WEBVTT 00:00.000 --> 00:29.920 The Columbia Network takes pleasure in bringing you Suspense. 00:29.920 --> 00:36.280 Columbia's parade of outstanding thrillers produced and directed by William Spear and 00:36.280 --> 00:42.680 scored by Bernard Herman. The notable melodramas from stage and screen, fiction and radio, 00:42.680 --> 00:50.000 presented each week to bring you to the edge of your chair to keep you in Suspense. 00:50.000 --> 01:06.360 Good evening. This is Orson Welles. I'm very happy I am to be back in the United States and back on 01:06.360 --> 01:11.680 the Columbia Network, even for so short a visit as this one, back with old friends like Johnny 01:11.680 --> 01:18.240 Dietz, who is tonight's director, and Bernard Herman. The Mercury Theatre presented tonight's 01:18.240 --> 01:23.820 radio play for the first time last year. We came right out then and hailed it as a classic of the 01:23.820 --> 01:28.920 medium. Nobody argued the point. A lot of people asked us to do it again, so it's gratifying to get 01:28.920 --> 01:35.300 the chance now, and to find a favorite of ours in this distinguished anthology of spook shows. 01:35.300 --> 01:41.800 Personally, I've never met anybody who didn't like a good ghost story, but I know a lot of people who 01:41.800 --> 01:46.920 think there are a lot of people who don't like a good ghost story. For the benefit of these, 01:46.920 --> 01:51.840 at least, I go on record at the outset of this evening's entertainment with a sober assurance 01:51.840 --> 01:57.800 that although blood may be curdled on this program, none will be spilt. There's no shooting, 01:57.800 --> 02:05.440 knifing, throttling, axing, or poisoning here. No clanking chains, no cobwebs, no bony and or hairy 02:05.440 --> 02:11.960 hands appearing from secret panels, or better yet, bedroom curtains. If it's any part of that dear 02:11.960 --> 02:17.440 old phosphorescent foolishness that people who don't like ghost stories don't like, then again, 02:17.440 --> 02:23.560 I promise you, we haven't got it. Not tonight. What we do have is a thriller. It's half as good as we 02:23.560 --> 02:29.880 think it is. You can call it a shocker. It's already been called a real Orson Well story. Now frankly, 02:29.880 --> 02:34.940 I don't know what this means. I've been on the air directing and acting in my own shows for quite 02:34.940 --> 02:40.000 a while now, and I don't suppose I've done more than half a dozen thrillers in all that time. 02:40.000 --> 02:46.840 Honestly, I don't think even that many, but it seems I do have a reputation for the uncanny. Quite 02:46.840 --> 02:52.400 possibly. A little escapade of mine involving a couple of planets, which shall be nameless, 02:52.400 --> 02:59.960 is responsible. Doesn't really matter. Don't think I disapprove of thrillers. I don't. A story doesn't 02:59.960 --> 03:05.720 have to appeal to the heart. It can also appeal to the spine. Sometimes you want your heart to be 03:05.720 --> 03:12.040 warmed, and sometimes you want your spine to tingle. The tingling, it's to be hoped, will be quite 03:12.040 --> 03:18.600 audible as you listen tonight to The Hitchhiker. That's the name of our story, The Hitchhiker. 03:18.600 --> 03:42.600 I'm in an auto camp on Route 66, just west of Gallup, New Mexico. If I tell it, 03:42.600 --> 03:50.160 perhaps it'll help me keep me from going, going crazy. I've got to tell this quickly. I'm not 03:50.160 --> 03:55.640 crazy now. I feel perfectly well, except that I'm running a slight temperature. My name is Ronald 03:55.640 --> 04:03.600 Adams. I'm 36 years of age, unmarried, tall, dark, with a black mustache. I drive a 1940 Buick 04:03.600 --> 04:11.880 license number 6Y175189. I was born Brooklyn. All this I know. I know that I'm at this moment 04:11.880 --> 04:21.080 perfectly sane, that it's not me who's gone mad. Something else, something utterly beyond my control. 