Suspense!
Auto Light and its 96,000 dealers present Transcribed Mr. Dick Powell in Slow Burn,
a suspense play produced and edited by William Spear.
Filler up sir?
Please do my personable peddler of petroleum.
How about your battery?
Why lad, I've got an Auto Light stay full battery, the battery that needs water only
three times a year in normal car use.
An Auto Light stay full battery?
Say!
Say no more my good fellow, for when you've said Auto Light stay full battery, you've
said the ultimate.
This demon deliverer of starting stamina has over three times as much liquid reserve above
the plates as batteries without stay full features.
You sound like Harlow Wilcox.
I sound like every motorist in modern memory who has been moved to murderous fury by one
of the major causes of battery failure, namely a thirsty battery, but who has discovered
the delight of the Auto Light stay full battery.
A battery that needs water only three times a year in normal car use.
Sure, but you still sound like Harlow Wilcox to me.
Well, by a curious coincidence, that couldn't happen again in a thousand years.
I am Harlow Wilcox.
Well, why didn't you say so?
Because right now I'm too busy saying you're always right with Auto Light.
And now with Slow Burn and with the performance of Dick Powell, Auto Light hopes once again
to keep you in suspense.
I'm standing here staring at a clock on a dresser in a crummy hotel room.
I've been watching the man at hand drag itself up the face of the clock and I'm not going
to pull my eyes away from that man at hand until it touches 12.
Because at 12, the Slow Burn that started in my insides way back three months ago, the
Slow Burn that built till my whole body was on fire is going to be soothed.
Yeah, in another few seconds it's going to be 12 midnight and I'll be able to breathe
again.
Then they can come get me.
I won't care.
There it is.
I can make that call now.
Morning, Harold.
Let me speak to Todd Sloan.
Warts Department, Todd Sloan speaking.
This is Johnny Wilson.
Johnny, where are you?
Don't interrupt.
This call is a sense to be traced.
I got a lot to say.
The cops have a tight circle around this town and I know I got no exit.
But before they get me, I want to clear a few things up.
Now listen to me.
I did it.
I'm not denying it.
I'm telling you why I did it and you're going to print it because you're a right guy.
Johnny, I-
Shut up.
I don't have much time.
It all started the day I fought in Duval, Pennsylvania.
Daniel, my wife, didn't want me to fight, but to me it was the fastest way to make a buck.
I was just beginning then right after the war and the cold town was the best I could
do.
I was fighting Tony Tadro, a good boxer and a puncher.
In the second round, we just squared off and the crowd pulled to his feet roaring the guy's
name.
Not mine, not Tony.
Me, it didn't throw, but Tony it did.
He dropped his guard just long enough.
Tony was flat on his back out cold.
I let the referee raise my mitt, then I walked to lefty Wilkins, my manager.
Nice work, Johnny.
Thanks, thanks lefty.
What was he shouting about?
Ain't you heard?
The hometown kid who won that medal of honor blew into town today.
Not only that, he blew into the arena just before you tagged Tony.
Well, how did glad hand the kid myself then?
He made it easy for me.
You don't have time.
We're to meet Courtney Barr at the club tree in 30 minutes.
Okay, okay.
And just this once, let your tongue lay flat inside your face.
I'll do the talking.
Okay, I said, okay.
I got him the second round, Johnny Wilson victorious over Tony.
You saw Johnny fight tonight, Mr. Barr, he's good.
It takes more than good these days.
We know that Mr. Barr, that's why I asked you when.
All we need for him is the right buildup and the connection.
Now look, when I engine a show at a nightclub with a fighter, I want a reasonable chance
to get my money back.
Lefty, you never brought a fighter to the top yet.
But this time it's different.
Johnny Wilson is the next champ.
Oh, don't beg him, Lefty.
If he's too blind to recognize a good thing when it's shoved in front of him, let him
get a seeing eye dog.
