1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:02,000 This is Robert Montgomery. 2 00:00:02,000 --> 00:00:05,000 I have a new assignment and I am very happy about it. 3 00:00:05,000 --> 00:00:12,000 During these 60 minutes each Saturday, I am to be acting spokesman for one of radio's really great entertainments. 4 00:00:12,000 --> 00:00:15,000 A program which is a prime favorite with all of us. 5 00:00:15,000 --> 00:00:22,000 You have come to know its opening music as the curtain raiser for radio's outstanding theater of thrills. 6 00:00:22,000 --> 00:00:30,000 You know it as a show which each week for five years has brought you first class story material and exciting performances. 7 00:00:30,000 --> 00:00:37,000 You have come to recognize throughout the unique touch of our unique producer, my friend Bill Spear. 8 00:00:37,000 --> 00:00:43,000 All of which can be said in one word, suspense. 9 00:00:43,000 --> 00:00:52,000 An hour of suspense now. A full 60 minutes on Saturday night. 10 00:00:52,000 --> 00:00:57,000 And with the distinguished actor director Robert Montgomery as your host. 11 00:00:57,000 --> 00:01:01,000 Tonight Mr. Montgomery also appears as star in The Black Curtain. 12 00:01:01,000 --> 00:01:05,000 A suspense play produced, edited and directed by William Spear. 13 00:01:05,000 --> 00:01:13,000 I don't have very much to say in the prologue department tonight. 14 00:01:13,000 --> 00:01:18,000 That's because at this premiere of the full hour show, we're anxious to ring up our curtain. 15 00:01:18,000 --> 00:01:22,000 Our black curtain if you will, without unnecessary delay. 16 00:01:22,000 --> 00:01:25,000 Also because tonight I am appearing as an actor. 17 00:01:25,000 --> 00:01:31,000 The idea on most Saturday evenings is for me to make you welcome and chat about things you and I are mutually interested in. 18 00:01:31,000 --> 00:01:37,000 Crime mostly and the various types of criminal achievement, real and fictional. 19 00:01:37,000 --> 00:01:44,000 And the persons actual and invented who have committed those crimes and gotten themselves into those predicaments. 20 00:01:44,000 --> 00:01:54,000 And the people who have written about it and have compounded the particular brew of mystery and dangerous adventure which we serve up to you in the name of suspense. 21 00:01:54,000 --> 00:02:01,000 But tonight I am appearing for a good many of our 60 minutes as a man named Frank Townsend. 22 00:02:01,000 --> 00:02:06,000 Townsend will tell you his really amazing story in his own words. 23 00:02:06,000 --> 00:02:11,000 And so I think you will hear quite enough from him without hearing more from Robert Montgomery. 24 00:02:11,000 --> 00:02:16,000 And so if our producer Bill Spear is ready, we will ring up our curtain. 25 00:02:16,000 --> 00:02:33,000 Now with the black curtain from the novel by Cornell Woolrich and with the performance of Robert Montgomery, we hope once again to keep you in suspense. 26 00:02:33,000 --> 00:02:39,000 A man is born, he lives out his little life and he dies. 27 00:02:39,000 --> 00:02:42,000 That's the one real break I guess that every man can count on. 28 00:02:42,000 --> 00:02:50,000 The one thing nobody can take away from him, to be born just once and to die just once. 29 00:02:50,000 --> 00:03:03,000 Every man, that is except Frank Townsend, born with no strikes on him, died with two strikes on him and then was born again with three strikes on him. 30 00:03:03,000 --> 00:03:07,000 Pushed back into life that day on that street. 31 00:03:07,000 --> 00:03:20,000 My head was pounding like the percussion instruments beating out the anvil chorus. 32 00:03:20,000 --> 00:03:23,000 I could hear all the noise and the people milling around. 33 00:03:23,000 --> 00:03:25,000 At first everything was a jumble, sight and sound. 34 00:03:25,000 --> 00:03:31,000 Tall buildings, high sky, low faces, spinning and weaving and bells exploding. 35 00:03:31,000 --> 00:03:34,000 All right, get moving now, let the doc through. 36 00:03:34,000 --> 00:03:38,000 I see it officer, I see it, he was running fast, the whammo clunked. 37 00:03:38,000 --> 00:03:41,000 He's growing like an onion with his head down and his feet up. 38 00:03:41,000 --> 00:03:43,000 All right, all right, break it up, I'll break it up. 39 00:03:43,000 --> 00:03:44,000 Oh my head. 40 00:03:44,000 --> 00:03:46,000 Take it easy now brother, just lie still. 41 00:03:46,000 --> 00:03:48,000 Who, what are? 42 00:03:48,000 --> 00:03:51,000 I'm the doctor, just lie still and I'll take it easy. 43 00:03:51,000 --> 00:03:54,000 The copper, his wallet fell out of his pocket, a guy grabbed it and he ran. 44 00:03:54,000 --> 00:03:57,000 All right, come on, get back, I'll get him in the lab, get back. 45 00:03:57,000 --> 00:03:59,000 I'm okay doc, I just feel a little. 46 00:03:59,000 --> 00:04:01,000 Sure, sure, here, let me help you up, see if you can stand. 47 00:04:01,000 --> 00:04:02,000 Thanks, thanks. 48 00:04:02,000 --> 00:04:04,000 I guess I can talk to him now, eh doc? 49 00:04:04,000 --> 00:04:07,000 Just a nasty bump on his head, he'll be okay. 50 00:04:07,000 --> 00:04:08,000 Here, let me brush your coat off. 51 00:04:08,000 --> 00:04:13,000 Thanks doc, my coat, why am I wearing an overcoat? 52 00:04:13,000 --> 00:04:16,000 Just for my report mister, what's your name and address? 53 00:04:16,000 --> 00:04:21,000 Townsend, Frank Townsend, 820 Rutherford Street. 54 00:04:21,000 --> 00:04:24,000 He has a cigarette, he's still a little woozy. 55 00:04:24,000 --> 00:04:26,000 No thanks, I don't smoke. 56 00:04:26,000 --> 00:04:27,000 Look, take a couple of aspirins. 57 00:04:27,000 --> 00:04:30,000 All right, all right, come on, this part's mine. 58 00:04:30,000 --> 00:04:31,000 Here's your hat mister. 59 00:04:31,000 --> 00:04:32,000 Thanks kid. 60 00:04:32,000 --> 00:04:35,000 We'll see what we can do about the guy that snatched your wallet. 61 00:04:35,000 --> 00:04:36,000 Here's your cigar case. 62 00:04:36,000 --> 00:04:38,000 Mike, yes but I haven't got a... 63 00:04:38,000 --> 00:04:41,000 Well, good luck mister, I'm going to turn in my report. 64 00:04:41,000 --> 00:04:44,000 Cigar case? I don't smoke. 65 00:04:44,000 --> 00:04:46,000 Oh, it just fell out of your pocket when we lifted you. 66 00:04:46,000 --> 00:04:49,000 Yeah, but look at the initials on it, D.N. 67 00:04:49,000 --> 00:04:52,000 Yeah, same initials like in your hat, see, D.N. 68 00:04:52,000 --> 00:04:53,000 Yeah, but that isn't my hat. 69 00:04:53,000 --> 00:04:56,000 Oh, you got a nasty crack on the noggin mister and... 70 00:04:56,000 --> 00:04:59,000 Wait a minute, wait a minute, I'm trying to think. 71 00:04:59,000 --> 00:05:00,000 Where is this? 72 00:05:00,000 --> 00:05:01,000 Where is what? 73 00:05:01,000 --> 00:05:03,000 This, this street. 74 00:05:03,000 --> 00:05:05,000 This? This is Tillery Street. 75 00:05:05,000 --> 00:05:09,000 Tillery? What am I doing on Tillery Street? 76 00:05:09,000 --> 00:05:11,000 Hey, look buddy, you sure you're okay? 77 00:05:11,000 --> 00:05:14,000 Well, what happened to me? 78 00:05:14,000 --> 00:05:18,000 Well, you were running, very dangerous running on this ice. 79 00:05:18,000 --> 00:05:21,000 Well, you slipped, hit your head and was out for about 20 minutes. 80 00:05:21,000 --> 00:05:22,000 Ice? 81 00:05:22,000 --> 00:05:26,000 After that blizzard we had last night, did you expect May flowers? 82 00:05:26,000 --> 00:05:30,000 Blizzard? In July? 83 00:05:30,000 --> 00:05:34,000 July? Oh, listen buddy, I got a flash for you. 84 00:05:34,000 --> 00:05:38,000 This is December, one week before Christmas, 1944. 85 00:05:38,000 --> 00:05:40,000 1940? 86 00:05:40,000 --> 00:05:42,000 Oh, don't take it so hard, we all get older. 87 00:05:42,000 --> 00:05:45,000 You better get home and get a fast 40 winks. 88 00:05:45,000 --> 00:05:47,000 You need it. 89 00:05:47,000 --> 00:05:58,000 December 1944. 90 00:05:58,000 --> 00:06:02,000 December 1944. 91 00:06:02,000 --> 00:06:07,000 But the last I could remember was July 1941. 92 00:06:07,000 --> 00:06:11,000 Three years, gone, just gone. 93 00:06:11,000 --> 00:06:13,000 A black curtain. 94 00:06:13,000 --> 00:06:17,000 That black curtain of amnesia comes down over your mind out of nowhere. 95 00:06:17,000 --> 00:06:22,000 That black curtain had been dropped over my eyes for three years. 96 00:06:22,000 --> 00:06:26,000 Where had I been? Who had I been? 97 00:06:26,000 --> 00:06:30,000 Not Frank Townsend, someone else, D.N. 98 00:06:30,000 --> 00:06:34,000 Someone whose initials were D.N. 99 00:06:34,000 --> 00:06:38,000 I walked along Tillery Street thinking about it. 100 00:06:38,000 --> 00:06:42,000 Those three years, I could have been married, 101 00:06:42,000 --> 00:06:44,000 or could have been a thief. 102 00:06:44,000 --> 00:06:46,000 No, it was insane. 103 00:06:46,000 --> 00:06:50,000 20 minutes ago I left the little office where Johnny and I have our advertising business. 104 00:06:50,000 --> 00:06:52,000 I was on my way to speak to a client. 105 00:06:52,000 --> 00:06:56,000 20 minutes ago I told Johnny that... 106 00:06:56,000 --> 00:07:02,000 But that was July 1941. 107 00:07:02,000 --> 00:07:07,000 There was no snow, no ice, no initials, D.N. 108 00:07:07,000 --> 00:07:11,000 I must see Johnny. He'd know, he'd tell me. 109 00:07:11,000 --> 00:07:15,000 I stopped dead. 110 00:07:15,000 --> 00:07:17,000 I don't know why. 111 00:07:17,000 --> 00:07:19,000 Something made me turn my head. 112 00:07:19,000 --> 00:07:21,000 And that's when I first saw him. 113 00:07:21,000 --> 00:07:22,000 Grey eyes. 114 00:07:22,000 --> 00:07:24,000 He'd been talking to the cop who took my name. 115 00:07:24,000 --> 00:07:26,000 He looked after me as I turned my head. 116 00:07:26,000 --> 00:07:28,000 He started for me. I found myself backing away. 117 00:07:28,000 --> 00:07:30,000 Something about him screamed trouble. 