WEBVTT 00:00.000 --> 00:05.000 Suspense. 00:05.000 --> 00:12.000 Old Reprieve, starring Mr. John Garfield. 00:12.000 --> 00:21.800 This morning my lawyer, Mr. Gurley, said he was trying to get me a reprieve, so I looked 00:21.800 --> 00:24.040 it up in a dictionary I got. 00:24.040 --> 00:31.080 It says reprieve to suspend temporarily the execution of a sentence upon and relief for 00:31.080 --> 00:33.320 secession from pain or ill. 00:33.320 --> 00:36.200 Well, the first part I guess Mr. Gurley can get. 00:36.200 --> 00:38.040 He knows all the rules. 00:38.040 --> 00:44.280 But the second part, secession of pain, that's up to me. 00:44.280 --> 00:48.640 Maybe when I've spilled it all out, put it out on a table where I can look at it, why 00:48.640 --> 00:56.040 I'm here, about the kid, about Laurie, maybe then will come secession of pain. 00:56.040 --> 00:58.040 I don't know. 00:58.040 --> 01:02.040 Anyway, I can try. 01:02.040 --> 01:04.040 Okay, name? 01:04.040 --> 01:05.440 Steve Hanwell. 01:05.440 --> 01:09.160 My old lady had to name me something, so I guess she read the name Steven on a book, 01:09.160 --> 01:11.240 she could read, which I doubt. 01:11.240 --> 01:12.240 Age 34, health? 01:12.240 --> 01:13.240 Excellent. 01:13.240 --> 01:18.600 But wait up, you don't want to sell me insurance, because tonight I'm state prisoner eight 01:18.600 --> 01:24.320 oh four eight three, registered in cell 77 of the state penitentiary. 01:24.320 --> 01:25.720 That's the death cell. 01:25.720 --> 01:30.800 I'm in for murder. 01:30.800 --> 01:36.640 I was always the bright boy, but right now, I don't know, I'm mixed up, but good. 01:36.640 --> 01:39.440 They're not about being here, not about murder. 01:39.440 --> 01:42.600 Well, the pen is my home away from home kind of. 01:42.600 --> 01:47.160 And murder in my social set, well, murder is as common as chickenpox in PS 137. 01:47.160 --> 01:53.160 No, it's that last year of honest toil that threw me for a loss, because I wasn't mixed 01:53.160 --> 01:56.280 up at all the night Murph and Joe and I blew out of Chicago. 01:56.280 --> 02:00.240 That was a minor inconvenience right in line with the way I've always lived. 02:00.240 --> 02:04.640 Let's see it was nearly two years ago, Murph and Joe and I and the boys had knocked off 02:04.640 --> 02:09.600 a payroll, a good clean job, except for a couple of guys getting hurt fatally. 02:09.600 --> 02:13.120 And the Murph was tipped off that one of the boys, he didn't know who had squealed to the 02:13.120 --> 02:14.120 cops. 02:14.120 --> 02:18.840 So Murph knew we were hot and he came up to my room on Madison Street. 02:18.840 --> 02:20.440 I'm leaving town Steve tonight. 02:20.440 --> 02:21.760 It's an idea, so am I. 02:21.760 --> 02:23.620 Yeah, yeah, we better blow you and me and Joe. 02:23.620 --> 02:24.620 And the rest of the boys? 02:24.620 --> 02:27.280 Look, I can't take care of everybody, Steve, you know how it is. 02:27.280 --> 02:31.680 Sure I know, you'll take care of the ones that can't, you can't get along without, that 02:31.680 --> 02:32.880 do you're thinking for you. 02:32.880 --> 02:33.880 Oh, it ain't that Steve. 02:33.880 --> 02:34.880 Cut it. 02:34.880 --> 02:39.000 Well, okay, so we got around 20 grand. 02:39.000 --> 02:40.000 Twenty three. 02:40.000 --> 02:41.400 Yeah, yeah, sure, yeah, twenty three. 02:41.400 --> 02:43.280 Well, with that dough, we can go to Florida. 02:43.280 --> 02:46.680 Yeah, yeah, lie down there all winter till the heat's off. 02:46.680 --> 02:48.280 You think that's a bright idea, don't you Murph? 02:48.280 --> 02:49.280 Well, sure, why not? 02:49.280 --> 02:52.960 Yeah, we take a nice big shiny suite in the Paradise Hotel, pick up some dolls. 02:52.960 --> 02:53.960 Yeah, that's right. 02:53.960 --> 02:55.960 Well, that's just what we're not going to do. 02:55.960 --> 02:57.280 What, what do you mean? 02:57.280 --> 03:01.160 We're not going to travel first class, spread dough around places like the Paradise accompanied 03:01.160 --> 03:02.160 by any dolls. 03:02.160 --> 03:03.360 And why not? 03:03.360 --> 03:06.240 The dough's marked, bird brain. 