WEBVTT 00:00.000 --> 00:07.000 Suspense! 00:07.000 --> 00:22.600 Auto Light and its 96,000 dealers present Mr. Kirk Douglas in The Butcher's Wife, a 00:22.600 --> 00:30.520 suspense play produced and edited by William Spear. 00:30.520 --> 00:34.280 Wilcox, I say there, Wilcox, old man. 00:34.280 --> 00:39.720 Remming Chester shotgun as I live, breathe and batter my brains for burgeoning boasts 00:39.720 --> 00:43.120 about the battery of batteries, the Auto Light Stay Full Battery. 00:43.120 --> 00:46.080 The battery that needs water only three times a year in normal car use. 00:46.080 --> 00:48.000 See, sounding off. 00:48.000 --> 00:53.360 Is it not you who defied me to find a camel that could go without water as long as an 00:53.360 --> 00:56.240 Auto Light Stay Full Battery? 00:56.240 --> 00:58.760 Defy you I did, you dubious dunderhead. 00:58.760 --> 01:01.280 Please, no compliments. 01:01.280 --> 01:08.040 I concede your claim regarding ordinary one-hump camels, but what about a two-hump camel? 01:08.040 --> 01:09.320 Need I say more? 01:09.320 --> 01:13.480 Well, you probably mean he can go twice as long without refilling, but Auto Light Stay 01:13.480 --> 01:18.080 Full Batteries hold over three times as much liquid reserve above the plate as ordinary 01:18.080 --> 01:19.080 batteries. 01:19.080 --> 01:20.080 Need I say more? 01:20.080 --> 01:24.840 Jones, I shall have to find a dromedary with four humps. 01:24.840 --> 01:28.440 Even that won't do it, for Auto Light Stay Full Batteries need water only three times 01:28.440 --> 01:30.760 a year in normal car use. 01:30.760 --> 01:35.640 What's more, in recent tests based on SAE life cycle standards, Auto Light Stay Full 01:35.640 --> 01:40.520 Batteries gave 70% longer average life than batteries without Stay Full features. 01:40.520 --> 01:47.200 So get wise, get an Auto Light Stay Full Battery, because you're always right with Auto Light. 01:47.200 --> 01:52.920 And now with the butcher's wife and the performance of Kirk Douglas, Auto Light hopes once again 01:52.920 --> 02:04.320 to keep you in suspense. 02:04.320 --> 02:07.880 It started the first day of the job. 02:07.880 --> 02:10.760 I was clerking the liquor department of this supermarket. 02:10.760 --> 02:13.220 I hadn't been in Los Angeles a week. 02:13.220 --> 02:16.640 My brother, when I'd left New York, had given me this letter to a friend of his, a guy who 02:16.640 --> 02:18.920 owned a string of these markets. 02:18.920 --> 02:22.440 The letter was about could he use me, I was a good fellow, he'd count it a favor, you 02:22.440 --> 02:23.440 know. 02:23.440 --> 02:26.680 And the guy had this opening, liquor clerk, and comes the following Monday. 02:26.680 --> 02:30.360 I'm at work. 02:30.360 --> 02:35.280 I spent the morning loading the refrigerators with beers, soda water, all that stuff, and 02:35.280 --> 02:36.280 sizing up the place. 02:36.280 --> 02:38.720 You know, back East, we don't have these supermarkets. 02:38.720 --> 02:42.440 There was a vegetable department run by a nice little dark guy. 02:42.440 --> 02:44.520 There was a delicatessen. 02:44.520 --> 02:46.720 That was run by an old geezer and his frow. 02:46.720 --> 02:51.480 There was a bakery department, a meat department, and of course the groceries. 02:51.480 --> 02:52.480 No clerks. 02:52.480 --> 02:54.840 You pushed a little card around and helped yourself. 02:54.840 --> 02:59.200 To get out, you passed the cash register and the girl loaded your stuff and rang up the 02:59.200 --> 03:00.200 price. 03:00.200 --> 03:06.160 My surveillance of the place had reached the girl who checked the groceries when the trouble 03:06.160 --> 03:07.480 was over. 03:07.480 --> 03:11.120 She was looking at herself in a little mirror and putting on some lipstick. 03:11.120 --> 03:12.760 Her back was to me. 03:12.760 --> 03:16.800 I see her stop putting on her lipstick, but still looking at the mirror. 03:16.800 --> 03:19.280 I see her eyes in the mirror. 03:19.280 --> 03:23.760 And then she turns around very slowly and looks at me. 03:23.760 --> 03:24.760 Just looks at me. 03:24.760 --> 03:30.000 She must have been 50 feet away at the least and with customers between us. 03:30.000 --> 03:35.800 But it was like we were all alone, the two of us on a beach somewhere, an empty beach. 03:35.800 --> 03:37.800 I should have looked away. 03:37.800 --> 03:40.040 I should have winked and forgotten it. 03:40.040 --> 03:43.160 I should have gone on stacking beer and thinking about how to be a success. 03:43.160 --> 03:45.000 That's what I should have done. 03:45.000 --> 03:49.320 What I did do was I stood right there and locked eyes with her for I don't know how long. 03:49.320 --> 03:54.120 And all the time I was looking at her, I was sending her mental telegrams. 