WEBVTT 00:00.000 --> 00:15.920 And now, Auto Light and its 60,000 dealers and service stations present... 00:15.920 --> 00:18.800 Suspense! 00:18.800 --> 00:27.760 Tonight, Auto Light brings you Fibber McGee and Molly in... 00:27.760 --> 00:38.160 The Six Seat Driver, a suspense play produced and directed by Anton M. Leader. 00:38.160 --> 00:41.320 Say, Harlow, looks like Old Home Week on suspense tonight. 00:41.320 --> 00:42.320 Old Home Week, half? 00:42.320 --> 00:46.320 Well, I wouldn't say that, not with millions of Auto Light resistor spark plugs finding 00:46.320 --> 00:48.960 new homes in every make of car in America. 00:48.960 --> 00:51.560 I know, Harlow, I meant Old Home Week because... 00:51.560 --> 00:56.400 Perhaps there just isn't going to be any old or new home for more and more narrow gap spark 00:56.400 --> 01:01.240 plugs because they're being replaced in their old homes by wide gap Auto Light resistor 01:01.240 --> 01:02.680 spark plugs. 01:02.680 --> 01:07.160 With Auto Light resistor spark plugs, your car, my car, Fibber's car, everybody's car, 01:07.160 --> 01:12.320 idle smoother, gives better performance with lean gas mixtures, saves gas dollars, and 01:12.320 --> 01:16.400 cuts down spark plug interference with radio and television reception. 01:16.400 --> 01:21.360 There's one way for every car to be spark plugged right with Auto Light resistor spark 01:21.360 --> 01:22.360 plugs. 01:22.360 --> 01:26.760 Only Auto Light offers car and truck owners everywhere the sensational advantages of the 01:26.760 --> 01:31.480 resistor type spark plug. 01:31.480 --> 01:37.480 And now, Auto Light presents Fibber McGee and Molly in a tale well calculated to keep 01:37.480 --> 01:38.480 you in. 01:38.480 --> 01:39.480 Suspense. 01:39.480 --> 01:45.880 It can't happen to you. 01:45.880 --> 01:48.440 You read about stuff like that in the papers. 01:48.440 --> 01:52.920 Golds murdered and mutilated, drunks left dying in the gutter for the handful of change 01:52.920 --> 01:58.120 they had in their pockets, lonesome old men tortured because some hoodlum gets the idea, 01:58.120 --> 02:01.880 their misers with a pot of gold hidden under the floorboards of the shack. 02:01.880 --> 02:05.840 Sure, you know it's real, but it can't happen to you. 02:05.840 --> 02:08.840 Oh, you get your fair share of trouble. 02:08.840 --> 02:12.640 I've been a professional man here in Los Angeles for 30 years. 02:12.640 --> 02:15.880 I've met up with bums and grifters and petty sharpers. 02:15.880 --> 02:17.840 They're around in any business. 02:17.840 --> 02:23.240 But the viciousness, the real deep down dirt, that's for somebody else. 02:23.240 --> 02:26.200 You do your work and go home to your family. 02:26.200 --> 02:30.520 And for a real bang up evening to break the monotony, you take your wife out to a movie. 02:30.520 --> 02:34.560 That's what I did that Saturday night. 02:34.560 --> 02:38.560 We'd driven all the way in from the San Fernando Valley to Beverly Hills for a picture Ellie 02:38.560 --> 02:41.280 especially wanted to see. 02:41.280 --> 02:43.680 Wasn't that a good movie, Joe? 02:43.680 --> 02:45.600 Just the kind I like. 02:45.600 --> 02:48.120 Bums and dancing and girls in pretty clothes. 02:48.120 --> 02:51.520 I get so tired of cops and robbers. 02:51.520 --> 02:52.640 What's wrong with cops and robbers? 02:52.640 --> 02:54.360 Oh, you know what I mean. 02:54.360 --> 02:55.360 Murder movies. 02:55.360 --> 03:00.160 Honestly, all the policemen stupid and all the crooks sneering out of the corners of 03:00.160 --> 03:01.160 their mouths. 03:01.160 --> 03:04.160 Yeah, the stuff those Hollywood boys dream up. 03:04.160 --> 03:07.600 You think the streets were knee deep in blood and you couldn't hear yourself think for machine 03:07.600 --> 03:08.600 guns. 03:08.600 --> 03:11.640 Well, here we are, honey. 03:11.640 --> 03:14.640 You get in first. 03:14.640 --> 03:16.520 All right, Ellie. 03:16.520 --> 03:20.480 Well, now just a second. 03:20.480 --> 03:23.160 All right, Joe. 03:23.160 --> 03:25.600 Don't forget the gas. 03:25.600 --> 03:27.920 I got plenty to take us out to the Valley. 03:27.920 --> 03:32.360 I'll fill up at bills. 03:32.360 --> 03:41.240 Do you remember how that song goes, Joe? 03:41.240 --> 03:42.240 What song? 03:42.240 --> 03:45.880 The one the boy sang to the girl. 03:45.880 --> 03:46.880 Oh, that one. 03:46.880 --> 03:47.880 Let's see. 03:47.880 --> 03:50.880 Oh, heck, I don't know. 03:50.880 --> 03:57.400 Oh, well, we'll be hearing it again on the radio. 03:57.400 --> 03:58.400 How about turning it on? 03:58.400 --> 03:59.400 The radio? 03:59.400 --> 04:00.400 Yeah. 04:00.400 --> 04:01.400 Sure. 04:01.400 --> 04:02.400 Set her around 1100. 04:02.400 --> 04:06.080 We ought to get some news in a few minutes. 04:06.080 --> 04:07.920 I'd like to hear whether they caught that fellow. 04:07.920 --> 04:09.720 That awful mass murder? 04:09.720 --> 04:10.720 Uh-huh. 04:10.720 --> 04:13.680 They spotted him in LA this afternoon, but he got away. 04:13.680 --> 04:14.680 I know. 04:14.680 --> 04:15.680 You told us at supper. 