And now, Auto Light and its 60,000 dealers and service stations present...
Suspense!
Tonight, Auto Light brings you Miss Joan Fontaine in Lovebirds, a suspense play produced and
directed by Anton M. Lieder.
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And now, Auto Light presents Miss Joan Fontaine in a tale well calculated to keep you in suspense.
You know, Sam, I used to laugh just as everyone else does when I heard someone say, I've given
you the best years of my life.
But it's not funny to me anymore.
No because that's what I've done, Sam.
I've given you the best years of my life, waiting for you to die, but you wouldn't die.
For seven years you've been hanging on and I've been playing a part, playing it so well
that people call us the lovebirds.
Lovebirds.
Now, here it is, our seventh anniversary.
You wanted to show off that portrait you had painted of me to Doug and Betty Wilson and
Doc Roberts and the others.
You were proud, they were envious.
I was sick.
Yep, that's Martha all right, right down to the last eyelash.
Like it, Doc?
Perfect, Sam, just perfect.
The perfect portrait of the perfect girl.
Well, it's after midnight and I'm a nine o'clock guy.
Yeah, I've got to shove off too.
How's the asthma these days, Sam?
Oh, seems to be getting better, Doug, but my arthritis.
Don't blame you, Sam.
If I had Martha to look out for me, I'd stay sick too.
Oh, no.
Here's your coat, Doc.
Oh, thanks, Martha.
No, Doug, where did I...
The hall closet, I'll get it.
Oh, get mine too, darling.
Coming up.
Oh, it was a lovely party, Martha.
Thank you.
And let me tell you, Mrs. Lovebird, if you keep on taking the kind of care of old Sam
you have been, we'll all be here for number 50.
Oh, go on, Doc.
I'm serious.
When you two first got hitched, I wouldn't give you two years, Sam.
Now I'd give even money you make...
Oh, it's nothing, Doug.
Here, I'll put it away.
Darn, box fell off the shelf when I reached for my hat.
Here, let me put it away.
No, Doug, please, it's nothing, Doc.
It's not.
You fellas keeping secrets?
What's the trouble, Doug?
Oh, looky here, travel folders, a whole box full of them.
Alluring Alaska, Acapulco, 30-day cruise, Sam Maritz, Capri.
Say, what is this?
Come on, Sam, spill it.
You two lovebirds planning to migrate somewhere?
News to me.
They're mine, Doug.
Oh.
Oh, well, Martha's kind of a pack rat.
Keeps all kinds of trash stowed away in strange corners.
You wouldn't kid us, Sam.
You're not really planning a trip.
Because it's out of the question, you know.
Out of the question, Doc said.
It sounded so final, Sam.
Out of the question.
Ran through my mind over and over after they got in, I stood washing the pile of dishes
in the kitchen.
Out of the question.
How are you coming with the dishes, angel?
I could feel your hand, thin and dead white, touching my shoulder and I wanted to scream.
What right did you to touch me?
Why did I have to bear your half-dead hands when I was alive?
What's the matter, honey?
You're kind of quiet.
I feel quiet, I guess.
Say, where are my glasses?
I don't know.
Doc, I never can remember where I put the darn things.
I'm blind as a bat without them.
Look in the front room on the mantle.
A lot of good data do.
I can't find my glasses without my glasses.
Take a look for me, will you?
But my hands are wet, Sam.
Can't you wait until morning?
I've got to have them now.
All right, but I can't see why you need them in bed.
It's these sleeping pills.
Jim was out of my kind and gave me these.
Said they were just as good, but I can't read the directions.
But is it that important?
Of course it's important.
Why, just the other day I read where a fellow in Chicago took a couple too many and bingo.
Oh, I'll see if your glasses are on the mantle, Sam.
I leaned back against the wall for a minute, out of the question.
It was ringing in my head like a bell, out of the question.
Then Sam, right then, I knew I couldn't take it any longer.
I went into the living room, picked up the pair of glasses on the mantle.
Seven years, seven long years of caring for you like a baby.
One sickness after another.
Everyone in the book.
You nearly died a dozen times.
And each time I saved you.
