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And now, Roma wines, R-O-M-A, Roma wines present...
Suspense!
Tonight, Roma wines bring you Mr. Eddie Bracken in Elwood,
a suspense play produced and edited for Roma wines by William Spear.
Suspense! Radio's outstanding theater of thrills is presented for your enjoyment by Roma Wines.
That's R-O-M-A. Roma wines, those better tasting California wines,
enjoyed by more Americans than any other wine.
For friendly entertaining, for delightful dining.
Yes, right now, a glass full would be very pleasant,
as Roma wines bring you Eddie Bracken in a remarkable tale of...
Suspense!
Mr. Obermeyer wasn't around, so I closed the gas station early that day and started home.
I wasn't feeling very well.
I walked along thinking of different things, past the high school where I'd gone last year
and where Miss Wilson was still teaching,
past the movie theaters where they were still showing the Humphrey Bogart picture I'd seen last night.
I thought maybe I'd go again tonight.
Then I cut through the alley to the rickety old frame building where we lived on the second floor over the store.
I hated that place.
Every time I got near it, I hated it worse.
It was no kind of a place for us to be living.
I went up the back stairs.
I could hear Mom and Sis in the kitchen,
so I went straight to my own room and locked the door.
I pulled up the old floorboard and got out my things and spread them on the bed.
I pinned on the flyer's watch, that is, his wings, and strapped on the chronograph-type watch.
It said to Jimmy from Jane on it.
I looked at myself in the mirror.
I could have been a famous flyer.
I took off the watch and wings and looked over the other things.
There was the gold fountain pen that I had only a week.
It said, L.I.B. on it.
It was the kind that big executives use to sign important papers.
I tried it out a few times in front of a mirror.
Elwood?
Yes?
Elwood!
All right, Mother. All right.
What are you doing home so early? Did you get fired?
No, I just closed up a little early.
Well, you will get fired. Mr. Obermauer catches you closing up early.
Oh, no, I won't.
And don't think you're going to lie around this house when you do.
Your sister and I have a hard enough time as it is without having you on our necks.
Well, I don't feel very well today, Mom.
Don't feel very well?
It's up already.
No. Is that all you can think about when you come home? Food?
There isn't much else, is there?
Is that so? Well, any time you get tired of using this place as a boarding house...
Ah, forget it, Mom. What's this?
Leave it alone. Do you have to look at everything?
What is it?
An old album of snapshots I found in the trunk today.
Didn't know I still had it.
Gee, is this me?
Let me see. Mm-hmm. That's you.
How old was I then?
Well, let me see about six. You were real cute then.
Are there any pictures of Dad?
No.
Say, I remember this place.
This is where we lived just before we came to Fairfield, wasn't it?
Quite a while before. We were about eight then.
Who's this? Who's this man?
You ought to remember him. You were almost nine when he went away.
I don't. Who was he?
He was your stepfather. What's the idea of tearing that up?
Unless I want to.
Cut it out. You got no right to tear up that picture.
The Lord knows I got no use for that, ma'am, but you got no right to tear it up.
You had no right to marry him either.
Shut up!
Get out of here before I hit you again.
Get out of here! Get out!
I went back to my room.
I got my things out from under the floorboard again,
but somehow they didn't make me feel very good the way they usually did.
I had an awful headache.
Pretty soon I put on my hat and went out.
Is the oil and water all right, Miss Wilson?
I think it is, Elwood, yes.
Well, that'll be a dollar eighty, then.
All right. Here.
Thanks. How's the new term going, Miss Wilson?
Oh, fine so far.
I am sorry you're not with us, though, Elwood.
I was so looking forward to having you in my class this year.
Well, some things just can't be helped this year, I guess.
Do the students like your course, Miss Wilson?
They seem to like it fine.
I wish I could be there.
Is there anything about abnormal psychology, Miss Wilson?
We touch on it towards the end of the course.
I read something about it.
I read some of the Freud and Adler stuff, too.
Have you, Elwood?
You know, sometimes I think you get more real education staying out of school,
and the rest of them do staying here.
Well, I try to keep up with what's going on in the world.
You're way ahead of most people, Elwood.
I hope someday you can get away from this town,
someplace where you can really use your ability.
You can go a long way, Elwood.
Oh, I'm going to. I'm going to do something about it someday, all right.
I know you are. Maybe between us we can figure out something, huh?
Maybe we can.
Can I come over and listen to your records again sometime, Miss Wilson?