03:06.240 --> 03:09.160 The serial numbers have been written down and we'll be looking for that kind of dough 03:09.160 --> 03:13.200 in places where dough changes places, places like the Paradise. 03:13.200 --> 03:15.800 Oh, we could go to some other place like a Roman house in St. Pete. 03:15.800 --> 03:19.000 Yeah, and we could be smart if we put our minds to it. 03:19.000 --> 03:21.120 Yeah, like what? 03:21.120 --> 03:26.080 Like putting that package of dough out of circulation in a safety deposit box. 03:26.080 --> 03:27.600 You know that's all the dough we got. 03:27.600 --> 03:29.720 Sure, so we can get along without it for the time being. 03:29.720 --> 03:31.880 It's worth a little discomfort to beat a murder app. 03:31.880 --> 03:35.320 Okay, okay, say you're right, but we still have to leave town. 03:35.320 --> 03:37.280 We'll leave Murph, and this is how. 03:37.280 --> 03:41.640 I figured I'll never look for you where there isn't a stall shower, so we'll fool them. 03:41.640 --> 04:00.000 We'll ride the rails. 04:00.000 --> 04:02.040 You can play the nine of hearts, Joe. 04:02.040 --> 04:03.040 Huh? 04:03.040 --> 04:04.040 Where? 04:04.040 --> 04:05.760 Oh yeah, yeah, I was going to. 04:05.760 --> 04:06.760 You were. 04:06.760 --> 04:08.760 You never saw her, huh? 04:08.760 --> 04:09.760 What a guy. 04:09.760 --> 04:10.760 Outsmart himself in solitaire. 04:10.760 --> 04:13.520 Hey, it's cold in this box car, Steve. 04:13.520 --> 04:14.960 Yeah, just pick up a phone, Murph. 04:14.960 --> 04:15.960 Tell the management. 04:15.960 --> 04:16.960 They'll give you more heat. 04:16.960 --> 04:17.960 All right, all right. 04:17.960 --> 04:18.960 I just said it was cold. 04:18.960 --> 04:21.600 At a time like this, be glad it's cold. 04:21.600 --> 04:22.600 Uh-uh, Joe. 04:22.600 --> 04:23.600 Mustn't cheat. 04:23.600 --> 04:24.600 I wasn't cheating. 04:24.600 --> 04:25.600 Oh, new game. 04:25.600 --> 04:29.600 You slip the card under when you can't play it, huh? 04:29.600 --> 04:31.200 So what if I'm cheating? 04:31.200 --> 04:32.200 It's my skin in it. 04:32.200 --> 04:33.200 You're absolutely right. 04:33.200 --> 04:37.400 Well, I wonder how many of the boys have been picked up. 04:37.400 --> 04:39.200 I couldn't take care of everybody, Steve. 04:39.200 --> 04:40.800 None of them have been picked up. 04:40.800 --> 04:41.800 Why should they be? 04:41.800 --> 04:43.960 Oh boy, there's that three I've been looking for. 04:43.960 --> 04:45.800 None of them have been picked up, huh? 04:45.800 --> 04:47.440 Who's protecting them, Joe, your fairy godmother? 04:47.440 --> 04:49.200 Why would the cops pick them up? 04:49.200 --> 04:51.200 They know it was Murph who used the gun. 04:51.200 --> 04:52.200 Huh? 04:52.200 --> 04:56.320 Uh, I mean, uh, I mean, they probably guessed Murph was Trigger Man. 04:56.320 --> 04:58.240 Why, you dirty... 04:58.240 --> 04:59.240 Shut up, Murph. 04:59.240 --> 05:01.440 What else did the cops probably guess, Joe? 05:01.440 --> 05:03.800 Well, how would I know, Steve? 05:03.800 --> 05:06.360 Well, honest, I only thought that maybe... 05:06.360 --> 05:07.360 Talk, Joe. 05:07.360 --> 05:08.360 What else did they guess about me? 05:08.360 --> 05:09.360 Oh, nothing about you, Steve. 05:09.360 --> 05:10.360 Honest, they... 05:10.360 --> 05:11.360 Spill it. 05:11.360 --> 05:12.360 Spill it. 05:12.360 --> 05:13.360 They knew Murph was Trigger Man and that... 05:13.360 --> 05:14.360 You squealing, dirty rat. 05:14.360 --> 05:16.360 And that he took the dough and no one else. 05:16.360 --> 05:19.200 Honest, Steve, I didn't tell them anyone else who was on the job. 05:19.200 --> 05:22.240 I thought if they picked up Murph, then you and me could... 05:22.240 --> 05:24.120 Hey, Steve, stop Murph. 05:24.120 --> 05:25.120 Get back, Mike. 05:25.120 --> 05:26.120 Let him finish. 05:26.120 --> 05:27.120 Go on, finish. 05:27.120 --> 05:28.120 I didn't squeal on you, Steve. 05:28.120 --> 05:29.120 You gotta believe me. 05:29.120 --> 05:30.120 Steve, you gotta... 05:30.120 --> 05:31.120 Steve, stop Murph. 05:31.120 --> 05:32.120 Don't let him do it. 05:32.120 --> 05:33.120 Steve, no! 05:33.120 --> 05:42.560 That was Murph being trigger happy. 