Suspense!
Autolite and its 96,000 dealers present Mr. Ronald Reagan
One and One's Alonesome, a suspense play produced and edited by William Spear.
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And now, with one and one's a lonesome, and the performance of Ronald Reagan,
autolite hopes once again to keep you in...
suspense!
My name's George, George Bellock.
Right now I'm on a trip.
Not alone. No, I've got company.
She's a few days behind me, but we're getting off at the same stop.
Her name's Marie, but don't let that tag fool you.
She's as U.S. as the American League.
I haven't seen her since yesterday, and I don't know what she's wearing.
But five will get you ten. The outfit's silk and covers her body like a cellophane wrapper.
I met her about two weeks ago, right after she married the guy I worked for, Henry Grover.
He owns a lumber yard just outside of town.
He'd been working hard and figured he was ripe for a vacation.
He hired me to manage the place while he was away.
I put him on a train one night, didn't hear from him for two months.
I was sorry to hear from him then.
I'd put a few improvements in, and the take was making me forget I ever had any money troubles.
I got a postcard saying he'd met a nice babe and married her.
I tossed off a couple of drinks in honor of the occasion and relaxed.
I figured she'd talk him into staying in the city, and I could buy the shop.
That was before I met her. I've never been so wrong.
There he is, Marie, honey. Hello there, George.
Welcome home, Henry.
Ah, good to see you again, boy. Well, here she is.
Marie, this is George Bellic. George has been managing the office for me.
Hello, manager.
Hi. Here, Henry, let me help you with those bags.
Oh, thanks. How's business?
I told Marie all about the place, some of the things I got in mind.
Pretty good. Guess you'll be building that new house now, huh, Henry?
Oh, not this year. Thinking about painting the old room, though.
I have a few ideas, too, you know.
And pretty good ones, too.
I wouldn't be surprised if the place didn't pick up and make some money.
I wouldn't be surprised.
I don't suppose you'll be staying on now Henry's back, will you, George?
Oh, well, of course he'll be staying.
I don't know. I haven't thought much about it.
Well, a lumberyard doesn't need three, manager.
Well, for real.
Doesn't need two?
When two is one, that's different.
That's right, George. One and one makes one, you know.
Yeah. That's when threes are crowds.
Oh, you. Come on in.
Would you like some coffee?
Yeah. Thanks.
Thought you were with Henry.
He's over in the warehouse.
Alone?
Yeah.
I don't think you're glad to see us, George.
Why should I be?
My name's on your check.
Your husband's name?
Listen, tell me something, will you?
Like what?
Like how come you two got married?
Love.
It hits you fast.
Sometimes.
Planning to be with him long?
No.
The top heavy contest and he's outclassed.
That's nothing to me.
That's good.
How'd you happen to bring him back here?
Why didn't you keep him at home?
I felt like a change.
He bailed you out?
Yeah. Out of a dance hall.
I suppose you just stole the tickets.
Not exactly.
Okay. Okay.
Slave to queen. How does it feel?
It's a bit creepy.
Let me ask you one.
What are you going to do for a job now?
Manage this lumber business?
No, you're not.
You don't own it.
Don't believe everything you read on a piece of paper.
I own it.
And there's no room for you.
You know, your new husband's in for a kind of a surprise.
What kind of a surprise?
I mean, when he hits the warehouse.
What about it?
There's a room over in the back part.
One of the walls is holding up a row of slot machines.
And there's a table on the floor that worked made for checkers.
Gambling?
That's right.
Henry didn't mention that.
That's the surprise.
Well, I guess I don't have to worry any about getting rid of you.
Henry will take care of that.
You think so?
How's business in the back room?
Like a girly show on Iwo Jima.
Where's the money?
In the bank.
Your bank?
My bank.
George, can I see you a minute?
Sure, Henry.
Come on in here, why don't you?
I'd rather handle this alone, honey, if you don't mind.
Come on, George.
Oh, you told me I could help you.
Now something's come up and you're shutting me out of it.
It has nothing to do with that.
This is something new.
You may as well let her in on it.
She knows all about it anyway.
You told her?
Sure.
I figured I was telling the manager.
One and one makes one, remember?
All right.
George, I left you to run a lumber yard.
I didn't want any improvement.
Especially I didn't want any improvements like I just saw over there.
Dice tables, slot machines, I don't know what all.
I don't see how you moved at all in two months.