Oh, I'd take a chance on Johnny if he had an exploitation angle.
The way it is now, there's too many good boys bouncing around.
Don't need the buildup.
We'll have to go into him.
No.
I'm returning to New York tonight.
Goodbye, gentlemen.
Ah, he's got nothing.
Nothing but money.
Someday I'm going to walk into a bank and look at the stuff.
You know, they keep the trap behind little cages.
Oh, there's that kid again.
The metal boy.
His name's Chuck Masters.
They say he got 30 jabs.
30 jabs?
Ah, they like to meet the hero.
Well, that looks like maybe your willy's coming.
Pardon me, but aren't you Johnny Wilson?
Yeah, that's right.
I got to the stadium just in time for the knockout.
Sure like to congratulate you.
Oh, thanks.
Thanks.
30 jabs, huh?
You've been pretty busy.
Me, I was in the medical corps, Walter Reed Hospital.
Have a drink, Chuck?
Oh, no.
Thanks.
I can't stop.
My family's waiting.
I really have a favor to ask, Mr. Wilson.
I'm chairman of the Juvenile Delinquency Committee.
Oh, let me offer my congratulations.
Thanks.
Now, if you'll offer just one more thing, your services in an exhibition.
You mean a benefit?
Yeah.
Look, Sonny, you're a nice, clean-cut American boy, and I like your style, but the only benefits
I find are for the Johnny Wilson fight.
Now, wait a minute, Johnny.
Wait a minute.
After all, we don't want to see no kids go wrong, do we?
Who are you figuring on Johnny fighting?
Well, nobody yet.
I just got the idea.
Do you box, Chuck?
Me?
I did a little boxing in the 39th Infantry, strictly amateur.
Then it's a natural.
You box, Johnny.
Oh, now, wait a minute.
I couldn't go.
Sure, sure you could.
And you look like a welter, too.
If you get into the ring with Johnny, it's a deal.
Good idea.
Good publicity.
You don't understand.
You can't ask a guy to fight unless you're willing yourself.
Especially for nothing.
You do, we do.
You don't, we don't.
Wow.
Okay, it's a deal.
Thursday night at the stadium.
Yeah, yeah.
All right, Leslie, what's the setup?
In the ring Thursday, I want you to make him look good.
I want the kid to think he's a wonder boy.
I want to sign him.
And then?
Then I take him to bar as my new fighter.
Medal of honor and all.
Oh, bar like that.
Endorsed by Congress.
Keep talking.
We've got some of the exploitation angle he's talking about.
And with the dough we make on Chucky Boy, we'll finance you to the title.
Give a load of the crowd.
Any more people come in, they'll ration the oxygen.
That's what bar means by exploitation.
That medal of honor drags them in.
There it is.
Remember, Johnny, don't win.
You don't have to lose, but don't win.
I thought it was a fair enough fight.
Like Lefty wanted, I didn't lose it, I didn't win it.
The kid was a cinch to sign, a Lefty-wired buyer to find out if he was interested.
He was.
And now we're in New York in the Copa Club signing the contracts.
There's one thing, Lefty.
Now that Chuck has signed, where does Johnny here fit in?
Oh, Johnny's going to stop boxing for a while.
He's going to groom Chuck.
Me, I wasn't having any conversations just then.
I was watching Chuck watch a long-haired, slinky dame come towards our table.
She had on a gown that had no straps and didn't need any.
There was sweet rhythm in her walk and she wore a hands-off look that beat blood into
a guy's head.
She stopped at our table and Chuck's mouth flopped open.
I said, well, gentlemen, this is my wife.
Hello.
Daniel, this is Chuck Vastas.
Sit down, baby.
So you're the new fighter?
Yeah.
I hate fighters.
Oh, you frightened the boy.
And I hate the parasites that live off me.
Oh, have a drink, baby.
Why do you take that, Johnny?
Shut up.
