Auto Light and its 96,000 dealers bring you Mr. Robert Young in tonight's presentation
of Suspense.
Tonight, Auto Light presents a story about a man who commits a murder efficiently and
safely, only to find there was a witness.
The story is called, A Murder of Necessity, starring Mr. Robert Young.
Great performance, eh, Harlow?
Ah, it sure is, Hap.
Reminds me of the outstanding performance of that team combination of precision-made
units including the auto light generator, starting motor, coil distributor, and all
the other important parts of the complete auto light electrical system in your auto
light equipped car.
I know, Harlow, but I'm talking about the show.
Ah, and what a show that auto light electrical system puts on, Hap.
It works every time you start and run your car, blow your horn, light your lights, or
use your electric windshield wiper, cigarette lighter, radio, or heater.
And every unit is related by auto light engineering design and manufacturing skill to give you
the smoothest performance money can buy.
Yes.
Well, here's the next act, Harlow.
The next act, friends, is to specify auto light original factory parts when replacements
are needed for your auto light equipped car, because from bumper to tail light, you're
always right with auto light.
And now, with A Murder of Necessity and the performance of Mr. Robert Young, auto light
hopes once again to keep you in suspense.
I'm walking along a city street with murder in my heart.
Tonight is the night I must kill.
Remember the name Herbie Sax, fat, sweaty Herbie Sax.
He'll be sitting behind his big desk and he'll look up at me and smile and his fat neck will
spill over the expensive collar of the expensive shirt that he'll be wearing.
So far so good, no one around.
So far so good.
Why do I keep saying that?
Some sign painter will have a new job, scrape the name and gold letters off the glass door.
Herbert J. Sax, private investigator, will soon be dead, gentlemen.
Through the panel of the glass door, the fat shadow of the big man sitting happily in his
swivel chair.
Mr. Sax waits within, murderer.
Knock on his door.
Oh, hold it a minute, the camera wants to remain.
Gets up from the chair, Herbie.
Come and open the door, meet your doom.
Start in the other office.
Oh, hello, Mark.
What do you want?
Few moments of your time.
Oh, I'm busy.
Let's make it some...
Herbie.
Go ahead, Herbie.
Sit down.
What do you want?
Herbie, I'm through.
You bled me for the last nickel.
What are you talking about?
I made a mistake a long time ago.
I went hunting and I killed a man.
It was an accident.
But instead of turning myself in and getting off on a charge of manslaughter, I listened
to the advice of a man named Herbie Sax.
Go home, Mark.
Nobody saw you shoot him, you said.
Nobody did except you, Herbie.
I'll be silenced, said Herbie.
Now look, Mark.
I've had to pay for your silence, haven't I, Herbie?
Through the nose.
Who do you think you are coming here like this?
Why, for two cents?
For two cents, you'd sell your mother, your grandmother and your wife Gretchen, a nice
girl who doesn't deserve you.
I'm warning you, Mark.
You're through warning people, Herbie.
I wonder how many others will breathe easier when once they learn you're no longer exercising
the big stick.
What are you going to do?
This.
Now the sign painter can scrape the gold letters off the glass door.
Herbert J. Sax sits dead in his swivel chair, the blood running a crazy pattern down the
front of his expensive shirt, his mouth silent, no words, no accusations, no talk of any kind,
no talk.
Wait.
Herbie was talking to somebody when I knocked on the door.
Nobody here.
Who was he talking to?
Must have been talking to somebody on the telephone.
He didn't hang it up.
Hello?
Who's there?
Please don't.
The phone in Herbie's desk drawer had been off the hook.
Herbie had been talking to someone on the phone.
Who would it have been?
Somebody I knew, somebody I didn't know, somebody like Herbie who would make me suffer some
more.
I had to find out.
But how?
How?
I got an idea.
The phone pad.
Today March 24th and under the date three names.
L. Collins, the name Janice and a phone number and an art lefoune.
Could it have been one of them?
On the phone you heard what?
