1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:09,880 Auto Light and its 98,000 dealers bring you Mr. Peter Lawford in tonight's presentation 2 00:00:09,880 --> 00:00:17,420 of Suspense. 3 00:00:17,420 --> 00:00:21,920 Tonight Auto Light presents a classic study of suspense, a new dramatization of one of 4 00:00:21,920 --> 00:00:24,680 the most terrifying stories ever written. 5 00:00:24,680 --> 00:00:32,080 Elkie Collins, a terribly strange bed, our star Mr. Peter Lawford. 6 00:00:32,080 --> 00:00:39,560 Arnold, what is so wonderful as a day in June? 7 00:00:39,560 --> 00:00:42,600 Why, world famous auto light spark plugs of course, Hap. 8 00:00:42,600 --> 00:00:43,600 What? 9 00:00:43,600 --> 00:00:48,320 I said world famous auto light spark plugs are tops, Hap, because they're ignition engineered, 10 00:00:48,320 --> 00:00:53,080 designed and built by ignition experts to give the best performance money can buy. 11 00:00:53,080 --> 00:00:57,320 That's why auto light spark plugs are specified as original equipment on many leading makes 12 00:00:57,320 --> 00:00:59,400 of our finest cars, trucks and tractors. 13 00:00:59,400 --> 00:01:01,880 But what do spark plugs have to do with June? 14 00:01:01,880 --> 00:01:06,560 Why Hap, June is the perfect time to get your car tuned up, to get the spark plugs checked 15 00:01:06,560 --> 00:01:08,080 for summer driving. 16 00:01:08,080 --> 00:01:11,320 So friends, see your auto light spark plug dealer soon. 17 00:01:11,320 --> 00:01:16,020 He's a specialist on spark plug cleaning and adjustment for all makes of cars. 18 00:01:16,020 --> 00:01:20,600 And if replacements are needed, he will install ignition engineered auto light spark plugs, 19 00:01:20,600 --> 00:01:26,320 either resistor or standard type, best suited to your car and your style of driving. 20 00:01:26,320 --> 00:01:31,320 Remember, from bumper to tail light, you're always right with auto light. 21 00:01:31,320 --> 00:01:37,480 And now auto light presents Mr. Peter Lawford in Wilkie Collins' story, a terribly strange 22 00:01:37,480 --> 00:01:45,680 bed, hoping once again to keep you in suspense. 23 00:01:45,680 --> 00:01:49,560 Shortly after my education at college was finished, I happened to be staying in Paris 24 00:01:49,560 --> 00:01:51,640 with an English friend. 25 00:01:51,640 --> 00:01:57,440 We were both young men and lived, I'm afraid, rather a wild life in the city of our sojourn. 26 00:01:57,440 --> 00:02:02,940 And thus had probed the various refined pleasures suitable to our class and searched for others 27 00:02:02,940 --> 00:02:05,400 less elegant. 28 00:02:05,400 --> 00:02:09,240 Searched for them in the neighborhood of the Palais Royal, which lies covertly against 29 00:02:09,240 --> 00:02:11,480 the dark river Seine. 30 00:02:11,480 --> 00:02:15,560 And from each closed doorway, the small echoing of small promises. 31 00:02:15,560 --> 00:02:20,120 That one Henry, that doorway there. 32 00:02:20,120 --> 00:02:21,920 Oh, you're drunk, Gerald. 33 00:02:21,920 --> 00:02:27,000 Pleasantly, exquisitely, modestly, delicately am I drunk. 34 00:02:27,000 --> 00:02:28,000 And therefore. 35 00:02:28,000 --> 00:02:29,560 Therefore what, Gerald? 36 00:02:29,560 --> 00:02:34,120 The doorway I have suggested and the word Frascati painted on it. 37 00:02:34,120 --> 00:02:36,720 Noble word, noble mysteries. 38 00:02:36,720 --> 00:02:37,720 I've been there. 39 00:02:37,720 --> 00:02:42,020 Oh, sly, sly, sly and traitorous friend. 40 00:02:42,020 --> 00:02:46,200 You have been there and alone, slyly and without me. 41 00:02:46,200 --> 00:02:49,160 And it has a ghastly kind of respectability. 42 00:02:49,160 --> 00:02:52,960 Five franc respectability and it would not amuse me. 43 00:02:52,960 --> 00:02:53,960 Come along, Gerald. 44 00:02:53,960 --> 00:02:54,960 Come along, Gerald. 45 00:02:54,960 --> 00:02:59,120 That's it, Gerald, you're coming along very nicely. 46 00:02:59,120 --> 00:03:00,120 What I want, Gerald. 47 00:03:00,120 --> 00:03:01,920 Oh, what you want, Henry. 48 00:03:01,920 --> 00:03:03,880 Want and you shall find. 49 00:03:03,880 --> 00:03:05,460 Want and you shall find. 50 00:03:05,460 --> 00:03:09,360 What I want is somewhere where we can see a little genuine blackguard, poverty stricken 51 00:03:09,360 --> 00:03:12,920 gaming with no false gingerbread glitter thrown all over it. 52 00:03:12,920 --> 00:03:15,240 No gingerbread for my friend, thank you very much. 53 00:03:15,240 --> 00:03:19,160 A place not fashionable, not respectable. 54 00:03:19,160 --> 00:03:23,440 A place of evil perhaps and of emotions I've never known. 55 00:03:23,440 --> 00:03:25,160 Oh, Gerald, come along. 