04:21.080 --> 04:28.720 I've got to speak quickly. At any minute, the link may break. This may be the last thing I ever tell 04:28.720 --> 04:37.160 on earth, the last night I ever see the stars. Six days ago, I left Brooklyn to drive to California. 04:37.160 --> 04:47.400 Goodbye, son. Good luck to you, my boy. Goodbye, mother. Here, give me a kiss, and I'll go. I'll 04:47.400 --> 04:54.320 come out with you to the car. Oh, no, it's raining. Stay here at the door. Hey, what's this, 04:54.320 --> 05:03.000 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. 05:03.000 --> 05:10.880 I'll be back. It'll only be on the coast three months. It isn't that. It's just the trip. Ronald, 05:10.880 --> 05:15.720 I wish you weren't driving. Oh, mother, there you go again. People do it every day. I know, 05:15.720 --> 05:22.200 but you'll be careful, won't you? Promise me you'll be extra careful. Don't fall asleep, 05:22.200 --> 05:29.280 or drive fast, or pick up any strangers on the road. Oh, gosh. I think I was still 17 here, 05:29.280 --> 05:34.960 you told me. And why? I mean, as soon as you get to Hollywood, won't you, son? Of course I will. 05:34.960 --> 05:39.520 Don't you worry. It's not going to happen. It's just eight days of perfectly simple driving on 05:39.520 --> 05:46.200 smooth, decent, civilized roads. There's a hot dog or a hamburger stand every ten months. 05:46.200 --> 06:02.480 I was in fine spirits. The drive ahead of me, even the loneliness, seemed like a lark. 06:02.480 --> 06:14.120 I reckoned without him. Crossing Brooklyn Bridge that morning in the rain, I saw a man 06:14.120 --> 06:20.320 leaning against the cables. He seemed to be waiting for a lift. There were spots of fresh 06:20.320 --> 06:25.080 rain on his shoulders. He was carrying a cheap overnight bag in one hand. He was thin, 06:25.080 --> 06:31.920 nondescript, with a cap pulled down over his eyes. I would have forgotten him completely, 06:31.920 --> 06:36.960 except that just an hour later, while crossing the Pulaski Skyway over the Jersey flats, 06:36.960 --> 06:45.960 I saw him again. At least, he looked like the same person. He was standing now with one thumb 06:45.960 --> 06:51.680 pointing west. I couldn't figure out how he got there, but I thought probably one of those 06:51.680 --> 06:55.760 fast trucks had picked him up, beaten me to the skyway, and let him off. I didn't stop for him. 06:55.760 --> 07:05.800 And late that night, I saw him again. It was on the new Pennsylvania turnpike between Harrisburg 07:05.800 --> 07:11.760 and Pittsburgh. It's 265 miles long with a very high speed limit. I was just slowing down for one 07:11.760 --> 07:17.720 of the tunnels. When I saw him, standing under an arc light by the side of the road, 07:17.720 --> 07:24.600 I'd seen quite distinctly the bag, the cap, even the spots of fresh rain, 07:24.600 --> 07:35.520 scattered over his shoulders. He hallowed at me this time. He stepped on the gas like a shot. 07:39.880 --> 07:45.600 It's lonely country through the Alleghenies, and I had no intention of stopping. Besides the 07:45.600 --> 07:52.440 coincidences or whatever it was, neither the Willys, I stopped at the next gas station. 07:52.440 --> 08:04.840 Yes sir. Fill her up. Certainly sir. Check your oil, sir. No thanks. 08:04.840 --> 08:18.000 Nice night, isn't it? Yes. Hasn't been raining here recently, has it? Not a drop of rain all the way. 08:18.000 --> 08:26.680 Oh, I suppose that doesn't done your business any harm. Oh, people drive through here all 08:26.680 --> 08:33.120 kinds of weather. Mostly business, you know. There aren't many pleasure cars out on the turnpike 08:33.120 --> 08:42.440 this season of the year. I suppose not. What about hitchhikers? Hitchhikers here? What's the matter? 