04:15.680 --> 04:16.680 It makes you shiver. 04:16.680 --> 04:17.680 Don't worry. 04:17.680 --> 04:27.360 He won't get away with it. 04:27.360 --> 04:33.000 We left the lights of Beverly Hills behind and turned into Coldwater Canyon. 04:33.000 --> 04:38.080 It's as quick a way as any to get us across the Hollywood Hills to the Valley. 04:38.080 --> 04:43.560 It's dark in the canyon, quiet, with mighty little traffic at night. 04:43.560 --> 04:47.600 I cut my lights up full and we swept up the side of the ridge. 04:47.600 --> 04:50.160 News program came on, but I didn't pay much attention. 04:50.160 --> 04:52.480 I was talking about brush fires. 04:52.480 --> 04:57.080 They'd already put out one near my place, though they were still patrolling it. 04:57.080 --> 05:00.840 We were over the ridge and sliding down to the valley before the program got to the part 05:00.840 --> 05:01.840 I wanted to hear. 05:01.840 --> 05:02.840 There it is. 05:02.840 --> 05:03.840 Pick it up higher, Ellie. 05:03.840 --> 05:07.440 And now the latest news on the New Hampshire murderer. 05:07.440 --> 05:12.760 Two weeks ago, Louis Matric wiped out an entire family in Greenlee, New Hampshire. 05:12.760 --> 05:16.880 Today he was spotted 3,000 miles from the scene of his crime. 05:16.880 --> 05:22.480 At 5.30 this afternoon, a patrolman saw and definitely identified Matric in downtown Los 05:22.480 --> 05:23.480 Angeles. 05:23.480 --> 05:24.480 He is here. 05:24.480 --> 05:28.280 However, by darting through heavy traffic at the risk of his life, the killer was again 05:28.280 --> 05:30.480 able to make his escape. 05:30.480 --> 05:34.280 According to neighbors of the slaughtered family, Matric first appeared in Greenlee 05:34.280 --> 05:36.120 about a year ago. 05:36.120 --> 05:41.520 From fingerprints in the Nolan home, Louis Matric has been identified as Lloyd Matthews, 05:41.520 --> 05:42.520 ex-convict. 05:42.520 --> 05:46.960 He is wanted for questioning in the robbery and murder of a New York storekeeper a year 05:46.960 --> 05:47.960 ago. 05:47.960 --> 05:48.960 Oh, my. 05:48.960 --> 05:50.440 A crime that netted the killer less than $20. 05:50.440 --> 05:51.440 Can you imagine? 05:51.440 --> 05:59.880 Matric, or Matthews, is 32 years old, height 5 feet 9 inches, weight 155 pounds. 05:59.880 --> 06:04.080 He has blue eyes, light brown hair, nose slanted to the left. 06:04.080 --> 06:08.520 When seen this afternoon, he was wearing a blue suit and a gray pork pie hat. 06:08.520 --> 06:09.520 He... 06:09.520 --> 06:10.520 Awful. 06:10.520 --> 06:11.520 Awful. 06:11.520 --> 06:12.520 Not pretty, no. 06:12.520 --> 06:14.640 And he's somewhere around LA this minute. 06:14.640 --> 06:15.640 Joe? 06:15.640 --> 06:16.640 Hmm? 06:16.640 --> 06:19.080 You think it's right us leaving Annie and Bud all alone while... 06:19.080 --> 06:20.640 No, Ellen. 06:20.640 --> 06:24.280 Annie's grown up and Bud's a smart youngster, if I do say so myself. 06:24.280 --> 06:25.960 You can't wrap kids in cotton wool. 06:25.960 --> 06:26.960 I know. 06:26.960 --> 06:29.720 Oh, I'm silly, I guess. 06:29.720 --> 06:31.360 Neighbors close all around. 06:31.360 --> 06:34.200 All they'd have to do is yell. 06:34.200 --> 06:37.600 But what would make a young man do a dreadful thing like that? 06:37.600 --> 06:39.280 Could be a lot of things. 06:39.280 --> 06:40.920 Maybe he's got a screw loose. 06:40.920 --> 06:42.960 Maybe he went nuts over a girl. 06:42.960 --> 06:44.760 Maybe he gets a kick out of killing like some... 06:44.760 --> 06:46.440 You know all the answers, don't you? 06:46.440 --> 06:47.440 Oh, Joe! 06:47.440 --> 06:48.440 Hey, what the... 06:48.440 --> 06:49.440 Keep going. 06:49.440 --> 06:50.440 Go on, keep going. 06:50.440 --> 06:52.440 I got a gun here and I'll use it. 06:52.440 --> 06:53.440 Tell him you... 06:53.440 --> 06:54.440 Ellie? 06:54.440 --> 06:57.000 Against the back of my neck. 06:57.000 --> 06:58.000 I can feel it. 06:58.000 --> 06:59.000 Cold. 06:59.000 --> 07:01.000 Well, are you gonna move? 07:01.000 --> 07:03.600 Okay, brother, you're the boss. 07:03.600 --> 07:06.680 You said it, I'm boss and remember it. 07:06.680 --> 07:11.920 Otherwise I'll blow a hole through your wife's head. 07:11.920 --> 07:29.120 I've had experience in these things. 07:29.120 --> 07:34.960 For suspense, Auto Light is bringing you Fibber McGee and Molly in Radio's outstanding 07:34.960 --> 07:38.800 Theatre of Thrills Suspense. 07:38.800 --> 07:46.920 Harlow, I've got to run. 07:46.920 --> 07:50.320 My wife Mary just called up and said someone stole our Auto Light Resistor spark plugs 07:50.320 --> 07:51.840 right out of the engine of our car. 07:51.840 --> 07:54.160 Gosh, Hap, I didn't know they were that precious. 07:54.160 --> 07:55.160 Skip along. 07:55.160 --> 07:56.160 So long. 07:56.160 --> 07:57.160 Oh, that Mary. 07:57.160 --> 07:58.160 What a girl. 07:58.160 --> 07:59.160 She's beautiful. 