03:54.120 --> 03:56.160 You and me, baby. 03:56.160 --> 03:57.160 You and me. 03:57.160 --> 03:58.160 Hey. 03:58.160 --> 03:59.160 Hey, you. 03:59.160 --> 04:00.160 Hey. 04:00.160 --> 04:01.160 You and me, baby. 04:01.160 --> 04:02.160 Hey, what's the matter? 04:02.160 --> 04:03.160 She's not here. 04:03.160 --> 04:04.160 She's not here. 04:04.160 --> 04:05.960 Hey, what's the matter? 04:05.960 --> 04:06.960 Sleep on your feet? 04:06.960 --> 04:08.960 Oh, what did you say? 04:08.960 --> 04:10.960 You're the new guy, huh? 04:10.960 --> 04:13.000 Yeah, I just started this morning. 04:13.000 --> 04:14.000 I'm Nick Arnall. 04:14.000 --> 04:15.000 I work the vegetables. 04:15.000 --> 04:16.000 Oh, Harry Carr. 04:16.000 --> 04:17.000 Pleased to know you. 04:17.000 --> 04:18.000 Yeah. 04:18.000 --> 04:19.000 You got two bottles of cold beer? 04:19.000 --> 04:20.000 Oh, sure. 04:20.000 --> 04:21.000 Cold as a witch's heart. 04:21.000 --> 04:24.000 Only don't open here by the comrade, you know. 04:24.000 --> 04:25.000 It's the law. 04:25.000 --> 04:26.000 Yeah, sure. 04:26.000 --> 04:28.400 I have them out back with my lunch. 04:28.400 --> 04:29.400 Well. 04:29.400 --> 04:31.400 Oh, uh, uh, uh, Nick. 04:31.400 --> 04:32.400 What? 04:32.400 --> 04:35.200 I mean, the, uh, the gal over there by the cash register. 04:35.200 --> 04:36.200 Huh? 04:36.200 --> 04:37.200 Mary? 04:37.200 --> 04:38.200 Is that her name? 04:38.200 --> 04:39.200 Mary? 04:39.200 --> 04:40.200 Yeah. 04:40.200 --> 04:41.200 What about her? 04:41.200 --> 04:42.200 Well, that's what I'm wondering. 04:42.200 --> 04:43.200 What about her? 04:43.200 --> 04:44.200 Oh. 04:44.200 --> 04:45.200 No soap. 04:45.200 --> 04:46.200 She's married. 04:46.200 --> 04:47.200 Oh, you're kidding. 04:47.200 --> 04:50.200 You see that big guy over there with a knife? 04:50.200 --> 04:51.200 The butcher? 04:51.200 --> 04:52.200 Yeah. 04:52.200 --> 04:53.200 Ask him if I'm kidding. 04:53.200 --> 04:54.200 Well, who's he? 04:54.200 --> 04:55.200 Her husband. 04:55.200 --> 04:56.200 Oh. 04:56.200 --> 04:57.200 See ya. 04:57.200 --> 04:58.200 I looked over at him. 04:58.200 --> 04:59.200 He's a good guy. 04:59.200 --> 05:00.200 He's a good guy. 05:00.200 --> 05:01.200 He's a good guy. 05:01.200 --> 05:02.600 I looked over at him. 05:02.600 --> 05:04.600 He's a funny looking guy. 05:04.600 --> 05:05.600 A real creep. 05:05.600 --> 05:09.400 He stood there stropping a tremendous big cleaver, whistling to himself. 05:09.400 --> 05:13.120 He had on, you know, one of those hard straw hats and a white apron. 05:13.120 --> 05:17.600 He had those rimless glasses with thick lenses so that his eyes looked like baseballs. 05:17.600 --> 05:22.600 When he saw I was looking at him, he nodded and went on whistling and stropping. 05:22.600 --> 05:24.600 A real creep. 05:24.600 --> 05:28.000 Later on, I watched him softening up some sort of steaks. 05:28.000 --> 05:30.440 He had a big steel mallet with points on it. 05:30.440 --> 05:33.640 He was whacking away at this meat like a pile driver. 05:33.640 --> 05:40.440 I watched him grinding and slicing, quartering, sawing the bones off some of the cuts. 05:40.440 --> 05:46.640 And always those eyes like baseball and that teeny little mouth lost in the big red face, 05:46.640 --> 05:47.640 whistling. 05:47.640 --> 05:55.640 I looked over at her and she was giving me the eye again. 05:55.640 --> 06:02.480 We closed at seven. 06:02.480 --> 06:06.280 The festival guys carted out the old stuff, delicatessen man put away his pickles. 06:06.280 --> 06:10.240 I checked the register, countered my slips, made my entries. 06:10.240 --> 06:14.760 Krause the butcher was still there packing and cleaning, putting stuff in that big refrigerator 06:14.760 --> 06:17.720 room back at the counter, but she'd left. 06:17.720 --> 06:26.000 I got to my street coat and walked out. 06:26.000 --> 06:28.520 Hello. 06:28.520 --> 06:32.560 She was standing looking at the shoe display a couple of doors down from the market. 06:32.560 --> 06:33.560 I said hello. 06:33.560 --> 06:37.120 Don't you say hello wherever it is you come from? 06:37.120 --> 06:38.120 Sure. 06:38.120 --> 06:39.120 Hello. 06:39.120 --> 06:40.120 Taking the bus? 06:40.120 --> 06:41.120 Yeah. 06:41.120 --> 06:42.120 Which way do you go? 06:42.120 --> 06:43.120 I don't know, Wester. 06:43.120 --> 06:44.120 I'm going that way. 06:44.120 --> 06:45.120 I'll drive you. 06:45.120 --> 06:46.120 No, no, I'll take the bus. 06:46.120 --> 06:49.480 No, no, I don't think you'd better. 06:49.480 --> 06:50.560 What's the matter? 06:50.560 --> 06:52.560 I wouldn't want to trouble you. 06:52.560 --> 06:53.560 No trouble. 06:53.560 --> 06:54.560 Well, I... 06:54.560 --> 06:55.560 Come on. 06:55.560 --> 06:56.560 I'm parked right here. 06:56.560 --> 07:00.680 Yeah, but what about Mr. Krause? 