56 00:03:25,160 --> 00:03:26,680 Gerald will not come along. 57 00:03:26,680 --> 00:03:28,480 Gerald is content here. 58 00:03:28,480 --> 00:03:29,480 Listen to me. 59 00:03:29,480 --> 00:03:34,640 Gerald is content here to lean his weariness and his search against this doorway. 60 00:03:34,640 --> 00:03:35,640 Against. 61 00:03:35,640 --> 00:03:36,640 Gerald. 62 00:03:36,640 --> 00:03:48,400 The door had flung open behind him and Gerald had fallen flat on his back and for a while 63 00:03:48,400 --> 00:03:53,800 laughed then with my help got up and Gerald laughed no longer. 64 00:03:53,800 --> 00:03:59,240 For the room, the gaming room was tragedy, mute, weird tragedy. 65 00:03:59,240 --> 00:04:02,640 And the quiet in the room, horrible. 66 00:04:02,640 --> 00:04:08,440 And the people of the room, a thin, haggard, long haired young man whose sunken eyes fiercely 67 00:04:08,440 --> 00:04:12,760 watched the turning up of the cards and never spoke. 68 00:04:12,760 --> 00:04:16,840 The flabby, fat faced, perspiring player who registered on a pasteboard how often black 69 00:04:16,840 --> 00:04:21,360 won and how often red and never spoke. 70 00:04:21,360 --> 00:04:25,120 The dirty, wrinkled old man with the vulture eyes and the darned great coat who had lost 71 00:04:25,120 --> 00:04:30,760 his last sue and still looked on desperately and never spoke. 72 00:04:30,760 --> 00:04:32,760 The voice of the croupier. 73 00:04:32,760 --> 00:04:34,760 Red and black, make your bet. 74 00:04:34,760 --> 00:04:39,280 The voice of the croupier, dull and thick in the atmosphere of the room. 75 00:04:39,280 --> 00:04:44,600 We had entered on a laugh but the spectacle before us was something to weep over. 76 00:04:44,600 --> 00:04:46,520 I'd found it. 77 00:04:46,520 --> 00:04:48,360 The pleasure I searched. 78 00:04:48,360 --> 00:04:49,360 I'd found it. 79 00:04:49,360 --> 00:04:50,360 Henry. 80 00:04:50,360 --> 00:04:51,360 Yes? 81 00:04:51,360 --> 00:04:52,360 Your eyes. 82 00:04:52,360 --> 00:04:53,760 The look in them. 83 00:04:53,760 --> 00:04:54,760 Yes. 84 00:04:54,760 --> 00:04:55,760 What you wanted, isn't it? 85 00:04:55,760 --> 00:04:58,600 The place of evil and of emotions you would never. 86 00:04:58,600 --> 00:04:59,600 I want to play. 87 00:04:59,600 --> 00:05:01,360 What you do? 88 00:05:01,360 --> 00:05:02,360 Come then. 89 00:05:02,360 --> 00:05:05,360 Red and black, make your bets. 90 00:05:05,360 --> 00:05:07,360 Red and black, your bets. 91 00:05:07,360 --> 00:05:09,600 Red and black, your bets. 92 00:05:09,600 --> 00:05:16,160 A thousand francs on black. 93 00:05:16,160 --> 00:05:21,840 Black, black wins. 94 00:05:21,840 --> 00:05:22,840 Leave it. 95 00:05:22,840 --> 00:05:23,840 All of it, black. 96 00:05:23,840 --> 00:05:24,840 Henry. 97 00:05:24,840 --> 00:05:25,840 Wait. 98 00:05:25,840 --> 00:05:30,840 Yes, this is a passion meal. 99 00:05:30,840 --> 00:05:40,240 No, no, not a passion, idle amusement. 100 00:05:40,240 --> 00:05:42,840 Yes, only amusement. 101 00:05:42,840 --> 00:05:43,840 Wait. 102 00:05:43,840 --> 00:05:44,840 Black. 103 00:05:44,840 --> 00:05:45,840 All of it. 104 00:05:45,840 --> 00:05:46,840 All of it red. 105 00:05:46,840 --> 00:05:47,840 This time red. 106 00:05:47,840 --> 00:05:48,840 Oh, not passion, then intoxication to happen. 107 00:05:48,840 --> 00:05:49,840 Yes, intoxication, as I have never known it, intoxication. 108 00:05:49,840 --> 00:05:59,760 Yes, yes, yes. 109 00:05:59,760 --> 00:06:00,760 Which has become. 110 00:06:00,760 --> 00:06:01,760 Red, red wins. 111 00:06:01,760 --> 00:06:02,760 All of it red. 112 00:06:02,760 --> 00:06:03,760 And ten thousand more. 113 00:06:03,760 --> 00:06:04,760 Oh, which has become passion. 114 00:06:04,760 --> 00:06:05,760 Which has become passion. 115 00:06:05,760 --> 00:06:06,760 Red, red wins. 116 00:06:06,760 --> 00:06:07,760 Now, the black coupier. 117 00:06:07,760 --> 00:06:20,760 Black. 118 00:06:20,760 --> 00:06:36,000 Oh, permit me, sir. 119 00:06:36,000 --> 00:06:40,520 Permit me to restore to their proper place the two coins which were dropped. 120 00:06:40,520 --> 00:06:42,480 There, in their proper place. 121 00:06:42,480 --> 00:06:50,120 A thousand francs. 122 00:06:50,120 --> 00:06:55,760 A tall man and quite fat, pinched into a frogged and braided serto. 123 00:06:55,760 --> 00:07:00,800 A man of gobbling bloodshot eyes, mangy moustaches and a broken nose. 124 00:07:00,800 --> 00:07:04,200 And the dirtiest pair of hands I ever saw. 125 00:07:04,200 --> 00:07:09,640 Yet in the mad excitement, his look, his hands held no repelling influence on me. 126 00:07:09,640 --> 00:07:13,560 For now in the mad excitement, in the reckless triumph I was ready to accept even such as 127 00:07:13,560 --> 00:07:14,560 he. 128 00:07:14,560 --> 00:07:15,560 What wonderful luck is yours, sir. 129 00:07:15,560 --> 00:07:18,360 I pledge you my word of honor as an old soldier. 