118 00:07:30,000 --> 00:07:32,000 He quickened his step. 119 00:07:32,000 --> 00:07:34,000 You! Townsend! Stop! 120 00:07:34,000 --> 00:07:36,000 The sound of his voice sent terror roaring into my skull. 121 00:07:36,000 --> 00:07:37,000 I ran, he lunged after me. 122 00:07:37,000 --> 00:07:40,000 I saw him come as I rounded the corner, and in his hand he held a gun. 123 00:07:40,000 --> 00:07:41,000 He raised it. 124 00:07:41,000 --> 00:07:44,000 I ducked my head and ran for my life, for the second life that I'd been born into. 125 00:07:53,000 --> 00:07:54,000 It was the ice that saved me. 126 00:07:54,000 --> 00:07:57,000 I flew across it, my toes barely touching its treacherous surface. 127 00:07:57,000 --> 00:08:00,000 But grey eyes slipped, spun through the air, gun flying from his fingers. 128 00:08:00,000 --> 00:08:02,000 By the time his heavy body had flooded to the ground, 129 00:08:02,000 --> 00:08:05,000 I'd hurled myself down the subway steps, walked vaulted the turnstile, 130 00:08:05,000 --> 00:08:09,000 cheated the steel edge of the subway door as the train pulled out of the station. 131 00:08:09,000 --> 00:08:12,000 And for two hours, I rode the rails under the city. 132 00:08:12,000 --> 00:08:16,000 And for two hours, my stomach was gripped by terror. 133 00:08:23,000 --> 00:08:26,000 Dusk, and a new snowfall had settled over the city. 134 00:08:27,000 --> 00:08:30,000 I entered the sleek lobby of the Greystone building on 34th Street, 135 00:08:30,000 --> 00:08:32,000 where Johnny and I had our office. 136 00:08:32,000 --> 00:08:35,000 In a few minutes, I'd be sitting across the desk from Johnny. 137 00:08:35,000 --> 00:08:39,000 A good bottle between us and then everything would be all right. 138 00:08:39,000 --> 00:08:40,000 Johnny would know what to do. 139 00:08:40,000 --> 00:08:43,000 He always knew, ever since we'd been in school together. 140 00:08:44,000 --> 00:08:49,000 He'd know how to find out who I'd been, what the initials D.N. meant, 141 00:08:49,000 --> 00:08:52,000 why Grey Eyes tried to kill me. 142 00:08:52,000 --> 00:08:56,000 An elevator door slid open and I stepped into the cage. 143 00:08:56,000 --> 00:08:57,000 Floor, please. 144 00:08:58,000 --> 00:08:59,000 Ten. 145 00:08:59,000 --> 00:09:00,000 Pass, please. 146 00:09:00,000 --> 00:09:01,000 What? 147 00:09:01,000 --> 00:09:03,000 Your pass. I gotta see it. 148 00:09:03,000 --> 00:09:04,000 What pass? 149 00:09:04,000 --> 00:09:06,000 To go up to the 10th floor. 150 00:09:06,000 --> 00:09:07,000 Pass to... 151 00:09:07,000 --> 00:09:10,000 But I don't understand. My office is up there. 152 00:09:10,000 --> 00:09:13,000 Look, buddy, all I do is run this elevator, not the country. 153 00:09:13,000 --> 00:09:14,000 Yes, but I... 154 00:09:14,000 --> 00:09:16,000 Save it, save it. Guard! 155 00:09:17,000 --> 00:09:19,000 Two men came from the rear of the lobby. 156 00:09:19,000 --> 00:09:21,000 They were big men. 157 00:09:21,000 --> 00:09:25,000 They wore uniforms, the blue trousers tucked into brown parties, 158 00:09:25,000 --> 00:09:30,000 their thumbs tucked into heavy belts that supported heavy guns and heavy clubs. 159 00:09:30,000 --> 00:09:35,000 White armbands read SP. They eyed me with suspicion. 160 00:09:35,000 --> 00:09:36,000 What's the trouble, mate? 161 00:09:36,000 --> 00:09:38,000 10th floor, no pass. 162 00:09:39,000 --> 00:09:41,000 What's your business on the 10th floor, sir? 163 00:09:41,000 --> 00:09:43,000 Advertising. I mean, my office is there and I... 164 00:09:43,000 --> 00:09:45,000 Yeah, you're sure you're in the right building? 165 00:09:45,000 --> 00:09:48,000 Well, I... Isn't this the Greystone building? 166 00:09:48,000 --> 00:09:51,000 You can't have no office in this building higher than the 5th floor. 167 00:09:51,000 --> 00:09:53,000 But I tell you, we're my partner and me, we're on the... 168 00:09:53,000 --> 00:09:56,000 Nobody's on the 10th floor but the Navy. 169 00:09:56,000 --> 00:09:57,000 The Navy? 170 00:09:57,000 --> 00:10:00,000 All the way from the 6th to the roof. 171 00:10:00,000 --> 00:10:01,000 Why? 172 00:10:01,000 --> 00:10:02,000 You're kidding, sir? 173 00:10:02,000 --> 00:10:05,000 Ain't you heard there's a war on? 174 00:10:05,000 --> 00:10:06,000 War? 175 00:10:06,000 --> 00:10:09,000 Look, mister, if this is supposed to be funny, you're in the wrong department. 176 00:10:09,000 --> 00:10:10,000 What's your name? 177 00:10:10,000 --> 00:10:12,000 Look, will you help me, please? My name is Townsend. 178 00:10:12,000 --> 00:10:16,000 I have an office here on the 10th floor advertising Townsend and Gale. 179 00:10:16,000 --> 00:10:19,000 Oh, yeah, Townsend and Gale. 180 00:10:19,000 --> 00:10:22,000 Well, that folded when the Navy took over. 181 00:10:22,000 --> 00:10:24,000 Where's Johnny Gale? 182 00:10:24,000 --> 00:10:26,000 He joined the Navy. 183 00:10:26,000 --> 00:10:28,000 Where can I find him? 184 00:10:28,000 --> 00:10:30,000 Oh, it'll be tough finding, mister. 185 00:10:30,000 --> 00:10:32,000 He was buried last month on Okinawa. 186 00:10:39,000 --> 00:10:40,000 Johnny. 187 00:10:40,000 --> 00:10:42,000 Dead. 188 00:10:42,000 --> 00:10:44,000 Buried on Okinawa. 189 00:10:44,000 --> 00:10:47,000 The name meant nothing to me. 190 00:10:47,000 --> 00:10:52,000 Only that at Okinawa was buried my strongest link to my past. 191 00:10:52,000 --> 00:10:56,000 One slender thread leading back through the years remained. 192 00:10:56,000 --> 00:10:59,000 The apartment on Rutherford Street. 193 00:10:59,000 --> 00:11:01,000 I started to draw it in. 194 00:11:16,000 --> 00:11:17,000 Oh! 195 00:11:18,000 --> 00:11:20,000 Hello, Mrs. Hudson. 196 00:11:20,000 --> 00:11:23,000 Why, Mr. Townsend? 197 00:11:23,000 --> 00:11:26,000 I, uh, I guess I startled you. 198 00:11:26,000 --> 00:11:29,000 Why, no. No, not at all. I was expecting... 199 00:11:29,000 --> 00:11:32,000 I mean, I thought that you... 200 00:11:32,000 --> 00:11:34,000 Yeah, it's been a long time. 201 00:11:34,000 --> 00:11:36,000 Not, not at all. 202 00:11:36,000 --> 00:11:40,000 I kept... I mean, I knew you'd come back and... 203 00:11:40,000 --> 00:11:43,000 Well, your apartment is just where you left it. 204 00:11:43,000 --> 00:11:46,000 You kept the apartment for me, huh? 205 00:11:46,000 --> 00:11:49,000 After all, Mr. Townsend, you were my favorite tenant and... 206 00:11:49,000 --> 00:11:52,000 Come in. Come in. 207 00:11:52,000 --> 00:11:54,000 Thank you. 208 00:11:55,000 --> 00:11:59,000 You just go right on up, Mr. Townsend. 209 00:11:59,000 --> 00:12:03,000 I, uh... Aren't you going to ask me what happened to me? 210 00:12:03,000 --> 00:12:08,000 Hi. You... You look very well, Mr. Townsend. 211 00:12:08,000 --> 00:12:11,000 I'm... I'm glad you're back. 212 00:12:11,000 --> 00:12:14,000 And... and... 213 00:12:14,000 --> 00:12:17,000 Yes. Yes, I'm glad I'm... 214 00:12:17,000 --> 00:12:20,000 Thank you, Mrs. Hudson. 215 00:12:27,000 --> 00:12:32,000 I started up the stairs, the same stairs, the same creeks, 216 00:12:32,000 --> 00:12:35,000 the same loose board halfway up. 217 00:12:35,000 --> 00:12:38,000 Everything the same, but everything unreal. 218 00:12:38,000 --> 00:12:41,000 Mrs. Hudson, unreal. 219 00:12:41,000 --> 00:12:44,000 I sensed her eyes following me up the stairs. 220 00:12:44,000 --> 00:12:49,000 I stopped, turned, looked down. 221 00:12:49,000 --> 00:12:53,000 She stared up at me, mouth slightly open, 222 00:12:53,000 --> 00:12:58,000 and for a long, long moment, neither of us spoke. 223 00:12:58,000 --> 00:13:02,000 Yes? Mr. Townsend? 224 00:13:02,000 --> 00:13:05,000 Mrs. Hudson, uh... 225 00:13:05,000 --> 00:13:08,000 Yes? Mr. Townsend? 226 00:13:08,000 --> 00:13:13,000 Well, it's nothing, but you used to call me Frank. 227 00:13:13,000 --> 00:13:16,000 Come on. 228 00:13:25,000 --> 00:13:28,000 Come all the way in, son. 229 00:13:32,000 --> 00:13:35,000 He was sitting in the large chair by the window. 230 00:13:35,000 --> 00:13:39,000 In his left hand, he held a half-smoked cigar. 231 00:13:39,000 --> 00:13:41,000 It was pointed at the ceiling. 232 00:13:41,000 --> 00:13:44,000 In his right hand, he held a gun. 233 00:13:44,000 --> 00:13:47,000 It was pointed at me. 234 00:13:47,000 --> 00:13:50,000 It was gray eyes. 235 00:13:52,000 --> 00:13:56,000 Tell her, East Street, just couldn't stay away from there, could you? 236 00:13:56,000 --> 00:13:58,000 Well, never feels. 237 00:13:58,000 --> 00:14:00,000 What do you want? There's some mistake. I... 238 00:14:00,000 --> 00:14:03,000 Given that harness bull the phony name, but the right address. 239 00:14:03,000 --> 00:14:05,000 Very unbright. 240 00:14:05,000 --> 00:14:07,000 Listen, my name is Townsend, Frank Townsend. 241 00:14:07,000 --> 00:14:09,000 So, all right, so we'll bury you under that name. 242 00:14:09,000 --> 00:14:11,000 What difference does it make? 243 00:14:11,000 --> 00:14:13,000 Bury me? But why? Why? What have I done? 244 00:14:13,000 --> 00:14:15,000 Suppose you tell me. 245 00:14:15,000 --> 00:14:17,000 Maybe you can make it sound better. 246 00:14:17,000 --> 00:14:21,000 If I have to die, all right, I'll die, but I got a right to know why, haven't I? 247 00:14:21,000 --> 00:14:23,000 Tell me what I've done. What am I dying for? 248 00:14:23,000 --> 00:14:25,000 Stand still! 249 00:14:25,000 --> 00:14:31,000 Now, just give me one more excuse, son, and I'll kill you right here and right now. 250 00:14:33,000 --> 00:14:35,000 Yeah, that's better. 251 00:14:35,000 --> 00:14:39,000 Now, settle back and relax. Now, sit down over there. 