WEBVTT 00:00.000 --> 00:13.160 And now, Auto Light and its 60,000 dealers and service stations present... 00:13.160 --> 00:14.160 Suspense! 00:14.160 --> 00:26.080 Tonight, Auto Light brings you Mr. Robert Montgomery in... 00:26.080 --> 00:37.240 The Thing in the Window, a suspense play produced and directed by Anton M. Lieder. 00:37.240 --> 00:41.360 Auto Light has been getting letter after letter from car owners who have switched from narrow 00:41.360 --> 00:45.680 gap spark plugs to wide gap Auto Light resistor spark plugs. 00:45.680 --> 00:49.400 And they all agree that wide gap Auto Light resistor spark plugs make their cars idle 00:49.400 --> 00:54.720 smoother, give better performance with leaner gas mixtures, actually save gas dollars. 00:54.720 --> 00:58.480 And here's another amazing fact, these folks noticed that wide gap Auto Light resistor 00:58.480 --> 01:03.960 spark plugs actually cut down spark plug interference with radio and television reception. 01:03.960 --> 01:08.720 So friends, head for your nearest Auto Light dealer to replace your narrow gap spark plugs 01:08.720 --> 01:11.720 with wide gap Auto Light resistor spark plugs. 01:11.720 --> 01:16.320 You and your engine will be mighty happy that you did. 01:16.320 --> 01:23.880 And now, Auto Light presents Robert Montgomery in a tale well calculated to keep you in... 01:23.880 --> 01:24.880 Mary. 01:24.880 --> 01:25.880 Yes, Mr. Raines. 01:25.880 --> 01:37.240 Turn that vacuum cleaner off for a minute, will you, and come over here. 01:37.240 --> 01:39.320 I want to show you something. 01:39.320 --> 01:41.440 Yes, sir. 01:41.440 --> 01:43.440 Right here, out this window. 01:43.440 --> 01:46.600 Now look across the street, directly across the opposite apartment. 01:46.600 --> 01:51.760 See that window, about three windows in from the left, with kind of blue draperies. 01:51.760 --> 01:54.600 There's something sitting there in a chair. 01:54.600 --> 01:55.600 Someone. 01:55.600 --> 01:57.240 He hasn't moved all night. 01:57.240 --> 01:58.520 I think he must be dead. 01:58.520 --> 01:59.520 Dead? 01:59.520 --> 02:00.960 Oh, Lord have mercy, Mr. Raines. 02:00.960 --> 02:03.320 Take a good look at him and tell me what you think, Mary. 02:03.320 --> 02:06.520 Okay, but I don't favor looking at no corpses, Mr. Raines. 02:06.520 --> 02:07.520 It's unlucky. 02:07.520 --> 02:10.320 Now, which window did you say sir'd one over? 02:10.320 --> 02:11.800 I wish to have my glasses with me. 02:11.800 --> 02:14.600 No, no, no, over there, over there, where my finger is pointing. 02:14.600 --> 02:17.360 I'm afraid to don't see it yet, Mr. Raines. 02:17.360 --> 02:18.360 Oh, no, no, look, look. 02:18.360 --> 02:21.480 The window with the blue draperies, he's wearing a sort of gray suit. 02:21.480 --> 02:22.480 The arm. 02:22.480 --> 02:25.600 Can't you see the arm hanging down over the side of the chair? 02:25.600 --> 02:28.400 No, but you've got good eyes, Mr. Raines. 02:28.400 --> 02:30.600 If you see it, I'm not arguing with you. 02:30.600 --> 02:32.080 What you gonna do about it, Mr. Raines? 02:32.080 --> 02:33.540 Well, I don't know. 02:33.540 --> 02:36.280 I just began to notice it last night. 02:36.280 --> 02:42.520 I guess I first have to find out if the man is really dead. 02:42.520 --> 02:51.960 Yeah? 02:51.960 --> 02:57.000 Hello, I'm Martin Ames. 02:57.000 --> 02:59.240 Are you the superintendent of this apartment house? 02:59.240 --> 03:00.480 That's what it says on the door. 03:00.480 --> 03:03.200 I've come to inquire about one of your tenants. 03:03.200 --> 03:04.200 What is it you want to know? 03:04.200 --> 03:07.440 Well, I live across the street and, well, I'll be frank with you, sir. 03:07.440 --> 03:11.400 I've been looking out my window across to this building now for two and a half days, 03:11.400 --> 03:15.040 and there seems to be someone dead in one of the windows. 03:15.040 --> 03:16.560 Yeah? 03:16.560 --> 03:17.560 Which window? 03:17.560 --> 03:18.560 Well, it's on the 10th floor. 03:18.560 --> 03:20.760 I've counted up from the street and it's 10 stories up. 03:20.760 --> 03:24.800 There's the window with blue draperies about three windows in from the left, facing toward 03:24.800 --> 03:29.120 me that is, and there's a man sitting there slumped down in a chair. 03:29.120 --> 03:30.120 Just a minute. 03:30.120 --> 03:31.120 I'll get out my chart. 03:31.120 --> 03:33.440 10th floor up from the street. 03:33.440 --> 03:34.440 That's the 9th floor. 03:34.440 --> 03:35.440 The lobby counts one. 03:35.440 --> 03:37.280 We got three apartments there along the front of the house. 03:37.280 --> 03:38.400 It's in the front. 03:38.400 --> 03:39.400 That's right. 03:39.400 --> 03:42.440 Well, three windows in from the left, that'd be 9B, a four room now. 03:42.440 --> 03:43.440 It couldn't be right. 03:43.440 --> 03:46.080 9B is two ladies, and you say this is a man? 03:46.080 --> 03:47.080 Yes, yes. 03:47.080 --> 03:48.080 Young or old? 03:48.080 --> 03:49.080 Well, I can't tell. 03:49.080 --> 03:50.080 The face isn't clearly visible. 03:50.080 --> 03:54.080 The head's slumped forward, but he's wearing a gray suit and he's sitting in a high winged 03:54.080 --> 03:55.080 back chair. 03:55.080 --> 03:56.080 Don't place him. 03:56.080 --> 03:57.360 Well, maybe he doesn't belong in the house. 