And now, Auto Light and its 60,000 dealers and service stations present...
Suspense!
Tonight, Auto Light brings you Mr. Dana Andrews in...
If the Dead Could Talk, a suspense play produced and directed by Anton M. Lieder.
Friends, you know what happens when you take a fish out of water? Sure, it dies.
Well, by Cornelius, the same thing happens when your car's battery runs out of water.
It lies right down and quits. No water, no light.
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Gave it more room for more water.
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Just like that, Auto Light practically eliminates one of your major battery bothers.
So, friends, be right with Auto Light. Switch to an Auto Light stay full battery tomorrow.
And now, Auto Light presents Dana Andrews in a tale well calculated to keep you in suspense.
They'll never know how it happened. No one will ever know.
I knew I was going to have to kill him almost from the first. That's how I am.
That's what my blood is. I couldn't change it even if I tried.
We were on a circus train, the three of us in the Trapeze Act, going from Tulsa to St. Louis.
Fran had asked me to come and sit with her, but she had something to tell me.
When I went over, she was staring out the window into the night.
And the dim train lights made her features kind of soft and blurred.
And I stood watching her getting all choked up like I always did,
wanting to freeze this picture of her in my brain with all the other pictures.
Then she saw my reflection on the window glass and she turned.
Oh, Joe. Hi.
Sit down, Joe. Sure. What's the secret?
Joe, I can't keep it inside me a second longer. If I do, I'll bust.
Tommy and me have been talking about getting married.
You're cute.
Well, honey, did you tell him?
As she told me. Congratulations.
That's all? Just congratulations?
Well, you know Joe's a man of few words.
So what do you think, Joy Boy? At least we'll be able to keep her in the act now.
That's probably the only reason he's marrying me.
Well, the way I figured, it had to be one of us.
Joe, you're my pal. I couldn't let it happen to you.
Well!
And then Tommy threw his arm across my shoulder.
I felt every nerve in my body tighten up like somebody was turning a screw.
And I thought, so this is how your life goes smash.
Rattling through the night on a dinky train with a circus fat lady sitting across the aisle munching chocolates.
I didn't know what I was going to do. Not then.
At first I tried to go on just like before.
When we got to St. Louis, Tommy and me shared a room in a theatrical hotel like always.
And the three of us went on through our routines on the high trapeze like always.
Yeah, that part was the same.
That part was as natural as breathing.
But the other things, like the looks they gave each other, they're long walks together.
Nothing worked for me.
Drinking myself blind, taking out a different girl in the show every night of the week.
Nothing worked.
I still woke up in the middle of the night, shivering, my heart pounding and crying her name.
Fran! Fran! Fran!
Joe, Joe, what's wrong?
Huh? Oh.
Uh, nothing's wrong.
You were yelling in your sleep.
I'm okay.
You sure?
Yeah. Yeah, I'm okay.
What are you getting dressed for? It's the middle of the night.
I'm going for a walk.
But, Joe...
Look, I want to go for a walk, so I'm going for a walk.
Joe, Fran and I were noticing.
Noticing what?
We've been going at this night life pretty hot and heavy lately.
For a fellow who works on a trapeze 60 feet up and without a net, ladies and gentlemen.
Well, that's not so good, Joe.
What's the matter? You afraid someday I won't catch you, Tommy?
Look, why don't you take it a little easier, kid? It's all right to have a good time.
Good time? So that's what I'm having.
What do you know?
I walked the dark, empty streets for hours.
I didn't know where I went or why.
Why did it have to be him and Fran over and over again?
Why did it have to be him and not me?
And then it was like coming out of a sleep almost.
I realized that for a long time I'd been looking through the lighted window of an all-night pawn shop,
looking at a gun.
At first I started walking away fast.
Then I turned back and went into the shop.
Yes, sir. What can I do for you?
That revolver in the window there, the black one next to the binoculars.
Oh, yes, that's the beauty, ain't it?
Yeah, I want it.
Good enough. Can't go wrong on that one.
You got your permit, of course.
No, I'm just passing through town. I didn't have time to get one.
Well, I'm sorry, mister, but I can't help you.
I've got a hundred dollar bill that says you can.
You've just bought yourself a gun.
It was after three in the morning when I got back to the hotel.
