WEBVTT 00:00.000 --> 00:09.000 Yes, Roma wines taste better because only Roma selects from the world's greatest wine reserves for your pleasure. 00:09.000 --> 00:16.000 And now, Roma wines. R-O-M-A, Roma wines present... 00:16.000 --> 00:18.000 Suspense! 00:21.000 --> 00:26.000 Tonight, Roma wines bring you Mr. Joseph Cotton in The Thing in the Window, 00:26.000 --> 00:31.000 a suspense play produced, edited, and directed for Roma wines by William Spear. 00:36.000 --> 00:42.000 Suspense! Radio's outstanding theater of thrills is presented for your enjoyment by Roma wines. 00:42.000 --> 00:48.000 That's R-O-M-A, Roma wine. Those better tasting California wines, 00:48.000 --> 00:54.000 enjoyed by more Americans than any other wine. For friendly entertaining, for delightful dining. 00:54.000 --> 01:00.000 Tonight in our Suspense Theater, we bring you the premiere of the newest suspense play written by Lucille Fletcher, 01:00.000 --> 01:05.000 the author of such distinguished radio dramas as Sorry Wrong Number and others. 01:05.000 --> 01:10.000 But before we ring up the curtain on tonight's play and on the performance of our star, Joseph Cotton, 01:10.000 --> 01:16.000 let me make a suggestion. Why battle last minute Christmas crowds downtown 01:16.000 --> 01:20.000 when the perfect gift is as close as your nearest wine merchant? 01:20.000 --> 01:26.000 Give magnificent grand estate wines favored by discriminating wine users everywhere. 01:26.000 --> 01:31.000 From a single assorted case of grand estate wines, you can make several distinctive gifts 01:31.000 --> 01:37.000 and provide grand estate wines for your own holiday dining and entertaining too. 01:37.000 --> 01:43.000 To give or serve, America offers no finer wines than grand estate. 01:43.000 --> 01:47.000 For grand estate wines presented by Roma, America's greatest vendor, 01:47.000 --> 01:53.000 our limited bottlings born of choicest grapes, then slowly guided to rich taste luxury 01:53.000 --> 01:59.000 by ancient Roma skill and America's finest winemaking resources. 01:59.000 --> 02:06.000 This Christmas, for good giving, for good living, offer all five grand estate California wines. 02:06.000 --> 02:11.000 When entertaining, serve medium sherry, ruby port or golden muscatel. 02:11.000 --> 02:15.000 For gracious dining, burgundy or sartorne. 02:15.000 --> 02:20.000 Say your Merry Christmas smartly with grand estate wines, 02:20.000 --> 02:23.000 the crowning achievements of Wintner skill. 02:23.000 --> 02:28.000 Yes, right now a glass full would be very pleasant as Roma wines bring you 02:28.000 --> 02:33.000 Mr. Joseph Cotton as Martin Ames in The Thing in the Window, 02:33.000 --> 02:37.000 a tale well calculated to keep you in suspense. 02:37.000 --> 02:55.000 Mary! Turn that vacuum cleaner off for a minute, will you? 02:55.000 --> 02:57.000 And come over here, I want to show you something. 02:57.000 --> 02:58.000 Yes. 02:58.000 --> 03:00.000 Right here, out this window. 03:00.000 --> 03:03.000 Now look across the street, no, directly across, the opposite apartment. 03:03.000 --> 03:08.000 See that window, about three windows in from the left with a kind of blue draperies? 03:08.000 --> 03:09.000 Uh-huh. 03:09.000 --> 03:12.000 There's someone sitting there in a chair, he hasn't moved all night. 03:12.000 --> 03:13.000 I think he must be dead. 03:13.000 --> 03:15.000 Dead? Lord have mercy, Mr. Ames. 03:15.000 --> 03:17.000 Take a good look at him and tell me what you think, Mary. 03:17.000 --> 03:22.000 Okay, but I don't favor looking at a corpse, Mr. Ames. It's unlucky. 03:22.000 --> 03:25.000 Now, which window did you say? Third one over. 03:25.000 --> 03:27.000 Oh, I wish I had me glasses with me. 03:27.000 --> 03:30.000 Oh, there, right there, where are my fingers pointing? 03:30.000 --> 03:32.000 I'm afraid I don't see it yet, Mr. Ames. 03:32.000 --> 03:37.000 Oh, look, the window with the blue draperies, he's wearing a sort of a gray suit. 03:37.000 --> 03:41.000 The arm, can't you see the arm hanging down over the side of the chair? 03:41.000 --> 03:45.000 No, sir. But you've got good eyes, Mr. Ames. 03:45.000 --> 03:48.000 If you see it, I'm not arguing with you. 03:48.000 --> 03:49.000 What are you going to do about it? 03:49.000 --> 03:52.000 I don't know, I just began to notice it last night, I guess. 03:52.000 --> 03:54.000 I first have to be sure the man is really dead. 03:54.000 --> 03:59.000 That's right, Mr. Ames. You don't want to get yourself into any trouble. 03:59.000 --> 04:03.000 Maybe he's only sleeping, or maybe he's incapacitated. 04:03.000 --> 04:05.000 Maybe the poor soul's just tricking the invalid, huh? 04:05.000 --> 04:07.000 Maybe. 04:19.000 --> 04:20.000 Yes? 04:20.000 --> 04:24.000 Hello, I'm Martin Ames. Are you the superintendent of this apartment house? 04:24.000 --> 04:25.000 That's what it says on the door. 04:25.000 --> 04:27.000 I've come to inquire about one of your tenants. 