That's what everyone said, even the doctor.
What a joke.
Here I was waiting for you to die, but you wouldn't, Sam.
You wouldn't have the decency to die and leave me the money so I could get away from this
little town and live like a normal human being.
Find them, darling?
No, no, Sam.
These are my glasses.
Mine ought to be in here somewhere.
It's too late tonight to worry about them, darling.
Here, let me see those new pills.
Yeah, yeah.
Take a look.
These are different.
Says two percent instead of five.
Six pills instead of two.
Really?
They don't sound very good, Sam.
I'll try to get some of your regular kind next time I go to Chicago.
Six?
That's what it says.
Funny.
Jim didn't say anything about it.
Hadn't you?
Better get ready for bed.
It's nearly one.
In a minute, in a minute.
Martha, would you tell me something honestly?
Of course.
What is it?
Well, that business about the travel folders.
Oh, I suppose it's nothing, but well, somehow I can't get it out of my head.
What about the travel folders?
Martha, would you really like to go to those far off places?
Just you and me?
Don't be silly.
You know what Doc Roberts said.
I didn't ask you that.
I asked you if you wanted to go with me.
It's awfully important to me now, Martha, whether you'd want to go with me.
Why worry about it?
You know we can't go.
That's why I need you worse than ever, Martha.
That's why I guess it kind of hurts me to find you collecting travel folders like you
wanted to get away from me.
Well, I guess you're right.
I'd better get up to bed.
I watched you go up the stairs, and I put the glasses back on the mantle.
Your glasses, Sam, not mine.
I waited a long time downstairs listening to you shuffling around in your sandals, heard
the bathroom faucet go on, and I knew you were taking your pills.
Six pills instead of two.
Then there was the shuffling again and quiet.
The whole clock struck one, then two.
Then I couldn't wait any longer.
I went upstairs to your room.
Sam?
I turned on the light.
Sam, wake up.
Sam?
Sam, can you hear me?
Sam!
It's working.
It's working!
For suspense, Auto Light is bringing you Miss Joan Fontaine in Radio's outstanding
theatre of thrills, Suspense.
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And now Auto Light brings back to our Hollywood sound stage, Joan Fontaine as Martha in The
Lovebirds, a tale well calculated to keep you in Suspense.
Yes, Sam, it was quite a moment there in your bedroom as I looked down at you, drugged and
helpless on the bed.
I shook you and you didn't even groan.
I shook harder.
I shouted in your ear and pinched you.
You didn't move.
It was wonderful.
For the first time in seven years, I could laugh and mean it.
I gave you plenty of time, Sam.
You are gone.
I couldn't feel your pulse when I called Doc Roberts at six in the morning.
I waited downstairs for him to break the news to me.
Easy now, Martha.
Just lean back and rest.
Tell me what is it, Doc?
What's wrong with him?
He's going to die, isn't he?
He's going to leave me alone.
Let down now.
Just let go.
That's it.
He wouldn't wake up, Doc.
I shook him.
Yes, yes, I know.
Is he dead?
No, he'll live, Martha.
What?
Sam will be all right.
He's sleeping now.
Probably will till late this afternoon.
But what?
Martha, I think it'll be better if I say this straight out.
Say what straight out?
Looks to me like you're going to be a little bit more careful.
I'm not going to be a little bit more careful.
I'm going to be a little bit more careful.
Say what straight out?
Looks to me like Sam took an overdose of sleeping medicine.
No.
Well, he might have made a mistake in counting or...
Suicide?
Maybe.
You noticed anything strange about him lately?
Well, you know how he's been since his asthma started.
What are you going to do, Doc?
I'm supposed to make a report on these things.
You can't do that.
What if it got around town?
What if it got back to Sam?
There's no telling what he...
Ah, that's true.
It still might have been an accident.
Oh, we've got to give him the benefit of the doubt.
It's a touchy business though, Martha.
He mustn't think that we suspect it.
Doc, there's no telling what he'd do.
I'll tell him he had a fever in the night.
Maybe you're right.
You know, the body's a pretty durable thing, even a body like Sam's, but the mind, that's
something else again.
