WEBVTT 00:00.000 --> 00:09.880 Auto Light and its 98,000 dealers bring you Mr. Peter Lawford in tonight's presentation 00:09.880 --> 00:17.420 of Suspense. 00:17.420 --> 00:21.920 Tonight Auto Light presents a classic study of suspense, a new dramatization of one of 00:21.920 --> 00:24.680 the most terrifying stories ever written. 00:24.680 --> 00:32.080 Elkie Collins, a terribly strange bed, our star Mr. Peter Lawford. 00:32.080 --> 00:39.560 Arnold, what is so wonderful as a day in June? 00:39.560 --> 00:42.600 Why, world famous auto light spark plugs of course, Hap. 00:42.600 --> 00:43.600 What? 00:43.600 --> 00:48.320 I said world famous auto light spark plugs are tops, Hap, because they're ignition engineered, 00:48.320 --> 00:53.080 designed and built by ignition experts to give the best performance money can buy. 00:53.080 --> 00:57.320 That's why auto light spark plugs are specified as original equipment on many leading makes 00:57.320 --> 00:59.400 of our finest cars, trucks and tractors. 00:59.400 --> 01:01.880 But what do spark plugs have to do with June? 01:01.880 --> 01:06.560 Why Hap, June is the perfect time to get your car tuned up, to get the spark plugs checked 01:06.560 --> 01:08.080 for summer driving. 01:08.080 --> 01:11.320 So friends, see your auto light spark plug dealer soon. 01:11.320 --> 01:16.020 He's a specialist on spark plug cleaning and adjustment for all makes of cars. 01:16.020 --> 01:20.600 And if replacements are needed, he will install ignition engineered auto light spark plugs, 01:20.600 --> 01:26.320 either resistor or standard type, best suited to your car and your style of driving. 01:26.320 --> 01:31.320 Remember, from bumper to tail light, you're always right with auto light. 01:31.320 --> 01:37.480 And now auto light presents Mr. Peter Lawford in Wilkie Collins' story, a terribly strange 01:37.480 --> 01:45.680 bed, hoping once again to keep you in suspense. 01:45.680 --> 01:49.560 Shortly after my education at college was finished, I happened to be staying in Paris 01:49.560 --> 01:51.640 with an English friend. 01:51.640 --> 01:57.440 We were both young men and lived, I'm afraid, rather a wild life in the city of our sojourn. 01:57.440 --> 02:02.940 And thus had probed the various refined pleasures suitable to our class and searched for others 02:02.940 --> 02:05.400 less elegant. 02:05.400 --> 02:09.240 Searched for them in the neighborhood of the Palais Royal, which lies covertly against 02:09.240 --> 02:11.480 the dark river Seine. 02:11.480 --> 02:15.560 And from each closed doorway, the small echoing of small promises. 02:15.560 --> 02:20.120 That one Henry, that doorway there. 02:20.120 --> 02:21.920 Oh, you're drunk, Gerald. 02:21.920 --> 02:27.000 Pleasantly, exquisitely, modestly, delicately am I drunk. 02:27.000 --> 02:28.000 And therefore. 02:28.000 --> 02:29.560 Therefore what, Gerald? 02:29.560 --> 02:34.120 The doorway I have suggested and the word Frascati painted on it. 02:34.120 --> 02:36.720 Noble word, noble mysteries. 02:36.720 --> 02:37.720 I've been there. 02:37.720 --> 02:42.020 Oh, sly, sly, sly and traitorous friend. 02:42.020 --> 02:46.200 You have been there and alone, slyly and without me. 02:46.200 --> 02:49.160 And it has a ghastly kind of respectability. 02:49.160 --> 02:52.960 Five franc respectability and it would not amuse me. 02:52.960 --> 02:53.960 Come along, Gerald. 02:53.960 --> 02:54.960 Come along, Gerald. 02:54.960 --> 02:59.120 That's it, Gerald, you're coming along very nicely. 02:59.120 --> 03:00.120 What I want, Gerald. 03:00.120 --> 03:01.920 Oh, what you want, Henry. 03:01.920 --> 03:03.880 Want and you shall find. 03:03.880 --> 03:05.460 Want and you shall find. 03:05.460 --> 03:09.360 What I want is somewhere where we can see a little genuine blackguard, poverty stricken 03:09.360 --> 03:12.920 gaming with no false gingerbread glitter thrown all over it. 03:12.920 --> 03:15.240 No gingerbread for my friend, thank you very much. 03:15.240 --> 03:19.160 A place not fashionable, not respectable. 03:19.160 --> 03:23.440 A place of evil perhaps and of emotions I've never known. 