05:42.560 --> 05:47.240 Joe went down sort of slow and quiet like the movies you see of a parish who's settling 05:47.240 --> 05:48.240 on the ground. 05:48.240 --> 05:50.240 I think he twitched a little. 05:50.240 --> 05:54.040 I looked out and saw the train was slowing up and that we were coming into a freight 05:54.040 --> 05:56.040 yard, not 50 feet across the tracks. 05:56.040 --> 06:00.200 I could see a couple of guys heading our way who looked like railroad dicks. 06:00.200 --> 06:04.960 I thought fast like always, Murph was hot, very hot, and being very shy on brains. 06:04.960 --> 06:09.000 If they picked him up, he'd lead them to the payroll door like a homing pigeon inside a 06:09.000 --> 06:10.360 24 hours too. 06:10.360 --> 06:12.800 And I hadn't anything pinned on me for a few years. 06:12.800 --> 06:15.040 If anyone took the rap, it would have to be me. 06:15.040 --> 06:19.640 If I ever wanted to smell my share of that 23 game, and this was a rap I thought I could 06:19.640 --> 06:20.640 beat. 06:20.640 --> 06:24.400 Unlucky, well, I thought for a year or so for manslaughter, claiming self-defense. 06:24.400 --> 06:27.840 Lucky, I blocked my way out of it altogether. 06:27.840 --> 06:29.440 I talked fast to Murph. 06:29.440 --> 06:33.440 When the boxcar stopped opposite those dicks, I had Murph's gun in my hand. 06:33.440 --> 06:40.920 How many of you guys in there? 06:40.920 --> 06:41.920 Three, mister. 06:41.920 --> 06:42.920 Well, pile up, boys. 06:42.920 --> 06:43.920 It's the end of the... 06:43.920 --> 06:44.920 Hey. 06:44.920 --> 06:45.920 What's the matter, Whitey? 06:45.920 --> 06:46.920 One of those guys has a gun. 06:46.920 --> 06:51.920 What are you doing with that gun, brother? 06:51.920 --> 06:52.920 I don't know. 06:52.920 --> 06:55.040 And what's wrong with the other guy? 06:55.040 --> 06:56.040 He shot him. 06:56.040 --> 06:58.960 I was over there at the other end minding my own business, and those two guys were yelling 06:58.960 --> 06:59.960 at each other, and he... 06:59.960 --> 07:00.960 Okay, okay. 07:00.960 --> 07:01.960 Drop that gun, mister. 07:01.960 --> 07:02.960 I'm coming in. 07:02.960 --> 07:03.960 Is he dead? 07:03.960 --> 07:04.960 Dead as a macro. 07:04.960 --> 07:05.960 All right, mister. 07:05.960 --> 07:06.960 Tell me about it. 07:06.960 --> 07:07.960 I don't know what happened. 07:07.960 --> 07:08.960 It was his gun, and it just went off. 07:08.960 --> 07:09.960 Yeah? 07:09.960 --> 07:10.960 Did you see it? 07:10.960 --> 07:11.960 You over there. 07:11.960 --> 07:12.960 I didn't see nothing. 07:12.960 --> 07:15.960 I was down at this end of the car minding my own business. 07:15.960 --> 07:18.240 They'd been yelling at each other for hours. 07:18.240 --> 07:19.240 I didn't pay any attention to them. 07:19.240 --> 07:20.240 I didn't see anything. 07:20.240 --> 07:21.240 I didn't see anything. 07:21.240 --> 07:22.240 I didn't see anything. 07:22.240 --> 07:23.240 I didn't see anything. 07:23.240 --> 07:24.240 I didn't see anything. 07:24.240 --> 07:25.240 I didn't see anything. 07:25.240 --> 07:26.240 I didn't see anything. 07:26.240 --> 07:27.240 I didn't see anything. 07:27.240 --> 07:28.240 I didn't see anything. 07:28.240 --> 07:29.240 I didn't see anything. 07:29.240 --> 07:30.240 I didn't see anything. 07:30.240 --> 07:31.240 All right. 07:31.240 --> 07:42.620 What about my Carbonara Corn 07:42.620 --> 07:46.120 All right, Dreamy, no matter what you remember, 07:46.120 --> 07:48.120 the rap is murder. 07:48.120 --> 07:50.120 I've been in worse spots. 07:50.120 --> 07:52.620 The charge was murder, first degree. 07:52.620 --> 07:54.620 But I knew I could get that cut down. 07:54.620 --> 07:57.120 The best thing was that they turned Murph loose 07:57.120 --> 07:59.620 without checking on him, and Joe was unidentified. 07:59.620 --> 08:02.620 I dreamed up a name I said I knew just as well as the rap. 08:02.620 --> 08:04.620 And I was a little bit worried. 08:04.620 --> 08:07.620 I thought I'd be able to get him out of the way. 08:07.620 --> 08:09.620 But I was right. 08:09.620 --> 08:13.120 Joe was unidentified. I dreamed up a name I said I knew Joe by. 08:13.120 --> 08:14.620 He read something or other. 08:14.620 --> 08:16.620 And it went down all right. 