And now, tonight's presentation of radio's outstanding theater of thrills, Suspense.
Tonight, the story of three women and their vigil of death.
We call it Waiting.
So now, starring Vivi Janis, Helen Cleave and Charlotte Lawrence, here is tonight's
Suspense play, Waiting.
You want me to put butter on them, Eileen?
I don't care.
I told you I don't care.
I'm not hungry.
I couldn't eat, not now.
I don't see how you can.
You've got to.
It's no good going on like this.
Is Harriet coming?
I think so.
She said she would.
I hope she gets here soon.
Everything will get cold.
Stop it.
Why don't you stop it?
How can you talk as if nothing's happening?
Nothing's going to happen.
Oh dear.
Oh, come in, Harriet.
I was just wondering if you were going to be late.
Does it make any difference?
Oh, now, you mustn't talk like that.
Life goes on.
I know it's hard to see that now, but you will.
Time is kind to us.
Mr. Mailer is still trying to see the governor.
Let me take your coat, dear.
He's going to call here in a little while.
We mustn't give up hope.
Mrs. Martinson, could I have a drink?
Well, I'm not sure.
I don't really know if there is anything, you know, since I...
I'm sorry.
It doesn't matter.
Where's Eileen?
Lying down.
I've got some nice dinner ready.
Harriet, why don't you see if you can get Eileen to have some?
It'll give her strength, poor dear.
All right.
I'll be right back.
Hello.
Harriet.
Harriet, I can't stand it.
I can't.
I know.
No, you don't.
You're only his sister.
I love him.
I'm his wife.
I'm his sister, and I love him.
I know.
Can't they do anything?
They can't.
Can't they do anything?
Did you see Mr. Mailer?
He's trying.
He's trying to see the governor.
But there's no time.
There's no time.
There's a witness flying in from Mexico tonight.
He says he saw a woman coming out of the building that night about the time that she was supposed
to have been killed.
Mr. Mailer thinks he might be able to get a stay of execution on the strength of it.
It won't make any difference.
It'll be like all the others.
There was no proof.
Just Norman and that terrible diary.
Dean, do you honestly think he didn't kill her?
Of course he didn't.
I know he couldn't have done it.
I couldn't bear thinking anything else.
But you sometimes do think something else.
No.
No, I love him.
He wrote me a letter.
I got it this morning.
I want to read it to you.
What?
What did he say?
Dear little egg, just a note.
I feel I can talk to you better than I can to Eileen.
I know how you've stood by these past weeks.
It's been the thing that's kept me going.
I know that Eileen doesn't think I'm innocent.
I was a fool to have kept the diary.
I was a fool to have gotten involved with Sheila, but self-recrimination is no help
now.
It must have been a terrible shock to Eileen, but you weren't altogether blind when it came
to seeing the truth of our marriage.
I suppose I turned to that poor girl trying to find again what was finished between Eileen
and myself.
It's too late now, but I wish that things might have been different.
Goodbye little egg.
My last brotherly advice.
Find a good man, get married, have lots of nice kids, and be happy.
You're the best of sisters.
All my love, Norman.
He hasn't written to me.
Hasn't he?
He believes that I...
I think he did it.
Don't you?
I love him.
But you think he did kill her.
I love him.
It's not too late to send a message.
Let him know.
Tell him you know he's not guilty.
You could do that.
He was there.
He was with her that night.
He admitted that, but there was somebody else after he left.
You're so sure.
You sit there cold, not caring.
You're like those lawyers.
I'm waiting for him to die.
I love him and he's going to die.
You're waiting for an end to something and you're not feeling anything.
Not really.
He's your brother and so he's got to be innocent.
Save the name of Landon.
That's all it means to you.
That's not true.
Yes it is.
You've always laughed at us, mother and me.
You and Norman, always laughing.
Little secrets.
I love him and he always held something away from me that he gave you.
I hated him for that.
Then you can't be very unhappy that he's going to die tonight.
Don't you dare say that.
Why shouldn't I hate as well?
He's never let me in.
Never let me belong.
Even waiting now.
Waiting for him to go to the check.
You keep it to yourselves.
I can't even share that.
I'm sorry.
I suppose we just don't feel things the same way.
Maybe I can't cry anymore.
What's the time?
Seven.
Four hours.
Eileen, Harriet, come along.
Dinner's getting cold.
I'm not hungry, Mrs. Martinson.
I told you before, mother.
It's nice, nice that you two have each other for comfort.
We must all be strong, pray together and hope together.
I'd like to get some coffee.
You stay here with Eileen.
I'll get it.
Mother.
Oh, yes dear, I'm sorry.
What's the time?
Nearly eight.
I'll get it.
Must be Mr. Mailer.
Hello?
Yes, Mr. Mailer.
Yes.
Oh.
Yes, all right.
Thank you.
Yes, I will.
The governor has refused to see him.
I'm sorry.
He's going to drive to the mansion and try again.
He's leaving.
God's will.
He's leaving as soon as the witness arrives.