03:23.440 --> 03:25.160 Oh, Gerald, come along. 03:25.160 --> 03:26.680 Gerald will not come along. 03:26.680 --> 03:28.480 Gerald is content here. 03:28.480 --> 03:29.480 Listen to me. 03:29.480 --> 03:34.640 Gerald is content here to lean his weariness and his search against this doorway. 03:34.640 --> 03:35.640 Against. 03:35.640 --> 03:36.640 Gerald. 03:36.640 --> 03:48.400 The door had flung open behind him and Gerald had fallen flat on his back and for a while 03:48.400 --> 03:53.800 laughed then with my help got up and Gerald laughed no longer. 03:53.800 --> 03:59.240 For the room, the gaming room was tragedy, mute, weird tragedy. 03:59.240 --> 04:02.640 And the quiet in the room, horrible. 04:02.640 --> 04:08.440 And the people of the room, a thin, haggard, long haired young man whose sunken eyes fiercely 04:08.440 --> 04:12.760 watched the turning up of the cards and never spoke. 04:12.760 --> 04:16.840 The flabby, fat faced, perspiring player who registered on a pasteboard how often black 04:16.840 --> 04:21.360 won and how often red and never spoke. 04:21.360 --> 04:25.120 The dirty, wrinkled old man with the vulture eyes and the darned great coat who had lost 04:25.120 --> 04:30.760 his last sue and still looked on desperately and never spoke. 04:30.760 --> 04:32.760 The voice of the croupier. 04:32.760 --> 04:34.760 Red and black, make your bet. 04:34.760 --> 04:39.280 The voice of the croupier, dull and thick in the atmosphere of the room. 04:39.280 --> 04:44.600 We had entered on a laugh but the spectacle before us was something to weep over. 04:44.600 --> 04:46.520 I'd found it. 04:46.520 --> 04:48.360 The pleasure I searched. 04:48.360 --> 04:49.360 I'd found it. 04:49.360 --> 04:50.360 Henry. 04:50.360 --> 04:51.360 Yes? 04:51.360 --> 04:52.360 Your eyes. 04:52.360 --> 04:53.760 The look in them. 04:53.760 --> 04:54.760 Yes. 04:54.760 --> 04:55.760 What you wanted, isn't it? 04:55.760 --> 04:58.600 The place of evil and of emotions you would never. 04:58.600 --> 04:59.600 I want to play. 04:59.600 --> 05:01.360 What you do? 05:01.360 --> 05:02.360 Come then. 05:02.360 --> 05:05.360 Red and black, make your bets. 05:05.360 --> 05:07.360 Red and black, your bets. 05:07.360 --> 05:09.600 Red and black, your bets. 05:09.600 --> 05:16.160 A thousand francs on black. 05:16.160 --> 05:21.840 Black, black wins. 05:21.840 --> 05:22.840 Leave it. 05:22.840 --> 05:23.840 All of it, black. 05:23.840 --> 05:24.840 Henry. 05:24.840 --> 05:25.840 Wait. 05:25.840 --> 05:30.840 Yes, this is a passion meal. 05:30.840 --> 05:40.240 No, no, not a passion, idle amusement. 05:40.240 --> 05:42.840 Yes, only amusement. 05:42.840 --> 05:43.840 Wait. 05:43.840 --> 05:44.840 Black. 05:44.840 --> 05:45.840 All of it. 05:45.840 --> 05:46.840 All of it red. 05:46.840 --> 05:47.840 This time red. 05:47.840 --> 05:48.840 Oh, not passion, then intoxication to happen. 05:48.840 --> 05:49.840 Yes, intoxication, as I have never known it, intoxication. 05:49.840 --> 05:59.760 Yes, yes, yes. 05:59.760 --> 06:00.760 Which has become. 06:00.760 --> 06:01.760 Red, red wins. 06:01.760 --> 06:02.760 All of it red. 06:02.760 --> 06:03.760 And ten thousand more. 06:03.760 --> 06:04.760 Oh, which has become passion. 06:04.760 --> 06:05.760 Which has become passion. 06:05.760 --> 06:06.760 Red, red wins. 06:06.760 --> 06:07.760 Now, the black coupier. 06:07.760 --> 06:20.760 Black. 06:20.760 --> 06:36.000 Oh, permit me, sir. 06:36.000 --> 06:40.520 Permit me to restore to their proper place the two coins which were dropped. 06:40.520 --> 06:42.480 There, in their proper place. 06:42.480 --> 06:50.120 A thousand francs. 06:50.120 --> 06:55.760 A tall man and quite fat, pinched into a frogged and braided serto. 06:55.760 --> 07:00.800 A man of gobbling bloodshot eyes, mangy moustaches and a broken nose. 07:00.800 --> 07:04.200 And the dirtiest pair of hands I ever saw. 07:04.200 --> 07:09.640 Yet in the mad excitement, his look, his hands held no repelling influence on me. 07:09.640 --> 07:13.560 For now in the mad excitement, in the reckless triumph I was ready to accept even such as 07:13.560 --> 07:14.560 he. 07:14.560 --> 07:15.560 What wonderful luck is yours, sir. 07:15.560 --> 07:18.360 I pledge you my word of honor as an old soldier. 