Hey, new fighter, why don't you duck out before they knock that gentle look out of your
eyes?
I don't want to fight, Mrs. Wilson, but I need money.
Johnny looked like you when he first started.
And after only 4,000 push-ups a day, look at me now.
Childhood sweethearts, sweetness and light.
Now he's not happy unless I wear gowns like this.
There's nothing wrong with that dress.
Hey, baby, have you heard?
I'm going to stay out of the ring for a bit.
I want to teach Chuck here a thing or two.
Who can tell?
With me behind him, he may get to be our next champ.
You've given it up, Johnny.
What happened?
He's just taking a rest, Daniel.
That make you sore?
Not me.
It just sounds like Johnny's using his head.
And that sounds so strange, it makes me suspicious.
Oh, great little kidder, ain't you, Chuck?
Hey, Mr. Barr.
Come on, baby, let's dance.
Now the publicity buildup started.
Chuck was a hero.
The story of the signing hit the papers coast to coast, border to border.
The fighting Marine, they traced his medals to every beachhead.
I even came in for some publicity as Chuck's best friend, the guy who was sidetracking
his own career to train him.
And on the day Chuck signed for his first fight with Whitey Collins in the Bronx Coliseum,
it was.
Who should come in to give him his medical, but my old CO from the Med Corps, Doc Peterson.
Hey, corporal Johnny Wilson.
Don't make me say what are you doing here.
Tell me.
I'm a fighter, Captain.
Well, well.
That's a far cry from Walter Reed Hospital, huh, Johnny?
How you doing?
So far the Army paid off better.
Oh, Doc, this is Chuck Masters.
Oh, hiya, Chuck.
Say, according to all the publicity I hear, you're going to be the next welder champ.
Yeah.
With bars of money, we opened a training camp in the Berkshires.
I taught Chuck to box and he learned fast.
His left wasn't too good, but his right was OK and he was shifty.
Three days before his fight with Collins, Chuck and me were in the ring sparring.
Hold it, Johnny.
There's Daniel.
Hello, Daniel.
Hiya, Chum.
Well, baby, I didn't expect to see you.
All right, all right.
What are we waiting for?
Oh, it's you, huh?
Hello, Lefty.
Training camp's is no place for dames, you know that.
Yeah, yeah, that's right.
You never watched me train before.
What's the magnet?
I got the day off and I wanted to watch the process whereby they turn a guy like him into
a guy like you.
I looked at her lips while she was talking and the thought that she might be hoping for
somebody else's lips on hers, Chuck's maybe tore at my inside.
The gong sounded and I went for it.
Take it easy.
Take it easy.
Turn it out, Johnny.
Turn it out.
What's the matter with you?
You're nuts.
Why are you thugging like that?
Well, I figured Chuck is about ready for anything.
Come on, Chuckie boy, put him up.
Let's see if you can take it.
Johnny, take it easy.
I really cut loose then.
I've been storing it for a long time.
I belted him good.
He went down and stayed there.
Oh, now you've got it.
When they carried him out, he opened his eyes, but it didn't look like he was going to be
able to get out.
I'm sorry, Johnny.
I'm sorry.
I'm sorry.
I'm sorry.
I'm sorry.
I'm sorry, Johnny.
You're nuts.
I should have killed them both then.
The light is bringing you Dick Powell in Slow Burn.
Tonight's production in radio's outstanding theater of thrills, Suspense.
Well, your gas tank is full now, Mr. Wilcox.
Let's see.
Six tenths of a gallon.
That'll be 14 cents.
Ah, now there's a car for economy like that auto light stay full battery.
It really gives you a long run for your money.
Why did you know that in tests conducted according to SAE life cycle standards, auto light stay
full batteries gave 70% longer average life than batteries without stay full features?
Sure did.
Oh.
Well, did you know that auto light stay full batteries have fiberglass retaining mats at
every positive plate to hold the power producing material in place?
Oh, I sure did, Mr. Wilcox.
