And now, tonight's presentation of radio's outstanding theater of thrills, Suspense.
Tonight, we bring you transcribed a story of a prodigal son's return.
We call it Life Ends at Midnight.
So now, starring Paula Winslow and Stacey Harris, here is tonight's Suspense play, Life
Ends at Midnight.
Hiya, Mom.
You still remember my whistle, huh?
Never know when I'll turn up, huh?
Stand out here in the hall?
No, come in.
Come in, Johnny.
Same old crummy joint.
Well, I do my best to keep it clean.
Yeah, yeah, I know.
Oh boy, am I tired.
I'm up all night in a stinkin' coach full of snoring jerks and squalling babies.
Babies are the worst.
All they do is ball and slobber.
You left Pittsburgh last night?
Yeah, one in the morning.
I didn't sleep a wink all night.
Oh boy, look at my collar.
But tomorrow's Monday and you have to be at work in the morning.
What's the matter?
You worried?
Well, no, no.
I just...
Don't just.
Can't a guy come home to see his mother once in six months?
What's a mother for?
You break your back, sit up all night to see your mother for one day and she tells you
you've got to be at work in the morning.
How do you like that?
Oh, I'm sorry, dear, but I just worried about...
I know, Ma, I know.
Don't worry so much, huh?
It makes me nervous.
Well, here, sit at the table, dear.
You must be starved.
Oh, that's like coming home.
Oh, my baby.
I'm so glad to see you.
You did come just to see me, didn't you?
Why, sure, Ma.
What do you think?
Marilyn Monroe?
Of course you came to see me.
It's just that I...
I always worry so about you, I mean.
Oh, forget it, Ma, huh?
Ma, what have you got to eat?
I was just going to pick the chop for my lunch.
Oh, that'll be enough for me.
Why don't you lie down and take a nap?
I'll call you when it's ready.
No, that's okay.
I can sleep later.
Come here, sit down, Ma.
Tell me how you're doing.
Well, I try not to complain, but things aren't easy, you know.
Prices are high and rent's going up all the time, even on this old flat.
Well, you had some bonds.
Papa left you.
You had about $2,000 in bonds.
They left you...
Well, I'm trying to tell you that things haven't been easy and...
Always a poor mouth.
Every time I see you, you cry, poor mouth, Ma.
Well, I'm just saying things aren't easy.
Oh, you think it's a picnic for me?
I got enough trouble and for what?
For what?
All year I work like crazy and for what?
A man must work, Johnny.
Oh, a man must work, Johnny.
A man must work and live like a person and not be afraid so he can sleep at night without
worrying about...
Worrying about what, Ma?
About a bell ringing at night or a knock on the door in the morning or somebody touching
you on the arm.
Oh, shut up, will you, Ma?
Please, just shut up.
I ain't in trouble again, so stop yapping at me.
You're always yapping at me, Ma.
You haven't.
Oh, you know what the judge said last time, Johnny?
He was nice.
He gave you another chance.
He saw you were really a good boy and he gave you another chance.
He got you a nice job and you promised...
You mustn't...
You...
You're all right, Johnny.
Sure I'm all right, Ma.
Sure I'm all right.
I'm a meatball, a herring on a plate.
All your life you're a tomcat in the garbage.
You find a fish head and say, thank you, mister.
Well, that's not for me.
You get one break and you're out of the garbage can for life.
You're a mister then with a future.
You hold your nose when you walk through the day, coach, to your compartment.
You leave the stinks behind and the porters dust the air in front of you.
Well, that's for me, Ma.
That's what I want.
That's what I tried to get.
I took another chance.
I tried to run it up.
It was just no dice.
Now I gotta make it good.
The books at the office will show it and I gotta make it good.
How much?
Fifteen hundred.
Fifteen hundred, Don.
Ma, I gotta know where I can get it by midnight tonight.
I gotta know, Ma.
If I miss that 1220 train for Pittsburgh, it's all over.
If I don't show up at the office tomorrow, they'll suspect.
Fifteen hundred.
By midnight tonight?
Where am I gonna get it, Johnny?
The bonds, Ma.
You got the bonds that Pa left.
The bonds.
How do you think I got you out of your last trouble?
Bribes and bail, paying back every penny.
Where do you think I got it?
Oh, give me that, Ma.
You're just holding out.
You gotta help me.