07:18.360 --> 07:22.880 In the course of my long experience in this sort of thing, never but never have I seen 07:22.880 --> 07:24.880 such luck as yours. 07:24.880 --> 07:25.880 Thank you. 07:25.880 --> 07:26.880 Go on, sir. 07:26.880 --> 07:29.320 Boldly, handsomely break the bank. 07:29.320 --> 07:31.120 I assure you, sir, I have every intention. 07:31.120 --> 07:32.120 Do it then, sir. 07:32.120 --> 07:34.080 Go on, break the bank. 07:34.080 --> 07:38.000 My gallant English comrade, boldly break the bank. 07:38.000 --> 07:46.240 All of it, black. 07:46.240 --> 07:48.000 And I did go on. 07:48.000 --> 07:51.320 Went on at such a rate that in an hour... 07:51.320 --> 07:57.540 Gentlemen, the bank has discontinued for tonight. 07:57.540 --> 08:01.400 In an hour, in an hour of a kind of ecstasy I'd never known. 08:01.400 --> 08:05.920 And all the notes and all the gold in the bank now lay in a heap under my hands. 08:05.920 --> 08:10.200 The whole floating capital of the gambling house under my hands, waiting to pour into 08:10.200 --> 08:11.200 my pockets. 08:11.200 --> 08:12.200 No. 08:12.200 --> 08:13.200 No? 08:13.200 --> 08:17.200 No, not in your pockets, sir. 08:17.200 --> 08:21.000 For no breeches pockets, whatever sold could hold such heavy winnings. 08:21.000 --> 08:22.000 Then how... 08:22.000 --> 08:25.320 May I take your pocket handkerchief, sir? 08:25.320 --> 08:26.320 Thank you. 08:26.320 --> 08:27.320 Tie it up, sir. 08:27.320 --> 08:32.280 Tie it up in your handkerchief, as we used to tie up a bit of dinner in the army. 08:32.280 --> 08:33.280 Shuffle it in. 08:33.280 --> 08:38.560 Now then, sir, two tight double knots each way with your mission. 08:38.560 --> 08:40.720 And the money's safe. 08:40.720 --> 08:41.720 Thank you. 08:41.720 --> 08:42.720 Feel it, feel it, sir. 08:42.720 --> 08:45.720 Hard and round, hard and round as a cannonball. 08:45.720 --> 08:46.720 Feel it. 08:46.720 --> 08:47.720 Ah, champagne, sir. 08:47.720 --> 08:48.720 I will buy you champagne. 08:48.720 --> 08:49.720 No, thank you. 08:49.720 --> 08:50.720 I... 08:50.720 --> 08:51.720 Well, for your friend then. 08:51.720 --> 08:52.720 Henry's friend. 08:52.720 --> 08:53.720 Amiable gracious Henry. 08:53.720 --> 09:03.080 Champagne, champagne for the friend, the conqueror of the bank, and for me. 09:03.080 --> 09:06.320 Come, sirs, to my table. 09:06.320 --> 09:09.240 I am Fabian Nero, gallon sir, and you? 09:09.240 --> 09:12.600 Henry Calder, and this is my friend, Gerald Tichter. 09:12.600 --> 09:14.600 Henry, Gerald, Fabian. 09:14.600 --> 09:16.600 Lovely, lovely, lovely. 09:16.600 --> 09:17.600 Henry, Gerald. 09:17.600 --> 09:18.600 Thank you. 09:18.600 --> 09:19.600 Henry, Gerald, thank you. 09:19.600 --> 09:27.000 Henry and Gerald, Fabian. 09:27.000 --> 09:28.360 We are friends, aren't we? 09:28.360 --> 09:32.360 I've touched your sleeves to have you seated here beside me. 09:32.360 --> 09:38.760 This old soldier's heart will burst, my eyes will weep, my hands... 09:38.760 --> 09:39.760 The champagne. 09:39.760 --> 09:46.880 A toast, gentlemen, a toast to... 09:46.880 --> 09:47.880 Not for me, please. 09:47.880 --> 09:48.880 Of course not for you. 09:48.880 --> 09:49.880 Gerald and I, then. 09:49.880 --> 09:50.880 To when Gerald fed him. 09:50.880 --> 09:59.160 A toast to the goddess fortune who embraced tonight our Henry and smiled secretly upon 09:59.160 --> 10:01.200 him and nestled very close. 10:01.200 --> 10:04.520 The goddess fortune, gentlemen, an English cheer. 10:04.520 --> 10:09.760 Hurrah, hurrah, hurrah, hurrah, hurrah, hurrah, hurrah. 10:09.760 --> 10:15.680 Hurrah, hurrah, hurrah, hurrah, hurrah, hurrah, hurrah. 10:15.680 --> 10:16.680 Fabian quickly enough. 10:16.680 --> 10:18.680 Gerald, you were tipsy before, now you'll... 10:18.680 --> 10:22.920 Henry, not to permit the golden blood of France to flow through the veins of this vivacious 10:22.920 --> 10:25.360 Englishman and Gerald, your friend. 