07:00.680 --> 07:04.040 He'll be there an hour yet. 07:04.040 --> 07:05.040 He takes the bus. 07:05.040 --> 07:06.040 Oh. 07:06.040 --> 07:07.040 Come on. 07:07.040 --> 07:08.040 Well, I... 07:08.040 --> 07:09.040 Come on. 07:09.040 --> 07:10.040 Don't be afraid. 07:10.040 --> 07:11.040 I'm not afraid of you. 07:11.040 --> 07:12.040 You're afraid of me. 07:12.040 --> 07:13.040 Come on. 07:13.040 --> 07:16.480 Get in. 07:16.480 --> 07:34.680 So all day long I'm pushing liquor at them. 07:34.680 --> 07:35.680 Now they're pushing it at me. 07:35.680 --> 07:36.680 Oh, you're cute, Harry. 07:36.680 --> 07:37.680 I mean it. 07:37.680 --> 07:38.680 You're really cute. 07:38.680 --> 07:39.680 So are you, baby. 07:39.680 --> 07:43.360 You really think so? 07:43.360 --> 07:44.360 Sure, baby. 07:44.360 --> 07:45.360 Harry, let's get out of here. 07:45.360 --> 07:46.360 Go someplace else. 07:46.360 --> 07:47.360 Hey, hey, wait a minute. 07:47.360 --> 07:48.360 I got to work in the morning. 07:48.360 --> 07:49.360 Hey, silly, this is the morning. 07:49.360 --> 07:50.360 It is. 07:50.360 --> 07:51.360 Hey. 07:51.360 --> 07:52.360 Hey, Mac, what's the time? 07:52.360 --> 07:53.360 2.30. 07:53.360 --> 07:54.360 Harry, Harry, you really think I'm cute. 07:54.360 --> 07:55.360 Oh, sure, baby. 07:55.360 --> 07:56.360 Look, but it's late. 07:56.360 --> 07:57.360 Real late. 07:57.360 --> 07:58.360 Don't worry, sugar. 07:58.360 --> 07:59.360 Look, look, come on. 07:59.360 --> 08:00.360 I'll take you home. 08:00.360 --> 08:01.360 No, no. 08:01.360 --> 08:02.360 I'll take you home. 08:02.360 --> 08:03.360 I'll take you home. 08:03.360 --> 08:04.360 I'll take you home. 08:04.360 --> 08:05.360 I'll take you home. 08:05.360 --> 08:06.360 I'll take you home. 08:06.360 --> 08:07.360 I'll take you home. 08:07.360 --> 08:08.360 I'll take you home. 08:08.360 --> 08:09.360 I'll take you home. 08:09.360 --> 08:10.360 I'll take you home. 08:10.360 --> 08:11.360 I took you home. 08:11.360 --> 08:12.360 I got him. 08:12.360 --> 08:13.360 It wasn't me. 08:13.360 --> 08:14.360 It was Donna. 08:14.360 --> 08:15.360 You got Pochette. 08:15.360 --> 08:16.360 Oh, I'm going to have миллиard. 08:16.360 --> 08:17.360 Yes, 1944, you know, grade. 08:17.360 --> 08:18.360 He could take away Beau Do on the past. 08:18.360 --> 08:19.360 He'd want to see shoes like this, too, intelligent for a baby, isn't it? 08:19.360 --> 08:38.360 No, I never 08:38.360 --> 08:45.360 on me. But he never did. Just went on smashing, slicing, grinding, sawing, all that. 08:54.160 --> 08:58.200 When I came out that night, she was there. I tried to disregard her, but... 08:58.200 --> 08:59.200 Barry! 08:59.200 --> 09:05.540 She said she had something very serious to talk over. Well, the way she said it, I got 09:05.540 --> 09:12.540 in the car again. 09:12.540 --> 09:16.720 Now, he's awful, Harry. Really, you don't know. 09:16.720 --> 09:17.720 Yeah, I guess he's tough. 09:17.720 --> 09:19.720 You just wouldn't believe some of the things. 09:19.720 --> 09:20.720 Look, Mary, I... 09:20.720 --> 09:21.720 He's crazy jealous. 09:21.720 --> 09:22.720 Of you? 09:22.720 --> 09:23.720 That's silly. 09:23.720 --> 09:24.720 Well, I guess it's... 09:24.720 --> 09:27.720 Jealous of me. Or should I say of you? 09:27.720 --> 09:30.120 Me? What's he know about me? 09:30.120 --> 09:34.720 Well, I got him this morning and there he was, sitting up like grandma in his bathrobe. 09:34.720 --> 09:38.720 Maybe says, where you been? I said, what's it to you, Auntie? 09:38.720 --> 09:41.720 I call him Auntie. It drives him crazy. 09:41.720 --> 09:42.720 Now, look, Mary... 09:42.720 --> 09:49.720 So he said, don't think you can fool me. And then he started to cry and say a lot of things 09:49.720 --> 09:52.720 about Babylon and then sitting on the water, real crazy talk. 09:52.720 --> 09:54.720 Look, I'd better go, Mary. I don't... 09:54.720 --> 09:59.720 Oh, Harry, don't be silly. He doesn't know who you are, who it is. 09:59.720 --> 10:00.720 Yeah, but he could find out. 10:00.720 --> 10:04.720 Not unless I told him. 10:04.720 --> 10:05.720 Oh, look, you wouldn't do that. 10:05.720 --> 10:21.720 Of course not, baby. As long as you're good to me. 10:21.720 --> 10:27.720 The next night I stayed in the market. I was scared. I didn't want any more of that stuff. 10:27.720 --> 10:32.720 I did inventory, counted bottles, cleaned the refrigerator, changed the water in the soft drink 10:32.720 --> 10:38.720 cooler. I kept busy. Across the market, Krauss was moving around, cleaning up. 10:38.720 --> 10:43.720 After a while, he took office apron and his straw hat and he came over. 10:43.720 --> 10:45.720 Hello, Mr. Krauss. 