I'll get ten years.
You heard what the judge said the last time?
Oh, what can I do?
Ma, ten years in story.
There won't be no reform school this time.
Oh, Johnny.
Ma, please, huh?
Johnny.
Ma, please give me the money.
Will you get it for me?
Ma, I'll be good.
I'll work hard.
I won't give you no more trouble.
Ma, help me, please.
I'm so tired.
Help me.
Maybe I can sleep then, Ma.
Please.
Ma, please.
Where can I get it, Johnny?
I have nothing left.
I don't care where you get it, Ma.
Look, it's your fault you gotta help me.
I only wanted to help you and not you.
Yes.
It's my fault.
I always protected you, but I can't protect you anymore.
Well, I'll give you the few dollars I have.
Go away.
It'll be enough to help you run away.
That's all I can do.
Oh, sure.
Sure, just run away and don't bother me.
Oh, please, Johnny.
I'm no dope.
I know you're holding out on me, Ma.
You're just worrying about your old age.
You're making yourself a nice fat cushion that you can...
Oh, I'm sorry.
I hope I'm not intruding.
Who's he, Ma?
Oh, Mr. Chalmers.
This is Mr. Chalmers, Johnny.
He has the back bedroom.
This is my son, Mr. Chalmers.
Well, how do you do, Mr. Bates?
I feel that I know you very well.
Your mother and I sit here in the kitchen sometimes over a cup of tea and she talks
about you for hours and hours.
He's very proud of you.
Yeah.
Mrs. Bates, excuse me.
I'm just going to the corner for my paper.
By the way, I think the insurance agent might call again to collect and please tell him
to go away.
Will you do that for me, Mrs. Bates?
Yes, Mr. Chalmers.
Oh, thank you.
Tell him not to come back anymore.
I don't want to pay anymore on the policy.
You remember I told you my nephew was very sick in Spokane?
Yes, Mr. Chalmers.
Well, poor young man died.
Yes.
I was going to leave him a few dollars when I died, but now, well, I have no one left
at all.
A dollar a week.
You'll tell that to the insurance agent?
Yes, Mr. Chalmers.
Thank you, Mrs. Bates.
Have a good day, Mr. Bates.
Bye.
I have $40 in the house for the rent.
You can take that.
Drop me a card when you get settled someplace.
Let me know where you are.
I'll send you some more as soon as I can get it.
Maybe later I'll be able to straighten it out.
Maybe later I'll be able to speak to your boss.
I'll promise to pay back every cent.
But now you must go away.
You must.
Johnny!
Ma, tell me something about Mr. Chalmers.
Johnny.
Don't be so nervous, Ma.
We've got plenty of time.
We got till midnight.
You are listening to Life Ends at Midnight, tonight's presentation in radio's outstanding
theatre of thrills, Suspense.
Have you heard from your United Community Campaign this year?
If you haven't, you soon will.
CBS Radio urges that you remember.
Your one annual check to the United Fund or community chest in your locale supports not
one but close to every worthwhile community service in your town.
Your neighbor in difficulty has too much pride to come to you.
But you can come to him, impersonally and effectively, through your check to the United
Community Campaigns.
Be generous.
The money has a long way to go.
And now we bring back to our Hollywood sound stage, Stacey Harris and Paula Winslow.
Starring in tonight's production, Life Ends at Midnight.
A tale well calculated to keep you in suspense.
Yes, I do think I'll have another cup, if you don't mind, Mrs. Bates.
Mr. Chalmers, suppose you look at it this way.
You've been paying one buck a week for how many years now?
Oh, I'd say 20 years would be a conservative estimate.
All right, 20 years.
That's, well, let's see, 50 bucks a year.
That's 1,000 bucks you've paid in, right?
Yes, 1,000 bucks.
Oh, this coffee cake, Mrs. Bates, it's excellent.
Oh, do you like it?
I made it yesterday.
Hey, look, forget about the coffee cake.
Let's figure percentages here.
How many more years do you figure to live?
Oh, John.
It's all right, Mrs. Bates.
After all, I am an old man.
My age won't rather, well, it comes to terms with death.
My policy is for $2,500, and in the days that are left to me, I certainly will not be required
to pay in as much as I've already paid.
Well, that's the exact point.
Now, but say you live another couple of years.
You only pay a hundred or so more, and you can leave $2,500 to somebody.