10:25.360 --> 10:27.960 Oh, shame, Henry, shame. 10:27.960 --> 10:29.960 Drink, Gerald. 10:29.960 --> 10:36.200 A toast to France, to the present company, to the croupier. 10:36.200 --> 10:37.200 And the croupier's wife. 10:37.200 --> 10:38.200 And the croupier's daughter. 10:38.200 --> 10:39.200 The croupier's daughter. 10:39.200 --> 10:48.200 And to ladies elsewhere. 10:48.200 --> 10:49.200 And to ladies... 10:49.200 --> 10:50.200 I should like coffee, Fabian. 10:50.200 --> 10:51.200 Coffee? 10:51.200 --> 10:52.200 Coffee. 10:52.200 --> 10:53.200 For me and for Gerald. 10:53.200 --> 10:54.200 For our intoxication... 10:54.200 --> 10:55.200 Well, coffee it shall be. 10:55.200 --> 10:56.200 Coffee. 10:56.200 --> 10:57.200 Coffee for the darling of fortune. 10:57.200 --> 10:58.200 Coffee. 10:58.200 --> 11:11.000 The word pronounced by Fabian Nero seemed to have a magical effect on the company present. 11:11.000 --> 11:15.320 They suddenly had lost interest and all rose to depart. 11:15.320 --> 11:20.080 Surely they had expected to profit by my intoxication, by the proffering of champagne. 11:20.080 --> 11:24.520 The finding I would have none of it had now abandoned all hope of thriving pleasantly 11:24.520 --> 11:26.360 on my winnings. 11:26.360 --> 11:29.560 Whatever their motive might be, at any rate they went away in a body. 11:29.560 --> 11:34.160 And the silence of before was now deeper than ever. 11:34.160 --> 11:39.560 Then from a sort of vestibule at the far corner of the room, a woman appeared, bearing a tray 11:39.560 --> 11:46.080 of coffee and glasses, and walked towards us, enveloped in silence. 11:46.080 --> 11:49.920 Woman of emaciated face and burning bright eyes and wisps of colourless hair drifting 11:49.920 --> 11:52.480 across her rouge cheeks. 11:52.480 --> 11:54.560 Your coffee, sir. 11:54.560 --> 11:55.560 Thank you. 11:55.560 --> 11:58.680 You will find it strong and good. 11:58.680 --> 11:59.680 Thank you. 11:59.680 --> 12:02.680 Strong and good, handsome sir. 12:02.680 --> 12:07.240 Here you are, sir. 12:07.240 --> 12:08.240 Thank you. 12:08.240 --> 12:10.200 For I am parched with thirst. 12:10.200 --> 12:16.200 And it was kind of you and of Fabian and gracious and generous. 12:16.200 --> 12:21.240 How wise you are, Henry, to drink this coffee of Millie's, the coffee of Millie Prud'homme. 12:21.240 --> 12:22.240 Millie Prud'homme. 12:22.240 --> 12:23.240 Divine Millie. 12:23.240 --> 12:24.240 Beautiful Millie Prud'homme. 12:24.240 --> 12:25.240 Oh, handsome sir. 12:25.240 --> 12:26.240 Will you have coffee? 12:26.240 --> 12:27.240 No. 12:27.240 --> 12:28.240 Champagne, Millie. 12:28.240 --> 12:29.240 To drink your coffee. 12:29.240 --> 12:45.360 How wiser than your friend, Gerald, to drink coffee and rid yourself of your little amiable 12:45.360 --> 12:49.440 exaltation of spirits before you think of going home. 12:49.440 --> 12:53.440 And you must, my good and gracious friend, for with all that money. 12:53.440 --> 12:55.600 Good and gracious friend. 12:55.600 --> 12:59.880 With all that money to take home tonight, it is a sacred duty to yourself to have your 12:59.880 --> 13:02.080 wits about you. 13:02.080 --> 13:03.200 Drink Henry. 13:03.200 --> 13:04.200 Drink your coffee. 13:04.200 --> 13:09.120 You are known to be a winner to an enormous extent by several gentlemen present tonight 13:09.120 --> 13:13.720 who are but mortal men, sir, and have their own amiable weaknesses. 13:13.720 --> 13:18.320 Drink Henry, who would surely rob and murder if you were to... 13:18.320 --> 13:19.320 Wait. 13:19.320 --> 13:20.320 Wait. 13:20.320 --> 13:21.320 Oh, Mr. Henry. 13:21.320 --> 13:22.320 I'm ill. 13:22.320 --> 13:23.320 I'm very... 13:23.320 --> 13:24.320 What? 13:24.320 --> 13:25.320 He is ill. 13:25.320 --> 13:26.320 I will weep. 13:26.320 --> 13:30.360 Henry is ill and I am drunk. 13:30.360 --> 13:31.360 Millie will sob. 13:31.360 --> 13:32.360 Will you sob, Millie? 13:32.360 --> 13:33.360 Ill. 13:33.360 --> 13:35.680 A fit of giddiness. 