Roma wines present Suspense. Roma wines made in California for enjoyment throughout the
world. Salud, your health, senor. Roma wines toast the world. The wine for your table is
Roma wine made in California for enjoyment throughout the world. This is the man in black
here for the Roma wine company of Fresno, California to introduce this weekly half hour of
suspense. Tonight from Hollywood Roma wines bring you a star, the actor whose recent portrayals in
Los Angeles and see here private Hargrove have been so much admired, Mr. Keenan Wynne. And so
are the remarkable events of which Joe Isinger has written in his novel, The Walls Came Tumbling
Down. And with the performance of Keenan Wynne as the society chit chat columnist who signs himself
Darcy, we again hope to keep you in suspense. My dear Captain Griffin, on a date which I am sure
we shall always remember not quite without pain, I was sitting in my office at the morning post
composing with my customary width and brilliance my daily column of cafe society chatter. When
Miss Susan Finch, my devoted but mentally retarded secretary, poked her head into the room, ran her
tongue nervously across her dental brace and announced, there's someone outside to see you,
Mr. Darcy. Tell him I'm on the deathbed. Tell him there's a priest in here now administering
the final sacraments. Now go away. Well I couldn't tell him that Mr. Darcy. He's a priest himself.
Did you say priest? Well perhaps I am inarticulo mortis and didn't know it. Very well Duchess,
ask the good father to come in. Yes sir. Please come in father. Thank you my child.
You are Mr. Darcy? I am Darcy. What can I do for you father? My you've changed. Yes it's been so
many years. Oh we've met before. St. Francis's parochial school and your name was Patrick O'Donnell
and I... Father Walsh. Oh but of course. Well I'm so glad to see you again so very glad. Patrick,
I know you're a very busy man but I don't know where else to turn. It was three nights ago late
in the evening when he first came to see me. Who? Well a man I'd never seen or heard of. He demanded
that I give him the Bibles. What Bibles? I don't know and when I asked he smiled as though it were
a game and said the Bibles marked EB. I feared the poor man might be deranged and I suggested
that perhaps he'd better come again in the morning. He rose from his chair in anger saying he would
give me three days to help him find the find the Bibles. No not the Bibles but I would help him
find the walls of Jericho or else I would regret it. Did you say the walls of Jericho? For the past
two nights he's been laughtering outside the gates of the churchyard as though watching to see who my
visitors are. You say he came to see you three days ago and gave you three days and which two...
Yes yes. Well now what did the police say? I haven't reported this to the police. I can't go to them.
I've been warned not to. By this madman? No no no by my bishop. You see when I told him about it he
refused to credit it. Said it was a figment of my imagination and warned me not to speak such
nonsense again. I see. Father I'm sure you've nothing to fear. You don't believe me either.
Of course I believe you. Now please let me visit you tonight father. We'll talk further about this.
There are many things I'd like to talk to you about as as we did years ago. Years years ago.
Very well my son. I'll expect you at eight. You will come won't you? Only death could keep me away.
And now in this brief intermission let us picture this scene. A scene beneath a radiant Caribbean
moon at the fashionable Hotel Nacional de Cuba in Havana Cuba. An American dinner guest has just
raised his glass and a toast to Havana. Its traditions, its beauty, the superb dinner and
wine. His Cuban host replies, true the traditions, the scenery and the food you enjoy they are ours.
But the wine of which you speak so highly that is of your country. We must import it. It is the
famed Roma wine made in your own California. Yes it does surprise many Americans that California
produces wines, Roma wines of such uniformly superb quality that they are imported to many
foreign countries as special occasion luxuries. But millions of Americans do know and enjoy the
excellence of Roma wines daily with meals and when entertaining. These millions have made Roma
America's largest selling wines. They know too that Roma wines are amazingly inexpensive for wines
of such distinguished character. That's because here in America you pay no high import duty,
no expensive shipping charges, yet Roma brings you wines that combine age-old wine making skill
with modern scientific testing and quality control. All this for only pennies a glass.