Yes, I should like to think of when I'm gone, I've left something behind for someone.
It's nice to live on in somebody's memory for a little while after we're dead.
First, Mr. Bates, I have no one in this world.
Secondly, I must be very, very frank and tell you that I can no longer afford to pay even
a dollar a week.
You see, I live on a few...
Mr. Chalmers, that's a problem of the most minor importance.
For anybody to invest in you now, a buck a week would be gilded edged.
Well, I mean, for instance, take my mother here.
Now, suppose you made her the beneficiary.
Suppose she continued to pay the buck a week.
Who could lose on such a deal?
Who could lose?
Nobody.
You get your dearest wish to leave something behind, and my mother in later years says,
well, Mr. Chalmers, oh, yes, I'll always remember him for this.
Hey, you get the point?
Oh, no, Mr. Chalmers, no.
You listen...
Let Mr. Chalmers decide, Ma.
Well, how about it, Mr. Chalmers?
That makes good sense, doesn't it?
And it makes everybody happy.
We're practically strangers.
We're just...
What do you mean, strangers?
Who's a stranger in this world, Mr. Chalmers?
We're all just little people trying to make each other happy, huh?
Isn't every man entitled to at least live in somebody's memory?
Oh, yes, but he doesn't have to do that.
I'll think about him anyway.
I promise I will.
Well, so let him say, Ma.
Well, what do you say, Mr. Chalmers?
It must be the insurance agent.
I'll tell him that I'm keeping the policy and changing the beneficiary.
Could you let me have the dollar, Mr. Bates?
I'll do it.
Come on, hurry it up, will you?
The old man's coming home in a minute or two.
He takes his nap about this time.
I want this to be ready for him.
Relax, honey.
I can't finish this job today.
Why not?
What are you giving me?
It'll take a joint and another length of pipe.
Oh, come on, fix it up.
You can fix it up for now, can't you?
The room's pretty small.
Why do you want the heater so close to the bed?
Look, it's like I told you.
He's got rheumatism.
He needs plenty of heat.
Well, I'd run a rubber extension, but with gas, I don't like it.
All right, so with gas, you don't like it.
But with gas, we got to run the heater.
Now, the old man's got rheumatics.
He needs plenty of heat.
Look, what are you doing now?
Tightening this joint.
Oh, it's tight enough for now, huh?
Okay, you're the boss.
Here.
Here's your three bucks.
You can bring the pipe back next time.
There won't be any next time, Sonny.
You can get somebody else to do your dirty work after this.
So long, Skippy.
Skippy.
Come on, Skippy.
We got some work to do.
Oh, hi, Pop.
Well, this is a pleasant surprise.
Yeah.
Yeah, this used to be my room.
Steam don't come up here so good, so I talked the old lady into fixing this heater up for
you.
Well, that is very thoughtful of you, Johnny.
It's okay.
I stuffed up the cracks in the window, too.
This cold weather gets plenty drafty in this room.
You thought of everything, didn't you?
Huh?
Oh, yeah, I thought it would work out just fine.
Well, it'll do the job, I think.
Oh, dear, dear, dear.
I'm going to take a little nap before dinner.
Oh, do you think the heater...
No, no, you can just leave it on.
I'll look in after a bit, see if it's okay.
Well, you didn't go to all that trouble.
It's no trouble, Mr. John.
There's no trouble at all.
When I do a thing, I like to do it right.
Missed you.
Where are we going, Johnny?
Nowhere in particular, Ma.
I just thought we'd stroll around the old neighborhood like old times.
Well, that's a nice idea, but oh, my feet hurt.
All right, Ma, we'll turn into the candy store in the corner.
I'll buy you a dish of ice cream.
Oh, so close to dinnertime, dear.
What's the trouble with you, Ma? You're in a rut.
Come on.
Howdy, Mrs. Bates.
Howdy, Johnny. When did you get back?
He came in on the train from Pittsburgh this morning just to see me.
I thought I'd give the old girl a break.
Oh, Johnny.
Now, what can I mix up for you folks?
Mom will take a dish of vanilla ice cream and I'll have some coffee black, please.
Coming right up.
Hey, evening, Nick.
Hello, Mike.
Take it.
Do you folks know Officer Flanagan?
Mrs. Bates from down the block and her son, John.
Pleased to meet you, Officer.