A witness?
Who?
A man says he saw someone come out of the apartment that night.
He says it was a woman.
She was running.
He saw the woman?
It was dark, but he thinks he could identify her.
He's not sure.
Mr. Mailer brought in a half a dozen witnesses who swore they saw somebody near the apartment.
It didn't help.
The jury didn't believe it.
I think it's unfair.
Please, please, don't talk about it.
Why not?
Am I the only one?
Am I the only one who thinks Norman didn't kill her?
Am I?
Blind knot yourself with love to the faults which lie within man.
I've tried not to interfere.
I've seen what Norman's done to my daughter during the past two years and I've said nothing.
It's not for me to judge his acts.
That has been done.
And a far higher judge will be waiting.
I won't listen to you.
I won't.
I can't afford the loyalty that age has already squandered.
Must you quote?
Are you afraid of saying something original, something that'll show what you really are?
That's enough.
He's my husband.
I don't care whether he killed that woman or not.
I want him to live.
I love him.
He can't die.
That was the second movement of the Symphony No. 6 in F major by Beethoven, played by the
Philadelphia Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Brno Walter.
Brought to you on Evening Music Program.
The time is now nine o'clock.
Here's a five minute summary of the news.
Tonight, prison officials said tonight that nothing new was developed in the bid for stay
of execution by Norman Landon, convicted slayer of Sheila Warner.
Landon is scheduled to die at 11 o'clock tonight, approximately two hours from now.
The governor turned down lawyers' latest plea.
According to William Mailer, attorney for the condemned man, a new witness has been
found who can shed further light on the case.
However, the governor does not feel the evidence is sufficient to...
I don't know where it went wrong with us.
You tried, Eileen.
Your mother knows you tried.
Maybe I didn't understand.
Maybe I was wrong, like he said in the letter.
But what did I do?
I wanted to make him happy.
He'd never let me be close to him.
I could never share anything.
It's true, true as I sit here.
You did your best.
You have nothing to be ashamed of.
Hasn't she?
Haven't you, Eileen?
No.
No, nothing.
He's ruined all our lives, what he did.
But it's not right.
I shouldn't care.
Why do I have to feel the way I do about him?
He didn't love me.
It was that other woman.
If he loved her so much, why did he kill her?
Because it was dirty, nasty.
Because of the liquor and immorality.
It always ends that way.
How do you know about morality?
Everything's dirty and nasty to you.
You tried to make Eileen feel that way, too.
You think I don't know what happened to their marriage.
I do.
Get out.
Get out of this house.
You've shown your true color.
You're no better than he was.
Get out.
I'll go.
I wouldn't...
Well?
Hello?
Yes?
Yes, I'll wait.
Who is it?
Mr. Mailer.
He's coming to the phone.
Let me talk to him.
No, I want to.
Hello, Mr. Mailer?
This is Mrs. Landon.
Yes.
Oh.
I see.
Yes, thank you.
Thank you very much.
What did he say?
What?
Mr. Mailer's not going to see the governor.
He doesn't have to.
The Americans just confessed that he killed the woman.
You are listening to Waiting, tonight's presentation in radio's outstanding theater of thrills,
The Suspense.
Isn't it wonderful the way some people always seem to have the money for extras, car, vacation,
weekends away, fur coats, higher education, folks who seem to be in the same circumstances
as yourselves.
It may be wonderful, but it's nothing you can't have through planned automatic savings,
the United States Savings Bond way.
Through the payroll savings plan or the bond a month plan at your bank, buy United States
savings bonds regularly.
And now we bring back to our Hollywood soundstage, Vivi Janis, Helen Klebe, and Charlotte Lawrence,
starring in tonight's production of Waiting, a tale well calculated to keep you in suspense.
I'll be going.
No, I don't want you to go.
You let her be in this house after the way she's talked to your mother.
Oh, none of us know what we're saying.
It doesn't matter anyway.
Well, I would have thought an apology were in order.
I wish I had a drink.
Something in the cabinet.
I'll get you one, Harriet.
I want one too.
Make it strong.
So he did it after all.
What did you say?
Nothing.
Yes, you did.
You said he did it, didn't you?
He confessed.
For his soul's sake, he confessed.
I don't believe it.
I don't want to believe it.
He didn't kill her.
He was always drinking.
He taught Eileen to drink and no good comes of it.
It's a false strength she's taking for herself.
Where does your strength come from?
A knowledge of right and wrong.
You laugh at that, waiting till you're my age.
I think I'll never know your kind of right and wrong.
You just wait.
I pray, go down on my knees, that there were no children to see this night.
Eileen, you all right?
Eileen.
I dropped it.
No, don't pick up the pieces like that.
You'll cut yourself.
I'll do it.
I'm afraid.
What's the time?
Nearly 10.
It's the waiting that's the worst.
It'd be better if it were finished.
You can't wait till he's dead.
Is that what you mean?
Is that why you're afraid?
Shut up!
Did that make you feel better?
I'm sorry.
