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The Columbia Network takes pleasure in bringing you Suspense.

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Columbia's parade of outstanding thrillers produced and directed by William Spear and

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scored by Bernard Herman. The notable melodramas from stage and screen, fiction and radio,

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presented each week to bring you to the edge of your chair to keep you in Suspense.

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Good evening. This is Orson Welles. I'm very happy I am to be back in the United States and back on

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the Columbia Network, even for so short a visit as this one, back with old friends like Johnny

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Dietz, who is tonight's director, and Bernard Herman. The Mercury Theatre presented tonight's

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radio play for the first time last year. We came right out then and hailed it as a classic of the

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medium. Nobody argued the point. A lot of people asked us to do it again, so it's gratifying to get

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the chance now, and to find a favorite of ours in this distinguished anthology of spook shows.

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Personally, I've never met anybody who didn't like a good ghost story, but I know a lot of people who

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think there are a lot of people who don't like a good ghost story. For the benefit of these,

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at least, I go on record at the outset of this evening's entertainment with a sober assurance

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that although blood may be curdled on this program, none will be spilt. There's no shooting,

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knifing, throttling, axing, or poisoning here. No clanking chains, no cobwebs, no bony and or hairy

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hands appearing from secret panels, or better yet, bedroom curtains. If it's any part of that dear

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old phosphorescent foolishness that people who don't like ghost stories don't like, then again,

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I promise you, we haven't got it. Not tonight. What we do have is a thriller. It's half as good as we

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think it is. You can call it a shocker. It's already been called a real Orson Well story. Now frankly,

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I don't know what this means. I've been on the air directing and acting in my own shows for quite

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a while now, and I don't suppose I've done more than half a dozen thrillers in all that time.

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Honestly, I don't think even that many, but it seems I do have a reputation for the uncanny. Quite

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possibly. A little escapade of mine involving a couple of planets, which shall be nameless,

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is responsible. Doesn't really matter. Don't think I disapprove of thrillers. I don't. A story doesn't

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have to appeal to the heart. It can also appeal to the spine. Sometimes you want your heart to be

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warmed, and sometimes you want your spine to tingle. The tingling, it's to be hoped, will be quite

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audible as you listen tonight to The Hitchhiker. That's the name of our story, The Hitchhiker.

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I'm in an auto camp on Route 66, just west of Gallup, New Mexico. If I tell it,

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perhaps it'll help me keep me from going, going crazy. I've got to tell this quickly. I'm not

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crazy now. I feel perfectly well, except that I'm running a slight temperature. My name is Ronald

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Adams. I'm 36 years of age, unmarried, tall, dark, with a black mustache. I drive a 1940 Buick

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license number 6Y175189. I was born Brooklyn. All this I know. I know that I'm at this moment

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perfectly sane, that it's not me who's gone mad. Something else, something utterly beyond my control.

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I've got to speak quickly. At any minute, the link may break. This may be the last thing I ever tell

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on earth, the last night I ever see the stars. Six days ago, I left Brooklyn to drive to California.

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Goodbye, son. Good luck to you, my boy. Goodbye, mother. Here, give me a kiss, and I'll go. I'll

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come out with you to the car. Oh, no, it's raining. Stay here at the door. Hey, what's this,

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dear? I thought you'd promised me you wouldn't cry. I know, dear, I'm sorry. But I, I do hate to see you.

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I'll be back. It'll only be on the coast three months. It isn't that. It's just the trip. Ronald,

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I wish you weren't driving. Oh, mother, there you go again. People do it every day. I know,

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but you'll be careful, won't you? Promise me you'll be extra careful. Don't fall asleep,

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or drive fast, or pick up any strangers on the road. Oh, gosh. I think I was still 17 here,

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you told me. And why? I mean, as soon as you get to Hollywood, won't you, son? Of course I will.

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Don't you worry. It's not going to happen. It's just eight days of perfectly simple driving on

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smooth, decent, civilized roads. There's a hot dog or a hamburger stand every ten months.