I'll do all I can, Martha, but the big job is yours.
For a second after he left, I thought I was going to faint.
I got a drink from the sideboard.
Made me feel better.
Until I remembered something else.
The doctor didn't suspect, but you, Sam, when you read the instructions on that box of pills...
I drove all the way to Chicago that morning, Sam, and I got what I wanted.
It wasn't quite noon when I returned to your room.
Put the new box on the stand beside your bed and threw the other in the furnace.
It was a long way to go, but you gave me plenty of time.
Where have I been?
Martha!
Right here, Sam.
Oh, I feel...
I feel dopey.
Doc said you had a touch of fever last night.
Doc?
Mm-hmm.
He looked you over this morning.
What time is it?
Noon.
Funny.
I don't remember anything about it.
Hmm.
What's this?
What?
The box on the stand here.
That's not the one I bought.
I got rid of your new pills.
Picked up some of the regular kind this morning while I was shopping.
You never quit, do you?
What do you mean, Sam?
Spoiling me like this.
First thing you know, I'll be as helpless as a baby.
What's for lunch?
It was that easy, Sam.
You never suspected.
I was afraid of Doc Roberts at first, but he didn't say a thing.
And for a while there was whispers you didn't hear.
They were so sure you'd tried to kill yourself, Sam.
They were so afraid you tried a second time.
Then I stopped being afraid.
This was no time to lie back and wait.
They'd given me a weapon.
This was the time to do it.
Well, let's see, Martha.
I reckon the surest thing would be poison.
Thiosianum.
But isn't that sort of dangerous, Jim?
Not if you're careful.
How much will I need?
Oh, one package ought to do it.
Depends on how bad they are.
The rats.
Here.
There you are.
Hope it does the trick.
Thanks, Jim.
So do I.
It was going to be different this time, Sam.
This time I knew where I was going.
That's where I'd made the mistake before, you see.
I hadn't planned.
A week later, I was ready.
I remember you came home early that evening, and I was in the kitchen starting your dinner.
Salad.
Tossed lettuce and garlic.
Plenty of garlic.
Getting dinner, Martha?
It's almost done.
Have it ready in a minute.
Mmm.
That roast smells good.
Better go and wash so things won't get cold.
What's that you're mixing there?
Dressing for the salad.
Oh, dressing.
You sure?
What do you mean?
I'm just making sure I don't get cold.
I'm not going to get cold.
Why not?
It wouldn't be a love potion for me.
Would it, Martha?
Or maybe just maybe a death potion.
Oh dear, you've cracked the salad bowl.
What's the matter, Martha?
Afraid you'll fail this time too?
Oh, Sam, you're talking nonsense.
I don't know what you're talking about.
You should, Martha.
Jim tells me they haven't had my kind of sleeping pills at the drug store for a long time.
How far did you have to go to get them?
You're sick, Sam.
You're building things up in your mind.
I wish I were.
You see, I made a mistake this morning, Martha.
I decided to wear my white shirt, the one
with the French cuffs.
Shirt?
You can't wear a shirt like that without cufflinks.
I guess you forgot that, Martha, didn't you?
That I kept my cufflinks in your jewelry box.
Yes.
Yes, Martha, I found it.
I found the poison.
Oh, well, that's what's worrying you.
It's for the rats, Emma.
I bought it for the rats.
Rats.
Should have bought some rats, too,
because there aren't any around here.
There's a certificate from an extermination company
in the file that says so.
That's a nice looking salad, Martha.
Here, taste it.
Don't be a fool.
You're the fool.
You bought the poison for some rats that don't exist.
I ran out of the kitchen upstairs to my room.
I was scared, Sam, and lost.
I grabbed my coat and hat without thinking
and started down the stairs.
Better not go, Martha.
Leave me alone.
Do you want to hang?
Hang?
That's right, Martha.
Don't be ridiculous.
There's got to be a murder first.
There will be.
The minute you leave this house, remember, my dear wife,
I have the poison.
So?
OK.
Go on.
Go on and leave, Martha.