Of course you can, Elwood. Anytime you feel...
Elwood! Oh, hey, hey, Elwood!
What's the matter?
Elwood, we got a phone for Dr. Park and the police.
What's up? Why?
It's Mr. Granby. They just found him over there in the lot.
Henry Granby?
Yes. Our phone. You go on over, Elwood.
Maybe you can do something.
All right. You want to come, Miss Wilson?
Yes, I will.
I guess it must be over there on the corner where the people are.
Yeah. People crowd around awful quick at something like this, don't they?
Oh, they certainly do.
Maybe you don't want to look.
Well, I... No.
Oh, that's Mr. Granby, all right.
Elwood, what happened to him?
There's not much use in calling a doctor.
Oh, dear. Is he...
Well, you can see he's been strangled, Miss Wilson.
He's dead.
For Suspense, Roma Wines are bringing you Eddie Bracken in Elwood.
Roma Wines presentation tonight in radio's outstanding theater of thrills, Suspense.
Between the acts of Suspense, this is Ken Niles for Roma Wines.
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And now Roma wines bring back to our Hollywood sound stage,
Eddie Bracken in Elwood, a tale well calculated to keep you in suspense.
Finding Mr. Gramby murdered created a terrific emotion.
At first they thought some tramp did it,
but they couldn't find anything missing except a Phi Beta Kappa key.
So they figured someone in town must have done it,
because there were quite a lot of people who didn't like Mr. Gramby at all.
You can imagine how that made them feel,
a little town like ours where everybody knew everybody else,
and someone you might say hello to a dozen times a day was a murderer.
Friday was my afternoon off, and I was walking around town,
and I ran into Miss Wilson and Winnie Hawks.
Why, hello, Elwood.
Oh, hello, Miss Wilson. Hi, Winnie.
Elwood Parsons, I do wish you'd stop calling me Winnie.
My name is Winifred.
In fact, it's Miss Hawks, to mirror acquaintances.
I always used to call you Winnie.
That was years ago when I was just a child.
Winifred's 17 now, Elwood. She's a young lady.
Well, at least I'm old enough to be addressed by my right name.
Okay, Winnie.
All right, then, Ellie.
Say, Winnie, what's that?
What?
That hanging on your bracelet.
Oh, that. That's just a little gold football.
Andy Sawyer gave it to me.
Gee, that's nice.
Oh, it's all right. The whole varsity got them.
Anybody might have one.
Anybody?
Yes, even you, if you'd ever taken the trouble to go out for the team.
The football equipment costs too much.
Say, hear anything new about the murder?
New? My father says that if the police can't do anything,
it's high time the citizens took things into their own hands.
He's forming a vigilante committee.
Oh, Winifred.
Well, we have to do something, don't we?
After all, there's a murderer running around loose.
How do we know? It might be anybody.
Sure, it might be anybody.
Well, of course, I suppose it might, but...
Listen, will both of you swear not to tell this to a living soul?
What, Winifred?
My father thinks he knows who did it, the murder.
Does he?
He thinks it's old man Kranz.
In the first place, there's something wrong with him
living up there in that old shack all alone.
And in the second place, he's a foreigner.
Winifred, what's that got to do with it?
Well, he could have done it.
My father thinks he's somebody who's crazy,
a fiend.
That's the craziest thing I ever heard.
Old man Kranz, a fiend.
Well, just because you're such bulls and pals...
Tell your father to guess again, Winnie.
Old man Kranz wouldn't hurt anybody.
How do you know?
Old man Kranz, he wouldn't hurt a fly.
He wouldn't dare.
Old man Kranz was a little funny, all right,
but it was funnier still him thinking that he'd done it.
That gave me the idea to go up and see him.
His big dog Bismarck started making an awful fuss
the way he always did, but I just banged on the door anyway.
Who is it?
It's me, Mr. Kranz. Elwood.
Oh, I didn't just say so.
Quiet, Bismarck.
Wait a minute, I'll unbar the door.
Hello, Bismarck, old fella.
So, you finally come up to see old man Kranz again, huh?
Yeah, and I brought you some old horseshoes.
I'll just put them down here.
Say, I thought I ought to tell you,
I heard the screwiest thing in town today.
Oh, sure? What was that?
You know about the murder?
Yes, I know.
Somebody said you did it.
Oh, they did, huh?
Uh-huh. They're getting up a vigilante committee.
Well, let them come with their vigilante committee.
I got my shotgun. I take care of myself.
