This is Robert Montgomery inviting you to join us for Love's Lovely Counterfeit, tonight's
study in suspense.
One hour of suspense, a full 60 minutes at this time, and with the distinguished actor
director Mr. Robert Montgomery as your host.
Tonight, our star in one of his rare radio appearances, Mr. James Cagney.
Our author guest, Mr. James M. Cain.
Our story, Mr. Cain's Love's Lovely Counterfeit, a suspense play produced, edited and directed
by William Spear.
Mr. Montgomery.
Funny thing about a gun, nobody likes to have a gun pointed at him, and yet it gives you
sort of a phony sense of power to hold one in your hand, to do the pointing.
A gun itself is cold steel.
Its message is written in hot lead, and the death it brings is cold again.
I still don't know anyone who thinks a gun going off makes a pleasant sound.
I suppose a lot depends on knowing why the guy who points it wants to fire it, and what
kind of a gun it is.
Guns have personalities.
A fat blue revolver is a lot different character from the first slim rifle you get when you're
a kid.
You take a rifle like that, they look clean, they are clean.
But did you ever take a good look at an automatic, a 45?
Nothing healthy looking about those babies.
Uh-uh.
Something very final about an automatic.
There for the tough boys.
Probably you haven't known any tough boys personally, but you've read about them and
heard about them, and high caliber actors like James Cagney have made them live for
you on the screen.
You want to know how it is to meet a tough boy?
We've got one for you.
He's Ben Grace, and Jim Cagney's portrayal of him tonight reflects an important ingredient
of suspense.
Because of the character as James M. Cain drew it, and because of the masterful interpretation
you are about to hear.
A respected actor and my friend, James Cagney as Ben Grace in Love's Lovely Counterfeit.
I'm writing this lying in a nice clean bed with the sunlight coming in the window.
And nothing to do but look out at the people walking along the streets and the kids playing
in the park.
And any little thing I want, all I have to do is ask.
To a lot of poor guys nowadays, that probably sounds like the softest spot in the world.
But with me, there are a couple of slight disadvantages.
I think you'll see what I mean.
How I got here, that begins when I went to work driving for Saul Casper.
You haven't been in Lake City, chances are you've never even heard of Saul Casper.
But Saul is the kind of a boy who would have got plenty of headlines if he'd operated in
the big city.
He had the bookies, dope, gambling, everything.
And he owned the best commercial hotel in town as a front.
The only trouble with Saul was he was mean and he was greedy.
But I never had any real kick coming until that Friday morning last June that I'm going
to tell you about.
I got in a call and I went up to Saul's private office in the hotel.
I knocked on the door and a minute the slot opened up and it was lefty gouse.
Looking out through the slot to give me the once over.
Oh, oh it's you, huh?
Here, come on in.
Saul here yet?
No, no, not yet.
He ought to be pretty soon though.
What's he got on his mind?
I wouldn't know, Ben.
This is supposed to be my day off.
Well, I hope you didn't make any heavy dates.
Oh, so you don't know a thing about it, huh?
Not enough to tell you, Ben.
Okay.
Hey.
What's that?
Oh, that must be those poor suckers the Citizens League have in the political parade.
Yeah, there they are.
You can see them through the window just coming into Main Street.
Tell me about it.
That must be Jansen, huh?
The guy there running for mayor.
Yeah, that's right.
In the back seat of the big open packet.
Oh, who's the doll riding with him?
What's the matter, Ben?
Don't you read the papers?
Sure.
I read a little, haven't I?
Who's that, Daisy Mae?
Her name is June Lyons.
She's his new secretary or something.
But everybody says she's the brains of his campaign.
Yeah?
I can use a little brains like that myself.
No, no, not that kind you couldn't.
Not that missionary kind.
What, what about this Jansen?
Ah, never chance.
He's getting a lot of publicity.
He must have some dough behind him.
Ah, you can't elect a reform ticket in the town like this.
The machine's too strong, Ben.
Not unless you got some dirt, some real dirty dirt that stinks so bad people just can't ignore
it.
Then the machine boys can't put the pressure on.
But otherwise...
Everybody knows Saul is backing Maddox.
Even brags about it in the papers.
Yeah, sure.
You can't forget anything on Saul with half the police force on his payroll.
Saul isn't even worried, huh?
Why should he be?
Saul puts up the dough, Maddox wins again, and Saul keeps on running the town.
Yeah.
Yeah, that must be Saul now.
Hi, Lipsy.
Hi, Benny.
You're as muscle-bound.
How are those big broad shoulders, eh?
I haven't built right into my suit.
You ought to try that, Saul.
Might make you look like a man.
What's that crack supposed to mean?
What's the matter, fellas?
Can't you take a joke?
Sure I can take a joke.
So can I.
What you got on this afternoon, Benny?
I guess you forgot.
This is my day off.
I said what you got on this afternoon.
Nothing that I can remember now.
Why?
A little job.
What kind of a job?
I got a tips and friends of mine may be in a little trouble.
Something about a bank.
Why don't you stick to the bookies and the gambling, Saul?
You'll be safer.
Listen, Benny, any time you think you're big enough to run this business, just let me know.
I'll be glad to work something out for you.
What's the job?
These kids are going to crack the castle in First National just after closing time.
It's loaded on Fridays.
It ought to be a big haul.
Hey, hey, they got a room here in this hotel, room 480.
They'll be back here about 330.
Now, you see, I own this hotel and I want you to go up and collect the room rent.
I'm giving them pretty good protection, so I figure it'll come to about 20 grand.
Yeah?
Well, figure on some, getting somebody else to collect it.
What?
I said get somebody else.
I don't like guns and I don't like guns and you know it.
Listen, listen, you punk.
You think you're a big guy, don't you?
A big guy with muscles.
