Now, the Roma Wine Company of Fresno, California presents...
Suspense!
Tonight, Roma Wines bring you Miss Mildred Natwick and Mr. Don DeFau, as stars of The Furnished Floor,
a suspense play produced, edited and directed for Roma Wines by William Spear.
Suspense! Radio's outstanding theater of thrills 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 The Furnished Floor, a new study written for suspense by Lucille Fletcher, the author of Sorry Wrong Number,
and other distinguished radio plays, and with the performances of Don DeFau as Mr. Jennings,
and Mildred Natwick as Mrs. Hawkins, Roma Wines hope indeed to keep you in...
Suspense!
Sit down, rest yourself a minute, Miss McIntyre, and take a cup of tea. I got some news for you.
You'll never guess it in a hundred years. Do you remember that Mr. Jennings, you know, my nice tenant that moved away last year?
The tall, thin fella, the one with the pretty little wife, Mabel, who died so sudden last October. Oh, sure you know him.
Most devoted husband I ever seen, always bringing her flowers and billowing and cooing.
He moved out upstairs about two weeks after she died. So heartbroken he was, sold every stick of furniture,
got rid of the canary and the piano and just skadood. I expected any day to hear they'd fished him up out of the river, but no.
This morning, while I'm cleaning down the stairs, who do you think should ring my bell?
Ring!
Hello, Mrs. Hawkins. Remember me?
What? It's Mr. Jennings.
My, Mr. Jennings, you sure give me a turn. I never expected to see you around this neighborhood again.
Well, here I am. How's the upstairs floor?
Just as you left it, Mr. Jennings. I haven't rented it to a soul.
Well, I want to rent it again.
What, you, Mr. Jennings?
That's right. I'm setting up housekeeping again.
Well, if that don't beat getting married again, Mr. Jennings.
In a way. Let's run up and take a look, shall we?
Okay, if you say so. Only, won't it make you feel kind of blue to see the old place again?
Blue? Why should it?
Well, memories, you know.
That's just what I want to find. Memories. Everything just as it was.
I hope you've left it just the same, Mrs. Hawkins. No painting or new wallpaper?
Not yet. Thought I'd fix it up to please the new tenant.
Well, leave it just as it was. Please, for me.
Well, here's the keys. Maybe you'd like to go in and look around by yourself.
No. Do come in, Mrs. Hawkins. You were always so very kind. More a friend than a landlady.
Oh, how beautiful it looks, even bare. The sunshine always was so warm up here.
And the trees. I'd almost forgotten how close the trees were.
And there's the marks our sofa made against the wall.
And the square shapes of our pictures still on the wallpaper.
It could stand a good cleaning, of course.
Do you remember how Mabel used to sit here up on evening and sing?
The upright was over there and over at the Maxfield Parish.
And over near the bay window, above the ferns, the canary sat in his cage.
And when she sang, swing low, sweet chariot, he'd always sing with her.
Oh, come now, Mr. Jennings. You'll be getting yourself all fretted up.
Oh, no, no. I assure you, Mrs. Hawkins, it's very important.
You see, I'm going to have it again, just as it was.
Is that so?
I've made a list. But in a year, so many details escape one.
Like those ferns, for instance. I'd almost forgotten how she loved ferns.
Oh, yes. And there was something over in that corner. What was it?
A rocker. Her mother's old rocker.
It used to squeak over a loose board whenever anybody sat in it.
You mean you're going to try and find all them things again, Mr. Jennings?
Yes.
But you sold all them to junk dealers. You gave them away.
But you scattered them every which way when you broke up your home.
I've already been looking. I've collected a lot of things. It isn't so hard.
You see, our furniture wasn't very precious to anyone but us.
Of course you know what you're doing, Mr. Jennings. It's none of my business, I suppose.
Will two months rent be enough in advance, Mrs. Hawkins?
I won't be moving in for another couple of weeks, but from time to time, I'd like to have things delivered.
Two months will be just dandy. I'll make you a special bargain price, too.
See, and you don't want no redecorating.