03:57.360 --> 03:58.360 Maybe he was visiting somebody. 03:58.360 --> 04:00.440 As I say, this is all conjecture, of course. 04:00.440 --> 04:02.840 He may not be dead, but I've watched him a good deal. 04:02.840 --> 04:04.160 I'm home a lot in the daytime. 04:04.160 --> 04:08.360 My profession, the stage, you know, doesn't take up too much of my time and it looks mighty 04:08.360 --> 04:09.360 suspicious. 04:09.360 --> 04:11.120 Okay, I'll check it. 04:11.120 --> 04:12.120 You mind if I stay around? 04:12.120 --> 04:13.120 No, no, no, no, no. 04:13.120 --> 04:14.120 Sit down. 04:14.120 --> 04:17.920 I'll give 9B a ring first on the house phone. 04:17.920 --> 04:19.920 Hello? 04:19.920 --> 04:21.920 Miss Landis? 04:21.920 --> 04:25.400 Yes, this is Miss Landis. 04:25.400 --> 04:26.400 Who is this? 04:26.400 --> 04:28.120 This is Mr. Anson, the super. 04:28.120 --> 04:29.120 Everything all right up there, Miss Landis? 04:29.120 --> 04:30.120 Everything all right? 04:30.120 --> 04:31.120 Yes, yes, of course. 04:31.120 --> 04:34.120 Okay, Miss Landis, thank you very much. 04:34.120 --> 04:35.120 Thank you. 04:35.120 --> 04:36.120 Well, that's that. 04:36.120 --> 04:37.120 No surprise. 04:37.120 --> 04:40.400 Well, that's that, no soap on 9B. 04:40.400 --> 04:41.800 9A is in the country. 04:41.800 --> 04:42.800 9C isn't home. 04:42.800 --> 04:44.600 I just saw her go out. 04:44.600 --> 04:46.560 I'll go up there a little later and take a look around. 04:46.560 --> 04:49.280 Well, what about this 9A, the people in the country? 04:49.280 --> 04:51.960 Well, maybe they're an old couple. 04:51.960 --> 04:54.680 He could have come back and had a heart attack up there by himself. 04:54.680 --> 04:55.680 Or maybe somebody else. 04:55.680 --> 04:58.320 Some other person could have been using the apartment while they were away. 04:58.320 --> 04:59.320 Maybe. 04:59.320 --> 05:00.320 I'll take a look in anyway. 05:00.320 --> 05:03.560 Only if I got the window straight, like you said, it ought to be 9B. 05:03.560 --> 05:05.840 Oh, the two single ladies? 05:05.840 --> 05:08.080 Yeah, only it couldn't be them. 05:08.080 --> 05:09.240 They're real old maids. 05:09.240 --> 05:12.440 Say, if they knew you thought there was a man in that apartment, the two of them would 05:12.440 --> 05:14.400 just about jump out of their skins. 05:14.400 --> 05:18.040 Well, I don't know what to say if you're sure it must be that apartment. 05:18.040 --> 05:19.440 Oh, yeah, yeah, that's the place. 05:19.440 --> 05:22.240 But you probably just made a little mistake. 05:22.240 --> 05:25.040 You know how your eyes can play tricks on you? 05:25.040 --> 05:27.480 After all, it is quite a wide street. 05:27.480 --> 05:37.200 Oh, I don't think I made any mistake. 05:37.200 --> 05:42.120 Hanson speaking. 05:42.120 --> 05:45.720 Oh, hello, Mr. Hanson. 05:45.720 --> 05:46.720 This is Mr. Ame. 05:46.720 --> 05:47.720 Again? 05:47.720 --> 05:48.720 It's not there. 05:48.720 --> 05:49.720 But Mr. Hanson... 05:49.720 --> 05:51.520 I checked up on the three apartments this morning. 05:51.520 --> 05:53.200 No dead bodies in the whole place. 05:53.200 --> 05:54.200 But I can see it. 05:54.200 --> 05:55.200 It's still there. 05:55.200 --> 05:56.200 OK. 05:56.200 --> 05:57.200 Just where? 05:57.200 --> 05:58.200 Just tell me where. 05:58.200 --> 06:01.080 In that same window, the one you said was 9B. 06:01.080 --> 06:02.080 Have you gone inside 9B? 06:02.080 --> 06:05.640 No, but I asked them if anybody was sick or dead and they said no. 06:05.640 --> 06:06.960 You asked them? 06:06.960 --> 06:07.960 Why don't you search the apartment? 06:07.960 --> 06:08.960 Me? 06:08.960 --> 06:09.960 You mean break in? 06:09.960 --> 06:10.960 No, no, no. 06:10.960 --> 06:11.960 Just ring the bell and walk in and do it. 06:11.960 --> 06:12.960 Yeah? 06:12.960 --> 06:13.960 Not without a search warrant from the police. 06:13.960 --> 06:14.960 These apartments, you know, don't belong to me. 06:14.960 --> 06:15.960 I just take care of the building for the company. 06:15.960 --> 06:16.960 Well, then let's call the police. 06:16.960 --> 06:17.960 Not me, mister. 06:17.960 --> 06:18.960 I didn't see no dead body up there. 06:18.960 --> 06:19.960 Then I will. 06:19.960 --> 06:36.960 After all, somebody's got to do something. 06:36.960 --> 06:39.080 I still maintain office of these two sisters. 06:39.080 --> 06:41.320 They're as refined ladies as you could find anywhere. 06:41.320 --> 06:42.920 High class church going ladies. 06:42.920 --> 06:44.960 They used to teach school up here at P.S. 13. 06:44.960 --> 06:46.920 Yeah, yeah, they don't mean a thing. 06:46.920 --> 06:47.920 And they got a dog in there. 06:47.920 --> 06:51.600 Now, will you tell me one dog that would stay for almost a week in a flat with a dead person? 06:51.600 --> 06:52.920 I am not telling you nothing. 06:52.920 --> 06:55.880 All I know this gentleman, Mr. Ames, reported a stiff over here. 06:55.880 --> 06:57.560 And if he says there is one, there is. 06:57.560 --> 06:58.560 Until it's proved different. 06:58.560 --> 06:59.560 Right, Mr. Ames? 06:59.560 --> 07:01.960 Well, I keep seeing the thing day in and day out. 07:01.960 --> 07:04.080 I'm not working at the moment and being home so much. 07:04.080 --> 07:05.760 None of the other neighbors have complained. 07:05.760 --> 07:06.760 Dead bodies ain't exactly... 