Was it a radio?
Was it a record?
That's all you have to go on.
But it'll have to be enough.
Even now whoever it was may be calling the police.
Down in the corner drug store I look up L. Collins.
There's only one.
Strange for a name like Collins but only one.
Lucius Collins who lives on North Woodburn Drive.
The taxi gets me there in 20 minutes.
Mrs. Lucius Collins?
Yes.
Is your husband at home?
Yes.
You want to see him?
If it's possible.
Come in.
Follow me.
What did you say your name was?
I didn't say but it's Paul.
Paul Drake.
Lucius, is it Mr. Drake who wants to see you?
Drake?
Yes Mr. Collins.
A mutual friend asked me to call.
I'd like to speak to you alone if I may.
I'll close the door.
Mr. Collins.
Oh sit down Mr. Drake.
Thank you.
You said a mutual friend sent you?
Who?
Herbie Sachs sent me Mr. Collins.
What does he want?
He's not satisfied with the present set up.
Mr. Drake I'm paying him all I can now.
I can't pay anymore.
If I did my wife might find out.
Then how would I explain it?
Doesn't Mr. Sachs understand that?
He's not satisfied Mr. Collins.
That's all I can tell you.
But what am I going to do?
Well Herbie just gave me a general picture of your situation.
Perhaps if you filled me in on the details.
There are no details Mr. Drake.
I made a mistake once.
I met a girl.
We grew fond of each other.
Naturally my wife suspected something was wrong.
She went to Mr. Sachs and had him trail me.
He found out about us, the girl and me.
He didn't tell my wife.
He said he wouldn't tell her if I paid him.
And so I did.
The girl went away but I still paid Mr. Sachs.
I understand Mr. Collins.
You do.
You really do.
Have you been home all evening Mr. Collins?
Well he is.
I guess I'll just tell Herbie what you told me.
You can't increase it.
You can't do it.
That radio over there looks like an old one.
Oh it is.
We've had that for years.
It's broken.
I haven't bothered to have it fixed.
You got a phonograph?
Yes, an old one.
The kind of wine is not much good.
It's up in the attic stored away.
Well thanks Mr. Collins.
Thanks?
I mean for seeing me or letting me talk to you.
Well I don't understand.
A man like you working for Herbie Sachs?
I know Mr. Collins.
I don't seem like the kind that would.
That poor little man.
If only I could have told him, whispered to him, yelled to him.
Mr. Collins your unhappiness is over.
The man who held you in the arms of terror is no more.
He's dead.
He's up in his office spilling blood all over his nice clean carpet.
You're a free man, free to pick up the pieces of your life and start again.
But tomorrow you'll know.
It'll be in all the papers.
That'll be soon enough.
The first name on the list I check off.
Lucius Collins is a man with problems of his own.
He didn't play his broken radio or the old phonograph stored away up in his attic.
So I call the phone number next to the name on the pad that reads Janice.
Just picked it up and walked away with it.
Leon Sparatek speaking.
Is Janice there?
Yeah but she's awful busy waiting on tables.
Can I give her a message?
No.
I'll call later.
Okay.
I found Leon's bar downtown on Main.
It was a cheap place but it was full of people.
Then I saw the girl waiting on the tables.
She was pretty but a prettiness that was cheap like the bar.
I walked over to an empty booth in the corner and sat down.
I waited.
Then she saw me and came over and stood beside me.
What do you have?
Whiskey and water.
Right.
Janice.
Come here a minute.
Yeah?
What is it?
I want to talk to you.
Look I'm awful busy right now.
Herbie sent me.
I didn't get your name.
Drake.
Paul Drake.
Herbie sent you?
Yes Herbie sent me.
For what?
What does Herbie usually want?
What kind of a hold up is this?
Twice in one week.
Herbie's an ugly man isn't he Janice?
You're a funny guy.
I'd almost get the impression you didn't like him.
Well it isn't necessary for an employee to like his employer is it?