13:35.680 --> 13:39.160 The room whirls round and round. 13:39.160 --> 13:40.160 Furiously. 13:40.160 --> 13:41.160 Henry. 13:41.160 --> 13:44.280 And your voice deafens me. 13:44.280 --> 13:45.280 Furiously. 13:45.280 --> 13:48.240 Oh, my dear friend, my dear friend. 13:48.240 --> 13:51.680 Madness to go home in your state would be robbed, murdered. 13:51.680 --> 13:55.200 You need a walking and then a sleep and not a murdering. 13:55.200 --> 14:00.920 A walking and then sleep and in a safe place, Henry. 14:00.920 --> 14:01.920 Yes. 14:01.920 --> 14:02.920 Walk. 14:02.920 --> 14:03.920 Sleep. 14:03.920 --> 14:05.680 In a safe place. 14:05.680 --> 14:06.680 The place of Millie Prud'homme. 14:06.680 --> 14:11.320 A rooming house above the game room and the capital beds of Millie's rooming house. 14:11.320 --> 14:12.320 I don't... 14:12.320 --> 14:14.320 Madness to go to your own home. 14:14.320 --> 14:19.800 Sleep at Millie Prud'homme and tomorrow, tomorrow... 14:19.800 --> 14:22.120 Go home safely with your winnings. 14:22.120 --> 14:26.400 Tomorrow, in full flow of life and in broad daylight. 14:26.400 --> 14:27.400 Tomorrow. 14:27.400 --> 14:28.400 Gerald. 14:28.400 --> 14:29.400 Babin's writing. 14:29.400 --> 14:32.480 If anyone needs sleep, you surely need it. 14:32.480 --> 14:33.480 Come then. 14:33.480 --> 14:34.480 Quickly. 14:34.480 --> 14:35.640 Come then, quickly. 14:35.640 --> 14:36.640 I will help you. 14:36.640 --> 14:38.640 Put your arm about me. 14:38.640 --> 14:41.640 That's the dear boy. 14:41.640 --> 14:42.640 Millie? 14:42.640 --> 14:43.640 Millie. 14:43.640 --> 14:44.640 Yes, Gerald. 14:44.640 --> 14:45.640 Come. 14:45.640 --> 14:52.640 In here, Henry. 14:52.640 --> 14:53.640 Here. 14:53.640 --> 15:07.360 The choicest room of Millie Prud'homme. 15:07.360 --> 15:13.200 The capital bed there and the tasteful furnishing and the deep sleep to be had and the safe one. 15:13.200 --> 15:14.760 Till tomorrow, Henry. 15:14.760 --> 15:16.400 I don't know how to thank you. 15:16.400 --> 15:21.560 You have thanked me enough already with the exaltation of your splendid company and that 15:21.560 --> 15:25.800 I could have been of some small service to your small malady. 15:25.800 --> 15:26.800 Oh, Millie. 15:26.800 --> 15:27.800 Oh, let me go, Gerald. 15:27.800 --> 15:28.800 Oh, handsome, sir. 15:28.800 --> 15:29.800 Oh, come, Millie. 15:29.800 --> 15:30.800 Henry wants his sleep. 15:30.800 --> 15:31.800 Oh, the vibe, Millie. 15:31.800 --> 15:32.800 The vibe. 15:32.800 --> 15:33.800 Oh, Henry, sit. 15:33.800 --> 15:34.800 Oh, my dear. 15:34.800 --> 15:35.800 Oh, my dear. 15:35.800 --> 15:36.800 Oh, my dear. 15:36.800 --> 15:37.800 Oh, my dear. 15:37.800 --> 15:38.800 Oh, my dear. 15:38.800 --> 15:39.800 Oh, my dear. 15:39.800 --> 15:40.800 Oh, my dear. 15:40.800 --> 15:41.800 Oh, my dear. 15:41.800 --> 15:42.800 Oh, my dear. 15:42.800 --> 15:43.800 Oh, my dear. 15:43.800 --> 15:44.800 Oh, my dear. 15:44.800 --> 15:45.800 Oh, Henry. 15:45.800 --> 15:46.800 Millie Prud'homme, you see. 15:46.800 --> 16:01.480 Gerald passed into his particular oblivion in the middle of a sentence. 16:01.480 --> 16:03.560 I walked over and locked the door. 16:03.560 --> 16:07.940 Then I took my money, my winnings wrapped in a handkerchief and placed beneath the pillow 16:07.940 --> 16:09.320 of my bed. 16:09.320 --> 16:11.720 I lay down. 16:11.720 --> 16:18.480 My senses still swam and I looked up at the heavily brocaded canopy and it seemed to move. 16:18.480 --> 16:21.140 Somehow to move. 16:21.140 --> 16:42.600 But for an instant I thought this was a terribly strange bed. 16:42.600 --> 16:48.640 Auto Light is bringing you Mr. Peter Lawford in Wilkie Collins, a terribly strange bed. 16:48.640 --> 17:04.320 Tonight's presentation in radio's outstanding theater of thrills, Suspense. 17:04.320 --> 17:06.680 Well Harlow, vacation time's nearly here. 17:06.680 --> 17:08.880 Yes, Hap, but not for spark plugs. 17:08.880 --> 17:11.520 They're the very heart of your car's ignition system. 