08:42.440 --> 08:49.480 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 08:49.480 --> 08:57.760 who started out to hitch rides on this road. Look at it. Then you've never seen anybody? No. Maybe 08:57.760 --> 09:03.320 they get the lift before the turnpike starts. I mean, you know, just before the tollhouse. But 09:03.320 --> 09:09.280 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 09:09.280 --> 09:15.200 know, this is pretty lonesome country here. Mountains and woods. You ain't seen anybody like 09:15.200 --> 09:23.880 that, have you? No. No, not at all. It's just a technical question. I see. Well, that'll be just a 09:23.880 --> 09:39.720 dollar forty-nine with a tax. It gradually passed through my mind a sheer coincidence. I had a good 09:39.720 --> 09:47.120 night's sleep in Pittsburgh. I didn't think about the man all next day until just outside of Zanesville, 09:47.120 --> 09:54.680 Ohio. I saw him again. It's a bright, sunshiny afternoon. The peaceful Ohio feels brown with 09:54.680 --> 10:01.680 the autumn stubble, a dreaming in the golden light. I was driving slowly, drinking at inland. The 10:01.680 --> 10:10.400 road suddenly ended in a detour in front of the barrier he was standing. Let me explain about his 10:10.400 --> 10:16.560 appearance before I go on. I repeat, there was nothing sinister about him. He was as drab as a 10:16.560 --> 10:23.240 mud fence. There was his attitude menacing. He merely stood there, waiting, almost drooping a 10:23.240 --> 10:28.520 little with cheap overnight bag in his hand. He looked as though he'd been waiting there for hours, 10:28.520 --> 10:42.320 and he looked up. He hailed me. He started to walk forward. Hello? Hello? Hello? No, not just now, 10:42.320 --> 10:47.360 sorry. Going to California? No, not today. The other way, going to New York. Sorry. 10:55.360 --> 11:02.720 After I got the car back out of the road again, I felt like a fool. The thought of picking him up, 11:02.720 --> 11:08.960 of having him sit beside me, was somehow unbearable. At the same time, I felt more than ever 11:08.960 --> 11:24.360 unspeakably alone. Hour after hour went by. The fields, the towns ticked off one by one. 11:24.360 --> 11:33.040 The light changed. I knew now that I was going to see him again, and though I dreaded the sight, 11:33.040 --> 11:53.240 I caught myself searching the side of the road, waiting for him to appear. Yeah, what is it? What do you want? 11:53.240 --> 11:57.600 Sell sandwiches and pop here, don't you? Yeah, we do on the daytime. But we're closed up now for the night. 11:57.600 --> 12:00.640 I know, when I was one of you, you could possibly have a cup of coffee, black coffee. Just one. 12:00.640 --> 12:06.800 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, 12:09.280 --> 12:13.600 just a minute ago, there was a man standing here right beside the stand, a suspicious looking man. 12:13.600 --> 12:18.160 I don't mean to disturb it. You see, I was driving along when I just happened to look, 12:18.160 --> 12:23.760 and there he was. How's he doing? For nothing. You've been taking a nip, that's what you've been doing. 12:23.760 --> 12:34.320 Now, on your way before I call out scarabotes. 12:34.320 --> 12:41.600 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, 12:43.120 --> 12:46.560 to rest a little. I was in the Ozark Mountains of Missouri now. 12:47.280 --> 12:50.800 Few resort places there were closed, only an occasional log cabin, 12:50.800 --> 12:58.320 seemingly deserted. That's all that broke the monotony of the wild, wooded landscape. 