Auto Light and its 96,000 dealers present Suspense.
Tonight, Auto Light brings you Rave Notice, a suspense play starring Mr. Milton Berle.
Ring out, you hymn of hate, ring out.
Send word that all who listen...
No, no, no, no, no.
Now what?
You're supposed to be an actor, not a foghorn.
Yes, sir.
By what standards do you consider yourself to be an actor?
You're persecuting me.
I persecute nobody.
A man cannot play a role, he's replaced.
Replaced?
There goes that persecution talk again.
Replace me and I'll kill you.
Witnesses, he's threatening me.
Then don't talk of replacement.
I'm not kidding, Norman.
Replace me and I'll kill you.
In just a moment, Mr. Milton Berle in the first act of Rave Notice.
Willcocks, Arshay Willcocks.
I hear you're a campaign manager.
You bet, Senator, and my candidate's a cinch to win.
What's his name?
You're kidding, aren't you, Senator?
He's the famous Auto Light staple battery.
My candidate is so well known that every valiant voter flaunts his valor and veracity.
What's his platform?
Why, the famous Auto Light staple battery needs water only three times a year in normal
car use, Senator.
And he's running on a platform to give longer life.
70% longer life, in fact, as proved by tests conducted according to the Society of Automotive
Engineers minimum life cycle standards.
And that's really an endorsement.
Is your candidate prepared for a long cycle in office, Willcocks?
He sure is, Senator, because every positive plate of the Auto Light staple battery is
protected with a fiberglass retaining mat to help reduce flaking and shedding.
So friends, join the crowd voting for the Auto Light staple battery, the battery that
needs water only three times a year in normal car use.
See your neighborhood Auto Light battery dealer.
Remember, you're always right with Auto Light.
And now with Rave Notice and the performance of Mr. Milton Berle, Auto Light hopes once
again to keep you in suspense.
Look when I'm walking across Times Square like this, I'm just an ordinary man, plain,
unnoticeable.
I watch the crowd, you wouldn't even notice me.
It's as though I were invisible.
Yeah, like that, invisible.
But wait, come here.
Come with me through this door, through here and into the darkness.
Now I breathe deeply of the thick dark air and I become taller.
My eyes drink in the gloomy shadows, become lustrous, birdlike, noble.
Here in this temple of the passions, I throw off my cloak of invisibility and I reveal
myself, my true self.
For this is the theater and I, I am an actor.
Down there beyond the empty seats lit by the single bare bulb are my fellow actors and we're
all here to make a play.
Friend Norman, seated alone in the third row, is our director.
This is the fifth day of the rehearsal.
Still rather rough, stiffish and so forth, but it's not a bad little play.
And you know Norman.
Norman will manage somehow to spoil it.
Norman will misdirect actors and lose values and I've known Norman for years.
From the group theater, we were in the group together.
Oh no, no, no, no, no.
But Norman, why not?
Because I'm the director and I say no, no.
Very well.
Try again.
I wish somebody would tell me what it's all about.
Life, I mean.
I wish somebody would give me the word.
Adequate.
Thank you.
Uh, Norman.
Oh, oh hello there.
How are we coming?
I, uh, come over here.
I, I want to talk to you.
Sure.
Norman, sure.
What is it?
This is, uh, well believe me, Sam, the most difficult thing I've ever had to say.
Speak out, Norman.
You know me.
Well, I, I've had the turnover, the bell ringer to Luther.
The bell ringer?
What do you mean?
Norman, that's my part, the bell ringer.
What do you mean to Luther?
Don't make it difficult for me, Sam.
Difficult?
I'm not making it difficult.
Not at all.
The bell ringer role is mine.
Norman, that's all.
There's no difficulty involved.
Please.
You joke.
No.
It's not as if I hadn't warned you.
Tell me what's wrong.
Tell me where I've stepped off.
What irritates you?
What doesn't fit?
I'll fix it.
That's my role, Norman.
I carry the whole cast with that role.
Don't shout, Sam.
You're making a fool of yourself.
A fool?
Norman, why are you doing this to me?
Because you're not right for it.
Not right?
Yes.
Wait.
You fat pig, what do you know?
Now, easy.
What do you know?
What do you know about acting?
Easy there.
Easy, I say.
Fat.
