Suspense.
And the producer of radio's outstanding theater of thrills,
the master of mystery and adventure, William N. Robeson.
There is more than one kind of mystery.
In addition to the whodunnits, there are the howdunnits and the whydunnits.
Take the celebrated murder story of Frankie and Johnny.
Everybody knows whodunnit, Frankie.
And everybody knows why she done it.
Because Johnny done her wrong.
But we feel that how she done it, with Miss Margaret Whiting starring as Frankie,
makes a story well calculated to keep you in...
Suspense.
Frankie and Johnny were lovers.
Oh lordy, how they could love.
They swore to be true to each other.
Just as true as stars above.
He was my man.
But he done me wrong.
Johnny.
Johnny honey.
Put away that clarinet and talk to me, Johnny.
Huh?
Love me honey.
Sure, sure.
Johnny.
What you want now?
Talk to me baby.
That's all I want.
All right.
Come here.
That's what you really want, isn't it?
You're my man, Johnny.
That's right.
I'm your man.
Except sometimes.
What are you talking about?
Except sometimes, Johnny, when you go away.
Where do you go when you go away?
Come on now baby, don't start that again.
Where do you go, Johnny?
The kookaloo's on Basin Street, you know that.
They don't give you nothing there that I can't give you here, Johnny.
What's there's a back room, a back room and a place to play my liquor stick.
The place to sit and play and nobody bothers.
Me and a couple of others.
You know that baby, don't you worry.
You can play your music someplace else and get money for it.
I worry about that.
Don't you start riling me, Frankie.
Why don't you take yourself a walk?
The whole town of New Orleans.
So many places to play your music and you sit in the back room.
You go away from me and I...
I'll tell you something baby.
You don't like it you can take that long walk to Georgia where you come from.
You leaving?
No.
Couple of girls I used to know never bothered me about going down to kookaloo's.
All right.
I won't bother you.
Got any money, Frankie?
I got some.
I saw me a suit.
Walking down Basin Street I saw me a suit in the store window.
Oh, I need me that suit, honey.
I sure look good in it.
What's it cost, Johnny?
You want me in a cheap suit?
I didn't say that. I just asked.
A hundred dollars?
You got a hundred dollars, baby?
I got it.
Oh, that's good.
Don't worry I'll buy you a beer.
Johnny and me we went walking
johny wore his brand new suit
I paid out all of that money
just to make my man look cute
You are my man, Johnny.
Sure I'm your man, Frankie.
Show me off, baby.
All right, honey.
We walk down to Esplanade where the lights are,
and everybody can see you fine.
We walked real slow along Basin.
The gals, they all called him by name.
But I walked real close to my Johnny,
because I know that man's still in game.
Frankie, honey, all this walking's tying me out.
I'm showing you off, Johnny, like you said.
Showing my man off in the bright light.
The light's just as bright at Kukulu's,
and I kind of like it where the lights are inside anyhow.
Anywhere you want, Johnny.
Sure.
So we walk back along Basin.
Back up to old Kukulu's.
Down the steps to the cellar where Tiso played the blues.
Hiya, Johnny.
Oh, hi, Nellie.
Got your new suit, huh?
Yeah. Frankie bought it for me.
It's a good Johnny.
You look real nice.
Who was that, Johnny?
Oh, just the girl. Nellie Bly.
Pretty friendly, aren't you?
No, just polite.
Is she why you come down here all the time?
Frank, I told you, don't you rile me.
All right, Johnny, don't you forget, you're my man.
Sure, sure.
Say, I need me a beer, Frankie.
Get you one?
I ain't thirsty, honey.
Oh, I'm thirsty.
I'm real thirsty.
All I got left is $9.
I ain't that thirsty.
Just give me one of them.
All right.
Here.
I'll set you down here by the piano,
and you can listen to Tiso.
You wait here, Frankie.
I'll bring me back my beer, and I'll sit with you.
Hi, Frankie.
What would you like to hear?
Just do what you're playing, Tiso.