04:27.000 --> 04:29.000 What is it you want to know? 04:29.000 --> 04:33.000 I live across the street, and, well, I'll be frank with you, sir. 04:33.000 --> 04:37.000 I've been looking out of my window across to this building now for two and a half days, 04:37.000 --> 04:41.000 and there seems to be someone dead in one of the windows. 04:41.000 --> 04:42.000 Eh? Which window? 04:42.000 --> 04:45.000 It's the 10th floor. I've counted up from the street, and it's 10 stories up. 04:45.000 --> 04:49.000 There's a window with blue draperies about three windows in from the left, 04:49.000 --> 04:53.000 facing toward me, that is, and there's a man sitting there, slumped down in a chair. 04:53.000 --> 04:56.000 Ah, just a minute. I'll get out my chart. 04:56.000 --> 05:00.000 10th floor up from the street, huh? Well, it's really the 9th floor. 05:00.000 --> 05:01.000 The lobby counts one. 05:01.000 --> 05:04.000 We've got two apartments along the front of the house. It's in the front, yeah? 05:04.000 --> 05:05.000 That's right. 05:05.000 --> 05:12.000 Ah, now, three windows in from the left, that would be 9B, a four room. 05:12.000 --> 05:16.000 Ah, that couldn't be right. 9B is two ladies. You say this is a man? 05:16.000 --> 05:20.000 Yes, the face isn't clearly visible. The head slumped forward. 05:20.000 --> 05:24.000 But he's wearing a gray suit, and he's sitting in a high winged back chair. 05:24.000 --> 05:25.000 Ah, I don't poison him. 05:25.000 --> 05:28.000 Maybe he doesn't belong in the house. Maybe he was visiting somebody. 05:28.000 --> 05:31.000 As I say, this is all conjecture, of course. He may not be dead, 05:31.000 --> 05:35.000 but I've watched him a good deal. I'm home a lot in the daytime. 05:35.000 --> 05:38.000 My profession, the stage, doesn't take up too much of my time, 05:38.000 --> 05:40.000 and it looks quite suspicious. 05:40.000 --> 05:41.000 Okay, I'll check on it. 05:41.000 --> 05:42.000 Mind if I stick around? 05:42.000 --> 05:46.000 Oh, no, no. Sit down. I'll give 9B a ring first on the house phone. 05:46.000 --> 05:58.000 Hello? Oh, Miss Landis? Yes, this is Miss Landis. Who is this? 05:58.000 --> 06:02.000 Oh, this is Mr. Anson, the super. Everything all right up there, Miss Landis? 06:02.000 --> 06:06.000 Everything all right? Why, yes. Yes, of course. 06:06.000 --> 06:10.000 Okay, Miss Landis. Thanks very much. Thank you. 06:10.000 --> 06:16.000 Well, that's that. No soap on 9B. 9A is in the country. 06:16.000 --> 06:19.000 Anyway, if I got the window straight, like you said, it ought to be 9B. 06:19.000 --> 06:20.000 The two single ladies? 06:20.000 --> 06:23.000 Yeah, only it couldn't be them. They're real old maids. 06:23.000 --> 06:25.000 They've been living in the house for years. Real old fashioned type, you know. 06:25.000 --> 06:28.000 Say, if they knew you thought there was a man in that apartment, 06:28.000 --> 06:31.000 the two of them would just about jump out of their skins. 06:31.000 --> 06:34.000 Well, I don't know what to say. You're sure it must be that apartment? 06:34.000 --> 06:38.000 Oh, yeah, yeah. That's the place, all right, but you probably just made a little mistake. 06:38.000 --> 06:42.000 You know how your eyes can play tricks on you. After all, it is a pretty wide street. 06:42.000 --> 06:44.000 I don't think I made any mistake. 06:55.000 --> 06:56.000 Anson speaking. 06:56.000 --> 06:59.000 Oh, hello, Mr. Anson. This is Mr. Ames. 06:59.000 --> 07:01.000 Again? It's not there. 07:01.000 --> 07:02.000 But Mr. Anson... 07:02.000 --> 07:05.000 I checked up on the two apartments this morning. 9A is back from the country. 07:05.000 --> 07:08.000 Everybody's OK. And 9B is out walking a dog. 07:08.000 --> 07:10.000 No dead bodies in the whole place. 07:10.000 --> 07:12.000 But I can see it. It's still there. 07:12.000 --> 07:15.000 OK, just where? Will you just tell me where? 07:15.000 --> 07:19.000 In the same window. The one you said was 9B. Have you gone inside 9B? 07:19.000 --> 07:22.000 No, no, but I asked them if anybody was sick or dead, and they said no. 07:22.000 --> 07:25.000 You asked them? Well, why don't you search that apartment? 07:25.000 --> 07:27.000 What do you mean, break in while they're out? 07:27.000 --> 07:30.000 No, search it while they're there. Ring the bell, walk in and do it. 07:30.000 --> 07:33.000 Yeah, not without a search warrant from the police. 07:33.000 --> 07:37.000 These apartments, you know, don't belong to me. I just take care of the building for the company. 07:37.000 --> 07:38.000 Then let's call the police. 07:38.000 --> 07:40.000 Oh, not me, mister. I didn't see no dead body up there. 07:40.000 --> 07:43.000 But I will. After all, somebody's got to do something. 07:52.000 --> 07:56.000 I still maintain, officer, these two sisters are as refined ladies as you could find anywhere. 07:56.000 --> 08:01.000 High class, nice, church-going ladies. They used to teach school up here at P.S. 33. 08:01.000 --> 08:03.000 Yeah, that don't mean a thing. 