Fat belly, fat head, fat face.
That's enough.
You know nothing.
I know you.
I know actors.
You're no actor.
You stink.
I'll kill you for saying that.
I'll kill you.
What is this?
He's threatening me again.
Yes.
Listen good, Norman.
I'm going to kill you.
You see, you can't even deliver that line.
You stink.
Yes, sir?
I want to buy a gun.
Yes, sir.
What sort of a gun did you wish to buy?
One that will shoot through fat.
Yes, sir.
Pardon me.
I was thinking.
What have you got?
Why?
Guns, pistols, rifles, shotguns.
I don't know exactly.
What was it you wished to use the gun for?
I want to kill a rat.
A.22 would be about your best bet.
Here's a nice little lighter.
Looks pretty small.
This is an awfully big rat.
Fat rat.
I think a shotgun, a.410.
You think that'll do it?
Oh, Mr. That gun will, I guarantee.
I use a gun like that myself.
Single barrel, light, handy, truly beautiful weapon.
Bullets.
You got bullets?
Or shells.
Shells are used in this weapon.
Now, there are all kinds depending on what weight shot you want to use.
You choose it.
I want one.
One box?
No.
One bullet.
One?
Yeah.
This rat, I'm not going to miss.
It's time now.
He'll come out of that far door of the entrance and he'll walk this way because he's going
to go into Sardis for a drink.
I slide it out from under my coat and I smile and I say, goodbye Norman.
Pull the trigger.
Heart or belly?
Belly, yes.
In the belly is cultivated paunch, fatted with actor's hearts.
Yes, belly.
Am I invisible now?
I mustn't be noticed until the moment.
Perhaps standing a little too tall.
Sag.
Perfect.
The actor plays himself as a non-actor.
You should see this, Norman.
Now.
Goodbye, Norman.
Sam.
I'm shot.
It hurts.
Norman, you're dying.
You're going to go to hell in a minute, Norman.
I'm shot.
Somebody call an ambulance.
It won't do you any good, Norman.
You're dying.
You'll be dead before it gets you.
Oh, it hurts.
Is this how you play a death scene?
Norman, you're dying.
Play it.
Please.
Somebody call an ambulance for me.
Don't let me lie here.
Oh.
If an actor played a death scene for you as badly as you're playing your own, Norman,
do you know what you'd do?
Ambulance.
Help.
Please.
Ambulance.
There's a shotgun he did it.
Right in the middle of 45th Street.
Oh.
We brought him in an hour ago.
Give you any trouble?
Like a lamb.
Hello.
I thought you'd like to know.
That guy, he's still kicking.
Alive?
He's alive?
Yep.
So you're not a murderer.
Not yet.
I brought your lawyer.
What's that?
I'm your lawyer.
How do you do?
Sit down, won't you?
Thank you.
They say he's still not dead.
No, but he's sinking.
How much longer?
They didn't say.
When he dies, I become an actor.
Oh.
When he dies, I become a murderer.
Yes.
They'll electrocute me.
Yes?
Must have been crazy.
I thought of that.
What do you mean?
Temporary insanity.
I thought we might plead death.
Oh, why don't we?
Because you threatened him before witnesses, at least twice.
Went to a store, chose a gun with great care, waited for him to appear.
You did all this and then you shot him.
That's right, I did.
That's premeditated murder, first degree murder.
So the temporary insanity is a murder?
Yes.
Oh.
I mean, the temporary insanity thing is out.
Way out.
The only other thing I can think of is we could prove you were insane all along.
Me?
Insane?
Of course not.
I should say not.
What?
What would happen, I mean, if I were?
Oh, they'd get the psychiatrist in, examine you, send you off to be cured.
Yeah?
You seem very calm.
I'm an actor.
He's gone and I sit here seeming very calm.
From time to time the god passes, looks at me curiously.
I know what's on his mind.
He's saying this, it's a cold-blooded murderer.
I know.
All my life I've studied the human beings,
memorized their gestures, tones, expressions, inflections, emotions.
I've learned to probe every moment of my own experience from early childhood,
searched out my every reaction, emotion,
learned to feel the parallel emotions of others.
The Stanislavski method of acting.
I have it. Know it.
Of course, if we could prove you were insane all along.
But I'm not.
The insane man moves without motive and I had a motive.