Well, did you know that this powerful pusher offer of pulsating pistons has more than three
times as much liquid reserve above the plate as batteries without stay full features?
Sure.
That's why it needs water only three times a year in normal car use.
That does it.
Give me that gas pump.
From now on, you can sell auto light stay full batteries and I'll sell gas.
Oh, but Mr. Wilcox, don't you see?
I couldn't give you a wrong answer.
Why not?
Because you're always right with auto light.
And now auto light brings back to our Hollywood sound stage our star, Dick Powell in Slow
Burn, a tale well calculated to keep you in suspense.
Still on the phone, Todd?
Yeah.
Now hold it a second.
I want to gander out the window.
The cops in large numbers, Todd, but they won't find me for a while and I only need
a little more time to finish.
Well, Chuck won his first fight naturally, he was getting the slow, careful build up.
He won a second fight over in Jersey.
So then left, he began to book him.
He said, Courtney Barr, I want to Chuck to go out and make a tour, get a list of knockouts
so it'd have a record.
So I sat on my mitts.
The day Chuck got back from his tour, he called and Daniel invited him to dinner.
How was the tour, Chuck?
Oh, fine.
I had a couple of fights that were terrific.
In Denver, I fought Willie Myers.
What a boxer, but I found his weakness.
See, when he was getting set to throw his right, he always flipped his elbow just a
bit.
From then on, he was my meat.
You're beginning to enjoy fighting, Chuck.
Why shouldn't he enjoy it?
There's money in it.
Sure.
50% of the person a bonus.
Don't forget the bonus.
Scrambled brains, cauliflower ears, and the nose smattered all over your face.
A good fighter keeps his nose straight.
Johnny was just like Chuck when he first started.
Nothing kills a man better than...
I'll get the dessert.
I'll help you.
So I got no instincts.
I'm just a bum, huh?
Have some pie, Johnny.
Oh, give me the knife.
I'm not worth anything, huh?
I stay with you because I'm trying to salvage what I think is still there.
And that crack that I used to be like Chuck is now.
Johnny, we can still save it.
I want it to be the way it was.
You stay away from him.
What for?
Come in and finish your dinner.
You heard me.
Stay away from Chuck or I'll finish him.
Every sports writer was wondering who was going to fight Mike Gruen.
Nobody got a crack at the chapel as he fought Gruen first.
I knew who it was going to be, me.
And with the money left, he got out of Chuck's fights.
That was the deal we'd made.
Well, I was getting itchy about it.
All this time, I wasn't getting any particular buildup.
We were on the lake cruising around relaxing after two weeks of hard training.
Barr and Chuck were watching a kid horsing around doing handstands in a canoe.
I took Lefty to the other end of the launch.
Yeah?
Yeah, look, Lefty.
I know, Johnny, I know.
Now, don't worry about the Gruen fight.
Maybe it would be smarter, Lefty, if you gave up my contract on the surface.
Then you could hold off Chuck while my new manager signed me for that match.
I...
I can't, Johnny.
No, why not?
Now, now, don't get mad.
But I had to give Barr 50% of your contract or he wouldn't back Chuck originally.
But I got it fixed...
Well, you dumb stupid...
I spun around and saw a canoe floating bottoms up.
Chuck was ripping off his clothes, but I got out of mine fast, too.
Me and Chuck hit the water together.
You see him, Johnny?
No.
I saw the kid, but I wasn't telling Chuck.
He'd come up about 20 yards away and he went down in the same spot.
This was going to be publicity for me.
I dove to the kid, grabbed his hair and pulled him up.
When the boat came up alongside, Lefty hauled him in.
That's it, come on now.
When they pulled me into the boat, I saw Lefty point to the landing.
Oh, look at that carload of reporters that just drove up, Chuck.
You and Johnny get on with those wet clothes.
I'll take care of the reporters.
Reporters?
Well, send them along, boys.
