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And now, Roma wines. R-O-M-A, Roma wines present...
Suspense!
Tonight, Roma wines bring you Mr. Joseph Cotton in The Thing in the Window,
a suspense play produced, edited, and directed for Roma wines by William Spear.
Suspense! Radio's outstanding theater of thrills is presented for your enjoyment by Roma wines.
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enjoyed by more Americans than any other wine. For friendly entertaining, for delightful dining.
Tonight in our Suspense Theater, we bring you the premiere of the newest suspense play written by Lucille Fletcher,
the author of such distinguished radio dramas as Sorry Wrong Number and others.
But before we ring up the curtain on tonight's play and on the performance of our star, Joseph Cotton,
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Yes, right now a glass full would be very pleasant as Roma wines bring you
Mr. Joseph Cotton as Martin Ames in The Thing in the Window,
a tale well calculated to keep you in suspense.
Mary! Turn that vacuum cleaner off for a minute, will you?
And come over here, I want to show you something.
Yes.
Right here, out this window.
Now look across the street, no, directly across, the opposite apartment.
See that window, about three windows in from the left with a kind of blue draperies?
Uh-huh.
There's someone sitting there in a chair, he hasn't moved all night.
I think he must be dead.
Dead? Lord have mercy, Mr. Ames.
Take a good look at him and tell me what you think, Mary.
Okay, but I don't favor looking at a corpse, Mr. Ames. It's unlucky.
Now, which window did you say? Third one over.
Oh, I wish I had me glasses with me.
Oh, there, right there, where are my fingers pointing?
I'm afraid I don't see it yet, Mr. Ames.
Oh, look, the window with the blue draperies, he's wearing a sort of a gray suit.
The arm, can't you see the arm hanging down over the side of the chair?
No, sir. But you've got good eyes, Mr. Ames.
If you see it, I'm not arguing with you.
What are you going to do about it?
I don't know, I just began to notice it last night, I guess.
I first have to be sure the man is really dead.
That's right, Mr. Ames. You don't want to get yourself into any trouble.
Maybe he's only sleeping, or maybe he's incapacitated.
Maybe the poor soul's just tricking the invalid, huh?
Maybe.
Yes?
Hello, I'm Martin Ames. Are you the superintendent of this apartment house?
That's what it says on the door.
I've come to inquire about one of your tenants.
What is it you want to know?
I live across the street, and, well, I'll be frank with you, sir.
I've been looking out of my window across to this building now for two and a half days,
and there seems to be someone dead in one of the windows.
Eh? Which window?
It's the 10th floor. I've counted up from the street, and it's 10 stories up.
There's a window with blue draperies about three windows in from the left,
facing toward me, that is, and there's a man sitting there, slumped down in a chair.
Ah, just a minute. I'll get out my chart.
10th floor up from the street, huh? Well, it's really the 9th floor.
The lobby counts one.
We've got two apartments along the front of the house. It's in the front, yeah?
That's right.
Ah, now, three windows in from the left, that would be 9B, a four room.
Ah, that couldn't be right. 9B is two ladies. You say this is a man?
Yes, the face isn't clearly visible. The head slumped forward.
But he's wearing a gray suit, and he's sitting in a high winged back chair.
Ah, I don't poison him.
Maybe he doesn't belong in the house. Maybe he was visiting somebody.
As I say, this is all conjecture, of course. He may not be dead,
but I've watched him a good deal. I'm home a lot in the daytime.
My profession, the stage, doesn't take up too much of my time,
and it looks quite suspicious.
Okay, I'll check on it.
Mind if I stick around?
Oh, no, no. Sit down. I'll give 9B a ring first on the house phone.
Hello? Oh, Miss Landis? Yes, this is Miss Landis. Who is this?
Oh, this is Mr. Anson, the super. Everything all right up there, Miss Landis?
Everything all right? Why, yes. Yes, of course.
Okay, Miss Landis. Thanks very much. Thank you.