10:45.720 --> 10:47.720 Give me a bottle of beer. 10:47.720 --> 10:52.720 Sure thing. 10:52.720 --> 10:54.720 All right, to drink it here? 10:54.720 --> 10:56.720 Sure. We're closed, aren't we? 10:56.720 --> 10:59.720 Oh, here. Here's an opener. 10:59.720 --> 11:07.720 Thanks. 11:07.720 --> 11:09.720 You're working late, huh? 11:09.720 --> 11:12.720 Where are you? Know how it is? Nothing to do evenings. 11:12.720 --> 11:13.720 No? 11:13.720 --> 11:17.720 No. I'm new out here. Takes time to make friends. 11:17.720 --> 11:23.720 For me, maybe it would take time. But not for a good looking young fellow like yourself. 11:23.720 --> 11:27.720 Oh, I don't know. You're a big broad-shouldered guy. 11:27.720 --> 11:29.720 Yes, you're big. That's me. 11:29.720 --> 11:31.720 How's the beer? 11:31.720 --> 11:36.720 All right. Listen, do you know my wife? 11:36.720 --> 11:37.720 Your wife? 11:37.720 --> 11:40.720 Yeah. You know her? She... 11:40.720 --> 11:42.720 Isn't she the one who checks the groceries? 11:42.720 --> 11:43.720 Yeah. 11:43.720 --> 11:45.720 Oh, very nice looking lady. 11:45.720 --> 11:46.720 You think so? 11:46.720 --> 11:50.720 Well, of course. Don't get me wrong. I mean it very sincerely. 11:50.720 --> 11:53.720 Very nice, respectfully looking... 11:53.720 --> 11:57.720 Listen, have you noticed anything funny going on there? 11:57.720 --> 11:58.720 Funny? 11:58.720 --> 12:02.720 Somebody's playing around with her. And I want to find out who. 12:02.720 --> 12:03.720 With her? 12:03.720 --> 12:06.720 You wouldn't think it now, would you? 12:06.720 --> 12:08.720 No. I should say no. 12:08.720 --> 12:12.720 I don't know who it is, but listen, haven't you noticed anything? 12:12.720 --> 12:16.720 I mean, some guy who shoots the breeze with her or something like that? 12:16.720 --> 12:18.720 No. No. 12:18.720 --> 12:20.720 Then will you do me a favor? 12:20.720 --> 12:22.720 Sure. What? 12:22.720 --> 12:23.720 Keep your eyes open. 12:23.720 --> 12:27.720 Oh, I will, Mr. Krauss. I promise you. 12:27.720 --> 12:32.720 Ah. Ah. I'll find the guy. 12:32.720 --> 12:35.720 I'll find out who he is if it takes a year. 12:35.720 --> 12:39.720 And when I do, I'll kill him. 12:39.720 --> 12:41.720 Good night. 12:41.720 --> 12:54.720 Good night. 12:54.720 --> 12:57.720 Auto Light is bringing you Kirk Douglas in The Butcher's Wife. 12:57.720 --> 13:09.720 Tonight's production in radio's outstanding theater of thrills, Suspense. 13:09.720 --> 13:13.720 I say, Wilcox, you're keeping me in suspense. 13:13.720 --> 13:16.720 Ah, but not for long, Remmingchester, old man. 13:16.720 --> 13:20.720 I'll tell you here and now, you just can't find anything, man, beast, or battery, 13:20.720 --> 13:24.720 to beat the liquid reserve of a genuine Auto Light staple battery. 13:24.720 --> 13:26.720 That's a powerful statement, Wilcox. 13:26.720 --> 13:28.720 That's a powerful battery, Remmingchester. 13:28.720 --> 13:31.720 Needs water only three times a year in normal car use. 13:31.720 --> 13:35.720 Extraordinary. Well, I must be on my way. 13:35.720 --> 13:41.720 If I'm to find a more capacious camel, after all, life is short. 13:41.720 --> 13:44.720 Not the life of the Auto Light staple battery. 13:44.720 --> 13:47.720 With fiberglass retaining mats at every positive plate, 13:47.720 --> 13:51.720 Auto Light staple batteries give 70% longer average life 13:51.720 --> 13:54.720 than batteries without the staple features. 13:54.720 --> 13:59.720 That's based on recent tests conducted according to SAE life cycle standards. 13:59.720 --> 14:04.720 See your Auto Light dealer soon, friends, because you're always right with Auto Light. 14:04.720 --> 14:09.720 And now, Auto Light brings back to our Hollywood soundstage our star, Kirk Douglas, 14:09.720 --> 14:16.720 in The Butcher's Wife, a tale well calculated to keep you in suspense. 14:22.720 --> 14:25.720 See how it happens? You go along minding your own business, 14:25.720 --> 14:28.720 trying to be a sweet guy in a whammy. 14:28.720 --> 14:31.720 How pops the devil. The roof caves in in their yard. 14:31.720 --> 14:35.720 The executioner's honing the axe and whistling to himself. 14:35.720 --> 14:39.720 I tell you, I was nervous. My hands were sweating and my teeth were aching. 14:39.720 --> 14:41.720 Well, if it hadn't been for needing the job bad, 14:41.720 --> 14:44.720 I'd have put on my coat and high-tailed it out of there, but fast. 14:44.720 --> 14:46.720 There was a situation. 14:46.720 --> 14:50.720 Mary's looking over at me every now and then, giving me the big eyes. 14:50.720 --> 14:53.720 The heck with you, baby. Get yourself another boy. 14:53.720 --> 14:57.720 And Krauss is looking over, raising his eyeblows. Do I know who it is yet? 14:57.720 --> 15:00.720 And I'm making a long face and shaking my head. 15:00.720 --> 15:02.720 Then Nick, the vegetable man, comes over. 15:02.720 --> 15:05.720 I see you didn't understand what I told you the other day. 15:05.720 --> 15:06.720 What's that, Nick? 15:06.720 --> 15:09.720 About Mary. I told you she was a married woman. 