Now, the Roma Wine Company of Fresno, California presents...
Suspense!
Tonight, Roma Wines bring you the suspenseful play called Heart's Desire, starring Lloyd
Nolan.
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 a remarkable
tale of suspense.
And with a tale called Heart's Desire, and with the performance of Lloyd Nolan as Henry
Doyle, Roma Wines again hope indeed to keep you in...
Suspense!
A New York City dock cutting out into the Hudson River, a place deserted now this night because
the hour is late, until a man is seen moving down the dock towards the river, moving with
a curiously groping, stumbling, aimless walk.
And then there is a woman moving out of the shadows, a woman who is a little overdressed,
with a little too much make-up, sidling over to where the man must cross her path.
Hello there.
What?
I said hello.
What's your name?
Lucille.
What's your last name?
Hey, you're a fast worker.
What's your last name?
Tell me.
Stop, you're hurting me.
Tell me!
Come on, Michael, Lucille, come on, Michael.
Oh, no.
What's the idea?
That hurts.
Oh, I'm sorry.
The man who was there, he's gone.
He's gone.
What's the matter with you anyway?
Hey.
Are you in trouble?
No.
Yes.
What is it?
Are you looking for somebody?
Is somebody lost?
Yes.
I'm looking for someone.
Someone you love?
Love, yes.
Someone that's my whole life.
You want to tell me about her?
It helps sometimes.
What?
Well, you don't have to if you don't want to.
Yes, they say that a man can remember his whole life if he's drowning and...
You didn't come here to...
No, no, I came down here.
I don't know why to think to remember it.
But if I do tell you, maybe it'll come back like the drowning man.
If I could start from the beginning, the very beginning, what was the beginning?
My childhood.
My father and mother were immigrants, very poor people.
I was hungry ever since I could remember.
My mother was a scrub woman in a big office building.
Sometimes she'd take me with her at night.
I'd see those big, beautiful offices where important people were working all day long.
My father didn't work.
Oh, a few days sometimes, that was all.
And always at home there were quarrels, quarrels, terrible quarrels about money.
First it used to make me sick with misery, my mother and father fighting.
I couldn't stand it.
And I'd run out and go and walk on the streets, walk through the fashionable neighborhoods,
watch the fine people, gaze through the great shop windows, all the beautiful things there
were to buy.
And above all, I'd come down to the docks near where I lived and watch all the gay and
happy people sailing on the great ocean line as to wonderful, distant places.
Oh, that was the best of all.
That was when I knew most clearly that someday I'd grow up and live like those fine people.
So I didn't have to think or worry about anything ever anymore.
Even when they died, my mother and my father, it was nothing.
To me, they hadn't really existed at all for a long while.
Only then I knew I must find some kind of work to do.
So I went to the bank in a fine, big building where I always knew I would go.
I told them I was ready to go to work there, and they hired me.
And after a few days, I decided that I should tell them what I had in mind.
So I went to see the president of the bank.
I was just 19 years old.
Yeah?
Well?
I'm Henry Doyle.
Oh, oh yes.
Well, Henry, it's a little unusual for one of our messengers to insist upon seeing the
president of the bank personally.
But since you're new here...
Oh, no, listen.
That's the Aquitania.
Oh, is it?
Yes.
She's sailing this morning.
I know when all the big ships sail.
Mr. Frizzell, when I go abroad, would you advise that I take the Aquitania?
What?
But she's a very nice ship.
Yes, I think she'd be best.
Henry, you may not believe it, but the bank president is a fairly busy man.
Oh, yes, that's why I came here to talk to you about my plans.
Your plans?
Yes, you see, I plan to be president of the bank someday myself.
You what?
Oh, not right away, of course, but someday.
And I thought I ought to tell you.
Well, Henry, that's a very laudable ambition.
And there's no reason if you work hard and devote yourself wholeheartedly to the interests
of the bank why you shouldn't be president someday.
Or anything else your heart desires.
Oh, you really think that, Mr. Frizzell?
Of course I do.
Remember Henry, there's always room at the top.
Oh, I'm very glad to hear you say so, because that's just what I've always thought myself.
And that's what I was, a messenger.
First I was only an ordinary messenger, but then later, as they came to trust me more
and more, they gave me more and more important things to do.
So at last I did only the very confidential things, the most important things of all.
800, 900, 1,000, and 100 more is 21,100.
Would you sign for it, please, Henry?
Oh, yes.
Gee, Henry, doesn't it worry you sometimes carrying all that money around?
Like this?
Oh, someday I'll have more than this, much more someday when my ship comes in.
So I was happy.
All day long I saw only the kind of people, my kind of people, the fine, important people
that I admired, the kind that someday I was going to be.
Oh, I was happy.
Well something happened, something that happened in a single day and that changed my whole
life, changed everything.
Henry Doyle, sir.