Oh, they won't bother you, Mr. Kranz.
I told them they were crazy.
They better not bother me.
As far as that goes, I don't think they'll ever find out who did it.
No?
I don't think so. Do you?
Well, somebody did do it.
Oh, sure, somebody did.
He was strangled, I hear.
He was. I saw him.
Take a strong pair of hands to do that.
Yeah, I guess it would.
Well, what have you been doing lately, Mr. Kranz?
Oh, nothing. Reading.
Little philosophy these last few days.
No more psychology?
Sure, but now I read a little philosophy just for a change.
Been reading Schopenhauer.
You know how he says it's the only way to escape the world?
Suicide.
Suicide?
But he's crazy.
My way of living is better than his way of dying.
Well, why do you want to escape from the world, Mr. Kranz?
Why? Look at it. Just look at it.
And tell me why I shouldn't want to escape from it.
Well, I don't know, Mr. Kranz.
There are a lot of things wrong with the world.
Wrong? You just show me one thing that's right.
Just one thing, and I'll go back.
That's right, I'll go back.
But in the meantime, while you've got nothing else to do,
we play a game of horseshoes.
Come on, I've got the stakes all laid out.
Okay.
What kind of horseshoes are these? They're all bent.
Well, I didn't want to ask Charlie Vander for new ones.
They're old ones that he takes off the horses.
They just have to be straightened out a little.
Yeah, yeah, that's right.
You got a hammer or a knack somewhere?
Hammer. You think I'm an old man and I'm weak, huh?
You don't know how much strength I got.
There, look.
I straighten it with my bare hands.
Shucks, I bet I can do it.
Go ahead, try.
All right.
There. See?
Yes, yes.
It's just as straight as yours.
Yes, Elwood.
It takes a strong pair of hands to do that.
I didn't feel very well that night.
I tried on my 5-Beta Kappa Key that I had in front of a mirror,
and then I put it back in the place under the floor,
and then I put on my hat and went out.
You know what?
The next day they found Winnie Hawks.
She was dead.
Somebody had strangled her.
Hello, Elwood.
Come in.
I haven't seen you for quite a while and I thought...
I know. Everyone's been so upset. It was such an awful thing.
What?
About Winifred.
Oh, yes. It's strange what fate does.
It's something a little more horrible than fate, I'm afraid.
I thought you might like to listen to some music tonight, Miss Wilson.
Why, yes, I'd love to.
As a matter of fact, I've just got a new album of Stravinsky.
They say it's very good.
Oh, Stravinsky's wonderful.
I think it's terribly exciting and emotional.
Don't you?
Well, yes.
And so imaginative.
I'll get out the records. If you will start...
What's that you've got there, Elwood?
What?
That thing you're tossing up and down your hand.
Oh, that's just a little watch.
Oh, that's just a little watch charm I found.
I carried it in my pocket.
Sort of for luck.
It was a gold football, wasn't it?
Yeah, I found it. I guess some fella lost it.
Oh.
Okay, sis, I'm leaving.
Oh, hello, Dick.
Oh, hi, Elwood. All right, Dick.
Uh, Dad's here, so don't worry.
Going hunting?
Oh, the rifle. Hunting. You bet I am.
Half the town is tonight.
Didn't you know, Elwood? The committee's patrolling the streets because of the murderer.
Oh, yes. I heard something about it.
You ought to join up.
It's every man's duty with a fiend like that on the loose.
Well, maybe I will.
Well, so long. Good night.
Good night, Dick.
Shall I put on the first record, Miss Wilson?
Shall I put on the first record, Miss Wilson?
Yes, all right.
Elwood. Yes?
Where did you find that gold football?
Down by the railroad tracks.
I guess some fellow lost it who was passing through.
I sort of collect things like that, you know.
Oh.
Oh, that music is wonderful.
It makes me want to do things.
Big things.
You've been a wonderful help to me, Miss Wilson.
I like to help people that I think will benefit by it.
I like to help people that I think will benefit by it.
I like to help people that I think will benefit by it.
I like to help people that I think will benefit by it.
So perhaps someday they can accomplish something.
I'm going to accomplish something someday, Miss Wilson.
I'm going to accomplish something someday, Miss Wilson.
In a way I already have.
Sometimes I thought,
if I were only a little bit older
or you were a little younger,
we...
That's one thing we know we can't accomplish, isn't it?
That's one thing we know we can't accomplish, isn't it?
We can't change our ages.
No, we can't accomplish that.