15:09.720 --> 15:10.720 What are you talking about? 15:10.720 --> 15:13.720 I see you. The both of you coming out of a bar the other morning. 15:13.720 --> 15:14.720 You're nuts, Nick. Listen, I have... 15:14.720 --> 15:17.720 Don't pull the hard face with me, Harry. 15:17.720 --> 15:20.720 I ought to tip Krauss off to what's going on. 15:20.720 --> 15:23.720 Nick, Nick, be a good guy, will you? 15:23.720 --> 15:28.720 Be a good guy, will you? I'm telling you, you better be a good guy. 15:28.720 --> 15:30.720 And leave the butcher's wife alone if you know what's good for you. 15:30.720 --> 15:34.720 Look, I will, Nick. I will. I swear it. It was a mistake, that's all. 15:34.720 --> 15:35.720 Yeah. 15:35.720 --> 15:37.720 Oh, be a good guy, Nick. Forget about it. 15:37.720 --> 15:40.720 All right. This once, OK. 15:40.720 --> 15:42.720 But do it again and you'll get what's coming to you. 15:42.720 --> 15:43.720 Sure, Nick. Sure. 15:43.720 --> 15:44.720 And I'm not just talking. 15:51.720 --> 15:52.720 Harry. 15:52.720 --> 15:53.720 What? 15:53.720 --> 15:54.720 Blow, will you? Blow. 15:54.720 --> 15:56.720 Harry, I wish you wouldn't treat me this way. 15:56.720 --> 15:57.720 Look, Blow, get away. 15:57.720 --> 15:58.720 Look at me, Harry. 15:58.720 --> 16:00.720 Don't you know your husband's watching you? 16:00.720 --> 16:03.720 He's got his glasses off. He couldn't see Hollywood Bowl. 16:03.720 --> 16:05.720 You better be nice to me, Harry. 16:05.720 --> 16:07.720 Please, Mary. Please go back to your cash register. 16:07.720 --> 16:08.720 I want to see you tonight. 16:08.720 --> 16:09.720 No. 16:09.720 --> 16:10.720 Oh, yes. 16:10.720 --> 16:12.720 Look, understand me, Mary. You're poisoned. Now get away. 16:12.720 --> 16:15.720 You'll see me, Harry, or you'll see Krauss. 16:17.720 --> 16:19.720 All right. Where? 16:19.720 --> 16:22.720 I'll be parked. Around the corner. 16:22.720 --> 16:24.720 Around the corner. 16:24.720 --> 16:27.720 Don't be late. 16:29.720 --> 16:31.720 Oh, Harry. 16:31.720 --> 16:33.720 Stop being silly. Come on, get in. 16:33.720 --> 16:35.720 Look, please, can't you understand? 16:35.720 --> 16:36.720 I don't want any trouble. 16:36.720 --> 16:37.720 What are you so afraid of? 16:37.720 --> 16:38.720 Trouble. 16:38.720 --> 16:40.720 Oh, come on, baby. Let's go and have some fun. 16:40.720 --> 16:41.720 Please, I... 16:41.720 --> 16:43.720 What's the matter? 16:43.720 --> 16:45.720 Oh. 16:45.720 --> 16:46.720 Hello, Nick. 16:46.720 --> 16:47.720 I warn you. 16:47.720 --> 16:48.720 Listen, you've got it wrong, Nick. 16:48.720 --> 16:49.720 Oh, no. 16:49.720 --> 16:50.720 What is all this? 16:50.720 --> 16:51.720 You shut up. 16:51.720 --> 16:52.720 Don't you talk to me like that. 16:52.720 --> 16:54.720 I talk to you like I please, cheek. 16:54.720 --> 16:55.720 Harry. 16:55.720 --> 16:57.720 Hit him, Harry. 16:58.720 --> 16:59.720 I didn't hit him. 16:59.720 --> 17:00.720 He was looking down his nose at me, 17:00.720 --> 17:02.720 and he was a nice wide-open target, 17:02.720 --> 17:03.720 but I didn't hit him. 17:03.720 --> 17:05.720 Because all of a sudden, I knew what I had to do, 17:05.720 --> 17:07.720 and I knew I had to do it fast. 17:07.720 --> 17:08.720 Harry. 17:08.720 --> 17:10.720 Hey, where are you going, baby? 17:10.720 --> 17:11.720 I didn't turn. 17:11.720 --> 17:13.720 Nick was still back there beside the car. 17:13.720 --> 17:15.720 I went into the market. 17:15.720 --> 17:16.720 Mr. Kraus. 17:17.720 --> 17:18.720 Mr. Kraus. 17:19.720 --> 17:20.720 Yeah? 17:20.720 --> 17:21.720 I... 17:22.720 --> 17:23.720 What? 17:24.720 --> 17:25.720 I found out. 17:25.720 --> 17:27.720 What? I can't hear you. 17:27.720 --> 17:28.720 I said I found out. 17:28.720 --> 17:29.720 I found out who it is. 17:31.720 --> 17:32.720 Who? 17:32.720 --> 17:33.720 Nick. 17:34.720 --> 17:36.720 The vegetable man. 17:36.720 --> 17:37.720 Yeah. 17:38.720 --> 17:40.720 The vegetable man. 17:40.720 --> 17:41.720 Yeah. 17:41.720 --> 17:43.720 The vegetable man. 17:43.720 --> 17:46.720 The vegetable man. 17:46.720 --> 17:48.720 I knew yesterday, but I didn't want to get him in trouble. 17:48.720 --> 17:50.720 I told him to lay off, but he said nuts. 17:50.720 --> 17:51.720 He said if I opened my mouth, 17:51.720 --> 17:53.720 he'd tell you it was me, that I was the one. 17:53.720 --> 17:54.720 The vegetable man. 17:55.720 --> 17:56.720 I'm sorry, Mr. Kraus. 17:56.720 --> 17:57.720 I never did like him. 17:57.720 --> 17:58.720 I never did like him. 17:58.720 --> 18:00.720 Well, good night. 