Auto Light and its 96,000 dealers present Suspense.
Tonight, Auto Light brings you Miss Claire Trevor in Angel Face, a suspense play produced
and edited by William Spear.
The flowers are blooming this spring.
Hey, you better save that for the bathtub, where consult a voice expert.
Seems to be an expert for everything these days, Wilcox.
Everything from voices to spark plugs.
Take Auto Light spark plugs, for instance.
They're designed by Auto Light ignition engineers.
The men who engineer spark plugs, just as they engineer coils, distributors, wire, and
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Ignition engineered Auto Light spark plugs, you might say.
Yes, sir.
And these same Auto Light engineers developed the famous Auto Light resistor spark plug,
one of the greatest advances in spark plug design for automotive use in the past 20 years.
Real experts, eh, Wilcox?
Right you are, Hap.
So friends, see your friendly Auto Light spark plug dealer tomorrow.
Have him replace worn out spark plugs with world famous ignition engineered Auto Light
spark plugs.
And whether you choose the resistor type or the regular type, you can't buy a better spark
plug for your car because you're always right with Auto Light.
And now with angel face and the performance of Claire Trevor, Auto Light hopes once again
to keep you in suspense.
Does that get that door?
Did he?
Wait a minute.
Wait, Madame, whom did you wish to see?
I see her already if you don't mind out of my way.
But Madame.
They've got a doorman downstairs in this building.
You're supposed to get yourself announced, honey.
The name is Wheeler.
Does it mean anything to you?
Wheeler.
I had caught Ruby Rose Redding, the noted burlesque queen at breakfast time, hers not
mine, quarter to three in the afternoon.
Breakfast was a tomato and lettuce, untouched, and a glass of bromo salsa.
She banged her cigarette to death against an ashtray and looked me up and down like
auditioning me for her chorus line.
Wheeler.
What's it supposed to mean?
Are you his mother?
I'm a little young for the part, but I'm the only one he's ever had.
Oh, now I get it.
The big sister act.
Okay, run through it once and get out of here.
Sure.
I don't mind coming right out with it in front of your maid if you don't.
Yeah.
Suzette.
Take Fufu around the block a couple of times.
Madame, I've seen him once already.
Well, take him again.
Maybe you can get him tomorrow already.
But Madame.
Get out of here.
Where's Madame?
Madame, come on, fool.
You're done with him.
Well, I'll give it to you short.
I want you to lay off my brother.
Your brother?
Now let's see.
What am I supposed to have done to him?
He's been spending money like wild.
Money that doesn't come out of his salary.
And another thing.
He started wearing a gun about two weeks after you started wearing him.
Did I teach him to shoot at two?
No, but I think some of your friends may have.
Oh, you've been reading the gossip columns.
Well, I read them too.
Some big gun from Philly is supposed to be paying my rent.
Forget it, honey.
That's my publicity.
Now will you get out of here and let me get my massage?
Look.
Give him a break, will you?
Pick on someone your own size.
Well, I'll bother.
Hey, I've heard of wives pulling this bit and even mothers.
And once in a picture it was the old man.
Now it's his sister.
Well send grandma around tomorrow.
I'll beat it.
I walked out past her.
If she'd touched me, I think I'd have murdered her.
Oh, it's this.
Where you been?
Oh, I went for a walk.
Why aren't you at work?
I quit my job.
You did?
Chick, you aren't going to Chicago with that dame, are you?
Why Chicago?
Well, it's in variety.
Ruby Rose is opening a club there.
It also says a big shot gangster from Philly is backing it.
Oh, what?
Well, does he know about you?
What are you trying to do, scare me off?
Oh, no.
You're such a big shot.
That wouldn't work.
All that about that guy.
That's nothing but publicity.
Ruby told me all about it.
Oh, yeah, sure.
Oh, look, sis, you don't know her like I do.
Oh, Chick, I'm not going to let you get mixed up with this.
No, no cracks, Jerry.
Look, Ruby Rose Redding makes good money, all right,
but the rent on that plush line grap trap she lives in,
if you can call it living, is around $3,000 a month.
Now, somebody's paying those bills and...
Oh, nuts.
What do you really know about her?
More than you ever will.
Oh, please.
I'm in show business, too, you know.
All lay off, will you?
Chick, wait. Listen.
I heard enough.
Chick, please.
Get away from the door, Jerry.
I never raised a hand to you in my life, and I don't want to now.
I won't let you go, Chick.
Not for her, not for something that ought to be washed out of your hair with gasoline.
Get out of my way, Jerry.
Oh, don't go, Chick.
You're heading straight for the eight ball.
Chick.
Don't go to her.