Well, that's that. No soap on 9B. 9A is in the country.
Anyway, if I got the window straight, like you said, it ought to be 9B.
The two single ladies?
Yeah, only it couldn't be them. They're real old maids.
They've been living in the house for years. Real old fashioned type, you know.
Say, if they knew you thought there was a man in that apartment,
the two of them would just about jump out of their skins.
Well, I don't know what to say. You're sure it must be that apartment?
Oh, yeah, yeah. That's the place, all right, but you probably just made a little mistake.
You know how your eyes can play tricks on you. After all, it is a pretty wide street.
I don't think I made any mistake.
Anson speaking.
Oh, hello, Mr. Anson. This is Mr. Ames.
Again? It's not there.
But Mr. Anson...
I checked up on the two apartments this morning. 9A is back from the country.
Everybody's OK. And 9B is out walking a dog.
No dead bodies in the whole place.
But I can see it. It's still there.
OK, just where? Will you just tell me where?
In the same window. The one you said was 9B. Have you gone inside 9B?
No, no, but I asked them if anybody was sick or dead, and they said no.
You asked them? Well, why don't you search that apartment?
What do you mean, break in while they're out?
No, search it while they're there. Ring the bell, walk in and do it.
Yeah, not without a search warrant from the police.
These apartments, you know, don't belong to me. I just take care of the building for the company.
Then let's call the police.
Oh, not me, mister. I didn't see no dead body up there.
But I will. After all, somebody's got to do something.
I still maintain, officer, these two sisters are as refined ladies as you could find anywhere.
High class, nice, church-going ladies. They used to teach school up here at P.S. 33.
Yeah, that don't mean a thing.
As it happens, there's a play on Broadway right now in which two nice old ladies commit murder after murder.
They got a dog in there. Now, will you tell me one dog that would stay for almost a week in a flat with a dead person?
I'm not telling you anything. All I know, this gentleman, Mr. Ames, here reported a stiff over here.
And if he says there is one, there is. Until it's proved different. Right, Mr. Ames?
Well, I keep seeing the thing day in and day out. I'm not working at the moment and being home so much.
None of the other neighbors have complained. Dead bodies ain't exactly...
Oh, it's right this way, please. I hope they're home.
They ain't home. You got a passkey, haven't you?
Well, yeah, we're not supposed to use it, though, unless for an emergency.
This is an emergency.
The dog bite?
Sometimes.
Yes? Who is it?
I'm awfully sorry, Miss Landis, but there's been some kind of mix-up.
These two gentlemen want to look over your apartment.
But why? It's not for rent.
I know. It's just, well, they want to search around and check up on...
Come on, come on. Cut out the plover.
Hey, look, lady. A dead body's been reported sitting in one of your windows.
What?
Yeah, yeah. This guy lives across the street and he's been seeing it over here for a week.
Oh, come on. Now open up.
A dead body? Well, that's impossible. My sister and I live here all alone.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. We know all about it.
Excuse me a minute. I'll call my sister.
Vivian! Vivian!
Oh, come on!
Vivian!
Hey, look, lady. I'm not standing out here all day.
Come on, give me the pasquey, Anson.
It won't do no good. They got a chain on the door from the inside.
Open up, in the name of the law!
How do you do?
I am Vivian Landis. May I ask what this is all about, please?
Certainly, lady. I got a search warrant here made out by this gentleman to search your place.
He says you got a dead body in there.
A dead body? Why, that's perfectly ridiculous.
Yeah, isn't it? But it's been reported.
And kindly take that door off the chain and let us through.
Of course. First, may I ask how did this peeping Tom see into our apartment?
I thought, Mr. Anson, that we were quite private.
Well, you see...
Look, he lives across the street on the same level.
I just happened to be...
Oh! Well, then we shall have to keep our shades down in the future.
Although one would think a grown man would have something better to do.
But you do come right in, gentlemen. Make yourselves right at home.
Thanks.
Is he coming in here, too, Mr. Busybody?