18:00.720 --> 18:01.720 Good night. 18:01.720 --> 18:04.720 Good night. 18:11.720 --> 18:13.720 I took a bottle of brandy home with me. 18:13.720 --> 18:14.720 No dinner. 18:15.720 --> 18:17.720 I just laid around the bed about three hours, 18:17.720 --> 18:19.720 talking to myself. 18:20.720 --> 18:23.720 Finally, the heck with the job. 18:23.720 --> 18:25.720 I got up, started the pack. 18:25.720 --> 18:27.720 I was broke, but I didn't care. 18:27.720 --> 18:28.720 I'd have to skip out of my rent, 18:28.720 --> 18:29.720 but it didn't matter. 18:29.720 --> 18:30.720 I didn't care. 18:30.720 --> 18:34.720 I figured out from Kraus, from Mary, from Nick, and... 18:35.720 --> 18:39.720 Suddenly, I figured that even if Nick was a snooping little rat 18:39.720 --> 18:42.720 with his holier than now, I ought to clear him. 18:42.720 --> 18:44.720 So I wrote a note to Kraus. 18:44.720 --> 18:47.720 I said, I did it. 18:47.720 --> 18:51.720 Kraus, don't blame anybody else. 18:51.720 --> 18:54.720 I took the note in my bag and the key to the market 18:54.720 --> 18:56.720 and I tiptoed out of the rooming house. 18:56.720 --> 18:59.720 I caught a bus and went to the market. 18:59.720 --> 19:01.720 The whole of Vard was deserted. 19:01.720 --> 19:03.720 I looked into the glass door. 19:03.720 --> 19:05.720 In the back of the place, up high, 19:05.720 --> 19:08.720 there was a red neon beer sign that blinked on and off, 19:08.720 --> 19:10.720 on and off. 19:10.720 --> 19:13.720 I unlocked the door, went in, 19:13.720 --> 19:16.720 and locked the door behind me. 19:16.720 --> 19:19.720 The place was kind of eerie in the dark. 19:19.720 --> 19:22.720 What with that red light blinking on and off. 19:22.720 --> 19:24.720 One minute the place was pitch black 19:24.720 --> 19:27.720 and the next it was a thousand little red lights 19:27.720 --> 19:30.720 bouncing off the canned stuff in the grocery store. 19:30.720 --> 19:32.720 I went to the butcher counter first. 19:32.720 --> 19:35.720 I laid the note on the scale where you'd be sure to see it. 19:35.720 --> 19:38.720 Then I crossed over past the vegetables and the bakery, 19:38.720 --> 19:41.720 past the delicatessen to the liquor department. 19:41.720 --> 19:44.720 It was dark and I kept bumping into things. 19:44.720 --> 19:46.720 I thought, why am I acting like a criminal? 19:46.720 --> 19:48.720 So I turned on the light. 19:48.720 --> 19:52.720 The whole place was suddenly so dazzling, it hurt my eyes. 19:52.720 --> 19:54.720 I looked at the cash register. 19:54.720 --> 19:58.720 I was just thinking, maybe I'll take a couple of bucks. 20:01.720 --> 20:03.720 When it happened, 20:03.720 --> 20:05.720 I hadn't touched it. 20:05.720 --> 20:08.720 There were other switches in the place hiding nowhere. 20:08.720 --> 20:11.720 After the brightness, the place seemed twice as dark. 20:11.720 --> 20:15.720 The red sign blinked on and off, on and off. 20:15.720 --> 20:18.720 Then I saw Trous. 20:18.720 --> 20:21.720 He was standing behind the meat counter at the scale. 20:21.720 --> 20:24.720 He picked up the new my note. 20:24.720 --> 20:27.720 I did it, Trous, and he read it. 20:27.720 --> 20:30.720 I couldn't see his eyes, just the glasses. 20:30.720 --> 20:32.720 Every time the light blinked, it shone red. 20:32.720 --> 20:35.720 Bright red like some sort of terrible toy. 20:35.720 --> 20:37.720 Then it began to move. 20:37.720 --> 20:40.720 It was like a movie that you see one frame at a time. 20:40.720 --> 20:43.720 Each time the light blinked down, he wasn't where he'd been before. 20:43.720 --> 20:46.720 But closer, closer. 20:46.720 --> 20:49.720 Trous! 20:49.720 --> 20:52.720 Mr. Trous! 20:52.720 --> 20:55.720 Mr. Trous! 20:55.720 --> 20:58.720 The red glasses kept coming at me. 20:58.720 --> 21:01.720 I edged over toward the vegetables, 21:01.720 --> 21:03.720 and he moved to... 21:03.720 --> 21:05.720 I moved the other way toward the groceries. 21:05.720 --> 21:08.720 There was a railing. I climbed over. 21:08.720 --> 21:12.720 I was in one of the long, narrow aisles of cans and bottles. 21:12.720 --> 21:15.720 The stuff was piled head high. 21:15.720 --> 21:19.720 I waited, hoping maybe he didn't see me. 21:19.720 --> 21:22.720 But he did. 21:24.720 --> 21:27.720 I hid behind a stack of canned dog food. 21:27.720 --> 21:30.720 He sounded 30 or 40 feet away. 21:30.720 --> 21:33.720 I waited. 21:36.720 --> 21:39.720 I looked around the corner. 21:39.720 --> 21:45.720 He was looking down another aisle. I knocked my head back. 21:48.720 --> 21:50.720 I couldn't understand that sound. 21:50.720 --> 21:52.720 I looked again. 21:52.720 --> 21:55.720 The aisle was empty, but in the center where Kraus had stood were his shoes. 