The gun was in my top coat pocket.
As I walked through the lobby, the circus fat lady was sitting on the big sofa
counting the faces that went through the revolving door.
She stopped me as I went past her.
Turning in, Joe?
Yeah.
Lucky you can sleep. Wish I could sleep.
I started for the elevator and then it hit me.
How dumb can a guy be, walking into the lobby like that,
being seen going up to the room?
Is that all you want, Joe? That he should be dead?
No matter what happened to you?
Don't you want friends? Don't you want to live?
I turned back and started out again.
No, Patsy, I guess I won't go upstairs after all.
Oh?
Nothing to do till tomorrow afternoon anyhow.
Maybe I'll take in an all-night show.
I haven't seen a show since I was a little girl.
Can't fit in the seat.
I went around to the back of the hotel.
Tommy and me roomed three stories up next to the rusty fire escape.
It was so quiet there, I could hear the pounding inside my head.
The first rung of the fire escape was a good ten feet off the ground.
I jumped for it and pulled it down.
It made enough noise to wake up half the building.
I scrambled up into the shadows.
I expected the lights to start going on in every window.
But nothing happened.
So, when I started up the fire escape,
I started up for Tommy.
I reached the landing.
The room was dark.
The window was closed.
I tried raising it, but it was locked.
Why did everything have to go bad for me?
Wait a minute.
He never locked the window before. Why did he lock it now?
What was he afraid of?
How could he know what was inside me?
Suddenly I had to do something, so I smashed the window with my fist.
I didn't care. Let him know it was me.
Let him know what was coming.
I reached in, unlocked the window, went over the sill.
I took the gun out of my pocket.
I could feel the blood running warm down my arm.
And then I saw that he was gone.
The room was empty.
I sat down on the bed.
I felt weak in my knees.
I sat there a long time, numb.
Then I heard a key in the door.
It was him. He'd come back.
I put the gun back in my pocket.
I held it there.
The door swung open.
I saw him framed in the light from the hall.
And I thought, now, do it now.
For suspense, Auto Light is bringing you Mr. Dana Andrews.
In radio's outstanding theater of thrills, Suspense.
Ab, you know this spell of freezing weather that drifted over sunny California by mistake last week?
I'll see.
Well, by Cornelius, I haven't had so much fun since my Auto Light stay full battery last needed water.
And that's a mighty long time ago.
You mean you enjoyed the cold, Harlow?
Yes, I did.
Listen, I was purring along up in the mountains in my Auto Light equipped car, you see,
when I spied a stricken stranger stuck in the snow.
He had on a raccoon coat and a coon skinned cap,
and he was looking under the hood of his car, muttering,
Water, water everywhere, not a drop in my battery.
Friend, I said to this shivering shambles,
if you had an Auto Light stay full battery in that thirst-starved convertible,
you'd be singing How Deep is the Ocean instead of How Dry I Am.
What do you mean, asks he?
I said that Auto Light stay full batteries have an extra large liquid reserve.
Auto Light stay full batteries, I said, need water only three times a year in normal driving.
You get that, pal? Only three times a year.
And then I explained that thanks to extra plates and special fiberglass insulation,
Auto Light stay full batteries have extra power and extra long life, too.
But Harlow, did you get the poor fellow unstuck?
Sure did. I just happened to have an extra Auto Light stay full battery in my trunk.
I handed it to him until he could get one of his own at his nearest Auto Light dealers.
I'll sure switch to Auto Light, he said as he zoomed off,
and I answered, you're right with Auto Light.
Right, Harlow, but right now, suspense.
And now, Auto Light brings back to our Hollywood soundstage,
Mr. Dana Andrews as Joe, in a tale well calculated to keep you in suspense.
I held the gun in my pocket.
The door swung open and I saw him framed in the light from the hall.
And I thought, now, do it now.
When did you come back, Joe?
A while ago.
Where's the lights, Joe?
Don't turn the lights on, Tommy.
What's the matter with you?
I said...
What have you got against lights?
How can you just sit there in the dark?
You know, Fran and I wonder what happened to you.
We were out looking for you.
I held tight to the gun in my pocket.
I followed him with it as he moved around the room,
stopping at the dresser to comb his hair,
whistling because he was getting franned and it was such a good feeling.