I like that fun.
Dreamy like, huh?
I feel dreamy.
How are you and Johnny getting along, Frankie?
I like that music you're playing.
I'm glad.
I'm mighty glad.
You ever get homesick, Frankie?
First I did.
I never think about home no more.
George is a real nice place.
A gal can do real nice there.
I'm doing nice.
I got Johnny.
Yeah?
Sure I got Johnny.
He comes back to the table from the bar.
You ask him.
I do that when he comes back.
He ain't at the bar, Frankie.
He ain't?
Not anymore, he ain't.
Look for yourself.
Bartender.
Yes, ma'am.
Where's Johnny?
Your name's Frankie, ma'am.
Yeah.
Where's Johnny?
Well, he told me to tell you something.
He said he had to leave.
He said don't wait up for him.
Where'd he go?
I don't know, ma'am.
He didn't say that.
I ran to the street in a hurry.
My Johnny was nowhere around.
A gal leaning in her doorway made a soft laughing sound.
Looking for your man?
Your Johnny's gone.
Walk up and down all the pavements.
Knock on a million locked doors.
Keep on asking for my Johnny in the weeping corridors.
He is my man.
He can't do wrong.
Guys tried to sell me some nighttime.
Guys tried to kiss away my tears.
Said come along, pretty Frankie.
I'll love you for years and years.
Forget your man.
That man's dead wrong.
But I walked on for no grandpas.
Searched the dark night in between.
Keep looking for my loving Johnny.
Right down to old Dauphine.
For he's my man.
He can't do wrong.
I turned into a dark alley.
Close by that jelly's gin mill.
I see fat Miss Willie leaning on her window sill.
Good evening, Frankie.
Hello, Miss Willie.
Pretty evening, ain't it?
I haven't noticed.
Oh, it's a real pretty evening, Frankie.
You outstrolling all alone?
I guess I am.
Come on inside.
We'll have us a chat.
No, I'm going to walk some more.
We'll have us some beer.
No thanks, Miss Willie.
We'll have us some whiskey, Frankie.
No, I got to walk some more.
I got something to tell you, Frankie.
What?
Well, I sit here all day long.
All night long, too.
I never sleep.
I see all sorts of things.
All sorts of people.
You see Johnny come by here, Miss Willie?
Yeah, Johnny.
He sure is a good looking boy.
Black hair, flasters down like that.
My, my.
The way he walks.
You notice the way he walks, huh?
People step back and let him come past the way he walks.
My Johnny.
See him come by here lately?
I seen a gal come by here lately.
Alone?
Not this gal.
Ain't a night for a gal to be alone.
A real pretty gal.
Who was she with, Miss Willie?
Had gold hair and red lips.
Her name was Nellie Bly.
Nellie Bly?
He said hello to a gal named Nellie over kookaloofs.
He wasn't saying goodbye when they passed here.
Where'd they go?
Show off his new suit, I guess.
Where'd they go?
Down the street.
They went that way, Frankie.
Found a jelly cakes place?
I think I saw them going to jelly cakes.
I ain't sure now, but I think they did.
Where you going, Frankie?
Jelly cakes the other way.
I'm going to find me a pawn shop.
Why, Frankie?
I gotta buy me something.
What?
I gotta buy me a gun.
In a moment we continue with suspense.
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If you expect to leave the service soon, don't let that worry you.
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while they're taking a USOPI course.
If you're studying a correspondence course,
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providing you submitted at least one lesson while you were in the service.
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So whether you're a 30-year man or not, take advantage of a good deal
and enroll with USOPI now for a uniform education study with USOPI.
And now...
we continue with Frankie and Johnny, starring Miss Margaret Whiting,
a tale well calculated to keep you in...
suspense.
Oh, yeah, yeah.
Now, don't go away,
because there'll be some more where that come from after a little refreshment.
Jelly cake.
Oh, how are you, Miss Frankie?
Can I talk to you a minute, Jelly Cake?
Sure can.
Sit down here.