252 00:14:39,000 --> 00:14:41,000 Lean back against the chair. 253 00:14:41,000 --> 00:14:43,000 All the way. 254 00:14:43,000 --> 00:14:45,000 Now, put your hands on your head. 255 00:14:47,000 --> 00:14:53,000 And, son, just pray that you don't get an itchy nose, because if you even start to scratch it, it'll be the last itch you'll ever feel. 256 00:14:56,000 --> 00:15:02,000 Now, while we're waiting for the boys, we'll just sit and chat, nice and friendly-like. 257 00:15:02,000 --> 00:15:06,000 Anything special you'd like to talk about? 258 00:15:08,000 --> 00:15:11,000 No? Okay, maybe I can suggest something. 259 00:15:11,000 --> 00:15:15,000 Maybe you'll find the loot on an interesting topic of conversation. 260 00:15:15,000 --> 00:15:17,000 Sounds promising. 261 00:15:17,000 --> 00:15:19,000 The loot. 262 00:15:19,000 --> 00:15:21,000 What'd you do with it? 263 00:15:24,000 --> 00:15:27,000 I sat with my hands clasped to my head. 264 00:15:27,000 --> 00:15:29,000 I didn't dare move. 265 00:15:29,000 --> 00:15:35,000 He had the safety catch off, and I knew he'd send a bullet through my head without a second thought. 266 00:15:35,000 --> 00:15:40,000 That why you took the chance of going back to Tillery Street? Maybe the doll crossed you up, huh? 267 00:15:40,000 --> 00:15:43,000 Sure, you waited all week and she never showed. 268 00:15:43,000 --> 00:15:45,000 Maybe she liked it. 269 00:15:45,000 --> 00:15:47,000 Nothing, he said, made any sense to me. 270 00:15:47,000 --> 00:15:51,000 All I knew was that he expected others to arrive, and they would take me. 271 00:15:51,000 --> 00:15:53,000 Where? 272 00:15:53,000 --> 00:15:59,000 His gray eyes went on and on, his voice droning, until I no longer cared what happened to me. 273 00:15:59,000 --> 00:16:01,000 Or why. 274 00:16:01,000 --> 00:16:03,000 I think I was beginning to nod. 275 00:16:03,000 --> 00:16:06,000 Went from the corner of my eye. 276 00:16:06,000 --> 00:16:09,000 I saw the door open slightly. 277 00:16:09,000 --> 00:16:11,000 I didn't stir. 278 00:16:11,000 --> 00:16:13,000 Gray eyes droned on. 279 00:16:13,000 --> 00:16:15,000 A man was standing in the doorway behind him. 280 00:16:15,000 --> 00:16:21,000 A small man with small hands, and he held a small finger up to his lips. 281 00:16:21,000 --> 00:16:24,000 His small feet made quick, noiseless steps. 282 00:16:24,000 --> 00:16:27,000 He stopped silently behind the chair in which gray eyes was sitting. 283 00:16:27,000 --> 00:16:32,000 Then he raised a small gun, and his small fist... 284 00:16:36,000 --> 00:16:41,000 Gray eyes emitted a small gasp and fell forward at my feet. 285 00:16:41,000 --> 00:16:43,000 I stared down at him stupidly. 286 00:16:43,000 --> 00:16:46,000 The small man chuckled. 287 00:16:46,000 --> 00:16:51,000 I am so small, and yet I have so much strength. 288 00:16:51,000 --> 00:16:53,000 It is revolting. 289 00:16:53,000 --> 00:16:55,000 You... I think you killed him. 290 00:16:55,000 --> 00:16:57,000 Perhaps. 291 00:16:57,000 --> 00:17:00,000 So you did not expect to see me, no? 292 00:17:00,000 --> 00:17:01,000 No. 293 00:17:01,000 --> 00:17:05,000 My friend, I did not observe you all these years for nothing. 294 00:17:05,000 --> 00:17:11,000 When the deed was done, I knew that your romantic American soul would eventually betray you. 295 00:17:11,000 --> 00:17:17,000 And so I said to myself, Dangler, I said, you must go to Tillery Street. 296 00:17:17,000 --> 00:17:24,000 Endure the cold and the wind, but watch, watch, watch, and be patient while you watch. 297 00:17:24,000 --> 00:17:26,000 Yes, this I did. 298 00:17:26,000 --> 00:17:29,000 And you see, my patience was rewarded. 299 00:17:29,000 --> 00:17:31,000 Dangler? 300 00:17:31,000 --> 00:17:33,000 Yes, my friend. 301 00:17:33,000 --> 00:17:37,000 Tell me, how... how bad are things? 302 00:17:37,000 --> 00:17:39,000 My friend, I will tell you this. 303 00:17:39,000 --> 00:17:43,000 The situation for you is desperate, but not serious. 304 00:17:43,000 --> 00:17:47,000 I will guarantee safe conduct for you over the border to Mexico. 305 00:17:47,000 --> 00:17:54,000 But you must insist that I accept and press upon me when I refuse a fair share of the money. 306 00:17:54,000 --> 00:17:55,000 The money? 307 00:17:55,000 --> 00:17:56,000 Precisely. 308 00:17:56,000 --> 00:17:59,000 Now what would be fair? 309 00:17:59,000 --> 00:18:04,000 Well, in view of the difficult situation, we should share equally. 310 00:18:04,000 --> 00:18:08,000 Yes, one thousand for me, one thousand for you. 311 00:18:08,000 --> 00:18:11,000 And then you will give me the balance of eight thousand for expenses. 312 00:18:11,000 --> 00:18:13,000 Yes, for expenses. 313 00:18:13,000 --> 00:18:16,000 Give you nine thousand? 314 00:18:16,000 --> 00:18:19,000 A truly fair and honorable distribution. 315 00:18:19,000 --> 00:18:25,000 Especially, my friend, when you consider that the nine thousand you give me is an item which is completely deductible. 316 00:18:25,000 --> 00:18:28,000 Yes, deductible from your income tax. 317 00:18:28,000 --> 00:18:29,000 I see. 318 00:18:29,000 --> 00:18:31,000 And suppose I refuse your offer? 319 00:18:31,000 --> 00:18:33,000 How can you refuse? 320 00:18:33,000 --> 00:18:37,000 Didn't I save your life by assaulting this thug from behind? 321 00:18:37,000 --> 00:18:42,000 And didn't I have the good sense to snatch your wallet when you so stupidly fell in the street? 322 00:18:42,000 --> 00:18:43,000 Yes. 323 00:18:43,000 --> 00:18:44,000 See? 324 00:18:44,000 --> 00:18:45,000 Here it is. 325 00:18:45,000 --> 00:18:48,000 It was I who took it before the police could examine it. 326 00:18:48,000 --> 00:18:50,000 You have the... Let me see it. 327 00:18:50,000 --> 00:18:51,000 You may have it. 328 00:18:51,000 --> 00:18:53,000 Here, wait. 329 00:18:53,000 --> 00:18:54,000 What? 330 00:18:54,000 --> 00:18:57,000 Where's... Where's my cards, my identification? 331 00:18:57,000 --> 00:18:59,000 Where's his identification, he asks. 332 00:18:59,000 --> 00:19:01,000 I told you you were stupid. 333 00:19:01,000 --> 00:19:05,000 Would I dare walk about with your identification cards upon my person? 334 00:19:05,000 --> 00:19:07,000 Idiot! 335 00:19:07,000 --> 00:19:10,000 I begin to feel it is not safe to deal with you. 336 00:19:10,000 --> 00:19:12,000 All right, all right. 337 00:19:12,000 --> 00:19:13,000 I'll play ball. 338 00:19:13,000 --> 00:19:16,000 I begin to feel you have a little good sense. 339 00:19:16,000 --> 00:19:17,000 Now, where is the money? 340 00:19:17,000 --> 00:19:19,000 You think I carry it with me? 341 00:19:19,000 --> 00:19:21,000 Well, with a man like you, who knows? 342 00:19:21,000 --> 00:19:22,000 Very well. 343 00:19:22,000 --> 00:19:24,000 You must arrange to get it. 344 00:19:24,000 --> 00:19:26,000 I will be waiting for you at my office. 345 00:19:26,000 --> 00:19:27,000 Do not come there. 346 00:19:27,000 --> 00:19:28,000 Call me. 347 00:19:28,000 --> 00:19:29,000 Then we will contrive to meet. 348 00:19:29,000 --> 00:19:30,000 Is that clear? 349 00:19:30,000 --> 00:19:31,000 Yes. 350 00:19:31,000 --> 00:19:32,000 Good. 351 00:19:32,000 --> 00:19:34,000 Now, I shake your hand and wish you well. 352 00:19:34,000 --> 00:19:37,000 If you succeed in going out once more into Tilleries Street 353 00:19:37,000 --> 00:19:39,000 and coming out safely with the money, 354 00:19:39,000 --> 00:19:41,000 I will be waiting for you. 355 00:19:41,000 --> 00:19:46,000 And if you do not come out, I will make a small novena for you. 356 00:19:46,000 --> 00:19:47,000 Goodbye, my friend. 357 00:19:47,000 --> 00:19:48,000 Goodbye. 358 00:19:54,000 --> 00:19:57,000 I shut off all process of thought and feeling. 359 00:19:57,000 --> 00:20:00,000 Reason was useless in an irrational world, 360 00:20:00,000 --> 00:20:03,000 feeling dangerous in a dangerous one. 361 00:20:03,000 --> 00:20:07,000 I moved like an automaton, moving now from A to B, 362 00:20:07,000 --> 00:20:10,000 from B to C, from Rutherford Street to Tillerie. 363 00:20:10,000 --> 00:20:13,000 Grey eyes and dangler. 364 00:20:13,000 --> 00:20:18,000 Both had made Tilleries Street their point of arrival and departure. 365 00:20:18,000 --> 00:20:20,000 And the point of my rebirth, 366 00:20:20,000 --> 00:20:25,000 I took the chance that might rent the black curtain and let in the sun, 367 00:20:25,000 --> 00:20:30,000 or rent my heart and let out my life. 368 00:20:30,000 --> 00:20:33,000 I returned to Tilleries Street. 369 00:20:49,000 --> 00:20:50,000 Yes? 370 00:20:50,000 --> 00:20:51,000 Good evening. 371 00:20:51,000 --> 00:20:52,000 What can I do? 372 00:20:52,000 --> 00:20:55,000 Oh, hello. Hello. How are you? 373 00:20:55,000 --> 00:20:57,000 You, uh, you know me. 374 00:20:57,000 --> 00:20:59,000 Oh, why shouldn't I know you? 375 00:20:59,000 --> 00:21:01,000 I couldn't see you under that head at first. 376 00:21:01,000 --> 00:21:02,000 What can I do for you? 377 00:21:02,000 --> 00:21:04,000 Have you got an evening paper that I could look at? 378 00:21:04,000 --> 00:21:06,000 No, I'm sorry. I never read them. 379 00:21:06,000 --> 00:21:09,000 Too much trouble in the world these days anyhow. 380 00:21:09,000 --> 00:21:10,000 How have you been? 381 00:21:10,000 --> 00:21:13,000 You haven't been around in two or three weeks. 382 00:21:13,000 --> 00:21:14,000 Yes, well, I've been busy. 383 00:21:14,000 --> 00:21:16,000 I... Look, Pop, I... 384 00:21:16,000 --> 00:21:20,000 I made a bet with a guy that even though you see so many customers, 385 00:21:20,000 --> 00:21:23,000 you'd walk right up and give me my full name. 386 00:21:23,000 --> 00:21:25,000 Oh, I'm sorry. I don't know it. 387 00:21:25,000 --> 00:21:28,000 I don't think I ever heard your name. 388 00:21:28,000 --> 00:21:29,000 Oh. 389 00:21:29,000 --> 00:21:31,000 But I know your girl. 390 00:21:31,000 --> 00:21:33,000 My girl? My girl? Oh, you do? 391 00:21:33,000 --> 00:21:34,000 Yes. 392 00:21:34,000 --> 00:21:36,000 Well, now maybe I can still win my bet, huh? 393 00:21:36,000 --> 00:21:39,000 Of course. Ruth. Ruth. 394 00:21:39,000 --> 00:21:41,000 She lives right across the street. 