So for maximum enjoyment at low cost ask for Roma wines made in California for enjoyment
throughout the world. And now it is with pleasure that we bring back to our soundstage Keenan Wynne
in the walls came tumbling down a tale well calculated to keep you in suspense. And so my
dear Captain Griffin with a punctuality I had not exhibited in years on the stroke of eight I found
myself standing before the high iron gates of st. Francis churchyard. I must admit that
Father Walsh entreat me with his fantasia of a man seeking the walls of Jericho.
No response. I tried the door swung open and I stepped into a musty dimly lighted hall.
Father Walsh, Father Walsh, you at home? There was no answer. I crossed to the door of the study,
threw it open. First I could see nothing in the darkness and then I saw suspended from a low beam
in the ceiling the cord of his robe knotted tightly about his neck Father Walsh. There was
no urgent need to cut him down. He was quite dead. That's the way I found him. I came in to give him
his cup of warm milk and that's the way I found him. Who are you? I'm his sister Catherine Walsh,
my brother. I never would have committed that sin. Have you called the police? Yes. Aren't you from
the police? No, no, no. I'm, I was his friend. You're Darcy? Yes. Now tell me what you know
about the Bibles before the police get here. This afternoon after he saw you a woman telephoned,
he talked to her for a long time and when he hung up he said he remembered now about the Bibles.
Forty years ago he took care of a sick migrant. The poor man died and left to my brother two Bibles.
A bum left Father Walsh two Bibles forty years ago. Well, do you know where they are? Yes. One is now
packed away upstairs in the attic and the other is... That must be the police. Now don't say anything
about the Bibles. I'm asking you to trust me. Call me tomorrow at my office. I'll let them in.
Oh, come right... Oh. Father Walsh is expecting me. Well, come in. Who are you? My name is
Patricia Berens. Is something wrong? Why should anything be wrong? I don't know. It's just that,
well, I had an appointment with Father Walsh and I... When did you make this appointment?
Early this evening on the telephone. I'm afraid I'm a little late. Indeed you are. Father Walsh
is dead. Dead? Oh, but he can't be... Why not? But I've been searching for him for so long and not...
Are you sure that you were looking for Father Walsh or was it the walls of Jericho?
I don't know what you mean. No. If Ernst did any talking about... Well, he had no right to...
Ernst? Ernst who? Now look, my sweet, you'd better tell me what you do know because Father
Walsh didn't just die quietly with a smile on his lips. Father Walsh was murdered. Murdered? Look,
you've got to trust me. Well, I'll hate myself for this in the morning, but okay, let's get out of here.
Yeah? Mr. Darcy? Mm-hmm? Good morning. This is Catherine Walsh. I've got the Bible I told you about
last night that was in the attic and the other one... Miss Walsh, don't say anything more. You come to
my apartment at three this afternoon. 24 Sutton Place. If I'm delayed, the doorman will let you in.
And shall I bring... Oh yes, yes, by all means, bring the book with you. Very well, Mr. Darcy.
I'll be there. Yes, Duchess? Hey, Mr. Ernest Helms is waiting outside. Ernst? Well, prod him in,
Susan. Prod him in. All right, Mr. Helms. Is this or is this not your card, sir? My name is on it.
Uh-huh, then it is your card. My name is Darcy. I'm the columnist for the Post. What can I do for you?
Please. My name is Ernst Helms. I deal in rare books. I've been commissioned by a client to find
two Bibles for a certain collection. You can trust me, sir. I'm experienced. I'm reliable. I am discreet.
Yeah, that is how I am. Well, very well. And you want me to help you find the Bibles? No, Mr. Darcy,
no, not quite. I want to buy them from you. Oh, well, then you've come to the wrong man. I'm not
a book dealer. I'm a newspaper man. I might be able to help you find something. And what is your fee?
How much cash do you have with you? How do I know you have the Bibles? Well, I didn't say that I did
have them. How do I know you know where they are? You don't know anything. How do I know you aren't
lying to me? How do I know you aren't a fake, a fraud? Now, now, now, you'll get nowhere by flattery.