And I'm just a little guy.
That's what you think, isn't it?
Isn't it?
But if you try to cross me, I'll have you crawling me on your hands and knees.
When I get through with you, you'll beg me to use a gun on you because you're yellow.
Aren't you?
Aren't you?
What's the room number?
480.
Come on, Lifty.
Okay.
That was lousy, skipp it.
You're gonna do it though, aren't you?
Sure.
I'll see you up there.
315.
By the way, why did you say that dame's name was?
What dame?
That dame with Janssen.
That brains of the opposition.
You mean June Lyons?
Yeah, that's it.
Now, now, wait a minute, Ben.
Wait a minute.
You know, that's poison.
I've sorely even thought you had...
You know, Lifty, Miss Lyons interests me in more ways than one.
An election for mayor in a place like Lake City can be a pretty tight little situation,
particularly if the town has been run for years by a mobster like Saul Casper.
And I knew that with me working for Saul, playing around with the opposition wasn't
exactly the healthiest pastime in the world.
But when I saw that June Lyons doll that was running their campaign, there was something
about her that gave me an idea.
That's why I phoned her.
And she said, okay.
I met her at an instant section a little ways out from the main part of town.
She described the car and given me the license number.
She drove up as though she had stopped for the light, just like I had told her.
I got in and the light changed.
She drove on.
For a minute we just sat there and nobody said anything.
What then?
The least I expected was a blue chin and a broken nose.
You disappointed?
A little.
What's this hot tip you told me about over the phone?
I don't have much time.
What's the matter?
You worried?
Not particularly.
You don't have to be.
I'm not interested in you.
Where are we going?
Just keep driving around, but keep out of the main part of town.
Is it as melodramatic as all that?
It could be for me.
Why do you want to see Jansen elected?
I don't.
Oh.
Well, then why did...
Suppose you let me ask the question.
All right.
I'll ask you the same one.
Why are you working for Jansen?
I'm just one of those crazy idealists, I guess.
Just a missionary, huh?
Well, Jansen may not be the best man in the world, but at least he isn't hooked up with
a racketeer like Saul Casper.
The way Maddox is.
Oh, it's June now, is it?
What's your name?
Maybe I'll tell you that later, and maybe I won't.
Listen, June.
If you were one of those earnest kids who stand around on street corners handing out
leaflets, I might believe you wanted to reform the world, but you're not.
I know that you know that electing Jansen isn't going to reform the world or even reform
Lake City.
It just doesn't make that much difference.
Oh, well, it does to me.
Let me out of the next corner, will you?
Why?
Well, if you're like that, I don't know how to deal with you.
And if you're lying, I don't trust you.
But I'm not lying.
I'll get out here.
Wait a minute.
What?
Listen, it's partly that, but there is something else, too.
Like what?
If Jansen wins, of course I'll get a city job out of it, a good one.
That's more like it.
Yeah, but I want to explain why I want it.
You don't have to explain anything.
But I want to.
I'm a lawyer.
At least I've got a degree from law school and I want to be a good lawyer.
If you start on your own, it can take years.
But with the right job at City Hall, you can build up a practice in no time.
The other is partly true, but this is...
This is about 90 percent of it.
OK, as long as it's the dough you're thinking about, we can do business.
It isn't just money.
I know, I know.
Now listen, if I give some dirt on Saul Casper, I will send them up for 10 years or so.
Jansen wins, right?
If you can prove it.
You're going to prove it.
Three punks from Chicago are sticking up the Castleton First National Bank at about three
this afternoon.
Saul Casper is hiding them out at his hotel, room 480.
If there's any shooting at the bank and anybody gets killed, it'll be that much better.
You'll have them for accessory to murder.
Have your people there at four o'clock.
I'll take care of the rest.
You must have been to college, too.
What?
To think up one like that.
In the first place, who's going to arrest Saul Casper in Lake City?
The second place that we come out with is, and it can't be proved, it's criminal libel.
And that's all Jansen needs to really lose.
So, what do you think?
I think you're working for Maddox and Casper.
Hmm, that could be.
But at least I know my law.
What law?
The Castleton Bank is insured by the government.
That makes the stick up a federal wrap.
If you want the number of the FBI, I'll give it to you.
Oh.
As for the second place, have you ever heard of a guy named Ben Grace?
Ben Grace?
He's one of Saul Casper's gang, isn't he?
That's right.
He has my driver's license with a picture on it.
Not a very good one, but there is a resemblance.
The name is Bennett J. Grace.
Oh.
You can turn left here.
All right.
Does that make any difference?
What?
That I work for Saul Casper?
No, it doesn't.
Well, it should.
Because, A, I've put myself on the spot giving you this, but plenty.
And B, I'm not a guy who's in a very good position to go around giving phony tips to
the FBI.
You can pull up right here.
Hmm?
Where is this?
This is where I live.
Oh.
Anything else?
Yes.
Just, why are you doing this?
Because I just decided that Saul Casper's an old meanie, and I don't like him.
Is that enough?
If you say so.
Room 480 at 4 o'clock.
Ben.
Yeah?
Will I see you afterwards?
Don't worry, baby.
You'll see me.
I was back at the hotel by 315.
Things were going pretty good.
The one thing I was afraid of, that she'd want to call in the pedals before the stickup,
she never even mentioned.
I knew she was my kind the minute she began to talk about the dough.
When I got up to room 480, Lefty was already there, lying on the bed, reading the paper.
Oh, hello, Ben.
How you been?
So this is room 480, huh?
It looks just like room 481.
How are you, Lefty?
Oh, okay.
Sit down.
Want a bottle of beer?
Nope.
You, uh, you didn't take it too hard, what Sally said, did you?
Can't say I liked it.
What time is it?
Well, a couple minutes before.
Yeah.