That's a lovely water.
That's a lovely water.
That's a lovely watch you have on, Miss Wilson.
Oh, this.
I've never seen you wear that one before.
A friend of mine brought it back from Europe for me.
May I see it? Of course.
It's kind of complicated, isn't it?
Yes, it's one of those Swiss ones.
It tells the day of the month, too.
Oh, it's really lovely.
I'm glad you like it.
I'd like to have a watch like that.
Elwood,
I can't listen anymore.
What's the matter, Miss Wilson?
I'm very sorry, but suddenly I have a very bad headache.
Oh, of course.
I understand, Miss Wilson. Thank you, Elwood.
You have nothing to thank me for, Miss Wilson.
I'll go now. All right. Good night, Elwood.
Good night, Miss Wilson.
I went home and put the gold football
in the place under the floor.
I thought I'd go to sleep, but I...
I felt worse that night than I ever had.
So after a while,
I put on my hat and went out.
I walked around for quite a while.
Once I saw some of the fellows
driving around in a hopped-up Ford,
all with rifles and shotguns.
Are you going to the station, Elwood?
I just waved to them and kept on walking.
I was down around the station
just as the 1140 was pulling out.
A man had gotten off
and was crossing the tracks to take the shortcut.
It was dark.
I couldn't see who he was,
but he had a brand-new briefcase,
a lovely one,
the kind they call a dispatch case.
I followed him.
The shortcut is a path up over the ridge
below Mr. Krantz's shack.
It whines quite a lot, so
at first he didn't notice I was following him.
I got pretty close before he did,
and he turned his head. He began walking faster,
and so did I.
In a minute, he looked back again, and
I knew who I was because he started to run.
Then I ran, too.
When he saw I couldn't get away, all at once
he made a quick turn up the hill towards the lights
and old man Krantz's shack.
He didn't yell or anything, but he dropped his briefcase
now and he was running as hard as he could.
So was I, and I didn't stop.
For a second, I was afraid he might
wake up old man Krantz's dog before I caught up with him.
He tripped over something and fell,
and I was there before he could get up.
He turned his face.
Then suddenly it happened again.
The same thing that happened with
Winnie Hawks and Mr. Gramby.
It wasn't his face that I saw,
it was the face in that picture.
The face of my stepfather.
My hands were
closing around his throat.
The next day the sun was shining
and I was pleased because
it was my day off again.
I'd slept late.
But when I started over into town
I saw a lot of kids running up towards the ridge
so I guess they'd found them.
I followed along, but when I got there
I saw they were going up further to old man Krantz's shack.
There was a big crowd there.
The sheriff and three or four cops,
they didn't seem to be doing much.
It was some other men like Mr. Wilson's brother
that seemed to be in charge. One of them had a rope
and he was slinging it over a tree.
And then I saw the dog.
Somebody had shot Bismarck and he was
lying there in the grass all covered with blood.
And then they were dragging
old man Krantz out of his shack.
I'm an old man boy, say.
I don't do it. What would an old man like me
want to do a thing like that for?
Shut up! Now, quiet! Listen here, men, quiet!
I gotta warn you,
what you're doing is illegal and contrary to the law.
We're in charge now, sheriff!
And let me warn you, don't try to interfere!
Bismarck, old Bismarck,
what have you done that for?
Oh, poor dumb animal. He didn't do nothing.
Come on, get the rope.
Wait, wait, he didn't do it!
How do you know?
Well, he couldn't have...
He...
Why?
There's the one who did it.
Right there!
I was down the hill
before they even had time to fire a shot.
That's all it had taken.
Just those few words and they knew.
But it was too late now.
There was a freight train coming through
just as I got to the tracks.
I got across ahead of it. That cut them off for a minute
and gave me time to think.
But I knew I'd never get very far in the open daylight.
Then I saw an oil tank car standing on the siding
with the top up.
I scrambled up onto it
and down the little ladder inside.
It was empty.
But I was barely inside
when they were across the tracks after me.
I hardly dared breathe.
Standing there in the darkness
with the oil on the bottom of the car
seeping into my shoes,
I almost fainted thinking of what would happen
if somebody got the idea
of looking into that tank car.
It was good and dark.
About eight o'clock, I guess, before I
dared to climb out.
I was still frightened, but I was excited too.
They were looking for me.
Everybody.
In a couple of days, the whole country would be
looking for me. But they wouldn't find me.
They'd never find me.
For years, they'd wonder how I got away.