And all I had to do was just squeeze the trigger.
Come on in.
Say, honey, fact tells me that...
Oh, you got back, Joe.
Yeah.
Yeah, what did you do to yourself?
Look at that arm, Tommy.
His arm, it's bleeding.
I didn't notice that.
Joe, you take your coat off.
I'll get some towels and a maculacrome from the bathroom.
What did you do, get yourself in a brawl?
Not exactly.
Tommy, where's the maculacrome? Hurry up.
I'll show you where it is.
Get your coat off, Joey.
Here.
I hurried to the dresser,
dug the gun out of my pocket and put it in the drawer.
Fran came back with an arm full of stuff.
Her fingers started to probe my arm
while she was rolling up my sleeve.
Look what this guy did to himself.
Joey, you big silly kid, you.
What are you fighting for?
Tommy, get a...
Hey, what happened to this window?
Well, that's how I cut myself just now.
I thought it was stuck.
You know me, long on muscles and short on brains.
Well, it's all right.
Just a little cut.
Our boy's gonna be all right, Tommy.
The show goes on, doesn't it, Joey?
Sure, sure.
What a sweet, helpless guy this is.
We gotta take better care of our boy, Tommy.
Yeah.
You know, our Joey's just a great big kid.
He likes to go on adventures with silly blondes,
but there's nobody got wrists like this man
to catch my Tommy when he flies through the air
with the greatest of ease.
You know, Joe,
I wouldn't trust Tommy's life in anybody's hands but yours.
And she leaned over me and I could smell her hair.
And her warm breath danced around my eyes.
And him and that whistling, why shouldn't he whistle?
He had the world. He had Fran.
There. How's that feel, Joey?
Her talking into my face, smoothing my hair.
Now, don't you punch any more windows in the nose, you understand?
Didn't she see what she was doing to me?
Didn't they see what was happening to me?
How could two people be so blind? Couldn't they see?
Feel better, Joey.
I asked you.
Leave me alone. Leave me alone!
So I went walking in the streets again,
burning inside like a guy with 105 fever,
still smelling the perfume in her hair,
still hearing her whistling,
still hearing her voice in my head.
It was after four in the morning when I got back to the hotel.
Nobody in the lobby.
Nobody but the room clerk taking a snooze at the desk.
This time, Tommy was in bed asleep.
I sat on the edge of the bed for a long time,
listening to his breathing.
Then I went to the drawer and got the gun.
I laid it aside for a moment
and then I scattered the stuff on the drawer like a burglar would.
He was looking for something.
Then I went over to where his pants were hanging on a chair.
I guess I got a little excited as I grabbed for the pants, the chair fell over.
I waited, my heart hammering away like it was trying to break loose.
But he didn't wake up.
I found his wallet and his pants,
then his watch on the nightstand.
Then I went over to the broken window, looked down.
It was dark, a lot of sound.
Tomorrow all the cops in the city would be looking for the burglar
who came up the fire escape and killed his victim when caught in the act.
I went back to the dresser for the gun.
I went over to the bed.
I wouldn't let him take her away from me.
Simple as that.
I raised the gun barrel level with his head.
My finger curled around the trigger.
I felt a tiny nerve start throbbing in my wrist.
I squeezed the trigger.
What is this?
Are you Joe?
Yeah, yeah.
What a bad Joe.
Okay.
When Tommy had gone back to sleep, I broke open the gun.
It was empty.
But it had been loaded before.
They must have found the gun after I left.
But why had they taken the bullets?
I didn't understand.
How could they know anything?
All of a sudden I was afraid.
I put the wallet and the wristwatch back.
I put the gun back in the drawer.
What was I going to do?
I flopped down on the bed and tried to think.
But somewhere along the line I fell asleep.
I slept until almost noon.
When I woke up, Tommy was gone.
I dressed and went down the hall to Fran's room.
She was gone.
At the desk, they didn't know what had happened to them.
I went down to the armory where we were playing.
They went around there.
It was getting close to the matinee.
I went to the dressing room.
No sign of either of them.
Then, just a few minutes before we'd go on,
the door burst open and they were standing there.
We thought we weren't going to make it.
That's no kidding.
Where were you?
Just feast your eyes on the little gold object
third finger left hand, sometimes called a wedding ring.
