Suspense.
Tonight, Auto Light and its 96,000 dealers present Mr. Ray Meland in Chicken.
A suspense play produced and edited by William Spear.
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Light. Oh, and friends, a reminder, suspense may be seen on television in many parts of the country
every Tuesday night. And now with Chicken Feed and with the performance of Ray Meland,
Auto Light hopes once again to keep you in suspense.
All right, it was a silly thing to fight over, I admit it, but there it was, a nickel,
a measly, worthless nickel, Chicken Feed. But of course, that was the only the beginning.
Junior had asked for a nickel and I flipped it over to him. After he left the room, Mary said,
I shouldn't spoil the kid. It was time he learned the value of money. And I said,
great Scott, if I couldn't give my own child a nickel without her jumping down my throat,
I said, after all, what's a nickel good for? Cup of coffee? Oh, you know, you know how these
things get going. You keep saying things you shouldn't and she lashes out with an answer.
And before you know it, you've stormed out of the house and you're taking it out on the car.
Fifty miles cool me down a little, but not much. I automatically slowed up when I came
with the sign, you are now entering Lansing, California. Go slow and see our town,
go fast and see our jail. Everybody knew Lansing, speed trap, tough town. Driving at a normal speed
through the quiet Sunday street gave me time to think of something besides the biting words Mary
and I had slugged at each other. I pulled up in a little cafe next to the police station,
had a whitewash sign on the window, best cup of coffee in town for five cents.
And I resent that officer Brady. Too over easy, Sam, and heavy on the pride. What's yours, Mr.?
Coffee, please. Coming up. Here you are. Hey, officer Brady, how's your starboarder?
Phillips? Ah, they're coming for him in the morning. They could be able to hold him until then.
He got out of that Bennington jail like a paper bag. But don't worry sister,
Mr. Phillips won't get out of this room. Well, I listened to him half an ear while I sip my coffee.
Best cup in town for five cents. That reminded me of our argument over a nickel. That's about all a
nickel's good for, a cup of coffee some places, a newspaper, a phone call. There was a stack of
local papers nearby and I poked it over to look at. This Phillips is on the front page, bank robber,
killed a teller. He had a face I wouldn't want to run into. Close. After a while, the hot coffee
made me feel a little better. Maybe, well, maybe I'd been at fault as much as Mary. She wasn't the
only one who had a bad temper. On a sudden impulse, I left my coffee, went over to the phone on the
far wall. I heard the dial tone and then I fished in my pocket for change. It was empty. Say miss,
could you change the dollar for me? I want to use the phone. Oh yes, sir.
What's the matter, mister? Well, my wallet, I seem to have... Look, I'll be back in a minute.
No, Mary wasn't the only one with a temper. I'd stormed out of the house without changing the
contents of my pockets to clean my suit. Didn't have a dime on me, not a nickel. I rummaged in
the glove compartment. Mary sometimes left the coin first, but this time, naturally, it wasn't
there. I felt like a fool. What seems to be the trouble, mister? Oh, hello officer. I seem to
have come out without any money. It's embarrassing. Yeah, yeah, I'm sorry. I'm sorry.
I didn't realize it. I tried to phone, but I... Oh, wait a minute. Just a minute.
Huh? Where's your driver's license? Oh, it's in my wallet. San Francisco. Got any other
identification? Well, the registration slip on the car. Oh yeah, that's the car. What about you?
Look officer, I'm Ralph Clark. Clark and Jacobs in the Hatfield building. We're attorneys.
Attorneys. I should have a card somewhere. Kind of far from home to be without any dough,
ain't you? Well, I came out of the house without changing the stuff into this suit. You know how.
Yeah. How do you happen to have the keys to the car? Well, I don't take them out and it's in the
garage. Yeah. Say, you don't think... Where are you headed for? Well, I know it sounds funny, but
nowhere really. You see, I had a fight with my wife and I just batted out of the house to cool off.
I'll tell you what, Mr. Clark, suppose we just mosey over to the station house. The station house?
Say, what is this? Oh, nothing. Nothing at all. It's right next door and you can call your wife
from there. But I don't see why that's necessary. If you'd just lend me a nickel, I could call here
and reverse the charges. Come on, we'll go. You can leave the car here. I'll take the keys.
And look here, officer, I don't bet this is... Come on, move on. Move on. All the stupid situations today.
Hi, Jim. What you got this time? I'll tell you better after he makes his call. Give me the phone,
will you, Ross? That's out of order. Went dead half hour ago. Yeah? I reported it. They said they
can't have a man here before tomorrow. But did you tell them this is a police station for Pete Sanks?