07:06.760 --> 07:07.760 Okay. 07:07.760 --> 07:08.760 Right this way, please. 07:08.760 --> 07:09.760 I hope they're home. 07:09.760 --> 07:12.920 Well, if they ain't home, you got a passkey, haven't you? 07:12.920 --> 07:15.680 Yeah, but we're not supposed to use it, though, unless for an emergency. 07:15.680 --> 07:17.680 This is an emergency. 07:17.680 --> 07:19.880 Will the dog bite? 07:19.880 --> 07:20.880 Sometimes. 07:20.880 --> 07:21.880 Quiet, baby, quiet. 07:21.880 --> 07:22.880 Yes? 07:22.880 --> 07:23.880 Who is it? 07:23.880 --> 07:24.880 I... 07:24.880 --> 07:28.960 I'm awful sorry, Miss Landis, but there's been some kind of a mix-up. 07:28.960 --> 07:30.560 These two gentlemen want to look over your apartment. 07:30.560 --> 07:31.560 But why? 07:31.560 --> 07:32.800 It's not for rent. 07:32.800 --> 07:33.800 I know. 07:33.800 --> 07:34.800 Come on, come on. 07:34.800 --> 07:35.800 Cut out the blabber. 07:35.800 --> 07:38.880 Look, lady, a dead body's been reported sitting in one of your windows. 07:38.880 --> 07:39.880 What? 07:39.880 --> 07:40.880 Yeah, yeah. 07:40.880 --> 07:43.640 This guy lives across the street and he's been seeing it over here for a week. 07:43.640 --> 07:44.640 So come on now, open up. 07:44.640 --> 07:45.640 Dead body? 07:45.640 --> 07:46.640 But that's impossible. 07:46.640 --> 07:49.080 My sister and I live here all alone. 07:49.080 --> 07:51.080 Yeah, yeah, we know all about it. 07:51.080 --> 07:52.080 Excuse me a minute. 07:52.080 --> 07:53.080 I'll call my sister. 07:53.080 --> 07:54.080 Vivian! 07:54.080 --> 07:55.080 Vivian! 07:55.080 --> 07:56.080 Come on! 07:56.080 --> 07:57.080 Vivian! 07:57.080 --> 07:58.080 It's the police! 07:58.080 --> 08:00.720 Look, lady, I'm not standing here all day. 08:00.720 --> 08:02.200 Hanson, give me the passkey. 08:02.200 --> 08:03.200 It won't do no good. 08:03.200 --> 08:04.200 They got a chain on the door from the inside. 08:04.200 --> 08:05.200 Open up in the name of the law! 08:05.200 --> 08:06.200 How do you do? 08:06.200 --> 08:07.200 I'm Vivian Landis. 08:07.200 --> 08:14.200 May I ask what this is all about, please? 08:14.200 --> 08:17.000 Certainly, lady, I got a search warrant here and complained to this gentleman. 08:17.000 --> 08:19.200 He says you got a dead body in there. 08:19.200 --> 08:20.840 A dead body? 08:20.840 --> 08:22.440 Why that's perfectly ridiculous. 08:22.440 --> 08:24.360 Yeah, isn't it? 08:24.360 --> 08:28.520 But it's been reported and kindly take that door off the chain and let us through. 08:28.520 --> 08:29.760 Of course. 08:29.760 --> 08:35.200 But first, may I ask, how did this peeping Tom see into our apartment? 08:35.200 --> 08:38.040 I thought, Mr. Hanson, that we were quite private. 08:38.040 --> 08:40.320 He lives across the street on the same level. 08:40.320 --> 08:45.240 Oh, well, then we shall have to keep our shades down in the future. 08:45.240 --> 08:50.480 Although one would think a grown man would have something better to do. 08:50.480 --> 08:53.840 But do come in, gentlemen. 08:53.840 --> 08:55.840 Make yourselves right at home. 08:55.840 --> 08:56.840 Thanks. 08:56.840 --> 08:59.000 Is he coming in here, too, Mr. Busybody? 08:59.000 --> 09:01.440 No, he doesn't have to if you don't want him to. 09:01.440 --> 09:02.920 Well, I most definitely don't. 09:02.920 --> 09:04.960 OK, Mr. Ames, you better stay outside. 09:04.960 --> 09:05.960 Yes, but, officer... 09:05.960 --> 09:08.800 Oh, he does want to poke around in our private rooms. 09:08.800 --> 09:10.280 Is that it? 09:10.280 --> 09:14.040 Maybe he had some ulterior motive in worming his way in. 09:14.040 --> 09:18.760 Maybe he's come to get the lay of the land so he can break in someday to rob us. 09:18.760 --> 09:20.880 OK, OK, he's not coming in. 09:20.880 --> 09:24.680 Now, let's take a look at your window, lady. 09:24.680 --> 09:26.680 Ames. 09:26.680 --> 09:28.680 Yes, officer? 09:28.680 --> 09:36.000 What's the big idea? 09:36.000 --> 09:37.000 You didn't find it? 09:37.000 --> 09:38.000 No. 09:38.000 --> 09:39.000 That's very strange. 09:39.000 --> 09:40.000 Yeah? 09:40.000 --> 09:41.920 The only thing strange about it is your eyesight. 09:41.920 --> 09:42.920 You ought to get your glasses changed. 09:42.920 --> 09:44.520 There wasn't anything in 9B? 09:44.520 --> 09:45.520 No. 09:45.520 --> 09:46.520 I don't understand it. 09:46.520 --> 09:49.120 How could I have seen it so distinctly and it not there? 09:49.120 --> 09:52.280 But perhaps it... perhaps it isn't in the window now. 09:52.280 --> 09:54.880 Perhaps they hid it while we were waiting outside that door. 09:54.880 --> 09:55.880 Hid it? 09:55.880 --> 09:57.760 Now, where does one hide a dead body in a four-room flat? 09:57.760 --> 10:00.360 I looked in all the clothes closets, under the sofas, in the chest. 10:00.360 --> 10:03.400 Well, perhaps they got it out with some help. 10:03.400 --> 10:04.400 What about that fellow Anson? 10:04.400 --> 10:06.000 He acted so nervous and subservient. 10:06.000 --> 10:07.280 Maybe, but I doubt it. 10:07.280 --> 10:10.000 Anson's been running this house a long time and he's a family man. 10:10.000 --> 10:11.480 It'd be taking an awful chance. 10:11.480 --> 10:12.480 I see. 10:12.480 --> 10:16.600 Well, you probably think that... you know, it's so terrible to keep seeing it and seeing 10:16.600 --> 10:19.520 it, feeling that it's slowly decaying in there in secret. 