Oh, yes, yes, Henry.
Come in, come in.
Thank you.
I think you know everyone here, don't you, Henry?
Oh, yes, yes, I do.
How do you do?
Henry, the reason I've sent for you is because we have an old custom here of trying to show
our appreciation to those members of our little family whom we feel have given loyal and devoted
service to the 42nd Street Bank.
And so it gives me great pleasure to present you with this gold watch bearing your name
in token of your splendid and outstanding record since the day you joined us 20 years
ago today.
What?
Well, take it, Henry.
Twenty, 20 years.
Yes, and in all that 20 years, gentlemen, Henry never once was absent and never once
was late.
Henry, congratulations.
Well, Henry, what do you say?
20 years.
20 years?
20 years.
20 years, Henry.
Oh, you're a great man, Henry.
I'm very pleased to be here.
It's wonderful to see you.
Well, Henry, what do you say?
20 years.
900, 1000, and 1, and 2, 51,200.
Will you sign for it please, Henry?
Yes.
What's the matter with you today, Henry? You act like you're walking around in a dream.
What?
I said you act like you're walking around in a dream.
For 20 years I've been walking around in a dream.
For 20 years.
That day, for the first time in 20 years, I did not go directly to the place the bank had sent me.
Instead I wandered through the city to look again at the things I had dreamed of in my childhood.
The beautiful store windows, the elegant, well-dressed people,
and the great ocean liners waiting to sail for enchanted far-off places.
Things that I knew now could never, never be for me.
Because suddenly I'd grown up, I was a man.
A man going into middle age and a childhood dream had passed me by.
These things I'd thought, and many other things, quite different things.
And then that afternoon I was sitting on a little, in a little park.
I'm wondering what was the best thing to do next.
Then I saw a policeman coming toward me, and all at once I knew it would be very simple.
Oh, oh, officer.
Officer.
Yeah?
I, I want to be arrested.
You're what?
Yes, I do.
You see, I'm a messenger for the 42nd Street Bank.
So what?
I, I've just lost $50,000.
The Suspense.
For Suspense, Romer-Wines are bringing you a star, Mr. Lloyd Nolan,
whom you've heard in the first act of Heart's Desire,
a radio play by Robert Richards and Arthur Lorenz,
a Romer-Wines presentation tonight of Suspense.
Between the acts of Suspense, this is Truman Bradley for Romer-Wines.
The name else for Maxwell stands for gracious hospitality,
and here is a timely suggestion for Miss Maxwell.
Planning even a simple dinner nowadays calls for real imagination,
but there is a simple, inexpensive way to dress up ordinary foods and make them tempting.
Dine by candlelight, if possible,
and most important, serve golden Romer sauternes well chilled with the meal.
The soft light and the bright golden glory of delicate Romer sauternes
greatly heightens your pleasure.
That is truly an appealing idea, and as Miss Maxwell suggests,
delicious Romer California sauternes, a wine grower's masterpiece,
is the subtle note that tones up the occasion.
You'll enjoy its freshness of bouquet and the superbly delicate flavor,
and like all Romer wines, it possesses unvarying goodness,
the goodness of selected grapes, picked at their best in California's choicest vineyards,
brought to fullest flavor by the ancient skill of Romer-samed wineries.
Serve Romer wines regularly. They are quite inexpensive.
Remember, more Americans enjoy Romer than any other wine.
R-O-M-A, Romer wine.
And now Romer wines bring back to our soundstage Mr. Lloyd Nolan,
who in the character of Henry Doyle continues a narrative well calculated to keep you in suspense.
Twenty years. Twenty years of being a messenger for the 42nd Street Bank
and with such a fine record as I had, and then suddenly to lose $50,000, they couldn't believe it.
They didn't know what to believe. They kept asking me and asking me,
and I kept saying the same thing, that I'd fallen asleep on the park bench,
and that when I woke up the satchel was gone.
And then came the trial. They were all so nice, all my witnesses.
And then finally it was over.
Henry Doyle, in view of the fact that the money in question has never been found,
the jury finds itself in more than reasonable doubt of your innocence of complicity
and crime theft, and therefore finds you guilty, adding, however, strong recommendation for leniency.
That is also my information, particularly in view of all testimony here as to your exemplary record in the past.
With this in mind, it is nevertheless my necessary duty to sentence you to four years in the state penitentiary.
The
the
a do to all your long to wait why should I mind.
I didn't mind because almost every night I dream. I dream of the things that I've
done that day when I left the bank for the last time things I'd never told anyone
how I'd gone to the stationary store and bought a heavy brown envelope how I'd
thrown the empty satchel away in a vacant lot how I'd sealed the brown envelope with
red ceiling wax now I go into the little corn shop down by the waterfront with a
wide dirty window three crooked steps leading to the door the little bell that
tingles when the door was open the clocks ten or twenty clock ticking time away
the old man in pink shirt sleeves who sat behind the wicker.