I know you. I know actors. You're no actor.
Oh, I could do it again.
No actor, no actor, no actor.
I could do it again.
Insane, crazy, nuts.
I know a joke.
I know a joke, a wonderful joke.
I'm going to beat Norman even in his grave.
I'm going to have myself exonerated of his murder.
Yes, freed of the charges.
It's so simple. I can hear it.
Not guilty by reason of insanity.
I'm going to play the greatest role of my life.
Play it without makeup, without lights, without anything.
Without lights, without script or cue.
I'm going to play a part strangely foreign to my nature.
I'm going to play a homicidal maniac.
Auto Light is bringing you Mr. Milton Berle in rave notice.
A production in radio's outstanding theater thrills, Suspense.
Wilcox, what's this?
A campaign slogan for your candidate?
Right, oh, Senator.
The Auto Light's day full battery is the battery that needs water only three times a year in normal car use.
That's my candidate's simple, sound and superior slogan.
Seems pretty dry to me, Wilcox.
Why am I droll dignitary? Let me tell you about my candidate's characteristics.
He has fiberglass retaining mats protecting every positive plate to help reduce flaking and shedding.
And Senator, everybody votes for Auto Light's day full batteries because you can't buy a better battery for your car.
What's the opposition, Wilcox?
No opposition.
Senator, why would a 70% longer life as proved by tests conducted according to SAE minimum life cycle standards
who would even think of opposing an Auto Light's day full battery?
He's in, Wilcox. What did you say he was running for?
For the wonderful dealers from coast to coast who sell Auto Light's day full batteries to the masterminded motorists
who drive their cars to perfection with Auto Light's day full batteries.
The battery that needs water only three times a year in normal car use.
Better see your Auto Light dealer and get an Auto Light battery at once, Senator.
Good idea, Wilcox.
And remember, Senator, you're always right with Auto Light.
And now Auto Light brings back to our Hollywood soundstage Mr. Milton Berle
in Elliot Lewis's production of Rave Notice, a tale well calculated to keep you in suspense.
I'm going to play a homicidal maniac.
How? How? How?
What is the most terrible thing I ever did?
The thing closest to murder.
Must recreate that move. Murder. Killing. Blood.
I killed a cat once. Yeah. Yeah.
I was six years old. I didn't mean to kill it, but I had this stick.
It was in an alley, this cat, and I poked it just for laughs.
He didn't run. That's all I wanted to do was just to make him run.
Oh, he scratched me and I hit him.
I hit him across the back with the stick and he started this howling and squalling and oh, I thought,
oh, I thought I'm going to get into trouble. Stop that noise.
Stop that noise. I hit him again to make him stop and again to make him stop and again.
And there was blood. Red blood on the gray cement and struck and struck and struck out the screams.
Struck out the life. Struck out the awful gaze of those great yellow eyes.
Struck out the life. Struck out the spirit and the spark.
I kill. A murderer I am. I kill for the thrill of silence of the cat.
I am a murderer. A murderer I am. I kill without reason.
That's it. That's it. That's it. That's the character.
All I need for turning it on is the memory. Those key points.
Gray cement, cat's eyes, my feelings as a six year old. Oh, there will be refinements. I'll refine it.
Oh, Norman, if you were only here to see this scene.
If you were only here. Dim the house lights. Raise the curtain.
Now to get my audience in.
What's that? Sounds like the shotgun guy. He's laughing. We better go see what's up.
Hey. Hey. Hey, you.
Who? Who may I ask? Are you? What? Who are you? Who are you? Who are you?
What? Who are you? Who are you? Who are you? Oh, come on now, Mac. Calm down.
I asked a civil question and I expect a civil answer. Who are you? Who are you? Who are you?
He was so nice and quiet for a while there. Yeah. Hey.
Just answer my question. That's all I ask and that's not much reward for a hero to be asking now, is it?
Don't you know who we are? I think he's putting on an act.
Don't turn your head away. We know you hear us. Not. Leave him be.
You think he's kidding? What does it matter?
Oh, that was lousy. You can do better than that, Sam. You're supposed to be a murderer.
A homicidal maniac. So what's the emotion? Guilt. Guilt. You've got to be guilty. Guilty, guilty, guilty.