It's too bad about you, Ben.
What's too bad?
Ah, the way I got you figured, Ben.
You're a chiseler.
Then what?
That's all.
Sounds like there might be more.
Not unless you ask for it.
Okay.
I'm asking for it, Lefty.
Well Ben, a chiseler's like this.
He isn't crooked and he isn't straight either.
He's, uh, he's just in between.
But above all, he doesn't like trouble.
Maybe he's just smart.
I don't say he isn't.
Oh, he'll always make pretty good dough and he'll die in a nice clean bed with a doctor's
certificate instead of a colonist.
But he'll never be a big operator.
No?
Uh-uh.
No.
A big operator, he runs it or he doesn't operate.
And that means he doesn't mind a little trouble once in a while.
I guess that's right.
And that's too bad, Ben, because you got brains.
Now me, well, I'm different.
How's that?
Because I, I don't mind the trouble, but I don't have the brains.
Oh, I wouldn't.
Who told you that?
I know, I know.
Ten years in stir off and on didn't help any.
And I didn't have much to begin with.
Did I ever tell you how I started, Ben?
No.
Ben, I was a preacher.
A what?
Do you expect me to?
Yes, a preacher.
So help me, I was.
By rights, I still am.
Look, here, I got the license right here in my wallet.
It was one of those hillbilly outfits and the bishop, as he called himself, he was so
far away from where I was that he never even heard about me, I guess.
Anyway, he never canceled the license.
The Reverend Richard Jose Gause.
That's one for the books, lefty.
Yeah, I was just a kid.
But I got hooked up with one of those big time evangelists.
And if I stuck with it, I could have hit the big time myself.
And there's plenty of dough in that racket.
But you know what I did?
First time we really make a big take, I tie a handkerchief over my face and get me a rod
and stick up the cash box.
And they caught me.
Yeah, that's how I know I haven't got the brains.
I wouldn't let her worry you, lefty.
That's not what's worrying me now, Ben.
What is?
What is?
What's going to be happening in here in a couple of minutes.
You ever sat in on a divvy before, Ben?
No.
And I wouldn't be now, except for the manpower shortage.
These are three wild kids, Ben.
Chances are they'll be coped to the ears and slobbering at the mouth with half being half
scared to death and half crazy with excitement thinking how much dough they got and what
big shot public enemies they are.
And we, you and I, we got to walk up and take 20 grand away from them.
All right.
They know that.
Yeah, no.
And it's one thing kicking in with it's another.
And suppose Solly's double crossed us.
How?
Suppose he didn't tell the kids how much his cut was.
Suppose he left it for us to break the news.
Maybe they just come from maybe killing a couple of people for 40 grand.
Maybe they just as soon kill a couple of more to keep the 20.
Maybe.
So now we're going to find out.
Come on, Marty.
Get him in here.
Sure.
Okay.
Johnny, don't leave me.
Will you, Johnny?
All right, get him over to the...
Who are you?
I'm the man that collects the room rent.
Yeah?
Stick him up.
Fresco, Marty.
Okay, Johnny.
I don't need a rot to handle punks like you.
This guy's clean, Johnny.
What about the other one?
He's with me and he's got a gun.
And don't try to take it away from him because it's an old family heirloom and he's very
fond of it.
Yeah?
Oh, yeah?
Okay, stop acting like something you've seen in the movies and put that cannon away.
You might drop it and break somebody's foot.
What's the matter with your pal here?
He got shot.
Anybody else?
No, the guard shot him when we were pulling up.
Better get him over on the bed.
Johnny, we're going too fast.
We're going too fast.
He's out of his head.
Yeah.
Did you get the dough?
Did we get the dough?
Look at this wise guy.
40 grand, maybe more.
Look at it.
Touch it.
Taste it.
Smell it.
What about it, sucker?
You ever see so much dough before in your life?
Sure.
I work in the mint.
Do you know how much this room is costing you?
How much?
20 grand.
20 grand?
That's right.
I'll be back after a while to collect it.
What are you going to do with your pal there with the holes in him?
I don't know.
Johnny, Johnny.
You know that's bad, don't you?
Why?
The kid's out of his head already.
Suppose he makes trouble, starts screaming or something.
You got doctors, haven't you?
Sure.
With that kind of a doctor, that's one more guy that'll have to get a cut.
Pretty soon you guys won't have anything left but small chains.
Yeah, that's what you think.
But of course, maybe the kid will die.
Yeah?
And then what do we do?
That's even worse.
Johnny, Johnny.
Oh, no, no.
That would be easy.
Then we just take him out of here at night and dump him someplace.
Oh.
And if the kid was to die, that would be one less guy who had to get a cut, wouldn't it?
Huh?
Yeah.
Well, come on, Lefty.
Okay.
He'll be saying, you...
Yeah.
I hope you know what you're doing, Ben.
I don't know.
What do you think?
I think so.
Come on.
I got the room next door.
You know you're just as good as signed that kid's death warrant, don't you?
That's right.
The other two will knock him off now before we got time to get the...
Johnny, Johnny.
Miss, miss, miss, miss.
Johnny, no!
No!
No!
They did it.
Yeah.
Maybe we better call Saul, huh?
I hope you know what you're doing.
Order, please.
Give me Mr. Casper's room.
Yeah.
Uh, Saul?
Yeah, who's this?
Ben, you better come up to room 480, Saul.
Why?
They want to see you personally.
Why?
I said they want to see you personally.
I still want to know why.
Do you want your dough or don't you?
You're supposed to be the guy with the big muscles.
I'm not going to wrestle those punks for your purse.
Okay, Charles Atlas.
I'll be right up and show you how it's done.
You'll be right up.
Then what?
What do you mean, then what?
Ben.
Yeah?
If you got any little plans, you know I'm all for them, don't you?
