And now, tonight's presentation of radio's theater of thrills, Suspense.
Tonight, the story of a man who allows himself to be trapped by his past.
We call it, Remember Me.
So now, starring Mr. Tony Barrett and Ms. Charlotte Lawrence, here is tonight's Suspense play, Remember Me.
Oh, you just made it. I was closing.
Now, what can I do for you?
This is a stick-up.
What?
A stick-up, stick-up. Come on, I want the money.
Oh, you can't do this, you can't.
This, as I can. I'll put all you do in a paper bag and hurry.
But I don't have much money. This is a small business.
Come on, empty that register.
I won't. You get out of here.
Get out of the way, you.
No, no, no, no, you can't take my money. I won't let you.
You crazy old man, get away from me.
You can't rob me. You can't rob me. You can't.
Oh, you dirty, rude, dumb.
I gotta get out of here.
I didn't think you'd still be open, Mr.
Who are you? Where's Mr. Leiberwitz?
He isn't here. He had to leave.
Is Mrs. Leiberwitz sick again?
Yeah, yeah, she's sick again.
I've been watching the store for him. I was just closing.
Oh, well maybe I better run upstairs and see if there's anything I can...
No, no, no, no, he took her to the hospital. They aren't here.
Gee, I'm sorry to hear that.
What are you looking at me for?
Don't I know you?
No, no, you don't know me. Look, I'm closing. You'll have to come back tomorrow.
Harry, Harry, no, I'm sure we went to school together from Stuyvesant High.
I'm Ruth Shaw, remember?
No, no, I don't remember you.
No, I guess you wouldn't. But I remember you, Harry.
Yeah, I guess you do.
I just need a few things before you close. Here's a list.
Yeah, you pull down the shades on the windows and throw the latch while I get them.
Sure, more people to run into. I haven't seen you since high school.
Yeah, I see bread and bread.
Here, coffee is coffee.
Right there above you.
What?
The coffee.
Oh.
And potato salad in the refrigerator. A pound.
Look, do you have to have all this stuff right now?
Of course I do. What's the matter?
Nothing, I'll get the potato salad.
You haven't changed a bit, Harry. I'd know you anywhere.
You know, I never forget a face. Especially yours.
It's too bad. She's kind of a pretty girl, but she had a walk-in on me. She does remember me.
She could put a finger on me, but fast, when they find an old man leave with his body, that's too bad.
Now I gotta kill her too, but not here.
Somebody might have heard the shots, call the cops. I gotta get out of here and take her with me.
But I gotta be careful. Nature think I belong here. Get the rest of her stuff and get out of here.
What else do you need?
That's enough for now. I have more than I can carry, as it is.
That's all, Harry.
Yes, how much is it?
Three and a half, even.
Here.
I don't know.
Well, it was nice seeing you again, Harry. I'd better go and let you close.
Wait, wait, don't rush her.
Well, I've kept you as it is.
That's okay, okay. I'll walk you. We can talk about old times.
Don't you have to do anything before you close?
No, no. All done. Here, I'll carry the groceries.
That's okay, I can carry them. I only live around the corner on Third Avenue.
I'm going that way too. I'll carry this way, come on.
What?
I forgot. I need flour too.
Flour?
The large bag there on the stand. I'll get it.
Okay, okay.
Here, sixty cents.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. We'll charge it. Let's get out of here, huh?
I can carry the flour.
All right, all right.
Want me to get the light?
Yeah, yeah, please.
Nice of you to carry the packages for me, Harry.
It's nothing.
I'm surprised I haven't run into you before around the store.
This is the first time I've watched this store for Mr. Leibowitz.
He must have left in an awful hurry.
Yeah, yeah, he did. His wife was pretty sick.
Do you have to walk so fast?
Oh, I'm sorry.
Look, where did you say you live?
On Third Avenue, just around the corner.
You live alone?
Yes.
You know, it's been a long, long time since high school.
You've got a good memory for faces.
I know.