08:03.000 --> 08:08.000 As it happens, there's a play on Broadway right now in which two nice old ladies commit murder after murder. 08:08.000 --> 08:13.000 They got a dog in there. Now, will you tell me one dog that would stay for almost a week in a flat with a dead person? 08:13.000 --> 08:18.000 I'm not telling you anything. All I know, this gentleman, Mr. Ames, here reported a stiff over here. 08:18.000 --> 08:22.000 And if he says there is one, there is. Until it's proved different. Right, Mr. Ames? 08:22.000 --> 08:28.000 Well, I keep seeing the thing day in and day out. I'm not working at the moment and being home so much. 08:28.000 --> 08:31.000 None of the other neighbors have complained. Dead bodies ain't exactly... 08:31.000 --> 08:36.000 Oh, it's right this way, please. I hope they're home. 08:36.000 --> 08:38.000 They ain't home. You got a passkey, haven't you? 08:38.000 --> 08:41.000 Well, yeah, we're not supposed to use it, though, unless for an emergency. 08:41.000 --> 08:43.000 This is an emergency. 08:45.000 --> 08:46.000 The dog bite? 08:46.000 --> 08:47.000 Sometimes. 08:49.000 --> 08:51.000 Yes? Who is it? 08:51.000 --> 08:54.000 I'm awfully sorry, Miss Landis, but there's been some kind of mix-up. 08:54.000 --> 08:57.000 These two gentlemen want to look over your apartment. 08:57.000 --> 08:59.000 But why? It's not for rent. 08:59.000 --> 09:03.000 I know. It's just, well, they want to search around and check up on... 09:03.000 --> 09:05.000 Come on, come on. Cut out the plover. 09:05.000 --> 09:08.000 Hey, look, lady. A dead body's been reported sitting in one of your windows. 09:08.000 --> 09:09.000 What? 09:09.000 --> 09:13.000 Yeah, yeah. This guy lives across the street and he's been seeing it over here for a week. 09:13.000 --> 09:15.000 Oh, come on. Now open up. 09:15.000 --> 09:20.000 A dead body? Well, that's impossible. My sister and I live here all alone. 09:20.000 --> 09:21.000 Yeah, yeah, yeah. We know all about it. 09:21.000 --> 09:24.000 Excuse me a minute. I'll call my sister. 09:24.000 --> 09:27.000 Vivian! Vivian! 09:27.000 --> 09:28.000 Oh, come on! 09:28.000 --> 09:29.000 Vivian! 09:29.000 --> 09:32.000 Hey, look, lady. I'm not standing out here all day. 09:32.000 --> 09:34.000 Come on, give me the pasquey, Anson. 09:34.000 --> 09:37.000 It won't do no good. They got a chain on the door from the inside. 09:37.000 --> 09:39.000 Open up, in the name of the law! 09:41.000 --> 09:42.000 How do you do? 09:43.000 --> 09:45.000 I am Vivian Landis. May I ask what this is all about, please? 09:45.000 --> 09:49.000 Certainly, lady. I got a search warrant here made out by this gentleman to search your place. 09:49.000 --> 09:51.000 He says you got a dead body in there. 09:51.000 --> 09:53.000 A dead body? Why, that's perfectly ridiculous. 09:53.000 --> 09:55.000 Yeah, isn't it? But it's been reported. 09:55.000 --> 09:58.000 And kindly take that door off the chain and let us through. 09:58.000 --> 10:03.000 Of course. First, may I ask how did this peeping Tom see into our apartment? 10:03.000 --> 10:06.000 I thought, Mr. Anson, that we were quite private. 10:06.000 --> 10:07.000 Well, you see... 10:07.000 --> 10:09.000 Look, he lives across the street on the same level. 10:09.000 --> 10:10.000 I just happened to be... 10:10.000 --> 10:13.000 Oh! Well, then we shall have to keep our shades down in the future. 10:13.000 --> 10:17.000 Although one would think a grown man would have something better to do. 10:18.000 --> 10:22.000 But you do come right in, gentlemen. Make yourselves right at home. 10:22.000 --> 10:23.000 Thanks. 10:23.000 --> 10:25.000 Is he coming in here, too, Mr. Busybody? 10:25.000 --> 10:27.000 No, he doesn't have to, if you don't want him. 10:27.000 --> 10:29.000 Well, I most definitely don't. 10:29.000 --> 10:31.000 Okay, Mr. Ames, you better stay outside. 10:31.000 --> 10:32.000 Officer, I will... 10:32.000 --> 10:35.000 Oh, he does want to poke around in our private rooms, is that it? 10:35.000 --> 10:38.000 Maybe he had some ulterior motive in worming his way in. 10:38.000 --> 10:43.000 Maybe he's come to get the lay of the land so he can break in some day to rob us. 10:43.000 --> 10:45.000 Okay, okay. He's not coming in. 10:45.000 --> 10:55.000 Now, let's take a look at your window, Daddy. 10:55.000 --> 10:58.000 Yeah, yeah, I know. I'm sorry. Okay. 10:58.000 --> 10:59.000 Hey, hey! 10:59.000 --> 11:00.000 Yes, officer? 11:00.000 --> 11:02.000 Now, what's the big idea? 11:02.000 --> 11:03.000 You didn't find it? 11:03.000 --> 11:04.000 No. 11:04.000 --> 11:05.000 That's very strange. 11:05.000 --> 11:08.000 Yeah? The only thing strange about it's your eyesight. 11:08.000 --> 11:10.000 You want to get your glasses changed. 11:10.000 --> 11:12.000 Wasn't anything in 9B? 11:12.000 --> 11:13.000 No. 11:13.000 --> 11:18.000 I don't understand it. How could I have seen it so distinctly and it's not there? 