Smear yourself with the stuff. Guilty. Bloody hands. That's you. Guilty and you want to be punished.
Yeah, punished. Punish yourself. That'll do it. But it'll hurt. So what? So what?
Not like it hurts when they shave your head and slit your trousers and strap you to your seat.
Oh, that seat. Ten thousand volts coursing through this poor player's frail body with which I am cursed.
Murderer. Guilty. Guilty. Should be punished. Should be punished.
One, two, three. Curtain going up. Guilty. Guilty. There's blood on my hands.
There he goes again. You go. Ah, what a job. I smashed him on the grease and smashed him. Murder, murder.
I murdered him. I am a murderer. I am a murderer and I confess it. I confess I'm a murderer.
Hey, hey. I want to confess it. You don't have to do that. To confess to purge myself of this guilt.
But you did all that when you first come in here. I am a murderer. I am guilty here. I smashed him. I smashed him.
What are you getting yourself so worked up about? That guy isn't even dead yet.
Not dead. He is dead. He's been dead these past 36 years. 36 years. Oh, oh, if you won't punish me, I...
Hey, hey, what are you doing? Hey, hey. I am guilty and I shall be smashed as he was smashed.
Your hands. You're going to bust your head in that wall. I shall be smashed. It is written.
You know the writing in the blood that lies across the counter pain in the bed under the pillow when little boys are supposed to be far away and slumber...
Jones, get the doctor.
Good God, he's getting attacked. My hand, my hand is killing me.
It seems that something broke. I don't mind the bloody scraped knuckles or even breaking the nails, but not the bones.
I want to be sure I can use this, Jonesy, when I get out of here. When? If I ever get out of here.
Two cats dead, murdered by my stick. Four cats dead, murdered by my stick. Six cats dead.
Right here, Doc. I'll open the cell if you want to go in. Of course I do.
How long has he been doing this? About 15 minutes, Doctor, since just before I sent Schulze after you.
I see. All right now. You can stop that.
I don't stop. I don't stop. I don't look. I keep right out of it. I keep in the pot. Murder and guilty.
It hurts, but if I keep at it, if I keep at it, I'm paying a price. I am paying my way out of being electrocuted.
I'm going to be freed. I can only keep it up. Keep it up.
You want to do yourself real good this way, man? Now, put it out. All right, grab it.
I keep it. Leave me. Leave me alone. I want to pay. I am the guilty one and I want to pay the sentence to the court.
Hold him in. Come on. Let me go. Let me go. I must pay. I must pay. I must pay.
Now, now, now, steady, steady, man.
The timing needle. He's pressing the syringe. It'll knock me out. I can't act. I'm unconscious.
I can't play the part. I'm guilty. I can't. I can't. I can't.
So quiet here. So white. Such sweet stillness and peace. Gone the darkness of the steel and concrete and the cell, this white ceiling.
Well, they're watching me very carefully. The taller one. He's new. The other gave me the hypodermic. Yes.
I have hypodermic. I wonder if I've been out. Did I say anything while I was out? Perhaps if I keep still, they'll let me know.
I must have been wrong. Are you awake?
You say he showed definite suicidal tendencies?
Suicidal immediate are simply self destructive. While he was unconscious, I listened to him. He spoke. He seemed under the delusion that he is invisible.
Invisible? That's a new one.
Now, let me look. He's opening his eyes. Hello. Are you awake?
Who are you? You remember me, don't you? No.
Well, I did something to quiet you a little while ago. A little while ago?
You're trying to injure yourself that we think you're insane. You've decided to give that up, haven't you?
If you only let me go, let me out of here. I have to carry out sentence, you know.
How will you carry out sentence? He smashed. I have to be smashed as I have smashed the cat. Is that the law? An eye for an eye.
And a tooth for a tooth. Do you believe in that?
If you believe in the eye for eye law, don't you feel it's right that you receive the same thing you gave your victim?
Yes. I smashed him with a stick in the eyes that stared at me.
Stick? You mean shotgun, don't you? Why would I say shotgun if I meant stick? I said stick.
But you shot the man with a shotgun. You're out of your mind.
After you smashed him with a stick, what happened? What? What? What came after he was dead?
Oh, I was frightened. I went home. Mama was there. She said, how did you get blood on your hands?
And I said a dog licked my hand and he had blood on his teeth.