12:58.320 --> 13:05.840 I had seen him at that roadside stand. I knew I'd see him again. Maybe at the next turn of the road. 13:05.840 --> 13:26.640 I knew that when I saw him next, I would run him down. I didn't see him until late next afternoon. 13:30.000 --> 13:34.320 I stopped a car at a sleepy little junction just across the border into Oklahoma to let a train 13:34.320 --> 13:42.000 pass by. When he appeared across the tracks, leaning against a telephone pole. 13:44.560 --> 13:51.920 Perfectly airless, dry day. The red clay of Oklahoma was baking under the southwestern sun. 13:54.000 --> 14:00.640 Yet there were spots of fresh rain on his shoulders. I couldn't stand that. Without 14:00.640 --> 14:06.080 thinking blindly, I started the car across the tracks. He didn't even look up at me. He was 14:06.080 --> 14:10.880 staring at the ground. I stepped on the gas hard, burning the wheels sharply toward him. I could hear 14:10.880 --> 14:15.520 the train in the distance now, but I didn't care. Then something went wrong with the car. 14:17.360 --> 14:20.240 Train was coming closer. I could hear its bell ringing and the crowd's whistle. 14:20.240 --> 14:29.520 Still, he stood there. And now I knew that he was beckoning me to my death. 14:50.240 --> 14:56.080 I frustrated him that time. I started work at last. I managed to back up. 14:58.240 --> 15:04.080 When the train passed, he was gone. I was all alone in the hot, dry afternoon. 15:09.120 --> 15:14.400 After that, I knew I had to do something. I didn't know who this man was, 15:14.400 --> 15:22.000 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. 15:26.000 --> 15:30.880 Hello there. Like a ride? What do you think? How far are you going? 15:31.760 --> 15:36.000 Where do you want to go? Amarillo, Texas. I'll drive you there. Gee. 15:36.000 --> 15:38.000 Gee. 15:43.760 --> 15:47.680 Do you mind if I take off my shoes? My dogs are killing me. Go right ahead. 15:50.400 --> 15:55.520 Gee, what a break. A hitchhike much? Sure. Only it's tough sometimes, 15:55.520 --> 16:00.720 and you need great open spaces to get the break. I should think it would be, though. I'll bet you get a good 16:00.720 --> 16:07.120 pick up in a fast car. If you did, you could get places faster than, say, another person in another car, 16:07.120 --> 16:13.040 couldn't you? I don't get you. Well, take me, for instance. Suppose I'm driving across the country, 16:13.040 --> 16:19.040 say, at a nice steady clip about 45 miles an hour. Couldn't a girl like you just standing beside the road 16:19.040 --> 16:25.120 waiting for a list beat me to town, or any town, provided she got picked up every time in a car 16:25.120 --> 16:32.720 doing from 65 to 70 miles an hour? I don't know. What difference does it make? Oh, no difference. 16:32.720 --> 16:39.680 It's just a crazy idea sitting here in the car. Imagine spending your time in a swell car thinking 16:39.680 --> 16:46.000 of things like that. What would you do instead? What would I do? If I was a good-looking fella 16:46.000 --> 16:54.400 like yourself, why, I'd just enjoy myself every minute of the time. I'd sit back, 16:54.400 --> 16:59.200 and relax. What if I saw a good-looking girl along the side of the road? Hey, look out! 16:59.200 --> 17:06.000 What did you see? See who? A man standing beside the barbed wire fence. I didn't see anybody. 17:06.000 --> 17:12.000 There was nothing but a bunch of cows and the wire fence. No? What did you think he was doing, 17:12.000 --> 17:16.000 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. 17:16.000 --> 17:28.000 I was trying to run him down. Run him down? You mean kill him? Say you didn't see him back there? 17:29.360 --> 17:36.400 You sure? I didn't see a soul. Watch for him the next time, and keep watching. 