Two days, but you're right, it wasn't easy.
George, when I came back I thought we'd all work together.
There's a place for you here.
And I'll go on paying you the same salary.
Wouldn't be much compared to what you've been making on the side, is that it?
Business has been pretty good up till now.
Well, then it's all over.
And this is goodbye.
I'm sorry.
No easy money for you, huh?
Not when it's breaking the law.
You can stay on here tonight, but in the morning get those machines and dice tables together and get out.
They're not going anyplace and neither am I.
But you're breaking the law.
Tomorrow morning I'm throwing out all that stuff.
Where are you going to throw it?
Out anywhere.
I don't know.
I don't care where.
If you throw it outside and leave it, somebody will see it and talk to the police.
If you try and have it moved out, I'll call them myself.
Any way you look at it, they're going to want the owner of this place for gambling.
And you're the owner.
George, you bought the stuff.
I didn't know anything about it.
I don't even know where you got it.
I've been away.
I can prove that.
You don't scare me.
In your name I bought the stuff and in your name I ran the place.
I'm just a hired man working here.
They'll want the boss.
And you're the boss, just like always, Henry.
Well, then you're closing down tomorrow.
If I can't run a decent shop, I won't run any.
All right, close down.
But if the police get a tip, they'll think all you do out here is gamble.
Oh, what's got into you, son?
Two months ago I gave you a job and you were glad to get it.
What's got into you anyway?
He found a way to make some money.
Yeah, a lot of money.
The take is good here.
When I got your postcard, I thought I'd seen the last of you.
I was going to pay you for the place and let it go at that.
How about it?
What's the price?
No price.
I'm not selling it to you or anybody else.
How about $15,000?
In cash?
Sure, cash.
You haven't saved that much from this place in two months.
I'll get the money.
Got about 8,000 now.
Couple of months, I'll have the rest.
I wouldn't trust you for a three-cent stamp.
Never mind, Marie, honey.
Now, look, I'm not selling, George, and that's the end of it.
And we're partners.
Not in anything like this we're not.
You'll like it fine when the money starts coming in.
I don't want anything to do with it.
Okay, you won't have anything to do with it.
You take care of the lumber business.
I'll handle the rest.
I told you now, for the last time.
Fine, listen, listen.
We don't want any trouble with the police.
There isn't going to be any trouble with the police.
The way he tells it there is.
He's got us over a barrel.
I've been clearing pretty near a thousand bucks a week.
There isn't much I wouldn't do for that kind of money.
We better think it over, honey.
We better think over what to do.
Well, that's the idea.
Think it over.
Think it over, both of you.
The minute I saw her, I knew that was the way I was going to have to play it.
I knew I wouldn't get far with him.
But with her, it was different.
There wasn't much I wouldn't do for that kind of money.
There wasn't anything she wouldn't do.
I knew I'd planted the seed and I knew how it'd grow.
I knew how she'd go to work on him that night, almost as though I'd been in the room.
Henry, what are you going to do about George?
Oh, I don't know, honey.
He's a good man.
He must be in with bad crowd, that's all.
Yeah, that's likely.
He's played the angles so long they're round.
I like George.
That's why I hired him.
If he's in with the wrong bunch, oh, that's all right.
He'll come out of it.
You're going to let him go on gambling?
I don't know what to say.
You said yourself he had to...
Henry, you could take him up on it.
On what?
His proposition.
At least for a while.
Oh, but I...
You could pretend to.
Oh, no, I don't like that.
Anyway, where would that get you?
It'd get you a 50-50 cut on a thousand dollars a week in the meantime.
No, Marie, I don't want it.
I don't want any part of it.
You heard what he said.
He said he'd do anything for that kind of money.
Oh, he didn't mean anything...
No.
I know what I'd do.
I'd put a bullet in his head.
Oh, now, Marie, don't talk that way.
That isn't even funny.
What are you going to do?
Let him take over your business right out from under your nose?
He's a gambler and a thief.
Henry, if you called him on it, if you had it out with him and he started anything,
it'd be self-defense.
Why, no jury in the world would hold you on it.
What are you talking about?
I'm telling you.
Don't be silly.
I'm certainly not going to do anything like that.
All right, all right, don't.
See what happens.
I wish I knew what was going to happen.
Well, I'll tell you.
You want to know?
Oh, just let me try to think, can't you?
Think?
What do you suppose he's thinking about?
Well, he said...
I know what he said.
