Suspense!
Auto Light and its 96,000 dealers present Mr. Victor Mature in Momentum, a suspense
play produced and edited by William Spear. Say, Hap. Yes Harlow. This morning I was
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Matur, auto light hopes once again to keep you in suspense.
I look just like any other guy standing on a platform waiting for a train at
night. The other people walking up and down here waiting for their train, they
might look and they might not. Just a guy waiting for a train, waiting to say
goodbye to New York. They don't know I'm different. It's starting to snow. They
think the way I'm putting my coat collar together is because I'm cold. They don't
know I've got a bullet in my neck.
Yeah, this is some of that bad trouble my wife always telling me I'm going to get
myself in. Bad trouble. All those people dying on account of it. Like a snowball
when it starts rolling itself up gathering. What is it? Momentum. Well, in
another 20 minutes her train will be here and I'll meet her and we'll be on our
way to San Francisco and things will be different. Things will be a lot different.
I never thought today was going to be like this. Since noon today it's already
lasted a couple million years. A couple of million years. Dick, Dick, Dick, get up.
Hmm? What's the idea? Oh, Dick, get up. It's noon. Twelve o'clock and you haven't even gotten out
of bed yet. What? Twelve noon? Hey, you're gonna be late for work. I'm home on my
lunch hour. I thought you'd do something like this. Sleeping all day. I was up late
last night. Shooting pool. All right, all right, a guy's got to have some relaxation.
Been relaxing for six months. You haven't even tried to get a job. Nuts. Nobody's out of work these
days. Look, I told you it's got to be the right thing. That's all. I don't want to
take the first think of job that comes along. What do you want me to go on
supporting you? You didn't have to say that. Well, everybody's saying. The people
downstairs, the landlord, everybody. I didn't have my little job. How could we eat? So
everybody's saying you're supporting me. Is that it? Well, isn't it? I'll show them. I'll show
them all. We're there with the cheap little ideas and two-bit jobs. You don't
have to work like a slave to make a living. Oh, Dick. When you talk, I... Sometimes I'm afraid
you're gonna get in trouble. The guy's a little down on his luck and all of a
sudden little wifey's a martyr. She has to go out and work. Dick, please. That's it,
isn't it? You're a martyr. No, darling. I didn't say that at all. Oh, yes you did. Yes
you did. Dick, when I get home from work tonight, we're gonna have to find a place
to live. Now this place isn't good enough for you. No, darling. This is our last day.
We're being evicted. Hmm? Says who? The landlord stopped me this morning. We owe him
three months rent. I simply haven't got it. Well, we have until tomorrow morning.
Well, listen. Nobody throws Dick Payne out of his own place. I'll try to get home
early. Find a hotel, maybe. Wait a minute. Don't bother. I'll get some dough. I know
just where. Mr. Burroughs. Oh, Dick. You're not going to Mr. Burroughs. Why not? He owes it to me.
He's making money out of my invention, isn't he? Oh, Dick, you know that when you work for Mr. Burroughs,
you were paid for everything you did. Yeah, if you call a couple of bucks a week pay.
Burroughs is making a lot of dough in that stinking shop just because of my invention.
But he's not that way. I worked for him too, remember? Then you ought to know how he cheated me.
Yeah, that's what he did. He cheated me. You know Mr. Burroughs isn't that kind of man.
The firm isn't run that way. If you had anything coming... Go ahead, go ahead. That's right. Stick
up for that shyster who robbed your own husband. I'm going over and see him today for a showdown.
Oh, Dick, please don't go over there. Don't make any trouble. We know you dough, don't we? We're
being evicted, aren't we? Well, I'm going to show you a little action. I'm going out and get us some dough.
You know Mr. Burroughs won't listen to anything. So foolish. He'll listen to me and he'll pay too
plenty. Oh, darling, no, no. What are you crying about? Look, when I get that dough, you won't have to support me anymore.
Cut it out. Go on, back to work. I'll go lie here a couple of minutes and figure this out. Go on, go on.
I guess I was pretty sore when I talked to her like that. But it made me mad. You know,
like one of those things leads to another and the whole thing gets going like momentum.