395 00:21:41,000 --> 00:21:42,000 The Tillerie Apartments. 396 00:21:42,000 --> 00:21:44,000 Well, that's right. Ruth. 397 00:21:44,000 --> 00:21:47,000 Ah. But now, what apartment? 398 00:21:47,000 --> 00:21:49,000 Apartment 3C, of course. 399 00:21:49,000 --> 00:21:52,000 Don't I take the sandwiches up there every night? 400 00:21:52,000 --> 00:21:55,000 3C. Yes. Well, thanks. 401 00:21:55,000 --> 00:21:56,000 Will you win your bet, mister? 402 00:21:56,000 --> 00:21:58,000 What? Oh, yes, I think I will. 403 00:21:58,000 --> 00:22:00,000 What's your name so I'll know it next time? 404 00:22:00,000 --> 00:22:02,000 I'll tell you tomorrow. 405 00:22:02,000 --> 00:22:03,000 So long. 406 00:22:03,000 --> 00:22:05,000 So long, Pop. I'll be seeing... 407 00:22:06,000 --> 00:22:08,000 What's the matter? You dropped something? 408 00:22:08,000 --> 00:22:11,000 Nothing. Nothing, I... 409 00:22:11,000 --> 00:22:13,000 Just tying my shoe. 410 00:22:16,000 --> 00:22:19,000 I'd just been going to walk out when I saw him standing across the street, 411 00:22:19,000 --> 00:22:22,000 a man built like grey eyes, dressed like him, 412 00:22:22,000 --> 00:22:24,000 and I knew he was looking for me. 413 00:22:24,000 --> 00:22:26,000 I ducked down behind the store window and watched him. 414 00:22:26,000 --> 00:22:29,000 He looked over in my direction and then up and down the street, 415 00:22:29,000 --> 00:22:32,000 lit a cigarette, and then strolled down to the corner. 416 00:22:32,000 --> 00:22:34,000 The minute he disappeared, I yanked the door open, 417 00:22:34,000 --> 00:23:00,000 dashed out and ran across to the artillery apartments and went in. 418 00:23:00,000 --> 00:23:01,000 Who is it? 419 00:23:01,000 --> 00:23:03,000 Ruth. 420 00:23:03,000 --> 00:23:04,000 Yes? 421 00:23:04,000 --> 00:23:06,000 It's me. 422 00:23:08,000 --> 00:23:11,000 Dan? Oh, darling. 423 00:23:11,000 --> 00:23:13,000 Get in here. 424 00:23:13,000 --> 00:23:17,000 Oh, darling, it's really you. 425 00:23:17,000 --> 00:23:18,000 I thought... 426 00:23:18,000 --> 00:23:19,000 Hello, Ruth. 427 00:23:19,000 --> 00:23:20,000 Oh, Danny, why did you come here? 428 00:23:20,000 --> 00:23:21,000 He's been around twice a day. 429 00:23:21,000 --> 00:23:23,000 He may be in the neighborhood right now, for all you know. 430 00:23:23,000 --> 00:23:24,000 Who? 431 00:23:24,000 --> 00:23:26,000 Who? Well, Slattery, of course. 432 00:23:26,000 --> 00:23:27,000 Does he got grey eyes? 433 00:23:27,000 --> 00:23:28,000 What? 434 00:23:28,000 --> 00:23:30,000 Yeah, did you ever see a detective that didn't? 435 00:23:30,000 --> 00:23:32,000 Sure, sure, I but... 436 00:23:32,000 --> 00:23:34,000 Danny, what's the matter with you? 437 00:23:34,000 --> 00:23:35,000 You're acting so strangely. 438 00:23:35,000 --> 00:23:39,000 I...I just wanted to look at you. 439 00:23:39,000 --> 00:23:42,000 It seems a difference, so far away. 440 00:23:42,000 --> 00:23:43,000 You haven't kissed me. 441 00:23:43,000 --> 00:23:48,000 Well, that's easily fixed. 442 00:23:48,000 --> 00:23:51,000 Oh, darling, where have you been? 443 00:23:51,000 --> 00:23:53,000 All around. Miss me? 444 00:23:53,000 --> 00:23:55,000 You know I did. 445 00:23:55,000 --> 00:23:57,000 Oh, Danny, do you suppose... 446 00:23:57,000 --> 00:23:59,000 Do you think we could get away tonight? 447 00:23:59,000 --> 00:24:01,000 I've got ten dollars... some money saved up. 448 00:24:01,000 --> 00:24:03,000 We could go to Mexico or South America. 449 00:24:03,000 --> 00:24:04,000 We could get married. 450 00:24:04,000 --> 00:24:08,000 Mr. and Mrs. Daniel Nearing tour the world. 451 00:24:08,000 --> 00:24:10,000 Daniel Nearing? And wife? 452 00:24:10,000 --> 00:24:12,000 Sounds plenty good to me. 453 00:24:12,000 --> 00:24:13,000 You'll never know how good. 454 00:24:13,000 --> 00:24:14,000 Well, get out of here tonight. 455 00:24:14,000 --> 00:24:16,000 I'll call up and tell them I'm quitting my job. 456 00:24:16,000 --> 00:24:17,000 I'll say I'm sick. 457 00:24:17,000 --> 00:24:18,000 All my stuff's here. 458 00:24:18,000 --> 00:24:21,000 Nothing's out there but a couple of uniforms. 459 00:24:21,000 --> 00:24:23,000 I'll make Ada and Franklin a present of those. 460 00:24:23,000 --> 00:24:24,000 Ada and Franklin? 461 00:24:24,000 --> 00:24:26,000 Don't you bother your pretty head about those two. 462 00:24:26,000 --> 00:24:28,000 Maybe they weren't glad when it happened. 463 00:24:28,000 --> 00:24:29,000 Couple of vultures. 464 00:24:29,000 --> 00:24:30,000 Goodbye to them. 465 00:24:30,000 --> 00:24:32,000 Oh... 466 00:24:32,000 --> 00:24:34,000 Oh, with your back, Danny. 467 00:24:34,000 --> 00:24:36,000 Just think of the money I have. 468 00:24:36,000 --> 00:24:38,000 Do you think you ought to have quit your job? 469 00:24:38,000 --> 00:24:40,000 I never was cut out to be a nurse. 470 00:24:40,000 --> 00:24:41,000 Oh, you weren't, were you? 471 00:24:41,000 --> 00:24:43,000 Any more than I was cut out to... 472 00:24:43,000 --> 00:24:45,000 Any more than you were meant to be a secretary. 473 00:24:45,000 --> 00:24:47,000 That's right. I never wanted to be a secretary. 474 00:24:47,000 --> 00:24:50,000 I just drifted into it, I guess, and... 475 00:24:50,000 --> 00:24:54,000 it got on my nerves, especially towards the end, huh? 476 00:24:54,000 --> 00:24:56,000 The boss was no cinch to work for. 477 00:24:56,000 --> 00:24:58,000 He certainly wasn't. He was a rat. 478 00:24:58,000 --> 00:25:02,000 Oh, the whole Dietrich Bunch are mean, rotten, the whole family. 479 00:25:02,000 --> 00:25:04,000 Yeah. That's right. 480 00:25:04,000 --> 00:25:06,000 I'll accept the old man. 481 00:25:06,000 --> 00:25:07,000 Oh, the old man. 482 00:25:07,000 --> 00:25:09,000 Yeah, I sort of liked him, didn't I? 483 00:25:09,000 --> 00:25:11,000 He loved you too, Danny. 484 00:25:11,000 --> 00:25:13,000 I think he wished you'd been his son. 485 00:25:13,000 --> 00:25:15,000 Poor old man. 486 00:25:15,000 --> 00:25:17,000 He's the only reason I've stuck around out there this long. 487 00:25:17,000 --> 00:25:19,000 How, uh... 488 00:25:19,000 --> 00:25:20,000 How are things out there? 489 00:25:20,000 --> 00:25:22,000 How could you expect them to be? 490 00:25:22,000 --> 00:25:23,000 Not very pleasant, huh? 491 00:25:23,000 --> 00:25:26,000 Oh, it's been great. Just great. 492 00:25:26,000 --> 00:25:29,000 With the questioning and keeping after me, 493 00:25:29,000 --> 00:25:32,000 and me sick to my stomach with worry for you, 494 00:25:32,000 --> 00:25:36,000 not knowing where you were if you were alive or dead. 495 00:25:36,000 --> 00:25:39,000 Oh, Danny, Danny, it's been horrible. 496 00:25:39,000 --> 00:25:43,000 But you're back with me, and that's all that matters. 497 00:25:43,000 --> 00:25:44,000 I just want to forget everything. 498 00:25:44,000 --> 00:25:46,000 The Dietrichs, New Jericho... 499 00:25:46,000 --> 00:25:48,000 New... New Jericho, huh? 500 00:25:48,000 --> 00:25:49,000 Everything that happened. 501 00:25:49,000 --> 00:25:50,000 Like what? 502 00:25:50,000 --> 00:25:53,000 Oh, darling, please, let's not talk about it. 503 00:25:53,000 --> 00:25:55,000 We're the important thing now. 504 00:25:55,000 --> 00:25:57,000 I must know what's going to become of you. 505 00:25:57,000 --> 00:26:01,000 Because whatever it is means me too. 506 00:26:01,000 --> 00:26:03,000 I don't know, Ruth. 507 00:26:03,000 --> 00:26:05,000 I don't know. 508 00:26:05,000 --> 00:26:07,000 I saw Dingler today. 509 00:26:07,000 --> 00:26:09,000 Franklin's lawyer? 510 00:26:09,000 --> 00:26:10,000 Yeah. 511 00:26:10,000 --> 00:26:11,000 Where? 512 00:26:11,000 --> 00:26:13,000 I, uh... He passed me on the street. 513 00:26:13,000 --> 00:26:14,000 Did he see you? 514 00:26:14,000 --> 00:26:15,000 No. 515 00:26:15,000 --> 00:26:17,000 Are you sure he didn't? Are you sure, darling? 516 00:26:17,000 --> 00:26:18,000 He didn't speak to me. 517 00:26:18,000 --> 00:26:19,000 You know how clever he is. 518 00:26:19,000 --> 00:26:21,000 He just let you go by and follow you. 519 00:26:21,000 --> 00:26:23,000 Why? Why wouldn't he talk to me if he saw me? 520 00:26:23,000 --> 00:26:25,000 Well, he figures you're dangerous, darling. 521 00:26:25,000 --> 00:26:27,000 It wouldn't be safe for him to try it alone. 522 00:26:27,000 --> 00:26:28,000 Why am I dangerous? 523 00:26:28,000 --> 00:26:30,000 Well, whether it's true or not, darling, doesn't matter. 524 00:26:30,000 --> 00:26:32,000 It's what he believes that counts. 525 00:26:32,000 --> 00:26:34,000 And he believes like the rest of them. You know that. 526 00:26:34,000 --> 00:26:37,000 Yes. Yes, I guess I do. I... 527 00:26:37,000 --> 00:26:39,000 Danny, look at me. 528 00:26:39,000 --> 00:26:41,000 Oh, my dear. 529 00:26:41,000 --> 00:26:43,000 Your poor, tired eyes. 530 00:26:43,000 --> 00:26:45,000 Your face so strained. 531 00:26:45,000 --> 00:26:47,000 You need a shave, too. 532 00:26:47,000 --> 00:26:49,000 When did you sleep last? 533 00:26:49,000 --> 00:26:51,000 Sleep? 534 00:26:51,000 --> 00:26:53,000 I haven't thought about it. 535 00:26:53,000 --> 00:26:55,000 I don't remember. 536 00:26:55,000 --> 00:26:57,000 That you can believe, Angel. 