17:11.520 --> 17:14.920 And if they're not right, the chances are you won't get smooth and efficient engine 17:14.920 --> 17:18.400 operation during summer's hot and heavy driving. 17:18.400 --> 17:20.520 That's why now is the time to check them, eh Harlow? 17:20.520 --> 17:25.080 Yes, Hap, and when replacements are needed, wise drivers insist on ignition engineered 17:25.080 --> 17:29.420 Auto Light spark plugs, like the famous Auto Light Resistor spark plug. 17:29.420 --> 17:34.080 That's the amazing double life spark plug that gives top performance for twice as long 17:34.080 --> 17:35.760 as ordinary spark plugs. 17:35.760 --> 17:40.040 And the Auto Light Resistor is only one of a complete line of Auto Light spark plugs 17:40.040 --> 17:42.240 designed for every use, right Harlow? 17:42.240 --> 17:46.520 Right Hap, so friends, see your Auto Light spark plug dealer tomorrow for a spark plug 17:46.520 --> 17:47.720 check up. 17:47.720 --> 17:51.960 And if you need replacements, take nothing less than ignition engineered Auto Light spark 17:51.960 --> 17:55.040 plugs, either standard or resistor type. 17:55.040 --> 18:00.400 You'll be glad you did because from bumper to tail light, you're always right with Auto 18:00.400 --> 18:01.400 Light. 18:01.400 --> 18:05.840 And now, Auto Light brings back to our Hollywood sound stage, Mr. Peter Lawford, in Elliot 18:05.840 --> 18:12.040 Lewis's production of A Terribly Strange Bed, a tale well calculated to keep you in 18:12.040 --> 18:23.920 suspense. 18:23.920 --> 18:25.880 I could not sleep. 18:25.880 --> 18:28.200 Restlessness took me over and I got out of bed. 18:28.200 --> 18:34.320 There was the dim, quiet flicker of a single candle, and next to it, a wash stand. 18:34.320 --> 18:36.200 I plunged my face into the water. 18:36.200 --> 18:40.600 There was a single chair and I sat down and tried to compose myself. 18:40.600 --> 18:44.640 Slowly, slowly, the giddiness left me. 18:44.640 --> 18:48.240 A shutter and a window. 18:48.240 --> 18:52.280 Shutter attached by a single hinge and flapping against the side of the house. 18:52.280 --> 18:53.720 And no lock on the window. 18:53.720 --> 18:55.760 No way of locking the window. 18:55.760 --> 18:56.760 Henry? 18:56.760 --> 18:57.760 Gerald. 18:57.760 --> 19:00.760 Gerald, are you up? 19:00.760 --> 19:01.760 Where? 19:01.760 --> 19:02.760 Where? 19:02.760 --> 19:04.080 In a room, over the gaming place. 19:04.080 --> 19:05.080 It's all right. 19:05.080 --> 19:06.680 I've locked the door, but the window, it's... 19:06.680 --> 19:07.680 Window. 19:07.680 --> 19:08.680 And there's a window. 19:08.680 --> 19:21.080 Listen. 19:21.080 --> 19:29.800 Did you hear? 19:29.800 --> 19:35.320 I was wide awake and every one of my senses seemed to be preternaturally sharpened. 19:35.320 --> 19:42.800 You know, on a song I had never heard, and then behind it, the laughter. 19:42.800 --> 19:46.600 Wide awake, yet somehow the effects of whatever drug I had drunk seemed suddenly to arise 19:46.600 --> 19:47.600 again. 19:47.600 --> 19:51.720 And for an instant, toy with my perception so that I reached for the wall to steady myself 19:51.720 --> 19:54.320 as I fall down. 19:54.320 --> 19:55.320 Leaned against the wall for support. 19:55.320 --> 19:56.320 The jollity of the evening children and the youth from England. 19:56.320 --> 19:57.320 Dear Millie, dear Millie, dear Millie. 19:57.320 --> 19:58.320 So it is. 19:58.320 --> 19:59.320 And I was so happy to see you. 19:59.320 --> 20:11.380 My 20:11.380 --> 20:15.860 dear dear. 20:15.860 --> 20:18.360 Yes 20:18.360 --> 20:23.680 Are you there in them? 20:23.680 --> 20:28.560 The moment their voices waver and flap to kind of Melancholy sees me, I walked over to 20:28.560 --> 20:32.880 the window and looked out. Looked out upon blackness, a swarm of blackness, no shapes 20:32.880 --> 20:37.760 definable could be made out through the gloom, except a lighter grayness of a sort, as if 20:37.760 --> 20:42.840 an abutment of some kind, I supposed. Directly across the window and somewhat below it, but 20:42.840 --> 20:47.720 how far across and to what length below I could not determine. For all purposes then, 20:47.720 --> 20:52.040 I knew only that we were above the street level and some three stories, and having felt 20:52.040 --> 20:56.760 the walls directly adjacent the window, I found them to be sheer. No one could enter 20:56.760 --> 21:03.640 there. I walked over to the bed and took a pillow and placed it beneath Gerald's head. 21:03.640 --> 21:11.840 The bed again and I lay down. This bed that now I was lying upon, I must again describe to you. 21:11.840 --> 21:18.680 A four-post bed with a regular top line with chintz. The regular fringe valence all around. 