130 00:07:18,360 --> 00:07:22,880 In the course of my long experience in this sort of thing, never but never have I seen 131 00:07:22,880 --> 00:07:24,880 such luck as yours. 132 00:07:24,880 --> 00:07:25,880 Thank you. 133 00:07:25,880 --> 00:07:26,880 Go on, sir. 134 00:07:26,880 --> 00:07:29,320 Boldly, handsomely break the bank. 135 00:07:29,320 --> 00:07:31,120 I assure you, sir, I have every intention. 136 00:07:31,120 --> 00:07:32,120 Do it then, sir. 137 00:07:32,120 --> 00:07:34,080 Go on, break the bank. 138 00:07:34,080 --> 00:07:38,000 My gallant English comrade, boldly break the bank. 139 00:07:38,000 --> 00:07:46,240 All of it, black. 140 00:07:46,240 --> 00:07:48,000 And I did go on. 141 00:07:48,000 --> 00:07:51,320 Went on at such a rate that in an hour... 142 00:07:51,320 --> 00:07:57,540 Gentlemen, the bank has discontinued for tonight. 143 00:07:57,540 --> 00:08:01,400 In an hour, in an hour of a kind of ecstasy I'd never known. 144 00:08:01,400 --> 00:08:05,920 And all the notes and all the gold in the bank now lay in a heap under my hands. 145 00:08:05,920 --> 00:08:10,200 The whole floating capital of the gambling house under my hands, waiting to pour into 146 00:08:10,200 --> 00:08:11,200 my pockets. 147 00:08:11,200 --> 00:08:12,200 No. 148 00:08:12,200 --> 00:08:13,200 No? 149 00:08:13,200 --> 00:08:17,200 No, not in your pockets, sir. 150 00:08:17,200 --> 00:08:21,000 For no breeches pockets, whatever sold could hold such heavy winnings. 151 00:08:21,000 --> 00:08:22,000 Then how... 152 00:08:22,000 --> 00:08:25,320 May I take your pocket handkerchief, sir? 153 00:08:25,320 --> 00:08:26,320 Thank you. 154 00:08:26,320 --> 00:08:27,320 Tie it up, sir. 155 00:08:27,320 --> 00:08:32,280 Tie it up in your handkerchief, as we used to tie up a bit of dinner in the army. 156 00:08:32,280 --> 00:08:33,280 Shuffle it in. 157 00:08:33,280 --> 00:08:38,560 Now then, sir, two tight double knots each way with your mission. 158 00:08:38,560 --> 00:08:40,720 And the money's safe. 159 00:08:40,720 --> 00:08:41,720 Thank you. 160 00:08:41,720 --> 00:08:42,720 Feel it, feel it, sir. 161 00:08:42,720 --> 00:08:45,720 Hard and round, hard and round as a cannonball. 162 00:08:45,720 --> 00:08:46,720 Feel it. 163 00:08:46,720 --> 00:08:47,720 Ah, champagne, sir. 164 00:08:47,720 --> 00:08:48,720 I will buy you champagne. 165 00:08:48,720 --> 00:08:49,720 No, thank you. 166 00:08:49,720 --> 00:08:50,720 I... 167 00:08:50,720 --> 00:08:51,720 Well, for your friend then. 168 00:08:51,720 --> 00:08:52,720 Henry's friend. 169 00:08:52,720 --> 00:08:53,720 Amiable gracious Henry. 170 00:08:53,720 --> 00:09:03,080 Champagne, champagne for the friend, the conqueror of the bank, and for me. 171 00:09:03,080 --> 00:09:06,320 Come, sirs, to my table. 172 00:09:06,320 --> 00:09:09,240 I am Fabian Nero, gallon sir, and you? 173 00:09:09,240 --> 00:09:12,600 Henry Calder, and this is my friend, Gerald Tichter. 174 00:09:12,600 --> 00:09:14,600 Henry, Gerald, Fabian. 175 00:09:14,600 --> 00:09:16,600 Lovely, lovely, lovely. 176 00:09:16,600 --> 00:09:17,600 Henry, Gerald. 177 00:09:17,600 --> 00:09:18,600 Thank you. 178 00:09:18,600 --> 00:09:19,600 Henry, Gerald, thank you. 179 00:09:19,600 --> 00:09:27,000 Henry and Gerald, Fabian. 180 00:09:27,000 --> 00:09:28,360 We are friends, aren't we? 181 00:09:28,360 --> 00:09:32,360 I've touched your sleeves to have you seated here beside me. 182 00:09:32,360 --> 00:09:38,760 This old soldier's heart will burst, my eyes will weep, my hands... 183 00:09:38,760 --> 00:09:39,760 The champagne. 184 00:09:39,760 --> 00:09:46,880 A toast, gentlemen, a toast to... 185 00:09:46,880 --> 00:09:47,880 Not for me, please. 186 00:09:47,880 --> 00:09:48,880 Of course not for you. 187 00:09:48,880 --> 00:09:49,880 Gerald and I, then. 188 00:09:49,880 --> 00:09:50,880 To when Gerald fed him. 189 00:09:50,880 --> 00:09:59,160 A toast to the goddess fortune who embraced tonight our Henry and smiled secretly upon 190 00:09:59,160 --> 00:10:01,200 him and nestled very close. 191 00:10:01,200 --> 00:10:04,520 The goddess fortune, gentlemen, an English cheer. 192 00:10:04,520 --> 00:10:09,760 Hurrah, hurrah, hurrah, hurrah, hurrah, hurrah, hurrah. 193 00:10:09,760 --> 00:10:15,680 Hurrah, hurrah, hurrah, hurrah, hurrah, hurrah, hurrah. 194 00:10:15,680 --> 00:10:16,680 Fabian quickly enough. 