Suspense!
Autolite and its 96,000 dealers present Mr. James Stewart in Mission Completed, a suspense
play produced and edited by William Spear.
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And now, with the performance of James Stewart in Mission Completed, a special Pearl Harbor
Anniversary Drama, Autolite hopes once again to keep you in...
Suspense!
Are you all right for the night, Tom?
How do you know when he's all right?
Tom and I have a secret code, don't we, Tom? He blinks once for yes and twice for no.
Are you okay, Tom? Night.
Okay, sure, I'm okay. I've been okay ever since I got liberated from Sagamo Prison in Tokyo
in 1945. Yeah, ever since I woke up in this Veterans Hospital four years ago, I've been
okay. I've got nothing to do but lie flat on my back and let my eyes wander over the
ceiling and look at Suki smiling down at me. Suki seems to smile down at me from the little
plaster square of ceiling that reminds me of the prison yard in Sagamo. He can't help
smiling and laughing because he knows I can't get at him. Suki knows I'm paralyzed. He
knows I can only blink my eyes once for yes and twice for no. You see, Suki was in charge
of the camp at Sagamo. He helped slaughter guys like Camel and Jones, Mayberry, Evans,
too many more to count. First he starved them until they couldn't crawl and then he... Well,
anyway, just before we got liberated, I fuzzed up in my mind and I couldn't remember anything.
Sometime later, I woke up in a Vet's Hospital, California, USA, and I've been on my back
for four years staring at that little square. But once in a while, they dump me in a wheelchair
and push me out into the sunshine, wheel me up and down the walk like I was a baby. Only
babies can cry.
Which road today, Tom? Do we get down the walk through the ground or the sidewalk down
by the flower shop? Just open your eyes wide if it's a sidewalk. Well, good. You'll see
all the flowers. Oh, here comes Janet, Willie Murdoch. You remember him?
Hello, Tom. Hello, Tom.
Hi, Janet. How you doing?
Getting in shape for the dance tonight. Am I really?
Hi, Tom.
I'll see you there. Isn't Janet a pretty girl? I'll bet you have a nice girl someplace. Come
on now, haven't you? We're almost to the flower shop, Tom. Oh, see that man in the window?
Isn't that a pretty bouquet he's getting together? Well, look how tan he is. Oh, I guess he's
a ch-
I'm sitting in a wheelchair, paralyzed, looking at a man on a flower shop window, and the
man I'm looking at is Suki. And while I'm looking at him, something's happening to me.
My fingers that I haven't worked for four years are grabbing the arms of the wheelchair,
and my legs are straining and pushing against the floor. The same legs I haven't used for
48 months, and I want to cry out, and I feel my tongue getting ready to-
Tom! Tom, what's the matter with you? Come on, Tom, now, relax. Maybe you don't like
flowers. Ha ha, that's just like a man. Doesn't like flowers. Do you want to go home now, Tom?
It's Suki, a man on the flower shop window, and it's Suki. I know it is. If we can get
closer, all I have to do is look at that scar down the side of his face. I gave him that
scar on Sagammo. Do you want to go home, Tom? Now, don't frown like that. Tom, what's the
matter? Do you want to go closer? Okay, if you want to go closer to the flower shop.
It was Suki, all right? Yeah, it was Suki. We got real close to the shop, and I got a
good look. The scar, scar on his face stood out like a half moon. He was busy with
flowers. Flowers, I couldn't imagine him working with flowers, but it was Suki. And this time
I didn't clench my fingers or strain my legs. I just laid back in the chair and relaxed,
and I began to plan. I began a plan. I began a plan that I'd started the day I looked around
and I found myself in a Jap prison camp. A plan that almost worked the day Suki got that
scar. It didn't work that day. It's going to work now.
I'll leave you here by the door a minute, Tom. Then we'll put you to bed.