No, he doesn't have to, if you don't want him.
Well, I most definitely don't.
Okay, Mr. Ames, you better stay outside.
Officer, I will...
Oh, he does want to poke around in our private rooms, is that it?
Maybe he had some ulterior motive in worming his way in.
Maybe he's come to get the lay of the land so he can break in some day to rob us.
Okay, okay. He's not coming in.
Now, let's take a look at your window, Daddy.
Yeah, yeah, I know. I'm sorry. Okay.
Hey, hey!
Yes, officer?
Now, what's the big idea?
You didn't find it?
No.
That's very strange.
Yeah? The only thing strange about it's your eyesight.
You want to get your glasses changed.
Wasn't anything in 9B?
No.
I don't understand it. How could I have seen it so distinctly and it's not there?
Perhaps it isn't in the window now. Perhaps they hid it while we were waiting outside the door.
Hid it? Now, where do you hide a dead body in a four-room flat?
I looked in all the clothes closets, under the sofas, in the chairs.
Perhaps they got it out at the back into the service elevator.
Single-handed? With all the garbage cans and laundry going up and down?
Perhaps they had a compass.
Oh, you probably think, oh, it's so terrible to keep seeing it and seeing it and feeling it,
slowly decaying there in secret.
Why, the thing could be there for weeks. It's so high above the streets.
Perhaps it'll never be found. Perhaps it's already being destroyed.
Well, then, if it's gone, what have you got to worry about?
You don't have to sit and look at it no more.
No, I hope it is. I tell you, it's really getting me down.
I haven't slept for nights keeping vigil. I'm in a nervous state.
I haven't been this nervous in years.
Yeah, I can see that. Well, look, why don't you try forgetting it for a while?
Try not to look over into that window. Or go away for a change.
You've done what you could, Mr. Ames.
If there is a stiff over there, well, that's my business, ain't it?
And if there isn't...
You mean, you think I'm... I may be...
I'm not saying nothing, Mr. Ames.
But if I was you, I'd try catching up on my night's sleep.
Hello?
Miss Landis, I... I'm sorry to disturb you at this time of night, but I really...
I'm desperate. I... I haven't anywhere else to turn.
What? Who is this?
This is Mr. Ames, Martin Ames, your neighbor, the one across the street.
I was in your apartment yesterday morning with the police, or...
Rather, I was almost in your apartment. Your sister wouldn't let me in.
Oh.
Now, please don't take me apest, Miss Landis. I... I don't mean to annoy you.
It was only because I was... I was so desperate that... that I initiated that search.
It's quite all right. Goodbye.
No, no, no, please don't hang up, because... it's worse now... than it ever was.
Miss Landis, I... I've been sitting here opposite your apartment,
staring into your windows, and I...
I... I'm only asking you to help me, Miss Landis. Help me just a little.
Help you?
It's still there, Miss Landis.
What is still there?
The dead body in your window.
Oh, but... there isn't... How dare you? When the police...
I know, I know. I know now it hasn't anything to do with you.
But would you do me just one favor, Miss Landis?
Would you go into your living room and just check once more?
Oh, I won't. I'll do nothing of the kind.
You're out of your mind. No...
Perhaps I am, Miss Landis. That's what I'm trying to find out.
Then perhaps your sister Vivian would help me.
She's not at home.
Oh, Lord.
And anyway, I don't see how you can see in.
I pulled the shades down in there yesterday morning.
I know. They're all down still.
Then how can you see?
Oh, Lord. At least not the actual body. It's just a silhouette.
I'm not belining you or your sister, Miss Landis.
If there's someone dead in there, it's not you who are doing it.
But think of me.
If you could just be here and look over there and...
see the shadow of those quiet fingers, that shoulder, that head.
Oh, please! Stop it! Stop it! It's not here! It is...
Tell me just one thing, Miss Landis.
There is a chair by that window, though, isn't there?
Yes. There's a chair.
A high-backed winged chair.
And have you anything on it?