You have to take it out on somebody.
It's easier then, isn't it?
It always was.
If you can get angry enough, you don't have to think about things.
Like now, that's why you slapped me.
You want him to be guilty.
It's better for you now he's confessed, isn't it?
He did kill her.
He did.
No.
If he confessed to make things easier for you and for me, then maybe we wouldn't have
to spend the rest of our lives wondering.
Not that you're wondering.
You know, don't you?
What do you mean?
You know what I mean.
Go on inside.
I'll make the drinks.
A thousand shall fall at thy side, and ten thousand at thy right hand.
But it shall not come nigh thee.
Only with thine eyes shalt thou behold and see the reward of the wicked.
They'll find out who really did it.
No matter what happens to Norman, they'll find out who did it.
They already know.
Do they?
In half an hour, a man's going to be murdered.
An eye for an eye.
At 11 o'clock, we just sit here, and it'll be like New Year's Eve.
We ought to have the radio on so we know the exact time.
But it takes a little while for him to be pronounced dead, completely dead.
What is it?
A minute?
A minute and a half?
Do we drink a toast at 11 or one minute past?
You should be put away.
Talk like that.
You're out of your mind.
Somebody else will be sitting, waiting.
There isn't anybody else.
Why don't you be quiet?
He did it.
I wanted to believe he didn't, but I know he said he did.
I'll go.
Telegram from Mrs. Norman Landon.
Thank you.
It's for you, Ani.
You did this.
What is it, dear?
Who is it from?
She did it.
Congratulations.
That's all it says.
It's from you, isn't it?
Don't be stupid.
I didn't say that.
I didn't send it.
Who did?
You're a wicked girl if you sent that.
A horrible wicked girl.
Mother was right.
You shouldn't be here.
I want you to go.
No, I'm staying.
I'm going to wait until 11.
You're getting out.
I've told you I'm not leaving.
Call the police, Eileen.
Call the police.
They'll take care of her.
What are you smiling at?
What?
Don't take any notice of her.
Why are you smiling like that?
I just think it's funny.
Calling the police to put me out.
She's gone crazy.
Stay away from her, Eileen.
Why are you being like this, Harriet?
It's not my fault.
I can't help it.
I want to hear you say you believe he's innocent.
I'm waiting for that.
Operator, get me the police.
Harriet, will you go now?
No.
Mother, hang up.
How do you know such thing?
I said hang up.
You hurt my hand.
I'm sorry.
It's bad enough as it is.
We don't need any more business with the police.
You hurt me.
I'm going to my room.
When you've thought it over, you may come and apologize.
She's old.
Things aren't the same to her anymore.
Were they ever?
You think I'm to blame for everything, don't you?
Most of it, yes.
Do you know what it's like living with a man you love?
Love so much it makes you weak and nothing.
Realize that when you say things you don't mean them.
But you want to hurt.
Do anything to get him to notice.
Make him angry, anything.
But make him feel something.
I never could.
You think I don't know why he started going with that woman?
I understand.
I don't want to, but I do.
It's the lack in me.
Just the way he said in the diary.
It's ten to eleven.
I hated her so much.
I thought of killing him, but he wouldn't have cared.
You'll be even with them both now.
You can't understand how I love him.
There'll never be anybody else.
There's somebody else, all right.
No!
We're a lot alike.
The whole others have over us.
Norman and I, you and your mother.
It's not good to be that close, not for anybody.
Norman and I had each other.
Maybe if it hadn't been for you, Mother, we might have...
You didn't?
You had a chance and you didn't.
I thought you'd tell the truth when you got the telegram.
You said it.
It was you.
I hoped it would make you tell the truth.
Charlene, Harriet, it's nearly eleven.
We must all pray together.
You pray, Mrs. Martinson.
I'll watch you.
Hello?
Yes, Mr. Mailer.
Oh, yes, I will.
Thank you.
The witness arrived and identified the woman from the picture.
Identified?
The governor granted a stay of execution five minutes ago.
He won't come back to me.
Would have been better if he died.
Now I'll have no one.
You knew, didn't you, Eileen?
Yes.
I didn't think anyone saw me come out.
I followed him, Eileen. I did it for you.
I had to. It was so wicked.
Right after he left her, I went in.
I tried to talk to her.
I did it for you, dear.
They won't electrocute me, will they?
I know it's against the commandment to kill, but I had to.
I think I'll be able to stand everything but the waiting.
Suspense, in which Vivi Janis, Helen Klebe and Charlotte Lawrence
were starred in Waiting.
Next week, the story of a little girl and the terror in a vacant lot.
It's called The Screaming Woman and is written by a master of fear and suspense,
Mr. Ray Bradbury.
That's next week on Suspense.
Suspense is produced and directed by Anthony Ellis, who wrote tonight's play.
The music was composed by Lucian Morrowick and conducted by Wilbur Hatch.
Featured in the cast were Tom Hanley and Larry Thorne.
Crime Photographer clicks against criminals Fridays on the CBS Radio Network.