. Elbert Stevenson.
Now, but listen...
And your telephone number, please.
Plaza 4-2-2-9-5.
But if you go on wasting all this time...
Why do you want the call traced, please?
Why?
Well, oh, no reason, no reason.
I mean, I merely felt very strongly that something ought to be done about it.
These men sounded like killers.
They're dangerous.
They're going to murder this woman at 1115 tonight and I thought the police ought to know.
Have you reported this to the police?
Well, no, no, not yet.
You want this call checked purely as a private individual?
Yes, yes, but meanwhile...
I'm sorry, Mrs. Stevenson, but I'm afraid we couldn't make this check for you
and trace the call just in your say-so as a private individual.
Well, I...
We'd have to do something more official.
Oh, for heaven's sake.
You mean to tell me I can't report that there's going to be a murder
without getting tied up in all this red tape?
Why, it's perfectly idiotic.
Well, all right, all right.
I'll call the police.
Thank you.
I'm sure that would be the best way to...
Oh, it's ridiculous.
It's perfectly ridiculous.
Red tape.
Oh.
Your call, please.
The police department.
Get me the police department, please.
Thank you.
Bringing the police department.
Police station, precinct 43, Sergeant Martin speaking.
Police department, this is Mrs. Stevenson, Mrs. Albert Smyth Stevenson
of 53 North Sutton Place.
I'm calling up to report a murder.
I mean, the murder hasn't been committed yet,
but I just overheard plans for it over the telephone
over a wrong number that the operator gave me.
I've been trying to trace down the call myself,
but everybody is so stupid, and I guess in the end
you're the only people who could do anything.
Yes, ma'am.
It was a perfectly definite murder.
I heard their plans distinctly.
Two men were talking, and they were going to murder
some woman at 1115 tonight.
She lived in a house near a bridge.
Are you listening to me?
Yes, ma'am.
And there was a private patrolman on the street.
He was going to go around for a beer on 2nd Avenue,
and there was some third man, a client,
who was paying to have this poor woman murdered.
They were going to take her rings and bracelets
and use a knife.
Well, it's unnerved me dreadfully, and I'm not well.
I see. When was all this, ma'am?
Well, about eight minutes ago.
Then you can do something. You do understand.
What is your name, ma'am?
Mrs. Stevenson. Mrs. Elbert Stevenson.
And your address?
53 North Sutton Place.
53 North Sutton Place.
That's near a bridge.
The Queensborough Bridge, you know?
And we have a private patrolman on our street.
And 2nd Avenue...
And what was the number you were calling?
Murray Hill 70093.
But that wasn't the number I overheard.
I mean, Murray Hill 70093 is my husband's office.
He's working late tonight, and I was trying to reach him
to ask him to come home.
I'm an invalid, you know, and it's the maid's night off,
and I hate to be alone, even though he says I'm perfectly safe
as long as I have the telephone right beside my bed.
Well, we'll look into it, Mrs. Stevenson,
and we'll see if we can check it with the telephone company.
But the telephone company said they couldn't check the call
at the parties that stopped talking.
I've already taken care of that.
Oh, you have?
Yes, and personally I feel you want to do something
far more immediate and drastic than just check the call.
What good is checking the call do if they stop talking?
By the time you track it down, they'll already have committed the murder.
Well, we'll take care of it, don't you worry.
Well, I'd say the whole thing calls for a search,
a complete and thorough search of the whole city.
Now, I'm very near the bridge, and I'm not far from 2nd Avenue,
and I know I'd feel a lot better if you sent around a radio car
to this neighborhood at once.
And what makes you think the murder's going to be committed
in your neighborhood, ma'am?
Oh, well, I don't know.
Only the coincidence is so horrible.
2nd Avenue and the patrolmen and the bridge?
2nd Avenue is a very long street, ma'am.
I know.
And you know how many bridges there are in the city of New York alone,
not to mention Brooklyn, Staten Island, Queens, and the Bronx.
I know.
How do you know there isn't some little house out on Staten Island
on some little 2nd Avenue you've never even heard about?
How do you know they're even talking about New York at all?