537 00:26:57,000 --> 00:26:59,000 I don't remember when I slept last. 538 00:26:59,000 --> 00:27:01,000 Danny, we must wait until the moon is down, 539 00:27:01,000 --> 00:27:03,000 and we'll try to leave then. 540 00:27:03,000 --> 00:27:05,000 But now I want you to go in there and have a hot shower 541 00:27:05,000 --> 00:27:07,000 and a shave and then sleep for a while. 542 00:27:07,000 --> 00:27:09,000 You must, darling. 543 00:27:09,000 --> 00:27:11,000 You can't go on like this. 544 00:27:18,000 --> 00:27:20,000 I found my way to the bath 545 00:27:20,000 --> 00:27:22,000 without making a blunder, 546 00:27:22,000 --> 00:27:24,000 and the warm water felt good. 547 00:27:24,000 --> 00:27:27,000 I stood under the shower for a long, long time. 548 00:27:27,000 --> 00:27:29,000 It would have been pleasant to stand out 549 00:27:29,000 --> 00:27:31,000 the rest of my life just that way, 550 00:27:31,000 --> 00:27:33,000 under that soothing spray. 551 00:27:33,000 --> 00:27:35,000 In the medicine cabinet, 552 00:27:35,000 --> 00:27:38,000 I found a safety razor, shaving cream. 553 00:27:38,000 --> 00:27:41,000 I usually have trouble with a new razor. 554 00:27:41,000 --> 00:27:44,000 It takes me time to grow accustomed to it. 555 00:27:44,000 --> 00:27:47,000 But this one felt just fine. 556 00:27:47,000 --> 00:27:49,000 I slipped into my shirt and trousers 557 00:27:49,000 --> 00:27:51,000 and found my way to the bedroom. 558 00:27:51,000 --> 00:27:53,000 On a small tray near the bed, 559 00:27:53,000 --> 00:27:56,000 Ruth had placed a hot glass of milk and some toast. 560 00:27:56,000 --> 00:27:58,000 I was hungry. 561 00:27:58,000 --> 00:28:00,000 I ate. 562 00:28:00,000 --> 00:28:03,000 I slid between the sheets and they caressed my body 563 00:28:03,000 --> 00:28:07,000 with a gentleness that I hadn't known since childhood. 564 00:28:09,000 --> 00:28:11,000 Everything all right, darling? 565 00:28:11,000 --> 00:28:13,000 Right now. 566 00:28:13,000 --> 00:28:15,000 Here, let me tuck you in and open the window. 567 00:28:15,000 --> 00:28:17,000 The air's good for you. 568 00:28:17,000 --> 00:28:19,000 I'll leave the shade up. 569 00:28:19,000 --> 00:28:21,000 Don't turn the light on. 570 00:28:21,000 --> 00:28:24,000 The dark feels warm and friendly. 571 00:28:24,000 --> 00:28:26,000 Cigarette before you doze off? 572 00:28:26,000 --> 00:28:28,000 No, thanks. 573 00:28:28,000 --> 00:28:30,000 I don't smoke. 574 00:28:31,000 --> 00:28:33,000 Sure. 575 00:28:35,000 --> 00:28:37,000 I like your eyes by match light, darling. 576 00:28:37,000 --> 00:28:39,000 They shine. 577 00:28:39,000 --> 00:28:40,000 No, don't blow it out. 578 00:28:40,000 --> 00:28:42,000 Let me. I'll make a wish. 579 00:28:42,000 --> 00:28:44,000 There. 580 00:28:45,000 --> 00:28:47,000 What was your wish? 581 00:28:47,000 --> 00:28:51,000 To be with you forever. 582 00:28:52,000 --> 00:28:55,000 Just to be with you like this. 583 00:28:55,000 --> 00:29:01,000 Feeling your dear face, your chin, your jaw. 584 00:29:01,000 --> 00:29:05,000 Closing my eyes and still knowing you're here near me. 585 00:29:05,000 --> 00:29:09,000 This is all I want out of life. 586 00:29:09,000 --> 00:29:12,000 I wouldn't change places with any woman who knows 587 00:29:12,000 --> 00:29:15,000 and is sure she has her man forever. 588 00:29:15,000 --> 00:29:21,000 Who knows no one might come at any minute to take him from her. 589 00:29:22,000 --> 00:29:25,000 You're all I want, Danny. 590 00:29:25,000 --> 00:29:27,000 Forever. 591 00:29:28,000 --> 00:29:31,000 I'm going to be with you forever. 592 00:29:31,000 --> 00:29:36,000 Forever. Now and forever. 593 00:29:38,000 --> 00:29:44,000 Because for us, darling, forever is now. 594 00:29:54,000 --> 00:29:56,000 And then I slept. 595 00:29:56,000 --> 00:29:58,000 And yet I didn't sleep. 596 00:29:58,000 --> 00:30:02,000 The dream held more reality than the bed I was in. 597 00:30:02,000 --> 00:30:05,000 The dream held no distortions, no goblin shapes, 598 00:30:05,000 --> 00:30:07,000 no complete persons at all. 599 00:30:07,000 --> 00:30:10,000 Nothing in it but a pair of feet and a patch of pavement 600 00:30:10,000 --> 00:30:12,000 just large enough to contain them. 601 00:30:12,000 --> 00:30:15,000 They kept moving forward, toward me, towards my eyes, 602 00:30:15,000 --> 00:30:17,000 and the pavement kept slipping past beneath them 603 00:30:17,000 --> 00:30:20,000 like a treadmill going the other way. 604 00:30:20,000 --> 00:30:22,000 It was as though I were moving backwards away from the feet, 605 00:30:22,000 --> 00:30:25,000 and they kept moving toward me, coming toward me, 606 00:30:25,000 --> 00:30:29,000 toes pointed straight at me, remorseless and inevitable. 607 00:30:29,000 --> 00:30:33,000 That simple pair of black shard feet, never at a run, 608 00:30:33,000 --> 00:30:37,000 always at the same, even implacable, persistent walk. 609 00:30:37,000 --> 00:30:41,000 The cushioned thud of their incessant fall on the pavement, 610 00:30:41,000 --> 00:30:43,000 the rhythm of the walk. 611 00:30:43,000 --> 00:30:48,000 Pat, pat. Pat, pat. Pat, pat. 612 00:30:48,000 --> 00:30:51,000 The echoing night sound when streets are still 613 00:30:51,000 --> 00:30:54,000 with someone coming toward you in the distance. 614 00:30:54,000 --> 00:30:56,000 It was as though the feet knew they needn't hurry, 615 00:30:56,000 --> 00:30:58,000 for nothing, no one could escape them. 616 00:30:58,000 --> 00:31:00,000 And then slowly they began to gain on me, 617 00:31:00,000 --> 00:31:02,000 closer and closer to my eyes. 618 00:31:02,000 --> 00:31:03,000 There was no escape. 619 00:31:03,000 --> 00:31:05,000 To turn aside and let them go by was impossible. 620 00:31:05,000 --> 00:31:07,000 The crevice between the sole and the pavement 621 00:31:07,000 --> 00:31:09,000 opening and closing like a hungry mouth, 622 00:31:09,000 --> 00:31:12,000 grazing, threatening to trap and crush and trample me. 623 00:31:12,000 --> 00:31:15,000 And that's when I gassed from there and jumped from the bed. 624 00:31:20,000 --> 00:31:23,000 Cold sweat poured down my legs and back. 625 00:31:23,000 --> 00:31:25,000 I was stifling. 626 00:31:25,000 --> 00:31:28,000 The darkness in the room lay over my head like a blanket 627 00:31:28,000 --> 00:31:30,000 that seemed to shut out the air. 628 00:31:30,000 --> 00:31:32,000 Still gripped by the terror of the dream I threw on the light, 629 00:31:32,000 --> 00:31:36,000 leaned out of the window and sucked in huge gulps of cold, clean air. 630 00:31:38,000 --> 00:31:41,000 Danny! Danny, get away from that window! 631 00:31:41,000 --> 00:31:44,000 Ruth, I just saw him. He's down there. 632 00:31:44,000 --> 00:31:45,000 That man, like grey eyes. 633 00:31:45,000 --> 00:31:46,000 Without the light! 634 00:31:46,000 --> 00:31:48,000 I must see if... 635 00:31:48,000 --> 00:31:50,000 He's standing in front of the hydrant. 636 00:31:50,000 --> 00:31:52,000 He's coming in here, in the building. 637 00:31:52,000 --> 00:31:53,000 Did he see you? 638 00:31:53,000 --> 00:31:55,000 Ruth, I need... Will you help me? 639 00:31:55,000 --> 00:31:56,000 What are you going to do? 640 00:31:56,000 --> 00:31:57,000 Go down and face it. I can't stand it. 641 00:31:57,000 --> 00:31:58,000 No, no, no, you can't. 642 00:31:58,000 --> 00:32:00,000 It's better than waiting for it here like this. 643 00:32:00,000 --> 00:32:01,000 No, darling, no, no! 644 00:32:01,000 --> 00:32:03,000 You haven't got a chance. 645 00:32:03,000 --> 00:32:05,000 They'll send you to the chair. 646 00:32:05,000 --> 00:32:06,000 The chair? 647 00:32:06,000 --> 00:32:09,000 Well, what did you think happens to a man when he's guilty of murder? 648 00:32:12,000 --> 00:32:13,000 Murder! 649 00:32:13,000 --> 00:32:16,000 Ruth, listen to me. I'm not a murderer. 650 00:32:16,000 --> 00:32:18,000 If the whole world says I committed murder, 651 00:32:18,000 --> 00:32:19,000 I say I didn't. 652 00:32:19,000 --> 00:32:21,000 The me that's in me says I didn't. 653 00:32:21,000 --> 00:32:24,000 I never said you were, Danny. I always said you didn't do it. 654 00:32:24,000 --> 00:32:26,000 But they found the body and they... 655 00:32:26,000 --> 00:32:28,000 Oh, if only you hadn't run away. 656 00:32:28,000 --> 00:32:29,000 So that's it. 657 00:32:29,000 --> 00:32:31,000 You shouldn't have, Danny. 658 00:32:31,000 --> 00:32:34,000 Why did you come here, Danny? Why? Why? 659 00:32:34,000 --> 00:32:35,000 Ruth, quick, we've got to get out of here. 660 00:32:35,000 --> 00:32:37,000 How about the fire escape, the shaft, the dumbwaiter? 661 00:32:37,000 --> 00:32:39,000 The dumbwaiter? Oh, here. 662 00:32:39,000 --> 00:32:40,000 Lock that kitchen door. 663 00:32:40,000 --> 00:32:42,000 I'll stand on top and work the ropes. 664 00:32:42,000 --> 00:32:43,000 I don't think it can hold us both. 665 00:32:43,000 --> 00:32:44,000 It's got to. 666 00:32:47,000 --> 00:32:48,000 Can you hear me? 667 00:32:48,000 --> 00:32:49,000 Yes, yes. 668 00:32:49,000 --> 00:32:51,000 Danny, Danny, what do we do? 669 00:32:51,000 --> 00:32:53,000 We're going back there to New Jericho. 670 00:32:53,000 --> 00:32:55,000 New Jericho? Oh, no, Danny, don't. 671 00:32:55,000 --> 00:32:57,000 Please, for me, don't do it. 672 00:32:57,000 --> 00:33:00,000 I've got to. I've got to find out. We're going together. 673 00:33:00,000 --> 00:33:03,000 No! No, Danny. No, I've got the money. 674 00:33:03,000 --> 00:33:04,000 We can get out of here. 675 00:33:04,000 --> 00:33:05,000 Stop it. Stop it! 676 00:33:05,000 --> 00:33:08,000 Danny! You're hurting me. 677 00:33:08,000 --> 00:33:10,000 From here on in, we're sticking together. 678 00:33:10,000 --> 00:33:12,000 You're going to take me back there, back where it happened. 679 00:33:12,000 --> 00:33:15,000 All right, darling, all right. 680 00:33:15,000 --> 00:33:19,000 It's crazy, but I'll go wherever you go. 681 00:33:19,000 --> 00:33:22,000 I can't lose you again. 