17:36.400 --> 17:45.440 Keep your eyes peeled on the road. He'll turn up again. Maybe any minute now. There! Look there! 17:49.120 --> 17:54.000 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. 17:54.000 --> 17:58.320 And personally, mister, I don't expect never to see him. All I want to do is go on living. 17:58.320 --> 18:01.600 I don't see how I will very long driving with you. I'm sorry, I didn't, I... 18:01.600 --> 18:05.760 I don't know what came over me, but please don't go. So if you'll excuse me... You can't go. Listen, 18:05.760 --> 18:09.760 how would you like to go to California? I'll drive you to California. Seeing pink elephants all the way? 18:09.760 --> 18:14.960 No thanks. Uh-uh. Thanks, just a sec. Listen, please, just one minute, please. You know what I think you need, big boy? 18:14.960 --> 18:20.960 Not a girlfriend. Just a good dose of... Please! There, I got it now. No, you can't go, please. 18:20.960 --> 18:24.960 Come here. Get your hands off me. Do you hear me? Get your hands off me! 18:24.960 --> 18:36.160 She ran from me. As though I were a monster. 18:38.800 --> 18:41.680 Two minutes later, I saw a passing truck picker up. 18:44.240 --> 18:47.920 I knew then that I was utterly alone. 18:50.080 --> 18:53.440 I was in the heart of the great Texas prairies. There wasn't a car on the road. 18:53.440 --> 18:56.720 After the truck went by, I tried to figure out what to do, how to get hold of myself. 18:59.440 --> 19:03.120 I could find a place to rest, or even if I could sleep right here in the car for a few hours, 19:03.120 --> 19:09.200 along the side of the road. I was getting my winter overcoat out of the back seat to use as a blanket. 19:09.200 --> 19:21.360 I saw him coming toward me, emerging from the herd of moving steer. 19:29.600 --> 19:33.680 Maybe I should have spoken to her then. Fought it out then and there. 19:33.680 --> 19:39.520 For now, he began to be everywhere. Wherever I stopped, even for a moment, for gas, for oil, 19:39.520 --> 19:46.880 for a drink of pop, a cup of coffee, sandwich, he was there. I saw him standing outside the 19:46.880 --> 19:51.840 auto camp in Amarillo that night when I dared to slow down. I was sitting near the drinking 19:51.840 --> 19:55.840 fountain of a little camping spot just inside the border of New Mexico. 19:57.840 --> 20:01.440 He was waiting for me outside the Navajo reservation where I stopped to check my 20:01.440 --> 20:09.040 tires. I saw him in Albuquerque when I bought 20 gallons of gas. I was afraid to stop now. 20:11.520 --> 20:19.040 I began to drive faster and faster. I was in lunar landscape now, 20:20.480 --> 20:27.280 a great arid mess, a country of New Mexico. I drove through it with the indifference of a fly 20:27.280 --> 20:32.400 crawling over the face of the moon. Now he didn't even wait for me to stop. 20:33.920 --> 20:38.560 Unless I drove at 85 miles an hour over those endless roads he waited for me at every other mile, 20:39.360 --> 20:47.440 I'd see his figure shadowless, flitting before me, still in that same attitude over the cold, 20:47.440 --> 20:55.280 lifeless ground, flitting over dried up rivers, over broken stones cast up by old grubs. 20:55.280 --> 21:03.360 Stones cast up by old glacial upheavals, flitting in that pure and cloudless air. 21:05.280 --> 21:08.480 I was beside myself when I finally reached Gallup, New Mexico this morning. 21:10.160 --> 21:15.680 There's an auto camp here, cold, almost deserted this time of year. 21:17.840 --> 21:21.200 I went inside, asked if there was a telephone. 21:21.200 --> 21:25.040 I had the feeling that if only I could speak to someone familiar, 21:26.160 --> 21:30.320 someone I loved, I could pull myself together. 21:36.800 --> 21:38.000 Your call, please. 21:38.000 --> 21:38.800 Long distance. 