Now, Roma Wines present...
Suspense!
Tonight, Drive-In starring Nancy Kelly.
This is presented for your enjoyment by Roma Wines. That's R-O-M-A. Roma Wines.
Those excellent California wines that can add so much pleasantness to the way you live.
To your happiness and entertaining guests. To your enjoyment of everyday meals.
Yes, right now a glass full would be very pleasant.
As Roma Wines bring you...
Suspense!
This is the man in black here for the Roma Wine Company of Fresno, California.
Who tonight from Hollywood bring you a star, Miss Nancy Kelly.
In the suspenseful narrative of a Hollywood working girl who one rainy midnight found death sitting beside her on the ride home.
And so with Drive-In and with the performance of Nancy Kelly, we again hope to keep you in...
Suspense!
I wish I hadn't let Ruth talk me into serving that last card that came to the Drive-In, that rainy night.
It was late and I was tired. I'd been on my feet all day carrying heavy trays.
Hopping to it when impatient people blared their headlights on and off in my eyes.
And heaven knows there are a lot of impatient people in Hollywood.
These car hops don't have an easy time of it.
Talk about your mail carriers. Well, we're the same.
Raining or blowing or boiling hot, we've got to get through with that tray or know the reason why.
Tired, hungry people who sit back in their car and expect a million dollars worth of service for a ten cent tip.
Why do we do it?
Well, sure, there are other ways of making a living in Hollywood, but...
Not many that hold that glittering promise that maybe someday, somehow, maybe someone will say...
Why, that girl looks like Lana Turner.
Yeah, at least her hair is done up that way.
You know, I think I could use her in that new picture of mine.
I'll ask her to come out to the studio. Yeah, I know.
Well, here we go again.
Maybe it doesn't happen often, but there's always a chance.
And there's always that hope.
That's what keeps us going, I guess.
But there are other things that can happen in a drive-in.
Things that aren't on the menu by any manner of means.
Like the rainy night I was telling you about when I let Ruth talk me into serving that last car that came in.
Oh, Mildred, please take his order. I've got three other cars and I'm waiting for French fries.
Oh, look at the clock, will you? It's near midnight. I'm off duty.
Oh, please, Mildred, just this one more, will you? I'll do the same for you sometime.
But Ruth...
Oh, what's the matter with him? Can't he read?
Please do not honk your horn.
That looks clear enough to me.
Well, it's the doctor's car, see? He's probably in a rush.
Anyway, you've got nobody waiting.
Oh, all right.
Gee, thanks a lot.
Well, it was true. No one was waiting for me.
Only the bus that had taken me to Glendale where I lived alone in an apartment.
So I buttoned up my raincoat and I took a menu over to the car.
Good evening.
Never mind the menu. Just some black coffee, a pop of it and a ham sandwich. Please hurry it.
When I...
When I took his order over to the car, the window was rolled up a little too far and it interfered with the tray, so I reached in to wind it down.
When I touched the handle, it felt wet and kind of sticky, too, but I didn't think anything about it and I got the tray firmly set.
And then I looked at my hand. It was as red as blood.
I looked up quickly at him.
Oh, I'm sorry. I'm Dr. Morgan. I just had an emergency in the car.
Oh, an accident?
Yes, sunset and vine, quite a crash. I just happened by and I took one of them to the hospital.
Oh, gee, that's too bad.
Yes, it was very unfortunate.
I walked back trying to wipe the blood from my hand with a paper napkin.
Oh, it gave me a creepy feeling to have somebody's blood on my hand.
Then I went in to wash. I was keeping close track of the time and I was a little worried for fear the big drive-in clock wasn't right.
It sometimes ran slow. So I took a coin from my pocket. I figured it was worth a nickel not to miss that last bus to Glendale.
I walked over to the payphone and I was just about to drop the nickel in when I looked out and was leaning on the horn and beckoning to me at the same time.
I put the nickel back in my pocket and I hurried out to him.