682 00:33:30,000 --> 00:33:34,000 In tonight's full hour of Suspense, Robert Montgomery, our star, 683 00:33:34,000 --> 00:33:38,000 appears as Frank Townsend with Eurene Tuttle playing opposite him as Ruth Dillon 684 00:33:38,000 --> 00:33:43,000 in William Spears' production of The Black Curtain by Cornell Woolrich. 685 00:33:43,000 --> 00:33:46,000 Tonight's study ends Suspense. 686 00:33:55,000 --> 00:33:59,000 In just a moment, we will return with Act Two of The Black Curtain. 687 00:33:59,000 --> 00:34:14,000 This is CBS, the Columbia Broadcasting System. 688 00:34:14,000 --> 00:34:21,000 Now we bring back to our Hollywood soundstage Robert Montgomery as Frank Townsend, alias Danny Nearing, 689 00:34:21,000 --> 00:34:25,000 and Eurene Tuttle as Ruth Dillon in Act Two of The Black Curtain, 690 00:34:25,000 --> 00:34:30,000 a play well calculated to keep you in Suspense. 691 00:34:44,000 --> 00:34:47,000 On the train, Ruth and I said very little to each other. 692 00:34:47,000 --> 00:34:52,000 While I'd hid in the phone booth at the Penn Station, she'd bought us a couple of cheap raincoats, 693 00:34:52,000 --> 00:34:57,000 and I sat hunched up in mine, thinking, yet not daring to think. 694 00:34:57,000 --> 00:35:02,000 Ruth had brought along the newspaper clippings. I read them for the twentieth time. 695 00:35:02,000 --> 00:35:09,000 They all read alike. Dietrich Slayer Assault, Secretary wanted in brutal slaying at suburban estate, 696 00:35:09,000 --> 00:35:15,000 police suppressing the search for Daniel Nearing, Secretary and the employee of the late John Dietrich, 58, 697 00:35:15,000 --> 00:35:20,000 member of a well-known local family who was shot and killed in the drawing room of his New Jericho estate 698 00:35:20,000 --> 00:35:26,000 on the morning of December 15th. The wall safe was robbed of $20,000. 699 00:35:26,000 --> 00:35:32,000 Nearing disappeared December 15th, on the morning of which date he is known to have had a bitter quarrel with the deceased. 700 00:35:32,000 --> 00:35:40,000 This last was attested to at the inquest by Ada and Franklin Dietrich, widow and brother of the murdered man. 701 00:35:40,000 --> 00:35:47,000 I had all the facts now, wanted for murder, and yet everything that was in me told me that no matter who I had been, 702 00:35:47,000 --> 00:35:52,000 however many memories I had lost, that I was no killer, that I just couldn't have... 703 00:35:52,000 --> 00:35:55,000 New Jericho, New Jericho! 704 00:35:55,000 --> 00:35:59,000 I had to get into the Dietrich house and stand again in that room where it all had happened. 705 00:35:59,000 --> 00:36:03,000 Maybe something would come back to me. Maybe there would be... 706 00:36:03,000 --> 00:36:05,000 New Jericho! 707 00:36:05,000 --> 00:36:10,000 New Jericho! 708 00:36:17,000 --> 00:36:22,000 Oh, Danny. Oh, I'm so proud of you. 709 00:36:22,000 --> 00:36:25,000 You're the man who saved my life. 710 00:36:25,000 --> 00:36:28,000 You saved my life. 711 00:36:28,000 --> 00:36:30,000 You saved my life. 712 00:36:30,000 --> 00:36:35,000 Oh, Danny. Oh, I'm so frightened. 713 00:36:35,000 --> 00:36:39,000 What if someone here at the station should see you? 714 00:36:39,000 --> 00:36:41,000 That would be fatal. 715 00:36:41,000 --> 00:36:46,000 Oh, darling, let's just go away. Let's go. Danny, be careful. It's the station master. He knows you. 716 00:36:46,000 --> 00:36:47,000 He's coming this way. 717 00:36:47,000 --> 00:36:49,000 Quick, behind this post. 718 00:36:49,000 --> 00:36:52,000 Good evening. Good evening, Miss Dilly. 719 00:36:52,000 --> 00:36:54,000 Oh, good evening, Mr. April. 720 00:36:54,000 --> 00:36:56,000 Hey, thought I saw somebody get off with you. 721 00:36:56,000 --> 00:37:00,000 Oh, oh, yes, just some man. Went to the cab stand. 722 00:37:00,000 --> 00:37:02,000 Oh, strange, huh? 723 00:37:02,000 --> 00:37:04,000 Oh, it's cold. 724 00:37:04,000 --> 00:37:07,000 Bad night. Trains lead all up and down the line. 725 00:37:07,000 --> 00:37:09,000 Well, this time of year, you know. 726 00:37:09,000 --> 00:37:11,000 Eh, got to expect it, as the fellow says. 727 00:37:11,000 --> 00:37:14,000 Just going home, Miss Dillon, for a shivery. 728 00:37:14,000 --> 00:37:16,000 Give you a lift out to Dietrich house. 729 00:37:16,000 --> 00:37:20,000 No, no, thank you. They're sending the station wagon for me. 730 00:37:20,000 --> 00:37:22,000 Nasty night to wait. 731 00:37:22,000 --> 00:37:24,000 Oh, I don't mind. Really, I don't. 732 00:37:24,000 --> 00:37:29,000 Eh, see where that Niren fella, or Townsend, 733 00:37:29,000 --> 00:37:30,000 or whatever he calls himself now... 734 00:37:30,000 --> 00:37:31,000 Townsend? 735 00:37:31,000 --> 00:37:34,000 Eh, it was right out in the city on Rutherford Street 736 00:37:34,000 --> 00:37:35,000 under the name Townsend. 737 00:37:35,000 --> 00:37:37,000 City detective caught up with him, 738 00:37:37,000 --> 00:37:39,000 and this Niren, he fractured his skull. 739 00:37:39,000 --> 00:37:40,000 Oh. 740 00:37:40,000 --> 00:37:43,000 Eh, bad actor, that fella. Always thought so. 741 00:37:43,000 --> 00:37:45,000 Well, detective's in the hospital. 742 00:37:45,000 --> 00:37:48,000 Don't expect him to live, says here in the paper. 743 00:37:48,000 --> 00:37:50,000 City police have orders to shoot to kill. 744 00:37:50,000 --> 00:37:51,000 Oh, no. 745 00:37:51,000 --> 00:37:52,000 Eh, shoot to kill. 746 00:37:52,000 --> 00:37:55,000 Only thing to do with a mad dog, shoot to kill. 747 00:37:55,000 --> 00:37:58,000 Eh, hey there. You all right, Miss Dillon? 748 00:37:58,000 --> 00:38:01,000 Oh, yes, I... I'm just feeling... 749 00:38:02,000 --> 00:38:04,000 I'm all right. 750 00:38:04,000 --> 00:38:05,000 Well, eh... 751 00:38:05,000 --> 00:38:07,000 Are you sure you don't want me to... 752 00:38:07,000 --> 00:38:10,000 No, no, I'm fine, Miss Dillon. I'm fine. 753 00:38:10,000 --> 00:38:13,000 You go ahead. I'll wait for the Dietrichs in the station. 754 00:38:13,000 --> 00:38:16,000 Well, shoot yourself, I always say. 755 00:38:16,000 --> 00:38:18,000 Good night, Miss Dillon. 756 00:38:18,000 --> 00:38:20,000 Eh, Merry Christmas. 757 00:38:20,000 --> 00:38:22,000 Good night, Mr. April. 758 00:38:24,000 --> 00:38:25,000 Danny. 759 00:38:25,000 --> 00:38:27,000 All right, Danny. 760 00:38:27,000 --> 00:38:29,000 Listen, Ruth, what he said just now, 761 00:38:29,000 --> 00:38:30,000 I didn't attack that detective. 762 00:38:30,000 --> 00:38:32,000 It doesn't matter, darling. It doesn't matter. 763 00:38:32,000 --> 00:38:34,000 It does matter. It matters more than anything else in the whole world, 764 00:38:34,000 --> 00:38:37,000 because now I'm a mad killer, and I didn't attack or kill anyone. 765 00:38:37,000 --> 00:38:39,000 Not anyone. It was Dengue. 766 00:38:39,000 --> 00:38:40,000 He hit that detective with... 767 00:38:40,000 --> 00:38:41,000 Oh, Danny, who would believe you? 768 00:38:41,000 --> 00:38:44,000 Franklin's lawyer, a man weighing less, and... 769 00:38:44,000 --> 00:38:45,000 You've got to believe me. 770 00:38:45,000 --> 00:38:47,000 If you don't believe me about this, 771 00:38:47,000 --> 00:38:49,000 then you must believe that I killed Dietrich too. 772 00:38:49,000 --> 00:38:51,000 All I know is that I love you. 773 00:38:51,000 --> 00:38:54,000 Quick. Oh, in the bushes. 774 00:39:05,000 --> 00:39:06,000 Did you see them? 775 00:39:06,000 --> 00:39:07,000 Who was it? 776 00:39:07,000 --> 00:39:09,000 It was Aidan, Franklin, in the station wagon. 777 00:39:09,000 --> 00:39:11,000 Then the house will be safe for us. There's no one there. 778 00:39:11,000 --> 00:39:13,000 No, no one for a while. 779 00:39:13,000 --> 00:39:14,000 Except the old man. 780 00:39:14,000 --> 00:39:15,000 Maybe he's out too. 781 00:39:15,000 --> 00:39:17,000 Oh, Danny, that's a cruel joke. 782 00:39:17,000 --> 00:39:18,000 And you know how he feels about you. 783 00:39:18,000 --> 00:39:20,000 Yes, but it seems that everything I say is a cruel joke, 784 00:39:20,000 --> 00:39:22,000 whether I know it or not. 785 00:39:22,000 --> 00:39:23,000 Let's go. 786 00:39:41,000 --> 00:39:43,000 Open the door, Ruth. 787 00:39:43,000 --> 00:39:45,000 Hurry. I've got to see the inside. 788 00:39:45,000 --> 00:39:47,000 That room, the place where it happened. 789 00:39:47,000 --> 00:39:50,000 It's wrong, Danny, it's wrong. I'm telling you, you're crazy. 790 00:39:50,000 --> 00:39:51,000 They'll find you. 791 00:39:51,000 --> 00:39:53,000 Open the door, Ruth, quick. 792 00:39:57,000 --> 00:40:00,000 All right, now. Let's have a look at the room. 793 00:40:00,000 --> 00:40:02,000 Please, Danny, please. Don't talk about it. 794 00:40:06,000 --> 00:40:09,000 So this is where I'm supposed to have murdered John Dietrich. 795 00:40:09,000 --> 00:40:10,000 Danny, please. 796 00:40:10,000 --> 00:40:12,000 Where was it? 797 00:40:12,000 --> 00:40:14,000 Show me exactly where it was, Ruth. 798 00:40:14,000 --> 00:40:15,000 I've got to know. 799 00:40:15,000 --> 00:40:18,000 It... it was there. 800 00:40:18,000 --> 00:40:19,000 Right there. 801 00:40:19,000 --> 00:40:21,000 He was standing by the grandfather's clock. 802 00:40:21,000 --> 00:40:23,000 Are you going crazy, Danny? 803 00:40:23,000 --> 00:40:25,000 If they get you, you'll hang. 804 00:40:25,000 --> 00:40:26,000 The clock. 805 00:40:26,000 --> 00:40:27,000 You still believe me, don't you, Ruth? 806 00:40:27,000 --> 00:40:29,000 I believe you, Danny, but I'm scared. 807 00:40:29,000 --> 00:40:31,000 And I love you. 808 00:40:31,000 --> 00:40:33,000 Ruth. 809 00:40:33,000 --> 00:40:34,000 What's that? Listen. 810 00:40:34,000 --> 00:40:35,000 That's only the old man. 811 00:40:35,000 --> 00:40:37,000 He's asleep in that room off there. 