195 00:10:16,680 --> 00:10:18,680 Gerald, you were tipsy before, now you'll... 196 00:10:18,680 --> 00:10:22,920 Henry, not to permit the golden blood of France to flow through the veins of this vivacious 197 00:10:22,920 --> 00:10:25,360 Englishman and Gerald, your friend. 198 00:10:25,360 --> 00:10:27,960 Oh, shame, Henry, shame. 199 00:10:27,960 --> 00:10:29,960 Drink, Gerald. 200 00:10:29,960 --> 00:10:36,200 A toast to France, to the present company, to the croupier. 201 00:10:36,200 --> 00:10:37,200 And the croupier's wife. 202 00:10:37,200 --> 00:10:38,200 And the croupier's daughter. 203 00:10:38,200 --> 00:10:39,200 The croupier's daughter. 204 00:10:39,200 --> 00:10:48,200 And to ladies elsewhere. 205 00:10:48,200 --> 00:10:49,200 And to ladies... 206 00:10:49,200 --> 00:10:50,200 I should like coffee, Fabian. 207 00:10:50,200 --> 00:10:51,200 Coffee? 208 00:10:51,200 --> 00:10:52,200 Coffee. 209 00:10:52,200 --> 00:10:53,200 For me and for Gerald. 210 00:10:53,200 --> 00:10:54,200 For our intoxication... 211 00:10:54,200 --> 00:10:55,200 Well, coffee it shall be. 212 00:10:55,200 --> 00:10:56,200 Coffee. 213 00:10:56,200 --> 00:10:57,200 Coffee for the darling of fortune. 214 00:10:57,200 --> 00:10:58,200 Coffee. 215 00:10:58,200 --> 00:11:11,000 The word pronounced by Fabian Nero seemed to have a magical effect on the company present. 216 00:11:11,000 --> 00:11:15,320 They suddenly had lost interest and all rose to depart. 217 00:11:15,320 --> 00:11:20,080 Surely they had expected to profit by my intoxication, by the proffering of champagne. 218 00:11:20,080 --> 00:11:24,520 The finding I would have none of it had now abandoned all hope of thriving pleasantly 219 00:11:24,520 --> 00:11:26,360 on my winnings. 220 00:11:26,360 --> 00:11:29,560 Whatever their motive might be, at any rate they went away in a body. 221 00:11:29,560 --> 00:11:34,160 And the silence of before was now deeper than ever. 222 00:11:34,160 --> 00:11:39,560 Then from a sort of vestibule at the far corner of the room, a woman appeared, bearing a tray 223 00:11:39,560 --> 00:11:46,080 of coffee and glasses, and walked towards us, enveloped in silence. 224 00:11:46,080 --> 00:11:49,920 Woman of emaciated face and burning bright eyes and wisps of colourless hair drifting 225 00:11:49,920 --> 00:11:52,480 across her rouge cheeks. 226 00:11:52,480 --> 00:11:54,560 Your coffee, sir. 227 00:11:54,560 --> 00:11:55,560 Thank you. 228 00:11:55,560 --> 00:11:58,680 You will find it strong and good. 229 00:11:58,680 --> 00:11:59,680 Thank you. 230 00:11:59,680 --> 00:12:02,680 Strong and good, handsome sir. 231 00:12:02,680 --> 00:12:07,240 Here you are, sir. 232 00:12:07,240 --> 00:12:08,240 Thank you. 233 00:12:08,240 --> 00:12:10,200 For I am parched with thirst. 234 00:12:10,200 --> 00:12:16,200 And it was kind of you and of Fabian and gracious and generous. 235 00:12:16,200 --> 00:12:21,240 How wise you are, Henry, to drink this coffee of Millie's, the coffee of Millie Prud'homme. 236 00:12:21,240 --> 00:12:22,240 Millie Prud'homme. 237 00:12:22,240 --> 00:12:23,240 Divine Millie. 238 00:12:23,240 --> 00:12:24,240 Beautiful Millie Prud'homme. 239 00:12:24,240 --> 00:12:25,240 Oh, handsome sir. 240 00:12:25,240 --> 00:12:26,240 Will you have coffee? 241 00:12:26,240 --> 00:12:27,240 No. 242 00:12:27,240 --> 00:12:28,240 Champagne, Millie. 243 00:12:28,240 --> 00:12:29,240 To drink your coffee. 244 00:12:29,240 --> 00:12:45,360 How wiser than your friend, Gerald, to drink coffee and rid yourself of your little amiable 245 00:12:45,360 --> 00:12:49,440 exaltation of spirits before you think of going home. 246 00:12:49,440 --> 00:12:53,440 And you must, my good and gracious friend, for with all that money. 247 00:12:53,440 --> 00:12:55,600 Good and gracious friend. 248 00:12:55,600 --> 00:12:59,880 With all that money to take home tonight, it is a sacred duty to yourself to have your 249 00:12:59,880 --> 00:13:02,080 wits about you. 250 00:13:02,080 --> 00:13:03,200 Drink Henry. 251 00:13:03,200 --> 00:13:04,200 Drink your coffee. 252 00:13:04,200 --> 00:13:09,120 You are known to be a winner to an enormous extent by several gentlemen present tonight 253 00:13:09,120 --> 00:13:13,720 who are but mortal men, sir, and have their own amiable weaknesses. 254 00:13:13,720 --> 00:13:18,320 Drink Henry, who would surely rob and murder if you were to... 255 00:13:18,320 --> 00:13:19,320 Wait. 256 00:13:19,320 --> 00:13:20,320 Wait. 257 00:13:20,320 --> 00:13:21,320 Oh, Mr. Henry. 258 00:13:21,320 --> 00:13:22,320 I'm ill. 259 00:13:22,320 --> 00:13:23,320 I'm very... 260 00:13:23,320 --> 00:13:24,320 What? 261 00:13:24,320 --> 00:13:25,320 He is ill. 262 00:13:25,320 --> 00:13:26,320 I will weep. 263 00:13:26,320 --> 00:13:30,360 Henry is ill and I am drunk. 