Anything piled up? I mean, like curtains or cushions or dressmakers' dummy?
Of course not!
Or do you have a plant in the window in front of it? Some kind of a odd table?
Anything? Anything that would cast a shadow like a man's head slumped forward
or an arm hanging limp?
No. There is nothing. Nothing but the chair.
Then would you do me just one more favor, Miss Landis? Please, please.
As an experiment, would you just go into the living room
and move that chair from the window, please?
I... If I do it, will you stop pestering us?
Yes.
Will you let us alone forever?
Yes, yes, if it works.
If it works, what do you mean?
I can't tell Miss Landis until you move the chair!
Oh, all right!
Hello!
Yes.
I moved it away from the window.
It's at the other end of the room, and there's nothing in it.
It's empty.
Oh, I see.
Well, thanks very much, Miss Landis.
I know what I have to do now.
You mean...
Yes, Miss Landis. It's still there.
Miss Landis!
Where is it? I want to see it at once.
Oh, yes, Miss Landis, come in.
I hope you'll excuse my appearance.
I've just passed another sleepless night.
So has my sister, and so have I.
What do you mean by all this business, Miss Reims?
You have frightened my poor sister nearly to death.
I...
Seeing things that aren't fair when you know that they're not.
I know they're not? Oh!
Oh, I wish they were.
I wish to heaven I'd never looked out that window.
I wish those walls were solid stone, and your walls... Oh!
You are a sick man, Mr. Innes.
Oh, am I?
I wish I were, but I'm perfectly sane and well.
I went to a psychiatrist yesterday, and guess what he told me?
That there's nothing wrong with me, nothing.
I can't believe that.
But to you, I suppose it's a form of madness
to persist and persist in seeing this hideous image.
But not me, Miss Landis.
No.
I've finally come to an entirely different conclusion.
And what is that?
The supernatural.
That's supernatural?
A ghost? What nonsense, Mr. Innes.
Yes, I suppose it is nonsense to you.
You've been a schoolteacher. You believe in logic and common sense.
The things that give a pretense of solidity,
but it's for a little life of ours.
But I'm an artist.
I've always had a feeling for the thing beyond,
the intangible, the shadowy.
We're children, Miss Landis,
children playing along the edge of the ocean.
We laugh and toy with the waves and mock fright.
But sometime, sometime one of us slips down into the darkness.
Sometimes the depths rise and we glimpse the yawning fangs of the eternal.
You put things rather oddly, Mr. Innes.
Just exactly what do you mean?
Simply this.
I checked on that building with the real estate agents yesterday afternoon
after I left my psychiatrist.
And there was a murder.
In our apartment?
Well, the report didn't say.
You know how they try to hush those things up.
But it was a man, a young man,
the lover of one of the tenants, a Miss Sweetser.
Sweetser?
That's the name of the people who lived there before us.
They were an elderly couple, Mr. and Mrs. Sweetser.
I never saw any Miss Sweetser.
She died. She was a daughter.
She killed herself afterwards by jumping out one of the windows.
Oh, hi.
Perfectly awful.
Rather a ghastly coincidence, isn't it?
Was it out our window?
Who knows?
She must have been a very neurotic person, though, this Miss Sweetser.
Half crazed, almost with love or jealousy.
I checked on the details in an old newspaper.
She cut his throat,
nearly decapitated.
And it said that when they lifted his body out of the chair later,
his head almost rolled.
Excuse me.
Mr. Ames, I'd rather not hear.
I still can't believe it.
If there is something, if there could possibly be something,
why haven't we seen it, too? Why should you be...
Haven't you seen it, Miss Landis?
No.
You sure? Never?
Perhaps in the middle of the night, getting up and passing that room,
seeing that chair outlined against the window just in passing, perhaps?
You've never had a glimpse?
No, I... I really must be going.
No, no, no. Please stay and look at it.
I want you to see it out of my window.
My sister Elaine, she's very nervous.
I can't leave her so long alone.