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I was in fine spirits. The drive ahead of me, even the loneliness, seemed like a lark.

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I reckoned without him. Crossing Brooklyn Bridge that morning in the rain, I saw a man

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leaning against the cables. He seemed to be waiting for a lift. There were spots of fresh

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rain on his shoulders. He was carrying a cheap overnight bag in one hand. He was thin,

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nondescript, with a cap pulled down over his eyes. I would have forgotten him completely,

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except that just an hour later, while crossing the Pulaski Skyway over the Jersey flats,

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I saw him again. At least, he looked like the same person. He was standing now with one thumb

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pointing west. I couldn't figure out how he got there, but I thought probably one of those

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fast trucks had picked him up, beaten me to the skyway, and let him off. I didn't stop for him.

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And late that night, I saw him again. It was on the new Pennsylvania turnpike between Harrisburg

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and Pittsburgh. It's 265 miles long with a very high speed limit. I was just slowing down for one

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of the tunnels. When I saw him, standing under an arc light by the side of the road,

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I'd seen quite distinctly the bag, the cap, even the spots of fresh rain,

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scattered over his shoulders. He hallowed at me this time. He stepped on the gas like a shot.

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It's lonely country through the Alleghenies, and I had no intention of stopping. Besides the

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coincidences or whatever it was, neither the Willys, I stopped at the next gas station.

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Yes sir. Fill her up. Certainly sir. Check your oil, sir. No thanks.

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Nice night, isn't it? Yes. Hasn't been raining here recently, has it? Not a drop of rain all the way.

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Oh, I suppose that doesn't done your business any harm. Oh, people drive through here all

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kinds of weather. Mostly business, you know. There aren't many pleasure cars out on the turnpike

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this season of the year. I suppose not. What about hitchhikers? Hitchhikers here? What's the matter?

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Don't you ever see any? Not much. If we did, it'd be a sight for sore eyes. Why? Oh, a guy'd be a fool

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who started out to hitch rides on this road. Look at it. Then you've never seen anybody? No. Maybe

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they get the lift before the turnpike starts. I mean, you know, just before the tollhouse. But

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then it'd be a mighty long ride. Most cars wouldn't want to pick up a guy for that long a ride. And you

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know, this is pretty lonesome country here. Mountains and woods. You ain't seen anybody like

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that, have you? No. No, not at all. It's just a technical question. I see. Well, that'll be just a

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dollar forty-nine with a tax. It gradually passed through my mind a sheer coincidence. I had a good

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night's sleep in Pittsburgh. I didn't think about the man all next day until just outside of Zanesville,

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Ohio. I saw him again. It's a bright, sunshiny afternoon. The peaceful Ohio feels brown with

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the autumn stubble, a dreaming in the golden light. I was driving slowly, drinking at inland. The

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road suddenly ended in a detour in front of the barrier he was standing. Let me explain about his

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appearance before I go on. I repeat, there was nothing sinister about him. He was as drab as a

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mud fence. There was his attitude menacing. He merely stood there, waiting, almost drooping a

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little with cheap overnight bag in his hand. He looked as though he'd been waiting there for hours,

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and he looked up. He hailed me. He started to walk forward. Hello? Hello? Hello? No, not just now,

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sorry. Going to California? No, not today. The other way, going to New York. Sorry.

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After I got the car back out of the road again, I felt like a fool. The thought of picking him up,

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of having him sit beside me, was somehow unbearable. At the same time, I felt more than ever

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unspeakably alone. Hour after hour went by. The fields, the towns ticked off one by one.

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The light changed. I knew now that I was going to see him again, and though I dreaded the sight,

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I caught myself searching the side of the road, waiting for him to appear. Yeah, what is it? What do you want?

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Sell sandwiches and pop here, don't you? Yeah, we do on the daytime. But we're closed up now for the night.

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I know, when I was one of you, you could possibly have a cup of coffee, black coffee. Just one.

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No, not this time of night, mister. My wife's a cook. She's a man. No, don't shut the door, please. Listen, just a minute ago,

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just a minute ago, there was a man standing here right beside the stand, a suspicious looking man.