11:18.000 --> 11:22.000 Perhaps it isn't in the window now. Perhaps they hid it while we were waiting outside the door. 11:22.000 --> 11:25.000 Hid it? Now, where do you hide a dead body in a four-room flat? 11:25.000 --> 11:28.000 I looked in all the clothes closets, under the sofas, in the chairs. 11:28.000 --> 11:30.000 Perhaps they got it out at the back into the service elevator. 11:30.000 --> 11:34.000 Single-handed? With all the garbage cans and laundry going up and down? 11:34.000 --> 11:36.000 Perhaps they had a compass. 11:36.000 --> 11:44.000 Oh, you probably think, oh, it's so terrible to keep seeing it and seeing it and feeling it, 11:44.000 --> 11:47.000 slowly decaying there in secret. 11:47.000 --> 11:50.000 Why, the thing could be there for weeks. It's so high above the streets. 11:50.000 --> 11:55.000 Perhaps it'll never be found. Perhaps it's already being destroyed. 11:55.000 --> 11:58.000 Well, then, if it's gone, what have you got to worry about? 11:58.000 --> 12:00.000 You don't have to sit and look at it no more. 12:00.000 --> 12:04.000 No, I hope it is. I tell you, it's really getting me down. 12:04.000 --> 12:08.000 I haven't slept for nights keeping vigil. I'm in a nervous state. 12:08.000 --> 12:10.000 I haven't been this nervous in years. 12:10.000 --> 12:14.000 Yeah, I can see that. Well, look, why don't you try forgetting it for a while? 12:14.000 --> 12:18.000 Try not to look over into that window. Or go away for a change. 12:18.000 --> 12:20.000 You've done what you could, Mr. Ames. 12:20.000 --> 12:23.000 If there is a stiff over there, well, that's my business, ain't it? 12:23.000 --> 12:25.000 And if there isn't... 12:25.000 --> 12:28.000 You mean, you think I'm... I may be... 12:28.000 --> 12:30.000 I'm not saying nothing, Mr. Ames. 12:30.000 --> 12:34.000 But if I was you, I'd try catching up on my night's sleep. 12:50.000 --> 12:51.000 Hello? 12:51.000 --> 12:55.000 Miss Landis, I... I'm sorry to disturb you at this time of night, but I really... 12:55.000 --> 12:58.000 I'm desperate. I... I haven't anywhere else to turn. 12:58.000 --> 13:00.000 What? Who is this? 13:00.000 --> 13:03.000 This is Mr. Ames, Martin Ames, your neighbor, the one across the street. 13:03.000 --> 13:06.000 I was in your apartment yesterday morning with the police, or... 13:06.000 --> 13:09.000 Rather, I was almost in your apartment. Your sister wouldn't let me in. 13:09.000 --> 13:10.000 Oh. 13:10.000 --> 13:13.000 Now, please don't take me apest, Miss Landis. I... I don't mean to annoy you. 13:13.000 --> 13:17.000 It was only because I was... I was so desperate that... that I initiated that search. 13:17.000 --> 13:19.000 It's quite all right. Goodbye. 13:19.000 --> 13:23.000 No, no, no, please don't hang up, because... it's worse now... than it ever was. 13:23.000 --> 13:26.000 Miss Landis, I... I've been sitting here opposite your apartment, 13:26.000 --> 13:28.000 staring into your windows, and I... 13:28.000 --> 13:32.000 I... I'm only asking you to help me, Miss Landis. Help me just a little. 13:32.000 --> 13:34.000 Help you? 13:34.000 --> 13:36.000 It's still there, Miss Landis. 13:36.000 --> 13:38.000 What is still there? 13:38.000 --> 13:40.000 The dead body in your window. 13:40.000 --> 13:44.000 Oh, but... there isn't... How dare you? When the police... 13:44.000 --> 13:48.000 I know, I know. I know now it hasn't anything to do with you. 13:48.000 --> 13:50.000 But would you do me just one favor, Miss Landis? 13:50.000 --> 13:54.000 Would you go into your living room and just check once more? 13:54.000 --> 13:58.000 Oh, I won't. I'll do nothing of the kind. 13:58.000 --> 14:00.000 You're out of your mind. No... 14:00.000 --> 14:04.000 Perhaps I am, Miss Landis. That's what I'm trying to find out. 14:04.000 --> 14:06.000 Then perhaps your sister Vivian would help me. 14:06.000 --> 14:08.000 She's not at home. 14:08.000 --> 14:09.000 Oh, Lord. 14:09.000 --> 14:13.000 And anyway, I don't see how you can see in. 14:13.000 --> 14:16.000 I pulled the shades down in there yesterday morning. 14:16.000 --> 14:19.000 I know. They're all down still. 14:19.000 --> 14:21.000 Then how can you see? 14:21.000 --> 14:26.000 Oh, Lord. At least not the actual body. It's just a silhouette. 14:26.000 --> 14:28.000 I'm not belining you or your sister, Miss Landis. 14:28.000 --> 14:31.000 If there's someone dead in there, it's not you who are doing it. 14:31.000 --> 14:33.000 But think of me. 14:33.000 --> 14:37.000 If you could just be here and look over there and... 14:37.000 --> 14:42.000 see the shadow of those quiet fingers, that shoulder, that head. 14:42.000 --> 14:46.000 Oh, please! Stop it! Stop it! It's not here! It is... 14:46.000 --> 14:49.000 Tell me just one thing, Miss Landis. 14:49.000 --> 14:52.000 There is a chair by that window, though, isn't there? 14:52.000 --> 14:55.000 Yes. There's a chair. 14:55.000 --> 14:58.000 A high-backed winged chair. 14:58.000 --> 15:00.000 And have you anything on it? 15:00.000 --> 15:03.000 Anything piled up? I mean, like curtains or cushions or dressmakers' dummy? 