Nice business.
Oh, much the same.
Vagrancy, petty larceny.
What's a while of murder?
Murder?
That's what they start out to do,
but it's harder to pull off a murder than most people think.
Yeah.
Case just last week over in the next precinct.
Husband disconnected a gas heater in the wife's room while she was asleep.
That's what we were pretty sure he did, anyway.
He took out a lot of insurance on her a few days before.
Oh, you couldn't prove anything, huh?
He didn't have to.
They always bungled somewhere.
Amateurs.
The gas petered out and he forgot to put a quarter in the meter.
It's seven o'clock.
Well, it's time to call in.
I'll see you later, Nick.
OK, Mike.
Ma.
Yes, Johnny?
When did you put a quarter in the meter at home?
Oh, well, I don't remember.
Oh, goodness, I better get some change.
No, never mind, Ma. Come on.
We're getting out of here.
What, Johnny? What's the matter?
Nothing. Come on, will you?
Why did you ask about the gas meter?
Why do you think?
You didn't...
That isn't why you put the heater in, Mr. Chum.
What do you think?
I don't think anything.
I just pray that quarter ran out before...
Well, you save your prayers and get a move on,
because if that didn't work, I'll just try another way.
Either way, that old cluck is dead before midnight,
before I have to go back.
If he isn't, I'll have to spend 10 years in Stur,
and he's going to be dead before midnight, see?
And if you try to make any trouble,
you'll be dead right along with him.
Will you stop sniveling?
Now, we're going in there now.
If it took you, scream your head off,
or I'll give you a reason to scream.
Now, go on.
The gas. I can smell it.
Come on.
Well, good evening, Johnny, Mrs. Bates.
I was just on my way out.
Oh, Mr. Chalice.
Oh, you're all right. You're all right.
Of course he's all right, Ma.
What's eating you?
Well, I have a slight headache.
With a brisk walk in the open air,
a cure of that, I'm quite sure.
Hey. Hey, look at this.
Oh, what is it, Johnny?
Well, the holes on the heater here, they come unhitched.
No wonder you've got a headache.
You know, I thought I smelled gas.
Pop, you know, it's lucky for you, Ma.
I forgot to put a quarter in the meter.
Providence works in strange ways, doesn't it, Johnny?
Well, I must be getting home, Mrs. Bates.
I'll be coming home rather late,
so I'll just let myself in.
Oh, holly.
Well, I thought I'd stop in the neighborhood picture house
after dinner. That'll be around 9 o'clock.
So I imagine I won't be home before 11.
Oh, Mr. Chalmers, there's something I...
Yes, Mrs. Bates, what is it?
Uh, Johnny's a good boy at heart, you know,
but he's been in some trouble lately.
Ma...
Is there anything I can do to help Johnny?
Yeah. Yeah, there's plenty,
but I'll tell you about it when you get back, Mr. Chalmers.
You'd better run along now.
You don't want to be late for that picture.
Oh, oh, yes, of course.
Well, good night, Mrs. Bates.
Oh, Mr. Chalmers...
Good night, Mrs. Chalmers.
Oh, yeah. Good night.
Oh, Johnny, I...
Ow!
You were going to tell him, weren't you?
You'd like to send me to the chair, wouldn't you?
Johnny, I...
I'm your mother.
I'd have messed up your sad monkey face for good.
It's all your fault I balled this thing up in the first place.
Why didn't you remember to put a quarter on that gas meter?
Why didn't you?
I'm glad I forgot.
He wouldn't be alive.
I shouldn't have messed around with gas,
trying to spare your feelings, making it look like an accident.
That's the thanks I get for it.
You want to blab the whole thing,
turn me in, my own mother.
Oh, no, Johnny, no, it's not true.
All right, let's put it this way, huh?
Now, look, it's either you or him.
If it's you, I don't care whether they get me or not.
Are you listening to me?
Yes, I...
I'm listening.
All right, now, listen.
It's like I said, I got very little time to get this thing done.
I ought to have done it neat and clean in the first place,
just push him over on the bed,
hold a pillow over his face for a few minutes, and the job's done.
Nobody will ask any questions, a guy that old.
Oh, Johnny, for the last time, I'm begging you.
All right, just make sure it's the last time.
Now, remember, Ma, it's you or him, like I said.
What are you going to do?
I'll be waiting in his room when he gets home.