10:19.520 --> 10:20.960 Why the thing could be there for weeks. 10:20.960 --> 10:24.340 It's so high above the street and it only seems to be visible from my apartment. 10:24.340 --> 10:27.320 Do you think if you investigated those two women... 10:27.320 --> 10:28.320 Investigated them? 10:28.320 --> 10:29.320 How? 10:29.320 --> 10:30.320 I searched their flat. 10:30.320 --> 10:31.640 I mean, their whereabouts for the last couple of weeks, their backgrounds. 10:31.640 --> 10:32.640 Perhaps if you had them followed... 10:32.640 --> 10:33.640 By what right? 10:33.640 --> 10:36.240 On the grounds that you say you saw a dead man in the window? 10:36.240 --> 10:38.400 There ain't no legal corpus delicti. 10:38.400 --> 10:39.840 And don't you think so, my friend? 10:39.840 --> 10:40.840 I know, I know. 10:40.840 --> 10:42.040 That's the awful part of it for me. 10:42.040 --> 10:46.480 Legally, my hands are tied until the actual body is found, but perhaps it'll never be 10:46.480 --> 10:47.640 found. 10:47.640 --> 10:49.040 Perhaps it's already being destroyed. 10:49.040 --> 10:51.120 Well then, if it's gone, what have you got to worry about? 10:51.120 --> 10:52.840 You won't have to sit and look at it no more. 10:52.840 --> 10:53.840 No. 10:53.840 --> 10:54.840 No, I hope it is. 10:54.840 --> 10:55.840 I... 10:55.840 --> 10:56.840 I tell you, it's really getting me down. 10:56.840 --> 10:58.480 I haven't slept for nights keeping vigil. 10:58.480 --> 11:01.400 I'm in a nervous state and I haven't been this nervous in years. 11:01.400 --> 11:02.720 Yeah, I can see that. 11:02.720 --> 11:05.160 Well, why don't you try forgetting it for a while? 11:05.160 --> 11:08.520 Try not to look over into that window or go away for a change. 11:08.520 --> 11:10.240 You've done what you could, Mr. Ames. 11:10.240 --> 11:13.480 If there is a stiff over there, well, that's my business, ain't it? 11:13.480 --> 11:14.480 And if there isn't... 11:14.480 --> 11:16.880 You mean... you think I'm... 11:16.880 --> 11:17.880 I may be... 11:17.880 --> 11:22.400 I am not saying nothing, Mr. Ames, but if I was you, I'd try catching up on my night's 11:22.400 --> 11:23.400 sleep. 11:23.400 --> 11:41.440 Hello? 11:41.440 --> 11:46.400 Miss Landis, I'm sorry to disturb you at this time of night, but I really... 11:46.400 --> 11:47.560 I'm desperate. 11:47.560 --> 11:49.040 I haven't anywhere else to turn. 11:49.040 --> 11:50.040 What? 11:50.040 --> 11:51.040 Who is this? 11:51.040 --> 11:54.400 Mr. Ames, Martin Ames, your neighbor, the one across the street. 11:54.400 --> 11:55.400 Oh. 11:55.400 --> 11:57.240 Now, please don't think me a pest, Miss Landis. 11:57.240 --> 11:58.520 I didn't mean to annoy you. 11:58.520 --> 12:01.480 It was only because I was so desperate that I initiated this search. 12:01.480 --> 12:02.480 It's quite all right. 12:02.480 --> 12:03.480 Goodbye. 12:03.480 --> 12:04.480 No, no, no, no, no. 12:04.480 --> 12:08.080 Now, please don't hang up because it's worse now than it ever was. 12:08.080 --> 12:13.040 Miss Landis, I've been sitting here opposite your apartment, staring into your windows, 12:13.040 --> 12:16.440 and I'm only asking you to help me, Miss Landis. 12:16.440 --> 12:17.440 Help me just a little. 12:17.440 --> 12:18.440 Help you? 12:18.440 --> 12:20.440 It's still there, Miss Landis. 12:20.440 --> 12:21.440 It is. 12:21.440 --> 12:23.000 What is still there? 12:23.000 --> 12:24.880 The dead body in your window. 12:24.880 --> 12:25.880 But there isn't. 12:25.880 --> 12:28.600 How dare you, when the police... 12:28.600 --> 12:30.360 I know, I know, I know. 12:30.360 --> 12:32.420 Now it hasn't anything to do with you. 12:32.420 --> 12:34.920 But would you do me just one favor, Miss Landis? 12:34.920 --> 12:38.080 Would you go into your living room and check just once more? 12:38.080 --> 12:39.080 I won't. 12:39.080 --> 12:40.080 I'll do nothing of the kind. 12:40.080 --> 12:41.080 You're out of your mind. 12:41.080 --> 12:43.120 Perhaps I am, Miss Landis. 12:43.120 --> 12:44.600 That's what I'm trying to find out. 12:44.600 --> 12:49.160 And anyway, I don't see how you can see, and I pulled the shades down in there yesterday 12:49.160 --> 12:50.160 morning. 12:50.160 --> 12:51.160 They're all down still. 12:51.160 --> 12:53.560 And how can you see? 12:53.560 --> 12:54.560 I can't. 12:54.560 --> 12:56.120 At least not the actual body. 12:56.120 --> 12:57.920 It's just the silhouette. 12:57.920 --> 13:00.320 I'm not maligning you or your sister, Miss Landis. 13:00.320 --> 13:04.060 If there's someone dead in there, it's not you who are doing it, but think of me. 13:04.060 --> 13:08.160 If you could just be here and look over and see the shadow of those quiet fingers and 13:08.160 --> 13:09.440 that shoulder and that head. 13:09.440 --> 13:10.440 Oh, please, stop it. 13:10.440 --> 13:11.440 Stop it. 13:11.440 --> 13:12.440 It's not here. 13:12.440 --> 13:13.440 It isn't. 13:13.440 --> 13:15.880 Tell me just one thing, Miss Landis. 13:15.880 --> 13:18.440 There is a chair by that window, though, isn't there? 13:18.440 --> 13:19.800 Yes, yes, there's a chair. 13:19.800 --> 13:21.920 A high-backed winged chair. 13:21.920 --> 13:22.920 Yes. 13:22.920 --> 13:24.400 And have you anything on it? 13:24.400 --> 13:27.680 Anything piled up, I mean, like curtains or cushions or a dressmaker's dummy? 