07:59.160 --> 08:03.000 I said to Hap the other day, she's got everything an Auto Light Resistor spark plugs got. 08:03.000 --> 08:05.880 Hap comes right back and says to me, has she got a 10,000 ohm resistor? 08:05.880 --> 08:08.280 Does she save me gas and money, Harlow? 08:08.280 --> 08:12.280 And then right away he says, tell me this, does Mary improve radio and television reception? 08:12.280 --> 08:15.160 Well, by Cornelius, I couldn't stand it any longer. 08:15.160 --> 08:16.600 What's Mary got to do with that? 08:16.600 --> 08:17.600 I cried. 08:17.600 --> 08:19.480 Nothing, shouts the triumphant Hap. 08:19.480 --> 08:24.560 Right, I shout back, but by Cornelius, those sleek, slim, trim, smart, swift, starting 08:24.560 --> 08:27.300 Auto Light Resistor spark plugs have. 08:27.300 --> 08:31.900 When it comes to plugs, even mine, there's no plug as good as a set of Auto Light Resistor 08:31.900 --> 08:33.300 spark plugs. 08:33.300 --> 08:37.400 And those wonderful wonders are made by the Auto Light Company, the marvelous makers of 08:37.400 --> 08:42.880 spark plugs, batteries, complete ignition systems, and over 400 automotive, aviation, 08:42.880 --> 08:45.480 and marine parts. 08:45.480 --> 08:52.860 And now, Auto Light brings back to our Hollywood soundstage, Fibber McGee and Molly in Backseat 08:52.860 --> 09:02.440 Driver, a tale well calculated to keep you in suspense. 09:02.440 --> 09:06.280 I drove that car like we were skirting the rim of the Grand Canyon with nothing between 09:06.280 --> 09:09.160 us on the bottom but a mile of country air. 09:09.160 --> 09:13.560 This was it, the thing that happens to other people, to the ones that end up on slabs in 09:13.560 --> 09:19.280 the morgue, but not to me, not to Ellie. 09:19.280 --> 09:22.760 First car we'd seen since we left traffic swooped down behind us. 09:22.760 --> 09:26.600 We'd passed, but not before the headlights caught our passenger clean in my rearview 09:26.600 --> 09:27.600 mirror. 09:27.600 --> 09:30.480 He was hunched forward sitting on the edge of the back seat so he could keep the gun 09:30.480 --> 09:33.160 rammed into the nap of Ellie's neck. 09:33.160 --> 09:36.960 He had light brown hair, pale eyes, and a nose that slanted. 09:36.960 --> 09:39.200 His mouth twitched, jittery. 09:39.200 --> 09:42.600 As the car went by, his eyes caught mine in the mirror and flickered. 09:42.600 --> 09:44.040 Keep your eyes on the road. 09:44.040 --> 09:46.280 Sure, sure. 09:46.280 --> 09:47.280 Lose your hat? 09:47.280 --> 09:48.280 Bright boy. 09:48.280 --> 09:50.880 Like I said, you know all the answers. 09:50.880 --> 09:52.400 No, I didn't lose it. 09:52.400 --> 09:53.960 I stuffed it down a drain. 09:53.960 --> 09:55.280 Still wearing the blue suit, though. 09:55.280 --> 09:58.320 I figured it changed pretty quick now. 09:58.320 --> 09:59.360 Think yours will fit me? 09:59.360 --> 10:01.400 You can have the suit and the car. 10:01.400 --> 10:02.400 Ellen, Ellen. 10:02.400 --> 10:05.640 Joe, it's Matric. 10:05.640 --> 10:07.160 The mistress is bright, too. 10:07.160 --> 10:09.360 He crawled in here while we were in the movie. 10:09.360 --> 10:11.520 Joe, you should have had the car door fixed. 10:11.520 --> 10:12.520 You know better. 10:12.520 --> 10:13.520 Honey, I meant to. 10:13.520 --> 10:14.520 I was going to tend to that tomorrow. 10:14.520 --> 10:15.520 Shut up. 10:15.520 --> 10:19.560 I'd see if you can both be bright enough to keep your trap shut. 10:19.560 --> 10:20.560 Turn left on Ventura. 10:20.560 --> 10:22.040 Take the slow lane. 10:22.040 --> 10:23.040 And don't try playing no tricks. 10:23.040 --> 10:24.800 I've been in this burg before. 10:24.800 --> 10:27.120 OK by me. 10:27.120 --> 10:29.160 That's real fight of you. 10:29.160 --> 10:31.600 Straight out the open country, Mac. 10:31.600 --> 10:35.160 Then I'll take the mistress up on that offer of the suit and car. 10:35.160 --> 10:36.840 What happens to us? 10:36.840 --> 10:38.360 Why you just walk home. 10:38.360 --> 10:39.840 What else? 10:39.840 --> 10:46.520 Play it safe and you ain't got a thing to worry about. 10:46.520 --> 10:47.520 That was a laugh. 10:47.520 --> 10:49.520 That was nothing to worry about. 10:49.520 --> 10:50.520 That'd kill you. 10:50.520 --> 10:55.240 Once we got out into open country, we'd have a chance of walking away from the car. 10:55.240 --> 10:57.440 All a murderer can hope for is time. 10:57.440 --> 11:03.840 He doesn't leave witnesses around to get the law on his tail one second sooner than necessary. 11:03.840 --> 11:09.760 All I could do was stall and pray and make what feeble gestures I could at Lady Luck. 11:09.760 --> 11:14.560 That thing that came into my mind was so risky it brought my hair up on end. 11:14.560 --> 11:19.320 But there was a chance, provided that trigger finger didn't start jerking. 11:19.320 --> 11:27.560 In the bright lights of the boulevard, I didn't think he'd notice, but a traffic officer would. 