I'm sorry, but I'm in a hurry and I haven't time for this coffee to cool off. I'll take the sandwich with me. How much do I owe you?
Forty cents.
Forty cents. Here you are. I hope I didn't interrupt your phone call. Wasn't important, was it?
No, no, no. I was just checking on the time. I didn't want to miss my bus.
There was a clock right over your head.
Oh, it's usually wrong.
I have the time. It's about four minutes to twelve.
Oh, gee, I am going to miss my bus.
What time does it leave?
At midnight from Hollywood and La Brea.
Well, hop in. I'll take you. I'm going right past there.
Oh, gee, would you? I'll take the train and I'll be right back. I might as well make it.
In my hurry to unhook the train from the window, I gave it a jittery sound and it fell crashing to the ground.
Oh, Ruth! Ruth, please help me pick these things up, will you? I'm going to miss my bus.
All right, Mildred, okay.
I'll take the things up quickly. Ruth went off with the tray.
I started to run around the other side of the car when I noticed something shining on the ground.
It was one of the shakers that had fallen from the tray.
I picked it up and I started running toward the driver when he spoke to me.
Why don't you just put that in your pocket? You can return it tomorrow. Come on, come on. You're going to miss your bus.
I put the shaker into my pocket and I rushed over to the other side of the car and he opened the door for me.
I was just about to get in when I hesitated.
I wasn't used to doing this sort of thing. The other girls sometimes let the customers drive them home, but I never did.
Still, he looked so decent and...
Come on, come on. You'll miss it.
Then he reached out just to help me in.
And I thought then that he was really concerned about my missing the bus, or he seemed to pull me into the car.
And the first thing I knew, I was sitting beside him.
And the door slammed.
And he knew we were driving off.
I was a little uneasy, but then I thought, no, it's only a few blocks and I won't be in the car long.
I suppose you're in a hurry because someone's waiting for you.
Oh, no, I live alone, but I'd hate to walk back to Glendale in this rain.
You won't have to walk.
This is very nice of you. I appreciate it.
Not at all.
Would you mind rolling up that window on your side? There's a draft.
Oh, of course.
You can let me off at that corner over there.
All right.
Anywhere along here will be all right.
This is fine. Right over there by that stop sign.
Wait, are you going right through that stop signal?
Am I?
Yes.
But I'll get over there by the other one. My bus.
You're turning the wrong way.
Am I?
Yes. This goes up to Laurel Canyon.
Does it?
You thought you were pretty smart, didn't you?
I don't know what you mean. Please let me out of this car.
You went right to the phone. You thought I wouldn't see you.
The phone? But I was calling about the time. Honest to the world.
The time? With that clock right over your head?
Oh, but that clock's wrong sometimes. Besides, who would I call?
Why should I call anyone about you?
You were calling the police.
Oh, no. Honest I wasn't. Let me out of this car.
You were going to catch a bus. You were going straight to the police. That's where you were going.
Well, why should I go to the police?
You know why.
No, no. Really, I don't.
Because you saw him. You saw his blood.
I... I...
No, no, you don't.
Oh, no.
There. You won't need to try to open that door again.
Now... now we'll begin.
Tonight, for suspense, Roma wines are bringing you as star Miss Nancy Kelly,
whom you have heard in the prologue to Drive-In by Mel Dinelli and Muriel Roy Bolden.
Tonight's tale of suspense.
This is Truman Bradley for Roma Wines.
Haven't you often realized that many of life's finest enjoyments are simple and moderate rather than the opposite?
I give you the words of a high and well-loved parate, Miss Elsa Maxwell,
international expert on smart entertaining and gracious living.
Good hospitality is always simple, genuine, and moderate.
That is why I often suggest enjoyment of delicious Roma sauternes,
when you have friends in to dinner or with your everyday meals.
Serve this delicate golden sauternes well chilled with any food in any glasses you have.
Special wine glasses are pretty but not essential to the enjoyment of Roma wine.
Now, what can I add to such charming good sense as that?
Maybe just this.