Well, aren't you at least going to say bon voyage, weren't you?
Sure, sure.
Best of everything.
Fran left a change into her costume
and Tommy started getting ready, happy as a lark.
And I felt the heat choking me till I couldn't breathe,
burning in me like fire.
Then I realized something that sent the cold shivers through me.
If I went up on that trapeze today
and if his life depended upon my catching him,
he would die.
It made me sick thinking about it.
Everybody's got to have some kind of belief.
I grew up different, not like most people.
The only belief I had was the act.
I had to keep the act clean.
I couldn't let it happen that way.
But it would happen.
If I went up there, it would happen.
Three minutes.
Okay.
Well, we'd better be getting out of here, Joey.
Well, Joe, come on, come on.
They're not going.
What?
What are you talking about?
I'm not going on.
Can't you understand English?
What, Joey?
I'm not going on.
He couldn't do anything with me and time was running out.
He left and I thought,
what I'd better do is just pack and leave
and never see either of them again.
Then just beyond the door, I heard him whispering to somebody.
I knew what it was.
He was putting her to work on me.
I didn't want to see her.
I went to close the door, but she was already standing there,
her hand on the doorknob.
But it was the wrong hand.
It was the hand with a ring on it.
His ring.
Is it something to do with the act, Joe?
No, nothing with the act.
Well, then...
Don't ask me to go out there, Fran.
You know we can't go on without you.
Well, do what you can.
Fake those triple plays.
Look pretty and swing hard.
Just don't ask me to go out there.
Joey, what's wrong with you lately?
Look, don't...
I'm worried about you.
You've been acting so funny the last week or so.
What were you doing with a gun, Joey?
I...
We found it in your dresser last night.
Scared me to death.
I made Tommy take the bullets out.
I just bought it for protection, that's all.
Protection from what?
Joey, you've been so moody, so melancholy.
I'm so afraid you might hurt yourself.
You think that's why I bought the gun, to hurt myself?
Gosh, I hope not.
I could...
It's our cue.
Come on, Joel.
She moved up close to me.
Her hand touched the side of my face.
Soft and warm.
We'll be waiting for you.
We won't go on without you.
She left.
I didn't know what to feel.
Inside me, some of the hate was unwinding.
I didn't want to hate him.
I began thinking maybe I could...
I could get by today after all.
And after today, I'd just beat it and never see him again.
I began thinking how lucky it was that everything had gone wrong last night.
I started for the door.
And then I saw the two of them behind some props, kissing each other.
While they were waiting for me.
I'd never seen him kissing her before.
I felt cold and empty.
I went back into the dressing room.
On the table was the tube of Vaseline I used to hold my hair in place.
I stuck the tube into the waistband of my trunks.
I didn't worry anymore about hurting the act.
The act went off like clockwork.
It always did.
It was such second nature to us by now.
The precision climb up the ladders to the two little takeoff platforms.
Me on one side of the ring.
The two of them on the other.
I felt good like I always felt up here.
I knew what was going to happen, but I wasn't fighting it anymore.
When it came, it came at so long.
And then it was time.
All the easy stuff was over.
We were ready for our big specialty.
Tommy's Triple Somersault.
Ladies and gentlemen, your kind attention, please.
It is once again my privilege to present the most breathtaking trapeze stunt in all the world.
I was already on the lower trapeze, lolling on the crossbar.
It was Tommy's stunt, so no one noticed me.
I reached up into the waistband of my trunks and flicked the cap off the tube of grease.
I pinched the tube and a coil of Vaseline spurted into my palm.
I greased my wrists until they were as slippery as a pair of heels.
That was where he was going to hang on to.
Where he was going to try to hang on.
...the great Joseph.
The slightest miss will mean instant death.
Tommy signaled that he was ready.
I was ready too.
I turned lazily on the bar until my head hung down.
I was dangling by my legs, flexing my arm.
My eyes running over the row upon row of tiny upturned faces.
It was a matter of seconds now.
Five thousand pairs of eyes watching.
Five thousand hearts starting to speed up.
Even the peanut and popcorn boys had stopped.
Just the roll of the drums building up louder and louder.
Without looking, I knew Fran was putting on Tommy's blindfold.
For another second, I'd swing around and face them.
And begin the count.
