Now, Roma wines present...
Suspense!
Tonight, You Were Wonderful, starring Lena Horne.
This is presented for your enjoyment by Roma Wines.
That's R-O-M-A, Roma Wines.
Those excellent California wines that can add so much pleasantness to the way you live,
to your happiness and entertaining guests, to your enjoyment of everyday meals.
Yes, right now a glass full would be very pleasant, as Roma Wines bring you...
Suspense!
This is the Man in Black, here for the Roma Wine Company of Fresno, California.
Tonight Roma Wines bring you a star, the remarkable American singing actress, Miss Lena Horne,
who has recently returned to Hollywood following a triumphal Eastern tour to resume her picture
career at the studios of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, in whose Technicolor production, Ziegfeld Follies,
she will soon be seen.
Tonight she appears as a noted entertainer called Lorne Aden, who found herself embroiled
with dangerous intrigue and murder in a South American capital.
And so with You Were Wonderful, and with the performance of Lena Horne, we again hope to
keep you in...
Suspense!
Hola, Gianni.
Ah, sure, here.
Check the sombrero.
Good evening, Mr. Wines.
Do you wish a table?
No, thanks, no.
I'm just browsing.
Is Ronaldo...
Oh, there he is now.
Oh, hello, Gianni, hello.
Hi, Ronaldo.
Well, sit down, have a little supper with me, huh?
No, no, thanks, I'm not hungry.
Well, come on, come on, sit down anyway.
All right, anything to please you, sit down.
Tell me, how's business?
Oh, fine, great.
Every time I get a bad break nowadays, Gianni, I get two good ones right after.
Say, when did you ever get a bad break?
Well, you know Jackie, my little singer.
Yeah, sure, I know.
Of course you do.
Well, Jackie is quitting.
Oh, that's too bad.
Well, I'm sorry, I'm sorry.
I'm sorry.
And who do you suppose I'm getting just by the nearest accident?
Who do you suppose I'm getting to take our place, huh?
All right, I'll bite.
Lorna Dean.
Lorna Dean?
Oh, you're kidding.
What do you think of that, huh?
Very good, huh?
Well, if you'll excuse the aspersions, Ronaldo, I think, what does a dame with an international
reputation like Lorna Dean want to be singing in a third-rate cabaret like this for?
Oh, no, no, second-rate maybe, but third-rate, no, no, no.
All right, all right, second-rate.
But you can't pay her a tenth of what she's used to getting.
And what is she doing down here in Buenos Aires anyway?
Oh, now, what you want to ask a lot of questions for.
She's going to sing.
That's good enough for me.
Yeah?
Hey, I guess it is.
She's terrific, all right.
Tell me, when does she start?
Two weeks from tonight.
Why the Jackie Queen?
It's kind of subtle, isn't it?
Oh, I don't know.
She's nervous lately.
She wants to go back to the States, I guess.
Oh.
Say, Johnny.
Yeah?
When are you going back?
To the States?
Mm-hmm.
Oh, six months, a year, two years, whenever this war is over.
Don't you think you better go home maybe a little sooner, huh?
Look, I don't want any lectures on my patriotism, if that's what you mean.
Why, who's giving lectures?
Down here, we are neutral.
Yeah?
Well, all right, that's what I am.
The U.S. is okay, it's fine.
It just happens that it never did so much for me that I feel like getting knocked off
for it, that's all.
Oh, I don't want you to get knocked off.
That's what I'm talking about.
What are you talking about?
Your health, Johnny.
Do I take that two ways or only one?
One.
Listen, Johnny, listen.
I see these things before.
Sometimes, when we stay around these places so long, they forget all about home.
And then one day, finish.
I pay my bills, don't I, eventually?
Johnny, don't talk that way.
It's only because I like you, you know that.
All right, all right, cut it, cut it.
Okay, okay.
Ah, here comes Jackie now.
Aha.
Alma del Africa lejana, piena mi pecho, mi...
What's happening?
Ay, Dios.
What's the matter?
Come on, run out.
I understand, she wasn't feeling well.
Why didn't she tell me?
She didn't have to go on.
Coming through, please, please.
Please stand back, please stand back.
Now, what's the matter?
This woman has been drugged, apparently.
I am a doctor.
Oh.
Mr. Ronaldo.
What do you want?
I have no time.
I want the job, now.
Job?
Oh, it's you, Miss D.
Couldn't you even wait until they looked the poor kid over before coming here?
Did I ask you anything?
Look, Mr. Ronaldo, I'm sorry for the girl, but I'm a singer, not a top sister.
I was going to start in two weeks anyway.
I might as well start now.