But I heard the call in the New York dialing system.
Maybe it was a long-distance call you overheard.
And telephones are funny things.
Look, lady, why don't you look at it this way?
Supposing you hadn't broken in on that telephone call.
Supposing you'd got your husband the way you always do.
You wouldn't be upset, would you?
No, I suppose not.
Only it sounded so inhuman, so cold-blooded.
Well, a lot of murders are plotted in this city every day, ma'am.
We manage to prevent most all of them,
but a clue of this kind is so vague
isn't much more used to us than no clue at all.
But surely you...
Unless, of course, you have some reason for thinking this call was phony
and that somebody may be planning to murder you.
Me?
Oh, was... No, I hardly think so.
Well, I mean, why should anybody?
I'm alone all day and night.
I see nobody except my maid, Eloise,
and she's a big girl.
She weighs 200 pounds.
She's too lazy to bring up my breakfast tray.
And the only other person is my husband, Albert.
He's crazy about me. He just adores me.
He waits on me hand and foot
and scarcely left my side since I took sick 12 years ago.
Well, and there's nothing for you to worry about.
Well...
Now, if you'll just leave the rest of this to us, we'll take care of...
But what will you do? It's so late. It's nearly 11 now.
We'll take care of it later.
Well, will you broadcast it all over the city
and send out squads and warn your radio cars to watch out,
especially in suspicious neighborhoods like mine?
Lady, I said we'd take care of it.
Just now I've got a couple of other matters here on my desk
that require immediate attention.
Good night, ma'am, and thank you.
Oh, you, you idiot!
Oh.
Oh, now why did I hang up the phone like that?
Now we'll think I am a fool.
Oh, why doesn't Albert come home?
Why doesn't he?
Oh.
PHONE RINGING
Oh.
She answered.
PHONE RINGING
I need your call, please.
Operator, for heaven's sake, will you ring that
Murray Hill 70093 number again?
I can't think what's keeping him so long.
I will try it for you.
Well, try, try.
PHONE RINGING
Oh, I'm so nervous.
PHONE RINGING
Why does it take so long?
I'm sorry.
Murray Hill 70093 is busy.
I will call you when...
I can hear it. You don't have to tell me.
I know it's busy.
Oh.
Oh, if I could only get out of this bed for a little while.
If I could...
If I could get a breath of fresh air
or just lean out of the window
or see the street.
PHONE RINGING
Hello, Albert?
Hello?
Hello?
Hello?
Oh, what's the matter with this phone?
Hello, hello?
PHONE RINGING
Hello? Hello?
Oh, for heaven's sake, who is this?
Hello? Hello? Hello?
PHONE RINGING
Oh, I'm trying.
PHONE RINGING
Oh.
PHONE RINGING
PHONE RINGING
Oh, my goodness.
Your call, please.
Hello, operator.
I don't know what's the matter with this telephone tonight
but it's positively driving me crazy.
I've never seen such inefficient, miserable service.
Now, now, now, look.
I'm an invalid and I'm very nervous
and I'm not supposed to be annoyed.
But if this keeps on much longer...
What seems to be the trouble, please?
Well, everything's wrong.
I haven't had one bit of satisfaction
out of one call I've made this evening.
The whole world could be murdered for all you people care.
And now, now, my phone keeps ringing and ringing
and ringing and ringing and ringing and ringing
every five seconds or so.
And when I pick it up, there's no one there.
I'm sorry. If you will hang up, I will test it for you.
I don't want you to test it for me.
I want you to put that call through, whatever it is, at once.
I'm afraid I cannot do that.
You can't? And why? Why, may I ask?
The dial system is automatic.
If someone is trying to dial your number,
there is no way to check whether the call is coming through the system or not.
Unless the person who is trying to reach you
complains to his particular operator.
Well, of all this stupid...
And meanwhile, I've got to sit here in my bed suffering
every time that phone rings, imagining everything.
I will try to check the trouble for you.
Check it, check it. That's all anybody can do.
Oh, what's the use of talking to you? You're stupid.
I'll fix her. Of all the impotence.