I don't remember you.
You wouldn't. You didn't know me too well.
You used to say hello sometimes when we passed in the hall.
You were a big shot, football player and all that stuff.
All the girls had a crush on you, Harry.
Did they?
Sure.
Been living in this neighborhood long?
Too long.
But the rent's cheap and I'm not far from work, so I stay here.
Yeah, I know what you mean.
That place up ahead with the ivy on the fire escape.
The grocery's getting heavy?
No, no.
I gotta think fast, Harry.
It's no good hearing my straight to too many people around.
Like she said, she lives alone.
I've got to get inside with her alone in her apartment.
That might be a good one.
I wish she'd quit talking.
She asked too many questions in this potato salad stinks.
I hate potato salad with onions.
I've got to get inside that apartment.
Well, this is it.
Pretty crummy, huh?
Uh, what's it like inside?
Just as bad.
I picked my apartment up some, but it's the smell these old places have.
Can't get rid of it.
I'd like to see it.
See what you've done.
Well, I don't know.
That lady's funny about visitors, isn't it, kind of late?
Oh, come on, come on.
You can't carry all this stuff alone.
After you, Ruth.
Well, okay.
Uh, no, you go on up.
I have to throw the light switch.
All right.
Which way?
Upstairs.
Right.
The, uh, the cross is getting heavy.
It's the first door on your right at the top.
I could use more light on the stairway.
It's not all this place could use.
Is it?
Yeah.
Here, I'll unlock it.
Go ahead.
Home.
It's not bad.
You fix it up by yourself?
Yeah.
Here, let me take the bag.
Sit down while I put this stuff away.
Yeah, sure.
Yeah, you fixed this place up okay.
Some view.
Yeah, real.
Goes right past the window.
You should get used to that, too.
You should have seen it when I moved in.
Really a mess.
Then I went to work on...
I thought you were in the other room.
What are you doing?
I got flour on my skirt.
Oh.
I, I put some water on for coffee.
That's a good idea.
Come in the other room Harry, I want to show you something.
What?
A picture of you.
Of me?
You haven't put the uniform yet.
I still have my class book, your pictures in it.
Sit down.
Yeah, sure.
Funny thing running into you.
I thought you were a couple of weeks ago and I was thinking about you, wondering whatever became of you.
You were thinking about me?
Mm-hmm.
You didn't know it but I had a big crush on you when we were in school.
No, I didn't know.
I thought I was a big shot in those days.
I couldn't see anything.
You sure did.
Look, here's a picture of the Fourth of July dance in the gym.
Yeah.
Do you remember it?
Well, I'm not sure.
You asked me for a dance that day.
But I'm surprised.
We know more than started and they stopped the music to take this picture.
You ran off to find Mona Stark.
Mona.
You remember her?
Yeah.
Yeah, I remember Mona.
You were going with her when you quit school, weren't you?
Yeah.
What happened?
We broke up.
Why?
I borrowed a car from a pal so we could drive up to Connecticut to get married.
It was a big yellow convertible.
I wanted to make a big impression.
Mona liked to be impressed.
Only my pal forgot to tell me it was a stolen car.
What happened?
Never saw her again.
Saw a picture of her though on the cover of a secret detective magazine.
She had a gun in one hand, a bottle in the other, and some guy was choking her.
She looked good.
Well, enough of the good old days.
What are you doing now, Harry?
For a living, I mean.
Me?
Not that worth talking about.
How do you happen to know Mr. Leibowitz?
Mr. Leibowitz?
That sweetest old ear.
He'll take credit right up through his ears.
But people always get around to paying him.
You must know him pretty well to be left in charge of the store.
Yeah, well, I...
What's that?
The L. Right back at the window.
How do you put up with that? It shakes the whole building.
You get used to it.
Noisy, huh?
Yeah.
You could fire a cannon in here when it goes by and you wouldn't hear it.
Huh?
Get used to it.
Oh, I think the coffee's ready.
Only take a minute.