Photographers, bring on.
That evening, I was sparring with Chuck, sharpening his footwork when Dania came up with the New
York papers.
Don't you two ever get out of that ring?
Oh, and by the way, congratulations.
Oh, you hear all about the hero stuff on the lake?
Yeah, congratulations.
But she wasn't looking at me.
She was looking at Chuck.
I hopped out of the ring, grabbed the newspapers out of her hand.
The story was there all right in big block headlines.
Chuck Masters saves boy from drowning.
Medal of Honor winner does it again.
Me?
I wasn't even in the comic section.
This is all wrong, Dania.
Johnny saved that kid.
Yeah, Johnny saved that kid.
Now, Johnny's going to save himself.
Where's that Lefty Wilkins?
Oh, that's a dirty trick, Johnny.
Chuck, you're trying to tell me you knew nothing of this.
Your picture and life history on the front page.
I swear I...
Now your eyes open, Johnny.
Look what they've done to Chuck.
How they made him lie just for the sake of publicity.
I didn't lie.
And what publicity?
Your fight with Mike Gruen on the sports page.
The whole double cross opened up like a filthy sunflower.
I was the patsy, the fall guy, the jerk, the dummy.
I was going to be the next champ.
Yeah, the next champ under the dunce cap.
I wanted to pound someone, something, anything.
My eyes focused on Dania.
I'm glad this has happened.
Maybe Johnny now you'll give up.
We'll have a chance to live decent, normal lives.
I'm glad this has happened.
I spark plugged this whole thing so I could get that Gruen about.
I fixed it.
You're stupid, stupid, stupid.
Shut up!
You will hit me.
You miserable scum.
Come back here.
Let her alone.
Oh, I've been waiting for this, Chuckie boy.
Johnny, take it easy.
Wait a minute.
Oh, Chuck.
Johnny!
Take it easy.
Come on, take it easy.
All right, now.
Throw Wilson off the grounds.
Yeah, yeah, throw the bum out.
Throw the bum out.
Throw the bum out.
Throw the bum out.
Throw the bum out.
Throw the bum out.
Throw the bum out.
Throw the bum out.
Throw the bum out.
Throw the bum out.
Throw the bum out.
Get out of here.
They threw me out all right, and while they were doing it, I was thinking I was gonna
kill Lefty Wilkins.
That was definite.
And I remembered that all Daniel worried about was Chuck.
Chuck's character.
Chuck's gentle look.
Yeah, I was gonna kill Lefty.
And for Chuckie boy, I was gonna think of something special.
Very special.
Day after day, I'd wake up with a new idea, but none good enough.
Then one night I walked into a bar and saw someone.
Someone who was gonna give me the answer.
It was my old CO, Doc Peterson.
Warped role, Johnny Wilson.
Come on over.
Bring a drink with you.
Thanks, Captain.
Still medicking for the boxing commission?
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Still fighting?
Yeah, off and on, off and on.
Glad to see you, Johnny.
Hey, you're the second guy I've seen from our old outfit recently.
Yeah.
You remember that lieutenant in the chemical corps who nearly lost his eyes?
I saw him.
I met his new wife.
A real mess.
I guess we didn't do such a good job on his eyes.
Eyes?
What do you mean, Captain?
You remember, the fool got bicarbide of mercury in him.
Severe corneal lacerations.
The lucky thing we caught him when we did it, he'd have gone permanently blind.
Oh, it's a terrible thing when a man loses his eyesight.
Yep.
Of course it was a man in your profession, huh, Johnny?
Huh?
Yeah, yeah.
A good thing a guy can tell when that stuff gets in his eyes.
And a guy can always tell.
Burns like mad.
Yeah, yeah, I guess it would.
Well, I gotta be on my way, Johnny.
Captain.
How long would that stuff have to be in a guy's eyes to blind him permanently?
Oh, 26 hours, about, if he's in top condition.