Oh, how dare she speak to me like that.
How dare she speak to me like that.
RINGING
Oh.
Oh, what does she answer?
RINGING
Your call, please.
Young woman, I don't know your name.
But there are ways of finding you out.
And I'm going to report you to your superiors
for the most unpardonable rudeness and insolence
that has ever been my privilege.
Give me the business office, if you'll.
You may dial that number direct.
Dial it direct? I'll do no such thing. I don't even know the number.
The number is in the directory.
Or you may secure it by dialing information.
Now listen here, you...
Oh, what's the use?
Oh.
Oh, for heaven's sake, I'm going out of my mind.
Hello? Hello? Stop ringing me. Do you hear?
Answer me. Who is this?
You realize you're driving me crazy?
Who's calling me? What are you doing it for?
Now stop it. Stop it. Stop it, I say.
Hello? Hello? If you don't stop ringing me,
I'm going to call the police. You hear? The police.
Oh.
Oh, if Elbert would only come home.
Oh, let it ring.
Let it go on ringing.
It's a trick of some kind.
And I won't answer it. I won't. I won't.
Even if it goes on ringing all night.
I won't.
Now what's the matter?
Why do they stop ringing all of a sudden?
What time is it?
Oh, where did I put that clock?
Five to eleven.
Oh, they've decided something.
They're sure I'm home.
They heard my voice answer them just now.
That's why they've been ringing me.
Why no one has answered me?
Call that operator again.
Oh, where is she?
Why doesn't she answer?
Oh, operator.
Why doesn't she answer?
Your call, please.
Where were you just now? Why didn't you answer at once?
Give me the police department.
I'm sorry.
Just a minute.
I'm sorry. The line is busy.
I will call you.
It's busy, but that's impossible.
The police department can't be busy.
There must be other lines available.
The line is busy. I will try to get them for you later.
No, no. I've got to speak to them now or it may be too late.
I've got to talk to someone.
What number do you wish to speak to?
I don't know, but there must be someone to protect people beside the police department.
A detective agency.
You will find agencies listed in the classified directory.
But I don't have a classified directory.
I mean, I'm too nervous to look it up.
I don't have the information. Perhaps she will be able to help you.
No, no.
Oh, you're being spiteful, aren't you?
You don't care, do you? What happens to me?
I could die and you wouldn't care.
Oh, stop it! Stop it! I can't stand anymore!
Hello? What do you want?
Stop ringing, will you? Stop it!
Hello? Is this Plaza 42295?
Yes, I'm...
I'm sorry. Yes, this is Plaza 42295.
This is Western Union.
I have a telegram here for Mrs. Albert Stevenson.
Is there anyone there to receive the message?
Yes, I'm Mrs. Stevenson.
The telegram is as follows.
Mrs. Albert Stevenson, 53 North, Sutton Place, New York, New York.
Darling, terribly sorry.
Tried to get you for last hour, but line busy.
Leaving for Boston 11 p.m. tonight on urgent business.
Back tomorrow afternoon.
Keep happy. Love, signed, Albert.
Oh, no.
Do you wish us to deliver a copy of the message?
No. No, thank you.
Thank you, madam. Good night.
Good night.
Oh, no.
No, I don't believe it.
He couldn't do it, not when he knows I'll be all alone.
It's some trick.
It's some trick. Something...
Something is trick...
I know.
Oh, I'm so nervous.
Oh, what is the answer?
Your call, please.
Operator, try that Murray Hill 70093 number for me just once more, please.
You may dial that number direct.
Oh.
You...
Oh. Oh.
Oh. 9... 3...
Oh. Oh. Oh, he's gone.
Oh, Albert, how could you? How could you?
Oh, I can't be alone tonight. I can't.
If I'm alone one more second, I'll go mad.
I don't care what he says or what the expense is.
I'm a sick woman. I'm untied and...
I'm a sick woman. I'm untied and...
This is information. May I help you?
I want the telephone number of Henshley Hospital.
Henshley Hospital? Yes.
Do you have the street address?
No, it's a very small private and exclusive hospital
where I had my appendix out two years ago.