And then I saw two men
walking up the track to the freight agents office.
I...
I was frightened all over again.
I haven't seen any sign of them, have you?
No, I just wish I had. I've got old bits
to hear all the time.
They were all over everywhere.
But just the same, I had to get to see Miss Wilson.
Somehow I just had to get to see her.
I started back over the ridge.
I figured that would be
the last place they'd be looking.
But at every little sound
in the brush, I'd go
weak all over from fear.
I got there, though, through the backyard.
And I was just hiding
in the bushes alongside the house, and I saw
come out the front door with Dick.
I'll walk you down there, sis.
We're patrolling the streets by the school anyway,
so you'll be all right. Keep plenty of lights on, though.
Oh, it's so brutal.
Brutal? Yes, and you enjoy it, all of you,
hunting him down like an animal.
Good Lord, sis. He is an animal.
So I was an animal.
Well, all right, then, I was
an animal, but I was a lot smarter
animal than any of them.
I knew she was going to the school,
and I knew how to get into the basement.
It was awful easy,
really.
And I was already inside
when I heard her arrive.
She had the place blazing with lights,
but her room was right next to the
basement stairway, and there was a fuse
box just at the head of the stairs.
It was almost too easy.
Of course, I couldn't see her in there
when I opened the door.
Who...who's there?
Miss Wilson?
Don't be afraid, Miss Wilson.
Elwood?
I just want to talk to you, Miss Wilson.
Elwood, no. I just wanted to tell you why
I did those things.
You're a psychologist. You'll understand.
Please, go away.
It was those things like the gold football,
like your watch.
Do you have your watch with you tonight, Miss Wilson?
I know you have it.
Nobody ever gave me a watch.
They wouldn't even if I asked them for it.
They tried to keep it from me.
So I just have to take it.
I just take it.
They were coming down the hall.
The lights were on all of a sudden.
There was only one way out.
The window.
I was cut some when I hit the ground,
but I was all right.
I started to run, and then I saw someone
in front of me.
He was aiming right at me.
I turned and I ran the other way.
I fell.
Something hit me.
I tried to get up.
Something hit me again.
Something hit me again. That's all I can remember.
They say I'm what's called a criminal psychopath.
They say I took those things because they were symbols of love that I never had.
They say I killed those people because they represented my stepfather,
and I thought he'd kept me from being loved.
They say they don't know whether I should be sent to an asylum
or go to a trial.
But I don't see why they go to all this trouble,
because they say anyway,
I'm going to die.
This is Ken Niles bringing back to our suspense microphone
the brilliant star of tonight's play, Eddie Bracken.
Eddie, even though murder is a bit out of your line,
you were superbly convincing as a villain tonight.
Ken, I really enjoyed playing Elwood.
Say, that's a handsome watch you're wearing.
You mind if I...
Elwood, I mean, Eddie, don't.
Don't let go of my wrist. The play's over.
Oh, but I like nice things.
Valuable things.
Well, then, you'll like this gift basket of Roma California wines.
It's a present from Roma, your host tonight,
with compliments on a most realistic performance.
Oh, gee, thanks, Ken.
I'll have to remember that routine. It pays dividends.
And remember this, Eddie.
When friends drop in, it pays dividends in hospitality
to add warmth to their welcome
with glasses of that delicious Roma port in your gift basket.
For Ruby Red, rich-tasting Roma port
is a warm, congenial wine,
the first choice of millions for smart entertaining.
And at dinnertime, fragrant Roma port is so good,
so gracious with dessert.
Yes, real hospitality calls for Roma port on hand, always.
Well, I know how popular Roma port is, Ken.
Well, Eddie, here's the reason.
You see, in all Roma wines, you enjoy an important difference,
an extra goodness born of fuller bouquet,
richer body, and better taste.
And because only Roma wines give you this extra goodness,
more Americans enjoy Roma than any other was.
Solid, Ken, solid. Thank you and good night.
Eddie Bracken may be heard on his own program for Texaco
and is currently being seen in the Paramount production,
Ladies Man.
Tonight's suspense play was written by Robert Richards.
Next Thursday, same time, you will hear Mr. Howard De Silva
as star of Suspense.
Produced by Williamsphere for the Roma Wine Company
of Fresno, California.
In the coming weeks, Suspense will present such stars
as James Stewart, Nancy Kelly, and others.
Make it a point to listen each Thursday to Suspense,
radio's outstanding theater of thrills.
This is CBS, the Columbia Broadcasting System.