812 00:40:37,000 --> 00:40:39,000 Don't go in there, Danny. Don't please. You'll wake him. 813 00:40:39,000 --> 00:40:40,000 I want to see him. 814 00:40:40,000 --> 00:40:42,000 Don't, Danny. He can't help you. 815 00:40:42,000 --> 00:40:45,000 Turn on the light. I want to see him. 816 00:40:50,000 --> 00:40:52,000 I looked at him lying there. 817 00:40:52,000 --> 00:40:54,000 The old man. 818 00:40:54,000 --> 00:40:57,000 The old man who was supposed to love me like a son. 819 00:40:57,000 --> 00:41:00,000 The old man who breathed and ate and suffered, 820 00:41:00,000 --> 00:41:02,000 but did not live. 821 00:41:02,000 --> 00:41:03,000 Inert. 822 00:41:03,000 --> 00:41:05,000 Shaped in the likeness of a human form 823 00:41:05,000 --> 00:41:08,000 that might have been molded out of pink dough. 824 00:41:08,000 --> 00:41:11,000 Cheeks sunken, limbs withered, 825 00:41:11,000 --> 00:41:15,000 sucking air greedily through lips that were distorted old. 826 00:41:15,000 --> 00:41:18,000 The old man stared up at me from his bed. 827 00:41:18,000 --> 00:41:23,000 Every nerve, every muscle in his body were paralyzed. 828 00:41:25,000 --> 00:41:28,000 He couldn't even talk, nor move. 829 00:41:28,000 --> 00:41:32,000 He was doomed to endless days of seeing and hearing, 830 00:41:32,000 --> 00:41:34,000 filled with the secrets of others, 831 00:41:34,000 --> 00:41:38,000 secrets he was forced to carry to the grave with him. 832 00:41:38,000 --> 00:41:43,000 And this was the old man on whom I had planned my last hopes. 833 00:41:50,000 --> 00:41:52,000 Oh, there you woke him. 834 00:41:52,000 --> 00:41:54,000 It's me, Mr. Dietrich. 835 00:41:54,000 --> 00:41:55,000 Bruce. 836 00:41:55,000 --> 00:41:57,000 This is Danny. 837 00:41:57,000 --> 00:41:59,000 You remember Danny, don't you? 838 00:41:59,000 --> 00:42:00,000 Hello, Mr. Dietrich. 839 00:42:00,000 --> 00:42:02,000 See how his eyes are shining. 840 00:42:02,000 --> 00:42:03,000 Yeah. 841 00:42:03,000 --> 00:42:05,000 Was he here when it happened? 842 00:42:05,000 --> 00:42:07,000 You know that, Danny. Why do you ask such funny questions? 843 00:42:07,000 --> 00:42:09,000 He's been in bed here for five years. 844 00:42:09,000 --> 00:42:12,000 That mirror on the wall there, the clock. 845 00:42:12,000 --> 00:42:14,000 Look, you can see the grandfather's clock in the other room. 846 00:42:14,000 --> 00:42:15,000 What are you getting at, Danny? 847 00:42:15,000 --> 00:42:16,000 He could see it. 848 00:42:16,000 --> 00:42:18,000 The old man could see the murder through the mirror. 849 00:42:18,000 --> 00:42:20,000 If he could only talk. 850 00:42:20,000 --> 00:42:21,000 But he can't talk. 851 00:42:21,000 --> 00:42:22,000 You scare me, Danny. 852 00:42:22,000 --> 00:42:24,000 He saw the man who killed John Dietrich. 853 00:42:24,000 --> 00:42:25,000 Look, he understands what I'm saying. 854 00:42:25,000 --> 00:42:27,000 He's blinking his eyes. 855 00:42:27,000 --> 00:42:29,000 Oh, stop torturing him, Danny. 856 00:42:29,000 --> 00:42:30,000 Can't you see what you're doing to him? 857 00:42:30,000 --> 00:42:31,000 He's trying to say something. 858 00:42:31,000 --> 00:42:32,000 Look, his eyes are blinking. 859 00:42:32,000 --> 00:42:34,000 He's going to help me. 860 00:42:34,000 --> 00:42:35,000 Go outside and watch, Ruth. Go on. 861 00:42:35,000 --> 00:42:37,000 I'll watch out at the entrance, Wade. 862 00:42:37,000 --> 00:42:38,000 Be careful, Danny, or they'll be back any minute. 863 00:42:38,000 --> 00:42:39,000 Leave me alone with him. 864 00:42:39,000 --> 00:42:40,000 I'll call if I hear them coming. 865 00:42:40,000 --> 00:42:41,000 Yeah. 866 00:42:41,000 --> 00:42:44,000 Look, now, Mr. Dietrich, don't be afraid. 867 00:42:44,000 --> 00:42:47,000 I'm going to ask you a question, and you're going to answer me. 868 00:42:47,000 --> 00:42:49,000 Are you going to tell me something about the murder? 869 00:42:49,000 --> 00:42:51,000 Now blink your eyes. Blink twice if you are. 870 00:42:51,000 --> 00:42:55,000 That's it. That's it. Once. Twice. That's good. 871 00:42:55,000 --> 00:42:58,000 Did you see it happen here in your mirror? 872 00:42:58,000 --> 00:42:59,000 Blink once if the answer is no. 873 00:42:59,000 --> 00:43:01,000 Twice if the answer is yes. 874 00:43:01,000 --> 00:43:03,000 Once. Twice. 875 00:43:03,000 --> 00:43:04,000 You did, huh? You saw it. 876 00:43:04,000 --> 00:43:06,000 Now then, is the murderer in this house? 877 00:43:06,000 --> 00:43:07,000 Danny, Danny, they're coming. 878 00:43:07,000 --> 00:43:08,000 Franklin and Nega, get out of here. 879 00:43:08,000 --> 00:43:10,000 Hide. Run, Danny. Run, run. 880 00:43:10,000 --> 00:43:14,000 The murderer in this house blink once for no, twice for yes. 881 00:43:14,000 --> 00:43:15,000 Yes. 882 00:43:15,000 --> 00:43:16,000 Danny, Danny, they're coming. 883 00:43:16,000 --> 00:43:18,000 Wait, I almost got it. Mr. Dietrich. 884 00:43:18,000 --> 00:43:20,000 Mr. Dietrich, was it me? 885 00:43:20,000 --> 00:43:21,000 Oh, Danny, come on. 886 00:43:21,000 --> 00:43:22,000 Once for me, once for no, twice for yes. 887 00:43:22,000 --> 00:43:23,000 Was it me? 888 00:43:23,000 --> 00:43:25,000 Get out of here, Danny, please. 889 00:43:25,000 --> 00:43:27,000 There's a big room behind the curtains. 890 00:43:27,000 --> 00:43:28,000 I'll talk to them. They're here. 891 00:43:28,000 --> 00:43:34,000 Okay. Thanks, Mr. Dietrich. I'll be right back. 892 00:43:40,000 --> 00:43:44,000 Oh, Ruth. Ruth, is that you in Father's room? 893 00:43:44,000 --> 00:43:45,000 Yes, Mrs. Dietrich. 894 00:43:45,000 --> 00:43:46,000 Oh. 895 00:43:46,000 --> 00:43:47,000 You here alone? 896 00:43:47,000 --> 00:43:49,000 Yes, I am. Why? 897 00:43:49,000 --> 00:43:51,000 We thought we heard voices. 898 00:43:51,000 --> 00:43:53,000 What are you so jittery about, Ruth? 899 00:43:53,000 --> 00:43:55,000 I'm just tired, that's all. 900 00:43:55,000 --> 00:43:56,000 May I go to bed now? 901 00:43:56,000 --> 00:43:58,000 Oh, Father's still awake, Ruth. 902 00:43:58,000 --> 00:44:00,000 He'll go to sleep all right. 903 00:44:00,000 --> 00:44:02,000 I'm going upstairs, Mrs. Dietrich, now. 904 00:44:02,000 --> 00:44:03,000 All right. Good night, Ruth. 905 00:44:03,000 --> 00:44:04,000 Good night. 906 00:44:04,000 --> 00:44:05,000 Good night. 907 00:44:05,000 --> 00:44:07,000 She's brought someone back here with her. 908 00:44:07,000 --> 00:44:08,000 It's him, I think. 909 00:44:08,000 --> 00:44:11,000 Who? Dan? Oh, Franklin. 910 00:44:11,000 --> 00:44:14,000 Take it easy. If he's here, we'll get him. 911 00:44:14,000 --> 00:44:17,000 After the evidence we gave against him at the hearing? 912 00:44:17,000 --> 00:44:20,000 Franklin, I'm scared. Let's get out of here, fast. 913 00:44:20,000 --> 00:44:22,000 I'll go to the village with the police. 914 00:44:22,000 --> 00:44:23,000 Call them, Louise. I'll do it. 915 00:44:23,000 --> 00:44:24,000 Yes. 916 00:44:24,000 --> 00:44:26,000 Hello. Hello. 917 00:44:26,000 --> 00:44:29,000 Too late. It's dead. The wire's cut. 918 00:44:29,000 --> 00:44:31,000 Come on. We'll both drive to the village. 919 00:44:31,000 --> 00:44:34,000 No, no. He may be waiting for us out by the cover. 920 00:44:34,000 --> 00:44:37,000 What are you thinking? 921 00:44:37,000 --> 00:44:39,000 Oh. 922 00:44:39,000 --> 00:44:43,000 Uh, what are you doing there, Franklin? 923 00:44:43,000 --> 00:44:47,000 I, uh, I think I just might need my gun. 924 00:44:47,000 --> 00:45:00,000 Well, let's be on our way. 925 00:45:00,000 --> 00:45:03,000 Now, Mr. Dietrich, you're helping me fine. 926 00:45:03,000 --> 00:45:05,000 You know I'm trying to save my life, don't you? 927 00:45:05,000 --> 00:45:07,000 Now, the murderer. Was it me? 928 00:45:07,000 --> 00:45:10,000 Was it me who did it? Me, Danny Mearing. 929 00:45:10,000 --> 00:45:13,000 Blink once for no. Once. Once. 930 00:45:13,000 --> 00:45:16,000 You're sure. You're sure it wasn't me. 931 00:45:16,000 --> 00:45:18,000 You're smiling, Mr. Dietrich. You're smiling. 932 00:45:18,000 --> 00:45:20,000 Now, was it somebody in this house? 933 00:45:20,000 --> 00:45:22,000 Then who was it? Can't you make a sound? 934 00:45:22,000 --> 00:45:24,000 Help me. You've got to. 935 00:45:24,000 --> 00:45:26,000 Was it Ada? Twice for yes. Once for no. 936 00:45:26,000 --> 00:45:28,000 Once. Not Ada. 937 00:45:28,000 --> 00:45:30,000 All right. Then was it Franklin? Was it... 938 00:45:30,000 --> 00:45:31,000 Up with the hands, Mearing. 939 00:45:31,000 --> 00:45:33,000 Up or you'll never go to trial. 940 00:45:33,000 --> 00:45:35,000 Franklin, you've got to listen. You've got to... 941 00:45:35,000 --> 00:45:37,000 Shut up and drop that flashlight. 942 00:45:37,000 --> 00:45:39,000 Trying to kill the old man, too, huh? 943 00:45:39,000 --> 00:45:41,000 The murderer returns to the scene of his crime. 944 00:45:41,000 --> 00:45:43,000 You know I didn't kill him. 945 00:45:43,000 --> 00:45:46,000 Tell that to the police. Ada will have them here in a couple of minutes. 946 00:45:46,000 --> 00:45:47,000 Where's your girlfriend, Ruth? 947 00:45:47,000 --> 00:45:49,000 She's not here. I don't know where she went. 948 00:45:49,000 --> 00:45:51,000 Never mind. They'll find her. 949 00:45:51,000 --> 00:45:54,000 Dead duck, Mearing. Killed my brother and beat him. 950 00:45:54,000 --> 00:45:56,000 What did you get out of it? That's always puzzled. 951 00:45:56,000 --> 00:45:59,000 You killed your brother and now you're going to kill me. 952 00:45:59,000 --> 00:46:01,000 You've gone nuts, too. Why should I kill my own brother, you idiot? 953 00:46:01,000 --> 00:46:05,000 To get his share of the estate and his wife, Ada, among other things. 