15:03.000 --> 15:04.000 Of course not! 15:04.000 --> 15:07.000 Or do you have a plant in the window in front of it? Some kind of a odd table? 15:07.000 --> 15:11.000 Anything? Anything that would cast a shadow like a man's head slumped forward 15:11.000 --> 15:13.000 or an arm hanging limp? 15:13.000 --> 15:17.000 No. There is nothing. Nothing but the chair. 15:17.000 --> 15:20.000 Then would you do me just one more favor, Miss Landis? Please, please. 15:20.000 --> 15:23.000 As an experiment, would you just go into the living room 15:23.000 --> 15:26.000 and move that chair from the window, please? 15:26.000 --> 15:31.000 I... If I do it, will you stop pestering us? 15:31.000 --> 15:32.000 Yes. 15:32.000 --> 15:34.000 Will you let us alone forever? 15:34.000 --> 15:36.000 Yes, yes, if it works. 15:36.000 --> 15:39.000 If it works, what do you mean? 15:39.000 --> 15:42.000 I can't tell Miss Landis until you move the chair! 15:42.000 --> 15:47.000 Oh, all right! 15:54.000 --> 15:55.000 Hello! 15:55.000 --> 15:56.000 Yes. 15:56.000 --> 15:58.000 I moved it away from the window. 15:58.000 --> 16:02.000 It's at the other end of the room, and there's nothing in it. 16:02.000 --> 16:04.000 It's empty. 16:04.000 --> 16:06.000 Oh, I see. 16:06.000 --> 16:09.000 Well, thanks very much, Miss Landis. 16:09.000 --> 16:12.000 I know what I have to do now. 16:12.000 --> 16:13.000 You mean... 16:13.000 --> 16:16.000 Yes, Miss Landis. It's still there. 16:34.000 --> 16:35.000 Miss Landis! 16:35.000 --> 16:38.000 Where is it? I want to see it at once. 16:38.000 --> 16:40.000 Oh, yes, Miss Landis, come in. 16:40.000 --> 16:42.000 I hope you'll excuse my appearance. 16:42.000 --> 16:44.000 I've just passed another sleepless night. 16:44.000 --> 16:47.000 So has my sister, and so have I. 16:47.000 --> 16:49.000 What do you mean by all this business, Miss Reims? 16:49.000 --> 16:51.000 You have frightened my poor sister nearly to death. 16:51.000 --> 16:52.000 I... 16:52.000 --> 16:55.000 Seeing things that aren't fair when you know that they're not. 16:55.000 --> 16:57.000 I know they're not? Oh! 16:57.000 --> 16:59.000 Oh, I wish they were. 16:59.000 --> 17:02.000 I wish to heaven I'd never looked out that window. 17:02.000 --> 17:06.000 I wish those walls were solid stone, and your walls... Oh! 17:06.000 --> 17:09.000 You are a sick man, Mr. Innes. 17:09.000 --> 17:11.000 Oh, am I? 17:11.000 --> 17:14.000 I wish I were, but I'm perfectly sane and well. 17:14.000 --> 17:17.000 I went to a psychiatrist yesterday, and guess what he told me? 17:17.000 --> 17:20.000 That there's nothing wrong with me, nothing. 17:20.000 --> 17:21.000 I can't believe that. 17:21.000 --> 17:23.000 But to you, I suppose it's a form of madness 17:23.000 --> 17:27.000 to persist and persist in seeing this hideous image. 17:27.000 --> 17:29.000 But not me, Miss Landis. 17:29.000 --> 17:31.000 No. 17:31.000 --> 17:34.000 I've finally come to an entirely different conclusion. 17:34.000 --> 17:36.000 And what is that? 17:36.000 --> 17:37.000 The supernatural. 17:37.000 --> 17:39.000 That's supernatural? 17:39.000 --> 17:41.000 A ghost? What nonsense, Mr. Innes. 17:41.000 --> 17:43.000 Yes, I suppose it is nonsense to you. 17:43.000 --> 17:46.000 You've been a schoolteacher. You believe in logic and common sense. 17:46.000 --> 17:48.000 The things that give a pretense of solidity, 17:48.000 --> 17:50.000 but it's for a little life of ours. 17:50.000 --> 17:53.000 But I'm an artist. 17:53.000 --> 17:56.000 I've always had a feeling for the thing beyond, 17:56.000 --> 17:59.000 the intangible, the shadowy. 17:59.000 --> 18:01.000 We're children, Miss Landis, 18:01.000 --> 18:03.000 children playing along the edge of the ocean. 18:03.000 --> 18:07.000 We laugh and toy with the waves and mock fright. 18:07.000 --> 18:13.000 But sometime, sometime one of us slips down into the darkness. 18:13.000 --> 18:20.000 Sometimes the depths rise and we glimpse the yawning fangs of the eternal. 18:20.000 --> 18:24.000 You put things rather oddly, Mr. Innes. 18:24.000 --> 18:25.000 Just exactly what do you mean? 18:25.000 --> 18:27.000 Simply this. 18:27.000 --> 18:30.000 I checked on that building with the real estate agents yesterday afternoon 18:30.000 --> 18:32.000 after I left my psychiatrist. 18:32.000 --> 18:34.000 And there was a murder. 18:34.000 --> 18:36.000 In our apartment? 18:36.000 --> 18:37.000 Well, the report didn't say. 18:37.000 --> 18:39.000 You know how they try to hush those things up. 18:39.000 --> 18:42.000 But it was a man, a young man, 18:42.000 --> 18:45.000 the lover of one of the tenants, a Miss Sweetser. 18:45.000 --> 18:47.000 Sweetser? 18:47.000 --> 18:51.000 That's the name of the people who lived there before us. 18:51.000 --> 18:54.000 They were an elderly couple, Mr. and Mrs. Sweetser. 18:54.000 --> 18:56.000 I never saw any Miss Sweetser. 18:56.000 --> 18:58.000 She died. She was a daughter. 