Sure.
And you know I hope they come off, don't you?
Sure.
But if they don't come off, you know where I stand on that too, don't you?
I know.
You stand right behind me with a gun on my back.
Just so you know, Ben.
I can see how you'd have made a preacher.
Lefty, you've got a terrible streak of honesty in you.
Just so you know.
What's going on here?
Listen, listen, there he is.
I'm Sal Casper.
What's going on here?
Oh, Mr. Casper, there's been a little trouble, Mr. Casper.
A little kind of trouble.
The arch here, he just died.
Died?
He was shot.
Yeah.
All right, so we'll get him out of here tonight.
You got the dough?
Sure, sure, we got it.
Let's see it.
Here.
All right, put up your hands.
What's this?
Department of Justice.
We're all under arrest.
That's all, pal.
Hey, Ben, where are you going?
I got a date with a missionary.
In tonight's full hour of suspense, James Cagney is our star.
Mr. Cagney appears as Ben Grace with Kathy Lewis as June Lyons and Wally Mayer as Lefty
Gause in William Spears' production of Love's Lovely Counterfeit, tonight's study in suspense.
In just a moment, we will return with Act Two of Suspense.
This is CBS, the Columbia Broadcasting System.
This is Robert Montgomery again.
When such incompatible words as lovely and counterfeit found themselves together in the
title of tonight's story by James Cain, they said a lot not only about the story, but about
the man, Ben Grace, as well.
Elements of both words crowded through him.
On the one side, for example, was his dislike for meanness and greed.
And on the other side, something forged, fictitious, false.
That was a smooth operation he pulled, and he was going to get even smoother as he went
along.
But it never got Ben Grace anything but trouble.
Because the smoother he got, the further he got away from the true Ben Grace, a real lost
guy trying to find North.
Then maybe for him, June Lyons could be North.
But Ben wouldn't stop long enough to take a reading.
As James Cain described them in the novel, whatever it was June needed in life, Ben had
it for her.
And when she was with him and she acted with that complete abandon of a novice having her
first drink, constantly he watched her.
He studied her as though he were trying to make up his mind about something or to figure
out something into which she definitely fitted.
And then he began to really look at her.
It was the first time he had really studied this girl who had started such a chain of
circumstances in his life, and he looked with lively interest.
It was all the more lively since he was unable to connect this face with all that he had
learned about its owner.
It was in anybody's contest, an extremely beautiful face.
It was perfectly chiseled in profile at least.
It slightly droopy lines reminding him of pictures he had seen of ancient sculpture.
There was some exquisite invitation about the mouth.
It pursed a little with an expression of expectancy.
The skin was soft with just a brush of bloom on it.
The figure was lovely too.
Not too tall, but slender, soft and willowy.
He had the dizzy half-norsiated feeling of a man who has been rocked to his heels by
a woman and knows it.
And so continues the history of Ben Grace in James M. Kane's Love's Lovely Counterfeit,
played out for us by James Cagney in a narrative well calculated to keep you in suspense.
After that, the action moved along just the way I'd seen the play in my mind.
Sal might have had a 6'2'' even chance of beating the rap of having the T-loaded kids
in the hotel, but when the guns were checked against the wounds in the stiff, the beef
was murdered.
And that was one beef Sal couldn't square.
Janssen walked into the city hall on a bread-plush carpet and June, she got the job she was after.
Janssen's first day in the driver's seat was celebrated with a cocktail party at June's
house.
All the loyal party workers were invited to receive the thanks of his honor.
I called June on the phone when I heard about it.
She hammed and pored around a little and then she finally asked me if I'd like to come.
I didn't seem too anxious, but I wasn't going to miss this chance to meet the mayor.
She told me I could bring a friend if I liked.
I said I would.
I suddenly realized that I didn't have any friends.
I brought Lefty.
It was a corny house, a depressing pile of wood and stucco with four-tired walls reening
in against the sagging roof for support.
June was nervous when she saw me.
I introduced her to Lefty.
Hello.
How do you do?
I'm glad you could come.
How you been?
Nice house.
Thank you.
You know everyone here, Ben?
Everyone I want to know.
Well, there's a bar in the alcove over there.
You got any beer?
All you can drink, Mr. Goss.
You want to make a book?
Ben, you'll excuse me while I speak to you.
Oh, sure, sure.
You just go right ahead and host us like crazy.
I'll just drift around.
Thank you, Ben.
I'll see you later.
Class, Ben.
Real class.
Educated, too.
That she is, Lefty.
That she is.
Well, how about the suds, Benny?
Then we'll go pay our respects to his honor.
How do you do?
I'm Mrs. Lyons, June Zand.
How do you?
How do you do, Mrs. Lyons?
My name is Grace.
This is Mr. Goss.
I'm so glad you're here, Mr.
My name is Goss, Lefty Goss.
Oh, I'm sorry.
I don't hear very well.
Oh, excuse me.
You'll find me in the suds, Ben.
Excuse me.
What do you want?
I'm sorry.
I'm sorry.
I'm sorry.
I'm sorry.
I'm sorry.
I'm sorry.
I'm sorry.
I'm sorry.
Excuse me.
You'll find me in the suds, Ben.
Excuse me.
Have you met Mr. Janssen yet?
No, I'm looking forward to that.
Oh, he's a wonderful man.
Just a wonderful man.
Nice and settled and with a wonderful future.
Don't you think so?
I think I'll be able to tell more about his future after I've talked to him.
Exactly.
My very words to June.
I can see things like that.
I beg your pardon?
Then you agree with me?
Oh, of course you do.
You look like a very good man.
I'm sorry.
I'm sorry.
I'm sorry.
I'm sorry.
I'm sorry.
I'm sorry.
You look like a very intelligent young man.