08:16.620 --> 08:20.120 So then I settled down for what might be an extended vacation, 08:20.120 --> 08:23.620 a vacation that would earn me half of 23 grand. 08:23.620 --> 08:25.620 Only one thing bothered me. 08:25.620 --> 08:29.620 It seems the town we picked to kill Joe in was going through one of those, 08:29.620 --> 08:33.620 you know, reform spasms, and the papers were really lathered up about it. 08:33.620 --> 08:35.620 And my case was made to order for them. 08:35.620 --> 08:39.620 A crime they could get wholly about without stepping on any local toes. 08:39.620 --> 08:43.620 While I was waiting trial, they fried me but good, and I burned about it. 08:43.620 --> 08:48.620 So that's why I didn't exactly clap hands when they told me a reporter was coming in to see me. 08:48.620 --> 08:52.620 And I didn't shout hallelujah either when I saw it was a doll. 08:52.620 --> 08:56.620 Sharp looking, all right, but still just a doll. 08:56.620 --> 08:58.620 Uh, hello. 08:58.620 --> 09:00.620 Hiya, chick. 09:00.620 --> 09:01.620 You're Steve Hanbel? 09:01.620 --> 09:02.620 Yeah. 09:02.620 --> 09:04.620 I'm Laurie Ware of the News Press. 09:04.620 --> 09:05.620 Uh-huh. 09:05.620 --> 09:06.620 I'd like to get your story. 09:06.620 --> 09:08.620 Look, sister, your job is writing. 09:08.620 --> 09:11.620 If you can't do it alone, you shouldn't have had the job. 09:11.620 --> 09:13.620 I mean your side of the story. 09:13.620 --> 09:15.620 Oh, it's nice of you to take an interest. 09:15.620 --> 09:17.620 Please, I wish you'd listen to me. 09:17.620 --> 09:18.620 Go pet your paper somewhere else. 09:18.620 --> 09:19.620 Please. 09:19.620 --> 09:20.620 Don't you understand English? 09:20.620 --> 09:22.620 Look, I don't blame you for being suspicious of me. 09:22.620 --> 09:24.620 You see, I know the papers haven't been fair to you. 09:24.620 --> 09:27.620 I know they've been trying your case before it comes to trial. 09:27.620 --> 09:28.620 So it happens every day. 09:28.620 --> 09:32.620 And I feel sure there's more to this case than has been told. 09:32.620 --> 09:33.620 I have a feeling that... 09:33.620 --> 09:36.620 You've got to be careful of those feelings, baby. 09:36.620 --> 09:38.620 I got a hunch you didn't do it. 09:38.620 --> 09:40.620 That maybe you were framed. 09:40.620 --> 09:43.620 So, uh, so what if I was? 09:43.620 --> 09:45.620 I don't know how much I can do. 09:45.620 --> 09:47.620 Except I know that if you have a story, I can get it printed. 09:47.620 --> 09:51.620 And, uh, and that'll make the difference? 09:51.620 --> 09:52.620 I don't know. 09:52.620 --> 09:54.620 At least when it comes to picking your jury, 09:54.620 --> 09:57.620 there'll be some people in this town who haven't made up their minds. 09:57.620 --> 09:59.620 Oh, nothing in that. 09:59.620 --> 10:00.620 Well? 10:00.620 --> 10:01.620 Okay. 10:01.620 --> 10:03.620 Okay, I'll tell you the real McCoy truth. 10:03.620 --> 10:06.620 Oh, that's wonderful, Steve. I'll take it down. 10:06.620 --> 10:08.620 Well, there isn't much to tell. 10:08.620 --> 10:11.620 It was just what the papers call an innocent bystander. 10:11.620 --> 10:12.620 I was asleep when it happened. 10:12.620 --> 10:14.620 And how many men were in the boxcar? 10:14.620 --> 10:16.620 Before I went in, I got to sleep. 10:16.620 --> 10:17.620 There were about six or seven. 10:17.620 --> 10:19.620 When the shots woke me up, I saw two guys jump off, 10:19.620 --> 10:21.620 and we were moving pretty slow. 10:21.620 --> 10:23.620 Then because the train was coming into the yard, you see. 10:23.620 --> 10:26.620 But at the inquest, the police said you were holding the gun. 10:26.620 --> 10:27.620 Sure, sure I was. 10:27.620 --> 10:30.620 The cops yelled at me, and I saw I was holding it. 10:30.620 --> 10:32.620 Someone had planted it on me while I was half asleep. 10:32.620 --> 10:36.620 And the old boy in the corner there, you know, he said, he said, I'd done it. 10:36.620 --> 10:38.620 Yeah, he said that you were fighting with the other. 10:38.620 --> 10:40.620 Yeah, I know. I'd been fighting with Red. 10:40.620 --> 10:42.620 I don't think he meant to frame me. 10:42.620 --> 10:45.620 He just got me, you know, mixed up with one of the guys who scrammed. 