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I don't mean to disturb it. You see, I was driving along when I just happened to look,

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and there he was. How's he doing? For nothing. You've been taking a nip, that's what you've been doing.

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Now, on your way before I call out scarabotes.

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I got into the car again and drove on slowly. I was getting to hate the car. If I could have found a place to stop,

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to rest a little. I was in the Ozark Mountains of Missouri now.

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Few resort places there were closed, only an occasional log cabin,

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seemingly deserted. That's all that broke the monotony of the wild, wooded landscape.

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I had seen him at that roadside stand. I knew I'd see him again. Maybe at the next turn of the road.

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I knew that when I saw him next, I would run him down. I didn't see him until late next afternoon.

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I stopped a car at a sleepy little junction just across the border into Oklahoma to let a train

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pass by. When he appeared across the tracks, leaning against a telephone pole.

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Perfectly airless, dry day. The red clay of Oklahoma was baking under the southwestern sun.

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Yet there were spots of fresh rain on his shoulders. I couldn't stand that. Without

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thinking blindly, I started the car across the tracks. He didn't even look up at me. He was

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staring at the ground. I stepped on the gas hard, burning the wheels sharply toward him. I could hear

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the train in the distance now, but I didn't care. Then something went wrong with the car.

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Train was coming closer. I could hear its bell ringing and the crowd's whistle.

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Still, he stood there. And now I knew that he was beckoning me to my death.

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I frustrated him that time. I started work at last. I managed to back up.

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When the train passed, he was gone. I was all alone in the hot, dry afternoon.

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After that, I knew I had to do something. I didn't know who this man was,

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or what he wanted of me. I only knew that from now on, I mustn't let myself alone on the road for one minute.

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Hello there. Like a ride? What do you think? How far are you going?

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Where do you want to go? Amarillo, Texas. I'll drive you there. Gee.

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Gee.

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Do you mind if I take off my shoes? My dogs are killing me. Go right ahead.

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Gee, what a break. A hitchhike much? Sure. Only it's tough sometimes,

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and you need great open spaces to get the break. I should think it would be, though. I'll bet you get a good

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pick up in a fast car. If you did, you could get places faster than, say, another person in another car,

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couldn't you? I don't get you. Well, take me, for instance. Suppose I'm driving across the country,

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say, at a nice steady clip about 45 miles an hour. Couldn't a girl like you just standing beside the road

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waiting for a list beat me to town, or any town, provided she got picked up every time in a car

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doing from 65 to 70 miles an hour? I don't know. What difference does it make? Oh, no difference.

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It's just a crazy idea sitting here in the car. Imagine spending your time in a swell car thinking

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of things like that. What would you do instead? What would I do? If I was a good-looking fella

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like yourself, why, I'd just enjoy myself every minute of the time. I'd sit back,

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and relax. What if I saw a good-looking girl along the side of the road? Hey, look out!

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What did you see? See who? A man standing beside the barbed wire fence. I didn't see anybody.

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There was nothing but a bunch of cows and the wire fence. No? What did you think he was doing,

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trying to run into the barbed wire fence? There was a man there, I tell you, a thin gray man with an overnight bag in his hand.

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I was trying to run him down. Run him down? You mean kill him? Say you didn't see him back there?

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You sure? I didn't see a soul. Watch for him the next time, and keep watching.

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Keep your eyes peeled on the road. He'll turn up again. Maybe any minute now. There! Look there!

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How does this door work? I'm getting out of here. Did you see him that time? No, I didn't see him that time.

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And personally, mister, I don't expect never to see him. All I want to do is go on living.

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I don't see how I will very long driving with you. I'm sorry, I didn't, I...

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I don't know what came over me, but please don't go. So if you'll excuse me... You can't go. Listen,

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how would you like to go to California? I'll drive you to California. Seeing pink elephants all the way?

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No thanks. Uh-uh. Thanks, just a sec. Listen, please, just one minute, please. You know what I think you need, big boy?