Mrs. Lyons, you don't make much sense.
Exactly what I've been telling June.
But she just says, oh, be quiet.
Oh, for heaven's sake, Auntie, be quiet.
I can understand that.
Oh, if you really would encourage him, Mr. Grace.
You see, she never tells me a thing.
Never.
Thinks I'm dumb.
Treats me as though I don't have good sense.
But I see things.
I can tell you.
Why, he's so crazy about her that all she'd have to do is lift her little finger to match
it.
Just a little finger.
Mary?
Mary who?
Yes.
And it would be such a fine match for June.
Mrs. Olaf Jansen, wife of the mayor.
Oh, goodness, I get dizzy when I just think of it.
Yeah.
And I know what you mean there, too.
Oh, oh, there, there.
Oh, Mr. Mayor.
Mr. Jansen.
Well, how are you, Mrs. Lyons?
Yes.
Mr. Jansen.
This is Mr.
Mr.
The name is Grace.
Ben Grace.
Ben Grace, eh?
That's right, Your Honor.
June, Miss Lyons tells me that you've been very busy.
May I congratulate you, Your Honor.
Thank you.
I was about to say that Miss Lyons tells me that you worked to help make my election possible.
How very clever of you, Mr. Jansen.
I did what I could, Your Honor.
Please accept my sincere thanks.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
I'm very sincere thanks, Mr. Grace.
It's highly encouraging to find young men fighting for good, clean government.
Good, clean government is my hobby, Your Honor.
Really?
Mm-hmm.
And, uh, if I might make a suggestion.
Of course.
This town needs a cleaning from attic to cellar.
There we agree, Mr. Grace.
And you'll need the right man as chief of police to help you do that.
Are you, uh, ambitious for a police career now?
Oh, no.
No, no, Your Honor.
Myself, I have no ambitions.
But I think I can suggest the man you need.
Cantrell.
Joseph Cantrell.
Cantrell?
That's the man.
But I've just thrown him out.
He was one of Saul Casper's rats.
I...
I'm sorry to use words like that.
You worked for Saul yourself, didn't you, Mr. Grace?
You, uh, you mustn't get emotional about these things, Your Honor.
I'm sorry, sir, but I fail to follow your reasoning or your emotions.
You said you wanted to clean up this town.
You'll have to appoint the best available man to do that for you.
If you go through the list, you'll find that Cantrell is the best officer on the force.
He's got more copper in him than a ton of pennies.
It wasn't his fault that a crook got elected and he had to play along.
Give him half a break, and he's the best law enforcement officer in the country.
And a good officer is what you'll have to have if you're going to deliver what you promised
the voters.
You can't deliver with jerks and thugs.
Now, let me tell you something.
Oh, you silly man.
Let me make this very clear, Mr. Grace.
When the people of Lake City voted for me, I promised them that I would clean up...
Save your breath.
Your Honor, I heard all your campaign speeches.
Mrs. Lyons, may I take you to the bar for a ginger ale?
Are they really, Mr. Jansen?
Yes, we've been waiting a long time for them.
Oh, you're right.
It's all right.
Ben?
Ben, you're leaving so soon?
Now that you mention it, I guess I am.
Oh, well, I...
Have you met Mr. Jansen?
I met him.
What do you think of him?
I think he's a very educated gentleman.
But he'll learn.
He'll learn.
Do you know what?
I think I'm in love with you.
I think I love you, too.
For the next couple of weeks while Casper was waiting for trial, I let everything coaxed.
Everything, that is, but June.
There I kept the motor running.
And finally the night arrived when it was time for me to step on the gas.
Pretty.
Very pretty.
My secret bike.
The piano and...
And?
You.
Less keys to punch on me.
Less keys, but more music.
June?
Uh-huh.
He's stuck on you, isn't he?
Who?
Jansen.
Jansen?
That's the man's name.
His honor, the mayor.
Sure you don't generate a little amperage for him?
Oh, Ben, you.
You can ask that.
Fix me another drink.
All right.
Yes.
Nice little apartment you have here.
Makes that home you lived in before the election look like a flea bag.
Well, I earn a little better.
I live a little better.
Sure.
Ben?
Yeah?
Why'd you ask me that?
Ask you what?
About Jansen.
Skip it.
No, no.
Ben, I want to know.
Oh, I kind of got that notion from the way he always shows up here after I bring you
home at night and stays for a while.
You're wrong, Ben.
Don't give me a razzle-dazzle, Angel.
I've clocked him in and out.
You know me better than that, Ben.
He has no personal interest in me, honest.
It's just business.
It's things we have to talk over.
Not enough hours in the city hall day, huh?
He gets lonely sometimes in the evening.
You know his wife just died and he...
That's what I mean.
All right, then.
He likes me.
And I just feel sorry for him.
And honest, he's so grateful if I just let him come in and just sit for an hour and talk.
Grateful.
Oh, Ben, please.
You probably got him jumping through hoops.
I'd rather have you jumping through hoops.
You know, when I was a kid, my old man used to say, Ben, he'd say, don't ever jump through
a hoop.
Of course, from the hoop, it's only a hop to the halter.
And then you drop the H, and what are you left with?
The altar.
Oh, man, where'd you hear that?
Jensen coming here again tonight?
Oh, not if you object.
Oh, I don't object.
That's better, Ben.
There's nothing to be jealous of.
You could ask him a favor, though, Junie.
All right.
Anything you say.
Ask him to appoint Cantrell, chief of police.
Appoint Cant...
Whom did you say?
You heard me.
Ben, what on earth are you talking about?
Cantrell.
But he's a crook.
Well, he was hand in glove with Saul Casper.
How could Jensen appoint Cantrell?
It'd make a laughing stock of the whole campaign.
Oh, Ben, he can't appoint Cantrell.