10:45.620 --> 10:46.620 That's it, Steve. 10:46.620 --> 10:47.620 That's what, baby. 10:47.620 --> 10:49.620 If you'd done it, you would have jumped off. 10:49.620 --> 10:52.620 You wouldn't just stand there waiting to be arrested with a gun in your hand, 10:52.620 --> 10:54.620 or you would have thrown the gun out. 10:54.620 --> 10:59.620 Well, they'll claim I didn't have time, but it's an angle. 10:59.620 --> 11:01.620 And I'll pound it, Steve. I'll get you a lawyer. 11:01.620 --> 11:03.620 Yeah, yeah. I guess I'll need one. 11:03.620 --> 11:05.620 You'll need all the help you can get. 11:16.620 --> 11:18.620 What a doll. 11:18.620 --> 11:21.620 Sold on me before she even got the pitch. 11:21.620 --> 11:24.620 And what made my hand all aces was the girl could really write. 11:24.620 --> 11:27.620 She had the news press giving me more space than the World Series. 11:27.620 --> 11:29.620 Well, the other papers had to pick it up. 11:29.620 --> 11:34.620 By the time the trial came up, I was local hero number one, an orphan child. 11:34.620 --> 11:36.620 The whole town wanted to adopt me. 11:36.620 --> 11:43.620 So no one, least of all of me, was much surprised when a jury filed back into the jury box with their decision. 11:50.620 --> 11:53.620 Have the gentlemen of the jury reached a verdict? 11:53.620 --> 11:55.620 We have, Your Honor. 11:55.620 --> 11:57.620 Will you read the verdict? 11:57.620 --> 12:01.620 We, the jury, find the defendant not guilty as charged. 12:01.620 --> 12:03.620 Wait, I did! 12:14.620 --> 12:16.620 Oh, Steve. 12:16.620 --> 12:18.620 Well, your work, kitten. 12:18.620 --> 12:20.620 What do they say? The pen is mightier than the sword. 12:20.620 --> 12:22.620 Oh, I'm so happy I could help you, Steve. 12:22.620 --> 12:24.620 Oh, you don't see me crying, honey. 12:24.620 --> 12:26.620 Want to dance? Come on. 12:26.620 --> 12:27.620 Sure, but... 12:27.620 --> 12:28.620 Come on. 12:28.620 --> 12:30.620 I want to talk first. 12:30.620 --> 12:32.620 Have you got a home you're going to? Or a job? 12:32.620 --> 12:35.620 Look, kid, you've been girl-scout enough today. Let's dance. 12:35.620 --> 12:37.620 Please tell me, Steve. I'm worried about you. 12:37.620 --> 12:40.620 I'm going to winter in California and summer in Maine. 12:40.620 --> 12:42.620 You haven't any place to go. 12:42.620 --> 12:44.620 See America first. That's my motto. 12:44.620 --> 12:47.620 Steve, I don't want to butt in, but Harry Singles will give you a job. 12:47.620 --> 12:49.620 Yeah? Doing what? 12:49.620 --> 12:50.620 In the circulation department. 12:50.620 --> 12:51.620 Ah, you're kidding. 12:51.620 --> 12:54.620 I know it's a good job to start, but I know you could work up, Steve, and you'd like Harry. 12:54.620 --> 12:56.620 Nine hours a day, five days a week, is that it? 12:56.620 --> 12:57.620 Five and a half days. 12:57.620 --> 13:00.620 Steve Hannibal punching a time clock. 13:00.620 --> 13:03.620 Boy, I suppose I'd get a Social Security number and everything, huh? 13:03.620 --> 13:04.620 Don't you have one? 13:04.620 --> 13:06.620 Unemployment, security, income. 13:06.620 --> 13:08.620 That's a lot of legality. 13:08.620 --> 13:09.620 Legality? 13:09.620 --> 13:12.620 Oh, skipper kitten. Let me think. 13:12.620 --> 13:15.620 You know, I might just take a whirl at that job. 13:15.620 --> 13:17.620 Oh, Steve, I think that's wonderful. 13:17.620 --> 13:22.620 You know, it's not so much the job, but you and I have a lot of unfinished business, baby. 13:22.620 --> 13:25.620 And we can't get it all done in one day. 13:25.620 --> 13:28.620 Right now I want to dance. Come on, baby, let's go. 13:34.620 --> 13:37.620 That was the old brain working again. 13:37.620 --> 13:41.620 You see, I had countenance drifting, until it was safe to join up with Murph. 13:41.620 --> 13:45.620 I didn't know where he'd be gone, but I figured I'd be able to find him when the heat was off. 13:45.620 --> 13:48.620 And when Laurie said job, it was a kind of new angle. 13:48.620 --> 13:53.620 I could stay right here in town, pull down enough money to get by, and maybe even a little on the side. 13:53.620 --> 13:57.620 It was the safest spot I could possibly be for the time being. 