You like a little something to drink?
No, thanks.
Has Johnny been in here?
He been here.
With a girl?
Mm-hmm.
What'd they do here?
They're sitting over there.
Then they got up and danced for a while, a couple of times when we played them soft.
But mostly they just sat.
He kiss her?
You ought to ask me things like that, Miss Frankie.
I want to know what he did.
Well, there was a little fight while he was in here.
It wasn't very much of a fight.
He just hit a man, that's all.
Johnny never hit a man on account of me.
Oh, no, it wasn't that, Miss Frankie.
Some man walked by and spilled a little gin on Johnny's new suit.
It was an accident.
The man didn't mean nothing, but Johnny hit him.
Said the man ruined his suit.
Johnny might have killed that man, except for the lady.
He called Nellie.
She fixed it.
Fixed it?
How?
Took Johnny out of here for a little while.
Then they come back.
Johnny was smiling.
Johnny was smiling and leaning close to this girl and telling her things.
Then she'd be smiling too and laying her head up against Johnny's new yellow suit.
Yellow suit?
Well, I didn't buy him a yellow suit.
That's the kind of suit he's wearing when he come back in here, Miss Frankie.
Soft kind of yellow.
Not the kind that screams at you.
Whispering kind of yellow.
The one I bought him cost $100.
Oh, you couldn't buy that yellow suit for no $100.
This was five pearl buttons on the coat and the vest was silk.
And there was a big gold chain across the front.
Oh, that Johnny lighted up the place with a soft pretty light.
I'd have bought him a suit like that if he'd asked me to.
I'd have bought him anything he wanted.
You never bought him no diamonds, did you?
Diamonds?
Like the one he's wearing on his little finger.
Miss Frankie, that was the biggest diamond in the whole world.
The brightest one too.
That Johnny ain't never gonna need a light to find his way around.
Not with that diamond on his little finger.
I guess Nellie bought him that too.
And the patent leather shoes and the cane.
I guess she likes him real well.
Guess that Johnny got himself a woman.
Where'd they go, Jelly Cake?
Out of here. Some time ago.
Must have been an hour.
Where?
He'd give me a dollar to play him a tune.
He called me a tune and said,
Play it before I take my lovin' Nellie home.
You know where she lives?
Yeah, up there where S-line crosses Charterus, Miss Frankie.
Third house down, left side.
Thanks, Jelly Cake.
What you gonna do?
You know what I'm gonna do.
You gonna kill it?
Well, night, Miss Frankie.
Yeah.
You my man, Johnny?
All yours, Nellie.
You my woman?
I ain't nobody else's.
Oh, you gonna like it in Memphis, Johnny?
I'm gonna like it fine as long as you're there.
Bye and bye after Memphis.
We'll go on up to St. Louis.
I can make out fine in St. Louis.
I know you can.
You ever been upriver, Johnny?
No farther than Natchez.
Oh, you're gonna like it.
You're gonna like it fine.
Hey!
We're gonna miss that morning gold lesson
you get on with your packin'.
Yeah, always something got a spoil of fun.
I'll get it, honey.
Here's a clarinet you sent me over to your place for, Johnny.
Oh, oh, yeah, yeah.
Anybody there?
No, no.
That's good.
Thanks.
Sure, Johnny.
Come on, Nellie baby, get along with that packin'.
I aim to play me some music
before the boat pulls out in the mornin'.
Oh, that man took all of my money.
That man took all of my love.
He left me so sad and so lonely.
My heart's a broken winged dove.
He is my man.
But he's doing me wrong.
Got a big rock on his finger.
Bright yellow suit on his back.
Making love to that Nellie Black.
So driver, roll the dice.
Driver, roll the dice.
Gonna kill that man.
What you say, lady?
Gonna kill that man.
Turn here.
Three houses down and stop.
I guess, I guess you want to go some place after,
after you leave here, lady.
You, you, you want me to wait?
You can wait.
Where do you want?
Where's Johnny?