But just remember, when you walk out that door,
I'll take enough of that poison to make them hunt you down
from one end of the earth to the other.
I'll take enough of it to make them hang you 20 times.
If someone had put a gun in my hand,
I'd have killed you right there.
But all I could do was swallow the screen that
rose up in my throat and fight the weakness in my knees.
And yet, Sam, I think with it all,
I think with all the terror and sick defeat inside me,
I still wanted to laugh.
Remember, this was the house of the lovebirds.
["The Star-Spangled Banner"]
That night, I lay in bed, twisting and turning,
waiting for you to go to sleep.
I was in a prison, Sam.
And only one thing would free me.
I had to destroy the evidence.
I had to find that poison.
["The Star-Spangled Banner"]
At 1 o'clock, I walked across to your door, opened it quietly.
Listened.
You were asleep.
Your clothes were draped over a chair next to the bed.
I went through them first, into the closet
and your other things, and then the dresser.
Had to be somewhere.
I tried to put myself in your place.
Where would I have hidden it?
Your snoring seemed to grow louder,
pounding in my eardrums.
I think it was then that I felt the paper
weight on the nightstand.
And for a moment, I thought if I stopped that snoring,
everything would be all right.
I held it above your head, ready to smash and smash
again and again.
Why don't you strike, dear?
No.
You know better than to kill me, don't you?
That'd be silly, Martha.
Stupid, too.
Where did you put that poison?
In a good, safe place.
You're wasting your time, you know.
You'll never find it.
I have planned to use it myself in my own good time.
What do you mean?
You'll find it one of these days when the mood strikes me.
Sam!
Why not?
Remember you bought the poison, and they'll figure
you got caught in your own trap.
Maybe got hold of a cup of coffee or a cheese sandwich
or something you'd fixed for me by mistake.
Better get back to bed now.
Get some rest.
You've got a trying head a day ahead of you.
There was no sleep for me after that, Sam.
Just white-hot nightmares, endless hours of darkness,
and day after day of torture of a cat and mouse game
with each of us watching each other.
I didn't eat.
I couldn't let you poison my food.
It was closing in on me, Sam, something I couldn't stand.
I had a headache.
My stomach was sick from hunger.
I'll give it to you, Sam.
You know your business.
You know how to torture.
And then one day, I got dizzy and nearly fainted.
I had to eat something.
I went to the kitchen and opened the refrigerator.
The milk hadn't been opened.
I poured a glass and drank it.
Tasted so good.
Then I remembered some poisons are tasteless.
I was crazy to drink milk, of all things.
I poured it down the sink, feeling spasms and cramps
in my stomach.
I could feel them, Sam.
They were real.
Don't care for milk, Martha.
You're not being sensible at all.
Milk is nature's perfect food, says so on the bottle.
Oh, let me alone.
Let's see here.
Pretty good selection.
How about some cheese?
Cheese is awfully good.
And the roast beef is fresh cut.
Doug brought it in from the country today.
How long are you going on with this, Sam?
Why?
I can't stand it much longer.
Afraid to die, Martha?
Well, just relax.
You're dying right now.
Milk.
You poisoned the milk.
No.
No, I didn't mean that.
It's just that, well, Martha, you're not
as beautiful as you were.
I was just looking at that portrait over the mantle.
Did you know you were getting circles under your eyes?
And your figure isn't at all what it was.
I'm not sure even an invalid would want you now.
I guess I lost track of time for a while after that.
The days slid by, the nights too.
I was hungry all the time.
At first, I found some canned goods.
But then you caught on, and you punched holes
in the rest of the cans.
And then I didn't dare touch them after that.
I couldn't go on, Sam.
I knew I couldn't last out.
I was at the end of my rope that night when Betty and Doug stopped by.
I can never forget that night, Sam, because as we sat there
in the living room with that terrible, smiling portrait of me
staring down at us, Betty said something, something that made
me realize I wasn't trapped, that there was a way out,
after all, an easy way.
Let me get you a drink, Doug.
Sure, Samble.
Easy on the soda.
Me too, but easy on the liquor.
Jack, how about you, Martha?
You look a little tired.
Might pick you up.
