Auto Light and its 96,000 dealers present Suspense.
Tonight, Auto Light brings you the story of a woman who holds death over her husband's
head when the bow breaks.
Starring Miss Rosalind Russell.
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And now with When the Bough Breaks and the performance of Miss Rosalind Russell, Auto
Light hopes once again to keep you in suspense.
I remember when I was little.
I remember you used to swing me in the garden.
And the big maple tree and the rusty squeak as I went up and down, up and down.
Grandfather, don't let me fall.
I want you to hold me like you used to when I was hurt.
I'm afraid because I'm dying.
Just the way you die, Grandfather.
And why should I die?
How did it all happen?
This is it, baby.
It looks very nice.
Oh, Harry, please be careful of my coat.
You're dragging it there on the ground.
I'm sorry.
Here, you hold it while I get the key out.
I'll get the suitcases later.
Now wait a minute, baby.
Let's do this right.
Oh, Harry, put me down.
People are watching.
Now let them watch.
We're married.
This is the way it's done.
Oh, you've got a lot to learn.
All right now.
Put me down, Harry.
Please.
Harry, I asked you to put me down.
Baby, I'm sorry.
Oh, you're sweet.
I'm tired.
I didn't mean to be angry.
I'm tired, that's all.
Yeah, sure, sure.
Well, you like it?
It's a very nice house, dear.
I'm sure we'll be comfortable.
Not bad for a short-order deal.
Take a look around.
Here, open this door.
It's a closet.
Yeah, it's not bad, eh?
They're all like that.
Lots of room.
Living room, dining room through here, kitchen.
Harry, please.
Can I sit down for a minute?
My head's splitting.
Yeah, sure, baby, sure.
On the sofa, huh?
That's not bad, huh?
Come on now.
Off with the shoes.
Come on, put your feet up.
Thank you, dear.
It all looks very nice.
You must have spent a lot of money, though.
Ah, money, nothing.
Soon as the probate judge turns the real money loose, we'll get something that'll knock your
eye out.
I don't want to talk about that, Harry.
I don't want to even think about it.
Never again.
No, of course not, baby.
What's the matter with me?
Of course you don't.
I don't want to think about it, grandfather.
But I have to talk about it to you.
There'll be the lawyers to pay and the inheritance tax.
I never realized how very much you were worth.
But you never spoke much about money.
It was always there ever since I can remember.
Funny.
I never thought about it until after you'd gone.
Harry did, though.
I lied to you about Harry.
I'm sorry I didn't meet him the way I said.
I picked him up, grandfather, on the beach.
I went looking for a man and I found him.
The men you chose for me were so weak.
I wanted someone like you, like Harry.
It wasn't respectable of a woman in her late thirties to do that, was it?
I'm sorry.
Well, honey, I guess you didn't know that I had a feel for interior decorating, did you?
No, no, I didn't.
Maybe when we get the dough, I can...
Oh, yeah.
I'm sorry, baby.
I was figuring maybe I'd go in the business.
Harry, how did you know they'd let me go?
How did you know all this wouldn't be wasted or... or maybe you'd be here with another
girl?
With another girl, mousy?
Only you.
Besides, they couldn't have pinned it on you.
Why, I watched that jury.
You're high class.
They believed you.
Yesterday.
I didn't think I'd be married now and in a new house.
I thought I...
Oh, forget it.
You've been acquitted and that's it from here on in with...
Harry!
Baby, baby, you're jumpy.
Yes, I'm jumpy.
Harry!
Relax.
Married couples have callers.
Probably next door neighbors.
You stay right here.
I'll get rid of them.
Harry Stryker, fancy meeting you here.
What do you want, Corcoran?
He doesn't say glad to see.
He doesn't say come in and have a drink.
All he says is what do you want, Corcoran?
We're busy.
No statements.
No statements?
You just got married, didn't you?
You moved into a new house.
Your wife beat a murder rap yesterday.
No statement.
Your news.
Harry, make him go away.
Harry, please.
Mrs. Stryker, well, well, congratulations on all counts.
Large murder and money.
All right, Corcoran, out.