Oh, sure I told them. It ain't that, though. We get incoming calls and we still got the nickel
snatcher over there. Oh, yeah. Well, there's a pay phone, Mr. Clark. You can make your call from there.
I don't have any money, remember? Oh, yeah, okay. Here's a nickel. Gee, thanks. Let me speak to your
wife when you get her. This is gonna sound fine, just fine. She'll think I really tied one on.
Operator. I want to call San Francisco. Fillmo 60098. Reverse the charges, please. Thank you.
Your number, please. This is 460.
6-0.
Hello? I have a collect call from Lansing, California for Fillmore 60098. Will you accept it?
Lansing? Well, I don't know anyone in Lansing. It's me, Mary. Take the call. Oh, it's you, is it?
What do you think you're doing, 50-month-old? Will you accept the call, madam? I should say not.
A very idea. Hey, Mary, wait! I'm sorry. The party will not accept the call. Look,
operator, get her back, will you? This is important. I will ring them again.
Swell, that's a sweetheart.
She's there, the little... Why doesn't she pick up that phone? Your party does not answer. Oh.
Now, it's out of time. Well, that's your nickel. Let me have another one, will you?
I'll get hold of my partner. He'll identify me. Look, we've wasted enough time. Come on in here.
But those are the cells. Right. You're locking me up? Right again. But what's the big idea? I
didn't do anything. What are you charging me with? You don't have to charge me with anything. I'm
holding you on suspicion. Suspicion? Suspicion of what? Defroting the cafe, for one thing.
I want to check that car. You think I stole it? Well, it's been done. Now, wait a minute. If you'll
just let me fall... You're entitled to one call. You've had it. But look here, officer... Come on inside.
In jail? All on account of a measly nickel, a lousy, stinking nickel.
Hey, welcome to our jail. Stink pot of the Santa Nueva Valley. That's slim. Yeah, you said it.
What's your beef, chum? Suspicion. Can you feature that suspicion? They won't even give me a nickel
to phone. You mean you ain't even got a nickel? No, you see... That's too bad, ain't it, Pete? Oh,
yeah, sure is. I wish we could help you out. Yeah, maybe we can at that. You got a nickel?
Sure. I got three of them. Well, let me one. Well, just one. I'll pay you back. I'll send you
ten dollars as soon as I get out of here. What's it worth to you, chum? What? I just told you ten
dollars. Yeah, yeah, I know. Pie in the sky. Hey, my wristwatch. Why didn't I think of that before?
What's the matter with it? Oh, nothing. Nothing's the matter with it. It's worth fifty dollars.
Yeah, you fool, look at it. It's yours for five cents for one measly nickel. What can you lose?
Must be something wrong with it. Is it hot? Hot? You mean stolen? Yeah. Of course not.
What are you offering it for nickel for? Because I want to get out of this filthy place.
Oh, so you don't like our company, is that it? Well, if you want to put it that way, no, I don't.
All right, a man don't like our company. Now, why ain't that just too bad? Hey, what do you think
of that, Mr. Phillips? He don't like us. You got any nickels, Mr. Phillips?
I followed his glance. For the first time I saw deep in the gloom of the locked cubicle,
the face I'd seen on the front page of the newspaper, the face I'd said I wouldn't want
to run into, close. Well, it was close, and I was glad there were bars between us.
Of course, us guys ain't much, but Mr. Phillips here, he's a big shot. Robbed four banks and
broke into two jails. He killed a man, too. Yeah, sure. We're just bags, but Mr. Phillips,
he's going to the hot seat. Yeah, they're coming to get him, take him back to Utah and burn him.
They don't burn him in Utah. They shoot him. Oh. Ain't that right, Mr. Phillips? Hey, Mr. Phillips
don't want to talk about it. Yeah, Mr. Phillips, he don't want to talk about nothing. Mr. Phillips,
he ain't very sociable. Just like this. Oh, now look, fellas, I didn't mean, I just meant I want
to get out of this jail. Here, take the watch and give me the nickel, huh? Tell you what I'll do,
I'll match you for it. Match me? Yeah, nickel against the watch. Well, then... Take it or leave it.
All right. Leave Pete Hall to watch here, huh? I'll flip a nickel on the floor and you call it, huh?
Heads. Tails, I win. Hey, wait a minute, wait a minute, get your foot over it. How do you know
it's tails? It's tails. I ain't a fish. Sure, it's tails, all right. Here's the watch, Slim.
