Suspense.
This is the Man in Black, here to introduce Columbia's program, Suspense.
Tonight as we premiere our new Saturday evening series on the air, Ms. Agnes Moorhead returns
to our stage to appear in the study in terror by Lucille Fletcher called Sorry, Wrong Number.
The story of a woman who accidentally overheard a conversation with death and who strove frantically
to prevent murder from claiming an innocent victim is being repeated by popular request
as tonight's tale of Suspense.
If you've been with us before, you will know that suspense is compounded of mystery and
suspicion and dangerous adventure.
In this series, her tales calculated to intrigue you, to stir your nerves, to offer you a precarious
situation and then withhold the solution until the last possible moment.
And so it is with the story Sorry, Wrong Number and the performance of Ms. Agnes Moorhead,
we again hope to keep you in Suspense.
Your call, please.
Operator, I've been dialing Murray Hill 70093 now for the last three quarters of an hour
and the line is always busy.
I don't see how it could be busy that long.
Will you try it for me, please?
I will be glad to try that number for you.
One moment, please.
I don't see how it could be busy all this time.
It's my husband's office.
He's working late tonight and I'm all alone here in the house.
My health is very poor and I've been feeling so nervous all day.
Ringing Murray Hill 70093.
Hello?
Is Mr. Stevenson there?
Hello?
Hello, George?
Yes, sir.
This is George Speedy.
Hello, who's this?
What number am I calling, please?
I'm here with our client.
Oh, good.
Is everything okay?
Is the coast clear for the night?
Yes, George.
He says the coast is clear for the night.
Okay, okay.
What's the address?
Yeah, yeah, I know.
At 11 o'clock, the private patrolman goes around to the bar on Secna Avenue for a beer.
That's right, at 11 o'clock.
I will make sure that all the lights downstairs are out.
There should be only one light visible from the street.
Yeah, yeah, I know.
At 11.15, a train crosses the bridge.
It makes a noise in case a window is open and she should scream.
Oh, hello, what number is this, please?
Okay, I understand, I tell you.
That's 11.15, the train.
Yeah. Do you remember everything else, George?
Yeah, yeah, I make it quick.
As little blood as possible.
Because our client does not wish to make her suffer longer.
That's right. You'll use a knife?
Yes, a knife will be okay.
And afterwards, I remove the rings and the bracelets and the jewelry in the bureau drawer.
Because our client wishes it to look like simple robbery.
Don't worry, everything's okay.
I never...
Oh, how awful, how unspeakably awful.
Oh!
The operator.
Oh, my God.
Your call, please.
Operator, I've just been cut off.
Sorry, what number were you calling?
Why, it was supposed to be Murray Hill 70093, but it wasn't.
Some wires must have got crossed.
I was cut into a wrong number.
And I've just heard the most dreadful thing, something about a murder.
And, operator, you simply have to retrace that call at once.
I beg your pardon. May I help you?
Oh, I know it was a wrong number and I had no business listening.
But these two men, they were cold-blooded fiends.
They were going to murder somebody.
Some poor, innocent woman who was all alone in a house near a bridge.
And we've got to stop them. We've got to.
What number were you calling, please?
Well, that doesn't matter. This was a wrong number and you dialed it for me.
And we've got to find out what it was immediately.
What number did you call?
Oh, why are you so stupid? What time is it?
Do you mean to tell me you can't find out what that number was just now?
I'll connect you with the chief operator.
Oh, I think it's perfectly shameful.
Now, look, look, it was obviously a place of some little slip of the finger.
I told you to try Murray Hill 70093 for me.
You dialed it, but your finger must have slipped and I was connected with some other number.
And I could hear them, but they couldn't hear me.
Now, I simply failed to see why you couldn't make that same mistake again on purpose.
Why you couldn't try to dial Murray Hill 70093 in the same sort of careless way.
Murray Hill 70093.
Yes.
I'll try to get it for you.
Oh, thank you.
Oh, I'm sorry.
Murray Hill 70093 is busy.
I'll call you in 20 minutes.
Operator, operator, operator, operator.
Your call, please.
You didn't try to get that wrong number at all.
I asked you explicitly and all you did was dial correctly.
I'm sorry.
What number did you call?
I don't know.
All you did was dial correctly.
I'm sorry.
What number are you calling?
Well, can't you for once forget what number I'm calling and do something for me?