By the time I cool off, I was up in the Bronx where Burroughs has his little office and machine
shoppin' back. I phoned from a drug store on 192nd Street. The girl said there'd be a lot of people
there all afternoon. So I killed time with a double feature. But I was back there at 630 just after
dark. And I was mad again thinking about the eviction and all. There was a light in his office,
so I got around the side street and I tried to see what was going on. The blinds were down over the
window, but there was enough space for me to see the part of the room. Someone was in there with
me. I couldn't see who it was. They were just shaking hands. Well, good night. Don't you worry
about it anymore. Good night. I waited right there by the window until whoever it was had gone.
Then I walked around and up to the door. But I didn't have to knock. Oh. Good evening, Mr. Burroughs.
I was just leaving you. You want to see me about something? Yeah. Yes, sir, I do. Well,
all right. Come in, come in. It's chilly out tonight. Feels like snow, maybe. Sit down,
sit down. Thanks. Now what? Well, I used to work here in the shop once. I quit six months ago
remember me Dick Payne? Well, certainly do remember you, Payne. Married the best secretary
I ever had. Yeah, Pauline, a wonderful girl. I think so. I'm sure you appreciate that. She's a
very fine girl. Yeah, she's all right. How are things with you and Pauline? Good. Good. Want to
come back to work, Payne? No, no, that isn't what I came to see you about. It's about that lug wrench
you're still using in the shops, the one with the long side screw. Yeah, what about it? I invented
it, Mr. Burroughs. Really? I thought Tim Riley worked that out. Well, Tim worked on it, but it
was me who figured out how to set that thumb screw. Hasn't the thumb screw always been set that way?
Not high on the wrench, no. Oh, I see. And since I figured it out while I was here and since you're
using it, well, I think I ought to be paid for it. I worked on it a long time. Payne, I just don't
believe this, frankly. Tim Riley's been my foreman for 12 years. I know him pretty well. He'd have
been the first to tell me if he'd contributed anything to perfecting that wrench. Well, he wanted
all the credit himself. No, no, no, Payne. It's not a matter of credit or money or anything else.
Now, look here, Mr. Burroughs. Look here, Burroughs. I'm not going to be cheated out of anything. Oh, stop it, Payne. I'm not obligated to
you in any way. Look, you're still using the wrench, aren't you? I don't want to argue with you and I don't
want to be bothered with you. If it weren't for Pauline and the respect I have for her, I wouldn't even
listen to you. I told her just the other... Let's leave her out of this, huh? She's my wife, unfortunately, for her.
You know, Payne, I expected you to try something like this and I'm ready for you. Yeah, well, where's my dough?
I want you to sign this. Here. What is it? A release. Although I don't owe you anything,
for Mrs. Payne's sake, I'm giving you some money today. I know you both need it. This release will be
my receipt. It'll insure me against you bothering me about this again. Yeah. Go ahead, sign it.
Where's the dough? Where's the dough? How much? Two hundred dollars. Well, why didn't you say so? I...
Oh, no, you don't, wise guy. I want more than that. Look, if it's big enough to make me sign a release,
it's big enough to bring in a lot more dough. Get out of here, Payne. Get out of here. And who's
gonna make me? I'm smaller than you, Payne, but so help me. I'll throw you out myself. You're a no
good... Cut that!... without Pauline could ever have seen anything. But I told you to leave her out of this,
didn't I? Now get out of here before I really lose my... Give me my dough. Get out of here. Oh, no, you don't, you...
You don't like that, huh? Well, try this.
All right now. All right now, Mr. Burroughs.
Come on, Mr. Burroughs. I didn't mean to... Mr. Burroughs!
You see, it was just one of those days he said something and I said something and it all piles up like a snowball.
The first thing somebody gets hurt. If he'd listened to reason and...
Well, if he'd just listened to reason, he'd be alive now.
When I felt his pulse, there was nothing. I opened his coat to feel his heart.
And that's when a black shanty billfold fell out. It was crammed with money. My money.
Auto Light is bringing you Mr. Victor Mature in momentum. Tonight's production in Radio's outstanding
Theatre of Thrills, Suspense.
Hey, you have what's the book you have there? Just a story I'm reading, Harlow.
Ruggles of Red Gap. Really? Say, maybe you'd be interested in my life story, Wilcox of Wide Gap.
Wilcox of Wide Gap? It's all about my sterling and sensational success selling Wide Gap Auto Light Resistor
Spark Plugs. Sensational success? You? Certainly. Didn't you know that over 20 million Wide Gap Auto Light
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better performance on leaner gas mixtures, actual gas savings. Why, everybody goes for Auto Light Resistor
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with Auto Light. And now, Auto Light brings back to our Hollywood sound stage, Victor Mature in Momentum,
a tale well calculated to keep you in suspense.