You could fire a cannon.
A cannon?
She said a cannon, and I'm only carrying a.38.
Sure.
Sure, all I have to do is sit and wait.
We'll drink coffee, we'll chat about the good old days.
When the L goes by again, I'll be able to walk out of here safe and sound with nothing to worry about.
Rosie won't be able to remember anything.
She'll be dead.
You are listening to Remember Me, tonight's presentation in radio's theater of thrills, Suspense.
Coffee will be ready in a minute, Harry.
Let her make coffee, let her do anything she wants.
I can't make coffee.
She's only got a few minutes to live, only until the L goes by again.
Harry.
Nobody's going to hear the shot, and Ruthie, who remembers me so well, will be out of the way.
Are you hungry?
I'll just find two bodies a couple of blocks apart.
Harry?
And I'll be miles from here.
Hungry?
All I have to do now is wait for the L. Wait, wait for the L.
What?
I asked if you were hungry, I could.
No, no, no, no, thanks.
Just the coffee.
Okay.
Sugar?
Black.
Here.
Hot.
Good.
How long you lived here?
Over a year.
I wouldn't last overnight with that L going by the window like that.
I'm used to it.
Does it go by often?
Never stop.
I'll warn you next time I hear it coming.
Yeah, yeah, you do that, huh?
Harry Norris, here in my apartment.
What?
I can't get over running into you like this.
Oh yeah, well that's the way it goes.
I can still see you the way you were in school.
I remember a football game with Astoria High.
You got knocked out and they carried you off the field.
We were losing the game and you came back in all bandaged up and put us ahead.
Yeah.
I was very proud of you.
I thought you were wonderful.
They hardly knew each other.
I knew you.
Well, I waited outside the gym that night to see if you were all right.
I saw you leave.
You had a little bandage right there where the tiny scar is now.
Oh, this one?
Uh-huh.
You waited around to see if I was okay?
Yeah.
I even followed you home that night.
I was afraid you might pass out on the street and there would be no one to take care of you, so I followed you.
Fool.
I didn't go home. You stopped in at the pool room.
I waited outside for hours.
You did.
Then it started to snow.
And I went home.
That's funny.
I don't remember seeing you and yet you were right around so much.
Funny.
I was a pretty horrible looking kid.
Yeah, maybe.
But there's nothing wrong with you now, Rudy.
What time is it?
I don't know. The clock's in the bedroom.
Oh.
I wonder how Mrs. Leibowitz is doing.
Mrs. Leibowitz?
Oh, you can drop by in the morning and find out.
You like living alone this way?
Oh, I love it.
Lovesome.
Sometimes.
I have friends in the neighborhood and we get together and have crazy times.
How come you never get married?
Well, I never met the kind of man I'd want to spend the rest of my life with, I guess.
No boyfriends? No one?
It's kind of your fault, Harry.
My fault?
Uh-huh.
When a girl has a crush on a fella and nothing happens, she goes on thinking that maybe someday something will happen.
And in the meantime, the other fellas just don't mean much, I guess.
Rose, I don't get it. Did you feel this way about Nate?
I did once when we were in school.
But I got over it.
Uh, did you?
Sure. I guess.
You're a funny kid.
Forget it, Harry.
Oh, I wish I could remember you, what you look like.
Like I said, I was pretty awful.
What are you looking at?
Your scar. It's no larger than a match hit.
You know.
I can hardly feel it. You have another tiny scar on the side of your nose right here.
Where'd you get it, Harry?
I don't know. White, I think.
Always a tough guy. That's why the girls liked you so much. You treated them so rough.
Did I?
You ignored them most of the time.
Yeah.
Well, you're ignoring me right now.
Am I?
Only inches between us. You ignore me.
Ignore this if you can, Harry.
Rosie.
And this.
Rosie, please.
Harry.
I forgot to warn you.
The yellow just went by.
Rosie, I got...
What's the matter, Harry?
I don't know.