No.
What are you?
His collection agency?
In a sense.
I'm also an advisor of his.
What do you mean?
Sometimes I advise him about his clients.
Perhaps I could advise him about you.
What would you advise him?
I think you're a pretty girl, a very pretty girl Janice.
I'd advise him of that.
You shouldn't say things like that.
Why not?
Because they're not true.
Yes they are.
What do you want from me mister?
I'd like to take you home tonight to where you live.
That's all I want.
That's a lot.
I think you're pretty Janice.
I told you.
I get off in an hour.
You can take me home.
In an hour.
She got up from the table and walked across the room.
There was something strange about this girl.
Something I didn't understand.
But something I had to find out.
She stopped at the jukebox in the corner of the bar next to the phone booth and dropped
a dime into the machine.
That's when I heard this song again.
Auto Light is bringing you Mr. Robert Young in, a murder of necessity.
It's production in radio's outstanding theater of thrills, Suspense.
Well Harlow, I'll admit it's the best system going.
And it's always going when your car is, Hap.
The auto light electrical system that works every second your engine runs.
As well as when you blow your horn, light your lights, or use your electric windshield
wiper, cigarette lighter, radio, or heater.
And the auto light electrical system is used by the finest, Harlow.
Yes sir, Hap, as original equipment on many leading makes of our finest cars, trucks,
and tractors.
And in the auto light electrical system, every unit and component part is related by auto
light engineering design and manufacturing skill to give you the smoothest performance
money can buy.
That's why it pays to keep your car running right.
Right you are, Hap.
So friends, make it a point to see your car dealer or authorized auto light service station
soon.
You can easily locate your nearest authorized auto light service station in the classified
section of your telephone directory under automobile electrical service.
Or you can call Western Union by number and ask for operator 25.
She will gladly tell you his location.
And remember, from bumper to tail light, you're always right with auto light.
And now, auto light brings back to our Hollywood sound stage, Mr. Robert Young, in Elliot Lewis's
production of A Murder of Necessity, a tale well calculated to keep you in suspense.
Oh, nice music.
Like it?
My favorite record.
I play it all the time.
You do?
Well, should we go?
I'll call a cab.
You don't have to.
Why not?
Ride home in style.
It's only a couple of blocks from here.
We can walk.
Wouldn't you like to walk?
All right.
Beautiful night, not a cloud in the sky.
I love fresh air.
What's your last name, Janice?
I've got a lot of them.
Call me Janice Gibson.
All right, Janice Gibson.
What kind of a girl are you, Janice?
If you work for Herbie Sachs, you know all about me.
Not the details, pretty girl.
Why do you keep saying pretty girl?
Because it's a statement of fact.
You are pretty, Janice.
I'm the kind of girl that you read about in the confession magazines.
Only they make those stories up.
They're fiction.
My story's not fiction.
It's a real one.
I believe you.
Long time ago, a girl with big ideas came out of the sticks, landed in the big city.
And she met a man named Herbie Sachs.
She met him after she'd gone off the deep end.
She wanted thrills.
Those thrills ended her up in a straitjacket in a sanitarium.
They were the kind of thrills you don't write the family back home about.
But how does Herbie figure?
Herbie is a man with many ways and means.
When the girl ended up in an attic, Herbie was the big brother.
He had a soft shoulder and he stretched out a helping hand.
After I was cured, he told me I had to pay him for his silence.
The silence that would keep the family back home from finding out about the thrilling
things that had happened to the girl from the sticks.
Are you?
Yes.
I'm well over them.
That's good.
Why do you work for a man like him?
Check it off the living.
Were you at the bar all night tonight?
Ever since eight o'clock.
Why?
Nothing.
I guess I'm making conversation because I don't want to talk to you anymore.
Look, mister, you can walk on the other side of the street.
I didn't mean it that way, Janice.
Believe me, what I meant was I didn't want to talk because I suddenly feel like kissing
you.
This is where I live.
The bug house.