Are you kidding?
You and Evy are good for five or six more front pages.
You're my baby's, my story of the year.
I'm gonna bounce you.
You can beat me to it by walking out, but fast.
Why don't you leave us alone?
The trial is over.
The state is finished with us.
Why can't you be?
Finished, Evy?
You're acquitted, if that's what you mean.
You can never be tried again for the same murder.
And please...
If you said to me it might amuse your readers to know, Mr. Corcoran, that I really did murder
my grandfather, they can't touch you.
I'm gonna work you over, boy, so that you'll never chew a steak again.
I wouldn't.
Then get out.
Okay.
But first, I came here to tell you something.
Evy, go in the next room.
No, no.
What do you want, Mr. Corcoran?
Oh, nothing much, Mrs. Stryker.
I just wanted to tell you that I'm going to do a Sunday feature on you.
I'm going to call it She Has Him in the Palm of Her Hand.
No, no.
Forget about us, please.
Harry, give him some money.
Tell him to stop.
You couldn't pay me enough, Evy.
The story of why you hold this guy's life in your hands is too good.
What do you mean by that, Crack?
I knew your wife would beat the casement and I laid eyes on her, Harry.
That holier-than-thou-look grandfather known by one and all to be a wretched old man, my
assing as a lawyer, cinch.
You've written about those things, Mr. Corcoran.
Don't you think that after all the public...
Wait a minute, I'm leading up to it.
The autopsy showed your grandfather had a disease that would have killed him anyway
in a few more months.
So verdict, suicide.
Well, why can't you understand that suicide?
He knew he was going to die.
I don't buy it.
But I buy this.
Harry, you were never brought to trial because they couldn't tie you into it.
You had an alibi for the night the old man drank that poison.
Yeah, I wasn't there.
The DA knew that you're a photographer, among other things, and had access to cyanide, but
he couldn't hang anything on you.
So you weren't tried for murder.
She was.
She can't be again.
Not for that one.
Harry, I'm tired of this.
Mr. Corcoran is trying to frighten us, that's all.
Will you ask him to leave?
Now hold it, baby.
Go on, Corcoran, get to the point.
Sure.
Well, like I say, you weren't indicted.
But you could be if your wife talked.
Talked?
But there's nothing for me to talk about.
What could I say?
You could say that Harry got the cyanide for you and you worked it out together to get
the old man's money.
Then they'd try Harry, not you, Evy, because you've been acquitted.
I won't listen.
I won't.
Okay, okay.
So long, Corcoran.
Sure.
Don't get sore.
If you didn't do it, you haven't got a thing to worry about, Harry.
But if you did, you better be nice to Mrs. Stryker, because maybe someday she'll get
mad.
And if she talks, it's bye-bye, Harry.
So long, Corcoran.
You got him in the palm of your hand, Evy.
Remember, they can't touch you for it.
When Harry came back from the door, I knew what he was thinking.
What that horrible newspaper reporter had said.
He wouldn't look at me.
He just went to a table and poured a drink.
I was afraid of him.
I wanted him to hold me and tell me it was all right, like you used to.
But he didn't.
And then I wanted to run away, anywhere, get on a boat, fly, never see Harry Stryker again,
run, run.
Where you going, baby?
I need some air.
I thought I'd got...
Now, don't be silly.
You don't want to go out there.
Corcoran's probably still hanging around.
Harry.
What?
What is it, Marcy?
Harry, it's all right, isn't it?
I mean, you don't believe what he said.
No, of course not.
He's a snooper, that's all.
It wasn't the money, was it, Harry?
You didn't want me just because of the money.
Now, baby...
I'm not pretty.
I'm not clever.
You don't love me, do you?
Why should I attract a man like you?
It was the money, wasn't it?
You're upset, baby.
Look, go lie down, will you?
It's okay.
Everything's okay.
Say it.
Say you love me.
You never have.
Please.
Harry.
Harry, look at me.
Tell me you think I'm pretty.
Harry, say nice things to me.
Tell me you love me.
Harry, please.
Keep your voice down.
Corcoran's still outside.
He's listening.
That was it then.
All the time.