21:38.800 --> 21:40.480 Long distance, certainly. 21:43.920 --> 21:45.040 This is long distance. 21:45.040 --> 21:48.960 I'd like to put in a call to my home in Brooklyn, New York. 21:48.960 --> 21:53.280 I'm Ronald Adams. The number is Beachwood 20828. 21:53.280 --> 21:55.760 Certainly, I will try to get it for you. 21:59.680 --> 22:02.480 Albuquerque, New York for Gallup. 22:05.760 --> 22:06.560 New York. 22:06.560 --> 22:11.520 Gallup, New Mexico calling Beachwood 20828. 22:12.400 --> 22:16.960 I read somewhere that love could banish demons. 22:16.960 --> 22:20.640 In the middle of the morning, I knew Mother would be home. 22:21.520 --> 22:26.640 I pictured her tall and white haired and her crisp house dress going about her tasks. 22:27.680 --> 22:32.080 It would be enough, I thought, just to hear the even calmness of her voice. 22:32.080 --> 22:36.640 Will you please deposit three dollars and 85 cents for the first three minutes? 22:37.280 --> 22:41.600 When you have deposited a dollar and a half, will you wait until I have collected the money? 22:41.600 --> 22:46.160 When you have deposited a dollar and a half, will you wait until I have collected the money? 22:46.160 --> 22:57.600 Okay. 22:57.600 --> 23:13.040 All right. Deposit another dollar and a half. 23:13.040 --> 23:23.280 Will you please deposit the remaining 85 cents? 23:31.280 --> 23:34.080 Ready with Brooklyn. Go ahead, please. 23:34.080 --> 23:34.580 Hello? 23:35.840 --> 23:37.280 Mrs. Adams residence. 23:37.280 --> 23:38.240 Hello. Hello, Mother. 23:38.240 --> 23:42.960 This is Mrs. Adams residence. Who is it you wish to speak to, please? 23:42.960 --> 23:44.960 What? Who is this? 23:44.960 --> 23:46.960 This is Mrs. Winnie. 23:46.960 --> 23:52.960 Mrs. Winnie? I don't know any Mrs. Winnie. Is this Beachwood 20828? 23:52.960 --> 23:53.460 Yes. 23:55.280 --> 23:57.760 Where's my mother? Where's Mrs. Adams? 23:57.760 --> 24:01.280 Mrs. Adams is not at home. She's still in the hospital. 24:01.280 --> 24:02.240 The hospital? 24:02.240 --> 24:06.800 Yes. Who is this calling, please? Is it a member of the family? 24:06.800 --> 24:09.440 Well, what's she in the hospital for? 24:09.440 --> 24:13.520 She's been prostrated for five days. Nervous breakdown. 24:14.240 --> 24:14.800 But who is the calling? 24:14.800 --> 24:18.800 Nervous breakdown? Well, my man mother never was nervous. 24:18.800 --> 24:22.080 It's all taken place since the death of her oldest son, Ronald. 24:23.600 --> 24:26.880 Death of her... death of her oldest son, Ronald? 24:28.160 --> 24:30.160 Hey, what's this? What number is this? 24:30.160 --> 24:34.640 This is Beachwood 20828. It's all been very sudden. 24:34.640 --> 24:40.320 He was killed just six days ago in an automobile accident on the Brooklyn Bridge. 24:40.320 --> 24:41.920 Your three minutes are up, sir. 24:43.440 --> 24:45.360 Your three minutes are up, sir. 24:45.920 --> 24:47.680 Your three minutes are up, sir. 24:50.880 --> 24:51.380 And so... 24:53.520 --> 24:58.480 So I'm sitting here in this deserted auto camp in Yallap, New Mexico. 25:00.080 --> 25:01.120 I'm trying to think. 25:01.120 --> 25:02.160 Trying to get hold of myself. 25:05.360 --> 25:09.120 Otherwise, I am going to go crazy. 25:11.680 --> 25:12.960 Outside, it's night. 25:15.200 --> 25:18.400 A vast, soulless night of New Mexico. 25:20.960 --> 25:23.360 A million stars are in the sky. 25:23.360 --> 25:31.600 A million stars are in the sky. Ahead of me stretch a thousand miles of empty messer. 25:32.880 --> 25:37.680 Mountains. Prairies. Desert. 25:40.720 --> 25:44.640 Somewhere among them, he's waiting for me. 25:44.640 --> 25:53.920 Somewhere I shall know who he is and who I am. 26:09.440 --> 26:13.760 So ends the hitchhiker, and to Orson Welles our considerable thanks 26:13.760 --> 26:16.480 for his playing of the title role. Mr. Welles. 