Dissolved two girls sitting at kitchen table playing very solitary solitaire
About four that morning, I was looking for an aspirin.
When the doorbell buzzed, Chick, I...
Chick, I...
You're Jerry Wheeler, aren't you?
He was nice.
I found out his name later.
Lieutenant Nick Burns.
The other one had a face like one of those cobblestones they dug out of Eighth Avenue when they tore up the trolley tracks.
Your brother. What time do you leave here this evening?
I really couldn't say. My clock's out of order.
Miss Wheeler, your brother was going to Chicago with Ruby Rose Redding, the dancer. You knew that, didn't you?
Oh, now why would he go anywhere with anyone with a name like that?
Your brother went to the Alcazar Apartments at 8.15 tonight and beat up this Redding dame.
What?
Then he put his two big thumbs on her throat and throttled her until she was dead.
You're just saying that. He's just saying that, isn't he?
That's the way it is, Angel Face.
Well, he didn't do it. Please, please, he didn't do it.
All right, I did know about him and Ruby Rose, but he couldn't have done that.
I've been on the squad eight years, Angel Face, and we never in all that time caught a guy as dead to rights as your brother.
He showed up with his valise in the foyer of the Alcazar at exactly 12 minutes past eight tonight.
He said to the doorman, what time is it that Miss Redding sent her baggage down yet? We've got to make a train.
Well, she had sent her baggage down and then she changed her mind. She had it all taken back upstairs again.
There's your motive right there.
Well, that doesn't prove anything. She might...
The doorman rang her apartment and said through the intercom, Mr. Wheeler's here, and she gave a dirty laugh and sang out, I can hardly wait.
I don't see that. So what?
So she was alive at 13 minutes past eight. The doorman went out for coffee at 815.
At 820, Ruby Rose asked the operator to give her the police. She was shrieking with fear.
At 832, I arrived. Your brother was crouched over, shaking her, and she was dead.
Oh, no.
There were two thumb prints on her neck as well as the marks of a big signet ring where she'd been pummeled.
The initial, W, for Wheeler. Is that a case or isn't it?
Was... was Chick wearing that ring when you arrested him?
No, but there's a ring mark on his right third finger where he got rid of a ring he'd been wearing a long time.
He pawned it. He needed money.
So thus he lost it.
Well, even if he did hit her, how do you know somebody else wasn't in that apartment just before Chick showed up? Where was that French maid of hers?
Discharged. Got her notice in two weeks' pay and left around six story checks.
Did Chick confess?
Oh, no, no. He was crouched over, shaking her, trying to restore her, he said.
All right. All right. I'll tell you everything. Write it down.
That's more like it.
I went there this afternoon and told her if she didn't lay off my brother, I'd kill her.
I came back home, found Chick packed up, ready to leave. I... I tried to stop him. He hit me.
Asked the neighbors. They heard his rowing. He struck me and I couldn't stand it.
I beat it up to her place in a taxi, got there first, went in the back way and... and gave her one last chance to leave him alone.
She wouldn't take it. She was all soft and... and squashy and I... I just grabbed her by the neck and pushed hard.
I've got big thumbs, too.
Mm-hmm. Got all that, Kohler?
Uh... yup.
Well, that about puts a lid on it. Let's go.
Yeah, let's.
Hey, wait a minute.
Yeah, Angel Faith?
Aren't you going to take me?
Who wants you?
Oh, you think this is one of those phony confessions? Well, maybe the newspapers won't think so and they'll be right.
Maybe you did do it at that. Maybe I'm underestimating you.
What was she wearing?
Pajamas.
You're right. That was a good guess. See you later, Angel Faith.
The way he said it, I couldn't tell whether it was a threat or a promise.
I never saw him again until after the jury had found my brother guilty of murder in the first degree.
Auto Light is bringing you Miss Claire Trevor in Angel Face, tonight's production in radio's outstanding theater of thrills, Suspense.
Harlow, speaking of experts...
Experts, did you say? That reminds me of Auto Light Ignition Engineers, the men who design and build complete ignition systems,
used as original factory equipment on many makes of America's finest cars.
They're ignition experts, so naturally they know how to build Auto Light spark plugs so they'll work as a perfect team with all the other important parts of the ignition system.
That means they know how to build into spark plugs the best in quick starting, smooth performance and gas mileage, Harlow.
Righto, and say it's the skill of these same Auto Light engineers that made possible the development of the Auto Light Resistor spark plug, one of the greatest advances in spark plug design for automotive use in the past 20 years.
Edgewise.
How's that again, Harlow?
I'm just trying to get a word in, Edgewise, Harlow.