Must be getting soft on the head. I come up here to do something now, and then I can't.
The things you said, the way you act, make me feel like I mean something to you.
All the time I didn't know you were alive.
Honey, look, if I really mean anything to you, you'll help me. I need help.
Ruthie, can I trust you?
Ruthie, are you home?
Who's that?
I don't know.
Honey, it's Jimmy.
Ruth?
Walnut.
Don't you make a sound.
What's going on up there?
Mrs. Dooley, have you seen Ruth?
I heard her come in a while ago. Didn't see her, though. What are you banging on her door for?
She doesn't answer. Do you have a key?
A key? Well, I think so.
Get it.
I don't know what you're so excited about. Maybe she's asleep.
Baby, you're going to do just as I say. You're going to get hurt. Now you see this 38, it's going to be against your side just like this.
Act like you've been asleep and answer that guy and get rid of him. Do you understand me?
Okay, now look, I'm taking my hand away from your mouth. Be careful.
I don't want anybody to know I'm here. Get rid of him.
I'll get rid of him.
What's going on up there?
Ruthie?
Jimmy, is that you?
Yeah, are you all right?
What do you want? It's late. Of course I'm all right.
Why didn't you answer when I knocked?
I've been asleep. What do you want?
Oh, nothing, honey. I was worried about you.
You said you were going to stop by Old Man Leibowitz's place for groceries on your way home.
I did stop there.
Was everything okay?
Tell him yes.
Yes, everything was all right.
Mr. Leibowitz was held up tonight and shot.
Oh.
Mrs. Leibowitz came down to the store and found him dead behind the counter.
Ruth?
I heard you, Jimmy.
The neighborhood is full of cops. They say it happened less than an hour ago. You can see why I was so worried.
Get rid of him.
I'm all right, Jimmy. I'll see you tomorrow.
Okay. Don't I get a good night kiss?
I'm not dread. Good night.
Okay. Good night, honey.
Miss Dooley, forget about the keys. She's all right.
You killed him.
I killed him.
You're going to kill me?
I'm going to kill you.
Yes, you have to. I could fix you good with the police.
Yes, you could. This will teach you to remember old school sweethearts.
You almost got it before, but you mixed me up a little.
You made me forget what I come up here to do. You're trying to make me think you care about me.
Harry, I did.
Yeah, does everyone in the building stop by for a good night kiss?
Oh, Jimmy, he's only...
I don't care who he is. Why the routine with me? What we have to...
Harry, why don't you give yourself up?
You heard Jimmy. The neighborhood is full of police. You can't get away.
I've been in tighter spots than this. I always get away.
Here it comes, Ruthie.
Harry.
Sorry, Patrick.
I won't kill anyone else.
Sorry, baby.
Don't kill me!
Sorry, baby!
It's all right. It's all right.
It's...
Is he dead, Officer?
Yeah.
I...
I didn't know...
whether you'd get here in time.
We finally found that trail of flour you left in the store up here.
We hit the door just as he out passed.
Close.
You really use your head spilling flour along the way.
I'm not a man.
You really use your head spilling flour along the way.
Did you see him shoot the old man?
No.
When Harry opened the refrigerator to get some potato salad,
I saw Mr. Leibowitz's legs sprawled out on the floor.
When he came from behind the counter,
he left tracks of blood.
I see.
How'd you keep him here so long without us killing him?
We had a lot to talk about.
I knew Harry a long time ago.
There were things I remembered about him.
But he...
But he didn't remember me.
Suspense.
In which Mr. Tony Barrett and Miss Charlotte Lawrence
starred in tonight's presentation of Remember Me.
Suspense is produced and directed by Anthony Ellis.
Tonight's script was written by Mr. Gus Bates.
The music was composed by Lucian Morrowick and conducted by Wilbur Hatch.
Featured in the cast were Joe Kearns, Lee Millar, Ellen Plead, and Jim Nusser.
The music was composed by Mr. Tony Barrett and Miss Charlotte Lawrence.