All right, Tom. Tom, how did you get moved over there? Didn't I leave you right here
by the door? Tom, did you wheel yourself over there? Oh, ho, so that's it. Somebody came
in here and gave you a push. One day you'll be pushing that chair around like mad, Tom.
Just you wait. Just you wait. All right, now we'll get ready for bed.
You ready for me? Just about. Would you bring Dr. Benson here? Okay.
I can't imagine who just walked in here and gave you a shove. Wouldn't it be funny if
you did it yourself? Didn't know it. You sent for me, Miss Rhodes. He must have used his
hands. He wheeled himself across the room. How are you tonight, Tom? I think that sunshine
is doing you some good. Tom, did you move yourself across the room? And if you did, blink
your eyes once. And if you didn't, blink them twice. No, you didn't do it, huh? That's
all. Thank you, Tom.
I got myself in a jam already. It's funny how I grabbed those wheels instinctively.
I guess I gave myself a shove. And now I'm in bed and I'm looking up at that little
square. And the hospital's quiet except for Murdoch, who you can always hear mumbling
someplace far off. So then I'm turning over on my face in bed, moving muscles I haven't
moved for four long years. And in a moment I was sitting up. I was trying to light my
own cigarette. But then I got so exhausted I decided to wait till the next night. And
it was the same thing over again. Night after night I practiced at being alive. Ten days
later I got out of bed and I stood up. And two weeks later I was so strong that I walked
around the room ten times. I never felt better in my life. That night I nearly got caught.
I was sitting in my chair smoking a cigarette. I scrambled in the bed.
Asleep, Tom? You've been having visitors, Tom. The air's full of smoke. Tom, are you
asleep? Oh, that's a close one. Nothing ever came of it, though, but I was more careful
after that. A week went by. Every day brought me closer and closer to Suki. And Suki closer
and closer to some of his own medicine right back in his face. And then something happened
that spoiled everything. Tom, we've got good news for you this morning. Look how wide his
eyes are. You better not keep him waiting. Tom, you're getting out of here. We're moving
you to within twenty miles of your old hometown. You're going to Colville Hospital. Better
tell him when. Yes. Tomorrow morning. He doesn't seem to like it. Tom, what's the matter?
Suki was laughing now. He stood on that little square in the ceiling and he laughed on at
me because he knew I was going away and I'd never get him. So they were shipping me out
on Sunday. Yeah, tomorrow was Sunday.
And then I had a plan. I had a desperate plan. It might work and it might not. But if it
did, it would bring Suki right into my room. You see, the plan wouldn't work except today
was Saturday. Today was Saturday. And right the day before they were shipping me to Colville,
three thousand miles away. Today, yeah, today was Saturday and on Saturday. This is your
last spin around the grounds, Tom. And here comes Jackie. I'll bet you forgot this was
Saturday and Jackie's out of school. And he's going to play Mr. Wheelchair Conductor. Hello,
Jackie. Ready to take over? Sure thing, Miss Rhodes. I'll get him lots of sun and keep him
up full time. Then when you're through, you can help Janet with Murdoch. Yes, Miss Rhodes.
I'll see you later. You be careful. You bet.
All right, kid, you can stop. What? Did you say something? I said stop right here. Gosh,
I didn't know you could talk, mister. Well, sure I'll stop right here, but maybe I'd better
get in order. Stay right here and shut up. Listen to me. You and I are going to have a
little secret. Are you with me? What kind of a secret? You just don't say anything about
what you see or hear until tomorrow. Now, what are you going to do? Are you going to help
a soldier or are you going to spill everything? Why, I'll help, of course. All right, now.
Now keep pushing me until we get down to that tavern and then push me in that little alcove
there. Come on, come on, come on. What are we waiting for? Hurry up. Yeah, mister. Yeah,
but I shouldn't be doing this, should I? That's the best thing you ever did.
Now, now go into that tavern and get me three dollars worth of quarters. Here's three bucks.
I'm going to use this phone. And don't get any funny ideas about calling the hospital.