Listen to me, Henry.
It's him or you.
Don't you see that?
Three's a crowd.
That's what he's thinking about.
Murder.
Yeah, I knew pretty much what they were talking about in there.
I knew this dame pretty well.
It only needed a day of knowing her to know that a word like murder was part of her natural-born vocabulary.
To know that she could cut a guy's throat and think no more of it than clipping one of her fingernails.
I didn't know just then who was going to get murdered.
I found out.
Auto Light is bringing you Ronald Reagan in One and One's Alonesome.
Tonight's production in radio's outstanding theater of thrills, Suspense.
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And now, Auto Light brings back to our Hollywood sound stage our star Ronald Reagan with Kathy Lewis in One and One's Alonesome.
A tale well calculated to keep you in suspense.
Tonight after Henry and his new wife came home, I didn't open up the back room in the warehouse.
I put in the new table and counted out the profits for the week.
I took a fair share over to Grover, but he read negative all the way.
When he turned down that money, Marie tried on a face she must have been saving for Jack the Ripper.
She knew he wasn't going to change his mind.
She could see I was set to pocket big money on a four hour schedule in the back room,
while their take after 16 hours in the lumber yard would look like a piggy bank night before Christmas.
I said good night and left them alone to what promised to be a rotten evening for both.
I went over to the garage where I'd fixed myself up a little cot.
I was mixing the paint we were using on the house the next day, but I hadn't been at it more than half an hour when I had a visitor.
This is a surprise.
I broke my fingernail.
Thought you might have a nail clipper.
See it? Isn't it pretty?
Yeah.
Do you have one?
What?
A nail clipper. On your key chain maybe?
Sure, here. Wait, let me do it for you.
Long and pointed. Like a pussycat.
They can scratch too. Like them?
Sure. There you are. What'll I do with the victim?
Keep it for a souvenir.
You mind my coming to see you?
Not if your husband doesn't.
He doesn't? No, I'm here.
He will if he thinks real hard.
I don't care. I wanted to see you.
Need more light?
No, no, this is fine.
Henry's not strong, you know.
Well, he wasn't wearing a lion's skin when you married him.
It all happened so fast, I wanted to get out of that dance hall.
Oh yeah, the dance hall.
Well, that's the price of love.
Or have you changed your mind?
Yeah, I changed my mind.
That's easy to do when it's all over.
Is it all over?
You married him.
He's not strong. Maybe something will happen to him.
Not likely. Nothing ever has.
I did.
Don't you like me?
Huh?
I like you.
I like it here. I don't want to leave.
I don't want to go anywhere.
I don't want my head turning into a home for your husband's bullets.
This the paint you're using tomorrow?
Yeah, your healthy husband and I.
Using ladders?
No, we'll swing a couple of platforms on pulleys with ropes.
Why, want to learn to paint?
No, thanks. I'm worried about Henry up on one of those things.
He's not as strong as you are.
Yeah, I know.
If he happened to fall off, he might be hurt.
If he fell on the cement drive, it might break his neck.
That's right.
Do the ropes ever break?
Not often enough to make the odds good for betting.
Could you make them break?
Huh?
Could you fix the ropes so they'd break when he got to the top?
Not on your life. I'm happy with my little racket.
I'm not taking any chances killing anybody.
Then he'll kill you. Take your choice.
How long do you think you'll watch that money going into your pocket?
How long do you think you'll take that gambling?
Keep talking.
It'll be accidental, no murder at all.
When he's dead, I get the warehouse and the house.
You get me.
What's in it for you?
You are?
As simple as that.
And I'll take a cut on those backroom profits.
Go on.
Henry's been talking about painting the house.
I got the idea when he told me about a fellow doing the same thing
who fell and was killed.
If anything like that ever happened to him, he said I wouldn't have to worry.
Everything was taken care of.
Why do you cut me in?
I told you.
Because I like you.
And because you couldn't cut me out.
Can you fix the rope so it'll break when you want it to?
No.
But I could fix it so it would break.
There'd have to be somebody else here, a witness, to see it was an accident.
I already thought of that.
Son of his. Jim Brandon.
You figured every angle, haven't you?
You'll get your chance.
Okay. The rope will break.
Get it fixed up tonight?
Okay.
Where'll you leave it?
There'll be two platforms. One for me, one for him.
I'll take them both over to the house tonight before I go to bed.
Put the one for Henry by the office.