Say, what is this? Watch it, brother. You're not going to get away with this. Get him, Pete.
Yeah.
I had to learn you. This is for me and me. Oh, don't kick me. Hey, what's going on in there?
Officer, these men... It ain't nothing, officer. This new guy is acting up, that's all. Well, quiet
down in there. Now, get up. I can't, he kicked me. Trying to get us in trouble, huh? No, no, I...
Look, fella, for heaven's sake... Shut up. Okay. Kangaroo. I'll be the judge and you'll be the
prosecutor, huh? Right. Maybe Mr. Phillips will be the defense attorney. You want to, Mr. Phillips?
He don't want to. Prisoner at the bar, stand up.
I said, stand up. Cut it out, Willie. Shut up. All right, consular, what is the prisoner charged
with? Your honor, this man's a desperate criminal. He's charged with breaking into jail, insulting his
fellow boarders, poor sportsmanship and fighting a very dangerous character, your honor. Oh, yeah,
yeah. Guilty on all counts. Prisoner, have you anything to say before I pronounce sentence?
No? Well, I fine you five cents. Hand it over. You know I haven't got it. Can't pay, huh?
Well, then you can work it out. A rate of one cent a day. Your first job will be to shine
the court's shoes. Shine your own shoes. Oh, he's going to be like that, huh? Hold him, Slim.
Yeah. Officer, officer. Put your damn hand in there. Yes, sir. All right.
Now get on them shoes. I don't have anything to shine them with. You got a code, ain't you? Now get going.
The next hours were unadulterated agony. It was unbelievable, the filthy, inhuman things they could
think up for me to do. It was just frightful. With every move I made, I could feel the glittering,
steely eyes of the silent man in the locked cage on me, following me, weighing me. And finally,
when they couldn't think of anything more, they forced me to stand at attention, looking right
into Phillips's cage. They couldn't see his face. It was too close to mine. But he winked at me,
and he nodded his head as though it were a signal. And then his two huge arms came through the bars
and thrust me, reeling across the cell. And I fell and hit my head. And that's all I remember.
Auto Light is bringing you Mr. Ray Milan in Chicken Feet,
tonight's production in Radio's outstanding theater of thrills, Suspense.
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Hollywood sound stage, Ray Milan in Chicken Feet, a tale well calculated to keep you in suspense.
I don't know what time it was, two or three in the morning, I guess, when I felt a stealthy
touch on my shoulder. I opened my eyes, I was still on the stone floor and Phillips was bending over
me holding a revolver. My mouth opened for an involuntary cry and he clapped a hand over.
Shut up, you fool. You want to wake them punks? Get up quick and be quiet about it. I glanced quickly
at Phillips' cell. It was open. So was the door to the corridor. He pushed me on and locked the door
behind us. In his office, spowned and gagged securely to his desk chair, Sergeant Ross glared
at us. The empty holster at his side told where Phillips had got his gun.
Here, which is the key to your car? This one. Okay, take it and let's move.
Where's the car? Over there. You drive.
Okay. Well, we made it.
Them hick bulls, they panicked me. Guy could spring that crock with a hairpin. But you,
you nearly done a fine job of lousing things up. What happened to you? Getting
thrown in the can in the middle of the day. Well, they picked me up on suspicion. Well,
I wasn't supposed to be till midnight tonight. And all that phony kid stuff about the nickel.
The nickel? Yeah, all that double talk when all you had to do was slip me the word that
Jerry Nichols sent you. Served you right the way them luscious treated you. Acting like a diet
in a world square. Jerry Nichols? Nichols? My numbed brain slowly put the meaning of his words
into shape. He thought, he thought I was an accomplice. Sent by a partner to help him break
jail. Then all my screams about a nickel but nothing but a signal to him. A signal that I
came from Jerry Nichols. Jerry got the hideout set up? Uh, yes. Oh, where is it? Uh, the hideout?
The hideout. Going to Jerry's place first, ain't we? Then what? Well, I, uh, I'll take you to Jerry's.
Then I guess he'll take you, take over from there. How far is it to Jerry's? Can't be any more than
about five miles, is it? Well, it's, uh, look behind you. What's the matter? There's a car
following us, dark lights. Well, I don't see... Hey, what's the big idea? You're trying to cross me.
I couldn't help it. My foot slammed on the brake. That car, we've got to get out of here. Go ahead,
get it started. Come on, come on. It's flooded. I'm getting out till that car passes. You make for
the other side, no tricks. Just to make sure I'll take this key. I made myself a chance and I took it.