Eleven fifty. The train will just be pulling out of Grand Central now. It'll be here in ten minutes.
Twelve o'clock. It won't be long now. Another ten minutes and I'll be safe on that train with Paulie.
And all of this will be over. I'll make it. Nothing's going to stop me. Nothing. Not even this bullet.
He started it all, Mr. Burroughs. And then the whole thing got going, Momentum. I didn't mean to kill him.
I just went there to get my money. The money he owed me for using my invention. But nobody saw me do it.
And I got out of it.
All I wanted to do was get home to Paulie. But first I had to stop somewhere and get a drink.
I needed it bad. I found a little place on Third Avenue, sixty something. It was empty except for the bartender.
Hello. Hello. Business is kind of slow tonight, huh? Big television shows don't start until eight.
Well, it'll be. I'd like some whiskey. Just whiskey. Just whiskey and whiskey it is, mister. Yeah.
Chase it? No.
Give me another one. Sure.
Kind of dry, huh? Yeah. Yeah. Another one? No, no, no. That's enough. Thanks.
That's a dollar twenty. One twenty? That's no problem. Just take it out of...
Something wrong, buddy? No, no, no. I changed my mind.
What about? I think I'll have another drink. Yeah. Give me another one. Only make it a double this time.
Sure. Want to pay me for the other two first? I'll pay you when I'm finished.
House rule. Huh? Every two drinks we always collect in this place.
We don't do it that way in case anybody tries to run out on a tab, which they don't generally do, class.
I don't like things like that. We don't lose much if they make it.
Just a minute. You don't think that I'm trying to... Which they don't generally do.
Look, I'm not trying to beach out anything. I got money. Sure you have.
You know, there's some guys around this town you just can't tell about.
What's the matter? I feel a little sick. Where's the watch?
Oh, right back there, behind the cigarette machine. Want to pay me now?
I'll be right back.
Just my luck. The drinks were more than the change I had in my pocket.
That meant I had to break one of those bills I took from Burroughs.
They were all 50s and 100s. I couldn't take a chance on that bartender.
He might think it was funny and remember and tell the police.
I could panic. It was another one of those snowballing things.
I had to get out of that place. In the washroom there was a window that led off to the alley.
I just raised it and it was climbing up on the sill when the bartender walked in and it was carrying a gun.
All right, wise guy. I thought you'd try something like this. Come on, get off of that leg.
Look, I was only opening the window to get some air in here. Yeah, sure. Tell it to the cops.
I'll pay you. Look, I'll pay you anything you want.
That's a deadbeat. I spotted you the minute you walked in that joint. I can spot him a mile off.
Now come on, get moving. No.
Let go of my arm, you crazy fool. This gun's loaded. You might get it.
Let go of me. You...
crazy.
I stood there with the gun in my hand.
I didn't mean to hurt him either, but he tried to turn me over to the police for nothing.
I hit him in the leg, but he was out cold.
I didn't know what to do. I didn't dare leave the gun. I just didn't know what to do.
Finally I thought I heard somebody coming in the front.
I found a back door and ran until I was out of breath.
I went up the stairs of my apartment house two at a time, and by the time I got inside my door, I thought my knees were going to buckle.
But I had the safe feeling that a guy's own place gives him, you know, no matter how stinking it is.
Pauline was cooking supper.
Dick? Oh, Dick, whoa.
Liver and onions again? I heard you come in, Dick. I'm glad you're home.
Liver and onions. Well, I know it isn't one of your favorites, but liver was on sale.
Turn it off.
All right, but I'm going to eat it.
You're not. Neither one of us are.
Dick, what is it now? You've been drinking.
Two drinks and I'm drunk, huh? I didn't say that.
But when you drink, it means something's happened.
What is it this time?
I made up my mind.
Oh, you mean you're going to take a job?
Yeah, yeah.
Oh, God.
Well, you haven't heard it all yet.
I don't need to hear it anymore.
Listen, I know I haven't been a model American husband.
Nobody ever voted me the guy most likely to become a millionaire, but...
Honey, well, I didn't always get the breaks, you know.
You need to get a certain amount of momentum to...