Okay.
Ben?
Ben, where are you going?
Home.
To bed.
I've got to make an early train in the morning.
Train?
Where to?
New York.
You're going away, Ben.
Guy's got to think about his future.
Nothing for me in this town.
That's the way you played it.
Get rid of Saul Casper and go after me.
And then when you found out that Jensen's in love with me, you thought you had him.
That through me, you could make him do whatever you want.
Get Cantrell made the chief and then you can run this town just the way Casper did.
Well, you won't.
No.
Goodbye, Angel.
Don't forget to dust in the corners, lock your door at night, and peek under the bed.
Ben?
Yes?
Ben.
Close the door, Ben.
From the inside.
It was a question of who would break first, June or Ben Grace.
And she broke maybe seconds before I would have turned back to her with all my hard boiled
off the arm toughness, melted away in little pools at her feet.
But that was something I couldn't ever let her know.
The next morning, I found Lefty in the blue bottle, blowing the head off his glass of
breakfast.
Ah, hiya, Ben.
Sit.
Lefty, how much it's I'll pay you.
The truth, Ben, 35.
What?
A week?
So go ahead, Lefty.
Let's see you left.
For all I did, gambling my neck every other day, 35 a week.
And I took it.
That's the funny part.
I took it.
You can start tomorrow at 50.
Who for?
From now on, I'm running it.
Ah, so it was you.
All the way down the line, you with the tip step.
So what?
Nothing, Ben, nothing.
What is it, Lefty, what is it?
Only this, Benny.
You see, I call you Benny, that's because I like you.
Yeah, I like you.
And that's maybe why your great success makes me a little sad.
Listen, Reverend Jose, the only revival I'm interested in is reviving the fortunes of
Ben Grace.
You got anything else to say?
Not a thing.
I got not a word to say.
Pals, two beers, Ben, and they're on you.
So I took over where Saul Casper dropped out.
We moved things around a little to make it look respectable, but the bookies and the gambling
joints and so on kept right on in business.
And I collected.
It wasn't hay.
Things were fine, just fine.
My evenings were filled with June and my days with putting the automatic pump on the town.
Like the day I finally got around to the office of Bleeker and Yates, the lawyers.
Oliver Bleeker had been elected district attorney along with Jansen, so it was Mr. Yates, the
junior partner that I wanted to see.
And what do you want with me?
You know anything about pinball, Mr. Yates?
Why, I've played the machines once in a while, I guess.
I mean the hookup.
Well, not exactly.
You reform guys.
You don't know much, do you?
Is it important?
Listen closely, Mr. Yates, because I'm only going around once.
There are 5,000 pinball machines in Lake City, and they're owned by a few hundred scrimy jerks.
You know what those machines take in a month?
More than a hundred thousand dollars.
I beg your pardon.
That's what I said, one hundred thousand dollars.
They're still going strong, but what happens to them in the very near future depends on your partner, Mr. Bleeker, the new DA.
I can't tell you what he's going to do.
Well, I've got a flash for you.
I say that as far as Lake City is concerned, pinball is finished.
Why?
Because it's gambling and it's wrong.
But to the extent that it's a game of skill, it's good clean recreation.
And that's not against the law.
I'm going to bring a new kind of machine into Lake City, if, as, and when the old ones are tossed out.
But this much I've got to know before I bring 5,000 machines in.
Will mine be legal?
No gambling, no payoff, only a certificate if you make a home run.
Now, you know Bleeker, you can put a certain legal question to him.
No?
Well, I don't know.
The next thing is to protect the interests of the little storekeepers who use my machines.
I'm going to organize an association.
The association will need an attorney.
The attorney will get a very respectable retainer by the year.
Yep, those machines will do $100,000 a month.
And I want you to be the lawyer for the association.
Well, there's a little question of ethics here that...
I figure the attorney should get to 5% of the take.
You see, Mr., I'm Bleeker's partner.
Maybe even as much as 10%.
But you see, the ethics of the situation...
Well, if you're busy, you're busy studying ethics,
maybe you wouldn't have time to handle this job, Mr. Yates.
No hard feelings?
I'll just look for another man.
No, no, no, just a minute.
I would like to think it over a bit.
Sure, perhaps to talk to Mr. Bleeker about it,
see what he thinks of the propriety of my accepting such an...
No, I get it.
Well, shall we meet again, say, next week?
Next week is fine.
MUSIC
And next week was fine.
Joey Cantrell was appointed chief of police.
The D.A. listened to the legal advice of his partner, Mr. Yates,
and decided it was for the good of the community
to yank all those hard, nasty pinball machines
and save the citizens from the temptations of gambling.
Chief Cantrell's first official job was to supervise
the smashing of the machines which had been condemned.
I went around to see how he was getting on
before he could smash too many.
Why have you got it all wrong yet, a slave?
We're up to the hips to kill all machines here.
Okay, Chief.
Come on, you muggies, lay those hammers into those machines.
And don't forget if any nickels roll out, they belong to the city.
Say, uh, may I have a word with you, Chief Cantrell?
Huh? Oh, well. What's new, Ben?
Say, uh, tell him to hold up a minute, will you?
Huh? Tell him to hold up. Oh, yeah, yeah.
Hey, you guys, quit it, will you?
Hold up there, will you? There's too much noise.
Come on, hold up the condemnation of those machines a minute.
Okay.
Joe, have you ever been abroad?
No. Neither have I.
But I have been to Mexico.
Mexico. South of the Rio Grande.
Juarez, across the river from El Paso.
Well, when I came back, I thought I'd bring in some perfume.
Yeah. So what?
So, this. On some of that perfume, they got a rule that the customs officer
has to destroy the label before it's brought in.
You got that?
Still listening.
You know how he destroyed it?