You haven't got the Bibles. You don't know where they are. You are a swindler, a thief. You're
trying to rob me like everybody else. I know you. You're a vicious, degenerate, fiend, a contemptible,
fiend. I'm sorry. I'm sorry, brother. What happened? Oh, just a little thing. You've got some water there.
Now wait outside, Susan. Oh, you're all right now. Mr. Darcy? Yes, you're fine now. I'm Ernst Helms,
please. I come from Prague. How do you do? My shirt. It's off. What happened? Oh, nothing, nothing.
An accident? Oh, you're fine now. Here, let me help you. Your coat. Oh, thank you. My money.
Where's my money? On my desk. You'll leave it there if you want the Bibles. The Bibles marked E.B.?
Yes. Please, how soon will you deliver? Three days. Please, I can trust you. Please. Well,
that isn't the point. As long as I have your money, Mr. Helms, I think I can trust you.
Good day, flattop. My dear young lady, look, I arrive here punctually for my appointment with
Mr. Serko Hodakis for 2.30. It is now close to three. I have read the entire contents of Time,
Life, Esquire, Captain Billy's Whizbang. Oh, Mr. Darcy? Yes. Waiting long? I'm terribly sorry.
Come in. Sit down, please. Thank you. Mr. Darcy, I shall be brief, to the point. I'm an attorney.
I have a client named Ernst Helms. He visited your office this morning. How do you know that?
He told me so. I manage his affairs. He also told me he gave you $1,800. I simply want you to tell
me why he gave you that money. Why don't you ask Mr. Helms that question? Very well. Blunt and to
the point. My client has paid out large sums of money to swindlers, yes, trying to locate certain
books. It is my duty to see that he is now protected. Well, Mr. Helms paid me that money
for a book which I gave him. What kind of a book? A Bible. You gave to Mr. Helms a Bible? Yes. Good
Lord, a Bible for $800? And I suppose Helms knew what he was doing. I'm going to wash my hands of
him one of these days. You're telling the truth, Mr. Darcy. You really gave him this Bible. I'm a
liar if I didn't. So I was a liar, but that was the best I could do on short notice. I had no wish to
become involved in a tiresome litigation and one perhaps which might draw the attention of the
police to me. I left Mr. Hodegas' office as quickly as possible, raced home, and it was with some
anticipation that I learned from the doorman that Catherine Wall should arrive and was now in my
apartment. Come right in, Darcy. In time for tea. Well, well, Captain Griffin, Detective Lucas,
and if my memory does not fail me, and unfortunately it does not, Detective Regan. Are you gentlemen
waiting for a fourth for Brynn? We've got our fourth in the other room, Darcy. I took three
small reluctant steps into the darkened room. I was lying on the floor on the other side of my bed
near the small table on which my telephone stood. It was the frail body of Catherine Walsh. Well,
Darcy. Griffin, I find this very embarrassing. Yeah, I know just how you feel, but right now,
Darcy, you must make an effort to tell me the whole story. And believe me, my friend,
it better be good. My story, you remember, Captain Griffin, was good. In fact, it was so
good that after two hours of tortuous questioning, you agreed to release me on my promise that by
evening I would come to you with the full meaning of the Bibles and the walls of Jericho.
Straightening my tie and looking jaunty and attractive as usual, I awaited the arrival of
the lovely one. Well, here I am. Look, Darcy, I'm frightened. Stop acting like Jane Eyre. Please
don't be harsh with me now. Well, they weren't very gentle with Father Walsh and his sister.
Darcy, I'm so frightened. The manager of my hotel told me that he got a phone call from
Ernst Helms asking him to put his trunk and luggage in the storeroom. He's gone away and
I don't know what to do. Try telling me the truth. Yes, yes. I'm sorry I started the whole thing.
His letter said there'd be blood and murder. He was right. Whose letter? Elias Barron's.
You mean the Elias Barron of the artist? Yes. He was my grandfather. I started to write a biography
of Elias Barron's to show the world how he was forced to suffer and live in poverty. What the
greatest and most celebrated painter of our time went through to... Well, during my research I found
a scrap of letter. Here, read it. Hmm. Live only to finish my greatest work, my only mural. And there
will come the day when men will again shed blood for the walls of Jericho as did Joshua and his
hosts. But only in my Bibles will be found the key. He who reads each word of God will uncover the
sweeping vision of the walls of Jericho on the wall of my hovel. Glory be to God and
curse be all men. Well... That mural is priceless. But no one knows where my grandfather lived or
died. He'd run away from a hostile world. I retained Ernst Helmton, an art dealer, to help me in my search.