18:58.000 --> 19:02.000 She killed herself afterwards by jumping out one of the windows. 19:02.000 --> 19:04.000 Oh, hi. 19:04.000 --> 19:05.000 Perfectly awful. 19:05.000 --> 19:08.000 Rather a ghastly coincidence, isn't it? 19:08.000 --> 19:10.000 Was it out our window? 19:10.000 --> 19:12.000 Who knows? 19:12.000 --> 19:16.000 She must have been a very neurotic person, though, this Miss Sweetser. 19:16.000 --> 19:19.000 Half crazed, almost with love or jealousy. 19:19.000 --> 19:22.000 I checked on the details in an old newspaper. 19:22.000 --> 19:24.000 She cut his throat, 19:24.000 --> 19:26.000 nearly decapitated. 19:26.000 --> 19:30.000 And it said that when they lifted his body out of the chair later, 19:30.000 --> 19:32.000 his head almost rolled. 19:32.000 --> 19:33.000 Excuse me. 19:33.000 --> 19:35.000 Mr. Ames, I'd rather not hear. 19:35.000 --> 19:37.000 I still can't believe it. 19:37.000 --> 19:40.000 If there is something, if there could possibly be something, 19:40.000 --> 19:42.000 why haven't we seen it, too? Why should you be... 19:42.000 --> 19:44.000 Haven't you seen it, Miss Landis? 19:44.000 --> 19:45.000 No. 19:45.000 --> 19:47.000 You sure? Never? 19:47.000 --> 19:50.000 Perhaps in the middle of the night, getting up and passing that room, 19:50.000 --> 19:55.000 seeing that chair outlined against the window just in passing, perhaps? 19:55.000 --> 19:57.000 You've never had a glimpse? 19:57.000 --> 20:00.000 No, I... I really must be going. 20:00.000 --> 20:02.000 No, no, no. Please stay and look at it. 20:02.000 --> 20:04.000 I want you to see it out of my window. 20:04.000 --> 20:06.000 My sister Elaine, she's very nervous. 20:06.000 --> 20:08.000 I can't leave her so long alone. 20:08.000 --> 20:10.000 Then how will I go? How? 20:10.000 --> 20:12.000 Miss Landis, I thought you came here especially. 20:12.000 --> 20:14.000 It'll only take a minute. 20:14.000 --> 20:16.000 Right in here, in the bedroom. 20:16.000 --> 20:18.000 I just have to let up to Venetian blinds. 20:18.000 --> 20:20.000 Oh, Miss Landis! Don't go! 20:20.000 --> 20:25.000 Miss... Landis! 20:31.000 --> 20:33.000 Hello. Oh, hello, Sergeant. 20:33.000 --> 20:36.000 This is Ames, Martin Ames. 20:36.000 --> 20:38.000 I just called to let you know, 20:38.000 --> 20:41.000 I think you're right about that good night's sleep. 20:41.000 --> 20:45.000 Yes, I'm going away tomorrow for a long rest, 20:45.000 --> 20:47.000 shutting up my apartment. 20:47.000 --> 20:49.000 Yes, I'm all... I'm all kind of in knots. 20:49.000 --> 20:51.000 I don't know what to think. 20:51.000 --> 20:53.000 Oh, they did. 20:53.000 --> 20:55.000 Yes, I saw the moving van in front of the house, 20:55.000 --> 20:58.000 but I didn't know it was those sisters. 20:58.000 --> 21:00.000 Couldn't take it, huh? 21:00.000 --> 21:03.000 Well, I can't take it much longer myself. 21:03.000 --> 21:08.000 Well, Marty, bravo, bravissimo, boy. 21:08.000 --> 21:10.000 Shh, shh, not so loud. 21:10.000 --> 21:11.000 Why, all the mystery. 21:11.000 --> 21:13.000 The superintendent doesn't like me. 21:13.000 --> 21:15.000 I should think he wouldn't like you 21:15.000 --> 21:17.000 grabbing this beautiful apartment 21:17.000 --> 21:19.000 right from under his nose. 21:19.000 --> 21:21.000 He probably had a promise to a friend. 21:21.000 --> 21:23.000 But you've got it now, Ronald, just as I did. 21:23.000 --> 21:25.000 I'm sorry, I'm sorry. 21:25.000 --> 21:27.000 I'm sorry. 21:27.000 --> 21:29.000 I'm sorry. 21:29.000 --> 21:31.000 I'm sorry. 21:31.000 --> 21:33.000 You've got it now, Ronald, just as I did. 21:33.000 --> 21:36.000 Well, so I have, old boy, so I have. 21:36.000 --> 21:38.000 And it's beautiful. You know, I'm crazy about it. 21:38.000 --> 21:40.000 Marty, you've outdone yourself. 21:40.000 --> 21:41.000 You've been more than just... 21:41.000 --> 21:42.000 I'll take nothing of it, Ronald. 21:42.000 --> 21:46.000 I'm glad to do it for such a distinguished colleague. 21:46.000 --> 21:48.000 Well, it certainly was nice. 21:48.000 --> 21:50.000 I wish I could do something in the term, Marty. 21:50.000 --> 21:51.000 I really do. 21:51.000 --> 21:53.000 Perhaps let's play. I'm doing next season. 21:53.000 --> 21:55.000 You know, there's a part in it, rather small, 21:55.000 --> 21:57.000 a small part, but very necessary. 21:57.000 --> 21:59.000 Thanks, just the same, but I'm doing pretty well 21:59.000 --> 22:01.000 in the term, you know, just now, Ronald. 22:01.000 --> 22:03.000 I don't know how you found it, Marty. 22:03.000 --> 22:05.000 In his housing shortage. 22:05.000 --> 22:07.000 You know, why even the superintendent is nervous for rent? 22:07.000 --> 22:10.000 When your call came to my manager, I left rehearsal. 22:10.000 --> 22:12.000 I wouldn't trust it, anyone but myself. 