Roma sauternes and all Roma wines are the best that California's magnificent sun-ripened grapes can provide.
In glorious color, fragrance, and flavor, protected for you by the ancient wine skill of Roma's famed wineries.
That's why Roma wines and Roma quality do not vary, never fall short, but are always enjoyable.
Unchanging high quality gives tremendous popularity to Roma wines and makes low costs possible.
Only pennies a glass.
Remember, more Americans enjoy Roma than any other wines.
R-O-M-A, Roma wine.
And now it is with pleasure that we bring back to our sound stage Miss Nancy Kelly in Drive-In.
A tale well calculated to keep you in suspense.
After I made that last try to get out and he broke the handle of the door, all the strength seemed to go out of my body.
I just sat there as we drove on.
We passed a few people and some cars in the next blocks and I thought of calling out and then I knew why he'd asked me to roll up the window when I'd first gotten into the car.
And then, and then we were at the mouth of the canyon and I could see the road dark and lonely up ahead.
The car twisted and swirled.
My arm ached from his strong fingers that had dug into it when I tried to jump out.
I looked at him from the corner of my eye.
He hadn't seemed like a criminal back at the drive-in and he didn't seem like one now.
His jaw was black from needing a shave and still his face, well it wasn't like a criminal at all.
It was so tired.
Quit staring at me.
Look, look, I didn't know anything about you, honest I didn't.
Please let me go.
You know something about me now.
I won't tell anybody, whatever it is, I promise you I won't.
No woman's promises.
Remind me to tell you a story about a woman and a promise.
Let me out. Please let me out right here.
It's a long way back to Glendale.
That's all the better. It'll take me hours to get back and you'll be miles away by then.
I'm not taking any chances with you kid.
Please, oh please let me out. I've got to get back.
You said no one was waiting for you.
You live alone don't you?
No one will miss you.
We both were at the fire room then.
He looked quickly into the rear vision mirror.
Then he took a gun from his pocket and he turned to me.
If that's for us and we're stopped, remember this.
I've used this gun before tonight and I can use it again if I have to.
If I'm taken you'll go first.
But now listen, I'm a doctor and you're a nurse and we're headed on an emergency.
You won't try to pull anything. Now remember that. Remember it.
Well, you're going awful fast for a wet night aren't you?
All the way up from Hollywood.
I'm Dr. Morgan and this is Nurse Johnson on an emergency call.
I'll see your identification.
Well, let's see.
He fumbled through his pocket with one hand, holding the gun to my ribs with the other.
The motorcycle cop looked over at me.
I thought for a moment that I could signal him with my eyes.
But then I knew he wasn't looking at my face.
He was looking down at my white starched blouse which he could see under my raincoat.
He thought it was a nurse's uniform.
Here you are, officer.
Okay Doc, sorry I stopped you.
Well, that's that.
Hey, hey, hey wait a minute.
What's the matter?
I just wanted to tell you, the rain started to slide up our way. Better take it easy.
Thanks. I will.
You're not Dr. Morgan, are you?
What do you think?
Then we came to the landslide.
It wasn't a big one but it made a terrible mess of the road.
He didn't slow down and the car swerved crazily as it slipped from one side of the highway to the other.
Suddenly, it fell as though the whole rear end had slipped out.
I looked over at him. He was tense. His knuckles turned wide as he clutched the wheel.
He shoved the car into reverse.
I hoped it would never, never move.
And it didn't. We were stuck.
Hopelessly stuck.
Have all the luck.
Suddenly, suddenly the car was filled with light.
A car had come around the curve behind us.
This might be my chance.
Remember, I still have this gun. Now don't try anything.
Hey! We're stuck here! Could you give us a push?
Thank you very much.
Well, have some California hospitality.
I'll have to get out. I'll have to put something under the wheel.
Stay here.
There, there were some bushes by the side of the road.
If I could reach them, I could perhaps run up the side of the hill and hide.
Then in the morning, I could make my way back down the canyon.
I slipped under the wheel and I carefully turned the handle of the door on his side of the car.