Well, I'm sorry.
I'm sorry.
I'll start now.
All right.
Then until Jackie can come back to finish out.
Oh, yeah?
It'll be about the longest run on record then.
What do you mean?
This young lady is right.
Thank you, Ronaldo.
This girl is dead.
Do you still want the job?
I still want the job.
Tonight for Suspense, Roma wines are bringing you a star, Miss Lena Horne, whom you have
heard in the prologue to You Were Wonderful by Robert L. Richards.
Tonight's tale of Suspense.
Roma wines made in California are of such uniformly superb quality that they are imported
to many foreign countries as the choice of true connoisseurs of fine wines.
Millions of Americans also enjoy the excellence of Roma wines daily, with meals and when entertaining.
In fact, more Americans enjoy Roma than any other wine.
They know that Roma wines are truly inexpensive, or wines of such distinguished character.
They know Roma wines are of unvarying superb taste and quality, the result of age-old winemaking
skill combined with modern knowledge.
All this for only pennies a glass.
So for maximum mealtime enjoyment, or when entertaining, serve Roma wines.
A cool glass of appetizing Roma California sherry before dinner.
A cool bottle of rich Roma California burgundy on the table with the meal.
You'll appreciate the enthusiastic comments of the family and guests.
You'll be pleasantly surprised at how much added zest Roma wine brings to your table.
Tomorrow, ask your dealer for R.O.M.A. Roma wines.
If he is temporarily out of Roma, please try again soon.
Remember, more Americans enjoy Roma than any other wine.
And now we return to the scene of our drama.
The Rinaldos on the waterfront of Buenos Aires, where a famous American entertainer, Lorna
Dean, takes the spotlight from a dead girl to begin the strangest singing engagement
of her career.
A situation well calculated to keep you in suspense.
Embrace me, my sweet embrace of you.
Embrace me, my replace of you.
Just one look at you, my heart grew gypsy in me.
You and you alone bring out the gypsy in me.
I love all the mini-chums about you.
Above all, I want my arms about you.
Don't be a naughty baby.
Come to your mama's door.
My sweet embrace of you.
Oh, gee, how was it, Johnny?
You ask me that question every night.
Don't I always give you the same answer?
Ah, maybe I just like to hear it.
All right, all right.
You were wonderful, okay?
Okay.
We artists, you know, gotta hear that thunderous ovation.
Hello there, Johnny.
Oh, a friend of yours?
Well, business acquaintances, you know.
Well, that tall one's been giving me the glassy eye all through that monogathe last
three nights.
They're coming over.
Maybe you want to talk to them.
Oh, Johnny.
Oh, please don't go, Miss Dean.
Oh, that's all right.
I've got to argue with Reynaldo about a baby pink spot.
You know, we artists.
See you later, Johnny.
Okay.
Sit down, Mr. Harman.
Hi, Stinkle.
Good evening.
Terribly attractive girl.
What?
My favorite singer, too.
Oh, by the way, I'm sorry.
Oh, by the way, before I forget, Johnny, here's your remittance for the week.
Oh, okay, thanks.
And in that connection, old boy, I'm afraid I must tell you that we're not too satisfied
with your work.
Or maybe I'm not too satisfied with the job.
Oh, if you're not, it doesn't require such enormous intellectual powers that we couldn't
find someone else to do it, you know.
Oh, keep your pants on.
I didn't say I was quitting today.
Now, look here, old boy.
All we ask you to do is report their names when they enter the harbor and their sailing
time when they leave.
Now, that's easier now, isn't it?
Yeah, sure, sure.
Only to find out those things, the guy has to ask questions.
And when you ask questions, people ask questions back.
Don't forget that.
Oh, you have been reading too many spy stories, Johnny.
After all, even if there's a war, some of us are still in business.
And when you're in business, sometimes it helps to know when your competitors are shipping
their goods.
Yeah, okay, okay.
The guy likes to know what he's working for, that's all.
About Miss Lorna Dean, I didn't know you were a particular friend of hers, Johnny.
Not particular, just friends.
She took Jackie's place.
Yeah?
Yeah.
And there's a couple of questions that nobody has ever answered about that either.
I suppose there are.
Too bad, yeah.
You know, I'd rather like to have a talk with Miss Dean.
What about?
Oh, singing.
I didn't know you were such a particular lover of music.
Oh, rather.
I'd go for American folk songs.
Primitive, you know.
Stir the blood, what?
Yeah.
Well, here she comes back, and if you want my advice...
I didn't ask for your advice, old boy.
Now you just run along for 10 minutes.
What for?
I want to have a little private talk with Miss Dean.