Want to come up and meet the fleas?
Courtesy of Herbie Sacks.
Janice, don't be bitter.
I got one room and a hot plate.
What am I supposed to do?
Dance or dance because I can't afford anything better?
Look, I'll talk to Herbie.
I'm his advisor, remember?
Maybe I'll advise him to change his mind.
If you thought you could...
I'll try.
That much I promise.
I'll advise him that you ought to have a nice apartment to live in and a stove.
Paul?
Yes?
You want to come upstairs?
I'll make you some coffee.
I have something to take care of and it's late to... maybe after...
You won't come back.
Once you leave, I won't see you anymore.
You're that kind of guy.
I'll come back.
I won't see you again.
I know I won't.
Kiss me, Paul.
Hard.
Like you were going away for a long time.
Come upstairs.
Let me make you some coffee.
I'll be back.
Paul.
Janice, someday if you ever find out that this is all over, go back home to where there
aren't thrilling things for a girl like you to do.
I don't know.
They'll never know.
Home is a long and far away memory.
I don't know.
Promise me.
On the kiss.
Maybe.
Maybe Paul.
Maybe.
I took her in my arms and kissed her again.
Then she turned and disappeared through the door into the cheap boarding house.
And the black night closed in on me again and the fear and fright returned.
Under the street light up at the corner, I checked the last name on the phone pad.
Art LaFoone.
He's not at his place of business on Houston Avenue, the watchman tells me.
Mr. LaFoone is never at his place of business at 2.30 in the morning, he says with raised
eyebrows.
Even though it is a novelty business, novel things are always happening.
So I wait until 8 o'clock the following morning.
Near his novelty business, I find a very shabby hotel.
And for $2, the night clerk tells me that I can have a bed with a clean sheet and a
loud knock on my door when it's 7 o'clock.
By five minutes after 8, I'm standing in front of Mr. LaFoone's novelty business on the third
floor.
My hand closed tightly around a piece of blue steel that means death for Mr. LaFoone.
Yeah, all right, Mitch.
There's a shipment I'll get out to you on Friday.
Okay, okay.
I promise you, Mitch.
And when LaFoone makes a promise, he keeps his word.
Okay, kid, I'll see you.
Ah, hello, brother.
Mr. LaFoone?
That's it, brother, LaFoone.
Anything that's novel, I know, say LaFoone.
Yeah, let me show you something.
These small telescopes we just got in, I made some a couple of years ago, but those were
tame.
Here, take a look at this one.
Look, go ahead, just squint your eye.
You got to focus.
Herbie sent me.
Yeah, I was...
What was that, brother?
Herbie Sachs.
Yeah?
You mentioned her name, Herbie Sachs.
What am I supposed to do?
You know Herbie.
Who are you anyway?
I work for Herbie Sachs.
Herbie Sachs?
Yeah, I'm a
man of my word.
You made another statement.
Tell me how to react, brother.
Hey!
Look, Mr. Novelty, man, I don't know how to convince you, but I'll get rough if I have
to.
Okay, okay, take it easy, brother, take it easy.
That's an expensive shirt.
That's why I'm here.
Herbie doesn't like you buying such expensive shirts.
Who are you?
I'm recently hired to make collections.
I've come to collect.
You know what?
I think you're lying.
You don't work for Herbie Sachs.
You don't work for him at all.
I told you I was just recently hired.
And why didn't he tell me you'd be around, brother?
I talked to him on the phone last night.
Why didn't he tell me, huh?
You talked to Herbie on the phone last night?
Yeah, brother, I talked to him.
What happened when you talked to Herbie?
What do you mean, what happened?
Who are you, brother?
Nobody you'd be interested in.
Yeah?
Well, maybe the cops would be interested.
Put it down.
Get your hands off of me!
I'm not going to let you get away with this.
Later, Mr. LaFoone.
Later we'll take care of some unfinished business.
When it's dark and no one will see me.
I got out of the building.
I had to before someone saw me.
