Now, the Roma Wine Company of Fresno, California presents...
Suspense!
Tonight, I had an alibi starring Keenan Wynn.
Suspense 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.
Who tonight from Hollywood bring you as star, Mr. Keenan Wynn.
Who is soon to be seen in the Metro-Golden-Mail production between two women.
Tonight, Mr. Wynn details for us the dramatic narrative of a gentleman who studied thoroughly the art of murder.
And who, like certain others, whose ventures are now and again recorded on the front pages of our newspapers,
evolved his own formula for the perfect crime.
And so with, I had an alibi.
And with the performance of Keenan Wynn, we again hope to keep you in...
Suspense!
["Suspense!" plays.]
Miss Lamson?
Yes?
Come in, come in.
Sit down.
Ever take dictation for a writer before?
No.
Well, that's okay. I've never written a novel before that I finished.
I hope you don't mind working in a place like this.
I don't mind working anywhere that I'm paid to work.
Oh, don't let that worry you.
I came into quite a piece of change not long ago. Maybe you heard about it.
Yes.
Well, you're not exactly the talkative type, are you?
I didn't think you'd have much time for talking, Mr. Eichner.
Yeah, I checked. Eleven days to make my deadline.
Ready to start?
Yes.
Title. I had an alibi by Joseph Eichner.
Oh, by the way, this will all be in the first person.
Yes.
Chapter one.
I first met Belle Schaffner when I went to work for the Herald.
She was a sob sister and a good one.
I was a police reporter and no bum in the business myself.
With Belle and me, it happened almost right away.
We talked the same language, thought the same way, wanted the same things.
We were that kind of a team.
But for a while, there were a couple of notions in the back of my mind that I hadn't even told Belle.
Because sometimes a woman in love can be practical only just so far.
The door came out one night in the office after I'd been there about six months.
Hello, handsome.
Hi, sugarpuss.
Busy?
Uh-uh.
Can I see?
Why not?
Dimly through the gray curtain of fog, Alice saw the phantom figure.
It was closer now.
She tried to scream, but her throat...
Is Alice still having trouble with her throat?
She's been trying to scream for two weeks now.
Look, I know, I know.
There's the reason right there.
City desk, Eichner.
Yeah.
Uh-huh.
Yeah.
Yeah, yeah.
What's the address again?
Okay, I'll go right down.
I'm going to tell you.
President want to see you?
Some guy carved up his wife.
I have to cover one more family brawl ends fatally for this sheet.
What's the matter?
You like to write about murders, and here they pay you for it.
Not the kind of money I want they don't.
Have you any idea what they pay a guy like James M. Kane?
A James M. Kane girl never has any trouble screaming when she wants to.
Now, you listen, Joe.
You'll never write a decent book until you get down to something you know about.
Well, this stuff sells, doesn't it?
Agatha Christie sells.
Leslie Charteris sells.
Yeah, yeah, but that's not your racket, Joe.
You've seen plenty of the real thing.
Write about that.
Stick to your trade.
Oh, yeah, well, look what it's got me.
You just can't be a writer and a newspaper reporter at the same time, Belle.
That's all.
All right, quit.
On what, relief?
Well, darling, it isn't leap year, but I'll always support you.
I can't even live on my own salary.
How are we going to both live on yours?
Well, listen, Belle, you know how I am about you.
Well, a girl always thinks she has ways of knowing.
I'm giving you plenty of ways of knowing.
But before we do anything like that, we've got to have money, lots of money.
We're that kind of people.
And there are ways.
Like what?
Well, like marriage, for instance.
You're going to marry the boss's daughter, huh?
Why not?
If the boss has left her a million dollars and she has a bad cough.
Well, I don't have a million dollars, but...
All right, you think I'm kidding.
But they exist. You read about them in the papers all the time.
That's right, you do.
Well, what's that?
Just a picture of a girl.
And what about her?
I'm supposed to go out and interview her tonight.
It's a very, very sad story.
Yeah?
Uh-huh.
She's got not one million dollars, but five.
And she's an orphan.
And she's got something the matter with her heart.
So they only give her six months to live.
And she's just come out here to spend her last days in the glorious sunshine of California.
It's a very sad story.
Yeah.
You want the assignment, Romeo? It's yours.
Hmm?
Oh, uh, say, loan me a couple of dollars, will you, Belle?
What? Poker?
No, no, no. Flowers.
Tonight for Suspense, Roma Wines are bringing you as star Mr. Keenan Wynne, whom you've heard in the prologue to I Had an Alibi, a radio play by Mindred Lord.