You're sure your lady friend won't want none either, Mr. Jennings?
I hardly think so.
Well, I hope you'll both be very happy here. It's nice to have you back in the neighborhood.
It's good to be home.
Now, Mrs. MacIntyre, what would you have done in my place?
I admit, it'd give me a funny feeling, you know.
You would think a man had more respect for the dead and her dead only less in a year
than to bring a new wife plumb back to the same floor and the same furniture.
And I say, what kind of a woman is she, too, to stand for that kind of nonsense?
But of course, it ain't really none of my business.
Besides, two months rent. Two months rent.
Well, Mr. Jennings, what are you doing here this time of night?
I'm moving in.
Moving in?
I intended coming much earlier, but I had so many last minute things to do, like picking up Dickie and...
Oh, now, don't tell me that's your old canary, Mr. Jennings.
Yes, it's little Dickie.
I found him in a pet shop on Third Avenue in his old cage.
He looks pretty chipper, doesn't he?
Well, aren't you the one? I'd have thought he'd have died of lonesomeness ages ago.
Did all my furniture and things get here, Mrs. Hawkins?
Just about. They've been delivering off and on for the last week.
You sure got everything back, Mr. Jennings.
Well, pretty nearly everything.
A couple of rugs are missing and our old kitchen table and...
Oh, I got the piano.
I bought the old upright back from the Sunday School.
Boy, I've been more than lucky.
Mrs. Hawkins, you won't mind, will you, if I start moving some of it into place tonight?
I'll be very quiet.
Tonight? Oh, it's pretty near midnight, Mr. Jennings.
Yes, I know, but I have to work all day tomorrow and the next day.
You see, there's so little time.
Oh, you're expecting her soon?
Very soon.
Oh, well, if you don't get it done in time, I'll be glad to give you and her a hand when she gets here.
No, no. It's got to be already before she comes.
Otherwise, she won't come.
You don't say, Mr. Jennings.
So, if you don't mind, it'll only be for a few nights.
And I won't move any of the heavy pieces after midnight.
If you only knew what this means to me, Mrs. Hawkins, how I've waited for months.
Is that so, Mr. Jennings?
Well, I'm sure glad you found somebody to make a home for you again.
I hope she's the right girl for you and is going to make you happy.
Oh, she will, all right.
Of course. There are some people I know say a man ought to wait a couple of years, but...
Well, I was only saying yesterday, certain men are natural-born husbands and homebodies.
They need a home and a woman to look after them.
Yes, yes, that's true. Well, good night, Mrs. Hawkins. I'll try not to disturb you.
Good night, Mr. Jennings.
Come in, Mrs. McTire. No, it's okay. He's at the office. He'll never know we come up.
Yeah, take a look around. Ain't it something?
Everything fixed up down to the last knife and fork, just exactly as she had it.
Don't it give you the creeps?
Yep, that's the same canary singing in his cage just like it used to.
And look, Mrs. McTire, come here in the bedroom.
He's even got her clothes hung up in the closet.
Now, I'm asking you, Mrs. McTire, what do you think the second Mrs. Jennings is going to say to that?
Mr. Jennings?
Hello, Mrs. Hawkins.
Well, I've been beside myself with worry, Mr. Jennings. Where have you been all this time, if I may ask?
Right here.
Right here?
Didn't you hear us come in? I've been to work all day, of course, but last night, a little after one.
Perhaps you were sleeping.
Us? You mean you and...
Well, yes, she's come.
You mean she's been upstairs all day?
Certainly.
I haven't heard a sound.
Probably she's sleeping. She was very tired. The trip was more exhausting than I'd dreamed.
Well, you might have stopped by and told me on your way to work this morning, Mr. Jennings.
Of course, it's none of my business, but I could have at least introduced myself to my own tenant and maybe even helped her out.
Oh, it's all right. She doesn't want to see anybody just yet.
Oh, no? Well, of course, I wouldn't intrude on your privacy for anything, Mr. Jennings, although I'm sure when the first Mrs. Jennings was alive, we were all friends here.