You want something?
You the porn broker?
That's right.
I'm going away for a long time and I'd like to leave a package.
Okay.
I'm taking a trip around the world and I may be away for several years.
That's a fact. Don't worry it's perfectly safe here. When you come back it'll be just as you left it with the seal unbroken.
Well thank you.
I'll have the receipt for you in a minute.
The receipt?
Sure. Don't you want one?
No I might lose it. I'm going away.
Then are you going to claim the package?
Well I...
I could just take your name.
Oh yes, yes. That's the best way. I'll leave my name and you can make some kind of a note on the envelope that it's only to be given to me.
Okay. Let's have it.
What?
Your name.
My name. Well, you see, my name.
It don't have to be your right name. It don't even have to be your name. Just write something on there so you can identify the package.
Oh, oh yes. Well, let's see.
Yes. Yes, I'll just write something. Something that I can remember.
And always then, just as I was about to write, I'd wake up.
Oh it was a wonderful dream. Even better than the ones I used to have because this dream was real.
And then one night, there in my cell, something happened. I was asleep. I was dreaming again. The same dream.
Your name?
Oh, my name. Well, you see, my name.
It don't have to be your right name. It don't even have to be your name. Just write something on there so you can identify the package.
Oh, yes. Well, let me see.
Yes. Yes, I'll just write something.
I'll write.
Henry. What was the name, Henry?
What did you write, Henry? What was the name? What was the name?
For a moment I lay utterly frozen with fear. I was awake, but I'd been sleeping, dreaming, talking.
And he'd heard. He knew. Everything. Everything but the name. The name.
What was it, Henry? What was the name, Henry? The name you wrote on the package. What was it, the name, the name?
I don't know.
It was kind of tossing around in your sleep. I came over to see what was the matter.
Oh, was it?
Yeah, I guess you were kind of having a nightmare, huh, pal?
Nightmare? Yeah, yes, it was a nightmare.
For a while I was afraid even to sleep. But fear I'd say out loud what I'd written on that envelope and he'd hear.
And then all that I'd planned for would be gone. I knew I must force it all from my mind, as I had done with unpleasant memories when I was a child.
I spoke less and less. Last I didn't even speak at all. The last two years I didn't speak at all.
Even when the warden called me to his office to tell me I was once again a free man, I didn't answer him. I didn't speak at all.
I was free. At last free of everything. I could hardly wait for the train to carry me back to New York. And then the pawn shop.
He has the same dirty window, the same crooked steps, the same tinkling bells, all those clocks, clocks ticking time. The clocks.
My dream was about to come true. And then my heart almost stopped beating. The man. That man behind the iron wicket. It wasn't the same man.
Okay, well, go ahead.
You're not the pawn broker.
No.
But he's an old man. He wore pink shirt sleeves and he's dead.
What?
You're talking about my father. He died three years ago.
Dad.
But you're his son.
Yes.
Then you're carrying on the business.
Yes.
Look, I, I left the package here four years ago. I told your father that I...
Got the receipt?
No, I didn't take one.
No, but we don't...
I tell you, I didn't take one. See, I was going away on a dangerous trip. I was afraid I'd lose it. So your father said it would be enough to give him a name. He wrote a note on the package.
What was the package like?
Well, it was a brown envelope. Oh, but so big and sealed with red wax.
Oh, yeah, yeah. I remember seeing that. Hold on a minute.
Well, your father said it wouldn't have any trouble. He said I'd just have to mention the name, you know.
Yeah, yeah. That's what it says here on the envelope.
Oh, that's good. Can I have it, please?
Sure, just give me the name.
Of course. The name...
The name is...
Funny, isn't it? I just thought about it for a minute. Isn't that silly? I just can't remember it for a minute.
You're sure this is your envelope?
Of course it is. I told you what it looked like, didn't I? I described it perfectly, didn't I? Wide, brown envelope, sealed with red wax. Look, go on.
What about the name? I mean, what's written here?
Now, listen, you must know it's mine. You must know that envelope belongs to me. You must give it to me.
Oh, I must, must I? What's in it?
What difference does that make?
If you know so much about it, you ought to know what's in it.
Now, listen, that's my envelope. Give it to me.
Look, bud, don't tell me what to do. The note here says not to give it to anybody unless the name is presented. Now, what's the name?
It's...
It's so long.
No, no, look...
No name, no envelope.
I'll remember it in just a second. Please, will you?
Why don't you go outside? Maybe the air will help.
No, but wait...
Go on, outside.
Please, will you?
Go on, beat it.
All right, but I'll be back. I'll be back. That's my package. I'll remember and I'll be back. I'll be back.
I wandered through the streets. I beat my head with my fists trying to remember. While I was in prison, I'd forgotten it.