Tonight's tale of suspense.
This is Truman Bradley for Roma Wines.
And we have an interesting idea for you tonight from the keen and sensible mind of America's famed expert on parties and smart entertaining, Miss Elsa Maxwell.
And we quote, Serving a nice table wine when friends come to dinner or with everyday meals is one of the smartest, most sensible and truly moderate pleasures of the world.
And one which any family can regularly enjoy since the cost of delicious Roma burgundy is very little.
Just serve your Roma burgundy well cooled.
Enjoy it with any food and don't worry about special glasses.
Any glasses available are perfectly correct.
The goodness of the wine, the added enjoyment of your food.
These are the best dishes for you tonight.
The goodness of the wine, the added enjoyment of your food.
These are the things that count.
Miss Maxwell expresses perfectly what we have Roma believe in Roma California burgundy and all Roma wines.
You enjoy the glorious color, aroma and flavor of superb, sun ripe grapes.
The more noted wineries located in California's choicest vineyard areas assure you of flavor and quality which are always good, never varying, always delightful.
And so Roma quality is preferred everywhere.
And you are able to enjoy these fine Roma wines at modest prices, only pennies a glass full.
Remember, more Americans enjoy Roma than any other wines.
OMA, Roma wines.
And now it is with pleasure that we bring back to our sound stage our star Mr. Keenan Wynn.
Who as one Joe Eichner prepares to continue dictation on his first and only novel, I Had an Alibi.
A tale well calculated to keep you in suspense.
The Story of the Woman
You're sure you don't mind coming here Miss Lamson?
No.
Well we'd better go on with the dictation.
I've only got nine more days.
I'm ready.
Chapter four.
Belle Schaffner was a good sob sister all right even if she did have one weakness which was me.
The story she'd given me about the girl was the real McCoy.
Her name was Linda Vale and she did have five million dollars and just six months to live.
I went out to her house that night.
She was living in a big place in Beverly Hills that she'd taken over from some broken down movie star.
You know, swimming pool, tennis course, riding stables, the works.
And not a soul around.
I'd been worried about that.
I thought maybe she might be having a last fling and working out at 24 hours a day, you know, with a lot of nosy sponges hanging on to her all the time.
There was just one light on in a room upstairs in a hall light.
I went up to the door, knocked and waited.
Yes sir?
I'd like to see Miss Vale please.
I'm sorry sir but Miss Vale has given orders that...
Would you just give her these please? I'll wait.
Very well sir.
A press card will break the ice with almost anyone and I knew the flowers would do the rest.
Oh, what a surprise.
Pretty soon I heard steps and a voice.
The flowers are simply lovely but who...
Miss Vale?
Yes?
Well my name is Joseph Eichner.
Yeah, she was a nice enough kid and lonely.
Because like a lot of people on a spot like that, the thing she was afraid of most was having anybody pity her.
That's the mistake that nearly everybody made.
But not me.
I played it for a switch.
I'd figured every move for days I had.
Joe?
Yes?
What's the matter?
Oh, nothing.
You've been awfully subdued lately.
You've always been so... gay.
Well and I?
Well I've got to go away.
Go away?
Linda, I've been trying to keep it from you but...
Gee, you must know how I feel about you and seeing you every day and knowing that...
Oh Joe.
It's not fair to you Linda.
And well I can't take it anymore.
Joe?
Yes?
I don't want you to go.
I don't want to.
I don't want to Linda but...
Then promise me.
Promise me you won't leave me.
Just with a little time that's left.
Oh Linda.
For my sake.
Alright Linda.
For your sake.
After that it was quick and easy.
Three days later we went to see her doctor.
The best heart specialist in California.
Dr. Malcolm, you must be frank with us.
Doctor, we're in love.
I see.
And we want to be married.
Look doctor, if I could make Linda happier.
If I could give her all the love and tenderness.
Well isn't it just possible...
My boy, all that medical science can do is go on the basis of experience.
We can't make certain prophecies.
But on the basis of experience the prognosis for Linda remains unchanged.
But doctor, once you told me that anything is possible...
And I say it again my dear.
Anything is possible.
That's enough for me Joe.
Yeah me too.
The
Do you Joseph take this woman to be your lawful wedded wife...
To have her to hold in sickness and health...
For better for worse, for richer for poorer...
Forsaking all others until death do you part?
I do.
Do you Linda take this man to be your lawful wedded wife?
Hello baby.