And you don't know enough about music.
Okay.
Hey, Johnny, guess what we're now...
Hey, Johnny!
I'll be back when I'm wanted.
Oh, please, Miss Dean, do sit down.
Well, what was all that about?
Let him go.
It's all the better for me, you know.
Now I can talk to you.
And perhaps you'd better learn your nonsense.
It's quite all right.
Well, Miss Dean, it's nice to see you again.
I'm still wondering why America's favorite thrush is singing here.
Oh, I sort of like the place.
I wanted to help Ronaldo out of a jam.
Charlie, good.
I must confess I have a weakness for the place myself.
Oh, have you?
And how do you think Buenos Aires stacks up with Rio and all the other gay capitals of
South America?
I like it.
My tour didn't take me here, but I just couldn't leave without seeing it.
You know, I've always been a great admirer of yours, Miss Dean.
I've heard you sing, oh, I don't know how many times.
Oh, have you been in the States often?
Oh, no, no, no.
England.
A short way, you know.
Your voice carries very well over the wireless.
Oh, you're English.
And Austrian.
I lived in England most of my life, though.
You know, down here on business, war, you know.
Oh, terrible thing, this war.
Yes.
I'm afraid it's been awfully disillusioning to a lot of people.
Take your people in America, for instance.
Not much for them, the fight war is down.
Well, a lot of them are fighting just the same.
I dare say.
Anything better than what they have at home, eh?
Strange war, though.
There's the Japanese now.
I understand that they have certain very progressive policies
towards the, uh, color races.
Except for the Chinese, I suppose.
Yes, well, Chinese backward people, you know,
always have been communists and so on.
Confusing, just the same, isn't it?
All this, uh, race business.
I suppose it is to some people.
Now they're the Nazis, cute devils.
Always talk about a master race.
They don't mean a word of it, you know.
Can't we talk about something else?
Oh, yes, of course, my dear.
Now, now let's talk about your music.
You know, I'm really quite a fan of American music.
A bit unbalanced on the sub-unit, actually, I suppose.
Oh, really?
Yes.
So much so that I think I might have a little
financial proposition that would interest you.
Hey, hey, hey, you.
Are you speaking to me?
Yes, go on, get out of here.
You know what you're saying?
What possible reason can you have?
I don't know anything. I don't have any reason.
I just can't afford to get into trouble myself.
Maybe I just don't like your face.
Now go on, go on, get out.
Now sit here, Ronaldo.
Get out and don't come back.
Very well.
Come along, Stingle.
Good night, Miss Dean.
Good night.
Ronaldo, you're making rather a bad mistake, my love.
That's what you think.
That's what I know.
Good night.
Well, with my powers, the bum's right, Che, Ronaldo.
Johnny, why do you want to hang around with guys like that?
I don't hang around with them.
I just do business with them.
Sure, fine business.
What do you know about it?
I don't know anything yet, for sure.
I just smell a couple of rats.
Now you go on, go home too, Johnny.
We're closing up.
Okay, Ronaldo.
Hey, Johnny, you left in a sort of hurry, didn't you?
Well, maybe I had orders to leave in a hurry.
I kind of thought that might be it.
I guess it didn't matter much.
You seem to know the boys pretty well.
Oh, I meet a lot of people in this business.
Oh, sure, sure.
What did they want?
How did you know they wanted something?
Because they generally do. What was it?
Oh, they just wanted to make me a sort of proposition.
What kind of a proposition?
Well, I don't know, but...
But what?
I think it had something to do with singing.
Uh-huh. You gonna take it?
Because there's money in it.
Don't you care if money you earn has blood on it?
No. Do you?
Cause he's done something to me
And my heart won't keep still
Give me one dozen roses
Put my heart in beside them
And send them to the one I love
Bravo! Bravo! Splendid!
I couldn't have done better myself.
Is that the way you like it?
Oh, yes, yes, rather.
You ought to feel flattered, you know.
This is the first time I've given an audition
since I got my start in show business.
Oh, I do hope you didn't mind,
but I just couldn't resist asking you to sing it through
now that we've concluded our little business arrangement.
And that's all there is to it, huh?
I just sing it.
That's all there is to it.
Well, you're paying for it.
I just wish it was a song I did better.
Oh, cut out the false modesty.
I'll bet you were wonderful.
Oh, hello, Jordan.
Hi, Stingle.
You're up early, aren't you, old boy?
Still daylight.
I haven't been to bed.
I was sitting up with a sick friend.
Oh, no, no, no, no.
No, not that old chestnut.
Only this time it's not.
I was with Ronaldo. I suppose you heard.
Oh, yes. Too bad.