The captain left, and me, I walked the streets all night, most of the next morning until
the 42nd Street Library opened.
I went through five medical books before I found what I wanted.
Eye anesthesia, pontiki, causes loss of sensation in the eye without affecting the eyesight.
I went up to the training camp.
The groin bout was in three days.
I had to get back in favor, and I piled it on good.
I played it with hearts and flowers, everything.
Poor Johnny boy.
Oh, I'm sincerely sorry.
That's the way it is, Chuck.
I'm sorry for the hassle I caused.
I'd sure like to be with you for the night of the fight.
Well, okay, Johnny.
It'd be funny fighting a local match without you in my corner.
Don's fishy to me.
You ain't the kind to forgive.
Well, it ain't fishy, Lefty.
Since Daniel left, things have been lousy with me.
I'm out of dough, I gotta eat, I need the job.
He gets the job, Lefty, he writes it.
He taught me everything I know.
I want him in my corner.
When we walked down the aisle in the garden for the ring, I had three things in my bag.
A long, sharp knife for Lefty Wilkins and the ponticane and bichloride of mercury for
Chuckie Boy.
At the end of the fourth round, Chuck was way out in front of the left.
He was beaming all over.
Well, nice going, Chuck.
Hey, the cinch.
Then I reached for the vaseline that every fighter has smeared over his eyebrows to keep
his eyes from getting cut.
I had the vaseline loaded with ponticane.
I smeared it all around those eyes of his.
Now all I had to do was wait until the ponticane took effect.
The next three rounds were a nightmare.
Chuck seemed as good as ever and Groan was weakening fast.
Suppose he got knocked out before I got the bichloride in Chuck's eyes.
Well, everything still okay, Chuck?
He sure must be pooped, Johnny.
He hit me in the eye three times that round.
I didn't even feel it.
Yeah, that's all.
Oh, come on, dummy.
Swat my face.
We'll all call water, boy.
Next round I'll kill him.
He leaned back.
I picked up a sobbing sponge from the outer bucket, the one with the bichloride, and I
swat it.
I swat it.
I picked up a sobbing sponge from the outer bucket, the one with the bichloride, and I
swabbed his face and kept swatting it while the liquid ran over his forehead and down
in his eyes.
That is the best.
He didn't even wince as the poison drained under his lids, into his eyes, and over his
eyeballs.
He started the eighth round strong and cocky.
He pushed Groan all over that ring.
And then all of a sudden it happened.
He stopped and put his gloves to his eyes, trying to rub away the creeping blindness.
Groan played it cagey.
He thought it was a trick, but his gloves were off.
He was just trying to get the
gloves to his eyes, trying to rub away the creeping blindness.
Groan played it cagey.
He thought it was a trick, but as Chuck desperately hunted for him, Groan caught wise and he piled
into Chuck.
Groan tore his head off.
He hit Chuck with everything but the ring post.
Chuck kept going down and coming up for more.
Oh, it was beautiful.
I picked up my bag and left the corner.
On the way out, I stopped for a moment where Lefty Wilkins bent forward agonizing in his
seat as he watched the championship go out the window.
He didn't even move.
He was just trying to get the gloves to his eyes.
He was just trying to get the gloves to his eyes.
He was just trying to get the gloves to his eyes.
He was just trying to get the gloves to his eyes.
He was just trying to get the gloves to his eyes.
He was just trying to get the gloves to his eyes.
He was just trying to get the gloves to his eyes.
He was just trying to get the gloves to his eyes.
He was just trying to get the gloves to his eyes.
He was just trying to get the gloves to his eyes.
He was just trying to get the gloves to his eyes.
He was just trying to get the gloves to his eyes.
He was just trying to get the gloves to his eyes.
He was just trying to get the gloves to his eyes.
He was just trying to get the gloves to his eyes.
He was just trying to get the gloves to his eyes.
He was just trying to get the gloves to his eyes.