Now, I want to trace that call.
It's my civic duty and it's your civic duty to trace that call and apprehend those dangerous killers.
And if you won't...
I will connect you with the chief operator.
Please.
This is the chief operator.
Oh, chief operator.
I want you to trace a call, a telephone call immediately.
I don't know where it came from or who was making it, but it's absolutely necessary that it be tracked down
because it was about a murder that someone's planning a terrible cold-blooded murder of a poor innocent woman tonight at 1115.
I see.
Well, can you trace it for me?
Can you track down those men?
I'm not certain. It depends.
Well, it depends on what?
It depends on whether the call is still going on.
If it's a live call, we can trace it on the equipment.
If it's been disconnected, we can't.
Disconnect?
If the parties have stopped talking to each other.
Oh, but if of course they must have stopped talking to each other by now,
that was at least five minutes ago and they didn't sound like the type who would make a long call.
Well, I can try tracing it.
May I have your name, please?
Mrs. Stevenson.
Mrs. Albert Stevenson.
But listen, I...
And your telephone number, please.
Plaza 4-2-2-9-5.
But if you go on wasting all this time...
Why do you want this call traced, please?
What?
I don't...
Well, no reason.
I mean, I merely felt very strongly that something ought to be done about it.
These men sounded like killers.
They're dangerous.
They're going to murder this woman at 1115 tonight.
I thought the police ought to know.
Have you reported this to the police?
Well, no, not yet.
You want this call checked purely as a private individual.
Yes, yes, but meanwhile I...
I'm sorry, Mrs. Stevenson, but I'm afraid we couldn't make this check for you
and trace the call just in your say-so as a private individual.
We'd have to have something more efficient.
Oh, for heaven's sake.
You mean to tell me I can't report that there's going to be a murder
without getting tied up in all this red tape?
Why, it's perfectly idiotic.
Well, all right, I'll call the police.
Thank you.
I'm sure that would be the best way to...
It's ridiculous, perfectly ridiculous.
I can't see why you have to go through all this trouble.
Oh.
Your call, please.
The police department.
Get me the police department, please.
Thank you.
Oh, dear, do you have to dial?
Can't you ring them direct?
Ringing, the police department.
It's ringing.
Oh.
Oh, man, look at me.
Police station, precinct 43, Sergeant Martin speaking.
Police department, this is Mrs. Stevenson, Mrs. Albert Smyth Stevenson,
of 53 North Sutton Place.
I'm calling up to report a murder.
I mean, the murder hasn't been committed yet,
but I just overheard plans for it over the telephone
over a wrong number that the operator gave me.
I've been trying to trace down the call myself,
but everybody is so stupid,
and I guess in the end you're the only people who can do anything.
Yes, ma'am.
It was a perfectly definite murder.
I heard their plans distinctly.
Two men were talking, and they were going to murder some woman at 1115 tonight.
She lived in a house near a bridge.
Are you listening to me?
Yes, ma'am.
And there was a private patrolman on the street.
He was going to go around for a beer on 2nd Avenue,
and there was some third man, a client,
who was paying to have this poor woman murdered.
They were going to take her rings and bracelets and use a knife.
Well, it's a nerve-mining red play, and I'm not well, and I just don't know...
I see. When was all this, ma'am?
About eight minutes ago.
Then you can do something. You do understand.
What is your name, ma'am?
Mrs. Stevenson, Mrs. Albert Stevenson.
And your address?
53 North Sutton Place, 53 North Sutton Place.
That's near a bridge, the Queensboro Bridge, you know,
and we have a private patrolman on our street.
And what was the number you were calling?
Murray Hill 70093.
But that wasn't the number I overheard.
I mean, Murray Hill 70093 is my husband's office.
He's working late tonight, and I was trying to reach him to ask him to come home.
I'm an invalid, you know, and it's the maiden night off,
and I hate to be alone even though he says I'm perfectly safe
as long as I have the telephone right beside my bed.
Well, we'll look into it, Mrs. Stevenson,
and here we can check it with the telephone company.
But the telephone company said they couldn't check the call
if the parties had stopped talking. I've already taken care of that.
Oh, you have?
Yes, and personally, I feel you ought to do something far more immediate
and drastic than just check the call.
What good is checking the call do if they've stopped talking?
By the time you've tracked it down, they'll already have committed the murder.
Well, we'll take care of it, don't you worry.