Saw my face and would recognize it again.
But tonight when it's dark, I'll wait for you and follow you, Mr. LaFoone.
It was you on the phone.
Now I know.
Buy a paper and go home.
Lay low.
When I get home, I open the paper and there it is.
On page two, an account of the death of Herbert J. Sacks, the private investigator.
Shot through the chest twice by an unknown assailant.
How soon would it be before Mr. LaFoone would tell the police the name of the unknown assailant?
Long enough.
Because LaFoone was the kind of man who would wait for the killer to get in touch with him.
LaFoone was the kind of man who could be bribed.
Then one I tried to sweep.
Hello.
Mark, this is Gretchen Sacks, Herbie's wife.
Yeah.
Hello, Gretchen.
Did you read about Herbie in the papers this morning?
Yeah, I read Gretchen.
I want to talk to you, Mark.
Talk?
It's important.
Can you come out to the house?
Have the police been out to the house yet?
No.
I was down for a few minutes at the morgue to identify the body.
That's all?
That's all.
It's important that I talk to you.
I was on the other end of the phone, Mark.
Why didn't you answer me when I picked up the receiver?
I had to take time to think things through.
Have you thought them through?
Yes.
Will you come out to the house and talk to me?
Yes, Gretchen.
I'll be out in a little while.
I'll wait for you.
It was Herbie's own wife, Gretchen, on the phone.
Sweet and lovable Gretchen.
And now the wife of the man I murdered waits to talk with me.
What about?
The weather?
No.
No, she waits to talk business.
Before the police arrive, she waits to take up where the fat man left off.
The murder of necessity.
Ring the doorbell, murderer.
Hello, Mark.
Come in.
Mark!
Oh, Mark.
You fool.
I'm sorry, Gretchen.
I...
Me.
Any, man.
I...
The truth is I'm going to lose him.
I can't go on, Mark.
You're the
trickiest woman ever, dear Mark.
Miss Gretchen.
Yes, I'm the skillful help.
Thank you.
Merry Christmas.
Wakeup.
Lord, my lovely bugs.
Because...
No, no.
When he got home, Mark,
I was going to kill him.
Gretchen.
Operator.
Get me police headquarters.
I just committed a murder.
That wasn't necessary.
At all.
Suspended.
Presented by Auto Light. Tonight's star, Mr. Robert Young.
This is Harlow Wilcox speaking for Auto Light,
world's largest independent manufacturer of automotive electrical equipment.
Our Auto Light family is made up of the nearly 30,000 men and women
in 28 great Auto Light plants from coast to coast
and in still other Auto Light plants in many foreign countries.
It also includes more than 18,000 people who have invested a portion of their savings in Auto Light,
as well as 96,000 Auto Light distributors and dealers in the United States
and thousands more in Canada and throughout the world.
On April 1st, Auto Light will present the national television preview
of the great Parade of Stars automobile show
from the grand ballroom of New York's Waldorf Astoria Hotel.
This program may be seen at the regular Auto Light suspense television time on April 1st
or a few days later in some television areas.
Don't miss this great program.
And remember to be with us next week for another thrilling Auto Light suspense show on radio.
Music
Next week, our star will be Miss Deborah Carr as a girl who chose a most dangerous way of making a living
and bet her life on its success.
A story true except for changes in names and places, which we call The Colonel's Lady.
Presented on Suspense.
Suspense
Suspense is produced and directed by Elliot Lewis with music composed by Lucian Morawick
and conducted by Lud Gluskin.
A Murder of Necessity was written for Suspense by Richard George Pantaccini.
Featured in tonight's cast were Paula Winslow, Charlotte Lawrence, Joe Gilbert, Howard McNeer, Lou Merrill, and Joseph Kearns.
Robert Young, star of Father Knows Best, appeared through the courtesy of the Crosley Corporation.
And remember next week on Suspense, Miss Deborah Carr in The Colonel's Lady.
This is the CBS Radio Network.
Music