13:27.680 --> 13:29.360 Oh, of course not. 13:29.360 --> 13:33.160 Then would you do me just one more favor, Miss Landis, please? 13:33.160 --> 13:38.240 As an experiment, would you just go into the living room and move that chair away from 13:38.240 --> 13:39.240 that window? 13:39.240 --> 13:43.440 If I do it, will you stop pestering us? 13:43.440 --> 13:45.000 Will you let us alone forever? 13:45.000 --> 13:47.000 Yes, yes, if it works. 13:47.000 --> 13:48.000 If it... 13:48.000 --> 13:49.000 What do you mean? 13:49.000 --> 13:50.000 Do you mean that... 13:50.000 --> 13:53.000 I can't tell you, Miss Landis, until you move the chair. 13:53.000 --> 13:54.000 Oh, all right. 13:54.000 --> 13:55.000 I moved it away from the window. 13:55.000 --> 13:56.000 It's at the other end of the room and there's nothing in it. 13:56.000 --> 13:57.000 It's empty. 13:57.000 --> 13:58.000 I see. 13:58.000 --> 13:59.000 Well, thank you very much, Miss Landis. 13:59.000 --> 14:00.000 I know what I have to do now. 14:00.000 --> 14:01.000 You mean... 14:01.000 --> 14:02.000 Yes, Miss Landis. 14:02.000 --> 14:03.000 It's still there. 14:03.000 --> 14:26.080 Course of the world is taught by hyung saeng when we even are announced at last. 14:26.080 --> 14:28.320 Yes. 14:28.320 --> 14:38.640 For suspense, Auto Light is bringing you Mr. Robert Montgomery in Radio's outstanding 14:38.640 --> 14:44.120 theater of thrills, Suspense. 14:44.120 --> 14:53.600 Say, Hap, what have these stars around here got that I haven't got? 14:53.600 --> 14:56.640 Well, let's see, Harlow, a fan mail? 14:56.640 --> 14:58.160 Well, by Cornelius, I got you there. 14:58.160 --> 14:59.640 I've got fan mail, too. 14:59.640 --> 15:02.280 Least wise, Auto Light Resistor spark plugs has. 15:02.280 --> 15:05.120 And by happy coincidence, you just happened to have a letter here. 15:05.120 --> 15:06.120 Right, you are. 15:06.120 --> 15:10.840 One from Mr. Neil Miller of Longmont, Colorado, who says in his letter, Dear Harlow, that's 15:10.840 --> 15:15.520 me, a short time ago I put a set of Auto Light Resistor spark plugs in my new car. 15:15.520 --> 15:19.760 And let me tell you, they more than live up to the peerless, punchy, power-packed Wilcox 15:19.760 --> 15:21.840 praise you give them on Suspense. 15:21.840 --> 15:22.840 That guy's got the facts down. 15:22.840 --> 15:23.840 He sure has. 15:23.840 --> 15:27.760 And the letter goes on, since I switched to wide-gap Auto Light Resistor spark plugs, 15:27.760 --> 15:32.480 my car idles smoother, gives better performance at low speeds, and runs better on lean gas 15:32.480 --> 15:33.480 mixtures. 15:33.480 --> 15:37.760 What's more, I noticed that Auto Light Resistor spark plugs cut down spark plug interference 15:37.760 --> 15:39.440 with my own and friend's radios. 15:39.440 --> 15:41.120 What do you think of that, Hap? 15:41.120 --> 15:42.440 He should be writing your material. 15:42.440 --> 15:47.160 Well, friends, Auto Light Resistor spark plugs give you all the advantages Mr. Miller writes 15:47.160 --> 15:50.540 about because of its unique built-in resistor. 15:50.540 --> 15:55.120 And only Auto Light offers car and truck owners everywhere the sensational advantages of Auto 15:55.120 --> 15:57.560 Light Resistor spark plugs. 15:57.560 --> 16:01.320 So switch to wide-gap Auto Light Resistor spark plugs tomorrow. 16:01.320 --> 16:05.560 Remember, you're right with Auto Light. 16:05.560 --> 16:11.720 And now, Auto Light brings back to our Hollywood soundstage, Mr. Robert Montgomery as Martin 16:11.720 --> 16:18.120 Ames in Lucille Fletcher's story, The Thing in the Window. 16:18.120 --> 16:25.360 A tale well calculated to keep you in suspense. 16:25.360 --> 16:31.960 When you can plainly see a corpse in the window of an apartment across the street, a corpse 16:31.960 --> 16:39.600 that no one else can see, not even the police you send to investigate, what are you to think? 16:39.600 --> 16:48.600 And what are the tenants of that other apartment to think? 16:48.600 --> 16:55.160 Oh, Miss Landis. 16:55.160 --> 16:56.160 Where is it? 16:56.160 --> 16:57.760 I want to see it at once. 16:57.760 --> 16:59.480 Yes, Miss Landis, come in. 16:59.480 --> 17:01.120 I do hope you'll excuse my appearance. 17:01.120 --> 17:02.840 I've just passed another sleepless night. 17:02.840 --> 17:05.600 So has my sister, and so have I. 17:05.600 --> 17:08.200 What do you mean by all this business, Mr. Ames? 17:08.200 --> 17:12.960 You frighten my poor sister nearly to death, seeing things that aren't there when you know 17:12.960 --> 17:13.960 they're not. 17:13.960 --> 17:14.960 I know they're not. 17:14.960 --> 17:16.200 I wish they weren't. 17:16.200 --> 17:18.200 I wish to heaven I'd never looked out that window. 17:18.200 --> 17:22.680 I wish these walls were solid stone, and your walls too. 17:22.680 --> 17:24.480 You're a sick man, Mr. Ames. 17:24.480 --> 17:25.560 Oh, am I? 17:25.560 --> 17:26.560 I wish I were. 17:26.560 --> 17:28.040 But I'm perfectly sane and well. 17:28.040 --> 17:31.040 I went to a psychiatrist yesterday, and guess what he told me? 17:31.040 --> 17:33.080 There's nothing wrong with me, nothing. 17:33.080 --> 17:34.440 I can't believe that. 17:34.440 --> 17:38.520 To you, I suppose it's a form of madness to persist and persist in seeing this hideous 17:38.520 --> 17:39.520 image. 