And Elias Barron's was the poor unknown vagrant that Father Walsh took care of and buried. Yes.
We traced the Bibles to Father Walsh but... Oh Darcy, I'm so frightened. I can't find Helmton.
You don't have to bother to look for him. The police will do that for you. What do you mean?
He has one of the Bibles. Then why doesn't he come to me? Because that mural is... Well,
it's finders keepers in a case like this. But Helmton is now a fugitive wanted for murder. Oh.
And the other Bible is undoubtedly nowhere on this earth. That's what poor Catherine Walsh was
trying to tell me. But we know that Elias Barron's left two Bibles to Father Walsh. Yeah. Wait a
minute. Wait a minute. Father Walsh, of course. I'm a dope. I remember a warm and lovable little
thing he used to do that the whole neighborhood knew about when I was a kid. He always used to
bury a Bible with the souls he buried. So, one Bible he kept, which is now in the possession of
the killer of Catherine Walsh, and the other Bible he blessed and buried with a dead man. But that
means... Precisely. We don't know where and where under what name Barron's died or where he's been
buried. Joshua. Give me that. Give me that. Now, let's see. J.J. Joshua. Joshua. The son of Nun.
Joshua Nun. What? How do you spell it? Oh, N-U-N. Oh, pray that my womanly intuition is not playing me
false. Come along. Where? To see if there isn't a Joshua Nun buried in Father Walsh's churchyard.
Oh, Darcy, we shouldn't be doing this. Why not? The cross says Joshua Nun. And if I'm wrong this time,
it won't be wasted effort. I'll simply crawl into the grave myself and pull it in after me.
Oh, I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry.
I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry.
I'll simply crawl into the grave myself and pull it in after me. Here. Here, I've struck it.
Give me that crowbar. Quickly, quickly. Oh, dear. Dear. Patricia. The Bible. We found it.
All right, Darcy. Stand where you are. Oh, Griffin, I've, uh, I found that other Bible.
Here's in the pen for body snatching.
Well, Captain Griffin, this time, as you must remember, my story was even better.
You agreed that now with one Bible in our possession, we might succeed in smoking out the killer who had the other Bible.
The entire story of Elias Barons and his walls of Jericho broke into the press,
and the veritable epidemic of wall scraping struck the city.
It was on the fifth day that a phone call from Serko Hodecas asked me to see him at once on a matter of great importance.
Yes, Mr. Darcy, Helms called me twice. I tried to trace the calls, but it was impossible.
All he would say is that he didn't kill anybody, but that he had the other Bible.
How'd he get it?
He wouldn't explain. He said he's sending it to me so that you could find the mural.
But the condition is that as his attorney, I protect his interest in the sale of the mural.
He has a right to that, even though he is a fugitive. Do you agree?
I agree.
Good. Here is the Bible which came in this morning's mail.
The Bible he gave me was very old. On its covers were the initials E.B.
I turned to the book of Joshua. On the fourth paragraph of the sixth chapter, two words had been underscored.
Seven rams.
What's marked in the other one, the one you have?
Here, I'll read it.
And seven priests shall bear before the ark seven trumpets of ram's horns, and it shall come to pass.
And the word seven priests are underscored. Seven rams and seven priests.
Not much to go on, is there?
Enough. The word priests tell us where the Bibles would be found.
Now we're left with two sevens and the word rams.
Where would you expect an artist to spend his last declining days?
Right, Greenwich Village. And there you will find in Father Walsh's parish a street named Ram Street.
And I'm sure that at 77 Ram Street you will find the Walls of Jericho by Elias Berens.
Patricia, my sweet, swoop up your trumpet. The walls are about to come tumbling down.
Yeah, this is where the crazy old coat used to live. Joshua he called himself.