I understand you're an actor. We are all actors. We try to act innocent when we are guilty.
Doctor, come outside a moment, will you?
I've got them. I've got them. Just keep playing it cold and clear.
What are they talking about out there? Oh, I wish I knew. Doesn't matter.
I have them. I know that. I've got them. I've got them.
Well, I guess you'll be leaving us soon.
That's what I asked for. Thank you. Thank you. You're understanding, doctor.
I am guilty and I must carry out sentence. You know that.
What the doctor means is that you're going to a place where they'll help you to get well.
Get well? But I am well. I'm just guilty, that's all.
Of course. If you let me, after David's drawn up outside, and you get a court order committee...
Right.
It means you were right all along. You know, I always be thrilled until you told me about the man who was shot...
...out his recovery.
Oh, yes. The guards told us the man hid recovered, but he didn't comprehend it to us.
He went right on screaming and punishing me.
See. Well, let's go. What would they have given him were he tamed?
Well, that depends. The injured party refused to press charges. He'd be out of here in an hour.
Amen.
Recovered? Recovered. They didn't tell me he'd recovered.
How could he have recovered? I shot him. I shot him in his fat paunch in his belly.
When did they tell me? It was while I was screaming, maybe.
I was really into the part then, deep in it. Couldn't have heard them. Couldn't have heard.
And now... now he will walk out of here, and I will go off to an insane asylum...
...married to a role that I loathe, that I hate.
No. No. Doctor, come back here. Come back here. Please. It was all a joke.
Doctor, come back. Come back.
What is it?
Listen, doctor. Listen. I have a confession to make, doctor. I'm not insane. Please believe me. Please believe me.
Question now. Just a little confused, that's all. Yes. Yeah. Why, not even confused, don't you see?
It was all a gag. It was just a gag.
Of course it was. Now you're going to a place where you can rest, and everything's going to be all right.
Oh, no. Believe me. Believe me, I am sane.
Why shout?
I'm not shouting. I only want to impress upon you.
But you were shouting rather loudly.
Oh, look. I shot him, and my lawyer said if I could prove insanity, I wouldn't go to the chair.
Chair? I thought you were to be, you said, mesh.
Forget that. That was part of the method.
Method?
You know, the Stanislavski method. It's the system of acting.
What do you think, doctor?
I don't know.
You think so?
I can fool you all over again if you feel it's necessary to prove my point.
No, I don't believe you'll be able to fool me again.
Well, doctor?
Sane. I say sane. I say the man is in full control of his faculties, is aware of his crimes, committed it out of what society calls sober motive.
And you, sir? Do you agree with the doctor?
It's what I've been telling you.
And I say sane. That makes it unanimous.
Oh, glad that's over. Wow. What a performance.
Gentlemen, never in the history of the theater has such a performance been rendered, nor under such adverse conditions.
Just one more question.
Shoot, shoot. Why did you kill him?
Kill him? But I didn't. I shot him, that's all.
Shot. You mean shot, don't you?
Well, don't you?
No.
He... Norman is dead?
You were sane. You're going to repay society with your life.
Norman is dead? Oh, crutchery. Villainy.
Bring down the curtain. Bring down the curtain.
Suspense presented by Auto Life, tonight's star, Milton Berle.
Well, Wilcox, did your candidate win?
Well, I'm not sure.
Wilcox, did your candidate win?
Win, Senator, why the Auto largest they full battery
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Next week on Suspense, Miss Barbara Stanwyck as a woman who gambled and the stake was death
in the wages of sin.
And in weeks to come, you will hear such famous stars as Richard Widmark, Herbert Marshall,
and William Holden, all appearing in tales well calculated to keep you in suspense.
Tonight's Suspense play was produced and directed by Elliot Lewis, with music composed by Lucian
Moraweck and conducted by Lud Bluskin.
Parts of this program were transcribed.
Brave notice was written for suspense by James Pohl.
Milton Berle appeared to the courtesy of Texaco.
And remember next week on Suspense, Miss Barbara Stanwyck in the wages of sin.
You can buy auto light, staple batteries, auto light standard or resistive spark plugs,
auto light electrical parts at your neighborhood auto light dealers.
Switch to auto light.
Good night.
This is CBS, the Columbia Broadcasting System.