22:12.000 --> 22:14.000 I left the whole cast just standing there 22:14.000 --> 22:16.000 when I came over. 22:16.000 --> 22:18.000 And when I asked this gloomy character, Anton, 22:18.000 --> 22:20.000 he said he'd heard nothing about it. 22:20.000 --> 22:22.000 I insisted, of course, I don't know who I was. 22:22.000 --> 22:24.000 Finally, he called up. 22:24.000 --> 22:26.000 Sure enough, it seems these two sisters who lived here 22:26.000 --> 22:28.000 just decided to move on. 22:28.000 --> 22:30.000 I hope you didn't mention my name, though, 22:30.000 --> 22:32.000 if Anton knows that I tipped you off. 22:32.000 --> 22:34.000 Oh, no, no, no, you asked me not to. 22:34.000 --> 22:36.000 Anyway, I think my own name is enough. 22:36.000 --> 22:38.000 Seriously, Marty, how did you know? 22:38.000 --> 22:40.000 Were they friends with you? 22:40.000 --> 22:42.000 Oh, no, no, it's rather a long story. 22:42.000 --> 22:44.000 Here, let it sit down, shall we, in the living room. 22:44.000 --> 22:46.000 Oh, no, no, no, you take the chair. 22:46.000 --> 22:49.000 I guess they must have left that when they moved out. 22:49.000 --> 22:51.000 No, thank you. 22:51.000 --> 22:54.000 Well, to be frank, Ronald, I got this apartment by a ruse. 22:54.000 --> 22:56.000 A ruse, Marty, what kind of a ruse? 22:56.000 --> 22:58.000 Oh, pretty nasty one, I... 22:58.000 --> 23:00.000 I frightened the last tenants away. 23:00.000 --> 23:04.000 I told them I saw a dead man sitting here in this window. 23:04.000 --> 23:06.000 No, no, not really. 23:06.000 --> 23:08.000 How clever of you. 23:08.000 --> 23:10.000 Of course, there was one. 23:10.000 --> 23:12.000 You see, I live across the street, directly across, 23:12.000 --> 23:14.000 in that apartment there with the striped curtains. 23:14.000 --> 23:16.000 Oh. 23:16.000 --> 23:18.000 One night, just sitting there late, 23:18.000 --> 23:20.000 I got an amusing thought. 23:20.000 --> 23:22.000 There was a kind of shadow across this chair, 23:22.000 --> 23:24.000 the one that you're sitting in. 23:24.000 --> 23:26.000 It gave me a little bit of a corpse. 23:26.000 --> 23:28.000 And it came to me that it might be fun 23:28.000 --> 23:30.000 to create a great part, a character, 23:30.000 --> 23:32.000 a corpse that wasn't there. 23:32.000 --> 23:34.000 I don't fully... 23:34.000 --> 23:36.000 Some actors need a play, Ronald, to create a role. 23:36.000 --> 23:40.000 Others, the great ones, work out their own dramas. 23:40.000 --> 23:42.000 I proceeded to invent a part for myself. 23:42.000 --> 23:44.000 I was the eyewitness, the innocent bystander 23:44.000 --> 23:48.000 across the street who saw a corpse in here. 23:48.000 --> 23:50.000 And I kept seeing it and kept seeing it. 23:50.000 --> 23:52.000 And finally, by the power of suggestion, 23:52.000 --> 23:56.000 it became real enough to frighten them away. 23:56.000 --> 23:58.000 Very clever. 23:58.000 --> 24:00.000 One that's rather drastic. 24:00.000 --> 24:02.000 I'd always hoped we'd be neighbors, Ronald. 24:02.000 --> 24:04.000 As a matter of fact, the whole idea for this thing 24:04.000 --> 24:06.000 came to me that day in October, 24:06.000 --> 24:08.000 when you turned me down for that part 24:08.000 --> 24:10.000 outside of Sardis, remember? 24:10.000 --> 24:12.000 You said you were looking for a place then. 24:12.000 --> 24:14.000 Oh, yes. 24:14.000 --> 24:16.000 It was then I thought how nice it would be 24:16.000 --> 24:18.000 to see you, 24:18.000 --> 24:20.000 right across the street, sitting in this window. 24:20.000 --> 24:22.000 I simply had to bring it about. 24:22.000 --> 24:24.000 I... 24:24.000 --> 24:26.000 No, no, no, Ronald, don't get up yet. I'm not rude. 24:26.000 --> 24:28.000 Really, oh, boy, I'm afraid the gang at the theater, 24:28.000 --> 24:30.000 you know, they don't even know that I'm here. 24:30.000 --> 24:32.000 They'll wait. People always wait for you, 24:32.000 --> 24:34.000 don't they, Ronald? 24:34.000 --> 24:36.000 I could call them for you, of course, but the phone's been disconnected. 24:36.000 --> 24:38.000 Well, I'm afraid that I'm... 24:38.000 --> 24:40.000 Which way's the door, oh, boy? 24:40.000 --> 24:42.000 Really, Marty, it's been very tiring... 24:42.000 --> 24:44.000 What's the matter? Don't you like the apartment, Ronald? 24:44.000 --> 24:46.000 Aren't you going to take it? 24:46.000 --> 24:48.000 After all my work? 24:48.000 --> 24:50.000 Yes, I like it very much. 24:50.000 --> 24:52.000 The door's locked. Yes, Ronald. 24:52.000 --> 24:56.000 I'm afraid you'll have to find your way out alone. 25:00.000 --> 25:02.000 There. 25:02.000 --> 25:04.000 That'll keep you quiet. 25:08.000 --> 25:10.000 Silence always became you better 25:10.000 --> 25:14.000 than all that ratting and glibness and charm, Ronald. 25:14.000 --> 25:16.000 And now I've got the part for you. 25:16.000 --> 25:18.000 A part to end all parts. 25:18.000 --> 25:20.000 You play it entirely in a chair. 25:20.000 --> 25:24.000 There isn't much action, not a line to say you just sit, Ronald. 25:24.000 --> 25:28.000 You sit in this chair on the window. 25:28.000 --> 25:30.000 Yeah. 25:30.000 --> 25:32.000 It'll be the greatest performance of your career. 