21:18.680 --> 21:23.120 It was ridiculous now that I tried to sleep, I couldn't even close my eyes. 21:23.120 --> 21:32.600 I resolved then to beguile the tedium of my wakefulness by making inventory of every article 21:32.600 --> 21:42.280 of furniture I could see. Window, washstand, chest, chair, dressing table, picture. Upon the 21:42.280 --> 21:48.740 wall opposite the bed, a picture. A fellow in a high Spanish hat crowned with a plume of tiring 21:48.740 --> 21:55.040 feathers. A swarthy sinister ruffian looking upward. It might be at some tall gallows on 21:55.040 --> 22:03.440 which he was going to be hanged. Such was the picture. Another chair, candlestick, picture. 22:03.440 --> 22:12.120 It seemed to be moving. The hat had been pulled over the eyes and there, the hat itself was gone. 22:12.120 --> 22:26.480 The hat was gone, the plumes, the... Was the bed moving? No. No, it was a brief and terrible dream. 22:26.480 --> 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 22:31.520 --> 22:39.800 for a moment into sleep. Yet, yet I let my mind say it. The top of the bed had moved. 22:39.800 --> 22:49.520 Gerald, Gerald, wake up. Open your eyes. Now what? Quietly. Keep your voice in a quiet tone. 22:49.520 --> 22:58.960 Why, why, what? Listen. Above you, directly above you. Look, there's a picture. Do you see it? 22:58.960 --> 23:07.960 Yes. A minute ago, the man was wearing a hat. He was wearing a hat. Now he is not. My friend, 23:07.960 --> 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 23:14.880 --> 23:22.600 hat is now a peephole and we are being watched. All right, Henry. Now stay where you are, but be alert. 23:22.600 --> 23:32.520 All right, Henry. Henry. Yes. What are you going to do? Make sure of a thing. What thing? The bed. 23:32.520 --> 23:38.800 What? Keep your eye on the canopy. I'm going to lie in the bed now, Gerald, and make sure that 23:38.800 --> 23:44.880 they're not trying to murder us. How? By feigning sleep. What? By feigning sleep, Gerald. Just that. 23:44.880 --> 24:00.320 Now quiet. Yes. Now I am constitution, anything but timid. I have been on more than one occasion in 24:00.320 --> 24:06.120 peril of my life, and I have not lost my self-possession for an instant. But when the 24:06.120 --> 24:10.600 conviction settled on my mind that the bed top was actually moving, it loosed a feeling within me, 24:10.600 --> 24:23.680 foreign, laced through with terror. So I lay there, motionless, speechless, breathless. The candle 24:23.680 --> 24:42.960 spent went out, but the moonlight still brightened the room. I lay there. It descended. The whole 24:42.960 --> 24:51.560 canopy came down, closed down. Henry. I lay there, literally spellbound by what was happening. Out of 24:51.560 --> 24:55.640 bed. At once I could not tell whether reality was here or my imagination was taking hold. 24:55.640 --> 25:01.200 Quickly before they... Closer, closer. Henry. Gerald's voice shattered this warm sea of fascination 25:01.200 --> 25:06.680 that bound me, and I leapt from the bed. Look, look, Henry. Yes. There, the middle of the bed 25:06.680 --> 25:11.480 top, the huge wooden screw. Like a press to smother me and relieve me of my winnings and then 25:11.480 --> 25:18.600 kill you. Young sir, Mr. Calder, open. Unlock the door. Open. The light of the morning, Gerald, 25:18.600 --> 25:23.320 look. It comes up and through the window, across the narrow shaft, another building. We can leap it. 25:23.320 --> 25:28.360 Not I. What? No, not I. My legs are still unsteady. If I should stand upon that still, 25:28.360 --> 25:32.440 I'd fall into space. Then wait. And hurry. Yes. Hurry. Hurry. 