I began turning.
What happened? I turned quickly.
Fran was alone on the platform.
For a split second, I couldn't figure it out.
And then I saw Tommy falling through the air.
He grabbed at a guy wire as he passed and he held on.
He slid down the wire spiraling down in a sickening crazy corkscrew.
Down all the way to the bottom but never letting go.
He landed in a huddle at the bottom.
Then he picked himself up.
So he was all right. Nothing broken.
Except the way he held his hand, you could tell it was as raw as if he'd cut it open with a knife.
I swung around and looked up at Fran.
She caught my eye and formed the words,
My fault with her lips.
And then, sorry.
Then she had made him slip.
She had kept him from swinging out on that trapeze.
But why? I swung back.
All of a sudden, I wanted to get down. I wanted to get away.
But while my back was turned to her,
she must have passed along the signal because suddenly I heard...
Ladies and gentlemen,
this unforeseen accident will not in any way change our spectacular triple somersault.
The event will continue with the great Thomas's understudy,
The Lovely Frances.
I guess at first I was just too shocked to think.
This was something I'd never figured out.
Sure, she'd done the trick before, but then there was a split second
in which she signaled me to drop my head and begin the count.
And then before I could get my own desperate signal back to her to stop, not to go ahead,
the black mask had dropped over her eyes and I was cut off from her.
Fran, don't do it! Don't do it!
But the drums had already begun that thunder.
My voice couldn't reach her now.
She'd swung the empty trapeze out into space.
The count had begun.
One as she let go.
Two as the trapeze made its mark.
Three as it returned.
Twice more the empty trapeze would swing out and then on its return she would grab it.
Fran, don't do it! Don't do it!
But I knew she could only hear the drums
if there were only some way to stop the drums.
I heard the terrified roar of thousands of throats and I knew it was death.
And who is the next of kin of the deceased?
Look, officer, I told you I'm only the manager of this outfit.
Why don't you ask those two over near the body? They know all about it. They're part of the act.
I told you I'd get to them. Now, how exactly did the deceased...
Listen, officer, why so many questions? It wasn't murder, you know. It was just an accident.
Slipped and fell off the trapeze.
I guess it was the excitement of seeing Tommy take that bad spill.
Why can't you just put it down as an accident and let it go?
Look, I'm only following the rules, mister. I don't tell you how to run your circuits.
Yeah, yeah, but when you're all finished with your questions it'll still add up to the same thing.
An aerialist named Joe Crosby was accidentally killed while giving a performance.
Just as simple as that.
Yeah, poor Joe himself couldn't tell you any more.
Even if the dead could talk.
Thank you, Dana Andrews, for a splendid performance. Mr. Andrews will return in just a moment.
Uh, Harrow?
Yes, Hap?
A question.
Shoot.
Do you ever run out of words?
Oh, now, Hap, be sensible. How could any guy run out of words with those sensational auto-lights stay full batteries to talk about?
I got my answer.
Why, Hap, those auto-lights stay full batteries have the start of a jackrabbit, the power of a bulldozer, and the life of a redwood all wrapped up in one.
And to top it all off, they need water only three times a year in normal car use.
So, friends, when you buy a battery, buy the best.
Switch to auto-light.
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And now here again is Mr. Dana Andrews.
My thanks to Tony Leeder for the opportunity of appearing again on Suspense.
There's always a pleasant and rewarding experience.
And you'll have a pleasant and rewarding experience, I'm sure, next week when radio's Outstanding Theatre of Thrills brings you Robert Montgomery
in another gripping study in Suspense.
Dana Andrews appears through the courtesy of Samuel Goldwyn, producers of Enchantment.
Tonight's Suspense play was adapted by Larry Marcus from the short story by William Irish.
Music was composed by Lucian Morrowek and conducted by Lud Bluskin.
The entire production was under the direction of Anton M. Leeder.
In the coming weeks, Suspense will present such stars as Fibber McGee and Molly, Charles Lawton, James Wyman, James Mason, and many others.
Make it a point to listen each Thursday to Suspense, Radio's Outstanding Theatre of Thrills.
Next Thursday same time, hear Robert Montgomery.
Remember, you're right with auto light. So switch to auto light. Good night.
This is CBS, the Columbia Broadcasting System.