That's all you cared about, the money.
It's never been me.
All I wanted was to love you and to have you and to be...
I'll get you to the hospital.
I'll get you a drink.
No, no, no, no.
I wish I were dead.
I wish I'd told him the truth.
I should've said I'm guilty.
We're both guilty.
Harry and I did it.
We murdered him.
We murdered Grandfather.
Baby, don't ever say that again.
Not even to yourself.
Don't even think it.
When he finished what he had to say, he just looked at me.
There was death in my new husband's eyes.
Auto Light is bringing you Miss Rosalind Russell with Sheldon Leonard in When the Bough Breaks.
Tonight's production in radio's outstanding theater of thrills, Suspense.
Oh, uh, Hap.
Hey, Hap.
Hey, hey, hey, hey, Hap.
What are you doing?
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You'll find it pays because you're always right with Auto Light.
And now, Auto Light brings back to our Hollywood soundstage, Miss Rosalind Russell in Elliot
Lewis's production of When the Bough Breaks, a tale well calculated to keep you in suspense.
I remember the scent of our garden.
I remember when we used to swing me in the evening before supper and the honeysuckle,
sweet, drifting about us.
We were happy, weren't we?
Not like the sadness that came afterwards, and the bitter taste that isn't the taste
of honeysuckle.
Why am I dying, Grandfather?
Where are you?
Hold my hand that I shan't be afraid of the dark, afraid of Harry standing there so close,
this dark, angry face looking down at me.
You've got to get a hold of yourself, Evie.
Do you hear me?
Yes, yes, all right.
This is no good.
Don't you see what Corcoran wants?
If he can get us at each other's throats, he'll have us and his lousy story.
But I wouldn't do anything to hurt you.
How can you think such a thing?
You've got to get straightened out the way you are now.
You'll spill over the first time anyone puts pressure on you.
I won't, Harry, honestly.
I'll never say a word.
I won't.
I just want to be happy with you.
I want you to love me.
Sure, baby, sure.
But you've got to understand, like Corcoran says, it's my neck now, not yours.
We've got to be careful.
Harry, maybe if I went away somewhere, alone, maybe I could rest and forget the trial and
go somewhere and rest.
I'll come back.
You wouldn't have to worry about me saying anything.
Now, stop it.
You'll be all right when I come back.
You'll let me go, won't you, Harry?
You wouldn't do anything to stop me.
Harry!
Shut up!
Harry!
Cut it out!
Oh, honey, I didn't want to do that.
You've got to believe me.
I didn't...
When you see what you like, I've got to watch you, take care of you.
You hit me.
Nobody ever hit me.
Ever.
It's all right.
It's all right, Mousy.
Don't touch me.
Don't!
You're afraid of me, and it's just because of that corker and guile.
Look, you mustn't be afraid of me.
We're in the clear, don't you see?
It's all downhill now.
Your grandfather was already dying, only we didn't know it.
So when we did what we did, then luck was with us.
So we're in the clear.
They couldn't prove anything against you then.
They can't now.
I've always been afraid of you.
I've always done what you wanted me to do.
Part of it was because I loved you, but most of it because I'm afraid.
You never let anything get in your way.
Grandfather was in your way.
Now maybe it's me.
Are you saying that this was all my idea?
Are you saying that you never asked me to help you get rid of the old man?
Oh, I don't know what I'm saying.
I'm tired.
Yeah, that's it.
You're tired.
When you make me a drink, I'll get the bags out of the car.
You've got to start getting domestic, Mousy.
You're an old married woman now.
He went out to get the suitcases, but left the front door open.
It was too cold to leave the door open.
He wanted it that way so that he could see me or hear me if I picked up the telephone.
You mustn't laugh when I tell you that in the middle of the living room standing there,
I felt the same way I did when you punished me.
When you used to put me in the hall closet and make me stand in the dark with the door
closed.
I must have been a very naughty little girl sometimes.
Is that why I killed you, Grandfather?
That night I had a dream.
It was a funny dream.
There was an enormous alarm clock in the middle of a field.
The sun was shining and you and I were dancing in time to the ticking of the clock.