264 00:13:30,360 --> 00:13:31,360 Millie will sob. 265 00:13:31,360 --> 00:13:32,360 Will you sob, Millie? 266 00:13:32,360 --> 00:13:33,360 Ill. 267 00:13:33,360 --> 00:13:35,680 A fit of giddiness. 268 00:13:35,680 --> 00:13:39,160 The room whirls round and round. 269 00:13:39,160 --> 00:13:40,160 Furiously. 270 00:13:40,160 --> 00:13:41,160 Henry. 271 00:13:41,160 --> 00:13:44,280 And your voice deafens me. 272 00:13:44,280 --> 00:13:45,280 Furiously. 273 00:13:45,280 --> 00:13:48,240 Oh, my dear friend, my dear friend. 274 00:13:48,240 --> 00:13:51,680 Madness to go home in your state would be robbed, murdered. 275 00:13:51,680 --> 00:13:55,200 You need a walking and then a sleep and not a murdering. 276 00:13:55,200 --> 00:14:00,920 A walking and then sleep and in a safe place, Henry. 277 00:14:00,920 --> 00:14:01,920 Yes. 278 00:14:01,920 --> 00:14:02,920 Walk. 279 00:14:02,920 --> 00:14:03,920 Sleep. 280 00:14:03,920 --> 00:14:05,680 In a safe place. 281 00:14:05,680 --> 00:14:06,680 The place of Millie Prud'homme. 282 00:14:06,680 --> 00:14:11,320 A rooming house above the game room and the capital beds of Millie's rooming house. 283 00:14:11,320 --> 00:14:12,320 I don't... 284 00:14:12,320 --> 00:14:14,320 Madness to go to your own home. 285 00:14:14,320 --> 00:14:19,800 Sleep at Millie Prud'homme and tomorrow, tomorrow... 286 00:14:19,800 --> 00:14:22,120 Go home safely with your winnings. 287 00:14:22,120 --> 00:14:26,400 Tomorrow, in full flow of life and in broad daylight. 288 00:14:26,400 --> 00:14:27,400 Tomorrow. 289 00:14:27,400 --> 00:14:28,400 Gerald. 290 00:14:28,400 --> 00:14:29,400 Babin's writing. 291 00:14:29,400 --> 00:14:32,480 If anyone needs sleep, you surely need it. 292 00:14:32,480 --> 00:14:33,480 Come then. 293 00:14:33,480 --> 00:14:34,480 Quickly. 294 00:14:34,480 --> 00:14:35,640 Come then, quickly. 295 00:14:35,640 --> 00:14:36,640 I will help you. 296 00:14:36,640 --> 00:14:38,640 Put your arm about me. 297 00:14:38,640 --> 00:14:41,640 That's the dear boy. 298 00:14:41,640 --> 00:14:42,640 Millie? 299 00:14:42,640 --> 00:14:43,640 Millie. 300 00:14:43,640 --> 00:14:44,640 Yes, Gerald. 301 00:14:44,640 --> 00:14:45,640 Come. 302 00:14:45,640 --> 00:14:52,640 In here, Henry. 303 00:14:52,640 --> 00:14:53,640 Here. 304 00:14:53,640 --> 00:15:07,360 The choicest room of Millie Prud'homme. 305 00:15:07,360 --> 00:15:13,200 The capital bed there and the tasteful furnishing and the deep sleep to be had and the safe one. 306 00:15:13,200 --> 00:15:14,760 Till tomorrow, Henry. 307 00:15:14,760 --> 00:15:16,400 I don't know how to thank you. 308 00:15:16,400 --> 00:15:21,560 You have thanked me enough already with the exaltation of your splendid company and that 309 00:15:21,560 --> 00:15:25,800 I could have been of some small service to your small malady. 310 00:15:25,800 --> 00:15:26,800 Oh, Millie. 311 00:15:26,800 --> 00:15:27,800 Oh, let me go, Gerald. 312 00:15:27,800 --> 00:15:28,800 Oh, handsome, sir. 313 00:15:28,800 --> 00:15:29,800 Oh, come, Millie. 314 00:15:29,800 --> 00:15:30,800 Henry wants his sleep. 315 00:15:30,800 --> 00:15:31,800 Oh, the vibe, Millie. 316 00:15:31,800 --> 00:15:32,800 The vibe. 317 00:15:32,800 --> 00:15:33,800 Oh, Henry, sit. 318 00:15:33,800 --> 00:15:34,800 Oh, my dear. 319 00:15:34,800 --> 00:15:35,800 Oh, my dear. 320 00:15:35,800 --> 00:15:36,800 Oh, my dear. 321 00:15:36,800 --> 00:15:37,800 Oh, my dear. 322 00:15:37,800 --> 00:15:38,800 Oh, my dear. 323 00:15:38,800 --> 00:15:39,800 Oh, my dear. 324 00:15:39,800 --> 00:15:40,800 Oh, my dear. 325 00:15:40,800 --> 00:15:41,800 Oh, my dear. 326 00:15:41,800 --> 00:15:42,800 Oh, my dear. 327 00:15:42,800 --> 00:15:43,800 Oh, my dear. 328 00:15:43,800 --> 00:15:44,800 Oh, my dear. 329 00:15:44,800 --> 00:15:45,800 Oh, Henry. 330 00:15:45,800 --> 00:15:46,800 Millie Prud'homme, you see. 331 00:15:46,800 --> 00:16:01,480 Gerald passed into his particular oblivion in the middle of a sentence. 332 00:16:01,480 --> 00:16:03,560 I walked over and locked the door. 333 00:16:03,560 --> 00:16:07,940 Then I took my money, my winnings wrapped in a handkerchief and placed beneath the pillow 334 00:16:07,940 --> 00:16:09,320 of my bed. 335 00:16:09,320 --> 00:16:11,720 I lay down. 336 00:16:11,720 --> 00:16:18,480 My senses still swam and I looked up at the heavily brocaded canopy and it seemed to move. 337 00:16:18,480 --> 00:16:21,140 Somehow to move. 338 00:16:21,140 --> 00:16:42,600 But for an instant I thought this was a terribly strange bed. 339 00:16:42,600 --> 00:16:48,640 Auto Light is bringing you Mr. Peter Lawford in Wilkie Collins, a terribly strange bed. 340 00:16:48,640 --> 00:17:04,320 Tonight's presentation in radio's outstanding theater of thrills, Suspense. 