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Not a girlfriend. Just a good dose of... Please! There, I got it now. No, you can't go, please.

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Come here. Get your hands off me. Do you hear me? Get your hands off me!

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She ran from me. As though I were a monster.

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Two minutes later, I saw a passing truck picker up.

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I knew then that I was utterly alone.

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I was in the heart of the great Texas prairies. There wasn't a car on the road.

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After the truck went by, I tried to figure out what to do, how to get hold of myself.

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I could find a place to rest, or even if I could sleep right here in the car for a few hours,

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along the side of the road. I was getting my winter overcoat out of the back seat to use as a blanket.

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I saw him coming toward me, emerging from the herd of moving steer.

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Maybe I should have spoken to her then. Fought it out then and there.

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For now, he began to be everywhere. Wherever I stopped, even for a moment, for gas, for oil,

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for a drink of pop, a cup of coffee, sandwich, he was there. I saw him standing outside the

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auto camp in Amarillo that night when I dared to slow down. I was sitting near the drinking

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fountain of a little camping spot just inside the border of New Mexico.

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He was waiting for me outside the Navajo reservation where I stopped to check my

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tires. I saw him in Albuquerque when I bought 20 gallons of gas. I was afraid to stop now.

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I began to drive faster and faster. I was in lunar landscape now,

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a great arid mess, a country of New Mexico. I drove through it with the indifference of a fly

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crawling over the face of the moon. Now he didn't even wait for me to stop.

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Unless I drove at 85 miles an hour over those endless roads he waited for me at every other mile,

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I'd see his figure shadowless, flitting before me, still in that same attitude over the cold,

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lifeless ground, flitting over dried up rivers, over broken stones cast up by old grubs.

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Stones cast up by old glacial upheavals, flitting in that pure and cloudless air.

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I was beside myself when I finally reached Gallup, New Mexico this morning.

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There's an auto camp here, cold, almost deserted this time of year.

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I went inside, asked if there was a telephone.

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I had the feeling that if only I could speak to someone familiar,

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someone I loved, I could pull myself together.

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Your call, please.

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Long distance.

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Long distance, certainly.

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This is long distance.

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I'd like to put in a call to my home in Brooklyn, New York.

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I'm Ronald Adams. The number is Beachwood 20828.

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Certainly, I will try to get it for you.

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Albuquerque, New York for Gallup.

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New York.

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Gallup, New Mexico calling Beachwood 20828.

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I read somewhere that love could banish demons.

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In the middle of the morning, I knew Mother would be home.

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I pictured her tall and white haired and her crisp house dress going about her tasks.

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It would be enough, I thought, just to hear the even calmness of her voice.

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Will you please deposit three dollars and 85 cents for the first three minutes?

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When you have deposited a dollar and a half, will you wait until I have collected the money?

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When you have deposited a dollar and a half, will you wait until I have collected the money?

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Okay.

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All right. Deposit another dollar and a half.

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Will you please deposit the remaining 85 cents?

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Ready with Brooklyn. Go ahead, please.

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Hello?

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Mrs. Adams residence.

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Hello. Hello, Mother.

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This is Mrs. Adams residence. Who is it you wish to speak to, please?

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What? Who is this?

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This is Mrs. Winnie.

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Mrs. Winnie? I don't know any Mrs. Winnie. Is this Beachwood 20828?

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Yes.

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Where's my mother? Where's Mrs. Adams?

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Mrs. Adams is not at home. She's still in the hospital.

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The hospital?

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Yes. Who is this calling, please? Is it a member of the family?

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Well, what's she in the hospital for?

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She's been prostrated for five days. Nervous breakdown.

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But who is the calling?

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Nervous breakdown? Well, my man mother never was nervous.

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It's all taken place since the death of her oldest son, Ronald.

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Death of her... death of her oldest son, Ronald?

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Hey, what's this? What number is this?

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This is Beachwood 20828. It's all been very sudden.

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He was killed just six days ago in an automobile accident on the Brooklyn Bridge.