You're working with me, aren't you, kid? I guess so. All right, now. I'm going to watch
you through the glass of this phone booth. Stay right out there where I can see you. Get
me? Yes, sir. All right. All right, here goes. You shouldn't get up. Hey, don't try to get
up of your wheelchair. Already out. All right, now stand right there. Stand where I can see
you. Long distance one. One. One. Long distance. I want to talk to Bill Mason at Mason's Real
Estate Office in San Bernardino. What is your name, please? My name's Tom Warner. That will
be a dollar and a quarter for three minutes. Dollar. Please deposit a dollar and a quarter
for three minutes. Dollar and a quarter. One. Two. Three. Four. Five. One. Here is your
party. Hello, Bill. Hello. Who's this? Tom. Tom Warner. Oh, you're kidding. Who is this?
It's Tom. It's Tom, you dope. Why? What's the matter? What's the matter? I just can't
get it through my thick head. That's all. Last time I heard about you. I know. I know.
I know. But it's all over now. I'm alive. Now, Bill, listen to me. Now listen close. That's
an awful close, Bill. Bill, Suki's alive. Suki? Yeah, yeah, Suki. He's working a flower shop
in the hospital here. Are you crazy? Now, no, I've seen him. I've watched him. I've noticed
all his gestures. Yeah, he's got the scar I gave him right on the side of his face. Hey,
are you listening? Yeah, yeah, yeah, go on. Now, I want you to get a hold of Curly, and
tonight the three of us will blast him right out of the face of the earth. Tom, are you
okay? What's the matter with you? I found Suki. He's here right in the United States
where we can get at him. Well, if you're sure it's Suki, why don't you call the cops or
the FBI? Because I know what'll happen to him then. He'll end up in American jail and
he'll have a nice soft bed to sleep in. He'll get three good hot meals a day and he'll get
all the comforts of home. Look what he gave to us. What in your life, Bill? Now, look,
if you start driving right now, you can be here by nine o'clock. Tom, the war's over.
I forgot all that stuff a long time ago. I want you to forget it too. Sure, sure, and
you can forget it all if you want to. I know why you're forgetting it is because you're
a chicken, that's why. You haven't got the guts to face him and you're lousy, yell on
your back, bonus, turn to a sponge. I only wish Maybear and Evans were all here to listen
to the lousy rot that was dripping out of you. Tom, what's the matter?
I'm blacking out. Hang on, Tom, hang on. What place are you calling from, Tom? Tom?
I'm going to throw it on my face. Where are you, Tom?
Wouldn't you like to know?
Auto Light is bringing you Mr. James Stewart in Mission Completed. Tonight's production
in radio's outstanding theater of thrills, Suspense.
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Hollywood Soundstage, our star James Stewart in Mission Completed, a tale well
calculated to keep you in suspense. Tom? Tom, can you hear me?
Help me, kid. Gee, you shouldn't have got up, mister. There, why brace the chair
just like that. There. I'll be all right. Maybe I need a little air. Gee, you look
as white as a sheet. I don't say anything about this, kid. Just keep your mouth
shut until tomorrow, will you? Tomorrow morning I'll be going away. You promise
me that? Well, okay. Okay, now take me home, huh? Yes, sir.
I was back in my room, flattened out like a pancake, and the bed in the room kept
spinning around when I stayed still. Pretty soon I got a sort of a second wind.
I decided to try to get up out of bed, and I found I could get up okay. I was
awful weak. I'd just about given up my plan when I happened to look out the
window. The day watchman was changing places with the night patrolman, and the
item that caught my eye was a big fat revolver bulging at the man's side. Maybe
my plan would work after all. I didn't need to be Bill Mason and Curly and
anybody else. All I needed was my two hands, a little luck. Let's see. I'd have to make another phone
call. Well, there's a phone on this floor right in front of Murdoch's door.
Hospital flower shop. Hello, this is Dr. Benson.