Henshley H-E-N-C... Wait a moment, please.
Well, will you please hurry and... Please, what is the time?
You may find out the time by dialing Meridian 71212.
Oh, for heaven's sake, I've no time to be dialing.
The number of Henshley Hospital is Butterfield 70105.
Butterfield 70105.
Henshley Hospital, good evening.
Nurse's registry. Who was it you wish to speak to, please?
I want the nurse's registry at once.
I want a trained nurse. I want to hire immediately for the night.
I see. And what is the nature of the case, madam?
Nerves. I'm very nervous. I need soothing and companionship.
You see, my husband is away and I'm also...
Have you been recommended to us by any doctor in particular, madam?
No, but I really don't see why all this catechizing is necessary.
I just want a trained nurse.
I was a patient in your hospital two years ago,
and after all, I do expect to pay this person for attending me.
We quite understand that, madam, but these are wartimes, you know.
I know that.
These registered nurses are very scarce just now,
and our superintendent has asked us to send people out only on cases
where the physician in charge feels it's absolutely necessary.
Well, it is absolutely necessary. I'm a sick woman.
I'm very much upset, very.
I'm alone in this house and I'm an invalid,
and tonight I overheard a telephone conversation that upset me dreadfully.
In fact, if someone doesn't come at once, I'm afraid I'll go out of my mind.
I see. Well, I'll speak to Miss Phillips as soon as she comes in.
And what is your name, madam?
Miss Phillips? And when do you expect her in?
I really couldn't say. She went out to supper at 11 o'clock.
Eleven o'clock? But it's not eleven o'clock yet.
Oh, oh, my clock has stopped. I thought it was running down.
What time is it?
Just fifteen minutes past eleven.
What was that?
What was what, madam?
That, that click just now in my own telephone,
as though someone had lifted the receiver off the hook of the extension telephone downstairs?
Well, I didn't hear it, madam. Now, about this...
But I did. There's, there's someone in this house,
someone downstairs in the kitchen, and they're, they're listening to me now.
They're listening!
Ah, I won't, I won't pick it up.
I, I won't let them hear me.
I won't let them hear me.
I'll be quiet. I'll be so quiet.
And they'll think...
Oh, but if I don't call someone now,
while they're still down here,
maybe there'll be no time.
Oh, I've got to... Oh, someone's got to help me.
Somebody's got to help me.
Your call, please.
Operator, I'm, I'm in desperate trouble.
I'm sorry, I cannot hear you. Please speak louder.
I, I, I don't dare.
There's someone listening.
Can, can you hear me now?
I'm sorry.
Oh, but you've got to, you've got to hear me.
Oh, please, please, you've got to help me.
There's, there's someone in this house,
someone who's going to murder me,
and you've got to get in touch with...
Oh, oh, there it is.
There it is. Did you hear it?
He's, he's put it down.
He's put down the extension phone.
He's, he's coming up.
Ah! He's coming upstairs.
Okay, okay, give me the police department.
The police department.
Give me the police department.
One moment, please. I will connect you.
I can hear him. Oh, I can hear him.
He's coming nearer. Oh, I know it.
Hurry. Hurry.
Hurry, please.
Ah!
Ah!
Ah!
Oh, police department.
Oh, I'm, I'm sorry.
I must have got the wrong number.
Police department, police department,
Sergeant Martin speaking.
Police department, Martin speaking.
Police department, Martin speaking.
Oh, police department?
I'm sorry, I must have got the wrong number.
Don't worry, everything's okay.
And so closes Sorry, Wrong Number, starring Agnes Moorhead.
Tonight's tale of suspense.
This is your narrator, the man in black,
who conveys to you Columbia's invitation
to spend this half hour in suspense with us again next Tuesday,
when Mr. Donald Crisp and Mr. John Loder
will star in the suspense play called The Extra Guest.
The producer of these broadcasts is William Spear,
who with Ted Bliss, the director, Ladd Kluskin, the musical director,
and Lucille Fletcher, the author, collaborated on tonight's suspense.
This is the Columbia Broadcasting System.