Then how will I go? How?
Miss Landis, I thought you came here especially.
It'll only take a minute.
Right in here, in the bedroom.
I just have to let up to Venetian blinds.
Oh, Miss Landis! Don't go!
Miss... Landis!
Hello. Oh, hello, Sergeant.
This is Ames, Martin Ames.
I just called to let you know,
I think you're right about that good night's sleep.
Yes, I'm going away tomorrow for a long rest,
shutting up my apartment.
Yes, I'm all... I'm all kind of in knots.
I don't know what to think.
Oh, they did.
Yes, I saw the moving van in front of the house,
but I didn't know it was those sisters.
Couldn't take it, huh?
Well, I can't take it much longer myself.
Well, Marty, bravo, bravissimo, boy.
Shh, shh, not so loud.
Why, all the mystery.
The superintendent doesn't like me.
I should think he wouldn't like you
grabbing this beautiful apartment
right from under his nose.
He probably had a promise to a friend.
But you've got it now, Ronald, just as I did.
I'm sorry, I'm sorry.
I'm sorry.
I'm sorry.
I'm sorry.
You've got it now, Ronald, just as I did.
Well, so I have, old boy, so I have.
And it's beautiful. You know, I'm crazy about it.
Marty, you've outdone yourself.
You've been more than just...
I'll take nothing of it, Ronald.
I'm glad to do it for such a distinguished colleague.
Well, it certainly was nice.
I wish I could do something in the term, Marty.
I really do.
Perhaps let's play. I'm doing next season.
You know, there's a part in it, rather small,
a small part, but very necessary.
Thanks, just the same, but I'm doing pretty well
in the term, you know, just now, Ronald.
I don't know how you found it, Marty.
In his housing shortage.
You know, why even the superintendent is nervous for rent?
When your call came to my manager, I left rehearsal.
I wouldn't trust it, anyone but myself.
I left the whole cast just standing there
when I came over.
And when I asked this gloomy character, Anton,
he said he'd heard nothing about it.
I insisted, of course, I don't know who I was.
Finally, he called up.
Sure enough, it seems these two sisters who lived here
just decided to move on.
I hope you didn't mention my name, though,
if Anton knows that I tipped you off.
Oh, no, no, no, you asked me not to.
Anyway, I think my own name is enough.
Seriously, Marty, how did you know?
Were they friends with you?
Oh, no, no, it's rather a long story.
Here, let it sit down, shall we, in the living room.
Oh, no, no, no, you take the chair.
I guess they must have left that when they moved out.
No, thank you.
Well, to be frank, Ronald, I got this apartment by a ruse.
A ruse, Marty, what kind of a ruse?
Oh, pretty nasty one, I...
I frightened the last tenants away.
I told them I saw a dead man sitting here in this window.
No, no, not really.
How clever of you.
Of course, there was one.
You see, I live across the street, directly across,
in that apartment there with the striped curtains.
Oh.
One night, just sitting there late,
I got an amusing thought.
There was a kind of shadow across this chair,
the one that you're sitting in.
It gave me a little bit of a corpse.
And it came to me that it might be fun
to create a great part, a character,
a corpse that wasn't there.
I don't fully...
Some actors need a play, Ronald, to create a role.
Others, the great ones, work out their own dramas.
I proceeded to invent a part for myself.
I was the eyewitness, the innocent bystander
across the street who saw a corpse in here.
And I kept seeing it and kept seeing it.
And finally, by the power of suggestion,
it became real enough to frighten them away.
Very clever.
One that's rather drastic.
I'd always hoped we'd be neighbors, Ronald.
As a matter of fact, the whole idea for this thing
came to me that day in October,
when you turned me down for that part
outside of Sardis, remember?
You said you were looking for a place then.
Oh, yes.
It was then I thought how nice it would be
to see you,
right across the street, sitting in this window.
I simply had to bring it about.
I...
No, no, no, Ronald, don't get up yet. I'm not rude.