Oh, yes, doctor. Would you send a bouquet of flowers, that is, I mean roses.
A lot of big roses, up to a 411. See, one of the patients is leaving, and we'd like
to make him feel good. It's kind of a surprise just before he goes to sleep and
the ward's quiet. You see, about nine o'clock this evening. Okey-dokey. You want
some fern to go with it? Yeah, yeah, I think that'd be nice. Just a minute, who
delivers at that hour? Have you got someone? Oh, I deliver myself, just before I close
up. Okey-dokey. Fine. Fine, thank you.
I just got the phone back on the hook on Dr. Benson and two nurses came walking along.
Like a shot I dropped to the floor of the phone booth and I tried to double up like
an accordion. My heart beat so loudly I was afraid they'd hear it, but drowning out
in my heart was Murdoch saying something. Hey, Tom's on the phone. Don't be silly,
Patty. Yeah? I'll go back to the system. Yeah. I held my breath, but they kept on
walking down the hall and they turned into the solarium. I got up, I got the door
open, I almost fell across the hall into my room. I laid back in the bed casping
in, waiting for my pulse to get back to normal. It was eight o'clock, getting dark
outside. The only sound was the clock ticking in the hall. I was getting all the
breaks. A summer shower had just come up, light wind blowing. I got down the hall
all right and through the solarium to the fire escape. It was easy going down,
hugging the shadows. Pretty soon I was at the bottom. I spotted the patrolman
sitting under the little eaves at the tool shed. He was trying to keep out of the
rain. My hand closed around the broken brick that had fallen off the building. I
crept up in the back of him. I got the brick ready to smash him on the head when
I suddenly realized he was asleep. I took a step real close and then I had his
revolver and I was pointing it right into his eyes which were still blinking off
some sleep and he muttered and then he started to yell. One little whisper and
this goes off right in your face. Now get up and get into that tool shed. Open the
door and crawl in. Come on quick. All right now take this adhesive tape and tie
your feet together. Come on hurry up. Tie it. Hurry. What are you trying to do
fella? Shut up. Do as I say. I made him tie his feet together with adhesive tape
and lie flat in his face while I wound long strips of tape around his wrist. I
tied his wrist together and then I hog tied his wrist to his feet and pulled
them up tight behind him. When I turned him over on his side and I crammed two
handkerchiefs into his mouth. Put long strips of tape around those. The rain was
coming down in buckets as it made my way back to the fire escape. I made the first
two flights and then three and finally hit four and I slid on my face out cold. I
don't know how long I lay there on those iron bars of a fire escape. It was too
long for my plans. Now there was nobody in the hall so I ran for it. Still
nobody in the hall. Still nobody. Nobody in my room. I slid open the door and I
started for bed. Bed met me halfway and I lay there soaking wet with a gun
sticking out of my pocket. I spun the cylinder. I saw six 45 caliber bullets.
15 minutes went by. Then it was nine o'clock. The ward was very quiet. You could
have heard a pin drop. Nothing sounded until I heard the sound of the elevator
and it's stopping on four. Someone had got out of the elevator and was patting
down the hall and it was the same little shuffle I'd heard every day for three
years in a bug infested hell hole called a prison camp. Yeah, the same footsteps,
the footsteps I used to turn my brain to water and sent my heart right down to my
shoes. The footsteps that meant someone was going to get it and I wanted to yell
and scream, come on Suki, it's different now, come on Suki, I'm waiting for you.
I couldn't breathe very good. Every breath I took drowned out Suki's feet. So I
just, I just, I just took a little short press and I waited and I had to grab the
revolver with both hands to keep it steady.
And Suki was getting closer and so I released the safety catch and I tried to
keep my wobbly hands steady. He was almost here now. The knob was turning in
the door.
Suki, Suki, this is for Camel and this is for Jones and this is for Mayberry and Evans
and Murphy.
I killed Suki. Yes, yes you killed Suki Tom. He's dead and he'll never bother you
again. You killed him. Yes I did. I killed Suki. Now give me the gun Tom.