26:17.280 --> 26:20.480 Help wanted. Men, women, and children. 26:21.840 --> 26:25.040 Nature of work, hard, monotonous, backbreaking labor. 26:26.160 --> 26:28.080 Hours, 75 a week minimum. 26:29.040 --> 26:31.040 Pay, few cents an hour. 26:31.040 --> 26:32.160 Added inducement. 26:32.960 --> 26:37.440 Two meals a day, including several ounces of bad bread and a cup of thin soup. 26:38.160 --> 26:39.520 Don't delay, apply at once. 26:39.520 --> 26:44.320 How do you respond to a want ad like that, Mr. and Mrs. American working man and woman? 26:45.120 --> 26:47.520 You'd laugh, wouldn't you, and throw the paper in the trash basket. 26:47.840 --> 26:50.960 Dismiss the whole advertisement as some kind of a joke, but believe me, it's no joke. 26:51.600 --> 26:55.040 It's a simple statement of the working conditions that exist today in Nazi Germany. 26:55.360 --> 26:57.280 Then the conquered countries under Nazi rule. 26:57.760 --> 27:00.720 It's also an exact statement of the working conditions that will be imposed on you 27:01.280 --> 27:04.880 and every member of your family if the Nazis win this war. 27:04.880 --> 27:08.320 You yourself personally can stop them from winning, as you know. 27:08.960 --> 27:11.280 You don't have to give up your well-paid job to do it. 27:11.280 --> 27:15.120 You didn't have to be a soldier or a sailor or an airman or a nurse or a war worker 27:15.600 --> 27:17.600 to ensure American victory. 27:18.560 --> 27:22.560 Uncle Sam doesn't ask plain, ordinary, hard-working citizens like you to give him anything. 27:22.560 --> 27:27.040 All he asks, all this he does ask very seriously and very urgently, 27:27.840 --> 27:31.440 is that you loan him 10 cents out of every dollar you make. 27:31.440 --> 27:34.800 That's all there is to it. Lend Uncle Sam a dime to win this war, 27:35.520 --> 27:38.000 and he'll pay you back with interest when he's won it. 27:39.040 --> 27:42.160 The easiest, most convenient way to lend him these dimes 27:43.200 --> 27:45.840 is to enroll in the payroll savings plan. 27:46.320 --> 27:50.080 Just tell your boss to deduct 10 cents from every dollar he pays you 27:50.080 --> 27:52.080 and lend it to Uncle Sam in your name. 27:53.360 --> 27:56.800 Sign up for this simple savings plan today, and when victory comes, 27:56.800 --> 28:01.200 you'll have war bonds in your pockets instead of Axis bonds on your wrists. 28:02.480 --> 28:05.360 Suspense will be heard again two weeks from tonight. 28:05.920 --> 28:07.920 Next Wednesday night, September 9th, 28:07.920 --> 28:10.960 the Columbia Broadcasting System will present over many of these stations 28:10.960 --> 28:12.960 at 9.30 p.m. Eastern wartime 28:13.440 --> 28:15.440 an address by W. Averill Harriman, 28:15.920 --> 28:18.400 the United States Land Lease Administrator in London. 28:18.960 --> 28:22.640 Mr. Harriman, as the personal representative of the President of the United States, 28:22.640 --> 28:24.640 will present the address to you. 28:24.640 --> 28:28.000 Mr. Harriman, as the personal representative of the President of the United States, 28:28.000 --> 28:31.840 attended the Moscow conferences between Winston Churchill and Joseph Stalin. 28:32.480 --> 28:36.240 Next Wednesday's broadcast will be Mr. Harriman's first public address 28:36.240 --> 28:37.760 since his return to this country. 28:39.120 --> 28:44.080 Suspense is produced and directed by William Speer. 28:44.880 --> 28:47.040 John Dietz was our guest director this evening. 28:47.680 --> 28:50.480 Tonight's radio drama was written by Lucille Fletcher. 28:50.480 --> 28:54.480 The original score was by Bernard Herrmann. 28:54.480 --> 29:14.480 This is the Columbia Broadcasting System.