I slipped out of the car on the other side and ran. Ran across the fields until I could run no more.
After an interminable two miles, I found a road and after a while of tramping along the road,
a dark shape loomed up before me. A gas station. And through the glass, I could make out the outline
of a telephone. I tried the door. It was locked, of course, but I found a tire line and sprang the latch.
I'd run to the phone, almost thrown myself on it before I saw it was a payphone. In a rage, I shook
the black box. I could hear the nickels inside, of course, a sheet of metal no thicker than a
playing card, yet as inaccessible as the moon. But there must be some money in this room. My eyes
focused on a battered desk. There were some change in it and a couple of dollar bills. The kind of
money a man leaves as a sup to possible burglars. Burglars? That meant me. Carefully, I abstracted
a single nickel. Number, please. Get me San Francisco. Sutter 15994. It's Morris Jacobs.
Tell him that this is his partner, Ralph Clark, and ask him to accept the charges. Thank you.
There's an interruption on the line and there may be a slight delay, sir. Will you hold on or shall
I call you? I'll hold on, but hurry, Operati. It's important. One moment, please.
As I waited, a glint of light came through the window.
One moment, please. As I waited, a glint of light pulled my eyes away from the phone.
Far down the road, headlights of a car juggled over the rise and aimed towards me.
It was the first car to come by since I'd hit the road. It might be a stray, a farmer starting out
before sunup, but I couldn't take the chance. Hastee hung up the receiver, closed the cash drawer,
snapped a lock on the door, then I crouched beneath the desk. Open up! Hey! Hey! I've tried to wake
that geezer before he sleeps like a dead man. He may be back on the bottle again. I will get him up.
Hey, Jerry! Jerry! To my horror, I heard the creak of bed springs from the rear of the station.
A light appeared under the door I'd thought was just a rear door to the outside. It opened,
and two hairy barefoot legs under a fan of light gun came through and made for the front.
Who, who is it? Ready and lost. Open up.
Well, you're a fine bunch of cops running out of gas in the middle of the night.
Come on in, come on in. Chill here with your door open.
That ain't gas, pal. Phillips broke jail.
What? Oh, oh, you don't tell me. Well, how did he do that?
Well, you see, there was two of them. He hadn't accomplished. Said he was a lawyer.
He found their car abandoned on the road back at Ferris' Hopperville,
ran out of gas, so they can't be far away. Say, there was a big reward for Phillips
after he broke jail at Bennington, wasn't there? Yeah, a thousand dollars.
Hey! You know him, don't you? Yeah! You was in the Bennington Polk when he done that break.
What was it? A drunk and disorderly or something.
Yeah, he had me a little too much and broke a wind in the general store.
We was roommates for the night. I was pretty scared.
How'd he do it, the break? Oh, I don't know. I was sleeping it off.
Thousand dollars reward, huh? Man can do a lot with a thousand dollars.
Not that he couldn't. Don't you get any ideas now?
That Phillips is a killer and so is his partner most likely.
Well, I ain't exactly helpless myself. Get a nice little fella on my side.
You take my advice, chum, and put that gun away. They show up here, you talk soft,
let us do the capture. Oh, sure, sure. I'll play safe.
Well, we'll be going. Just wanted to alert you, Jerry.
Yes, thanks. Thanks, and so long, boys.
All right, you, come out from under that desk. Come on out, I say, this gun's mighty nervous.
Now, get your hands up and stand over there. Look, Mr.
I'll do the talking. Who are you?
Look, you've got to believe me. I'm not a criminal. I'm a lawyer.
Oh, you must be the other one, huh? Keep them hands up.
But I got into this by accident. I don't know. He helped me escape.
Where is Phillips? Well, I left him in the car.
And that's another thing. You can get the reward. I know who he's going to meet.
And they're going to a hideout and... Oh, I see. Who is he going to meet?
Well, somebody named Jerry Nichols. There you are.
If you let me get to that phone, I can clear everything up.
No, you don't. Stay right where you are, I'll plug you.
But that's my partner, my law partner in San Francisco. I only broke in.
Here's where I could phone him. He let Dan to fire me.
You don't believe me? Oh, I believe you all right.
Then what? Answer it yourself. You'll see. Not on your life, Mr.
You think I'm out of my mind? But you've got to answer it, Jerry.
You don't know what I went through to place that call. You just can't stand...
Jerry. You're Jerry Nichols.