I'd made myself forget it.
Now I couldn't remember. Names raced through my mind, but none of them were right. I began running, looking at names in the street, on the shops, anywhere I could see them.
Names, names, names...
Boss of B.D. City Center.
Livingston Cross.
Jewelry.
Merriman Company neck wire.
Sylvia Torrid.
Laundry.
William D. Roberts furniture.
Lake Hemfield drinks.
Dorothy Gregory hands.
Arnold Milton shoes.
Delaney.
Martin for liquor.
Benson for books.
Graham for gowns.
Allen Wilson.
Lee Dawson.
Dixon.
Denden Green.
Gray.
French.
Miller.
Mueller.
Muller.
Martin.
Minson.
Mason.
May.
Bay.
Hay.
Day.
Oh, no, no!
And what, what did you say your name was?
Lucille.
Lucille Carmichael.
No, no, I can't remember.
Gee, Henry.
I feel sorry for you.
I should.
You've been swerved.
It's no use.
Try again, Henry.
Try to think back.
I can't.
You've got to.
Maybe it wasn't the name at all, see?
What were you thinking about when you wrote in the package?
I don't.
You must have been thinking about something.
I, I was thinking about everything I'd always wanted to do, the things I was going to bother
you with.
I was thinking about everything I'd always wanted to do, the things I was going to bother
you with.
I was thinking about everything I'd always wanted to do, the things I was going to buy,
places I was going to go.
That was it mostly, the places I was going to go.
All over the world, just wandering.
Everywhere I wanted to.
Just wandering to my heart.
Henry.
What is it?
Henry?
To my heart.
My heart.
What desire?
That's it.
What desire?
That's what I wrote on the package, I remember.
I can get it.
My money.
Fifty thousand dollars.
Henry, wait.
Wait.
Why?
I'm going to get my money.
You can't get it tonight.
It's too late.
Oh, I'll wake him up.
I don't care.
Then you'll be suspicious.
I don't care.
It's mine.
Henry, wait.
Now, be calm for a minute.
I'm going to get my money.
You can't get it tonight.
It's too late.
Oh, I'll wake him up.
Be calm for a minute.
Oh, how can I be calm?
Just sit down here beside me.
For a minute, come on.
I don't want to.
Look down at the water.
That'll help you to get calm.
I'll help you.
See?
The water is so calm.
I don't want to look at the water.
I want to go and get...
Henry.
What?
Can you swim?
No, I can't.
What's the difference?
What are you doing?
No!
I...
I remember.
Henry, wait.
Wait, wait.
Is it?
What?
What are you?
What?
Get out.
Oh, my god!
Oh, oh, oh, oh, what a çocuk square!
Get out now.
Get out of there!
And that is the end of the story of Henry's story.
But you might have suspected that it was not quite the end of the story.
If you had seen a little item in the newspaper two weeks later under shipping news, I will
read it to you.
Miss Lucille Carmichael, who recently came into an inheritance from a long lost relative,
has engaged the royal suite of the Aquitania and is sailing for Europe tomorrow.
Her stay abroad will be indefinite.
And so closes heart's desire, in which Roma wines have brought you Mr. Lloyd Nolan, a
star of tonight's study in suspense.
Before Mr. Nolan returns to the microphone, let me say a word for Roma Wines, the sponsor
of suspense.
Genuine cordiality and simplicity have made Miss Elsa Maxwell's hospitality famous the
world over.
She often says,
There's no better or simpler hospitality way than a glass of distinguished Roma wine.
I suggest Roma Toque, a delightful wine for any time or any place.
Serve with coffee or dessert as a delightful finishing touch to your meals.
Or set out Roma California Toque with fruit or nuts or any snack when friends drop in.
That's a worthwhile suggestion.
Try Roma Toque, a velvety flame bright wine, moderately sweet, light, yet delightfully rich
in flavor.
You can always depend on Roma wines to be delicious, always unvaryingly fine in quality.
And the next time you use vermouth, sweet or dry, use Roma vermouth.
Zestful, herb flavored, blended and mellowed with all the traditional skill of Roma wineries.
Yet it's surprisingly low price.
So try Roma vermouth soon.
This is Lloyd Nolan, back from a watery grave just long enough to tell you how much I've
enjoyed working on this most admirable program, Suspense.
Mr. Spear has asked me to pass along to you the word that next through Thursday, pardon
me, your stars will be two of Hollywood's favorite people, Miss Nancy Kelly and Mr.
Helmut Van Teen.
I'll be listening.
I know you will too.
Good night.
Suspense is produced, edited and directed by William Spear.
Lloyd Nolan will soon be seen in the picture Captain Eddie produced by 20th Century Fox,
who are now celebrating their 30th anniversary.
Don't forget next Thursday, same time, Nancy Kelly and Helmut Van Teen will be your stars
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.