Oh hello Romeo.
On a belway off will you?
Sorry.
I'm just nervous I guess.
Anything wrong?
Well that ex-husband of mine is loose again.
What of it?
What of it?
Remember the song and dance he led me the last time don't you?
Alright so he gets rough you just haven't committed again that's all.
Yeah.
Yeah I suppose so.
Belle.
No please.
I don't feel like...
Well what's the matter?
Well what do you think?
Oh now Belle you know I come around here as often as I can.
Sure.
Sometimes as often as twice a week.
Well I see other places.
Anyway I can't help it.
And when I do come well gee you might at least...
Alright.
Skip it.
How's the writing coming along?
Oh I don't know.
I just can't seem to get started.
So you're not even getting that done.
Well how can I get down to work when all I'm thinking about is...
Joe.
How long is this going to go on?
Well how do I know it's bound to happen soon?
That's what you said a year ago.
A year ago.
Belle it's all set.
She made out the will and my name and everything.
All we have to do is wait.
Just wait for the heart of hers to quit.
Well I'm tired of waiting.
Now what do you think of that?
Well what else can we do?
You mean what else can I do?
There are a few guys around loose with five million bucks too you know.
Oh now Belle.
Oh you...
For all we know she's liable to live to be a hundred.
Now that's impossible.
A doctor said...
Yes and doctors have been wrong.
Well what do you want me to do about it?
Well...
You think you're a mystery writer.
What do you mean by that?
I mean...
If you're supposed to be able to think up mysteries...
Start thinking one up.
Oh.
And don't think about it too long either.
Say Belle...
I mean it Joe.
Okay.
Because I'm not going to wait like this forever.
Okay.
Well that was when I first began to think about it.
Then all of a sudden I began writing again.
Linda was a little surprised but I kept right at it and...
Every so often I'd show her what I'd done.
It was pretty terrible but...
It didn't matter because nobody but her was ever going to see it anyway.
After about two weeks of this...
I was ready.
That night I came out of the study and went into the drawing.
Hello there darling.
Working hard?
Yeah.
Say Linda...
You want to do me a favor?
Of course I do.
Well you know the place in my story where Lillian pretends to commit suicide and leaves the note?
Uh huh.
Look I suddenly thought why not have the note reproduced right in the book as...
As though we're in her own handwriting.
You know exhibit A.
You know along with the map of the grounds and so on.
Well that would be good.
Yeah.
Only of course it's got to be in a woman's handwriting.
Do you want to write it for me?
You mean my handwriting is going to come out in a book?
Oh exciting.
It sure is if I can get a publisher and I think I've got a nibble.
Here you can write it on your own stationery.
I'll cut that letterhead off at the top later.
Alright.
What does it say?
Uh...
Darling.
Darling?
You know I can't go on like this.
Huh?
It's got to end sometime.
It's got to end sometime.
It will be easier for both of us if I end it now.
If I end it now.
Please try to forgive me and sign it L.
L?
Wouldn't you sign...
Oh no no you see all Lillian's letters to Dick are signed L. Remember?
Oh yes yes I remember now.
There.
Well thanks darling.
Is it alright?
Oh sure.
It's perfect.
Hello?
Hello Belle?
Yeah.
Now listen baby it's all set.
Did you get the note?
Oh sure sure she wrote it tonight.
Now how soon can you leave for Palm Springs?
Anytime.
Tomorrow morning?
Alright.
Now listen when you check in down there make plenty of fuss about it.
I will.
I'll leave here at exactly 9.30 tomorrow night.
I'll stop at a couple of places so you leave Palm Springs about fifty miles from here.
Alright.
I'll see you tomorrow.
Alright.
I'll see you tomorrow.
Alright.
I'll see you tomorrow.
Alright.
I'll see you tomorrow.
I'll see you tomorrow.
I'll see you tomorrow.
I'll see you tomorrow.
I'll see you tomorrow man.
So the next time you come don't forget to check in at Palm Springs about fifteen minutes
later or 9.45.
Okay.
Better check your watch at Western Union.
I'll do the same.
Okay.
Hey be sure to bring plenty of stuff.
Everything you can lay your hands on.
Oh don't worry I will.
You remember the place don't you?
Remember?
You know the second turn after you leave Riverside.
Well how far is it about?
Well it's exactly half way between the springs in here.
Say sixty miles.
I'll be there.
Okay baby.
Tomorrow night.
What time is it, Linda?
It's just about nine thirty.
Well, I guess I'd better be going.
