Auto Light and its 98,000 dealers bring you Miss Anne Baxter in tonight's presentation
of Suspense.
Tonight, Auto Light recreates a classic tale as with song and story we tell of the death
of Barbara Allen, our star Miss Anne Baxter.
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And now Auto Light presents the Death of Barbara Allen, starring Miss Anne Baxter, hoping once
again to keep you in suspense.
In Scarlet Town where I was born, there was a fair maid dwelling, made every youth cry
well a day, and her name was Barbara Allen.
His voice was on the wind calling, calling to me, and the surface to the west of me and
to the east, and the sounds of the night sea were all around, and on the finger of strand
I waited for him, for my love, for my love as he rode to me.
And a star swung across the moon and the wind rose from the night as he rode to me, as he
came to me.
I thought you wouldn't be here, Barbara Allen.
And where else would I be on such a night?
Home perhaps, where it's warm.
And the young men of Scarlet Town to knock on your door.
Not here where the sea rises and the moon is cold.
Where I meet my love.
But there's a storm coming.
Let it.
The storm and the tides will drown this strand.
And we would drown.
Yes.
We would drown, Will.
And you would live no longer than I, and I no longer than you.
Our love would die at once on a storm.
Why do you talk of death?
Oh, I talk of love.
And I do.
And there's no death in it.
No, Will.
Only this.
Oh, Will.
Fair Barbara Allen.
Wild Barbara Allen.
Ride with me.
Yes.
They rode, they rode on a stallion black.
The sea it was a-swellin'.
And dark, dark clouds a shadow lay on the lips of Barbara Allen.
Then Willie held her oh so close.
And he kissed a little trembling.
Then kissed again in fond ado.
Then kissed again in fond ado.
And he kissed again in fond ado.
Father.
In the kitchen.
Sean's here.
He's been waiting.
Hello, Barbara Allen.
I'll get you some tea.
No.
The pillow in back of me slid down, Barbara Allen.
Sit.
Where you been?
On the Strand.
With Will.
With Will.
Sean's been waiting.
You knew he was going to be here.
And then sitting with your father waiting, doing the things you should be doing, while
you meet Will on the Strand.
Ah, he can do for himself.
Thank you, Teafater.
I like whiskey in it.
Here.
Drink, old man.
I like whiskey in it because whiskey keeps the warm down.
And it's a cold house.
It's a season of storm.
And I have a daughter who's never home.
Ah, father.
The warmth of my daughter is for a sailor named Will.
Father.
And my house is cold.
You'll need a pillow for his chair, Barbara Allen.
He can do for himself.
He can do whatever he needs for himself.
He sits there and rocks and remembers the time when he had a wife to do for him.
Do everything but walk for him.
My house is cold.
Listen to him.
Barbara Allen?
Yes, Sean.
Will is a sailor.
Yes.
With a small boat.
Yes.
And a narrow life.
You couldn't know.
I know.
And one day he'll say goodbye to you and sailor small boat.
That will be the day when the sea will throw him back to you.
Wrapped in kelp and drowned.
And what of you, Sean?
Shelf keeper, Sean.
Seller of pots and fish hooks and whiskeys, Sean.
Should I love you, Sean?
Yes.
Cold.
And what will you make of me?
One like him who sits in a rocker and remembers.
You love Will.
How many others love Willie the sailor?
And how many does he love?
No one.
There's a girl.
You've seen her, Barbara Allen.
She's new to Scarlet Town.
Her name is Moria.
And she drinks wine with Will.
They whisper in life together.
Get out of here, Sean.
They say when Will leaves you, he goes to her.
You lie.
And if I'm not lying?
If he hurts you, Barbara Allen, I'll kill him.
Get out of here, Sean.
I would.
I'd kill him.
And later I could still hear my father rocking and the sounds of his remembering.
For me, it was a night of no sleep.
I lay there in my bed and outside was fitful squalls of rain.
It began and stopped and began again.