Oh, no, no, it isn't that. It's only that in these first few days, everything is so new and strange. She's not quite herself.
Okay, Mr. Jennings, you know best. But if you should want me, you just call down the dumb waiter and I'll be right up.
Thanks, Mrs. Hawkins. Thank you. But on no account are we to be disturbed. On no account.
Music.
We have a presentation tonight in radio's outstanding theater of thrills, Suspense.
Between the acts of suspense, this is Truman Bradley for Roma Wines.
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One such way is to serve Roma California Sherry. In the words of famed hostess Elsa Maxwell,
I serve my guests Roma Sherry. There is nothing so friendly, so heartwarming as delicious, glorious, gold and amber Roma Sherry, rich in nutty, mellow taste goodness.
Serve cool. When I invite friends in, I always serve Roma Sherry as first call for dinner.
And Miss Maxwell might have added, Roma Sherry is most enjoyable later in the evening too. In fact, anytime.
Roma Sherry, like all the famous Roma wines, reflects the heritage of carefully selected grapes,
freshly gathered at flavorfulness from California's choicest vineyards, quickly but gently pressed.
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Enjoy Roma wines regularly. They are always unvaryingly good. Remember, because of uniformly fine quality at reasonable cost,
more Americans enjoy Roma than any other wine. R-O-M-A, Roma wines.
And now Roma wines bring back to our Hollywood soundstage, Don DeFore and Mildred Knathwick in the furnished floor.
A play well calculated to keep you in suspense.
Now don't get me wrong, Mrs. McIntyre. The last thing in the world I am is a busybody, but well, you know,
I don't go out much on account of my heart, and our two floors are kind of close.
Downstairs in my dining room you can hear most everything that goes on upstairs. Now wouldn't you have thought there'd have been something last night,
some talking or footsteps or dishes rattling? Well I'm telling you, I sat there till midnight and there wasn't a thing.
Nothing at all except along about half past twelve I hear the dumb waiter come rumbling down the shaft.
Well I just stole a peek and there going by with his claws sticking up in the air was that little yellow canary, dead.
Good morning Mrs. Hawkins. Good morning. And how's Mrs. Jennings today? Wonderful.
Oh, feeling a bit better now? Oh yes, of course she's still very weak, but every day I'm sure will make her stronger.
I have high hopes for her recovery. You had a doctor in to see her yet? Dr. Rubenstein, my doctor is very good.
No, I'm afraid a doctor wouldn't help her. No, no.
Mrs. Jennings? Mrs. Jennings? It's Mrs. Hawkins, the lady downstairs.
I heard you were sick and so I got a little bit of lunch for you Mrs. Jennings. It's just a little bowl of homemade chicken broth, but it's nice and rich.
You sleeping Mrs. Jennings? Okay, then I'll just slip in quietly with my own key that you don't mind and leave it right beside your bed.
Oh that's funny. Hawkins must have bought a new kind of lock. It didn't say anything to me. Mrs. Jennings? Mrs. Jennings?
Mr. Jennings? Oh, good evening Mrs. Hawkins. You got a minute Mr. Jennings. I'd like to speak to you if you don't mind.
Well, Mrs. Jennings is waiting for me upstairs. It's about Mrs. Jennings. She's still poorly you say?
Well, she is confined a good deal to her bed. Well, why don't you get someone in to look after her? I know a good woman. Mrs. McIntyre goes out nursing by the day.
No, oh no. Well, I don't like it Mr. Jennings. Locking her up like that every morning so not a soul can get in. Suppose something happened.
What could happen? What could happen? Anything could happen. A fire. Oh, that doesn't worry me.
Or she could get worse and maybe even die. Oh no. Everybody's got to go sometime Mr. Jennings. I wouldn't take no chances.
Yes, I know. But not her. Not her? What ever do you mean Mr. Jennings? Because she's immune.
Immune? Against? She ain't got no contagious disease up there has she? Oh no, no. It's nothing like that.
Oh Mrs. Hawkins, please, please don't worry or be uneasy. It's worked out so beautifully. It's nothing that can do you any harm. And we're so happy. So wonderfully happy.