Gee, darling, I hate to have to leave you this way on such short notice.
It's all right, dear.
I'll be going to sleep in a few minutes anyway.
You know, I don't know why this guy has to see me in such a rush and pop springs of all
places.
But, if he wants to publish my book...
Of course, you have to go.
Well, I'll be back tomorrow afternoon, maybe even earlier.
You won't worry, will you?
No, I won't.
Uh, door's under the terrace locked.
Yep, yeah, they're all right.
You know, I know how nervous you are sometimes when I'm away for the evening.
I think you're the one that's nervous.
Yeah, yeah, maybe I am at that.
Well, good night, darling.
Good night, Joe.
Oh, uh, Saunders.
Yes, sir?
Come in, sir?
Look, Saunders, I've got to drive down to Palm Springs tonight.
Oh, excuse me just a second.
Linda?
Yes?
Linda, you'd better put the snap lock on your door from the inside, just in case.
I've got the key.
Oh, all right.
There you are.
Okay, darling, good night.
Good night.
Saunders, uh, let me see.
Oh, yes.
I wonder if you'd mind checking the doors for Mrs. Eichner's room onto the terrace to
see if they're locked from the outside.
Very good, sir.
Little later, when she's asleep, so as not to disturb her.
You know, she gets nervous sometimes when I'm not here.
Yes, sir.
Saunders, you won't forget, will you?
Oh, no, sir.
I shan't forget, sir.
Uh, five gallons?
Yes, sir.
Say, uh, that ought to get me to Palm Springs.
Oh, sure, easy.
By the way, have you got a road map for Palm Springs?
I think I've got one inside here.
Oh, thanks.
Say, I don't suppose you'd cash a small check, would you?
I missed the bank today.
Well, the boss might, but, uh, he ain't here.
Well, I got identification, plenty of it.
See, Joseph Eichner, license, Social Security card.
Joseph Eichner.
Yes, yes, I see, son, I see.
And unless the boss was here, I wouldn't cash a check for Henry Morgenthau.
Belle?
Joe.
Hello, baby.
Well, what's the matter?
You're shaking all over.
Oh, I don't know.
Everything, I guess.
And I thought I saw that ex-husband of mine down in Palm Springs today.
What?
What would he be doing down there?
Oh, I must be seeing things.
Oh, I'm sure you are.
Oh, Joe.
Joe, I'm scared just the same.
Are you sure nobody's gonna get nosy about this?
Let them.
It's a set up.
The room's locked from the inside.
The butler knows it.
Nobody could have done what's going to happen in that room tonight except Linda or me.
I couldn't have done it because I couldn't be there and at Palm Springs with you at the
same time, right?
Oh, yeah, I guess so.
I've already left the trail to Palm Springs a mile wide.
Did you get away all right?
Yeah, out the back of the hotel.
Nobody saw me.
Everything else go okay?
Oh, yeah.
I got the maid in this afternoon and raised a fuss.
Then I gave her five dollars and made her polish everything till she was blue in the
face.
She'll never forget it.
That's swell.
You got the stuff?
Yeah, my big suitcase and the trunk rack.
All packed in cotton.
Okay, let's take a look at it.
Here we are.
Look at this.
Glasses, water pitcher, ashtrays.
And look at this.
I even got doorknobs.
I unscrewed them with a nail file.
Hey, what do you know?
Here's the one to the bathroom.
This little one's from the medicine cabinet.
And this one's the inside of the front door.
Okay, I'll just put my fingerprints on them and you pack them back in cotton.
Say you're sure you can get this stuff back into your room all right?
Oh, sure.
Better hurry then.
Yeah, I know.
There.
With my fingerprints on that doorknob, just let anybody try to prove I wasn't with you
in Palm Springs tonight.
I told you that when you got down to something real, you'd hit the jackpot.
Remember?
Yeah, and you know what this pot is worth, don't you?
Five million dollars.
There were no hitches.
I got back to town a little before two.
I drove the car into a little side road about a half mile up the canyon and walked back.
I didn't meet anybody and the places I passed were all dark.
So was mine.
I slipped through a hole in the hedge and crossed the lawn and went up onto the terrace.
I checked to see if I had the suicide note in my pocket and then I pulled on a pair of
gloves and opened the terrace door with my key and went inside.
The gun was in my overcoat pocket.
It was hers.
I had the flashlight in my hand.
I went over to the bedside and I flashed it on just for a second.
She was lying on her side, turned away from me.
I put the gun against her temple and pulled the trigger.