Well, I'd say the whole thing calls for a search,
a complete and thorough search of the whole city.
Now, I'm very near the bridge, and I'm not far from Second Avenue,
and I know I'd feel a whole lot better if you'd stand around a radio car
to this neighborhood at once.
And what makes you think the murder is going to be committed in your neighborhood, ma'am?
Well, I don't know. Only the coincidence. It's so horrible.
Second Avenue, the patrolman, the bridge.
Second Avenue is a very long street, ma'am,
and you know how many bridges there are in the city of New York alone.
Yes, I know.
Not to mention Brooklyn, Staten Island, Queens, and the Bronx.
I know that.
How do you know there isn't some little house on Staten Island
on some little Second Avenue you've never even heard about?
How do you know they're even talking about New York at all?
But I heard the call on the New York dialing system.
Maybe it was a long-distance call you overheard.
Oh, don't.
Telephones are funny things.
Look, lady, why don't you look at it this way?
Supposing you hadn't broken in on that telephone call.
Supposing you'd got your husband the way you always do.
You wouldn't be so upset, would you?
Well, no, I suppose not.
Only it sounded so inhuman, so cold-blooded.
A lot of murders are plotted in this city every day, ma'am.
We manage to prevent almost all of them.
But a clue of this kind is so vague.
It isn't much more used to us than no clue at all.
But surely you...
Yes, of course, you have some reason for thinking this call was phony
and that someone may be planning to murder you.
Me? Oh, no.
Oh, I hardly think so.
I mean, why should anybody?
I'm alone all day and night.
I see nobody except my maid, Eloise, and she's a big girl.
She weighs 200 pounds.
She's too lazy to bring up my breakfast tray.
And the only other person is my husband, Albert.
He's crazy about me. He just adores me.
He weighs on me and on foot.
He seriously left my side since I took sickwell 12 years ago.
Well, then there's nothing for you to worry about.
Now, if you'll just leave the rest of this to us, we'll take care of it.
But what will you do? It's so late. It's nearly 11 now.
We'll take care of it, lady.
Well, when you broadcast it all over the city and send out squads
and warn your radio cars to watch out,
especially in suspicious neighborhoods like mine...
Lady, I said we'd take care of it.
Just now I've got a couple of other matters here on my desk
that require immediate attention.
Good night, ma'am, and thank you.
You... you... idiot.
Oh, so why did I hang up the phone like that?
He'll think I am a fool.
Oh, why doesn't Albert come home? Why doesn't he?
Why doesn't he? Oh.
Oh, so nervous.
Your call, please.
Operator, for heaven's sake, will you ring that Murray Hill 7093 number again?
I can't think what's keeping him so long.
I will try it for you.
Well, try, try.
I don't see why he's not answering.
I'm sorry. Murray Hill 70093 is busy.
I can hear it. You don't have to tell me. I know it's busy.
I can only get out of this bed for a little while.
And I can get a breath of fresh air
or just lean out of the window and see the street.
Hello, Albert? Hello? Hello? Hello?
Oh, what's the matter with this phone? Hello, hello?
Hello? Hello?
Over him and say, who is this? Hello?
Oh, hello!
Oh, I'm trying to...
What is she getting at?
Your call, please.
Hello, operator.
I don't know what's the matter with this telephone tonight,
but it's positively driving me crazy.
I've never seen such inefficient, miserable service.
Now, now, look, I'm an invalid and I'm very nervous,
and I'm not supposed to be annoyed.
But if this keeps on much longer...
That seems to be the trouble, please.
Well, everything's wrong.
I haven't had one bit of satisfaction out of one call I've made this evening.
The whole world could be murdered for all you people care.
And now my phone keeps ringing and ringing and ringing
and ringing every five seconds this hour,
and when I pick it up, there's no one there.
I'm sorry. If you will hang up, I will test it for you.
I don't want you to test it for me.
I want you to put that call through, whatever it is, at once.
I'm afraid I cannot do that.
You can't? And why? Why, may I ask?
The dial system is automatic.
If someone is trying to dial your number,
there is no way to check it without the call is coming through the system or not,
unless the person who is trying to reach you complains to a particular operator.
Well, I'm all the stupid.
And meanwhile, I've got to sit here in my bed suffering
every time that phone rings, imagining everything.
I will try to check the trouble for you.
Well, check it, check it. That's all anybody can do.