954 00:46:05,000 --> 00:46:07,000 But you can't stop with killing me. 955 00:46:07,000 --> 00:46:10,000 Someone else knows the truth. The old man saw it in the mirror. 956 00:46:10,000 --> 00:46:12,000 You'll have to kill your own father, too. 957 00:46:12,000 --> 00:46:14,000 The old man saw it. He told me. He told me. 958 00:46:14,000 --> 00:46:16,000 He can't talk. He can't even move. 959 00:46:16,000 --> 00:46:18,000 He can hear and he can blink his eyes. 960 00:46:18,000 --> 00:46:19,000 Come over here and look. 961 00:46:19,000 --> 00:46:20,000 Look here. I want... 962 00:46:20,000 --> 00:46:22,000 Ruth! 963 00:46:22,000 --> 00:46:26,000 I had the door, Danny. I heard him. He was going to kill you. 964 00:46:26,000 --> 00:46:27,000 Here's his gun, Danny. Take it. 965 00:46:27,000 --> 00:46:29,000 But Ruth, you shouldn't have in another minute. 966 00:46:29,000 --> 00:46:30,000 I'm not sure it was Franklin. 967 00:46:30,000 --> 00:46:32,000 Dan, darling, please. Let's run for it. 968 00:46:32,000 --> 00:46:34,000 They'll be here in a second. It's your last chance. 969 00:46:34,000 --> 00:46:36,000 They'll all swear you didn't. 970 00:46:36,000 --> 00:46:38,000 Not if I can be with the old man another half a minute. 971 00:46:38,000 --> 00:46:40,000 Mr. Dietrich. Mr. Dietrich, it's Danny again. 972 00:46:40,000 --> 00:46:41,000 No, Danny, don't. Don't. 973 00:46:41,000 --> 00:46:43,000 Tell me, Mr. Dietrich, was it Franklin? 974 00:46:43,000 --> 00:46:46,000 Did Franklin kill your son John? Blink once if he did. 975 00:46:46,000 --> 00:46:48,000 What's the matter, Mr. Dietrich? Don't be afraid. 976 00:46:48,000 --> 00:46:50,000 I won't hurt you. Why are you afraid? 977 00:46:50,000 --> 00:46:51,000 He's afraid, Ruth. 978 00:46:51,000 --> 00:46:53,000 What's this gun? Take the gun, Ruth. You take it. 979 00:46:53,000 --> 00:46:56,000 He's afraid. I'm not going to hurt you, Mr. Dietrich. 980 00:46:56,000 --> 00:46:59,000 What's the matter? Why don't you answer me? 981 00:46:59,000 --> 00:47:01,000 Who killed John Dietrich? 982 00:47:01,000 --> 00:47:03,000 It wasn't me. It wasn't Ada. It wasn't Franklin. 983 00:47:03,000 --> 00:47:05,000 But someone in this house... 984 00:47:05,000 --> 00:47:07,000 Was it... 985 00:47:08,000 --> 00:47:10,000 Ruth! 986 00:47:10,000 --> 00:47:12,000 Ruth! 987 00:47:12,000 --> 00:47:14,000 You! 988 00:47:16,000 --> 00:47:20,000 I told you. I told you not to come. 989 00:47:20,000 --> 00:47:23,000 Oh, I love you, Danny. 990 00:47:23,000 --> 00:47:25,000 And I wanted you. 991 00:47:25,000 --> 00:47:27,000 I wouldn't have let them get you. 992 00:47:27,000 --> 00:47:29,000 Why, Ruth? Why? 993 00:47:29,000 --> 00:47:31,000 Why did you kill John Dietrich? 994 00:47:31,000 --> 00:47:33,000 He was always after me. 995 00:47:33,000 --> 00:47:35,000 He wouldn't leave me alone. And I hated him. 996 00:47:35,000 --> 00:47:37,000 And then that night he came at me. 997 00:47:37,000 --> 00:47:39,000 He threatened me. Said he'd kill me. 998 00:47:39,000 --> 00:47:41,000 If he couldn't have me, nobody could. 999 00:47:41,000 --> 00:47:43,000 He had a gun, Danny. 1000 00:47:43,000 --> 00:47:45,000 And I got it away from him. 1001 00:47:45,000 --> 00:47:48,000 It... He hit the clock. 1002 00:47:48,000 --> 00:47:50,000 He leaned against it. 1003 00:47:50,000 --> 00:47:54,000 I thought he'd never fall down and die. 1004 00:47:54,000 --> 00:47:57,000 I took the money to make it look like robbery. 1005 00:47:57,000 --> 00:48:01,000 It was the day you ran away. I was crazy, I know. 1006 00:48:01,000 --> 00:48:03,000 And they thought it was you. 1007 00:48:03,000 --> 00:48:05,000 And they started looking. 1008 00:48:06,000 --> 00:48:08,000 You? 1009 00:48:08,000 --> 00:48:10,000 Why was it you? 1010 00:48:10,000 --> 00:48:12,000 I love you, Danny. 1011 00:48:12,000 --> 00:48:14,000 I love you. 1012 00:48:14,000 --> 00:48:16,000 I begged you not to come back here. 1013 00:48:16,000 --> 00:48:18,000 Ruth, put that gun down. 1014 00:48:18,000 --> 00:48:20,000 No! Don't come near me, Danny. 1015 00:48:21,000 --> 00:48:23,000 I just want to look at you. 1016 00:48:23,000 --> 00:48:25,000 Just once more. 1017 00:48:26,000 --> 00:48:29,000 I was hoping we could get away together. 1018 00:48:29,000 --> 00:48:32,000 But you've been through enough because of me. 1019 00:48:32,000 --> 00:48:34,000 All right, open up. 1020 00:48:34,000 --> 00:48:36,000 Open up! 1021 00:48:36,000 --> 00:48:38,000 And now you're clear, Danny. 1022 00:48:39,000 --> 00:48:41,000 And this is gonna clear me. 1023 00:48:41,000 --> 00:48:43,000 Forever. 1024 00:48:43,000 --> 00:48:44,000 My darling! 1025 00:48:44,000 --> 00:48:46,000 Ruth, no, they'll kill you! 1026 00:48:48,000 --> 00:48:50,000 No! 1027 00:48:50,000 --> 00:49:06,000 Ruth! 1028 00:49:06,000 --> 00:49:10,000 Well, that's about all there is to tell, I guess. 1029 00:49:10,000 --> 00:49:15,000 Ruth faced that door, fired a shot into the ceiling, 1030 00:49:15,000 --> 00:49:18,000 and the guns of the police chopped her down. 1031 00:49:18,000 --> 00:49:21,000 That's the way she wanted it, I guess. 1032 00:49:21,000 --> 00:49:24,000 It was gray eyes, bandaged head and all. 1033 00:49:24,000 --> 00:49:27,000 But what's the use of talking about it? 1034 00:49:27,000 --> 00:49:30,000 I'm trying to put it all behind me. 1035 00:49:30,000 --> 00:49:34,000 Resume my life where it left off three years ago. 1036 00:49:34,000 --> 00:49:37,000 Sometimes when it gets toward evening, 1037 00:49:37,000 --> 00:49:39,000 I walk along Tillery Street. 1038 00:49:39,000 --> 00:49:43,000 And once in a while, somebody, somebody I don't know, 1039 00:49:43,000 --> 00:49:46,000 will say, hello, Danny. 1040 00:49:46,000 --> 00:49:53,000 And I, well, I just say, hello, and walk on. 1041 00:49:53,000 --> 00:49:57,000 I don't want to find out anything anymore. 1042 00:49:57,000 --> 00:50:02,000 I want it all to die away and be still. 1043 00:50:02,000 --> 00:50:07,000 And it will, all except Ruth, 1044 00:50:07,000 --> 00:50:10,000 because somewhere behind that black curtain, 1045 00:50:10,000 --> 00:50:14,000 I was loved and loved someone. 1046 00:50:14,000 --> 00:50:19,000 We must have known a love that I'll never know again. 1047 00:50:44,000 --> 00:50:50,000 And so closes the Black Curtain, tonight's tale of Suspense. 1048 00:50:50,000 --> 00:50:53,000 In a moment, the spokesman of Suspense and tonight's star, 1049 00:50:53,000 --> 00:50:55,000 Robert Montgomery, will be back. 1050 00:50:55,000 --> 00:50:58,000 For the benefit of late comers among our audience, 1051 00:50:58,000 --> 00:51:02,000 may we say that Suspense is now being heard as a full hour program 1052 00:51:02,000 --> 00:51:04,000 on Saturday nights at this hour, 1053 00:51:04,000 --> 00:51:07,000 8 to 9 o'clock Eastern Standard Time. 1054 00:51:07,000 --> 00:51:12,000 Suspense, as always, is produced, edited, and directed by William Spear. 1055 00:51:12,000 --> 00:51:15,000 Our musical director and conductor is Lud Gluskin. 1056 00:51:15,000 --> 00:51:18,000 The composer of our original scores is Lucian Morrowak. 1057 00:51:18,000 --> 00:51:22,000 Lorraine Tuttle appeared opposite Mr. Montgomery as Ruth Dillon. 1058 00:51:22,000 --> 00:51:26,000 And you heard performances by Kathy Lewis, Janet Nolan, Sydney Miller, 1059 00:51:26,000 --> 00:51:30,000 Conrad Binion, Jack Crushen, Bill Conrad, Jerry Hausner, 1060 00:51:30,000 --> 00:51:36,000 Paul Frese, Ira Grossell, Junious Matthews, Harry Lang, and Joseph Kearns. 1061 00:51:36,000 --> 00:51:39,000 This is Bill Spear, twice as much out of breath as usual 1062 00:51:39,000 --> 00:51:42,000 after our first hour of production of Suspense. 1063 00:51:42,000 --> 00:51:45,000 I certainly want to thank everyone connected with our adventure this evening, 1064 00:51:45,000 --> 00:51:47,000 and naturally it begins with Mr. Montgomery. 1065 00:51:47,000 --> 00:51:49,000 Bob, this is going to be truly wonderful working with you. 1066 00:51:49,000 --> 00:51:50,000 Thank you, Bill. 1067 00:51:50,000 --> 00:51:53,000 We didn't have much more time, and we don't have much more time, 1068 00:51:53,000 --> 00:51:56,000 and I think all of us are about ready to wrap up and go home. 1069 00:51:56,000 --> 00:52:01,000 In the next weeks of Suspense, we plan to bring you the very best of novels and plays. 1070 00:52:01,000 --> 00:52:05,000 Stories by such acknowledged masters and mistresses in the art of Suspense 1071 00:52:05,000 --> 00:52:09,000 as Mary Bellac-Lownes, Dashiell Hammett, Agatha Christie, Eric Ambler, 1072 00:52:09,000 --> 00:52:13,000 John Buckin, James M. Kane, Graham Greene, Raymond Chandler, 1073 00:52:13,000 --> 00:52:17,000 Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, and last but by no means least, Mr. William Shakespeare. 1074 00:52:17,000 --> 00:52:21,000 Mr. Spear and I, and all of us, would be tremendously interested to know 1075 00:52:21,000 --> 00:52:24,000 what you think about the new Saturday night full hour of Suspense. 1076 00:52:24,000 --> 00:52:29,000 Any suggestions and comments that you may have will certainly be valuable to us. 1077 00:52:29,000 --> 00:52:32,000 We hope that from now on you will want to set this hour aside each week 1078 00:52:32,000 --> 00:52:35,000 and leave the door of your radio ajar for us. 1079 00:52:35,000 --> 00:52:36,000 See you next Saturday. 1080 00:52:36,000 --> 00:52:40,000 Robert Montgomery is currently being seen in the universal international production 1081 00:52:40,000 --> 00:52:42,000 Ride the Pink Horse. 1082 00:52:42,000 --> 00:52:45,000 Don't forget next Saturday, 8 to 9 o'clock Eastern Standard Time, 1083 00:52:45,000 --> 00:53:02,000 another 60 minutes of Suspense. 1084 00:53:15,000 --> 00:53:37,000 This is CBS, the Columbia Broadcasting System.