Ah, why kill anybody? It's been my fault.
No, it hasn't, darling.
You've tried in your own way.
Don't keep it up. Everybody thinks I'm a sponge or a deadbeat. You told me they did.
They don't know you like I do.
Nobody believes in me. There's no reason why they're sure.
I believe in you.
Do you really?
Yes, darling, yes.
Say it again.
I believe in you.
How much?
As much as anybody could. More.
Would you believe in me in Chicago, in Milwaukee, or in San Francisco?
Anywhere. Anywhere in the world.
All right, then. We're going.
Going where?
San Francisco.
But...my dog.
From now on, I'm doing the work for this family.
How can we pick that up?
Look at it.
Dick, how much is this you have? What you getting?
Never mind, never mind. Look, I got it. It belongs to me.
Take half of it.
Go ahead, take it.
All right, but I already...
Go down to Grand Central and buy two Pullman tickets to San Francisco on the 9 o'clock train.
Well, I'll have to pack. Did you rob a bank?
Don't bother. Don't bother. Buy what you need downtown. It'll give you something to do.
From now on, we forget this stinking place and start over from the bottom up.
New clothes, new landlords, jobs, new friends and new enemies.
Dick Payne will show them.
Yeah, I'll show them all what I can do.
Well, why do you want me to go along to the station?
Why aren't you coming?
I got business to do first.
I'm going to pay off all my debts, everybody I owe. How do you like that?
Oh, it's wonderful, Dick.
Honestly, now, where did you get that money?
Skip the questions. It's my dough. I work for it.
Satisfying?
Well...
Now, listen. You get reservations at Grand Central and get on the train.
It stops at 125th Street.
I'll be busy uptown, so I'll get on at 125th. You got it?
125th Street Station.
Right.
And when that train pulls out of that station,
the guy sitting next to you is going to be me.
And we'll be heading for a new life, baby.
A new life.
If she knew what was really on my mind, she'd never have left.
I couldn't risk hanging around 42nd Street showing up at Grand Central
with all its bright lights and its cops.
I had to hide in some uptown dive where nobody would find me
and then sneak on the train to 125th Street.
What if you got only about three bulbs and no cops?
I stood at the window and watched across the street.
That's when I noticed this guy.
A guy standing on the other side of the street looking up right at the apartment.
Big, bulky, with policeman-type shoes.
I jumped back from the window as he started to cross the street.
I pulled my gun out to see if it was loaded.
I heard him. I heard him coming up the stairs.
There was nothing to do but wait for him.
What do you want?
You're Richard Payne?
No, Anderson's money.
Isn't this apartment 12?
Yeah, it is. I moved in this morning. Payne moved out yesterday.
Oh, now, wait a minute. You fit the description I got.
Until I find out better, you're the man I want.
Look, I tell you that...
We've got a little business, you and I, and I don't...
I reached out and I jerked him off his feet to the roof.
I knew they'd find me, but I didn't think it would be this quick.
He was big and I...
He knew how to handle himself, but I swung the butt of my gun against the side of his head and he went limp.
I held him up against the door. I didn't want to touch him, but I thought maybe I could find something in his pockets that would tell me how they knew about me.
He didn't have a gun or a badge, only a piece of paper.
He was a bailer from the city hall.
He's come to evict us.
Evict us and I'd killed him. I wasn't a killer.
It was this momentum.
Every body I met.
Three people in three hours.
Hello, Mr. Payne.
Out of my way.
What are you doing with a gun in your hand?
Out of my way!
You're crazy!
This place is a regular fuckhouse!
What baby's being...
Why, Mr. Payne, what's the matter?
Move that baby, Carrie. It's got to get out of my way.
Don't point that gun at me!
Move it!
Don't!
I said move it!
Mr. Payne's got a gun over his head!
I'll shoot you when you're not shot!
Oh, no, you don't, copper!
The second bullet hit me.
It hit me somewhere in my back, up high.
I don't know where exactly the pain was.
Everything was everywhere at once, and for a moment everything stopped working.
I grabbed the edge of a building and saw a long alley wavering in front of my eyes.
It was a long, dark alley. There was a light at the other end.
I got my breath and started towards that bright spot.
I knew the whole neighborhood would be after me.
Besides everything else, now I'd been shooting at cops.
The light at the other end turned out to be a milk truck without a driver.
All of a sudden, nobody had to tell me what to do.