Oh, what's the use of talking to you? You're so stupid.
Oh, I fix her, oh, the impudent.
How dare she speak to me like that? How dare she?
Call the operator. Oh, I'm a big stupid fool.
Your call, please.
Young woman, I don't know your name, but there are ways of finding you out.
And I'm going to report you to your superiors
for the most unpardonable rudeness and insolence that's ever been my privilege.
And give me the business office at once.
You may dial that number direct.
I'll do no such thing. I don't even know the number.
The number is in the directory, or you may secure it by dialing information.
Listen here, you... Oh, what's the use?
Oh, dear. Oh, for heaven's sake, I'm going out of my mind, out of my...
Hello? Hello, stop ringing me. Do you hear? Answer me. Who is this?
You realize you're driving me crazy? Who is calling me? What are you doing it for?
Now stop it, stop it, stop it. Hello? Hello?
If you don't stop ringing me, I'm going to call the police.
You hear? The police!
Oh, if that would pick one of me, come on.
Oh, let it ring. Let it go on ringing.
It's a trick of some kind. I won't answer.
I won't, I won't. I won't even if it goes on ringing all night.
Oh, you ring, go ahead and ring.
Ow.
Now, now what's the matter? Why do they stop ringing all of a sudden?
Oh, what time is it?
Why did I put that clock? Oh, here it is.
Five to eleven. Oh, they decided something. They're sure I'm home.
They heard my voice answer them just now. That's why they've been ringing me.
Why no one has answered me.
I'm afraid I'll get...
Oh, where is she?
Why doesn't she answer?
Your call, please. Where were you just now? Why didn't you answer at once?
Give me the police department.
Oh, she's calling.
I'm sorry, the line is busy. I will call you...
Busy? But that's impossible. A police department can't be busy.
There must be other lines available.
The line is busy. I will try to get them for you later.
No, no, I've got to speak to them now or it may be too late. I've got to talk to someone.
What number do you wish to speak to?
I don't know, but there must be someone to protect people beside the police department.
A detective agency?
You will find agencies listed in the classified directory.
But I don't have a classified.
I'm too nervous to look it up and I don't know how to use it.
I'll connect you with information. Perhaps she will be able to help you.
No, no.
Oh, you're being spiteful, aren't you? You don't care, do you?
What happens to me? I could die and you wouldn't care.
Oh, stop it, stop it, stop it. I can't stand it anymore.
Hello, what do you want? Stop ringing, will you? Stop it.
Hello, is this Plaza 42295?
Yes, yes, I'm...
I'm sorry, this is Plaza 42295.
This is Western Union. I have a telegram here for Mrs. Elbert-Stevenson.
Is there anyone there to receive the message?
I'm... I'm Mrs. Stevenson.
The telegram is as follows. Mrs. Elbert-Stevenson, 53 North Sutton Place, New York, New York.
Darling, terribly sorry.
Tried to get you for last hour, but lying busy.
Leaving for Boston 11 p.m. tonight on urgent business.
Back tomorrow afternoon, keep happy, love sign, Elbert.
Oh, no. Do you wish us to deliver a copy of the message?
No, no, thank you. Thank you, madam. Good night.
Good night.
Oh, no.
No, I don't believe it. He couldn't do it. He couldn't do it.
How many knows I'll be all alone?
It's some trick. Some finished trick.
Oh, I...
Oh, I'm so tricked.
What is this?
Your call, please. Operator.
Try that Murray Hill 70093 number for me. Just one more, please.
You may dial that number direct.
Oh.
Oh, I love you.
Oh.
Oh, Elbert, how could you?
How could you?
I can't be alone tonight. I can't.
If I'm alone one more second, I'll go mad.
I don't care what he says or what the expense is.
I'm a sick woman. I'm a tired...
I'm a star.
Oh.
Oh, my special someone.
You're so...
Information. May I help you?
Hi. I want the telephone number of Henshley Hospital.
Henshley Hospital? Do you have the street address?
No, no. It's somewhere in the 70s.
It's a very small, private and exclusive hospital
where I had my appendix out two years ago. Henshley.
H-E-N...
One moment, please.
What is the time?
You may find out the time by dialing Meridian 7-1-2-1-7.
Oh, for heaven's sake, I've no time to be dialing.
The number of Henshley Hospital is Butterfield 7-0-1-0-5.