341 00:17:04,320 --> 00:17:06,680 Well Harlow, vacation time's nearly here. 342 00:17:06,680 --> 00:17:08,880 Yes, Hap, but not for spark plugs. 343 00:17:08,880 --> 00:17:11,520 They're the very heart of your car's ignition system. 344 00:17:11,520 --> 00:17:14,920 And if they're not right, the chances are you won't get smooth and efficient engine 345 00:17:14,920 --> 00:17:18,400 operation during summer's hot and heavy driving. 346 00:17:18,400 --> 00:17:20,520 That's why now is the time to check them, eh Harlow? 347 00:17:20,520 --> 00:17:25,080 Yes, Hap, and when replacements are needed, wise drivers insist on ignition engineered 348 00:17:25,080 --> 00:17:29,420 Auto Light spark plugs, like the famous Auto Light Resistor spark plug. 349 00:17:29,420 --> 00:17:34,080 That's the amazing double life spark plug that gives top performance for twice as long 350 00:17:34,080 --> 00:17:35,760 as ordinary spark plugs. 351 00:17:35,760 --> 00:17:40,040 And the Auto Light Resistor is only one of a complete line of Auto Light spark plugs 352 00:17:40,040 --> 00:17:42,240 designed for every use, right Harlow? 353 00:17:42,240 --> 00:17:46,520 Right Hap, so friends, see your Auto Light spark plug dealer tomorrow for a spark plug 354 00:17:46,520 --> 00:17:47,720 check up. 355 00:17:47,720 --> 00:17:51,960 And if you need replacements, take nothing less than ignition engineered Auto Light spark 356 00:17:51,960 --> 00:17:55,040 plugs, either standard or resistor type. 357 00:17:55,040 --> 00:18:00,400 You'll be glad you did because from bumper to tail light, you're always right with Auto 358 00:18:00,400 --> 00:18:01,400 Light. 359 00:18:01,400 --> 00:18:05,840 And now, Auto Light brings back to our Hollywood sound stage, Mr. Peter Lawford, in Elliot 360 00:18:05,840 --> 00:18:12,040 Lewis's production of A Terribly Strange Bed, a tale well calculated to keep you in 361 00:18:12,040 --> 00:18:23,920 suspense. 362 00:18:23,920 --> 00:18:25,880 I could not sleep. 363 00:18:25,880 --> 00:18:28,200 Restlessness took me over and I got out of bed. 364 00:18:28,200 --> 00:18:34,320 There was the dim, quiet flicker of a single candle, and next to it, a wash stand. 365 00:18:34,320 --> 00:18:36,200 I plunged my face into the water. 366 00:18:36,200 --> 00:18:40,600 There was a single chair and I sat down and tried to compose myself. 367 00:18:40,600 --> 00:18:44,640 Slowly, slowly, the giddiness left me. 368 00:18:44,640 --> 00:18:48,240 A shutter and a window. 369 00:18:48,240 --> 00:18:52,280 Shutter attached by a single hinge and flapping against the side of the house. 370 00:18:52,280 --> 00:18:53,720 And no lock on the window. 371 00:18:53,720 --> 00:18:55,760 No way of locking the window. 372 00:18:55,760 --> 00:18:56,760 Henry? 373 00:18:56,760 --> 00:18:57,760 Gerald. 374 00:18:57,760 --> 00:19:00,760 Gerald, are you up? 375 00:19:00,760 --> 00:19:01,760 Where? 376 00:19:01,760 --> 00:19:02,760 Where? 377 00:19:02,760 --> 00:19:04,080 In a room, over the gaming place. 378 00:19:04,080 --> 00:19:05,080 It's all right. 379 00:19:05,080 --> 00:19:06,680 I've locked the door, but the window, it's... 380 00:19:06,680 --> 00:19:07,680 Window. 381 00:19:07,680 --> 00:19:08,680 And there's a window. 382 00:19:08,680 --> 00:19:21,080 Listen. 383 00:19:21,080 --> 00:19:29,800 Did you hear? 384 00:19:29,800 --> 00:19:35,320 I was wide awake and every one of my senses seemed to be preternaturally sharpened. 385 00:19:35,320 --> 00:19:42,800 You know, on a song I had never heard, and then behind it, the laughter. 386 00:19:42,800 --> 00:19:46,600 Wide awake, yet somehow the effects of whatever drug I had drunk seemed suddenly to arise 387 00:19:46,600 --> 00:19:47,600 again. 388 00:19:47,600 --> 00:19:51,720 And for an instant, toy with my perception so that I reached for the wall to steady myself 389 00:19:51,720 --> 00:19:54,320 as I fall down. 390 00:19:54,320 --> 00:19:55,320 Leaned against the wall for support. 391 00:19:55,320 --> 00:19:56,320 The jollity of the evening children and the youth from England. 392 00:19:56,320 --> 00:19:57,320 Dear Millie, dear Millie, dear Millie. 