11:27.560 --> 11:32.920 I turned into Ventura and took the far lane, obedient as a whip pup. 11:32.920 --> 11:37.640 Must have made two or three miles before I heard what I was hoping for. 11:37.640 --> 11:38.640 What's that? 11:38.640 --> 11:39.640 Huh? 11:39.640 --> 11:40.640 Oh, the siren? 11:40.640 --> 11:43.440 Why, an ambulance, I guess. 11:43.440 --> 11:44.440 We hear a lot of them here. 11:44.440 --> 11:45.440 That ain't no ambulance. 11:45.440 --> 11:46.440 It's a motorcycle cop. 11:46.440 --> 11:48.240 Joe, it's young Mike Kennedy. 11:48.240 --> 11:49.560 He patrols this stretch. 11:49.560 --> 11:50.560 What are you up to? 11:50.560 --> 11:51.560 What are you trying to pull? 11:51.560 --> 11:52.560 Nothing. 11:52.560 --> 11:53.560 The kid's a friend of mine. 11:53.560 --> 11:54.560 Think you can get me easier? 11:54.560 --> 11:55.560 Well, I warned you. 11:55.560 --> 11:56.560 I ain't going alone. 11:56.560 --> 11:57.560 You ask for it. 11:57.560 --> 11:58.560 Listen, listen, will you? 11:58.560 --> 12:00.200 The kid lives near us, practically grew up under our feet. 12:00.200 --> 12:03.600 All he wants is to pass the time of day or maybe send a message to our Annie. 12:03.600 --> 12:04.600 Yeah? 12:04.600 --> 12:05.600 Yeah. 12:05.600 --> 12:06.600 You start popping now and we'll all be dead. 12:06.600 --> 12:09.440 Keep your shirt on and I'll get rid of him. 12:09.440 --> 12:10.440 Okay. 12:10.440 --> 12:13.440 But it better be good. 12:13.440 --> 12:19.880 I pulled to the curb and Mike came up alongside. 12:19.880 --> 12:24.480 He sat balancing the bike between his knees and the grin on his face was a mile wide. 12:24.480 --> 12:25.480 It had worked. 12:25.480 --> 12:29.080 At least we were still alive and Mike wasn't two feet away. 12:29.080 --> 12:32.320 But where did we go from here? 12:32.320 --> 12:34.920 I had to think, but my brain was wet wool. 12:34.920 --> 12:37.520 My tongue stuck to the roof of my mouth. 12:37.520 --> 12:41.120 Well, what do you know if it isn't Uncle Joe? 12:41.120 --> 12:43.120 Something funny, kid? 12:43.120 --> 12:47.040 After all the times you've read as the riot act about observing the letter of the law. 12:47.040 --> 12:49.080 Oh brother, wait till I tell Annie. 12:49.080 --> 12:50.840 Mike Kennedy, what's the matter with you? 12:50.840 --> 12:52.400 I didn't notice anything wrong. 12:52.400 --> 12:53.880 Hi Aunt Ellie. 12:53.880 --> 12:55.040 Nothing much of the matter. 12:55.040 --> 12:59.800 Just Uncle Joe here proceeding sedately out the Boulevard with his headlights up full. 12:59.800 --> 13:00.800 Headlights? 13:00.800 --> 13:02.200 My golly, that's right. 13:02.200 --> 13:03.680 I must have forgotten to dim them. 13:03.680 --> 13:05.760 You oughtn't to forget those things, Joe. 13:05.760 --> 13:09.560 Someday a big bad cop might come along and haul you off to the state. 13:09.560 --> 13:11.880 Hey, is that Annie back there? 13:11.880 --> 13:12.880 No, no it isn't. 13:12.880 --> 13:15.480 It's our new neighbor, Mike. 13:15.480 --> 13:16.480 Mr. Anderson. 13:16.480 --> 13:17.480 Oh, that right. 13:17.480 --> 13:19.480 Glad to meet you, sir. 13:19.480 --> 13:20.480 Hello. 13:20.480 --> 13:24.200 I didn't know there were any vacancies out our way. 13:24.200 --> 13:26.720 Well, there weren't until recently. 13:26.720 --> 13:29.880 Mr. Anderson has taken over the Charles place. 13:29.880 --> 13:31.000 The Charles place? 13:31.000 --> 13:32.280 Are you kidding? 13:32.280 --> 13:33.280 No. 13:33.280 --> 13:36.240 Looks like things got too much for old man Charles at last. 13:36.240 --> 13:38.200 He's clearing out for good. 13:38.200 --> 13:41.200 Kind of sudden, wasn't it? 13:41.200 --> 13:42.200 I guess so. 13:42.200 --> 13:44.000 Well, that's too bad. 13:44.000 --> 13:45.600 For old man Charles, I mean. 13:45.600 --> 13:47.400 Mighty nice for Mr. Anderson, though. 13:47.400 --> 13:50.040 Good places are hard to find these days. 13:50.040 --> 13:52.640 All right, Uncle Joe, I'll let you off this time. 13:52.640 --> 13:53.640 Give my love to Annie. 13:53.640 --> 13:54.640 Mike! 13:54.640 --> 13:55.640 Watch it! 13:55.640 --> 13:56.640 Yes, sir? 13:56.640 --> 13:57.640 Uh, nothing. 13:57.640 --> 14:00.480 Just come see us soon, boy. 14:00.480 --> 14:01.480 Always glad to have you. 14:01.480 --> 14:02.480 Thanks. 14:02.480 --> 14:03.480 I'll be around my next night off. 14:03.480 --> 14:04.480 I got a date with Annie. 14:04.480 --> 14:05.480 So long. 14:05.480 --> 14:14.200 That was that. 14:14.200 --> 14:17.120 Mike turned his bike and headed back down the boulevard. 14:17.120 --> 14:18.760 The chance had come and gone. 14:18.760 --> 14:23.120 But it felt to me like half my mind went off with the boy yelling at him. 14:23.120 --> 14:28.680 Must have been half a minute before I could pull myself together and ease back into traffic. 14:28.680 --> 14:29.680 Nobody said anything. 14:29.680 --> 14:33.200 I didn't dare to, and neither did Ellie. 14:33.200 --> 14:37.160 I couldn't see her, but I could feel her holding herself stiff as a ramrod, scared even to 14:37.160 --> 14:38.160 turn her head. 14:38.160 --> 14:42.360 When two people have lived together as long as we have, each one knows what the other 14:42.360 --> 14:44.120 one is thinking. 