13:57.620 --> 14:02.620 I went down to the newspaper office with Laurie the next morning and was hired. 14:02.620 --> 14:04.620 First time in my life such a thing ever happened to me. 14:04.620 --> 14:09.620 Harry Singles was a sharp guy for any racket, and working with him, I got so...I didn't mind. 14:09.620 --> 14:14.620 Of course, the hours were very regular, all daytime, and I had to put on a clean shirt now and then. 14:14.620 --> 14:17.620 But I always had that twenty-three grand to think about. 14:17.620 --> 14:22.620 And the kid, Laurie, I couldn't have squired a better doll in Chicago, New York, or any place. 14:22.620 --> 14:25.620 Only sometimes she made me nervous. 14:25.620 --> 14:30.620 Let's not go out tonight, huh, Steve? Let's stay here in my place. I'll cook something. 14:30.620 --> 14:32.620 I don't know. It doesn't seem right. 14:32.620 --> 14:34.620 What doesn't seem right? 14:34.620 --> 14:37.620 Seeing a doll with class and an apron. I can't get used to it. 14:37.620 --> 14:41.620 You will eventually. After all, you're used to being a working man now. 14:41.620 --> 14:43.620 Don't be too sure, baby. 14:43.620 --> 14:45.620 Ah, Steve, you know you love it. 14:45.620 --> 14:48.620 I don't know. Sometimes I get the itch to move on. 14:48.620 --> 14:51.620 Forget the itch, Steve. 14:51.620 --> 14:54.620 A rolling stone gathers no moss, you know. 14:54.620 --> 14:58.620 Yeah, so they tell me. But I saw some moss once, and I still wonder, 14:58.620 --> 15:00.620 what does a stone want with moss anyway? 15:00.620 --> 15:05.620 ["The Star-Spangled Banner"] 15:09.620 --> 15:11.620 See what I mean? 15:11.620 --> 15:15.620 Harry kept telling me how much I liked being a pillar of society, 15:15.620 --> 15:17.620 so that sometimes I even began to wonder. 15:17.620 --> 15:20.620 And then Harry started shoving razors at me and titles, 15:20.620 --> 15:23.620 and boy, inside of no time, I was a district manager. 15:23.620 --> 15:27.620 And I sat down and figured the dough angle, and it gave me a shock. 15:27.620 --> 15:30.620 Because even if it was legal, I was making more dough week in and week out 15:30.620 --> 15:33.620 than I had with Murph and the boys. 15:33.620 --> 15:37.620 Well, the Chicago stick-up stayed hot, and I didn't hear from Murph, 15:37.620 --> 15:39.620 so I let it all ride and kept working. 15:39.620 --> 15:43.620 Along about then, the papers were in a lather again, all about reform. 15:43.620 --> 15:48.620 The town was just crawling with rackets, and Laurie was working on the stories. 15:48.620 --> 15:50.620 One night, Laurie was typing a story in a room, 15:50.620 --> 15:53.620 and I was in the living room waiting for it to finish. 15:57.620 --> 16:00.620 I'll be with you in a minute, Steve. One more paragraph. 16:00.620 --> 16:02.620 And that's finished for tonight? 16:02.620 --> 16:06.620 Yeah, finished for tonight. I've got something to show you. Come in here. 16:06.620 --> 16:09.620 Okay, kitten, what is it? Buying hats again? 16:09.620 --> 16:12.620 Uh-uh. It's a letter I got in the mail, right here on the desk. 16:12.620 --> 16:14.620 Oh, the local wolves are moving in, huh? 16:14.620 --> 16:16.620 Much more exciting. 16:16.620 --> 16:21.620 Lay off or we'll measure you for a coffin. 16:21.620 --> 16:25.620 You have 24 hours to quit your job. 16:25.620 --> 16:28.620 First time I ever got anything like that. Want to read my answer? 16:28.620 --> 16:29.620 Your answer? 16:29.620 --> 16:31.620 Yeah, my article for tomorrow morning. 16:31.620 --> 16:33.620 I've written all about the note and why it was sent to me. 16:33.620 --> 16:35.620 Yeah? Well, what do you figure? 16:35.620 --> 16:38.620 Well, there's an out-of-town mobster who's moved in on the local rackets, 16:38.620 --> 16:40.620 and he's making a good thing of it. 16:40.620 --> 16:44.620 I found out about him three days ago, and I've really tracked him down. 16:44.620 --> 16:45.620 Who is he? 16:45.620 --> 16:49.620 Well, here he goes with the name of Dude Ringler, but I knew that was an alias. 16:49.620 --> 16:52.620 I finally find out that he's a former big-time operator from Chicago, 16:52.620 --> 16:55.620 wanted there for a lot of things, including murder. 