What's the matter with Ronaldo?
Oh, nothing, no. He's dead.
Dead?
Yeah.
Sudden, wasn't it?
Anyone know yet what happened?
Yes, by natural causes, Stingle.
And his wife, you know, is scared of the police
and superstitious besides.
Didn't want an autopsy.
Anyway, that's how it stands.
Yes, of course, poor woman.
I was in a position to do a little something for her.
Oh, were you?
Yes, I rang up her lawyer as soon as I heard.
Seems she doesn't feel like trying to run the club all alone,
so I bought it.
Well, that was nice.
Yeah, so you see, you're working for me now, Miss Dean.
It won't make any difference, of course.
I see.
Well, I must be running along now.
See you this evening.
Goodbye.
Yes.
Mm-hmm.
So you're working for him now?
We're working for him, huh, Johnny?
Is that how come the command performance
you were giving him when I came in?
No, I didn't know anything about anything then.
He just said he wanted me to sing that as a request number once in a while.
That's all.
How bad does he want you to sing it?
Bad enough.
And you don't sing it until he tells you to.
Is that the deal?
How do you know so much about it?
Because I'm not dumb.
Well, are you going to do it?
Why not?
He'll pay my expenses.
A lot more expenses than poor old Ronaldo could pay, huh?
Well, turning it down won't bring him back to life,
now will it?
You're really a cold-hearted little dame, aren't you?
Listen, Johnny, I'm entertained because I like it
and because it's the only way I can make enough money
to live halfway like a human being.
With money, I can do what I want to, more or less.
I can live where I want to,
go where I want to, be like other people, more or less.
Do you know what even that much freedom means
to somebody like me, Johnny?
All right.
But you don't need money so bad you have to make it this way.
What way?
You know what I mean.
Do I?
All I know is they want me to sing a song.
Yeah, but why?
I don't ask questions like that.
But if you know so much about it, why don't you tell me?
Maybe, maybe I can't.
Because you're afraid of sticking your neck out, huh?
But you ask me to trust you.
Oh, Lana, don't you see?
All I see is you want me out of the picture.
Well, I'm not leaving.
You're working for them, so am I.
You've got your reasons.
Oh, right.
You won't talk, neither will I.
Let's leave it like that, huh?
Okay, but from now on, you're on your own.
That's funny.
I've always been on my own.
And it isn't just the money.
Maybe it's something you wouldn't understand.
But I know what I'm after, and I'm going to get it.
You said it there, sister.
You're going to get it.
Who is it?
It's me.
Ah, come on in.
Hi, Lana.
Back to singing?
Oh, not especially.
Oh, I thought maybe you had your orders.
What orders?
I ought to sing that song tonight.
Yes.
What did you know?
Oh, a little birdie told me.
Look, look, I got you a present.
What is it?
A little portable radio.
It's a good one, too, made in the States.
You know I don't speak enough Spanish,
so if that thing will do me any good down here.
Ah, but don't forget the short waves.
Short waves, wireless, what?
Okay, Johnny, what's the gag?
Oh, just something I want you to hear.
You probably won't be able to understand it,
but fortunately in me you haven't accomplished
this anyway, I can tell you now.
Well, that little gadget, the wireless, huh?
That wasn't Spanish.
Right, and I'll give you three nice big guesses
what it was.
Johnny, wouldn't it be easier if you just up
and told me what you came here to tell me?
Don't play innocent with me.
Don't try to tell me you don't know what this is all about.
Maybe I just want to know how much you know.
I know.
You said I had a little secret.
I'm not going to tell you.
I'm going to tell you.
I know, I know.
You said I was afraid to stick my neck out.
Well, all right, listen to this.
That guy you just heard talking is the captain
of a German submarine about 15 miles outside the harbor.
How do you know?
Because I saw it.
And there's a convoy that leaves this harbor regularly
to take stuff from South America to our guys in England,
and they're leaving tonight.
And all that sub-captain out there is waiting for
to plow into that convoy and sink every ship in it
is the tip-off, and the tip-off is you.
Me?
Oh, stop it, will you?
I think Harman wanted you to sing a particular song
at a particular time for, and a song that's at least
two years out of date at that, if it wasn't
the tip-off somebody.
You know your stuff is broadcast.
Come on, use your head.
Listen, Johnny, if you know all this,
why didn't you tell me sooner?
That's my business.
Maybe I wasn't sure until now.
Business?
Yeah, business is just about the right word for it,
isn't it?
Okay.
I didn't expect any thanks for it.
But they're just using you for a fall guy, that's all.
Oh, listen, Lorna, listen.
You've got your life ahead of you.