14:44.120 --> 14:47.160 I went back to driving and praying. 14:47.160 --> 14:51.400 That and cutting my eyes up to the mirror, just in case there might be a white motorcycle 14:51.400 --> 14:52.400 eye following us. 14:52.400 --> 14:55.040 There wasn't, of course. 14:55.040 --> 14:57.760 Back in the back, I knew he was watching too. 14:57.760 --> 15:01.440 Those flickering eyes darting like lightning between us and the rear window. 15:01.440 --> 15:03.680 He was too busy checking to talk. 15:03.680 --> 15:06.200 Not that that helped much. 15:06.200 --> 15:10.120 Rage and fear were pouring out of him so thick you could have grabbed a hunk of the atmosphere 15:10.120 --> 15:13.200 in your hand. 15:13.200 --> 15:19.120 It was queer to drive along like that on the crowded highway, traffic streaming both ways, 15:19.120 --> 15:23.680 lights from drugstores and cocktail joints and eating houses blazing to the sky. 15:23.680 --> 15:27.200 And to know if I lifted a finger for help, I'd sign our death warrants. 15:27.200 --> 15:29.400 It had to be luck, all luck. 15:29.400 --> 15:31.840 There was still a chance I'd get it. 15:31.840 --> 15:36.680 The way I figured it, we'd started out with just about enough gas to get us back to Bill's 15:36.680 --> 15:37.880 station. 15:37.880 --> 15:40.960 When we hit that, the meter ought to show empty. 15:40.960 --> 15:44.400 Gas gauge was hidden from me by the rim of the steering wheel, but I was pretty sure 15:44.400 --> 15:45.400 I was right. 15:45.400 --> 15:50.920 I waited until I saw the red and green lights above Bill's pumps a block and a half away. 15:50.920 --> 15:54.920 And very slow and easy, I slumped over for a peek at the gauge. 15:54.920 --> 15:56.160 I leaned just too far. 15:56.160 --> 15:57.160 Shut up. 15:57.160 --> 15:58.160 Sure. 15:58.160 --> 15:59.160 What now? 15:59.160 --> 16:00.160 What were you looking at? 16:00.160 --> 16:01.840 I was just easing the crick out of my neck. 16:01.840 --> 16:02.840 Yes, you was. 16:02.840 --> 16:04.600 You was looking at the dash. 16:04.600 --> 16:05.600 You... 16:05.600 --> 16:08.400 Oh, so that's it. 16:08.400 --> 16:09.400 Fresh out of gas. 16:09.400 --> 16:10.400 Look, I just remembered... 16:10.400 --> 16:11.400 Don't give me that. 16:11.400 --> 16:12.400 You knew it all along. 16:12.400 --> 16:16.240 From now on, you keep your hands on the wheel, Mac, but leave me to the driving. 16:16.240 --> 16:19.480 Turn into that filling station. 16:19.480 --> 16:21.280 Get high test gas and fill her up. 16:21.280 --> 16:22.280 Hi, Joe. 16:22.280 --> 16:23.280 Hi, Bill. 16:23.280 --> 16:24.280 Evening, Ellie. 16:24.280 --> 16:25.280 Hello, Bill. 16:25.280 --> 16:26.280 Oh, evening, sir. 16:26.280 --> 16:29.280 Up to the top? 16:29.280 --> 16:30.280 Yeah, Ethel. 16:30.280 --> 16:31.280 Ethel it is. 16:31.280 --> 16:36.280 Here you have been to the pictures, huh? 16:36.280 --> 16:37.280 Uh-huh. 16:37.280 --> 16:41.280 You people know everybody in the whole valley. 16:41.280 --> 16:43.080 We've lived here 30 years. 16:43.080 --> 16:46.520 From back when this was just farmland, of course we know lots of people. 16:46.520 --> 16:47.520 I don't like it. 16:47.520 --> 16:48.520 Get the gas and get out. 16:48.520 --> 16:49.520 Say, I was up to Miranda's for supper. 16:49.520 --> 16:50.520 Is that right? 16:50.520 --> 16:51.520 Oh, boy, her chili gets better every time. 16:51.520 --> 16:52.520 Don't you have any? 16:52.520 --> 16:57.520 But it does. 16:57.520 --> 17:00.520 She's saving some for you. 17:00.520 --> 17:02.520 Said you'd be around after the show. 17:02.520 --> 17:06.520 Oh, my, I saw Miranda this afternoon and told her we'd be by for sure, Joe. 17:06.520 --> 17:09.520 That'll be 350 on the nose. 17:09.520 --> 17:11.520 Three and 50. 17:11.520 --> 17:12.520 Thanks, Bill. 17:12.520 --> 17:13.520 Same to you. 17:13.520 --> 17:18.520 What was all that about? 17:18.520 --> 17:19.520 Nothing much. 17:19.520 --> 17:20.520 Come on, come on. 17:20.520 --> 17:21.520 I got to ask you everything twice. 17:21.520 --> 17:23.520 Miranda runs a drive-in up the road a ways. 17:23.520 --> 17:26.520 On show nights, we usually drop in for a carton of chili to take home. 17:26.520 --> 17:30.520 I just hope she won't call home when we don't show up and get Annie all worried. 17:30.520 --> 17:32.520 Wait a minute. 17:32.520 --> 17:33.520 Drive-in, you said? 17:33.520 --> 17:34.520 Yeah. 17:34.520 --> 17:35.520 And this Miranda could start checking on you? 17:35.520 --> 17:36.520 I didn't mean it like that. 17:36.520 --> 17:37.520 It's just... 17:37.520 --> 17:39.520 She could call your Annie and between the two of them, they'd have the cops on the lookout 17:39.520 --> 17:40.520 for you before midnight. 17:40.520 --> 17:41.520 You're crazy. 17:41.520 --> 17:42.520 Like a fox. 17:42.520 --> 17:45.520 I ain't kept ahead of the buttons all this time by taking chances. 