393 00:19:57,320 --> 00:19:58,320 So it is. 394 00:19:58,320 --> 00:19:59,320 And I was so happy to see you. 395 00:19:59,320 --> 00:20:11,380 My 396 00:20:11,380 --> 00:20:15,860 dear dear. 397 00:20:15,860 --> 00:20:18,360 Yes 398 00:20:18,360 --> 00:20:23,680 Are you there in them? 399 00:20:23,680 --> 00:20:28,560 The moment their voices waver and flap to kind of Melancholy sees me, I walked over to 400 00:20:28,560 --> 00:20:32,880 the window and looked out. Looked out upon blackness, a swarm of blackness, no shapes 401 00:20:32,880 --> 00:20:37,760 definable could be made out through the gloom, except a lighter grayness of a sort, as if 402 00:20:37,760 --> 00:20:42,840 an abutment of some kind, I supposed. Directly across the window and somewhat below it, but 403 00:20:42,840 --> 00:20:47,720 how far across and to what length below I could not determine. For all purposes then, 404 00:20:47,720 --> 00:20:52,040 I knew only that we were above the street level and some three stories, and having felt 405 00:20:52,040 --> 00:20:56,760 the walls directly adjacent the window, I found them to be sheer. No one could enter 406 00:20:56,760 --> 00:21:03,640 there. I walked over to the bed and took a pillow and placed it beneath Gerald's head. 407 00:21:03,640 --> 00:21:11,840 The bed again and I lay down. This bed that now I was lying upon, I must again describe to you. 408 00:21:11,840 --> 00:21:18,680 A four-post bed with a regular top line with chintz. The regular fringe valence all around. 409 00:21:18,680 --> 00:21:23,120 It was ridiculous now that I tried to sleep, I couldn't even close my eyes. 410 00:21:23,120 --> 00:21:32,600 I resolved then to beguile the tedium of my wakefulness by making inventory of every article 411 00:21:32,600 --> 00:21:42,280 of furniture I could see. Window, washstand, chest, chair, dressing table, picture. Upon the 412 00:21:42,280 --> 00:21:48,740 wall opposite the bed, a picture. A fellow in a high Spanish hat crowned with a plume of tiring 413 00:21:48,740 --> 00:21:55,040 feathers. A swarthy sinister ruffian looking upward. It might be at some tall gallows on 414 00:21:55,040 --> 00:22:03,440 which he was going to be hanged. Such was the picture. Another chair, candlestick, picture. 415 00:22:03,440 --> 00:22:12,120 It seemed to be moving. The hat had been pulled over the eyes and there, the hat itself was gone. 416 00:22:12,120 --> 00:22:26,480 The hat was gone, the plumes, the... Was the bed moving? No. No, it was a brief and terrible dream. 417 00:22:26,480 --> 00:22:31,520 How could the top of a bed move? Brief and terrible dream. Trick of the eye and the mind's going down 418 00:22:31,520 --> 00:22:39,800 for a moment into sleep. Yet, yet I let my mind say it. The top of the bed had moved. 419 00:22:39,800 --> 00:22:49,520 Gerald, Gerald, wake up. Open your eyes. Now what? Quietly. Keep your voice in a quiet tone. 420 00:22:49,520 --> 00:22:58,960 Why, why, what? Listen. Above you, directly above you. Look, there's a picture. Do you see it? 421 00:22:58,960 --> 00:23:07,960 Yes. A minute ago, the man was wearing a hat. He was wearing a hat. Now he is not. My friend, 422 00:23:07,960 --> 00:23:14,880 you're very drunk. I'm very proud of you. You fool. Listen to me. All right, Henry. Where there was a 423 00:23:14,880 --> 00:23:22,600 hat is now a peephole and we are being watched. All right, Henry. Now stay where you are, but be alert. 424 00:23:22,600 --> 00:23:32,520 All right, Henry. Henry. Yes. What are you going to do? Make sure of a thing. What thing? The bed. 425 00:23:32,520 --> 00:23:38,800 What? Keep your eye on the canopy. I'm going to lie in the bed now, Gerald, and make sure that 426 00:23:38,800 --> 00:23:44,880 they're not trying to murder us. How? By feigning sleep. What? By feigning sleep, Gerald. Just that. 427 00:23:44,880 --> 00:24:00,320 Now quiet. Yes. Now I am constitution, anything but timid. I have been on more than one occasion in 428 00:24:00,320 --> 00:24:06,120 peril of my life, and I have not lost my self-possession for an instant. But when the 429 00:24:06,120 --> 00:24:10,600 conviction settled on my mind that the bed top was actually moving, it loosed a feeling within me, 430 00:24:10,600 --> 00:24:23,680 foreign, laced through with terror. So I lay there, motionless, speechless, breathless. The candle 431 00:24:23,680 --> 00:24:42,960 spent went out, but the moonlight still brightened the room. I lay there. It descended. The whole 432 00:24:42,960 --> 00:24:51,560 canopy came down, closed down. Henry. I lay there, literally spellbound by what was happening. Out of 433 00:24:51,560 --> 00:24:55,640 bed. At once I could not tell whether reality was here or my imagination was taking hold. 434 00:24:55,640 --> 00:25:01,200 Quickly before they... Closer, closer. Henry. Gerald's voice shattered this warm sea of fascination 435 00:25:01,200 --> 00:25:06,680 that bound me, and I leapt from the bed. Look, look, Henry. Yes. There, the middle of the bed 436 00:25:06,680 --> 00:25:11,480 top, the huge wooden screw. Like a press to smother me and relieve me of my winnings and then 437 00:25:11,480 --> 00:25:18,600 kill you. Young sir, Mr. Calder, open. Unlock the door. Open. The light of the morning, Gerald, 438 00:25:18,600 --> 00:25:23,320 look. It comes up and through the window, across the narrow shaft, another building. We can leap it. 439 00:25:23,320 --> 00:25:28,360 Not I. What? No, not I. My legs are still unsteady. If I should stand upon that still, 440 00:25:28,360 --> 00:25:32,440 I'd fall into space. Then wait. And hurry. Yes. Hurry. Hurry. 