Butterfield 7-1-0-5.
U-7-0-1-0-5.
Oh.
Henshley Hospital, good evening.
Nurse's registry.
I want the nurse's registry at once. I want a trained nurse.
I want to hire immediately for the night.
I see. And what is the nature of the case, madam?
Nerves. I'm very nervous. I need soothing companionship.
You see, my husband is away, and I'm...
I know, but I really don't see why all this catechizing is necessary.
I just want a trained nurse.
I was a patient in your hospital two years ago, and after all,
I do expect to pay this person for tending me.
We quite understand that, madam, but these are wartimes, you know.
Registered nurses are very scarce just now,
and our superintendent has asked us to send people out
only on cases where the physician in charge feels that it is absolutely necessary.
Well, it is absolutely necessary.
I'm alone in this house, and I'm an invalid,
and tonight I overheard a telephone conversation that upset me directly.
In fact, if someone doesn't come at once, I'm afraid I'll go out of my mind.
I see. Well, I'll speak to Miss Phillips as soon as she comes in.
And what is your name, madam? Miss Phillips?
And when do you expect her in? Well, I really couldn't say.
She went out to supper at 11 o'clock. 11 o'clock? But it's not 11 yet.
Oh, my clock has stopped. I thought it was running down.
What time is it? Just 15 minutes past 11.
What? What was that?
What was what, madam? That...that click just now
in my own telephone as though someone had lifted the receiver
off the hook of the extension telephone downstairs.
Well, I didn't hear it, madam. Now, about that...
But I did! There's someone in this house.
Someone downstairs in the kitchen, and they're...they're listening to me now.
Right there. I won't forget how...
I won't let them hear me. I'll be quiet, and they'll see.
Oh, but if I don't call someone now,
while they're still down there, there'll be no time.
Oh, oh, I've got to find somebody.
Oh, my God. Why is it she is?
Your call, please. Operator. Operator.
I'm in desperate trouble. I...I...
I'm sorry. I cannot hear you. Please speak louder.
I don't dare. There's someone listening.
Can you hear me now? I'm sorry.
But you've got to hear me. Oh, please, you've got to help me.
There's someone in this house, someone who's going to murder me,
and you've got to get in touch with...
Oh, there it is. There it is. Did you hear it?
He's put it down. He's put down the extension phone.
He's coming up. He's coming up the stairs.
Give me the police department. The police department.
The police department. Give it to me.
One moment, please. I will connect you.
I can...I can hear him. I can hear her.
Oh, I hear him. I hear it.
Hurry. Hurry.
Oh, oh, no, he can't hear me.
I don't know what to do. I don't know what to do.
Police department, Sergeant Martin speaking.
Police department? Oh, I'm sorry.
I must have got the wrong number.
Don't worry. Everything's okay.
And so closes Sorry Wrong Number starring Agnes Moorhead.
Tonight's tale of suspense.
This is your narrator, the man in black,
who conveys to you Columbia's invitation to spend this half hour
in suspense with us again next Saturday,
when we'll have another starring Hollywood cast,
headed by Miss Dolores Costello, with Martin Koslick,
Ian Wolfe, and George Zuko.
The producer of these broadcasts is William Spear,
who with Ted Bliss, the director,
Ludd Gluskin, the musical director,
and Lucille Fletcher, the author,
collaborated on tonight's Suspense.
The entire country is waiting in suspense
for the answer to this important question.
Will the United States Cadet Nurse Corps
reach its goal of enrolling 65,000 student nurses
before the end of 1943?
For if it doesn't, this country faces the prospect
of needless suffering and loss of life
at a time when our full health and energy are needed to win the war.
What are you girls from 17 or 18 to 35 going to do about it?
If you're a high school graduate in good health,
you're eligible for a scholarship which will pay you all your expenses
while you're learning to be of service to your fellow man.
Not only will you receive a personal spending allowance
of $15 a month for the first nine months in training,
$20 a month for the following 21 months,
and then $30 a month until graduation,
but you will, in addition to this personal allowance,
receive allowances for room, board, health and laboratory fees,
books, and other incidental expenses.
This is your chance to do something for yourself
while you're doing something big for your country.
You're needed now, so write immediately to the U.S. Cadet Nurses Corps,
Box 88, New York, or to any nursing school of your choice,
and they will furnish you with all the essential information.
You are needed now, so act now.
This is a test.