17:45.520 --> 17:49.520 We'll just pick up that chili, Mac. 17:49.520 --> 17:51.520 You want to go to Miranda's? 17:51.520 --> 17:52.520 Why not? 17:52.520 --> 17:55.520 Leave Annie get her beauty sleep. 17:55.520 --> 17:58.520 I can cover a lot of ground before tomorrow morning. 17:58.520 --> 18:01.520 I ain't eaten so good lately, I could use the food too. 18:01.520 --> 18:06.520 And with you and the Mrs. DeFront for me, what's to worry about? 18:10.520 --> 18:12.520 He was right about that. 18:12.520 --> 18:15.520 I went back to driving and praying. 18:15.520 --> 18:18.520 Miranda's place is one of those goldfish bowls. 18:18.520 --> 18:23.520 Mostly glass with light pouring out across the space mark for outside service. 18:23.520 --> 18:29.520 She saw us pulling up, grabbed a quart carton off the back shelf and hustled to the door. 18:29.520 --> 18:31.520 Here you are, Ellie. 18:31.520 --> 18:34.520 I was just saying to Betsy, you better fix up that chili, Betsy. 18:34.520 --> 18:39.520 It's about time Ellie and Joe was showing up, figuring the distance from Beverly Hills. 18:39.520 --> 18:40.520 Thank you, Miranda. 18:40.520 --> 18:42.520 Who's that in the back seat? 18:42.520 --> 18:45.520 I don't seem to recollect your face, young man. 18:45.520 --> 18:48.520 Though anybody will tell you, I never forget a face. 18:48.520 --> 18:50.520 This is Mr. Anderson, Miranda. 18:50.520 --> 18:52.520 He just came out here from the east. 18:52.520 --> 18:53.520 Oh, is that a fact. 18:53.520 --> 18:57.520 Say Joe, you plan on going straight up Ventura home? 18:57.520 --> 18:58.520 Sure, why? 18:58.520 --> 18:59.520 Don't you do it. 18:59.520 --> 19:02.520 Go the back way, even if it does take longer. 19:02.520 --> 19:05.520 Of course the brush fire between here and your place is out. 19:05.520 --> 19:08.520 But there are still 50, 60 men patrolling it. 19:08.520 --> 19:09.520 What's that? 19:09.520 --> 19:12.520 Oh, but that ain't nothing to what's going on further out the valley. 19:12.520 --> 19:17.520 That new fire's clean out of control, licking up hundreds of acres. 19:17.520 --> 19:21.520 They've been sending truckloads of firefighters past here all evening. 19:21.520 --> 19:23.520 And the road's blocked for miles, they tell me. 19:23.520 --> 19:24.520 The road's blocked? 19:24.520 --> 19:25.520 For miles, they tell me. 19:25.520 --> 19:29.520 And all them poor ranchers losing their homes. 19:29.520 --> 19:31.520 Being from the east, you wouldn't understand. 19:31.520 --> 19:34.520 But brush fires is awful things once they get out of... 19:34.520 --> 19:35.520 Thanks. 19:35.520 --> 19:37.520 Start moving. 19:37.520 --> 19:38.520 We'll take the back way to your house. 19:38.520 --> 19:39.520 To our house? 19:39.520 --> 19:40.520 What's they? 19:40.520 --> 19:42.520 Oh, you staying with Ellie and Joe? 19:42.520 --> 19:44.520 Yeah, until the road's... 19:44.520 --> 19:46.520 Until I can get into my own place. 19:46.520 --> 19:48.520 What are we waiting for? 19:48.520 --> 19:49.520 Night, Miranda. 19:49.520 --> 19:50.520 Well, goodbye. 19:50.520 --> 19:52.520 Be sure you come see me, Mr. Anderson. 19:52.520 --> 19:54.520 I'll be looking for you. 19:57.520 --> 19:59.520 So there it was. 19:59.520 --> 20:01.520 We weren't going to the country. 20:01.520 --> 20:05.520 We weren't going to be left to rot at the foot of a cliff or buried deep in brush. 20:05.520 --> 20:08.520 No, we were going home. 20:08.520 --> 20:10.520 Home to the kids. 20:10.520 --> 20:12.520 Taking a murderer with us. 20:12.520 --> 20:16.520 I still couldn't see Ellie, but I could feel her tensing up. 20:16.520 --> 20:18.520 Tight as a pulled drawstring. 20:18.520 --> 20:21.520 Mr. Matric, you... 20:21.520 --> 20:23.520 You didn't mean what you said, did you? 20:23.520 --> 20:25.520 About coming home with us? 20:25.520 --> 20:27.520 You know a better place I can hide out till the road's open? 20:27.520 --> 20:29.520 But it wouldn't be safe. 20:29.520 --> 20:31.520 We've got neighbors close all around. 20:31.520 --> 20:32.520 If somebody sees you... 20:32.520 --> 20:33.520 Nobody'll see me. 20:33.520 --> 20:34.520 Nobody better. 20:34.520 --> 20:36.520 Joe, couldn't we get around the fire? 20:36.520 --> 20:38.520 Yeah, that'd be better. We could try. 20:38.520 --> 20:40.520 There are other roads through the valley. 20:40.520 --> 20:43.520 Listen, Matric, we'll nose around and find a way through somehow. 20:43.520 --> 20:44.520 Cut it out! 20:44.520 --> 20:47.520 You heard the old biddy. Hundreds of acres burning. 20:47.520 --> 20:48.520 Firefighters, cops. 20:48.520 --> 20:50.520 Get off the highway. We're going home. 20:50.520 --> 20:51.520 No, no, I won't have it. 20:51.520 --> 20:52.520 Joe, you stop the car right here. 20:52.520 --> 20:53.520 Shut up. 20:53.520 --> 20:56.520 You heard me, Joe. I won't have him in my house, not with Annie and Bob. 20:56.520 --> 20:57.520 I said shut up! 20:57.520 --> 20:58.520 For Lord's sake, Ellie. 20:58.520 --> 21:00.520 It doesn't matter about us, but the kids. I won't let him... 21:00.520 --> 21:01.520 One word out of you! 21:01.520 --> 21:02.520 Joe, stop! 21:02.520 --> 21:03.520 Ellen, hush! 21:03.520 --> 21:04.520 Oh, Joe! 21:04.520 --> 21:05.520 Don't say another thing. 