441 00:25:32,440 --> 00:25:48,880 The rest of my story is soon told. From the building next door, I reached the ground and sought 442 00:25:48,880 --> 00:25:55,440 police. With them I returned. Mr. Fabian was seized, as was Mrs. Prud'homme. The police 443 00:25:55,440 --> 00:26:00,400 congratulated me on my good fortune and Gerald's on his, and told us that they would probably never 444 00:26:00,400 --> 00:26:06,880 know how many people had been smothered in this diabolical bed. So tightly was the canopy pressed 445 00:26:06,880 --> 00:26:12,480 to the bed that I could not retrieve my money. The mechanism had to be released from the room above. 446 00:26:12,480 --> 00:26:18,960 The police made us go and finding ourselves walking homeward, Gerald said to me, I know a place 447 00:26:18,960 --> 00:26:24,080 where gambling is carried on at such a fever pitch that you'll be carried to the heights of excitement. 448 00:26:24,080 --> 00:26:31,360 Needless to imagine, I refused to go along with Gerald. My adventure cured me of ever again trying 449 00:26:31,360 --> 00:26:37,400 rouge en noir as an amusement. The sight of a green cloth with packs of cards and heaps of 450 00:26:37,400 --> 00:26:43,840 money on it will henceforth be associated in my mind with the sight of a bed canopy 451 00:26:43,840 --> 00:27:01,280 descending to suffocate me in the silence and the darkness of the night. 452 00:27:01,280 --> 00:27:08,560 Suspense presented by Autolight, tonight's star Mr. Peter Lawford. Here are the results of the 453 00:27:08,560 --> 00:27:16,080 great $100,000 Autolight Family Charity Drawing. Over 5,200,000 entries were received for this 454 00:27:16,080 --> 00:27:21,200 event. Last week the final drawing was held in New York under the supervision of a distinguished 455 00:27:21,200 --> 00:27:27,320 committee. Here are the names in the order of their selection. $50,000 will be distributed 456 00:27:27,320 --> 00:27:34,400 to the charity or charities designated by Desi L. Irish of Vallejo, California. $20,000 will go to 457 00:27:34,400 --> 00:27:41,720 the charity or charities designated by Lucille Fossey of Miami, Florida. $5,000 to the charity 458 00:27:41,720 --> 00:27:48,960 designated by Vincent W. Sissler of Howe, Indiana. $3,000 to the charity designated by Stuart Smith 459 00:27:48,960 --> 00:27:56,360 of Ogdenburg, New York. And $2,000 to the charity designated by L. G. Bridgewater of Kennewick, 460 00:27:56,360 --> 00:28:01,880 Washington. These people and 20 others who will each designate $1,000 to their favorite 461 00:28:01,880 --> 00:28:08,160 charities have all been notified. And now this is Harlow Wilcox wishing you a summer of safe 462 00:28:08,160 --> 00:28:13,960 driving with the reminder that wherever you travel from bumper to tail light, you're always right 463 00:28:13,960 --> 00:28:27,920 with Autolight. Next Tuesday night, June 15th, we will continue with a new series of suspense 464 00:28:27,920 --> 00:28:32,960 programs. At that time and through the summer, we hope that you will join us and that we will 465 00:28:32,960 --> 00:28:46,760 be able each Tuesday night to keep you in suspense. Suspense is produced and directed by Elliot Lewis 466 00:28:46,760 --> 00:28:52,080 with music composed by Lucian Morawick and conducted by Lud Bluskin. A terribly strange 467 00:28:52,080 --> 00:28:58,520 bed was adapted for suspense by Morton Fine and David Friedkin from the story by Wilkie Collins. 468 00:28:58,520 --> 00:29:03,040 In tonight's story, Ben Wright was heard as Gerald, Paula Winslow as Mildred, 469 00:29:03,040 --> 00:29:09,520 Joseph Kearns as Fabian, and Vic Perrin as the croupier. Peter Lawford may currently be seen 470 00:29:09,520 --> 00:29:16,720 co-starring in the Columbia picture, It Should Happen to You. And remember, suspense continues 471 00:29:16,720 --> 00:29:22,080 on Tuesday night beginning next week, at which time we will present The Earth is Made of Glass. 472 00:29:22,080 --> 00:29:30,360 You can buy Autolight standard or resistor type spark plugs, Autolight stay full batteries, 473 00:29:30,360 --> 00:29:35,520 and Autolight original service parts at your neighborhood Autolight dealers. Switch to Autolight. 474 00:29:35,520 --> 00:29:52,200 Good night. This is the CBS Radio Network.