Then, then Harry came along and he tried to dance too, but he was clumsy and tripped and
fell down.
He waved his arms and his mouth went open and shut, but we couldn't hear him because
of the ticking.
Oh, we laughed so hard.
What's so funny?
Harry, nothing.
No, nothing.
It was just a dream.
Yeah, well, tell me about it.
Well, I can't.
I don't remember.
It was just funny.
You didn't sound like you were asleep.
Well, I was.
Really, I was.
Maybe you figured out a way to tip off, calking about me.
Maybe that's what was funny.
No, no, Harry, it was a dream.
You haven't been kidding me.
Why do you think I've watched you every minute?
I know what's on your mind.
Oh, you're wrong.
I thought we were happy.
With what you're holding over my head, with what you can do to me, are you kidding?
Now, listen, I haven't slept since the trial and you know why?
It's because I'm afraid of you.
Every time we go to the store, every time we go out anywhere, I'm waiting for you to
run.
Call the cops.
I wouldn't.
You know I wouldn't.
I never even thought of it.
Well, you thought of it plenty then, didn't you?
Didn't you?
Yes, no, no.
Oh, Harry.
Now you're laughing because you figure you can get rid of me.
No, no, no.
No, no, you're right.
Don't kid yourself.
I figured out the whole thing.
I got us in the clear.
Now you want to mess it up.
What are you going to do to me?
You're going to...
Oh, no, no, no.
It depends, baby.
It depends on whether you can keep your mouth shut.
Why did we do it?
Why did we kill him?
You wanted the money.
No, no, you don't understand.
I wanted to get away from him and I wanted you.
But I'm not away.
All right, Marcy, all right.
But we did it and now we've got to follow it through.
You didn't want me without the money.
You didn't want me at all.
Just the money.
You don't love me.
It happens I do.
That's something you can't understand.
I've tried to make you believe me and something like this comes up and I'm afraid of you.
I keep remembering that if you want to, you can send me to the chair.
Harry, I wouldn't.
I could never hurt you.
Don't worry.
You won't.
I'm going to watch and see that you don't.
Now you better get back to sleep.
The next day he didn't talk to me at all.
He didn't say a word.
We just sat around the house and I felt ugly.
I prayed I'd suddenly be beautiful because then he'd trust me and he'd know that I wouldn't
hurt him.
It was after lunch that he went into the kitchen.
I wanted to watch him now just as he was watching me.
I couldn't bear to have him out of my sight.
He supposedly went out the back door around the front and crept up quietly behind me.
I got up, stood behind the dining room door looking through the crack.
He was taking down a vial from the closet where he kept his photographic things.
I couldn't see a label but I knew what it was.
He put the vial in his jacket pocket and closed the closet.
I was going to be murdered with cyanide the way you were, Grandfather.
You stay here and keep quiet.
I'll answer the door.
I don't want to hear a sound out of you.
Good afternoon, sir.
I'm your daily times delivery boy and I've come to welcome you into our community.
Yes, sure.
Okay.
Some other time.
As a service to you so that you may keep abreast of world events.
Your newspaper, the Daily Times...
Now look, buddy, we don't need a paper.
We'll peddle them somewhere else.
Please call someone.
Tell the police that I...
Sorry, kid, we're not interested.
Shut up!
Now get back in the living room.
I should have known that all you crazy...
I ought to kill you for trying that.
I ought to kill you.
Kill.
Kill me.
That's what he was going to do.
I had to get away or use the phone, call the police.
I needed your grandfather.
I needed you to help me.
He walked slowly back into the living room and took off his jacket.
I thought how funny it was.
Just like a man before a fight.
Perhaps he thought I'd fight with him to save my life.
What is it like to die, grandfather?
I used to ask you that when I was little, when dad died.
It's hot in here.
I'm going to have a drink.
I fixed the phone so you can forget that.
I'll only be in the kitchen so I can hear you.
Don't try anything.
Now he was going to use it, the cyanide.
He hadn't taken it out of his jacket pocket.
It was still there.
I knew it was.
I heard him open the refrigerator and get out some ice.