That's it. Yes you killed Suki in your mind. He's dead in your mind. You can
forget him now Tom. Yeah, yeah I think I better sit down. Miss Rhodes shove that
wheelchair out of the room. You can sit in a chair Tom but not in a wheelchair.
You're through with that for good. What? Jimmy, are you all right? Yes doctor.
No powder burns? No I'm fine doctor. Good, good. Now Tom, Tom I want you to meet
Jimmy Cato who works in our flower shop here and who was lieutenant Cato of the
armed forces in Italy not so long ago. Yeah I killed Suki. I killed him. Yes, yes
in your mind you killed Suki Tom and you're okay now. The man you thought was
Suki was Jimmy Cato. He was born and raised here in this community and he has
almost as many medals as you have. Now I want you to shake hands with him. I'm
paralyzed. All I can do is blink my eyes. No, no, no you are not Tom. You are going
to shake hands with Jimmy and thank him. Oh Cato, I'm sorry. Oh nothing to be
sorry about. When Dr. Benson told me about your reaction the day you saw me I
was glad to help out. You see Tom we're pretty thorough here. When you thought
you saw Suki Miss Rhodes made a notation that you flexed muscles you hadn't
commanded for nearly four years and so we went from there. You must have thick
skin Cato. I'm pretty good shot. No, no, no the patrolmen on the grounds here Tom
always carry blanks, no bullets. You're going home tomorrow Tom. Well on the way
to complete recovery and in your mind there's a big X mark canceling out a
nightmare of four years duration and written in huge letters is a beautiful
beautiful sign Tom and it says to you once and for all mission completed.
Suspense presented by Auto Light tonight star James Stewart. Oh Mr. Wilcox, Mr.
Wilcox. Well Gracie Allen what are you doing here? Well I came to ask you and
Jimmy Stewart if you can fix it with Auto Light for my husband Sugar Throat
Burns to sing on Suspense. Our sponsor will hear it and realize how great George
is and then he let him sing on our show Wednesday night. Well look Gracie
Suspense is all booked up for next week Mickey Rooney will be on. Well how about
the week after that Mr. Stewart? No they're booked up for that week too. Lana
Turner will be here that week. As a matter of fact they're booked up for the
next four thousand weeks. Oh four thousand weeks would be about. That's
eighty years. Oh how about the week after that? Well I've got to leave Gracie. Tell
George that he has all my condolences. Oh really? I'm surprised they fit him. You
know you're so tall. Gracie would you mind if I get in just one teensy weensy
word about Auto Light Resistor spark plugs? Teensy weensy? Oh you can do better
than that. If George were here I bet he could sing about your spark plugs. I'll
bet he could at that. Everyone is singing the praises of Auto Light Resistor
spark plugs and that goes for the 400 other products made by Auto Light for
cars, trucks, planes and boats in 28 plants coast to coast. Those are nice lyrics. Auto
Light also builds complete electrical systems for many makes of America's
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Ask for and insist on Auto Light original factory parts at your neighborhood
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with Auto Light. You're sure Mr. Wilcox that you wouldn't want George to sing
that? I'm sure. Oh. Well good night and happy Auto Light.
Next Thursday for Suspense Mickey Rooney will be our star. The play is called for
love or murder and it is as we say, a tale well calculated to keep you in
suspense. Tonight's Suspense play was produced and edited by William Spear and
directed by Norman MacDonald. Music for Suspense is composed by Lucian Morrowek
and conducted by Lud Bluskin. Mission completed is an original radio play by
John R. Forrest. James Stewart can currently be seen starred in the title
role of the MGM picture, The Stratton Story.
You can buy Auto Light resistor or regular spark plugs, Auto Light staple batteries,
Auto Light electrical parts at your neighborhood Auto Light dealers. Switch to Auto Light. Good night.
This is CBS, the Columbia Broadcasting System.