I got in, I drove off.
I left the truck somewhere on 127th Street or some place I don't know where I've blocked it to from here.
The toughest thing of all was climbing the stairs to get up here to the top of the hill.
Climbing the stairs to get up here to the station.
Three flights of stairs a step at a time, and like my head would fall off from pain every time I took this step.
Just a minute.
Oh, alo. You sick, Mr. Loo?
Where did the pullman stop?
The pullman always stop up front by the second light.
What time does the Chicago train come in?
Oh, they just arrive. Leave Grand Central at 11.50 o'clock.
Arriving here at 12 midnight under the hot.
Eight years I sweep up the platform, always on time.
You gonna catch?
Yeah.
Where's your bags?
My wife got on at Grand Central with the luggage.
I'm meeting her.
We're going places, boy.
That's nice. Where you going? Chicago? Kansas City?
As far as it'll take me west.
Oh, San Francisco. That's a nice town.
When you get there, what are you going to do?
I got a job there.
That's good. Maybe someday I take a train to San Francisco.
Now I got a job here. Sweep, sweep.
Listen, she just come out of the tunnel. It's on time.
Good.
That's pretty, huh?
Except when a train comes at night, when I work, it's always quiet up here.
I used to brush the dirt off of the side, down the shit-goes,
45 feet down to the street where the dots belong.
Mr.
Huh?
Please move the foot so I sweep where you stand.
Sure, sure.
Thanks a lot.
Hey, what's this?
Huh?
You know it's gonna bleed. There's a fresh blood drip on the platform.
Blood?
Hey, what's your name?
None of your business.
More blood. I don't like this.
Now I know why you don't tell me your name. You're a shame.
Maybe you're the same fellow who shoot the policemen tonight.
All right, turn around.
Turn around, I said.
What are you gonna do?
Don't you worry. What do you think?
Please, no!
Oh, God!
Good!
The Broadway Limited.
Help me up the steps, please.
Thank you.
Thanks.
There you go.
Oh.
What's the matter with that fellow? He looks so funny.
Dick, here I am. You were going right past me.
Pauline, the lights were flickering. I couldn't see.
What's wrong?
I'm just tired terribly. I kept my word and met you, but I'm so tired.
Dick, you're hurt.
Take care of me, Pauline. Don't let them get to me. Don't let them...
Who? What is it, dearest? Who are they?
Hold me. Hold me, Pauline.
Oh, darling! What did you do?
It wasn't my fault. I went to get the money from Burroughs. The money he owed me, I killed him.
Oh, no!
And everything got wrong.
Oh, no, no!
Everything. All those people. But I had to get that money. I had to get that money for us.
Oh, Dick, no, no, no!
Yeah, I do.
What? I got off work early and went to see Mr. Burroughs. He gave me $200.
He said when you came by, he'd have you sign a lease for us.
Pauline...
Dick...
Oh, Dick!
Pauline!
Suspense presented by Auto Light. Tonight's star, Victor Mature.
Mr. Mature, that was a top performance.
Oh, thanks a lot.
Do you know something else that gives a top performance?
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Dick, you're right with Auto Light.
Harlow, I would have been very much surprised if you'd said anything else.
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Remember, you're always right with Auto Light.
Next Thursday for Suspense, Red Skelton will be our star.
The play is called The Search for Isabelle, 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 Morawak and conducted by Lud Bluskin.
Momentum is a Cornell Woolrich story adapted for radio by E. Jack Newman.
Victimature appeared through the courtesy of 20th Century Fox, producers of the Technicolor production Oh, You Beautiful Doll.
In the coming weeks, you will hear such stars as Van Heflin, Lucille Ball, and Desi Arnaz.
By the way, the reentuttle tonight was Pauline.
And now, don't forget, next Thursday same time, Auto Light will present Suspense, starring Red Skelton.
You can buy Auto Light Resistor Spark plugs, Auto Light staple batteries, Auto Light electrical parts at your neighborhood Auto Light dealers.
Switch to Auto Light. Good night.
This is National Safety Congress Week. The Electric Auto Light Company, which received the National Safety Council's Public Interest Award this year,
urges you to do your part to promote safety on the highway, in the home, and on the job.
Drive slowly. Death and danger travel in fast company.
And remember to be careful wherever you are. The life you save may be your own.
This is CBS, the Columbia Broadcasting System.