I was about to say you look tired, Martha.
Oh, it's nothing, Doug.
I know.
The old slave driver here is probably working you too hard, Martha.
You need a vacation.
Yeah.
How about driving down to Florida with us next week, huh?
Florida?
Oh, well.
We can't make it, Doug.
The doc wants to keep an eye on me.
I don't know.
Heaven knows I like my home as well as the next one.
But if I had to stick as close to it as Martha does,
I'd probably go right out of my mind.
Ho, ho.
I sat very still.
It was all I could do to keep a smile frozen on my face
like a mask.
That moment, Sam, I felt like a prisoner
who'd just been handed the key.
It was a marvelous feeling, surging up inside me like fire.
Well, of course, if they thought I was crazy, they'd take me away.
And no matter what you did, you couldn't touch me.
I looked around the room, saw the poker by the fireplace
under the portrait.
I remember how your eyes followed me as I got up
and walked to the fireplace, picked up the poker.
I gave you one last smile.
And then I turned to the painting,
and I raised the poker high.
Martha, what are you doing?
I hate this painting.
I hate this.
Oh!
Ah!
Get her, Sam.
Martha, put down that poker.
I got her.
Give it to me, Martha.
Give me that poker.
He's gone.
Let me go.
Ow, she bit me.
Give me your hand, Doug.
I got her.
I got her now.
Sam.
Good Lord.
She's here.
I like it here at the home, Sam.
It's quiet.
And I get a lot of rest.
I'm getting my weight back.
But most of all, it's nice to feel safe.
How long is it now?
Three months, four.
Pretending I'm insane?
Anyway, I'll take my time.
Think it through very carefully.
And then when I'm ready to drop the act,
show them I'm qualified to leave,
then I think you know what I'm going to do, don't you, Sam?
I'm going to kill you.
That'll give you something to think about during the long nights alone
in the lovebird house on Pinewood Drive.
I'm going to kill you.
Kill you.
Here, here.
Cool down.
I got her.
OK.
Ease her down on the cot.
Shall I get the jacket?
No, she'll be all right.
Gets like that once in a while.
Too bad.
Nice looking woman.
Goes off like that every once in a while.
Sure makes enough noise.
Gets a little wild sometimes.
Used to be a guy come to see her.
Little fella.
I can remember him.
He was a little boy.
I can remember he used to get down on his knees there beside her and say something like,
Martha, I didn't have it on us, darling.
Yeah, that's it.
Then he'd say, I threw it away as soon as I found it in your jewelry box.
He'd say it over and over like he thought he didn't bring her out of it.
Then he'd just stand there and cry like his heart was broken.
Sure must have loved her an awful lot.
But he was like the rest of them.
After a while he stopped coming.
I don't suppose he's been back now for 10 or 11 years.
Thank you, Joan Fontaine, for a splendid performance.
Miss Fontaine.
Yes, Mr. Wilcox.
I ran across your picture today in the new two color auto light spark plug advertisement
in this week's issue of the Saturday Evening Post.
Oh, yes, I saw that.
And from reading it, I learned more about auto light resistor spark plugs.
Oh, that's swell.
You know, Miss Fontaine, during the coming weeks, that same two color advertisement will
appear in many national publications.
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And now here again is Miss Joan Fontaine.
I very much enjoyed my appearance on suspense tonight.
And I'll be listening next week when Van Hefflin appears in a really unusual story by Cornell
Woolrich called Three O'Clock.
I know it will be another gripping study in suspense.
Joan Fontaine can currently be seen in You Gotta Stay Happy, a Rampart production costarring
James Stewart.
Lester Sharp played the part of Sam.
Tonight's suspense play The Lovebirds was written by Sheryl Hendricks and adapted by
Harold Swanton with music composed by Lucian Morrowek and conducted by Lud Gluskin.
The entire production was under the direction of Anton M. Leder.
Next Thursday same time, hear Van Hefflin in Three O'Clock.
You can buy auto light electrical parts, auto light resistor spark plugs, auto light staple
batteries at your neighborhood auto light dealer.
Switch to auto light.
Good night.
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