I didn't even have to get up.
I could reach his jacket from where I sat.
I was very careful.
Used my handkerchief to get the vial out.
I'd learned about fingerprints during the trial.
I knew just how much to put in a drink so that it wouldn't taste.
Harry had taught me that.
I was reaching for the cork in the whiskey bottle when I heard him coming back.
I forgot the ice.
He hadn't seen me.
He hadn't.
I took the cork out of the whiskey bottle and emptied the vial of cyanide into it.
That was all.
It was done.
I was sitting in my chair when Harry came back with the ice.
What's the matter with you?
Nothing.
You're sick?
No, no, no.
I'm all right.
Well, you don't look all right.
You'd better have a drink.
I don't want any.
No, you'd better.
We've got to talk.
Here you are.
This will fix you up.
Drink it straight.
Here.
No, no, Harry.
I don't want it.
I can't stand the taste of it, please.
No, there you go again.
You're getting hysterical.
Now, come on.
This will settle you down.
No, no, I won't.
I won't.
I'm not going to drink it.
I'm going to have two of me.
It'll make me sick.
Please, Harry, don't make me.
Here.
You know I never drink.
Harry, I don't want it.
It won't kill you.
Would you rather have me slap you around?
Now, cut it out.
Drink it.
Come on.
Harry, Harry, no.
Harry.
There was a terrible burning grandfather.
I tried to fight, but I couldn't.
And I saw Harry fade away further and further until he was miles above me leaning down and
calling to me.
I could see his face, so frightened.
Then there was nothing.
It was very quiet, except for the swing.
Quiet, quiet.
You won't let me fall, will you?
I can't see you, but you're there.
Hold my hand, grandfather.
I don't want to be alone.
She's gone.
I'm surprised you held on so long.
Cyanide cases are usually fast.
Cyanide?
Hey, wait a minute.
No telling.
Okay, come on, Stracker.
We're going downtown.
Well, what are you talking about cyanide?
What do you mean?
I never...
Didn't you know?
There was an empty bottle in your jacket pocket, your prints all over it.
On the glass she drank from, too.
Well, yeah, sure they are.
She was having hysterics, so I made her drink from it.
Cyanide never cured hysterics, Harry.
Oh, look, I didn't do it.
Listen, I didn't kill her.
Like you didn't have anything to do with her grandfather's murder, I know.
What was the matter?
She threatened to talk?
I didn't do it, I tell you.
I didn't.
Okay, so you didn't do it.
Come on.
Don't you understand, I put that cyanide in my pocket because I was afraid that she'd
use it on me.
I wasn't going to kill her.
I was just trying to quiet her down.
Brother, when you quiet them down, they stay quiet.
Let's go.
Suspense.
Presented by Auto Light.
Tonight's star, Miss Rosalind Russell.
Friends, this is Harlow Wilcox again to remind you that Auto Light is the world's largest
independent manufacturer of automotive electrical equipment.
In 28 plants from coast to coast, Auto Light makes over 400 products for cars, trucks,
planes, boats, and tractors, including Auto Light Original Factory Parts, sold by authorized
Auto Light service stations, car dealers, garages, or repair shops.
Only Auto Light Original Factory Parts can assure you of the balance and perfect timing
that were originally built into your car's Auto Light electrical system right on the
assembly line.
So when replacements are needed, be sure to specify Auto Light Original Factory Parts
because you're always right with Auto Light.
Next week on Suspense, our stars will be Phil Harris and Alice Fay in Death on My Hands.
And in weeks to come, you will hear such famous stars as Charles Boyer, Jeff Chandler, and
Dick Powell.
All on Suspense.
Suspense is produced and directed by Elliot Lewis with music composed by Lucian Morrowack
and conducted by Lud Bluskin.
When the Bough Breaks was written for Suspense by Anthony Ellis from a story by Sheldon Leonard,
who was heard as Harry.
Others in tonight's cast were Joseph Kearns, Barney Phillips, and Jeffrey Silver.
And remember, next week on Suspense, Phil Harris and Alice Fay in a tale we call Death
on My Hands.
Next week on Suspense.