Put yours by the house.
Yeah.
I don't want you to be around tomorrow when Henry and Brandon set them up.
That way nobody can say that you had anything to do with it.
Don't worry. We won't have any trouble.
We better not.
I'm risking a lot for you.
I won't forget it, baby.
Don't.
This is what the movies call love.
You like it?
I'm getting to like it.
It's easy learning.
I hope I won't have to forget.
I'll worry about that.
Let's talk some more.
You got more to say?
Mm-hmm.
Lots more.
Mm.
Things are gonna be different around here after tomorrow.
Yeah. That's right.
Just you and me.
And the backroom gold mine.
Think we'll make you happy?
I'm willing to take a chance.
I better be getting back to the house.
Sure. It's Grover's last night.
Good night, Georgie.
Don't disappoint me.
Is that hard?
I had gloves with me when I came in here.
You did. Here they are.
Oh.
Well?
I think I'll keep them.
What's the idea?
I want a souvenir.
I'm not going anywhere.
Maybe I'll tuck them under my pillow.
This is what the movies call love.
After she left, I sat there thinking.
Those gloves didn't help me clear my head of me.
They smelled like the powder room in the Club Paris.
I liked the way she handled Grover.
Sure, the kid was bright.
The plan looked sure fire.
With a payoff in fancy living written especially for happy homes.
I strung together a couple of ropes and a pulley on two wooden boards
and called it a platform.
The next one took more time.
I spent a few minutes burning the rope where it had rest on the pulley
when the platform was up near the top.
I pulled it apart a little with my fingers,
made sure it wouldn't hold much weight for long.
I fixed it just the way I wanted it.
And I slipped it through the pulley, anchored it on the boards,
and had myself another platform, different from the first.
But looking just the same.
I put the good one by the house and the other next to the shop.
By the time I was through, it was nearly daylight,
and I lay down in the cot.
The next thing I knew, she was shaking me.
Come on, come on, wake up, come on.
They're ready to start.
Him and his pal are out there now waiting for you.
Oh, oh yeah.
Where are they?
Out in the yard.
The platforms?
Yeah, they've already got them set up.
Okay.
It won't be long now, baby.
Are you nervous?
Sure.
Like a sack of laundry.
Don't let me fool you.
I'm scared when the time comes it won't work.
Forget it.
That rope won't hold a hundred pounds, five minutes.
And anything that hits that concrete will be dead before you catch your breath.
How did you fix the rope?
I burned it.
Nobody will notice it.
I pulled it apart a little.
Just enough to hold it together while he's getting to the top.
We'll let Brandon pull you both up.
Nobody has to pull us both up.
We can lift our own.
There's a rope from the pulley that'll hoist her lower.
Okay.
Come on.
A few minutes, and you'll be the new owner around here.
And I'll be talking about Mary and my boss.
Yeah.
That's right, Julie.
A few minutes, things will be swell.
Which one of them picked up the rope by the shop?
Brandon, his pal.
Then it's on the right side of the drive.
That's the bad one.
Are you sure?
Sure.
That's the one for Henry.
I wonder how long it takes to fall three stories.
Three, maybe four seconds?
I don't know.
When the rope breaks, you count it.
I'll be busy trying to look surprised.
I want Brandon to go into town telling everybody about the accident we had out here.
Don't overdo it.
You're no actor.
I'll keep my eyes on you, baby.
That's a good idea.
Matter of fact, I'm going to make a habit of...
Hiya, George.
You bring the paint?
Yeah, Henry, right here.
Oh, you know Jim Brandon, don't you?
Yeah, we met.
Hiya, George.
Hello, Mr. Clover.
Hello.
Well, might as well get going.
With all this waiting around, I've kind of lost the mood for painting.
It's like gambling, Henry.
Once you begin, you feel like you never belong anywhere else.
Yeah, George, I've got a couple of things I want to talk to you about.
Not now, Henry.
You've been talking about nobody being ready to paint.
Now we're all ready, so let's paint.
All right, all right.
But when we're finished, George, come over to the house.
I want to talk with you.
Sure, Henry.
Maybe I was a little hasty last night.
Right after we get through, I'll be waiting for you.
George must think he's a pretty fast painter.
We're going to be all finished in the house before you get down over the platform, Henry.
Well, we'll see about that.
I've done my share of painting, too.
You'll have to jump some to beat me, George.
I guess you're right.
You two going to stand there all day?