16:55.620 --> 16:57.620 Yeah? 16:57.620 --> 16:58.620 I'm going to print it in the paper, 16:58.620 --> 17:01.620 and he'll be picked up just about the time the papers hit the street. 17:01.620 --> 17:03.620 Oh, you're a total of cops, huh? 17:03.620 --> 17:05.620 Not yet. I thought you could go down with me. 17:05.620 --> 17:08.620 And what's the guy's name in Chicago? 17:08.620 --> 17:12.620 I don't know all of it. He headed up a gang there. They call him Murph. 17:12.620 --> 17:22.620 I got that rollercoaster feeling, only worse. 17:22.620 --> 17:25.620 I still can't figure it. 17:25.620 --> 17:30.620 She was only a half-baked doll moving into territory where anyone was likely to get clipped. 17:30.620 --> 17:31.620 Why should I care? 17:31.620 --> 17:35.620 But something funny happened to me, and she could see it. 17:35.620 --> 17:37.620 Steve, what's the matter? 17:37.620 --> 17:39.620 Well, you got to lay off, Laurie. You got to quit. 17:39.620 --> 17:41.620 Because of that ridiculous nose? 17:41.620 --> 17:43.620 Don't ask me why. Just quit. 17:43.620 --> 17:47.620 Well, I certainly won't quit, don't you see? That's just what he wants me to do. 17:47.620 --> 17:51.620 Okay, I'll tell you. I know Murph. 17:51.620 --> 17:52.620 You know him? 17:52.620 --> 17:56.620 Yeah, and he's trigger-happy. He's a rattlesnake in pants. 17:56.620 --> 17:58.620 Well, then that's all the more reason, Steve White. 17:58.620 --> 17:59.620 Now, listen to me. I don't know why I'm doing this. 17:59.620 --> 18:02.620 I never missed figuring percentages before in my life, but I'm going to tell you something. 18:02.620 --> 18:04.620 I'm going to tell you before I wise up. 18:04.620 --> 18:05.620 What, Steve? 18:05.620 --> 18:08.620 You remember when you got my true story when I was up for the murder rap? 18:08.620 --> 18:10.620 Of course I remember. 18:10.620 --> 18:14.620 Well, that was all a pipe dream, sweetheart. Something for the books. 18:14.620 --> 18:18.620 You lied to me? You did kill Red? 18:18.620 --> 18:25.620 His name wasn't Red. He was a slimy little punk from a mob that I ran with named Joe Tenelli. 18:25.620 --> 18:26.620 Mob? 18:26.620 --> 18:32.620 He wasn't killed by me. He was killed by the other guy who was in the car. He was killed by Murph. 18:32.620 --> 18:35.620 I covered for Murph because he was hot. 18:35.620 --> 18:36.620 Steve, then you... 18:36.620 --> 18:37.620 Listen. 18:37.620 --> 18:39.620 Steve, they want you for those jobs, too. They... 18:39.620 --> 18:41.620 Well, shut up. I'm listening. 18:41.620 --> 18:43.620 What? What is it, Steve? 18:43.620 --> 18:46.620 I thought I heard someone in the other room with the door closed. 18:46.620 --> 18:49.620 You're just imagining it, Steve. 18:49.620 --> 18:53.620 Yeah, yeah, I guess I am. And this being a squealer takes my skin off. 18:53.620 --> 18:55.620 Oh, Steve. 18:55.620 --> 18:59.620 But you got the story, baby. Short and sweet. Now you can do what you want with it. 18:59.620 --> 19:03.620 Quit your job and live, or turn me in, too. 19:03.620 --> 19:17.620 What a doll. What a doll. She cried on the front of my shirt, and then she smiled. 19:17.620 --> 19:21.620 And she called Harry Singles with me sitting there and told him she quit. 19:21.620 --> 19:26.620 She told him she was getting married the next morning to me. And I played along. 19:26.620 --> 19:30.620 Then I left her. After telling her to button her lip and keep the door locked, 19:30.620 --> 19:37.620 I started to go find Murph to check on that 23 grand and put him wise so he'd lay low. 19:37.620 --> 19:40.620 I could see that he still needed me to think for him. 19:40.620 --> 19:44.620 But there was something wrong. Something very wrong. 19:44.620 --> 19:49.620 I felt like I was kind of cracking up, so I let it ride until the morning. 19:49.620 --> 19:52.620 I was climbing the stairs to pick up Laurie at nine. 19:52.620 --> 19:55.620 I'm a duck, and for some reason I was feeling pretty good. 19:55.620 --> 20:00.620 Open up, chick. It's me. Open. 20:10.620 --> 20:15.620 Hello, Murph. You're still trigger happy, huh? 20:15.620 --> 20:19.620 Hello, Steve. And you don't have to call me names. 