21:55.720 --> 21:57.720 He'd taken them off. 21:57.720 --> 22:01.720 Very quietly, I bent and took mine off. 22:01.720 --> 22:04.720 Then I began to chip through away from where I'd seen him. 22:04.720 --> 22:06.720 And then I rounded the corner. 22:06.720 --> 22:09.720 There he was, not two feet away with his back to me. 22:09.720 --> 22:12.720 I lost my balance. I put my hand out to steady me. 22:12.720 --> 22:14.720 A whole stack of cans went over. 22:14.720 --> 22:17.720 I ran. I kept running, and there I was. 22:17.720 --> 22:20.720 I was at the end of an aisle, and there was the wall, the back wall. 22:20.720 --> 22:23.720 I turned, and he was coming, coming straight at me. 22:23.720 --> 22:26.720 My hand put something cold, a bottle. I grabbed it. 22:26.720 --> 22:28.720 It was ammonia. 22:28.720 --> 22:30.720 Kraus, get back. 22:30.720 --> 22:32.720 Get back, Kraus, or I'll blind you. 22:32.720 --> 22:35.720 Kraus, I warn you. I swear I will. 22:35.720 --> 22:37.720 No! 22:47.720 --> 22:49.720 He stood there like a crazy giant, 22:49.720 --> 22:52.720 like cyclops tearing at his eyes the ammonia running down his face. 22:52.720 --> 22:55.720 I didn't wait. I ran past him, bumping him aside, 22:55.720 --> 22:57.720 ran and ran and cut around the cash register, 22:57.720 --> 23:00.720 passed delicatessen in the bakery to the door. 23:00.720 --> 23:02.720 It was locked. 23:02.720 --> 23:05.720 The key, I'd left it in the lock. It was gone. 23:05.720 --> 23:09.720 I tried to break the glass with my fist, 23:09.720 --> 23:11.720 but it was like steel. 23:11.720 --> 23:14.720 I couldn't kick it. I'd left my shoes behind. 23:14.720 --> 23:18.720 And Kraus kept coming, feeling his way along, moaning. 23:18.720 --> 23:22.720 In the blinking light, I could see he still had the knife in his hand. 23:22.720 --> 23:25.720 I slid behind the counter to meet him, under my feet, the sawdust. 23:25.720 --> 23:28.720 I bent, scooped up a handful. 23:28.720 --> 23:31.720 His face was awful, twisted and gleaming. 23:31.720 --> 23:36.720 His glasses were gone and his eyes were screwed tight shut in pain. 23:36.720 --> 23:40.720 He stopped ten feet away, swaying. 23:40.720 --> 23:43.720 Then he opened his eyes, opened them as wide as he could 23:43.720 --> 23:47.720 and moved his head from side to side, trying nearsightedly to see me. 23:47.720 --> 23:50.720 Then his head stopped moving and holding it sideways, 23:50.720 --> 23:54.720 using one eye to see me, he came on, the knife held way back. 23:54.720 --> 23:56.720 I went... I... I... 23:56.720 --> 23:58.720 I'd fly with the sawdust and jumped to one side, 23:58.720 --> 24:02.720 my back up against the block, and he twisted and skidded in the sawdust and he fell. 24:03.720 --> 24:06.720 He was very still for a moment. 24:06.720 --> 24:08.720 I waited. 24:08.720 --> 24:10.720 He rose to his knees. 24:10.720 --> 24:13.720 In the blinking light, I saw the knife. 24:13.720 --> 24:17.720 He'd fallen on it. It stuck out of the middle of his chest. 24:17.720 --> 24:19.720 Kraus! 24:21.720 --> 24:25.720 Then, very slowly, he got to his feet. 24:25.720 --> 24:30.720 One hand over the place where the knife was and started towing me again. 24:30.720 --> 24:32.720 There was a rack over the chopping block. 24:32.720 --> 24:34.720 He reached up and got a cleaver. 24:34.720 --> 24:35.720 I backed up. 24:35.720 --> 24:37.720 Behind me, I felt a large cold handle. 24:37.720 --> 24:40.720 The door to the meat storage room, I eased it open. 24:42.720 --> 24:47.720 Inside, it was cold, bitter cold and dark. 24:47.720 --> 24:51.720 In the center of the door was one small thick pane of glass. 24:51.720 --> 24:52.720 It was clouded. 24:52.720 --> 24:56.720 I wiped it clear with my hand and looked out. 24:56.720 --> 25:01.720 Kraus stood there, his face an inch from mine, looking in. 25:01.720 --> 25:06.720 And then his eyes rolled back and his face went slack and he fell out of sight. 25:12.720 --> 25:13.720 He was dead. 25:13.720 --> 25:15.720 I was sure. 25:15.720 --> 25:18.720 I felt around in the dark for the knob, but I couldn't find it. 25:18.720 --> 25:21.720 I felt the door from top to bottom. 25:21.720 --> 25:24.720 There were bars and bolts and something that felt like a handle. 25:24.720 --> 25:28.720 I can't and tug, but it wouldn't move. 25:28.720 --> 25:30.720 There was a knife on the slab there. 25:30.720 --> 25:31.720 I put your knife. 25:31.720 --> 25:36.720 I felt around the door for a crack, slipped the knife in and twisted. 25:38.720 --> 25:40.720 Broke off. 25:41.720 --> 25:42.720 Another door, I thought. 25:42.720 --> 25:45.720 Maybe there's...oh, please. 25:45.720 --> 25:47.720 Another door out of this place. 25:47.720 --> 25:51.720 I began to search for it in the dark, feeling along the icy damp walls. 