There was surf that eddied in the rocks and mist and choke and tangle of kelp flung against
the strand.
And Will's face and his words and the words of Sean and the sudden blaze of light across
my bed.
The night careened against the sea.
And then the night was still.
Then it was morning.
I got up and dressed, walked through the room where my father was, still sleeping in his
care.
The beach had been pitted by the rain when I walked it.
The dune grass was green and shining.
The wind held stung the sand against my legs.
And down the curb of the beach near the end of it, Will's boat.
The sail on it to be mended.
From me to men.
For Will.
Hello.
What are you doing on Will's boat?
It's where I belong now, on Will's boat.
To mend his nets and the sails.
Will sent you here?
He left me here.
I'm not...
I know who you are.
You are Moria.
You wear a silk dress in the morning to mend a net.
Here, this is a net.
Mend it.
Let me watch what you'll do with it.
He will teach me when he returns.
When did you see Will?
I saw him.
When?
When I was with him.
When he told me to stay here and today we would go sailing together.
Sailing?
Where?
Why?
To someplace.
This coast is new to me.
Will wants me to know it.
What other places has he shown you?
Scarlet Town and what's around it.
You ridden with him?
On his black horse.
Ridden the Strand?
At night?
Yes.
The ruined church at the end of it?
Yes, all of these things.
Where is Will?
We sail today.
Will's in Scarlet Town.
He's buying things for the sailing.
Wine, cigarettes...
At Sean's.
What?
Will is at Sean's.
And he'll stay there.
He won't sail with you.
Across the dunes, oh she did run
The wind with her a-sying
And as she ran, the more she grieved
Until she burst out crying
When she came down to Scarlet Town
The street with crowd was fillin'
When they saw her, they stepped aside
Made way for Barbara Allen
He's in there, Barbara Allen.
In Sean's place.
Why is there a crowd, Mr. Eamon?
In Sean's place.
Will's in there.
What happened?
I was in there.
Will was buying things of Sean.
Will was laughing.
He broke open a bottle of wine.
He made a toast.
To whom?
To the ladies all around.
To Maria?
To her.
And what happened?
There was talk.
Then Will had a knife in his hand.
Then Sean did too.
There was a fight.
Will's in there, Barbara Allen.
He's lying on the floor.
He called your name.
Hello, Will.
I'm dying, Barbara Allen.
What did you say, Will?
I'm dying.
Die.
Auto Light is bringing you Miss Ann Baxter in
The Death of Barbara Allen.
Tonight's presentation in radio's outstanding
theater of thrills, Suspense.
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And remember, from bumper to tail light,
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And now, auto light brings back to our Hollywood sound stage,
Miss Ann Baxter in Elliot Lewis's production of
The Death of Barbara Allen.
A tale well calculated to keep you in...
suspense.
In scarlet town
where I was born
Twilight was a-fallin'
On William Green
cold death it lay
No grief from Barbara Allen
They carried will to the edge of the Strand
the people scarlet town
and I was not there
They opened the earth of the old treach yard
and they scattered the earth over the body of will
and I was not there
I walked the sands of scarlet shore
and I cursed the grave that held him
Is that you, Barbara Allen?
How do you want, old woman?
Is that you, Barbara Allen?
I'm old and I can't see so good
especially with a mist so heavy and drifting like the dew.
What do you want?
Oh, give me some of the driftwood you're gathering.
I'm an old woman and when I bend for the wood
the sea snatches it from my hand.
Think what I have, there's more.
Let me walk with you and fill my apron for me.
All right.
Your will is dead.
He's dead.
They're burying him.
The whole town is there.
You're not there, Barbara Allen.
And you're not there, old woman.
I buried three sons on that strand
in the churchyard at the end of it.
Never do I want to be on that strip of land again.
Nor I.
But you will and I.
Your death place is there and mine
and all of us is scarlet town.
The earth covers us in summer
and the sea in winter and storm.
Oh, give me that piece of wood from my apron.
Take it.