Well, here's the last word, Hap. See your friendly Auto Light spark plug dealer tomorrow. Have him replace worn out spark plugs with Ignition Engineered Auto Light spark plugs.
Whether you choose the resistor type or the regular type, you'll be right, because you're always right with Auto Light.
And now Auto Light brings back to our Hollywood sound stage our star, Claire Trevor in Angel Face, a tale well calculated to keep you in...
Suspense!
I was coming out of the courtroom in a wet hen frame of mind and guess who had an umbrella?
Hello, Angel Face.
Get away from me, you butcher.
That girl feeling better already, huh?
Just keep out of my way.
Wait a minute, Angel Face.
Let go of me.
You need help, baby. I'm trying to give it to you.
All right. Tell me the name of the little man who wasn't there.
Wasn't where?
In that courtroom, standing trial for her murder in place of Chick. Can't you see it's got to be another...
Oh, what's the use of trying to sell you?
Oh, go on. Sell me. Convince me your brother didn't do it and I'm with you up to it.
Well, why did you wait till now to say that?
You didn't give me anything to go on. Nothing but that phony confession of yours.
Well, it was better than the purgid testimony of that doorman and that phony French maid.
And you, you sat up there with your face hanging out and put in your two cents worth.
Look, Angel Face, I was sent by my superiors in answer to the patrolman's call that night.
Question Chick and put him under arrest. Don't hold that against me.
Why do you care whether I hold it against you?
You really don't know?
No.
Look in the mirror sometime and find out.
Right then I decided to stop holding it against him that he was a detective.
I kind of liked the guy and maybe, just maybe he could find a way to help clear my brother.
And over a couple of Manhattans in a cheery little bar I told him so.
Uh-huh. Well, you got a planned Angel Face or are you going into it blind?
I think I'll start with that French maid.
Why her? She left two hours before the murder. That's level.
Yeah, maybe so, but she was greased plenty to soft pedal the one right name that belongs in this case.
She may not have been there, but she knew who to expect around.
She may even have tipped him that Ruby Rose was throwing him over for Chick.
But if she's been paid off enough to commit perjury, what makes you think she'll tell you anything?
I'll club it out of her if I have to.
One second, here. Try this first. Use a little intimidation with it. It may work.
A hundred and fifty bucks? Hey, aren't you married or anything?
Not yet, Angel Face. Now here's her address. Suzette LeBlanc, real name Susie White, 435 West 54.
The street had been roped off and there was a block party or something going on.
Anyway, it was noisy. I elbowed my way up the steps of 435 and found Susie White's name on the bell panel.
I broke my best fingernail on the button. No response. I pushed into the hall past the drunk falling out.
Oh, pardon me.
Then fought my way through the fumes to the stairway. Her door was standing open.
The lock was broken and the molding was a mess of splinters.
This was the point where the private eye always finds the dead body, but I didn't find anything.
Somebody had taken the room apart. I wondered if they had found what they were looking for.
When I hit the street again, the ugly-faced drunk I had passed coming in was standing by the front steps.
And there was a fresh wood splinter clinging to the elbow of his coat.
I remembered the splinters on the broken door upstairs. I stopped next to him and made like straightening my seams.
I looked good that way. Then I started walking. Fast. So did he.
I paused in some steps leading down to a basement apartment and waited for him.
Hello, beautiful.
Well, how are you?
Just fine. Is this your house?
Yes, indeed.
I'll buy a little drink, baby. You'll fight me in.
Sure. You go first.
He hit the unrailing with his head on the way down and the paving stones at the bottom to the rest.
It was right there in the first pocket I looked in behind his wallet.
A letter addressed to Ruby Rose Redding and postmarked Philadelphia.
Nick, here I am, over here.
Hello, angel face. I know, I know you didn't find her. I may as well tell you why. She doesn't live there anymore.
What? Nick?
They fished her body out of the Hudson about a half hour ago.
Oh. Well, what are you smart detectives calling it? Suicide?
It might as well.
Listen, she was being paid off to keep quiet about a certain friend of Ruby Rose's.
He must have decided he didn't dare leave any bets uncovered.
What certain friend, for instance?
This certain friend, for instance.
I watched his face as he read it. I knew every word of it by heart.
It said, Dear Ruby, I hear you've been running around with some punk.
I don't believe a word of it, but you better get rid of him before I hit town.
We'll be in New York Friday night. Milt. P.S. The Chicago deal is off.
I'm giving you featured spot at the Calcutta instead.
About that punk, drop him or I drop you.
Milt? So that's her missing name. Milt Meletus. Plays rough, too. Runs a Calcutta club.
And Friday night, Nick. The night she was killed. Meletus.