17:39.520 --> 17:40.520 But not to me, Miss Landis. 17:40.520 --> 17:43.360 I've finally come to an entirely different conclusion. 17:43.360 --> 17:45.240 And what is that? 17:45.240 --> 17:47.000 The supernatural. 17:47.000 --> 17:48.000 The supernatural? 17:48.000 --> 17:50.000 A ghost? 17:50.000 --> 17:51.400 What nonsense, Mr. Ames. 17:51.400 --> 17:54.040 Yes, yes, I suppose it is nonsense to you, isn't it? 17:54.040 --> 17:55.080 You've been a schoolteacher. 17:55.080 --> 17:59.760 You believe in logic, common sense, the things that give a pretense of solidity to this frail 17:59.760 --> 18:01.660 little life of ours. 18:01.660 --> 18:02.920 But I'm an artist. 18:02.920 --> 18:08.200 I've always had a feeling for the thing beyond, the intangible, the shadowy. 18:08.200 --> 18:13.720 And sometimes out of the shadows we glimpse the yawning fangs of the eternal. 18:13.720 --> 18:18.380 You put things rather oddly, Mr. Ames. 18:18.380 --> 18:20.360 Just exactly what do you mean? 18:20.360 --> 18:21.360 Simply this. 18:21.360 --> 18:24.640 I checked on that building with the real estate agents yesterday afternoon after I'd left 18:24.640 --> 18:28.120 my psychiatrist, and there was a murder. 18:28.120 --> 18:29.120 In our apartment? 18:29.120 --> 18:30.120 The report didn't say. 18:30.120 --> 18:33.440 You know how they try to hush these things up, but it was a man, a young man, the lover 18:33.440 --> 18:35.200 of one of the tenants, a Miss Sweetser. 18:35.200 --> 18:36.200 Sweetser? 18:36.200 --> 18:39.320 Why, that's the name of the people who lived there before us. 18:39.320 --> 18:42.720 But they were an elderly couple, Mr. and Mrs. Sweetser. 18:42.720 --> 18:44.600 I never saw any Miss Sweetser. 18:44.600 --> 18:45.600 She died. 18:45.600 --> 18:46.600 She was the daughter. 18:46.600 --> 18:49.040 She killed herself afterwards by jumping out one of the windows. 18:49.040 --> 18:51.080 Oh, how perfectly awful. 18:51.080 --> 18:53.680 It's rather a ghastly coincidence, isn't it? 18:53.680 --> 18:56.000 Was it out of our window? 18:56.000 --> 18:57.960 Who knows? 18:57.960 --> 19:01.200 She must have been a very neurotic person, though, this Miss Sweetser. 19:01.200 --> 19:03.080 Half crazed almost with love or jealousy. 19:03.080 --> 19:05.580 I checked on the details in an old newspaper. 19:05.580 --> 19:08.900 She cut his throat, nearly decapitated him, and it said that when they lifted his body 19:08.900 --> 19:09.900 out of the chair later... 19:09.900 --> 19:10.900 Oh, excuse me, Mr. Ames. 19:10.900 --> 19:13.520 I'd rather not hear. 19:13.520 --> 19:22.040 I still can't believe... if there is something, if there could possibly be something. 19:22.040 --> 19:24.520 Why haven't we seen it, too? 19:24.520 --> 19:27.320 Why should you? 19:27.320 --> 19:29.280 Haven't you seen it, Miss Landis? 19:29.280 --> 19:30.280 No. 19:30.280 --> 19:31.280 You're sure? 19:31.280 --> 19:32.280 Never? 19:32.280 --> 19:36.040 Perhaps in the middle of the night, getting up and passing that room, seeing that chair 19:36.040 --> 19:37.960 outlined against the window. 19:37.960 --> 19:39.400 Just in passing, perhaps? 19:39.400 --> 19:40.400 You've never had a glimpse? 19:40.400 --> 19:41.400 No. 19:41.400 --> 19:42.400 I really must be going. 19:42.400 --> 19:43.400 No, no, no, no. 19:43.400 --> 19:44.400 Please stay and look at it. 19:44.400 --> 19:46.600 I want you to see it out of my window. 19:46.600 --> 19:48.680 My sister Elaine, she's so nervous. 19:48.680 --> 19:51.000 I just can't leave her alone so long. 19:51.000 --> 19:52.960 But then how will I know, Miss Landis? 19:52.960 --> 19:54.120 I thought you came here especially. 19:54.120 --> 19:56.000 It'll only take a minute. 19:56.000 --> 19:57.760 It's right here in this bedroom. 19:57.760 --> 20:01.040 I just have to let up the Venetian blind. 20:01.040 --> 20:02.040 Miss Landis! 20:02.040 --> 20:03.040 Miss Landis. 20:03.040 --> 20:04.040 Hello. 20:04.040 --> 20:25.400 Sergeant, this is Ames, Martin Ames. 20:25.400 --> 20:29.320 I just called to let you know that I think you're right about that good night's sleep. 20:29.320 --> 20:33.880 Yes, yes, I'm going away tomorrow for a long rest, shutting up my apartment. 20:33.880 --> 20:35.560 Yes, I'm all tied up in knots. 20:35.560 --> 20:37.080 I don't know what to think. 20:37.080 --> 20:39.800 Oh, oh, they did. 20:39.800 --> 20:45.080 Yes, I saw the moving van in front of the house, but I didn't know it was those sisters. 20:45.080 --> 20:46.920 Couldn't take it, eh? 20:46.920 --> 20:55.840 Well, I can't take it much longer myself. 20:55.840 --> 21:07.520 Well, Marty, bravo, bravissimo, old boy. 21:07.520 --> 21:08.520 Not so loud. 21:08.520 --> 21:09.760 Why all the mystery? 21:09.760 --> 21:13.320 The superintendent here doesn't like me. 21:13.320 --> 21:16.920 I should think he would not like you grabbing this beautiful apartment right from under 21:16.920 --> 21:17.920 his nose. 21:17.920 --> 21:19.440 He probably had a promise to a friend. 21:19.440 --> 21:21.400 But you've got it now, Ronald, just as I said. 21:21.400 --> 21:23.600 So I have a voice, so I have. 21:23.600 --> 21:24.600 And it's beautiful. 21:24.600 --> 21:25.600 I'm crazy about it. 21:25.600 --> 21:26.600 You've outdone yourself. 