I don't know what you're talking about, lady.
Nellie Bly live here?
She's gone, lady.
She ain't never coming back.
A man with her, wearing a yellow suit
and a golden chain and a diamond ring.
Name's Johnny, huh?
A gent, a real gent.
He's gone too.
He's gone with Nellie Bly.
They talk about where they were going?
They talk about Memphis, St. Louis,
about riding a river boat come on.
That Johnny was a real sport.
Made a five dollar bill right here where my hand is.
I only got two dollars.
Right here where my hand is.
Thank you kindly.
What do you buy for five dollars, mister?
What, I'm going to sell you for two?
Johnny sent me to his place to pick up something.
You're lying.
Johnny ain't got nothing except what's on his back.
Got a clarinet.
That's what he told me to get, that's all.
What do you want Johnny for?
I got something to give him too.
What's that?
A gun.
You find him, lady?
I know where he is.
I know for sure where he is.
Is that where we're going?
To Cuckaloos.
Oh, on Basin Street.
That's right.
Yeah, I know where that is.
It won't take long.
Cabbie.
Yeah, lady.
I got no more money.
Oh.
I can't afford it.
Oh.
I can't pay you for this ride, Cabbie.
You weren't kidding, were you, about what you said before?
About what?
About killing a man.
I wasn't kidding.
I'm going to kill him.
This ride won't cost you nothing.
I wish I had me a gal like you.
Love me so much you'd kill for me.
I wouldn't do a gal like that, no wrong.
Where you think you're going, Frankie?
Get out of my way, Nellie Bly.
You can't go in that back room.
Johnny won't even let me go in there, so he ain't going to let you.
I got no argument with you, so get out of my way.
You got an argument with my sweet man.
You got an argument with me.
You want to go to Memphis, Nellie?
I'm going.
You want to go to St. Louis?
I'm going there, too.
Maybe you're going, and I ain't going to stop you.
You're going to find another sweet man to go with, not Johnny.
Honey, he don't love you no more.
He's tired of you.
You told me.
You told me lots of things.
You told me about my gold hand, my red lip.
You told me...
You ain't going with Johnny, so get out of here, Nellie.
Go on.
Get out.
Where you hold that gun, I guess I'd better.
Get on that riverboat and never come back.
Here?
Yeah.
Yeah, I'm here.
Shame to kill him, Miss Frankie.
He ain't much of a guy, but Johnny plays a lot of clarinet.
Get out, Cheez-O.
You oughtn't to kill him, Frankie.
When you leave here, mister, close the door.
Johnny.
Goodbye, Johnny.
Oh, Johnny.
Johnny.
Roll him over easy, boy.
Roll him over slow.
Hey, what's going on in here?
He got shot, Officer.
He did.
You do it, Frankie.
I did it.
Then I got to take you down to the jail house, Frankie.
I brought you a chair to stand on, Frankie,
in case you want to look out the jail window while he's passing by.
You want to look?
Climb on up and look, Frankie.
What do you see?
I see a long black coffin with people in funeral clothes.
Johnny's gone and cashed his checks to the graveyard, my Johnny goes.
There goes that rubber-tied carriage.
There goes that rubber-tied hat.
Twelve men going to the graveyard.
And eleven coming back.
Johnny was my man.
But he done me wrong.
This story has no moral.
Now this story has no end.
This story only goes to show
that there ain't no good in men.
They'll do you wrong.
Just as sure as you're born.
Suspense.
In which Miss Margaret Whiting starred in Frankie and Johnny,
produced and directed by William N. Robeson.
Listen.
Listen again next week when we return with another tale
well calculated to keep you in suspense.
Frankie and Johnny was adapted from the folk song by David Friedkin and Mort Fine,
music by Leith Stevens.
The part of Johnny was played by Shepherd Menken.
Also heard in the cast were Shirley Mitchell, Amanda Randolph,
Roy Glenn, Joe DeSantis, Jane Novello, Corny Anderson, and Dawes Butler.
Thanks for watching.