Oh, Mr. Jennings, I'll be up in about one hour with the plumber. The plumber?
I'm sorry to disturb you at supper time, but there's something gone wrong with the pipes and we think it's upstairs in your floor.
You can't come in. Mrs. Jennings will be sleeping. Plumber says it's the only time he can come.
Unless he comes tomorrow afternoon while you're at the office. You want to leave me your key Mr. Jennings? No, no I can't.
Well, he'll have to get in there sooner or later Mr. Jennings. The water downstairs all black and discolored.
It's out of the question tonight. I'll discuss it with you in the morning.
Okay Mr. Jennings.
Well now Mrs. McIntyre, how would you feel? Your own house going to rack and ruin. You can't even do nothing about it.
I ask you, what kind of a thing's he got up there that nobody can see? I tell you, just sitting here in this silent house night after night gives me the creeps.
And with my heart what is? Well anyway, his two month's rent's up tomorrow and I got my mind made up. I got my mind made up.
Oh, oh good evening Mrs. Hawkins. I didn't know you for a minute standing there in the dark.
Well I didn't want to miss you this time Mr. Jennings. No? I got your money this morning for next month stuck under the door.
Oh yes, yes, I had to leave early. I hope it is all right. No, it wasn't all right. I'm sorry but the floor's been rented Mr. Jennings.
Rent it? To a young serviceman and his wife from the fort. They took it sight unseen this morning. Oh but you can't.
They're living in a crowded room on 81st street. It's very crowded. I told them I figured you could probably get most of your stuff out in a week.
A week? I never told you I was going Mrs. Hawkins. I'm sorry Mr. Jennings.
If it's a matter of a little more rent, I'll be glad to pay and sign a lease. Any kind of a lease you want.
It's not a matter of rent or a lease Mr. Jennings. It's just I want my floor back that's all. But Mrs. Hawkins.
I like neighborly people upstairs Mr. Jennings. I'm home a lot. I like people I can trust. I don't want no mysteries in my house.
New locks on the door so no one can get in and sneak in and out at night. Oh Mrs. Hawkins I swear you it's all right. Perfectly all right.
You know all this business about Mrs. Jennings. Never a face at the window. Never a footstep on the floor or a dish rag hung out on the line.
Mrs. Jennings is ill. She's not like other people. I tell you I won't go. You've got to let me stay.
Here's your rent back Mr. Jennings. I haven't any place to go. This is my home. It's all I have. I stake debt of everything on being here. Everything.
Are there other floors vacant in this neighborhood? No, no. It's got to be this one. This particular floor. Mrs. Hawkins if I could buy the house. The whole house.
Buy the house? Yes, yes. If it's for sale. Perhaps you've never thought of selling it but I'd give you a good price. I'd scrape the money together somehow.
This house ain't for sale. It happens to be my home too Mr. Jennings. Oh I know, I know. But you're all alone now that Mr. Hawkins is...
Oh I mean it's a heavy responsibility. A big house and all those stairs to keep clean and the repairs and all. Oh Mrs. Hawkins if you don't reconsider I'd do anything.
No, it's too much for me. I don't understand it. Why can't she see me and talk to me? Why can't she invite me in for a cup of tea and explain?
Because she can't. What's the matter with her that she can't? Is she so ugly or so beautiful or so crazy? Who is she anyway?
I can't tell you. Okay Mr. Jennings then that's that.
Mrs. Hawkins. Mrs. Hawkins. Yes? I'm here Mr. Jennings at the dumb waiter. Mrs. Hawkins. Yes Mr. Jennings. What is it?
I'm sending you down the key on the dumb waiter. She wants you to come up. She? Mrs. Jennings. Okay? Got it?
Yes. She wants me to come up now Mr. Jennings. That's right. Well it's kind of late if she ain't so well.
That's all right. She's feeling much better tonight. She wants to talk to you about the floor before it's too late.
Okay. I'll be right up.
Okay Mr. Jennings. I'm here. Come in. You have the key. Okay.