25:32.440 --> 25:48.880 The rest of my story is soon told. From the building next door, I reached the ground and sought 25:48.880 --> 25:55.440 police. With them I returned. Mr. Fabian was seized, as was Mrs. Prud'homme. The police 25:55.440 --> 26:00.400 congratulated me on my good fortune and Gerald's on his, and told us that they would probably never 26:00.400 --> 26:06.880 know how many people had been smothered in this diabolical bed. So tightly was the canopy pressed 26:06.880 --> 26:12.480 to the bed that I could not retrieve my money. The mechanism had to be released from the room above. 26:12.480 --> 26:18.960 The police made us go and finding ourselves walking homeward, Gerald said to me, I know a place 26:18.960 --> 26:24.080 where gambling is carried on at such a fever pitch that you'll be carried to the heights of excitement. 26:24.080 --> 26:31.360 Needless to imagine, I refused to go along with Gerald. My adventure cured me of ever again trying 26:31.360 --> 26:37.400 rouge en noir as an amusement. The sight of a green cloth with packs of cards and heaps of 26:37.400 --> 26:43.840 money on it will henceforth be associated in my mind with the sight of a bed canopy 26:43.840 --> 27:01.280 descending to suffocate me in the silence and the darkness of the night. 27:01.280 --> 27:08.560 Suspense presented by Autolight, tonight's star Mr. Peter Lawford. Here are the results of the 27:08.560 --> 27:16.080 great $100,000 Autolight Family Charity Drawing. Over 5,200,000 entries were received for this 27:16.080 --> 27:21.200 event. Last week the final drawing was held in New York under the supervision of a distinguished 27:21.200 --> 27:27.320 committee. Here are the names in the order of their selection. $50,000 will be distributed 27:27.320 --> 27:34.400 to the charity or charities designated by Desi L. Irish of Vallejo, California. $20,000 will go to 27:34.400 --> 27:41.720 the charity or charities designated by Lucille Fossey of Miami, Florida. $5,000 to the charity 27:41.720 --> 27:48.960 designated by Vincent W. Sissler of Howe, Indiana. $3,000 to the charity designated by Stuart Smith 27:48.960 --> 27:56.360 of Ogdenburg, New York. And $2,000 to the charity designated by L. G. Bridgewater of Kennewick, 27:56.360 --> 28:01.880 Washington. These people and 20 others who will each designate $1,000 to their favorite 28:01.880 --> 28:08.160 charities have all been notified. And now this is Harlow Wilcox wishing you a summer of safe 28:08.160 --> 28:13.960 driving with the reminder that wherever you travel from bumper to tail light, you're always right 28:13.960 --> 28:27.920 with Autolight. Next Tuesday night, June 15th, we will continue with a new series of suspense 28:27.920 --> 28:32.960 programs. At that time and through the summer, we hope that you will join us and that we will 28:32.960 --> 28:46.760 be able each Tuesday night to keep you in suspense. Suspense is produced and directed by Elliot Lewis 28:46.760 --> 28:52.080 with music composed by Lucian Morawick and conducted by Lud Bluskin. A terribly strange 28:52.080 --> 28:58.520 bed was adapted for suspense by Morton Fine and David Friedkin from the story by Wilkie Collins. 28:58.520 --> 29:03.040 In tonight's story, Ben Wright was heard as Gerald, Paula Winslow as Mildred, 29:03.040 --> 29:09.520 Joseph Kearns as Fabian, and Vic Perrin as the croupier. Peter Lawford may currently be seen 29:09.520 --> 29:16.720 co-starring in the Columbia picture, It Should Happen to You. And remember, suspense continues 29:16.720 --> 29:22.080 on Tuesday night beginning next week, at which time we will present The Earth is Made of Glass. 29:22.080 --> 29:30.360 You can buy Autolight standard or resistor type spark plugs, Autolight stay full batteries, 29:30.360 --> 29:35.520 and Autolight original service parts at your neighborhood Autolight dealers. Switch to Autolight. 29:35.520 --> 29:52.200 Good night. This is the CBS Radio Network.