I could see him in the mirror. He was at the back of the car.
I eased the door gently open.
I put one foot out.
I was just sliding out when I heard him.
You're not going any place.
Come here.
Give me that raincoat.
Why?
I need something dry to step under this wheel.
Oh, but I...
You won't be needing it!
I hesitated a moment, but he practically ripped it off my back.
He wound it into a ball and, bending down, he stuck it under the wheel.
The gun. It stuck out of his back pocket.
I could get it if I could lay my hands on it.
I held my breath and I reached out.
It seemed so far, but I finally touched it.
And then, and then I snatched it from his pocket swiftly.
Give me that gun.
I'm going. You can't stop me now.
Can't I?
No. No, you stay right where you are.
I won't hurt you. All I want is to get home.
I'm going, but if you follow me, I'll...
You'll what?
I'll kill you.
I don't think you will.
Oh, yes, I will. You think I'm afraid?
Aren't you?
No. I don't care what happens to you.
You're a murderer. You killed somebody.
I thought you didn't know anything about me.
I didn't, I didn't, but I do now and I'm going to tell the police.
Stay where you are.
No, no. I'm not afraid.
I'll shoot!
It's too bad I used up all of those tonight.
You could have filled me full of holes.
Give me that gun.
Now get in the car.
That's better.
Are you going to kill me?
What do you think?
We were nearing the top of the canyon now.
The road was very steep.
The rain had let up. It was just drizzling now.
Even though he hadn't answered my question, I knew the answer.
He was going to kill me.
I wouldn't get back home tonight.
Not tonight or any other night.
It was funny.
I sometimes used to hate that little apartment of mine where nothing ever happened.
But tonight...
And then for some reason I thought about Ruth.
What would she say tomorrow when I didn't show up at work?
And then I wondered where they'd find my body.
Well, here we are.
Look out mountain, the top of the world.
Suddenly we came over the crest of the hill.
And way down below the city stretched out for miles.
Millions of lights glittering in the rain.
For a moment I forgot everything.
It was the most beautiful sight I'd ever seen.
Ever been up here before?
No.
It's nice, isn't it?
Oh, yes.
I used to come up here with a girl once.
We used to sit and talk for hours.
Come on. We'll get a better view if we get out.
I knew it was foolish to argue.
So I followed him.
But as he walked over toward the edge, I became frightened.
It was such a steep drop.
Well, come on.
I'm afraid to get so close to the edge.
You will fall.
Look.
That's Los Angeles over there.
That bright line of lights is Western Avenue.
I went to school somewhere along in there.
I used to get into all sorts of trouble at school.
But I got by.
I managed.
And everyone said I'd grow out of it.
And over that way, towards the ocean, that's Wet's Wood.
That's where she lived.
This girl I was telling you about.
That was the best part of my life, I guess.
That's when they said marriage and her wife would straighten me out.
Marriage and her wife would straighten me out in Wet's Wood, they said.
Does your wife still live there?
No.
She's dead.
Oh, I'm sorry.
You needn't be.
I killed her.
Oh, why?
Because she couldn't keep her promises.
Did... did you kill her tonight?
No.
A long time ago.
The jury said I was insane.
But I think it was the sanest thing I ever did.
They put me in an asylum.
Do you know what it's like being... being locked up year after year when you know there's nothing wrong with you?
No.
That isn't good.
If you do anything to get out, anything, anything...
I knew if I could keep them talking, maybe a car would come along.
Maybe something would happen.
It was... it was my only chance.
What are you thinking about?
You... you killed someone else tonight, didn't you?
Yes.
Dr. Morgan?
Yes.
He was one of the men who thought I was insane.
Why did you do it?
I wanted his car to get away in.
I didn't want to be locked up anymore.
Oh, but they'll catch you.
No.
No, they won't find a doctor for several days.
I saw to that.
But how can you be so sure?
I do things thoroughly.
What are you going to do now?
First, I'm going to...
Then I guess I'll go south.