The initial on that ring could have been M as well as W.
I never thought of that. But Meletus spells real dough, baby.
Your brother wasn't even car-fair to Ruby Rose.
Oh, maybe she was scared of Meletus. And maybe she wanted out.
Could be. He could sell me, but I can convince easy from you, baby.
You're not selling it to the grand jury.
She had something on Meletus, and that's why he couldn't afford to lose control of her.
Well, what Ruby Rose Redding could squeeze out of a man, I can.
Yeah, what he squeezed out of her, he could also squeeze out of you. Namely, your breath.
Oh, yes, but I have a friend on the force.
Well, maybe Ruby Rose had a friend on the force, too.
Why do you say that?
If she didn't, it would be the only department she missed.
Well, what now?
Come and catch my act at the Calcutta Club.
Go on, lift them a little higher. Don't be coy.
Look, I sing and dance, and that's all.
Got any numbers with you?
Numbers? Look, what are we wasting time for? Let's meet the guy who does the hiring.
Hey, wait a minute. Mr. Meletus wants you.
Where?
She says she wants to meet you, Mr. Meletus.
Sure, why not?
Well, hello.
Hello yourself.
Oh, Mr. Meletus, you know, I've always wanted to work for you.
Oh, okay. We start in Calcutta tomorrow night.
Oh, thank you.
Buy yourself some up-to-date lyrics, get yourself a dress. Mack will tell you the kind I like.
The silver dress they put on me fit like a wet compress.
I wore it for two nights, and Milton Meletus sat at its table.
On the third night, after my last spot, after the orchestra had gone away, I got the message from Garcia.
Hello, baby.
Hello.
Angel face, huh?
Yeah, mm-hmm. My name is Faye Angel, so I call myself Angel Face.
Good, thanks. Sit down, Angel Face.
I gave him my warmest high-voltage smile and took out my compact.
I saw my eyes in the mirror, and in each iris there was a little electric chair with chicks strapped in it.
That made it a lot easier to keep the high voltage running through Milton Meletus.
He was good-looking in a swarthy, loose-lipped sort of way, nothing that tagged him as a gangster except his name
and a habit of keeping his right hand in his coat pocket all the time as if he were holding a gun.
We talked through the bottle of champagne, and he ordered another.
I kept smiling because somehow I had to get into his apartment.
We went back to what we'd been talking about, and I said,
Well, some night I might just feel like changing the scenery around me.
Yay!
Dissolve to girl entering the Meletus apartment on Park Avenue.
It was a duplex with a two-story living room and a bedroom opening off a balcony.
I decided to start at the top and work down in case I needed to get out of there fast.
I gave his bedroom the suspicious wife treatment.
In the night table I found the nine letters to Ruby Rose and a bunch of treasury certificates,
the kind doctors have to make out to get narcotics.
In a box containing studs, cufflinks, and 132 caliber bullet, I found what I was really looking for
and never really expected to find, a signet ring with the initial M on it.
And I got the bell, I thought, fast.
If Meletus was out of town, everybody who knew his private number would know better than to ring it.
If he was checking up on me, I had nothing to lose, so...
Hello? Angel Face?
Oh, Nick. Oh, what a scare you gave me.
Listen, I've got all I need, some dope certificates, the rest of the letters,
and best of all, a signet ring with his initial. How am I doing?
Not so good. Meletus just got back.
Sore as the devil, over a phony wire somebody sent her would decoy him out of town.
Well, that was me. Only I thought he'd stay overnight at least.
How did you know I was here?
Angel Face, did you really think I'd let you go into this alone?
I'm downstairs now. I've been watching every minute.
Oh, I wish I'd known. I wouldn't have been so scared.
He ought to be scared. He left the club five minutes ago. Must be half.
Oh, all right, Nick.
Now, look, Angel Face, if you...
Nick, someone just came in.
Take it easy, baby. Sergeant Colleen, I'll be right up.
I went out onto the balcony that overlooked the living room.
Meletus was there. He looked surprised and pleased when he saw me.
Then the man with him looked up and I... I nearly plunged over the rail.
It was Ugly Face, the masher I had kicked down the flight of stairs.
Meletus turned to him.
Get up, Rockall. Can't you see I have company?
Wait a minute, that's her. The dame I was telling you about.
Don't be calling my lady friend dame.
I'm trying to tell you, Mel.
Come here, Angel Face. Come on down. Don't be scared.
Oh, sure, Mel. Why should I be afraid of you?
At last, huh? Finally, you wanted a change of scenery.
Hey, look, boss.
Get out, Rockall.
Yeah, but...
Get out!
Okay, Mel. It's your party.
Come here, Angel Face.