You met will there on the strand, didn't you, Barbara Allen?
It's a place of love and death.
That will was handsome.
Listen to me, old woman.
Walk with me and beg my driftwood and I'll give it to you.
But don't talk to me, will.
And why not?
He died for the love of you.
For the love of me and one called Moria
and the rest of the ladies all around.
For the love of you.
I was there in Sean's place touching the vaults of dress goods and close.
I heard what happened, all of it.
For the love of me.
Sean spoke your name lightly in a teasing way
and he leaned over with a smile and whispered a question in Will's ear.
Then in Will's hand was a knife because of what Sean had asked.
You lie, old woman.
It's how Will died.
For the love of you, I swear it, on the graves of my three sons who lie dead.
For the love of me.
Not for the one called Moria.
Her of the silk dress who paid Will to take her sailing.
Paid him?
This I heard too when the toasts were drunk in Sean's place.
Gave him money to take her sailing.
Will spoke her name lightly and laughed when he told us of it.
Well, fetch me that piece of wood there, Barbara, and my apron will be full.
And then she left me, the old woman did.
And for an hour I walked the beach gathering driftwood for my house
and all the while the bell of the ruined church tolled for Will.
For the death of Will.
For my true love.
For Will.
Night came swiftly with the rain
and the moon said behind something.
Black in the sky and it stayed there.
The sea was vast.
It rolled in and broke and the end of it was chill against my feet.
Far away the file of mourner's life as they walked home.
And I went home too and made a fire.
Waited till the sound of my father's returning.
The funeral was over.
The dead had been buried in the sand.
My father asked for his tea with whiskey in it.
I gave it to him.
I left.
I went to a place.
Sean's place.
Barbara Allen.
The storm outside you're drenched.
Take my coat, Sean.
Yes.
You killed Will.
It was a fair fight.
You killed him with a knife.
In my belt.
You'll hang for it.
No, it was a fair fight.
According to the law of Scarlet Town, he could have killed me.
I'm alive, he's dead, no one will hang.
I'm glad.
I was worried for you.
Barbara Allen.
No, no, wait.
Tell me about it.
About what?
The fight.
How you killed Will.
Will was your love and you want to know how he died?
Will is dead and I can't breathe.
Tell me why, Sean.
I'll make you happy.
Yes.
Tell me how you killed Will.
Will was a sailor, but he was clumsy with a knife.
And when I drew mine, and we faced each other, and we circled,
I could tell it, heavy footed and awkward.
And when he rushed me, I stepped aside, and he fell.
And everybody laughed.
And I let him get up.
And somehow he closed with me and cut me here on my arm.
Oh, show me.
Oh, poor Sean.
We bent back over the counter, the two of us struggling.
And I looked into his face, and I saw a thing.
Fright.
Will was dead.
Willie, the sailor, was scared.
And I brought my hand up.
Up, Papa Allen.
Oh, you should have seen it.
His face when the knife went into him.
That knife?
In your belt?
Yes.
I want to see it.
Put it there on the table where I can look at it.
Sean.
Yes.
What else will you do for me?
What?
There was a storm outside, and I came to you.
What will you do for me now?
Love you.
How?
With fine things, Barbara Allen.
With silk from my shelves.
Whatever you want.
This one.
This bowl of silk.
Or this one.
Or this one.
Which one, Barbara Allen? Which one?
They're at your feet.
Whatever you want.
And listen, I have these too.
Mirrors.
And these.
Buttons of shell.
And these.
Combs of Mother of Pearl.
For your hair, Barbara Allen.
Sean.
For your hair.
You will love me forever, Sean?
For as long as I live.
Tell me again.
For as long as I live.
Yes.
You.
With a knife, you killed Will.
I killed you.
Father.
I'm home, Barbara Allen.
Something happened, Father.
You left me alone again.
The fire's gone out.
I went to Sean.
The fire's gone out.
And I killed him.
The sea spilled over the churchyard.
And the dead will drown.