I knew what he meant by that pause.
I started to back away slowly.
I'd made a mistake by reminding him of the present.
My hands went instinctively to my pocket for something to defend myself with.
I knew there was a pencil there.
It was sharp.
Maybe I could scratch him or hurt him in some way with it.
But when I reached for it, I felt something else instead.
Something cold and hard.
I was puzzled for a moment, and then I remembered it was the shaker I'd picked up at the drive-in.
You can't get away now.
Then he started moving toward me.
Me with only a pencil and a shaker to defend myself with.
It's too bad I came into that drive-in tonight.
Why did you?
Because I was hungry?
Because I hadn't eaten for a long time?
Weren't you afraid someone would see you?
No alarm had gone out.
How did you know?
I knew.
Oh, I'm sorry.
If only you hadn't rolled that window down.
If you're sorry, why don't you let me go?
It's too late.
What's that?
A car was coming over the top of the hill.
With a sudden movement, his arms were about me in a tight embrace.
I started to scream, but suddenly his lips closed over mine.
Pushing my head back roughly, he kissed me.
I could scarcely breathe, and I felt the car's headlights on us like a spotlight.
Well, just look at this view, will you?
You know, I'll have to do this in a picture sometime.
Can't you see we're interrupting something?
Drive on, will you?
Where?
When all this rain, you'd think people would have more sense.
Come on.
He held me a moment longer, and when the car had gone, he released me.
My pencil had fallen to the ground, and I was left with only the shaker in my hand.
I fingered it nervously, and then I felt the top coming off.
I felt the content spilling into my hand.
What have you got in your hand?
Nothing.
Give it to me.
No.
Give it to me.
He grabbed my wrist, and he pulled me toward him.
We were moving to the edge of the cliff, but my other hand was free,
and I threw the contents of the shaker into his face.
His hands flew to his face, and inevitably clear his eyes.
But it was too late.
The pepper had blinded him.
He lunged out for me, but I stepped aside quickly, and he slipped in the mud.
His hands went out to steady himself.
He clawed frantically at thin air, and then I saw him falling over backwards, over the edge.
Then my strength gave way, and I felt myself sinking down to the ground.
I don't know how long I must have been there, but when I came to it, it was raining again.
I was soaked to the skin, and there was mud caked in my hair, and there was no one in sight.
The lights of Los Angeles stretched out in a pattern peacefully below,
and I knew that somewhere at the foot of those hills was Glendale and my apartment.
I rose slowly to my feet, and I started back toward the road.
Somehow, everything that had happened seemed unreal, like a dream.
Everything except the way he kissed me to keep me from crying out.
And so closes Drive-In, starring Nancy Kelly. Tonight's study in Suspense.
Suspense is produced, edited, and directed by William Spear.
We are sometimes asked, why does Miss Elsa Maxwell always say it is smart to serve Roma wine?
Her explanation is simple.
It is smart to serve Roma wine, first of all because Roma wines are so delicious,
so good with food or any time.
It is smart further because Roma wine affords simple pleasure, enjoyment that is truly moderate.
Finally, it is smart because it is such an easy and inexpensive addition to hospitality and everyday living.
Yes, in every way it is smart to serve and enjoy Roma wines.
They are California's finest, always good, unvaryingly fine in flavor and quality.
And remember, the cost is only pennies a glass.
More Americans enjoy Roma than any other wines.
Roma, R-O-M-A, Roma wines.
Nancy Kelly appeared through the courtesy of RKO and will soon be seen in their production, Betrayal from the East.
The part of the man was played by Wally Mayer.
Next Thursday, same time, we will have an unusual program for you that you won't want to miss.
It will bring you in his first appearance as a dramatic actor, Mr. Frank Sinatra.
And appearing with Mr. Sinatra will be that incomparable actress, Miss Agnes Moorhead.
Don't miss them next week on Suspense.
Presented by Roma Wines, R-O-M-A, made in California for enjoyment throughout the world.
This is CBS, the Columbia Broadcasting System.