A great career back home.
Popularity, everything in the world to lose.
And the stuff in those ships is going to save
the lives of Americans.
Ha ha ha ha.
Coming from you, Johnny.
That's real cute.
All right.
All right, so I don't have a country anymore,
but you do.
Johnny, listen.
You remind me of a preacher I used to know back home.
He figured he was such a good preacher
because he knew so much about sin.
He said he'd sin more than anybody else
in the whole congregation.
Go ahead.
Laugh.
Laugh when I'm telling you for your own good.
Get out of town.
I can't, Johnny.
I've got a date to sing tonight, remember?
Who is it?
It's Arlen.
We're about ready for you, Miss D.
Oh, time for me to go on, huh?
Okay, I'll be right there.
Right you are.
Okay.
That's it.
I hope you know what kind of a spot you're in,
because if you sing that song
as far as the public in the States is concerned,
you'll be washed for good.
Who's going to say anything, Johnny?
It's a sure thing you won't.
Well, he'll get back somehow.
You know what happens if you don't sing it.
What?
Remember what happened to Jackie?
What did happen, Johnny?
She tried a devil course.
And the same night she was dead.
Now laugh that off.
I haven't forgotten.
By the way, Johnny, suppose I tell you
that I knew all about that submarine out there.
What?
Now you laugh that off.
You better get out there and listen with your friends.
Your table's ready.
Hello there, Johnny.
Over here.
There you are, old boy.
The best table in the house.
Well, you're feeling great, aren't you?
Business must be pretty good.
Good, old boy.
Yes.
Perfect.
Thank you.
Thank you very much.
Tonight I want to sing a song.
I want to sing something that's been made a special request.
It's a song that's very popular in my own country.
And I'm sure it is with many of you down here.
My country is of thee, sweet land of liberty,
Of thee I sing.
Land where my father's dead,
Land of the pilgrim's pride,
From every mountain side,
Let freedom ring.
Bravo!
Well, you don't look very happy, Harmon.
You surprised?
Yes.
Come along, Mr. Kendall.
You better wait here, Johnny.
Yes, sure. Anything you say.
Oh, Miss Dean. Miss Dean.
Yes?
May I have a word with you?
I suppose so.
Perhaps we'd better slip out into the hall.
All right.
Well?
That was very naughty of you, Miss Dean.
Was it?
Yes. That wasn't the song I asked you to sing tonight.
That's right.
And by the way, don't waste any time looking for that submarine of yours out there.
Submarine?
Unless you look awful deep.
Because when I found out what you boys were doing, I arranged a little tip-off of my own.
And what you heard me sing tonight was it.
I see. All right, Kendall.
You'd better get it over with.
No, no!
Johnny!
Come on, come on. Let's get out of here.
What about?
They won't make anybody any more trouble.
Where are we going?
The American Embassy.
Are you with the government?
It had to be an undercover job.
The authorities down here couldn't very well get mixed up.
After all, it's a neutral country.
But how did you know I wouldn't?
I cut the wires. It wouldn't have gone out over the air, even if you had.
What was your angle?
I knew Jackie. She told me she was in trouble with him.
She never had time to tell me what it was about.
I came down to talk to her about it that night.
She was home this morning when Aldo's wife told me that he'd found out about the submarine out there.
That's why they had to kill him.
You were taking an awful chance playing the lone hand like that.
Why did you do it?
Oh, just to get in my licks at the master race.
Johnny?
Yeah?
How was I?
You? You were wonderful.
And so close as you were wonderful, starring Lena Horne.
Tonight's study in Suspense.
Suspense is produced and directed by William Spear.
Have you discovered, as so many thousands of Americans have, how much Roma wines add to the enjoyment of your meals?
How their superb taste makes special occasion feasts out of everyday meals?
Find out for yourself what a marvel worker Roma wine can be in giving any meal a new compliment rousing zest.
Start off the meal with an appetizer, Roma California Sherry.
Then place on the table a cool bottle of Roma California Burgundy.
You'll be amazed at the tremendous difference Roma wine makes in the enjoyment of your foods.
Don't overlook this easy way to add extra enjoyment to everyday living at a cost of only pennies a glass.
Take a tip from the millions who enjoy Roma wines at meals when entertaining.
Ask for R-O-M-A, Roma wines.
Remember, more Americans enjoy Roma than any other wine.
Next Thursday, same time, Mr. Robert Cummings will be your star of Suspense.
Presented from coast to coast and by short way through the Armed Forces radio service to our troops overseas by Roma wines.
Made in California for enjoyment throughout the world.
This is CBS, the Columbia Broadcasting System.