25:51.720 --> 25:54.720 I walked into something cold that moved when I touched it. 25:54.720 --> 25:57.720 Oh, the sight of beef. 25:57.720 --> 25:58.720 But no door. 25:58.720 --> 26:02.720 I moved farther, another icy cold thing. 26:02.720 --> 26:05.720 And I moved on and came up against another. 26:06.720 --> 26:09.720 Cold as the rest, but... 26:09.720 --> 26:11.720 And I'm crazy. 26:11.720 --> 26:13.720 I know it. 26:13.720 --> 26:15.720 I'm crazy. 26:15.720 --> 26:20.720 This one...this one feels as though it's wearing silk stockings. 26:30.720 --> 26:32.720 So here I am. 26:32.720 --> 26:34.720 It's awfully cold. 26:34.720 --> 26:36.720 Cold as a witch's heart. 26:36.720 --> 26:38.720 Cold as a tomb. 26:38.720 --> 26:41.720 This thing I have in my hand is knife handle. 26:41.720 --> 26:43.720 I wish it had a blade. 26:43.720 --> 26:46.720 I know what I do, I know, but it hasn't. 26:46.720 --> 26:48.720 Anyway, I'm innocent of anything. 26:48.720 --> 26:49.720 They'll believe me. 26:49.720 --> 26:50.720 They will. 26:50.720 --> 26:52.720 There's a letter outside on the scale. 26:52.720 --> 26:53.720 It says, I did it, Kraus. 26:53.720 --> 26:55.720 Don't blame anybody else. 26:55.720 --> 26:56.720 And there's my suitcase. 26:56.720 --> 26:59.720 Well, that'll prove I meant to go away and not cause anybody a hard time. 26:59.720 --> 27:01.720 And there's... 27:04.720 --> 27:06.720 Oh, time goes slow. 27:06.720 --> 27:10.720 And while I'm waiting and waiting and waiting, 27:10.720 --> 27:13.720 I'll tell myself the whole story again. 27:13.720 --> 27:16.720 And again, it'll give me something to do, you know. 27:16.720 --> 27:18.720 Something to think about. 27:18.720 --> 27:20.720 You see, it started the first day of the job. 27:20.720 --> 27:22.720 I was clerking the liquor department at the supermarket. 27:22.720 --> 27:24.720 I hadn't been to Los Angeles a week. 27:24.720 --> 27:26.720 My brother, when I left New York, had given me this letter to a friend of his. 27:26.720 --> 27:28.720 You know, a guy who owned a string of these supermarkets. 27:28.720 --> 27:29.720 The letter was about, could he use me? 27:29.720 --> 27:31.720 I was a good fellow. He counted the favor, you know. 27:31.720 --> 27:32.720 The guy had this opening a liquor clerk. 27:32.720 --> 27:34.720 It was the first day and I'd come to Los Angeles. 27:34.720 --> 27:40.720 I could be a short time... 27:50.720 --> 27:51.720 Suspense! 27:51.720 --> 27:53.720 Presented by Auto Light. 27:53.720 --> 27:55.720 Tonight's star, Kirk Douglas. 27:55.720 --> 27:56.720 Remmingchester. 27:56.720 --> 27:58.720 Nice, hey. 27:58.720 --> 27:59.720 You gave me a star. 27:59.720 --> 28:01.720 No, I didn't, Remmingchester old man. 28:01.720 --> 28:03.720 Must have been your new Auto Light's day full battery. 28:03.720 --> 28:06.720 The battery that needs water only three times a year in normal car use. 28:06.720 --> 28:08.720 Just the thing for starting right. 28:08.720 --> 28:15.720 And remember, it's just one of more than 400 products made by Auto Light for cars, trucks, planes and boats in 28 plants, coast to coast. 28:15.720 --> 28:20.720 These include complete electrical systems for many makes of America's finest cars. 28:20.720 --> 28:26.720 Batteries, spark plugs, generators, coils, distributors, starting motors, Auto Light bullseye, sealed beam headlights. 28:26.720 --> 28:31.720 All engineered to fit together perfectly, work together perfectly because they're a perfect team. 28:31.720 --> 28:41.720 Though don't I accept electrical parts 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. 28:41.720 --> 28:44.720 Remember, you're always right with Auto Light. 28:50.720 --> 28:53.720 Next Thursday for Suspense, Marlena Dietrich will be our star. 28:53.720 --> 28:57.720 The play is called Murder Strikes Three Times and it is as we say... 28:57.720 --> 29:00.720 A tale well calculated to keep you in... 29:00.720 --> 29:02.720 Suspense! 29:02.720 --> 29:07.720 Tonight's Suspense play was produced and edited by William Spear and directed by Norman MacDonald. 29:07.720 --> 29:11.720 Music for Suspense is composed by Lucian Morrowek and conducted by Lud Bluskin. 29:11.720 --> 29:15.720 The Butcher's Wife is an original play for radio by James Pohl. 29:15.720 --> 29:22.720 Kirk Douglas, whose throwing performance in Champion has placed him among the Academy Award contenders, will soon be seen in Young Man with a Horn. 29:22.720 --> 29:30.720 You can buy Auto Light staple batteries, Auto Light regular or resistor spark plugs, Auto Light electrical parts at your neighborhood Auto Light dealers. 29:30.720 --> 29:32.720 Switch to Auto Light. Good night. 29:32.720 --> 29:53.720 This is CBS, the Columbia Broadcasting System.