21:05.520 --> 21:10.520 I'm sorry, honey. Matric's the boss. 21:10.520 --> 21:13.520 We've got to do like he says. 21:13.520 --> 21:15.520 That's telling her. 21:15.520 --> 21:19.520 Sure, do like I say and everything will be rosy. 21:19.520 --> 21:22.520 You've got no call to worry about the kids. I like kids. 21:22.520 --> 21:26.520 As long as nobody gives me the brush off. 21:26.520 --> 21:28.520 We'll wake them up soon as we get home. 21:28.520 --> 21:31.520 And you and this Annie can fix up a chilly supper for us. 21:31.520 --> 21:33.520 We'll have us a picnic. 21:33.520 --> 21:39.520 And then, as soon as the fire's out, we'll all take a trip to the country. 21:39.520 --> 21:42.520 Another picnic, huh? 21:42.520 --> 21:52.520 You keep going. 21:52.520 --> 21:55.520 As long as you're breathing, you keep going. 21:55.520 --> 21:59.520 Even when it looks like there's no way out, you hang on by your toenails. 21:59.520 --> 22:03.520 We poked up and down those black valley streets that twist and turn 22:03.520 --> 22:06.520 and sometimes wind up in dead ends. 22:06.520 --> 22:09.520 Ellie stopped crying after a while. 22:09.520 --> 22:12.520 She slumped down with her head rolling on the seat back, 22:12.520 --> 22:17.520 limp as a rag doll with the stuffing leaked out. 22:17.520 --> 22:20.520 It took a long time, but it had to come to an end. 22:20.520 --> 22:23.520 I saw the bulk of the house looming up. 22:23.520 --> 22:28.520 There was light sneaking around the edges of the blinds up in Annie's room. 22:28.520 --> 22:31.520 She wasn't asleep after all. 22:31.520 --> 22:35.520 She'd be sitting up in bed, maybe plastering red stuff on her fingers 22:35.520 --> 22:39.520 and dreaming about the date with Mike. 22:39.520 --> 22:41.520 The budget room was dark. 22:41.520 --> 22:45.520 He'd be wrapped in covers like in a cocoon and dreaming. 22:45.520 --> 22:56.520 Whatever boy's dream, I couldn't remember. 22:56.520 --> 23:01.520 I pulled up to the concrete walk I'd poured with my own hands 23:01.520 --> 23:03.520 before there was any Annie or Bud. 23:03.520 --> 23:06.520 I cut the lights. 23:06.520 --> 23:10.520 In a second or two, my eyes got used to the dark. 23:10.520 --> 23:14.520 I could make out the high heads Ellie planted around the place 23:14.520 --> 23:16.520 and the roof rising up beyond it. 23:16.520 --> 23:25.520 Out, missus. Face the house. 23:25.520 --> 23:44.520 Now you, Mac, slide out the same side. Stand beside her. 23:44.520 --> 23:48.520 Walk to the door. Slow and no funny business. 23:48.520 --> 23:55.520 I'm right behind you. 23:55.520 --> 23:56.520 Look out, Joe! 23:56.520 --> 23:59.520 What now? No! I'll kill you! 23:59.520 --> 24:01.520 Hold him, boys. 24:01.520 --> 24:03.520 It's okay, Mike. Got him. 24:03.520 --> 24:05.520 You all right, Uncle Joe? Aunt Ellie? 24:05.520 --> 24:07.520 Ellie. Ellie, honey. You all right? 24:07.520 --> 24:11.520 All right, indeed. Smack flat on my face on a concrete walk 24:11.520 --> 24:13.520 and you falling on me. 24:13.520 --> 24:15.520 Nothing wrong with her. 24:15.520 --> 24:16.520 That's my girl. 24:16.520 --> 24:18.520 Well, don't just stand there. Help me up. 24:18.520 --> 24:19.520 Here you are. 24:19.520 --> 24:22.520 Oh, I've got to get in the house before the kids come busting out here. 24:22.520 --> 24:24.520 I won't have them mixed up in this. 24:24.520 --> 24:26.520 Well, how's he doing, boys? 24:26.520 --> 24:29.520 Got him through the gun hand on the right shoulder. See? 24:29.520 --> 24:34.520 A lucky shot, copper. If you weren't lucky, you'd all be cold meat now. 24:34.520 --> 24:36.520 Maybe. Matric, isn't it, Uncle Joe? 24:36.520 --> 24:39.520 That's him. Miranda scribed him to you, eh? 24:39.520 --> 24:40.520 The old girl didn't miss a trick. 24:40.520 --> 24:42.520 She even knew you were taking the back way home. 24:42.520 --> 24:45.520 You left a clear trail, Uncle Joe. Slick work. 24:45.520 --> 24:48.520 I had to get him out of the car before the fireworks started. 24:48.520 --> 24:50.520 Ellie didn't stand a chance. 24:50.520 --> 24:53.520 She helped, though. Ellie catches on quick. 24:53.520 --> 24:54.520 How bad? 24:54.520 --> 24:56.520 A mean guy like Matric. 24:56.520 --> 24:59.520 Make him think you don't want to do something and he'll break his neck doing it. 24:59.520 --> 25:02.520 I let on. I was trying to run out of gas. 25:02.520 --> 25:04.520 That got us to bills. 25:04.520 --> 25:07.520 Then we both made out there was no sense going to Miranda's, 25:07.520 --> 25:09.520 so we got bullied into going to Miranda's. 25:09.520 --> 25:11.520 It was a thousand to one. 25:11.520 --> 25:15.520 She'd run off at the mouth about the brush fires and scare him into hiding out. 25:15.520 --> 25:19.520 After that, all Ellie had to do was turn on the hysterics. 