She didn't make a sound.
I reached over to put the gun in her hand and then it hit me.
Her hand was stiff and cold as ice.
I flashed the light in her face.
It was blue.
While I was away, she'd had her heart attack at last.
For the last three or four hours, she'd been dead.
For about ten seconds, I didn't know what to do.
Then I realized I had to get out of there.
Someone might have heard the shot.
Before it wouldn't have mattered one way or the other because the coroner would have established
the time of death anyway.
Now it made all the difference in the world.
I went out the terrace door and I locked it behind me.
I crossed the grounds and I started walking up the canyon, walking, thinking.
I don't know how long I walked.
But what I was thinking was enough to drive me crazy.
I'd planned the perfect suicide.
I'd planned it so nobody could have fired that shot but Linda or me.
And I had a perfect alibi.
But now it had to be me that shot her because any fool of a doctor could tell she'd been
dead when that shot was fired.
And then it came to me.
What was the difference?
Let the Palm Springs alibi go.
Let them think the shooting was an accident.
Let them think anything they wanted to.
I had the money.
And what can you do to a man for shooting a dead body?
It was almost daylight when I got back to the room.
The house was still dark so Saunders hadn't heard anything.
First I burned that suicide note.
Then I turned on the lights and unlocked the door.
Then I fired another shot into the wall for Saunders again just in case he was awake.
Then I went over to the inner house phone.
Hello?
Saunders.
Oh, oh yes sir.
Saunders, there's been an accident.
You better call the police.
Well, have you seen everything you want to lieutenant?
Yep.
Well, you're living kind of different than you used to when you were a police reporter
downtown, huh Joe?
Yeah, yeah.
I suppose you want to ask me some questions.
Oh, a couple.
I hear you were going to Palm Springs last night.
Yeah, I was.
Changed my mind.
Who were you going to see down there?
Anybody in particular?
Oh, just a friend.
It wouldn't have been your old friend, Bell Schaffner, would it?
Oh, whatever, I didn't go.
You could have had time to go though.
Oh, all right, but I didn't.
Anyway, what's all I've got to do with it?
Oh, nothing, nothing, nothing, just routine.
So you came back here?
Yeah, that's right.
And what happened?
Well, I came in the house and I went up to the, our bedroom and I thought I heard a noise.
I thought I saw a man moving around.
Well, I was pretty jumpy and I fired.
How many shots?
Two.
And one of them hit your wife?
One of them hit what was my wife.
All an accident, huh?
Yeah, yeah, that's right.
You, you're coming to quite a lot of money with her out of the way, don't you, Joe?
Yeah, sure.
What of it?
Nothing.
Only it's too bad you're not going to be able to spend it.
Oh, nuts.
What do you think you're going to do, charge me with a murder for firing a shot into a
corpse?
No, but it could be a pretty spectacular little alibi for just on the spur of the moment,
couldn't it?
For Belle Shaftner.
What?
Her throat was cut in Palm Springs last night and your fingerprints are all over the place.
It was her ex-husband who killed her, of course.
But what's the difference now?
Bella was right about one thing though.
You can't write a decent story unless it's something real.
I know.
The end.
Well, Miss Lamps, we made it.
Just.
Yes?
Do you believe it?
Yes.
Gee, that's funny.
Nobody else did.
The judge, the jury, not even my own lawyer.
Maybe they believed what I believe.
You ought to die for it anyway.
Yeah, check.
And I got a date for that right now.
Right Warden?
You ready, Ackmer?
Yeah, yeah, let's go.
And so close as I had an alibi starring Keenan Wynn, tonight's tale of Suspense.
Suspense is produced, edited, and directed by William Spear.
The other day, Elsa Maxwell told us about a friend who had lived many years in wine loving
countries around the world.
I gave him some of our delicious Roma California burgundy at dinner and he confessed to me that
he thought it every bit as enjoyable as any he had ever had.
So I say, you people who do not regularly serve Roma wine are missing one of the most
delightful treats daily living can offer.
It's so good, so smart, and yet so very simple.
Take Miss Maxwell's advice.
Enjoy Roma wine regularly.
It's always good, unburyingly fine in flavor and quality, and only pennies a glass.
Remember, more Americans enjoy Roma than any other wines.
Roma, R-O-M-A, Roma wines.
Next Thursday same time, Miss Nancy Kelly will be your star of Suspense.
Presented by Roma wines, R-O-M-A, made in California for enjoyment throughout the world.
This is CBS, the Columbia Broadcasting System.