Not quite the Savoy, is it?
And this is where a great artist would force it.
Let's get on with it. The mural must be hidden under the paint of one of these walls.
If it is, Mr. Klinger here will find it.
What's that?
Oh, don't let that frighten you, miss. It goes on day and night.
Building a subway right under it.
It doesn't feel very safe. Perhaps you'd better start your examination, Mr. Klinger.
Yes, I start making my test now.
For the next three hours, Mr. Klinger, the expert, worked without pause,
taking specimens of almost every square foot of wall space, examining his findings for oil tones under his microscope.
Finally, bending low over a sample.
I think, I don't know. Looks like flesh tone, oil, maybe just another layer of paint.
I must take four or five more specimens of that same layer.
And how, how will you know?
If I get different tones in the same layer, then I'll say the mural is there.
Second specimen, a sky blue tone.
Third specimen, an earth color.
Fourth, bright fuchsia.
And fifth, yes, fifth is a vivid, beautiful gold.
My friends, on that wall, under that grimy paint you see, is the last great work of Elias Barons, the Wars of Jericho.
A fortune, a fortune.
Yes, Mr. Hodeikis, a fortune.
But before we can announce our discovery, we have a serious problem to solve.
The finding of the mural means that we secured the second Bible which led us to it.
And we could have secured that only from your client Ernst Helms who was wanted for murder.
I, I don't understand.
Well, it's very simple. We will be charged with working in concert with a murderer unless we apprehend him and turn him over to the police.
Yes, but I don't see how we...
Oh, I have a plan.
Patricia, you will leave at once for Chicago.
Hodeikis says that is where Helms called from.
You will take all of the Helms' luggage which is now in the storeroom of the Hotel Bolton, including his large trunk.
But I... See here, I... Why, why must she take these?
Because I feel very strongly that Helms will suddenly appear if we move that trunk.
I think we better get out of here.
Yeah, let's go.
No, no, we don't.
Dax, he's got a gun.
How you know?
Yes.
Well.
I knew when I learned from my secretary that she told you when you called me that Catherine Walsh was coming to my apartment with a book.
And you kept me waiting in your office while you went there and killed her for the Bible you finally turned over to me.
And you decided to force my hand, find the mural.
Precisely, Mr. Hodeikis.
And when you made it necessary for me to lie to you about giving the Bible to Helms, I unwittingly signed his death warrant.
You knew that Helms was an honest man working for Patricia, and you intended all along to secure that mural for yourself.
And so when Helms couldn't turn over the Bible to you, when you demanded it from him, you were forced to murder him, and his body is now stuffed into his trunk in the storeroom of the Hotel.
So you've got it all figured out.
We'll figure this one out.
Dirty knick-offs!
And that, my dear Captain Griffin, was how it came about that the walls came tumbling down.
A write-over Mr. Hodeikis embarrassed ears.
It is too bad he did not live long enough to confess to the murder of Father Walsh, but it's obvious that he killed him to prevent him from giving the Bible in his possession to Patricia.
Well, my dear, I think that should take care of Griffin's curiosity.
And shall I sign the letter simply Darcy?
No, no. Sign it Darcy O'Donnell.
From now on, my pet, I'll be forced to use my last name since you are going to share it with me.
And so, closes, the walls came tumbling down, starring Keenan Wynne, tonight's tale of Suspense.
Suspense is produced and directed by William Spear.
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This is Keenan Wynne.
I don't know of an actor in Hollywood who doesn't feel flattered and honored when he's invited to make an appearance on Suspense, and I'm certainly no exception.
Next week sounds like a particularly outstanding one because your star will be Paul Muny in a Suspense play by one of radio's outstanding authors, Lucille Fletcher.
And of course, long before next week has arrived, you will have bought that extra war bond, won't you?
Keenan Wynne appeared through the courtesy of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, whom Roma wines salutes this week on the occasion of their completion of 20 years of motion picture leadership.
Next Thursday, same time, you will hear Paul Muny, a star of Suspense, presented by Roma wines, R-O-M-A, made in California for enjoyment throughout the world.
This is CBS, the Columbia Broadcasting System.