No, but I'm dying to hear.
He drew a blue pencil across it.
He made one blue mark, and that legally destroyed it.
The man put a blue pencil right through it.
If one blue mark will destroy a label, why won't it destroy a pinball machine?
Oh. Say, you sure do think of things, don't you?
I do my best.
You mean destroy it legally?
Legally.
Got a blue pencil? I could try.
I just happen to have one with me.
Then we'll see.
Look at that. I just destroyed it.
See? Now, another thing, Joe.
Yeah?
You'll want those trucks again, huh?
To haul the destroyed machines over to the reservoir, street dump.
Well, I guess they gotta be put someplace.
All right. I'll have them here tonight.
Funny how a blue pencil ruins stuff, isn't it?
Oh, and another thing.
Yeah, just one?
Sign those vouchers.
For what?
For the trucks.
The trucks I furnished the city yesterday to haul these various gambling devices from various and sundry addresses
here to the 9th Street Police Warehouse.
3,000 bucks in all.
Slow up, boy. Slow up.
Costs money to clean up a town, Joe.
Okay, but don't run a good thing to death.
It's the people's will.
Huh?
You forgot that mandate to cleanliness.
Sign.
And that's the way it went.
And with a little remodeling, those pinball machines were back at their old stands.
But now they were working for Ben Grace.
Yep. Whatever I touched turned green, with pictures of presidents on it.
Things were going so good, I started to worry.
But I knew that the real worry was going to be June.
I knew she was going to spring in on me sooner or later.
And it was.
It was last night when I was out at her new place that she decided to get it off her chest.
Ben.
Yeah?
Ben, I want to talk to you.
What about?
Don't you know?
Yeah, I guess maybe I do.
We can't go on like this, Ben. It isn't right.
It isn't fair to Jansen. It isn't fair to...
It isn't fair to me.
What? What's so unfair about it?
Oh, Ben, you know what's unfair about it.
Mr. Jansen promised the people of Lake City that if he got elected, he'd clean up the town.
Huh? All right. Why doesn't he do it? He's at six months.
Because he doesn't even know what's going on.
Great. Then watch the beef.
I know what's going on.
The horse racing places, the gambling places, all the other places are just as open as they ever were.
Mm-hmm.
And I know who's keeping them open.
Of course you do. I am.
Listen, honey, if I wasn't bossing the organization, someone else would be.
People like to bet. People like to gamble.
Oh, Ben, don't you see, I'm a city official.
I have an obligation to the people of this community, to the people who elected Jansen because they believe that he...
Still a missionary, huh?
Well, I'm not a racketeer.
Maybe not. But you're the next thing to it.
What do you mean?
Where do you think the dough came from for that car I got you?
And the fur coat. And this place.
You never told me.
Did I have to? You knew I didn't get it from a long-lost uncle.
Why don't you admit it, baby, you're a chiseler.
Am I?
Sure. Just like me. Only I'm honest about it. You're not.
Then I will be. I will be starting now. Starting right tonight.
What are you gonna do? Turn me in?
Oh, Ben.
Maybe your big mistake was falling in love with me, baby.
Now there isn't much you can do about it, is there?
Oh, Ben, quit it. Get out of it, please.
For my sake. Just because I don't like it. Just because I hate it.
Maybe I don't like it either. It's all I know how to do.
Ben, what was...
Hiya, Benny.
So?
Surprise?
Kind of. Did you break out?
Yeah. Yeah, just to see you, Benny. Put up your hands.
You know I never carry a rod.
Yeah, maybe you sort of wish you did now, huh? Muscles?
Not that you have a chance to use it.
What are you gonna do?
I'm gonna kill your boyfriend, sweetheart.
No.
When I've done that, I think I'll think of something real nice to do to you.
Ben.
You sit right there where you are, sweetheart.
Benny, you start backing up to that door, slow.
It's a bathroom, isn't it?
Yeah.
I think I'll kill you in the bathtub, Benny.
That way it'll be nice and quiet and there won't be so much mess.
I'll reach behind you real careful and open the door.
And when I tell you to start backing in, you back in.
All right. Start backing.
June.
Is... is he dead?
Yeah.
Since when have you been carrying a gun?
Just lately.
Ben, are you all right?
I just want to sit down a minute.
Oh, Ben.
We gotta get out of here, baby.
Oh, yes, Ben, we'll go away.
We'll get out of the country. We'll go to Canada.
Sure.
And we can get married there.
You do want to marry me, don't you, Ben?
You know I do, baby.
And you can get work up there, Ben. I'll do something, too.
And we'll do something decent with our lives.
Darling, I know it's been partly my fault. I know I've just been weak.
But it isn't too late to begin again, is it? Is it?
Maybe not.
But your aim on that second shot wasn't too good, baby.
Ben?
So, there's just one thing that's stopping us.
Ben?
What?
The bullet hole in my belly.
Oh, no!
So that's how I came to wake up in this nice, clean bed with nothing to do but look out the window
at the kids playing in the park.
It's a hospital.
And there was a big cop here with me,
with his chair tilted up against the wall, reading the paper.
Hey, Flatfoot!
Why, hello, Big Shot. You've been in the land of Nod, haven't you?
What are you doing here?
Reading the funny papers. Can't you tell?
Why can't you read them at home?
Because there's been a little thing that we policemen call murder, Big Shot.
And you're what we call a material witness.
Where's June? June Lyons?
She's in a nice, cozy cell, Big Shot.
When she comes to trial, your statement will probably send her up for five or ten years to another nice, cozy cell.
What statement?
Oh, you'll talk.
Yeah?
You know what you got, Big Shot?
Mm-hmm. I got ventilated with a lead slug.
But that's not all, Big Shot. You got pertinitis.
I have. So what?
So? I've seen guys with pertinitis before.