Really, oh, boy, I'm afraid the gang at the theater,
you know, they don't even know that I'm here.
They'll wait. People always wait for you,
don't they, Ronald?
I could call them for you, of course, but the phone's been disconnected.
Well, I'm afraid that I'm...
Which way's the door, oh, boy?
Really, Marty, it's been very tiring...
What's the matter? Don't you like the apartment, Ronald?
Aren't you going to take it?
After all my work?
Yes, I like it very much.
The door's locked. Yes, Ronald.
I'm afraid you'll have to find your way out alone.
There.
That'll keep you quiet.
Silence always became you better
than all that ratting and glibness and charm, Ronald.
And now I've got the part for you.
A part to end all parts.
You play it entirely in a chair.
There isn't much action, not a line to say you just sit, Ronald.
You sit in this chair on the window.
Yeah.
It'll be the greatest performance of your career.
You liked to hog all the fattest roles for yourself, didn't you?
Well, this is a part that's been talked about
up and down the street for weeks.
You'll play the part of a ghost.
A ghost?
The part of a ghost.
A corpse that never was.
A hallucination in my brain.
And who'll be your audience?
I will.
I, the insignificant out-moded ham
who wouldn't, wasn't fit to appear in your precious play.
But good enough to put you here, Ronald.
Who's the better actor now, Ronald?
Ha.
Goodbye, Ronald.
See you across the street.
Suspense.
Presented by Roma Wines, R-O-M-A, Roma, America's favorite wine.
And now this is the first act of the show.
I'm so excited to see what you'll be doing.
You'll be the first to play the role of the
playwright here.
And I'm so excited to be here.
I'm so excited to be here.
I'm so excited to be here.
I'm so excited to be here.
I'm so excited to be here.
And now this is Ken Niles with a curtain call for the star of tonight's play,
that perennial suspense favorite, Joseph Cotton.
Joe, tonight marks your seventh appearance on Suspense in less than three years,
making you our all-time champion guest.
No cotton shortage on Suspense, again.
And no shortage of suspense when cotton's on hand, either.
In appreciation of those seven stellar performances,
here's a Christmas present for you, Joe.
Please accept this gift basket of Grand Estate wines
from your host, Roma, America's greatest vendor.
Thank you, Ken.
And you're an outstanding host this Christmas when you serve these magnificent Grand Estate wines.
For Grand Estate wines reflect the host's desire to offer only the finest.
Grand Estate wines delight the most discriminating guests, whatever their case.
I'll remember that, Ken.
And don't forget Grand Estate wines make ideal gifts,
friendly, thoughtful gifts, in perfect taste.
Yes, for gifts or guests, America offers no finer wines than distinguished Grand Estate wines.
For the holidays, keep on hand all five Grand Estate California wines.
When entertaining, serve medium sherry, ruby port, or golden muscatel.
For gracious dining, burgundy or sartorne.
Each limited bottling of Grand Estate wine, carefully selected by Roma,
is a wine outstanding in rare taste places.
So this Christmas, give or serve the finest.
Grand Estate wines, the crowning achievement of Vintner skill.
Well put, Ken, but I must know one more thing.
What about next Thursday's show?
Well, it's a double threat show, with the honors going to two distinguished ladies.
It's called Philomel Cotton.
The author is England's number one feminine mistress of the art of suspense, Agatha Christie.
And our star will be the most provocative European leading lady to visit our shores and many a moon,
Miss Lily Palmer.
Well, I've never missed a suspense show yet,
and certainly next week sounds even more intriguing than usual.
Good night.
Good night, Joe.
We're all looking forward to seeing you and David O. Selznick's production, Duel in the Sun.
Next Thursday, same time, you will hear Miss Lily Palmer as star of Suspense.
Produced and directed by William Spear for the Roma Wine Company of Fresno, California.
Stay tuned for the thrilling adventures of the FBI in Peace and War,
following immediately over most of these stations.
This is CBS, the Columbia Broadcasting System.