You wait up for him, tell him I've left to catch a train.
That's in case he suspects anything.
When he comes in his room, I'll take care of the rest of it.
How do you know I won't warn him?
Because it's him or you, like I told you.
Now, I don't think you'll warn Mr Chalmers, Ma.
And don't try to stall him when he comes in.
Now, don't, you hear?
He's got to be dead by midnight or else.
Evening, Mr Chalmers.
Good evening, Joe.
Well, I'll have the late edition of the Daily News, as usual.
Saved one off for you, Mr Chalmers.
Thank you. Good night, Joe.
Oh, uh, Joe.
Yeah?
You give me the change of a dollar?
Sure, Mr Chalmers.
There.
Thank you, thank you.
Just happen to think of something I need change for.
Hmm. Little good deed for a friend of mine.
Oh, Mr Chalmers.
Well, I didn't think you'd be up so late, Mrs Bates.
Well, I waited up especially.
I wanted to talk to you about Johnny.
Mrs Bates, your eyes, they're all discolored.
Yes, the light burned out in the bathroom,
and when I went to replace it, in the dark, that is,
I bumped into the door.
Oh. Well, I would have thought that Johnny would have done that for you.
Oh, no, no, Johnny didn't.
I mean, Johnny's left already.
He had to catch the 1220 for Pittsburgh, you know.
Well, but it's only a little after 11 now.
Well, perhaps he had some things to do on the way, I mean.
Oh, of course. Well, I'm afraid I must be getting on to bed.
Oh, no, no, not yet.
I mean, won't you sit down for a minute and have a cup of tea with me?
Well, I'd like to, but tea keeps me awake, Mrs Bates.
So I'll be getting along to my room now if you don't mind.
No, no, don't go into that room, Mr Chalmers.
Mrs Bates, what the hell was the trouble? What's the trouble? What is it?
My son, Johnny, there's something I must tell you.
Forgive me, Mrs Bates, but I'm an old man and I need my rest.
I've got to have my rest now. If I could possibly wait until morning...
No, no, no, it can't wait until morning.
It's got to be told before midnight.
What was that?
It was like someone moving about in the back of the house.
One of the shutters is loose, the wind.
Oh, you were saying, Mrs Bates?
Nothing. I can't tell you after all. I'm afraid. I'm afraid to tell it.
There, there now, Mrs Bates, perhaps in the morning.
You try to get some rest, huh?
You going in there now?
Well, I think that'll be the best thing to do all the way around, don't you, Mrs Bates?
Good night.
No, no, wait.
Mrs Bates, I...
What is it, Mrs Bates?
That smell. Gas.
Johnny.
Johnny!
Oh, why don't you lie down for a few minutes, Mrs Bates?
Listen, it's striking 12. Dead before midnight.
All right, poor lad. If only I hadn't remembered to go back for that change.
You did it. You put the quarter in the meter. That's what turned on the gas that killed him.
You mentioned the gas having gone off and forgetting to put a quarter in the meter.
So on the way to the picture house, I just went around to the back entry and dropped the coin.
He kept saying that he was so tired, so sleepy. He must have fallen asleep while he was waiting.
Suppose I should have remembered about the connection being loose and the heater in my room,
but I wanted to surprise you with my good deed, you see.
I didn't mean to do anything wrong, Mrs Bates. Honestly, I didn't.
You didn't do anything wrong, Mr Chalmers.
No, you didn't do anything wrong.
Suspense, in which Paula Winslow and Stacey Harris starred in tonight's presentation of Life Ends at Midnight.
Next week, the story of a prescription filled in error. We call it To None, A Deadly Drug.
That's next week on Suspense.
Suspense is produced and transcribed by Anthony Ellis. Tonight's script was written by Robert Tolman.
The music was composed by Renny Garaghan and conducted by Wilbur Hatch.
Featured in the cast were Victor Rotman, Jim Nusser, Bob Easton, and Dick Ryan.
The stamp of realism is indelibly imprinted on CBS Radio's thrilling productions of the 21st Precinct.
Hear another hard-hitting true-to-life story of big city police at work again this Friday night on most of these stations.
Join Everett Sloan as Captain Cannelly in the station house.
Follow the finest out into the city as they probe another human conflict jam-packed with danger and action.
Remember, it's now Friday evenings at the Star's Address.