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Your three minutes are up, sir.

213
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Your three minutes are up, sir.

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Your three minutes are up, sir.

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And so...

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So I'm sitting here in this deserted auto camp in Yallap, New Mexico.

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I'm trying to think.

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Trying to get hold of myself.

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Otherwise, I am going to go crazy.

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Outside, it's night.

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A vast, soulless night of New Mexico.

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A million stars are in the sky.

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A million stars are in the sky. Ahead of me stretch a thousand miles of empty messer.

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Mountains. Prairies. Desert.

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Somewhere among them, he's waiting for me.

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Somewhere I shall know who he is and who I am.

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So ends the hitchhiker, and to Orson Welles our considerable thanks

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for his playing of the title role. Mr. Welles.

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Help wanted. Men, women, and children.

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Nature of work, hard, monotonous, backbreaking labor.

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Hours, 75 a week minimum.

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Pay, few cents an hour.

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Added inducement.

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Two meals a day, including several ounces of bad bread and a cup of thin soup.

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Don't delay, apply at once.

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How do you respond to a want ad like that, Mr. and Mrs. American working man and woman?

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You'd laugh, wouldn't you, and throw the paper in the trash basket.

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Dismiss the whole advertisement as some kind of a joke, but believe me, it's no joke.

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It's a simple statement of the working conditions that exist today in Nazi Germany.

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Then the conquered countries under Nazi rule.

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It's also an exact statement of the working conditions that will be imposed on you

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and every member of your family if the Nazis win this war.

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You yourself personally can stop them from winning, as you know.

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You don't have to give up your well-paid job to do it.

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00:27:11,280 --> 00:27:15,120
You didn't have to be a soldier or a sailor or an airman or a nurse or a war worker

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00:27:15,600 --> 00:27:17,600
to ensure American victory.

247
00:27:18,560 --> 00:27:22,560
Uncle Sam doesn't ask plain, ordinary, hard-working citizens like you to give him anything.

248
00:27:22,560 --> 00:27:27,040
All he asks, all this he does ask very seriously and very urgently,

249
00:27:27,840 --> 00:27:31,440
is that you loan him 10 cents out of every dollar you make.

250
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That's all there is to it. Lend Uncle Sam a dime to win this war,

251
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and he'll pay you back with interest when he's won it.

252
00:27:39,040 --> 00:27:42,160
The easiest, most convenient way to lend him these dimes

253
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is to enroll in the payroll savings plan.

254
00:27:46,320 --> 00:27:50,080
Just tell your boss to deduct 10 cents from every dollar he pays you

255
00:27:50,080 --> 00:27:52,080
and lend it to Uncle Sam in your name.

256
00:27:53,360 --> 00:27:56,800
Sign up for this simple savings plan today, and when victory comes,

257
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you'll have war bonds in your pockets instead of Axis bonds on your wrists.

258
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Suspense will be heard again two weeks from tonight.

259
00:28:05,920 --> 00:28:07,920
Next Wednesday night, September 9th,

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the Columbia Broadcasting System will present over many of these stations

261
00:28:10,960 --> 00:28:12,960
at 9.30 p.m. Eastern wartime

262
00:28:13,440 --> 00:28:15,440
an address by W. Averill Harriman,

263
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the United States Land Lease Administrator in London.

264
00:28:18,960 --> 00:28:22,640
Mr. Harriman, as the personal representative of the President of the United States,

265
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will present the address to you.

266
00:28:24,640 --> 00:28:28,000
Mr. Harriman, as the personal representative of the President of the United States,

267
00:28:28,000 --> 00:28:31,840
attended the Moscow conferences between Winston Churchill and Joseph Stalin.

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Next Wednesday's broadcast will be Mr. Harriman's first public address

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since his return to this country.

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Suspense is produced and directed by William Speer.

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John Dietz was our guest director this evening.

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Tonight's radio drama was written by Lucille Fletcher.

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The original score was by Bernard Herrmann.

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This is the Columbia Broadcasting System.