21:26.600 --> 21:27.960 You've been more than generous. 21:27.960 --> 21:28.960 Nothing of it, Ronald. 21:28.960 --> 21:32.000 I'm glad to do it for such a distinguished colleague. 21:32.000 --> 21:33.400 It certainly was nice of you. 21:33.400 --> 21:35.320 And I wish I could do something in return, Marty. 21:35.320 --> 21:36.320 I really do. 21:36.320 --> 21:41.080 Perhaps that play I'm doing next season, there's a part in it, a very small part, but very 21:41.080 --> 21:42.080 necessary. 21:42.080 --> 21:45.080 I'm doing pretty well just now, Ronald. 21:45.080 --> 21:48.680 Do you like the place, Ronald? 21:48.680 --> 21:49.680 Like it? 21:49.680 --> 21:52.600 Look at that living room, those gorgeous casement windows. 21:52.600 --> 21:54.160 It's like a stage. 21:54.160 --> 21:55.160 And what a place for parties. 21:55.160 --> 21:58.320 I don't know how you found it, Marty, in this housing shortage. 21:58.320 --> 22:00.280 You must have a sweetheart in the real estate business. 22:00.280 --> 22:01.280 Oh, I manage. 22:01.280 --> 22:04.880 Why, when your call came, I wouldn't trust this to anyone but myself. 22:04.880 --> 22:08.600 I left the whole cast just standing there on the stage while I came over. 22:08.600 --> 22:10.080 Tell me, how did you do it? 22:10.080 --> 22:12.520 Oh, it's rather a long story. 22:12.520 --> 22:13.800 Let's sit down, shall we? 22:13.800 --> 22:15.200 Here, in the living room. 22:15.200 --> 22:16.600 No, no, no, no, no. 22:16.600 --> 22:19.600 You take the chair. 22:19.600 --> 22:23.120 I guess they must have left it when they moved out. 22:23.120 --> 22:27.880 Well, to be frank, Ronald, I got this apartment by a ruse. 22:27.880 --> 22:29.200 A ruse? 22:29.200 --> 22:30.200 What kind of a ruse? 22:30.200 --> 22:31.200 Oh, it was a nasty one, all right. 22:31.200 --> 22:34.160 I frightened the last tenants away. 22:34.160 --> 22:37.280 I told them I saw a dead man sitting here in this window. 22:37.280 --> 22:39.280 Oh, no, not really. 22:39.280 --> 22:40.280 How clever of you. 22:40.280 --> 22:41.720 But of course, there was. 22:41.720 --> 22:43.880 No, no, of course not. 22:43.880 --> 22:45.600 I made him up out of whole cloth. 22:45.600 --> 22:48.720 You see, I live across the street, directly across, in that apartment with the striped 22:48.720 --> 22:49.720 curtains. 22:49.720 --> 22:50.720 Oh. 22:50.720 --> 22:51.720 They were very scary women. 22:51.720 --> 22:55.320 I used to watch them from my own place, always going to bed early, always pulling down the 22:55.320 --> 22:56.320 shades at night. 22:56.320 --> 22:58.760 I know the talk. 22:58.760 --> 23:04.120 Then there was this chair by the window, that very one that you're sitting in now. 23:04.120 --> 23:05.120 Really? 23:05.120 --> 23:08.160 One night, just sitting there late, I got an amusing thought. 23:08.160 --> 23:11.520 There was a kind of shadow across the chair that night, reminded me a little bit of a 23:11.520 --> 23:12.760 corpse. 23:12.760 --> 23:17.560 It came to me that it might be fun to create a part, a character, a corpse that wasn't 23:17.560 --> 23:18.560 there. 23:18.560 --> 23:19.560 I don't follow you quite. 23:19.560 --> 23:21.880 Some actors need a play, Ronald, to create a role. 23:21.880 --> 23:25.080 Others, the great ones, work out their own dramas. 23:25.080 --> 23:26.960 I proceeded to invent a part for myself. 23:26.960 --> 23:31.680 I was the eyewitness, the innocent bystander across the street who saw the corpse in here. 23:31.680 --> 23:35.520 I kept seeing it and seeing it, and finally, by the power of suggestion, it became real 23:35.520 --> 23:37.160 enough to frighten them away. 23:37.160 --> 23:40.440 It's very clever, but rather drastic. 23:40.440 --> 23:41.720 Not at all. 23:41.720 --> 23:42.720 Prove my point, didn't it? 23:42.720 --> 23:43.720 Oh, yes. 23:43.720 --> 23:44.720 And it got you the apartment. 23:44.720 --> 23:46.200 Well, really, that was very kind. 23:46.200 --> 23:48.000 I've always hoped we'd be neighbors, Ronald. 23:48.000 --> 23:51.600 As a matter of fact, the whole idea for this thing came to me on that day last May when 23:51.600 --> 23:54.760 you turned me down for that part outside of Sardis. 23:54.760 --> 23:55.760 Do you remember? 23:55.760 --> 23:57.760 You said you were looking for a place then. 23:57.760 --> 23:58.760 Did I? 23:58.760 --> 23:59.760 Oh, yes. 23:59.760 --> 24:04.080 It was then that I first thought how nice it would be to see you, right across the street, 24:04.080 --> 24:05.760 sitting in this window. 24:05.760 --> 24:08.260 I simply had to bring it about. 24:08.260 --> 24:10.280 That was the night I went to work on the thing in earnest. 24:10.280 --> 24:11.420 No, no, no, Ronald. 24:11.420 --> 24:12.420 Don't get up. 24:12.420 --> 24:13.420 I'm not through. 24:13.420 --> 24:14.420 Oh, really, old boy? 24:14.420 --> 24:15.420 I'm afraid the gang is at the theater. 24:15.420 --> 24:16.760 They don't even know I'm here. 24:16.760 --> 24:17.760 They'll wait. 24:17.760 --> 24:20.080 People always wait for you, don't they, Ronald? 24:20.080 --> 24:22.960 I could call them for you, of course, but the phone's been disconnected. 24:22.960 --> 24:23.960 I'm afraid. 24:23.960 --> 24:24.960 Which way is the door, old boy? 24:24.960 --> 24:26.600 Really, Marty, it's been very kind of you. 24:26.600 --> 24:27.600 What's the matter? 