That's right. So you see...
Jerry. Jerry. Sam. Turn off that light, you.
It's Phillips. Stand over there by the window, where he can see you.
Go on. Jerry.
Uh, come on in, Phillips. I ran out of gas.
Jerry, I...
It happened so fast that for a moment I had no reaction at all.
None. I just watched it. Watched Phillips holding his chest with both hands.
Watched that giant body twist convulsively on the floor and then...
Lie still. Watched Jerry bend over him. Then straighten up.
Then as he turned, grinning to me, emotion, feeling came back.
What I felt was seething, overpowering, rage,
fury. Everything I'd been through this night. It was like a boiler that had to
burst. Well, dead or alive, I just made me a
thousand bucks. You foul, stinking scum.
What? You're worse than he is. Shut up.
Maybe I'll get a reward for you, too. A small one.
I could feel the bullet land in my side, just below the belt,
and the avenues of pain spread out like the cracks in a hammered window glass.
But somehow, strangely, it didn't stop me. I kept moving toward him. He backed
away, surprised. He was aiming for another shot when we grabbed him.
I got the gun, he got me by the throat. I'm kidding you. He stumbled.
I fell onto his hand that was holding the gun. I wouldn't let go, and then as he fell
backwards over the chair, I was on top of him.
He wouldn't let go of that gun. As we thrashed him on there on the floor, I
brought his hand up suddenly and smashed his own gun into his face.
Then he lay still.
I listened. I listened to his heart. He was all right.
He was all right. I got up gasping for breath,
and then I realized that I was all right. Yet he'd shot me, hit me.
I should be lying there on the plank floor instead of that grotesque heap in
the shapeless flannel nightgown. I felt my side with the bullet it struck,
brought my hand away. There was no blood on it.
Yet there should be blood. I touched the spot again. I
fingered the contour of something small and hard and round.
I pulled it out of my watch pocket, battered with a slug that struck it, bent
almost double. A nickel, a nickel.
The twentieth part of a dollar. All a man needed to buy a cup of coffee,
to make a phone call, to buy a fine in a kangaroo court, to save his life.
And I'd had it all the time. I'd had it all the time. I'd had it all the time.
Huh? Huh?
Hello. I have your party now in San Francisco. Shall I connect you, sir?
Huh? Yeah. But first, first get the Lansing police station.
Will you, operator? Lansing police.
Yeah. Shut up, Jerry. You're gonna live. And I'm gonna be in court with you.
Yeah. But I wouldn't give a plugged nickel for your chances.
Suspense presented by Auto Light. Tonight's star, Ray Meland in Chicken Feed.
Say, uh, Mr. Meland, in a recent movie, I saw you as a baseball pitcher.
Yes, that's right. You as a pitcher and Paul Douglas as a catcher made a wonderful
battery. That sounds like a lead-in for me to say that Auto Light makes a wonderful battery, too.
You can say that again. All right, I will. Auto Light makes a
wonderful battery. Right you are, Ray. It's the Auto Light
Stay Full that needs water only three times a year in normal car use. Made by Auto Light,
makers of over 400 products for cars, trucks, airplanes, and boats in 28 Auto Light plants
from coast to coast. Auto Light also makes complete electrical systems for many makes
of America's finest cars. Batteries, spark plugs, generators, starting motors, coils, distributors.
All engineered to fit together perfectly, work together perfectly, because they're a perfect team.
So folks, don't accept electrical parts that are supposed to be as good.
Ask for and insist on Auto Light Original Factory Parts at your neighborhood service station,
car dealer, garage, or repair shop. Remember, you're always right with Auto Light.
Next Thursday for Suspense, Dorothy Maguire will be our star. The play is called Last Confession,
and it is, as we say, a tale well calculated to keep you in suspense.
Tonight's Suspense play was produced and edited by William Spear and directed by Norman MacDonald.
Music for Suspense is composed by Lucian Morawek and conducted by Lud Gluskin.
Chicken Seed was a radio play by Lawrence Goldman. Ray Milan appeared through the
courtesy of Paramount Pictures, whose current release is Top of the Morning,
starring Bing Crosby, Anne Blythe, and Barry Fitzgerald. Don't forget, next Thursday, same time,
Auto Light will present Suspense, starring Dorothy Maguire.
You can buy Auto Light staple batteries, Auto Light resistor spark plugs, Auto Light electrical
parts at your neighborhood Auto Light dealers. Switch to Auto Light. Good night.
This is CBS, the Columbia Broadcasting System.