Now, now, now, wait a minute.
What for?
Well, a girl likes some soft lights and a little sweet music, you know.
Okay, I'll go mix us a drink.
He came back from the bar on tiptoe with a drink, looking like a cat stalking a bowl of cream.
I threw up my first line of defense. I picked up my purse and made like making up my face.
Well, honey, what's the big idea?
I'm just putting on my face.
Oh, you don't need it.
My purse.
Leave it there.
Oh, I will not. Those are my things. You haven't any right...
Hey, hey, hey, what's that?
Just things of mine, some letters.
Let me see, though.
No!
Let me see.
Oh, ho, ho. What else did you lift out of my room?
I... I was jealous. Her letters.
Sit down.
You are plenty jealous. Jealous of the whole United States Treasury.
Mel! Mel! Open up!
Stay where you are.
What's up, Rocko?
I tried to tell you about the dame she's trying to frame you. She's Wheeler's sister.
You weren't at the trial. You weren't filled.
Shut up about Wheeler. What's got you so excited?
There's cops all around the building. Two detectives coming up.
Okay, Rocko. Cheap little...
I'll fix you. Even if they get me, I'll fix you.
You're wrong, Milt. I took those things because I knew they were coming here. I did it for you.
Oh, for me, she says.
No! No!
I looked up at Meletus. There was blood running down the part of his hair.
He dropped down to his knees beside me like he wanted to apologize, but he didn't say anything.
Then he fell over on his side and didn't get up anymore.
His right hand, the one he always held in his coat pocket, was grabbing at the rug.
There wasn't any thumb on it.
And there'd been two big thumb marks on Ruby's throat.
Hey, that wasn't necessary, Nick. You didn't have to kill him.
He let go of her when we came in.
I know I shouldn't have, but he had that right hand in his pocket always. I thought he had a gun in there.
Anyway, I saved the state some money. You got that stuff, Angel Face?
It's over there in my purse.
Good.
Nick, Ruby Rose was throttled by a man with big hands. Two big thumb marks on her neck.
Look at Meletus. No right thumb.
Yeah, that's bad, Angel Face. I...
Nick.
What?
This ring here. Isn't this your fraternity ring?
Don't move, Nick.
Yeah. Yeah, I guess it is. Do we have to mention all this, Coley?
Yeah, Nick. I think we'd better.
So that's about it, Captain.
Uh-huh. And as you know, sir, Nick met Ruby Rose while he was doing undercover work on Milton Meletus.
Yeah, but I didn't know he'd gone on seeing her after he left the assignment.
I guess nobody did, except me.
Yes, and Sergeant Coley clinched the whole thing with that ring.
Well, Miss Wheeler, the ring clinched the case, all right, but not against Meletus.
An M upside down, see, is a W. But an M sideways is a Greek letter.
And Nick planted it in Meletus' apartment for me to find, huh? It was Nick's fraternity ring.
Yeah, that's right.
He was probably afraid you were digging too deep to find the real killer, so he killed Meletus to make you drop the case.
Oh, his plan might have worked without Coley here.
Well, Miss Wheeler, this isn't exactly good news, but thank you for filling in some of the blanks.
Oh, Captain.
Yeah?
When will Chick be free?
It takes a little time, but he'll be home. I guess he learned about women the hard way, huh?
Oh, he hasn't learned anything yet. That kid brother of mine, just wait till I get him home.
Suspense presented by Auto Light. Tonight's star, Miss Claire Trevor.
Carlo the expert, Wilcox the bright, never will desert the cause.
The cause of Auto Light. Because, folks, Auto Light makes more than 400 products for cars, trucks, planes, and boats in 28 plants coast to coast.
These include complete electrical systems used as original equipment on money-makes of America's finest cars.
Generators, coils, voltage regulators, wire and cable starting motors, electric windshield wipers.
All engineered to fit together perfectly, work together perfectly, because they're a perfect team.
So, friends, if your Auto Light equipped car needs replacement parts, 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, our star will be Dennis O'Keefe. The play is called Very Much Like a Nightmare, 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.
Angel Face is an original play written for radio by Cornell Woolrich.
Claire Trevor may currently be seen co-starred with Fred McMurray in Borderline.
In the coming weeks, you will hear such stars as Charles Boyer, Edward G. Robinson, and Jack Carson.
Don't forget, next Thursday same time, Auto Light will present Suspense, starring Dennis O'Keefe.
You can buy world-famous Auto Light resistor or regular spark plugs, Auto Light staple batteries, Auto Light electrical parts at your neighborhood Auto Light dealers.
Switch to Auto Light. Good night.
This is CBS, the Columbia Broadcasting System.