25:32.000 --> 25:36.000 You liked to hog all the fattest roles for yourself, didn't you? 25:36.000 --> 25:38.000 Well, this is a part that's been talked about 25:38.000 --> 25:40.000 up and down the street for weeks. 25:40.000 --> 25:42.000 You'll play the part of a ghost. 25:42.000 --> 25:44.000 A ghost? 25:44.000 --> 25:46.000 The part of a ghost. 25:46.000 --> 25:48.000 A corpse that never was. 25:48.000 --> 25:50.000 A hallucination in my brain. 25:50.000 --> 25:52.000 And who'll be your audience? 25:52.000 --> 25:54.000 I will. 25:54.000 --> 25:56.000 I, the insignificant out-moded ham 25:56.000 --> 26:00.000 who wouldn't, wasn't fit to appear in your precious play. 26:00.000 --> 26:02.000 But good enough to put you here, Ronald. 26:04.000 --> 26:08.000 Who's the better actor now, Ronald? 26:08.000 --> 26:10.000 Ha. 26:12.000 --> 26:14.000 Goodbye, Ronald. 26:14.000 --> 26:16.000 See you across the street. 26:16.000 --> 26:18.000 Suspense. 26:18.000 --> 26:22.000 Presented by Roma Wines, R-O-M-A, Roma, America's favorite wine. 26:22.000 --> 26:24.000 And now this is the first act of the show. 26:24.000 --> 26:26.000 I'm so excited to see what you'll be doing. 26:26.000 --> 26:32.920 You'll be the first to play the role of the 26:32.920 --> 26:34.920 playwright here. 26:34.920 --> 26:36.920 And I'm so excited to be here. 26:36.920 --> 26:38.920 I'm so excited to be here. 26:38.920 --> 26:40.920 I'm so excited to be here. 26:40.920 --> 26:42.920 I'm so excited to be here. 26:42.920 --> 26:44.920 I'm so excited to be here. 26:44.920 --> 26:48.920 And now this is Ken Niles with a curtain call for the star of tonight's play, 26:48.920 --> 26:51.920 that perennial suspense favorite, Joseph Cotton. 26:51.920 --> 26:55.920 Joe, tonight marks your seventh appearance on Suspense in less than three years, 26:55.920 --> 26:58.920 making you our all-time champion guest. 26:58.920 --> 27:01.920 No cotton shortage on Suspense, again. 27:01.920 --> 27:05.920 And no shortage of suspense when cotton's on hand, either. 27:05.920 --> 27:08.920 In appreciation of those seven stellar performances, 27:08.920 --> 27:10.920 here's a Christmas present for you, Joe. 27:10.920 --> 27:13.920 Please accept this gift basket of Grand Estate wines 27:13.920 --> 27:17.920 from your host, Roma, America's greatest vendor. 27:17.920 --> 27:18.920 Thank you, Ken. 27:18.920 --> 27:24.920 And you're an outstanding host this Christmas when you serve these magnificent Grand Estate wines. 27:24.920 --> 27:29.920 For Grand Estate wines reflect the host's desire to offer only the finest. 27:29.920 --> 27:33.920 Grand Estate wines delight the most discriminating guests, whatever their case. 27:33.920 --> 27:35.920 I'll remember that, Ken. 27:35.920 --> 27:38.920 And don't forget Grand Estate wines make ideal gifts, 27:38.920 --> 27:41.920 friendly, thoughtful gifts, in perfect taste. 27:41.920 --> 27:48.920 Yes, for gifts or guests, America offers no finer wines than distinguished Grand Estate wines. 27:48.920 --> 27:54.920 For the holidays, keep on hand all five Grand Estate California wines. 27:54.920 --> 27:59.920 When entertaining, serve medium sherry, ruby port, or golden muscatel. 27:59.920 --> 28:02.920 For gracious dining, burgundy or sartorne. 28:02.920 --> 28:07.920 Each limited bottling of Grand Estate wine, carefully selected by Roma, 28:07.920 --> 28:11.920 is a wine outstanding in rare taste places. 28:11.920 --> 28:15.920 So this Christmas, give or serve the finest. 28:15.920 --> 28:19.920 Grand Estate wines, the crowning achievement of Vintner skill. 28:19.920 --> 28:22.920 Well put, Ken, but I must know one more thing. 28:22.920 --> 28:24.920 What about next Thursday's show? 28:24.920 --> 28:28.920 Well, it's a double threat show, with the honors going to two distinguished ladies. 28:28.920 --> 28:31.920 It's called Philomel Cotton. 28:31.920 --> 28:36.920 The author is England's number one feminine mistress of the art of suspense, Agatha Christie. 28:36.920 --> 28:42.920 And our star will be the most provocative European leading lady to visit our shores and many a moon, 28:42.920 --> 28:43.920 Miss Lily Palmer. 28:43.920 --> 28:45.920 Well, I've never missed a suspense show yet, 28:45.920 --> 28:48.920 and certainly next week sounds even more intriguing than usual. 28:48.920 --> 28:49.920 Good night. 28:49.920 --> 28:50.920 Good night, Joe. 28:50.920 --> 28:54.920 We're all looking forward to seeing you and David O. Selznick's production, Duel in the Sun. 28:54.920 --> 29:02.920 Next Thursday, same time, you will hear Miss Lily Palmer as star of Suspense. 29:02.920 --> 29:16.920 Produced and directed by William Spear for the Roma Wine Company of Fresno, California. 29:16.920 --> 29:21.920 Stay tuned for the thrilling adventures of the FBI in Peace and War, 29:21.920 --> 29:27.920 following immediately over most of these stations. 29:27.920 --> 29:32.920 This is CBS, the Columbia Broadcasting System.