You know what happens? First they start getting a fever.
Then they get kind of lightheaded.
Then they get thirsty. Terribly thirsty.
And after a while, they get so you can make them talk without they hardly know that they're talking.
Oh, you'll talk all right.
You think so?
I know so.
Get Chief Cantrell on the phone.
Chief Cantrell ain't chief anymore as a result of these unfortunate series of events.
Seems Mayor Janson began to wonder about him.
Where's Lefty Gouse?
You mean your faithful servant? Right outside.
Can I talk to him? Alone?
Sure. Why not?
How is he, nurse?
It's hard to say, yes.
Hey, putty nose. Your boss wants to see you.
Thanks, you funny, funny fella.
Hiya, Benny. How you feeling?
Not too good.
Well, it just goes to show you, don't it? They're all alike.
Who are all alike?
These big shots that make a lot of dough for a while and then, bingo. What goods have done it?
He seems like a nice man, though.
Who, Ben? Sure, he's nice enough against. I got nothing against him.
I just say it's a sucker's racket, that's all. Me, I want to live to be a grandfather.
Oh, my grandfather. You got to start by being a father, you know.
I know. My daddy told me all about that just the other day.
Well, I'm going back in.
Have you got it all, Lefty? Hello, Flatfoot.
What do you have now, big shot?
Ahem. You say the D.A. wants me to talk, huh?
Maybe he was just pretending.
Well, suppose I had some conditions.
Like what?
Oh, like I only talk in the apartment where it happened.
June Lyons' apartment. And June Lyons has got to be there.
And Lefty here, Lefty here, too, to back up some things that I might say.
That might be arranged?
Fine. Now, you think the D.A. might forget a couple of those little things,
even holding against me if I talk?
That'd be the general idea.
All right. You can close the door as you go out
and tell the D.A. to be around in about an hour.
In about an hour, I'll talk.
That cop was right.
I'm beginning to feel a little wacky already.
But the D.A. said he'd do it.
They're going to take me out there on an ambulance tonight
if June only catches on.
But she's smart. She's a lawyer.
This may be the last chance I'll have to write.
But don't worry.
Whichever way it comes out, you can read all about it in the papers.
Well, now, all I'm saying is that I won't be responsible
dragging a man in his condition way out here in an ambulance,
lugging him up three flights of stairs on a stretcher.
Doc, that's the way he wanted it, and that's the way it's going to be now.
All right, all right. Everybody here?
Miss Lyons? Let me go.
Yes, yes.
All right. How is he, doctor?
I've already told you, but he can talk.
Stop worrying about me, Mr. D.A.
You're breaking my heart.
Are you ready to start, Ben?
Yes, I'm ready.
Do you, Ben, take this woman, June, to be thy lawful wedded wife,
to love and to cherish, for better, for worse, till death do you part?
I do.
Do you, June, take this man, Ben, to be thy lawful wedded husband,
to love and to cherish, for better, for worse, till death do you part?
I do.
I pronounce...
No, you don't.
Oh, yes, I do. I'm a licensed preacher,
and this apartment is outside the city jurisdiction.
It's in the county, and this marriage license was taken out
at the county courthouse one minute before they closed today.
When I sign it, brother, it's legal.
I pronounce you man and wife.
I suppose you've heard that a man can't testify against his wife, Mr. D.A.
Yeah, I know.
By the way, do you mind if I kiss the bride?
Go ahead.
Oh, Ben, honey, that was the finest thing.
Shh.
That was nice.
Oh, Ben, your face is so hot.
Yeah, I thought maybe I was going to make it, baby,
but I guess I'm not.
Ben, Ben, doctor, quick, doctor, quick.
It's a long missionary, Mrs. Missionary.
Ben, no, Ben.
Oh, Lord, we pray thee to receive the spirit of our dearly departed
and to forgive him his trespasses
as we forgive those who trespass against us.
Suspense.
Mr. Montgomery.
I'm sure you'll agree with me when I say that it has been completely wonderful
to hear a performance like the one we've just heard.
I say like the one we've just heard, but that's a futile phrase
because there's no one like Jim Cagney.
For the benefit of latecomers, our star tonight on Suspense was the one and only Mr. Cagney.
Our deepest appreciation, Jim.
Thank you, Bob.
For the great part, I enjoyed doing it.
Which brings us properly and with gratitude to the author who conceived it,
Mr. James M. Kane, who does us further honor by appearing here with us now.
And who wishes he had a fresh choice of superlatives handy, Bob.
Briefly, I thought it was excellent.
Of course, it isn't exactly startling to learn all over again
that Jim Cagney is a splendid dramatic actor.
You know, Bob, I can tell you what I think is the particular element
that makes Kane the most powerful writer of true suspense fiction in America.
You interest me, Jim.
He's always got a man and a woman.
The crime, the violence, murder is an inevitable climax,
an explosion of the energy that is two people generate from being in love.
Boy meets girl, boy wants girl, boy kills on account of it if he has to, eh?
Well, any author hates to think he is a formula man, no matter how good the formula is.
But I suppose, broadly speaking, my crimes are crimes of passion.
And successful, suspenseful stories, all of them.
The Postman always rings twice, double indemnity, Mildred Pierce, Serenade.
Not to mention Love's lovely counterfeit, or rather to mention it again,
long enough for me to applaud two fine performances by Kathy Lewis,
who played June tonight, and Wally Mayer, who was lefty.
To the supporting players, my thanks. You're a great company.
And a special bow in the direction of Bill Spear, your producer, director, deluxe.
You've beaten me to the draw, Jim, but my congratulations, too, to all concerned.
And may I ask who did the writing of the radio play adapted from my novel?
Two of radio's finest writers, Robert Richards and Jason James.
I think the adaptation was excellent.