24:27.600 --> 24:28.600 Don't you like the apartment? 24:28.600 --> 24:30.040 Aren't you going to take it after all my work? 24:30.040 --> 24:31.040 Oh, yes, yes. 24:31.040 --> 24:32.040 I like it very much. 24:32.040 --> 24:33.040 I... 24:33.040 --> 24:36.040 The door's locked. 24:36.040 --> 24:40.280 Yes, Ronald. 24:40.280 --> 24:43.320 I'm afraid you'll have to find your way out. 24:43.320 --> 24:56.120 That'll keep you quieter. 24:56.120 --> 25:02.400 Silence always became you better than all that ranting and glibness and charm, Ronald. 25:02.400 --> 25:11.240 And now I've got the part for you, a part to end all parts. 25:11.240 --> 25:16.680 You play it, of course, entirely in a chair. 25:16.680 --> 25:22.040 There isn't much action, not a line to say. 25:22.040 --> 25:24.340 You just sit, Ronald. 25:24.340 --> 25:31.960 You sit in this chair by the window. 25:31.960 --> 25:35.520 It'll be the greatest performance of your career. 25:35.520 --> 25:39.720 You like to hog all the fattest roles for yourself, didn't you? 25:39.720 --> 25:44.440 Well, this is a part that's been talked about up and down this street for weeks. 25:44.440 --> 25:50.240 You'll play the part of a ghost, of a corpse that never was, and hallucination in my brain. 25:50.240 --> 25:51.400 And who'll be your audience? 25:51.400 --> 25:52.400 I will. 25:52.400 --> 25:57.800 I, the insignificant outmoded ham who wasn't fit to appear in your precious plays, but 25:57.800 --> 26:01.200 good enough to put you here. 26:01.200 --> 26:07.880 Who's the better actor now, Ronald? 26:07.880 --> 26:10.240 Goodbye, Ronald. 26:10.240 --> 26:15.880 No one will see me go out, but I'll see you across the street. 26:15.880 --> 26:21.800 Okay, Miss Landis, I got the passkey right here. 26:21.800 --> 26:24.680 That's so kind of you, Mr. Anson. 26:24.680 --> 26:29.000 Personally, I begged her to leave the old thing here and had you throw it out, but Elaine 26:29.000 --> 26:30.000 listened. 26:30.000 --> 26:32.400 It's Mr. Ames. 26:32.400 --> 26:33.400 Ames. 26:33.400 --> 26:35.960 Yes, yes, I was just going. 26:35.960 --> 26:41.720 I couldn't resist coming up and making one final check just for myself. 26:41.720 --> 26:46.040 The door seemed to be open and I, anyway, the illusions quite vanished. 26:46.040 --> 26:47.360 Quite. 26:47.360 --> 26:48.360 There's nothing there. 26:48.360 --> 26:50.400 Really, Mr. Ames? 26:50.400 --> 26:51.400 That's good. 26:51.400 --> 27:07.120 All right, Mr. Anson, will you ask the moving men to go in there now and take away the chair? 27:07.120 --> 27:09.560 Thank you, Robert Montgomery, for a splendid performance. 27:09.560 --> 27:12.040 Say a half before we hear from Robert Montgomery again. 27:12.040 --> 27:15.440 Did I ever tell you that thousands of car and truck owners from coast to coast have 27:15.440 --> 27:17.480 switched to auto light resistor spark plugs? 27:17.480 --> 27:18.480 Without a doubt, huh? 27:18.480 --> 27:22.160 They know that wide gap auto light resistor spark plugs make cars idle smoother, give 27:22.160 --> 27:26.400 better performance with leaner gas mixtures, actually save gas dollars. 27:26.400 --> 27:30.080 And they also know that auto light makes more than 400 automotive, aviation, and marine 27:30.080 --> 27:33.080 products in 28 plants from coast to coast. 27:33.080 --> 27:37.040 So switch to auto light because only auto light offers car and truck owners everywhere 27:37.040 --> 27:40.360 the sensational advantages of resistor type spark plugs. 27:40.360 --> 27:42.480 You're right with auto light. 27:42.480 --> 27:45.200 Remember, auto light means spark plug. 27:45.200 --> 27:47.760 Ignition engineered resistor spark plug. 27:47.760 --> 27:49.080 Auto light means batteries. 27:49.080 --> 27:50.760 Stay full battery. 27:50.760 --> 27:52.320 Auto light means ignition system. 27:52.320 --> 28:00.720 The lifeline of your car. 28:00.720 --> 28:03.480 And now here again is Mr. Robert Montgomery. 28:03.480 --> 28:06.520 It has been a great pleasure to return to suspense. 28:06.520 --> 28:10.840 And I wish to thank the splendid cast which Tony Leader assembled for tonight's performance. 28:10.840 --> 28:16.220 Two, I want to call your attention to the very unusual program planned for next week. 28:16.220 --> 28:21.400 And radio's outstanding theater of thrills will bring you Jim and Marion Jordan, Fibber 28:21.400 --> 28:27.560 McGee and Molly, and a special story called Backseat Driver, another gripping story in 28:27.560 --> 28:31.480 suspense. 28:31.480 --> 28:35.440 Robert Montgomery may currently be seen in the Warner Brothers picture, June Bride. 28:35.440 --> 28:37.800 Tonight's suspense play was written by Lucille Fletcher. 28:37.800 --> 28:41.200 Music was composed by Lucien Morrowek and conducted by Lud Bluskin. 28:41.200 --> 28:45.160 The entire production was under the direction of Anton M. Leader. 28:45.160 --> 28:49.120 Every Thursday, hear Fibber McGee and Molly in Backseat Driver. 28:49.120 --> 28:55.200 This is the auto light suspense show. 28:55.200 --> 28:57.480 Remember you're right with auto light. 28:57.480 --> 29:01.160 So switch to auto light. 29:01.160 --> 29:04.600 Thousands of polio victims need your help. 29:04.600 --> 29:08.080 Join the march of dimes today. 29:08.080 --> 29:17.280 This is CBS, the Columbia Broadcasting System.