Well where's your lights Mr. Jennings? I can't see a thing. I'll light a candle in a moment. Mrs. Jennings prefers the dark.
But you know this floor so well Mrs. Hawkins. Come in. Well where are you Mr. Jennings? Right in here. In the parlor. Sitting on the sofa.
That's just the wind. There's always a little draft blowing in here. But won't you sit down Mrs. Hawkins? No thanks. I'm only going to stay a minute.
Just long enough to meet Mrs. Jennings. Oh. But you've already met her. Already met her? Don't you remember? Five years ago.
A rather chilly day. The rain was falling. She rang the bell to ask about the upstairs floor. And you invited her in for a cup of tea.
I'm afraid you're mistaken. That was the first Mrs. Jennings. That's what I mean. Oh. Oh no Mr. Jennings.
Now do you understand Mrs. Hawkins? Now do you know why we couldn't ever go away? We? But they couldn't. Well the first Mrs. Jennings it's-
I know. You saw her coffin in this very room didn't you Mrs. Hawkins? You saw them take her away. I think you even followed out to that cold dark cemetery.
Well but- But she couldn't stay away. She pleaded with me in my dreams to bring her back and I brought her back. Oh no Mr. Jennings.
Don't say such things. If everything were the same as in the past she said, we could have the past. If I furnished our old floor with the same things, she'd live here too.
Excuse me Mr. Jennings. I'm afraid I got to- Oh no no no don't go yet. There's nothing frightening about it. Would you be afraid to look at a forsythia bush that had been asleep all winter?
Or a tulip? Or a tree? I ain't afraid Mr. Jennings. I only- Listen.
What? You don't hear it? In the bedroom? The rocking? No. Mabel. Mabel. No. Don't. Don't call her. I hear it Mr. Jennings. Oh but she wants to meet you. She's always loved you so much.
I- I really- I just assumed some other time Mr. Jennings. The door's locked. It snapped shut behind you. Really Mrs. Hawkins don't go. She'll be in in a moment. There. There. She's coming down the hall.
Now let me out of this. Do you hear? Let me out. My heart won't stand. Oh. Oh. Here she is. There. Standing in the doorway. Smiling. Oh my darling. My darling.
I don't see nobody. Mrs. Hawkins. She's going to sing for you. Sing for me? This is the first night she's been able to. You remember the old song she used to sing of an evening?
Swing low sweet- I don't want to hear it. Oh please. Please Mrs. Hawkins. She's very timid. You'll frighten her. The dead can't come back. They'd never want to live on this earth again. Go on Mabel dearest. Don't mind.
You're looking very beautiful tonight my darling. I like that dress. Do you remember when we bought it? On our first wedding anniversary. Why don't they all come back then? Why couldn't my poor old John?
Sit down dearest. There. Now it seems like old times again. The flower in your hair. The canary singing in his cage. No. No it can't. I. No. Oh. I told you. My heart won't get a doctor quick.
Your voice. Your voice was always like a bird's to me. I'll never forget the first time I ever heard it. On an evening. In spring. At the Calvary Baptist Church. A doctor. Play dearest play.
Go on dearest. It's all right. Sing.
Swing low sweet chariot. Come and forth to carry me home.
Roma wines have brought you Mildred Natwick and Don DeFore as stars of the furnished floor tonight's study in Suspense.
This is Truman Redley for Roma Wines, the sponsor of Suspense. And here's a hint on how to make better cocktails. Make them with zestful, full flavored Roma Vermouth. The Vermouth of almost a hundred rare herbs. Made and bottled in the heart of California's famous vineyards. Yet surprisingly low priced. Try Roma Vermouth soon, won't you?
Mildred Natwick will soon be seen in the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer production Yolanda and the Thief. Don DeFore is currently being seen in the Hal Wallace production You Came Along, a Paramount Picture. Next Thursday you will hear Miss Myrna Loy, a star of Suspense, radio's outstanding theatre thrill.
Presented by Roma Wines, R-O-M-A. Made in California for enjoyment throughout the world. This is CBS, the Columbia Broadcasting System.