25:19.520 --> 25:22.520 He was dead set on coming here. 25:22.520 --> 25:24.520 Bright boy, like I said. 25:24.520 --> 25:27.520 Bright enough. You did all right, too, Mike. 25:27.520 --> 25:31.520 I was watching the rearview mirror all the time you were tailing us, 25:31.520 --> 25:33.520 but you never showed. 25:33.520 --> 25:35.520 You knew I was there, though. 25:35.520 --> 25:39.520 When one officer starts double-talking another officer, he wants to know why. 25:39.520 --> 25:41.520 Officer? Double-talk? 25:41.520 --> 25:44.520 You never said a thing to him except that I'd bought some place out here. 25:44.520 --> 25:47.520 Yeah, the Charles place. 25:47.520 --> 25:49.520 Poor old man Charles. 25:49.520 --> 25:51.520 In a tough spot and moving out for good. 25:51.520 --> 25:52.520 What's wrong with that? 25:52.520 --> 25:57.520 Matric, didn't anybody ever tell you it wasn't smart to take up with strangers? 25:57.520 --> 26:00.520 Maybe I'd better introduce myself. 26:00.520 --> 26:02.520 The name's Charles. 26:02.520 --> 26:04.520 Joe Charles. 26:04.520 --> 26:06.520 Detective. Homicide. 26:06.520 --> 26:10.520 Tonight I was off duty and was just taking my wife to a movie. 26:10.520 --> 26:32.520 MUSIC 26:32.520 --> 26:35.520 Thank you, Fibber McGee and Molly, for a splendid performance. 26:35.520 --> 26:36.520 Why, thank you. 26:36.520 --> 26:37.520 Thanks very much, bud. 26:37.520 --> 26:40.520 We're not used to doing a show with a gun stuck in our backs. 26:40.520 --> 26:41.520 No. 26:41.520 --> 26:44.520 We're used to doing them with Jack Benny breathing down our necks. 26:44.520 --> 26:48.520 And vice versa. 26:48.520 --> 26:50.520 But that guy over there, he looks familiar. 26:50.520 --> 26:52.520 Why, dearie, that's Mr. Wilcock. 26:52.520 --> 26:56.520 Old Waxey himself, the guy that sells Johnson's wax on our Tuesday show. 26:56.520 --> 26:59.520 Not Waxey on Thursdays, dearie. Sparky. 26:59.520 --> 27:01.520 Sparky, eh? Well, what do you know? 27:01.520 --> 27:02.520 Hey, Junior! 27:02.520 --> 27:03.520 Hello, Fibber. Hello, Molly. 27:03.520 --> 27:04.520 Hello, Mr. Wilcock. 27:04.520 --> 27:06.520 Say, you two were terrific tonight. 27:06.520 --> 27:09.520 Tell me, did you drive over from Westville Vista? 27:09.520 --> 27:12.520 Uh-oh. Molly, I'm afraid to answer that. 27:12.520 --> 27:15.520 Because if you did, I hope your car had auto light resistor spark plugs. 27:15.520 --> 27:16.520 See what I mean? 27:16.520 --> 27:21.520 And listen, pal, if I were you, I'd stop and see an auto light service man on the way home. 27:21.520 --> 27:22.520 That old bull's of yours. 27:22.520 --> 27:26.520 Listen, Waxey, I mean, Sparky, you don't have to tell me where to stop. 27:26.520 --> 27:27.520 I stopped on the way over. 27:27.520 --> 27:30.520 Why, those masterful miracles of manufacturing magnificence... 27:30.520 --> 27:33.520 Oh, now, McGee, McGee, that's Mr. Wilcock's story. 27:33.520 --> 27:34.520 Let him tell it. 27:34.520 --> 27:39.520 Well, what Fibber means is that auto light parts are original factory parts. 27:39.520 --> 27:43.520 Auto light parts and service and your car go together like McGee and Molly, 27:43.520 --> 27:45.520 Happ and Harlow, Amos and Andy. 27:45.520 --> 27:49.520 So when you replace worn out parts, visit your auto light service station 27:49.520 --> 27:55.520 or the dealer who sells your make of car and ask for original factory parts and service. 27:55.520 --> 27:58.520 Leading cars use them all. Auto light makes them all. 27:58.520 --> 28:03.520 Be right. Get auto light parts and service. 28:09.520 --> 28:12.520 Just a minute, Fibber and Molly. Don't go away. 28:12.520 --> 28:15.520 Oh, that's right. You want us to say that word? 28:15.520 --> 28:16.520 If you please. 28:16.520 --> 28:18.520 Oh, yes. Well, go ahead, McGee. 28:18.520 --> 28:19.520 No, you say it, Molly. 28:19.520 --> 28:20.520 Well, why don't we both say it then? 28:20.520 --> 28:26.520 Okay. Well, I know you're going to want to hear radio's outstanding theater of thrills next week 28:26.520 --> 28:29.520 because Charles Lawton is going to be on the program. 28:29.520 --> 28:33.520 Yes. And in a famous story by John Collier called Demortius. 28:33.520 --> 28:36.520 And it's another gripping study in... 28:36.520 --> 28:39.520 Suspense. 28:41.520 --> 28:45.520 Tonight's suspense play was by Sally Thorson with music composed by Lucian Morrowek 28:45.520 --> 28:47.520 and conducted by Ludd Bluskin. 28:47.520 --> 28:50.520 The entire production was under the direction of Anton M. Lieder. 28:50.520 --> 28:55.520 In the coming weeks, suspense will present such stars as James Mason, Jane Wyman and many others. 28:55.520 --> 29:01.520 Make it a point to listen each Thursday to Suspense, radio's outstanding theater of thrills. 29:01.520 --> 29:05.520 And next Thursday same time, hear Charles Lawton in Demortius. 29:05.520 --> 29:15.520 You'll find auto light service stations listed in your classified telephone directory 29:15.520 --> 29:20.520 under automotive electrical equipment. You're right with auto light. 29:20.520 --> 29:25.520 This is CBS, the Columbia Broadcasting System.