20:19.620 --> 20:22.620 You kind of hung up early, aren't you, Murph? 20:22.620 --> 20:25.620 I was making a little call on your doll. 20:25.620 --> 20:27.620 Yeah, I see you was. 20:27.620 --> 20:29.620 She wasn't a bad-looking doll. 20:29.620 --> 20:32.620 You didn't have to plug her. She quit her job. 20:32.620 --> 20:37.620 Yeah, I didn't know about that. Well, she still knew too much. 20:37.620 --> 20:38.620 She wasn't going to use it, Murph. 20:38.620 --> 20:44.620 Maybe. You told her about Joe. You shouldn't have done that, Steve. 20:44.620 --> 20:47.620 So it was you I heard here last night, huh? 20:47.620 --> 20:50.620 No kidding. You really heard me? 20:50.620 --> 20:53.620 Yeah, yeah. I heard the door close. And you heard me tell her? 20:53.620 --> 20:58.620 Yeah. This work in legal's giving you bad habits, Steve, but I'll forgive it. 20:58.620 --> 21:04.620 Come here. Come over here. Just look what she would have wrote. 21:04.620 --> 21:08.620 Dude Ringler. Elias Murph. Elias, we don't know how many other names. 21:08.620 --> 21:12.620 One in a half a dozen cities for murder, larceny, and kidnapping. 21:12.620 --> 21:14.620 That wouldn't have looked good, Steve. 21:14.620 --> 21:15.620 She wasn't going to use it. 21:15.620 --> 21:18.620 No. Well, don't let it worry you. 21:18.620 --> 21:21.620 Well, it's about time we picked up that 23... 21:21.620 --> 21:23.620 Hey. Hey, what's up, Steve? 21:23.620 --> 21:25.620 You shouldn't have put your gun down, Murph. 21:25.620 --> 21:26.620 What's eating you? 21:26.620 --> 21:27.620 You shouldn't have put it down. 21:27.620 --> 21:28.620 Steve, you're nuts. 21:28.620 --> 21:30.620 Because I'm going to drill you, Murph. I've always wanted to drill you. 21:30.620 --> 21:47.620 And before I wise up, I'm going to do it. 21:47.620 --> 21:52.620 That time the neighbors heard it. I didn't care. I kept pumping lead. 21:52.620 --> 21:56.620 When they came in, I was standing over Murph holding the gun. 21:56.620 --> 21:59.620 The same gun he'd used to kill a kid. 21:59.620 --> 22:03.620 So the cops got me for both of them. Both of them. 22:03.620 --> 22:06.620 And for Joe and the payroll job, too. 22:06.620 --> 22:09.620 They really thought they hit the jackpot with me. 22:09.620 --> 22:13.620 I didn't give them any argument. It wasn't any use. 22:13.620 --> 22:15.620 But you see what I mean? 22:15.620 --> 22:17.620 Why I'm mixed up? 22:17.620 --> 22:21.620 I've always been a sharp guy. I could have beat the game. 22:21.620 --> 22:25.620 Murph was right when he knocked off the kid. She did know too much. 22:25.620 --> 22:28.620 Well, it's the way things work out in our set. 22:28.620 --> 22:33.620 And why should I get the case of highs over a dog getting drilled? 22:33.620 --> 22:37.620 I can't figure it out. 22:37.620 --> 22:44.620 And well, now I'm trimming my fingernails waiting for Mr. Gurley to get a reprieve. 22:44.620 --> 22:49.620 And I'm all mixed up about that, too. 22:49.620 --> 22:54.620 Because in the dictionary, it's a word that's got two meanings. 22:54.620 --> 22:59.620 And the way I feel, they don't mesh. They kind of cancel each other out. 22:59.620 --> 23:08.620 To suspend temporarily the execution of sentence upon and relief or cessation of pain or ill. 23:08.620 --> 23:13.620 Well, any time now. 23:18.620 --> 23:20.620 Hello, Mr. Gurley. 23:20.620 --> 23:21.620 Hello, Steve. 23:21.620 --> 23:23.620 What's the good word? 23:23.620 --> 23:28.620 Turn your color around, Mr. Gurley, if you're going to talk that way. Spill it. 23:28.620 --> 23:34.620 It wasn't any of you, Steve. No reprieve. I'm sorry. 23:34.620 --> 23:42.620 So I got till 6 a.m. No reprieve. 23:42.620 --> 23:46.620 No reprieve. I wouldn't say that, Mr. Gurley. 23:46.620 --> 23:49.620 I draw definition number two. 23:49.620 --> 23:53.620 I get cessation of pain. 24:05.620 --> 24:08.620 And so closes reprieve. 24:08.620 --> 24:13.620 John Garfield, a star of tonight's study in Suspense. 24:13.620 --> 24:19.620 Suspense is produced, edited, and directed by William Spear. 24:19.620 --> 24:23.620 This is the Armed Forces Radio Service. 24:49.620 --> 24:53.620 The Armed Forces Radio Service. 25:19.620 --> 25:22.620 The Armed Forces Radio Service.