The dead in the old graves.
And the dead in the new graves.
Will.
That's why I killed Sean, Father.
Because of Will.
His grave will sink beneath the sea.
The storm will wash over him.
Lonely.
Don't you hear what I'm saying, Father?
I killed Sean.
Will is dead.
I killed Sean.
And your life is over.
Yes.
Like mine.
Sit with me, Barbara Allen.
Yes.
And I sat with him at his feet while he rocked.
He remembered.
And I remembered.
And once my father got up, walked to the fire,
and threw on wood.
Sat down again.
Rocked.
And I remembered.
Will.
Will.
The dead will drown.
Will.
The grief came and the tears.
Will.
Will, the tears.
His grave will sink beneath the sea.
I'll make your bed, Barbara Allen.
All right.
See, you killed Sean.
I did.
Look through the window.
The lights.
The people from Scarlet Town are coming after you.
They'll hang me for what I did.
Your love lies on the strand.
He sleeps on the strand.
Your love is over me.
I ran.
I ran to where my love was.
Where Will was.
Down to the beach, under the strand.
And they followed me.
The lights of the people from Scarlet Town.
And their voices on the howling wind.
And I ran down the strand.
But the black sea was covering it.
And they followed me.
Their voices.
And the bell on the wind.
And their voices on the wind.
I ran.
And fell.
And ran again.
Where my love lay lonely.
The will in his grave.
In the churchyard I found him.
And no longer was he lonely.
Sweet William lay in the old churchyard.
His love so fair beside him.
Out of William's heart.
Grew a red, red rose.
Out of Barbara's grew a briar.
They grew and grew.
To the old church tower.
And they could not grow higher.
And at the end.
A tidal lover's knot.
And the rose wrapped round the briar.
Suspense.
Presented by Auto Light.
Tonight's star, Miss Ann Baxter, will return in just a moment.
This is Harlow Wilcock speaking for Auto Light,
world's largest independent manufacturer of automotive electrical equipment.
Auto Light is proud to serve the greatest names in the industry.
They are members of the Auto Light family,
as well as are the 98,000 Auto Light distributors and dealers in the United States,
and thousands more in Canada and throughout the world.
Our family also includes the nearly 30,000 men and women in 28 great Auto Light plants from coast to coast,
as well as the 18,000 people who have invested a portion of their savings in Auto Light.
Every Auto Light product is backed by constant research
and precision built to the highest standards of quality and performance.
So remember, from bumper to tail light, you're always right with Auto Light.
And now we bring back to our suspense microphone Miss Ann Baxter.
Miss Baxter, we of Auto Light would like to thank you for another magnificent performance
and to announce to our listeners that you have won the first annual Golden Mic Award
for the best feminine performance of the past year on suspense.
And here Ann, is your handsome Golden Mic to add to the Baxter Trophy.
Thank you Harlow, it's beautiful. And thanks to Auto Light.
I'd also like to thank the wonderful group of suspense players who worked with me,
especially Joseph Kearns and Jeanette Nolan,
who have also won Golden Mics for the best supporting performances on suspense.
Thank you for all of us, and good night.
Next week, a story that will prove once again that truth is stranger than fiction.
Mr. Cornell Wilde will star as a man who inadvertently was hired to be an assassin.
The story is called, Alan in Wonderland, and will be heard on Suspense.
Suspense was produced and directed by Elliot Lewis,
with music written by Lucian Morawick and conducted by Lud Bluskin.
The Death of Barbara Allen was written for Suspense by Morton Fine and David Friedkin.
In tonight's story, Jeanette Nolan was heard as the old lady,
Joseph Kearns as Barbara's father,
featured in the cast were Harry Bartel, William Conrad, Louise Lewis, and Junius Matthews.
And Baxter is soon to be seen in Alfred Hitchcock's I Confess.
And remember next week on Suspense, Mr. Cornell Wilde in Alan in Wonderland.
You can buy auto light staple batteries, auto light electrical parts,
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