That's right, Mrs. Clover.
Neither of them can paint well enough to make this old place look any better.
Oh, I don't know.
I was telling Henry this morning, this time he bought a new house for his pretty new wife.
Oh, thank you, Mr. Brandon.
But as long as we have this house and the paint's right here,
we may as well go ahead and paint, don't you think?
Oh, sure, sure.
Oh, you're right, honey.
Well, come on, George, let's get going.
Can I help you, Henry?
No, thanks.
We can pull ourselves up, can't we, George?
Yeah, that's right.
Come on, let's stand over here out of the way, Mr. Brandon.
I want to watch this.
Sure thing.
You ever seen house painting before?
Oh, yeah, yeah.
Never anything quite like this.
Yeah? Well, they're pretty good at it.
Hey, this is kind of a rickety contraption.
Is it going to hold?
Oh, sure, sure.
What's the matter, George?
You having trouble?
Oh, just watching.
Well, now you've seen how it's done.
You come on up in the sky.
Be right with you, Henry.
Hey, Brandon, when I get to the top,
will you tie this rope to the bucket of paint and pass it up?
Right, Henry.
All right.
Keep pulling, George.
He's beating you up there.
Hey, easy does it, George.
That's no elevator.
Don't worry about me.
You got your own problems.
OK, Jim, pass up the paint.
You ready to do, George?
Hey, I think the rope was slipping on the pulley.
I don't feel anything.
I don't see anything wrong with the pulley.
It's breaking with the pulley!
Like I told you, I'm on a trip.
But it's no honeymoon.
A couple of hours ago,
170 pounds of Henry Grover hit the cement driveway.
Then I got the surprise of my life.
It lasted just two seconds before I hit two.
I thought I was as safe as a glass of water.
But I was just another fall guy because both platforms gave way.
I'd never thought of that angle.
Two partners make more dough than three.
But one owner without a partner makes the most.
No, I didn't think of that.
But I had thought of a couple of others just in case.
The fingernail, for instance.
They gave me maybe half a day to live.
So I told it to them, the cops,
almost the way it happened.
And when I got through,
I didn't even have to hint at those other couple of angles.
They found it out all by themselves.
And then they brought in Marie.
Oh, George, George.
Doctor, is he... will he...
Give it, baby. They know all about it.
Know all about what?
My name is Williams, Lieutenant Homicide.
Homicide?
These are your gloves, Mrs. Grover?
Yes, they're mine.
We found them in sort of a funny place.
In the tool shed where all those painting platforms were fixed up.
I don't see how that...
Did you know those ropes were burned and frayed?
Somebody pulled them apart and burned them.
George did it. It was all his idea.
Sure funny guy wanted to bump himself off.
Let me see your hands.
Nice hands.
Nice nails.
One of them's broke off, huh?
What of it?
We found it.
In the rope where somebody pulled it apart.
We want you for murder.
The Doctor says he'll be right behind me.
Yeah, like I said, I'm going on a little trip any minute now, the Doc says.
But she'll be right behind me.
Suspense, presented by the Doctor.
Suspense, presented by Auto Light.
Tonight's star, Ronald Reagan, with Kathy Lewis.
Say, Harrow, it seems to make no difference whether I'm talking about kangaroos or platypuses.
It always reminds you of Auto Light.
Well, that's as natural as you're a naturalist, Reming Chester,
because Auto Light makes more than 400 products for cars, trucks, planes, and boats in 28 plants coast to coast.
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["Suspense Theme"]
Next Thursday for Suspense, our star will be Joseph Cotton.
The play is called Blood Sacrifice, 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 Morrowek and conducted by Lud Bluskin.
One-in-one's Alonesome was written for radio by Nelson Sykes.
Ronald Reagan may currently be seen in the Warner Brothers production, The Hasty Heart.
In the coming weeks, you will hear such stars as Cary Grant, Dan Daly, and Arthur Godfrey.
Don't forget, next Thursday same time, Auto Light will present Suspense starring Joseph Cotton.
["Suspense Theme"]
You can buy Auto Light resistor or regular spark plugs, Auto Light safe-full batteries,
Auto Light electrical parts at your neighborhood Auto Light dealers.
Switch to Auto Light. Good night.
An investment in boys is an investment in America's future.
This is National Boys Club Week.
Support the boys club in your community.
This is CBS, the Columbia Broadcasting System.
["Suspense Theme"]