And now, tonight's presentation of radio's outstanding theater of thrills, Suspense.
Tonight, we bring you transcribed a story of a prescription filled in error.
We call it, To None, A Deadly Drug.
So now, starring Harry Bartel, here is tonight's Suspense play, To None, A Deadly Drug.
Sometimes it can happen, a prescription handed a drugist, a slip up somewhere, a dead person.
When it does occur, it's news, because it is almost unheard of.
A drugist is a careful man, tempered in the tough crucible of pharmaceutical college,
filtered by a board of examiners, sworn, as is a physician, to protect those he serves
from wrong and harm.
It almost never happens, but when it does, it can ruin a man, and it can ruin his wife.
Manxville is on US 99, near the junction of three main arteries.
It's a small town, but it supports two drug stores.
One is Foster's Pharmacy.
It's owned and run by a young ex-GI pharmacist named Cal Foster.
To his wife, Marion, he loves his pharmacy more than anything on earth.
Cal has a soda fountain, but he lets a kid named Joe handle that.
Cal's heart is with the gleaming scales and the sparkling bottles.
That's where he was the evening it happened, typing a label for a prescription, while Marion
waited impatiently.
Cal, you promised.
It's 6.30 and you promised.
Okay, honey, I shaved.
Did you get my jacket from the cleaners?
It's a half hour drive to the club and it's 6.30 already.
Are you listening?
I'll just be a second.
Mrs. Peabody lost her digitalis bottle.
She's about to have a heart attack worrying about it.
Oh, she's as healthy as a horse.
And you said you'd be ready at 6.30.
We'll just deliver this on the way to the dance.
Oh, no.
It's not far, and she's a nice old gal for a hypochondriac.
Look, why don't you hang up the clothes sign on the door?
I'll have another customer for sure.
I'll just stick this label on her bottle and put on my jacket.
Oh, too late.
Tell her you're closed.
I can't do that, darling.
Hey, yes, ma'am.
Hello.
Can you fill a prescription for me for my son?
Well, I think so.
Let's see.
Tippy Smith, elixir, phenobarbital, tincture, belladonna.
What's the matter, fellow?
Stomachache?
No, I'm okay.
He isn't either.
He just doesn't like medicine, that's all.
But the minute we get back on the road, he'll be miserable.
Well, this will make him feel better.
Hey, a San Francisco doctor wrote this.
Yes.
I meant to have it filled there, but I got to wire my husband's due back from Japan.
He's a Navy man.
And what was packing the car to go and meet him and getting Tipp out of school and everything,
I forgot.
And now he's got the stomachache again.
And I'm trying to make another 100 miles tonight.
Well, we'll fix him up.
How much will it be?
I'd say about $1.75.
Just take a minute.
Gosh, he's a rugged guy.
A kid has to be rugged for this sort of life.
He's lived in half a dozen towns since he was born.
No wonder he gets a stomachache.
Well, he must get bored on the road.
Oh, he sure does.
But we listen to the radio and think up riddles and name cars.
He knows every make of car on the road.
Uh, where are you headed now?
Oh, the ship's coming in to send...
Tippy, leave the comic book alone.
You have a dozen in the car.
Okay.
Hey, Mom.
Yes?
I don't really need the medicine.
I feel all right.
Well, you're going to take it, just the same.
All right.
Well, just make up a label, you can get it back on the road.
Let's see.
15 drops of glass of water every four hours.
Seven at 11 p.m., three and seven.
You can start now if you want.
It's almost seven, and then you won't have to stop on the road for a glass of water.
Oh, that's a good idea.
Well, I don't think it is.
It isn't time, anyway.
Well, it's almost time.
Oh, no.
Hey, Mom, while we're driving, we can play the game.
Like the other time.
You know, when I lose, I'll take the medicine.
Oh, all right.
There we are.
Oh, excuse me, just a minute.
Hello.
Oh, that horrible phone.
I'm trying to get him to a dinner dance for the first time in two years.
It's like getting a date with Marlon Brando.
Well, at least your husband's home night.
I know.
It must be awful.
Oh, here, I'll put on the label and you can go.
How much did he say it would be?
Uh, 175.
Out of two, as they say.
Oh, and it looks as if Tippy's brought a comic book, after all, with his dirty hands all
over it.
The comic book Tippy's on me.
Oh, well, thank you.
Thanks.
Thanks a lot.
Good luck.
Have a good trip.
Yes, Mrs. Speedwagon.
I'm sorry.
And I won't forget to drop it off.
Goodbye.
Oh, what a character.
Where's our customer?
I gave her the medicine and she left.
You gave it to her?
What do you mean?
Well, I sold it to her, I mean.
I pasted on the label and sold it to her.
You what?
Look, Marion, don't you ever, ever label a bottle in this store, do you understand?
Well, Cal, don't look at me that way.
That gove my arse.
I mean it, Marion.
I'm sorry if I usurped any of your prerogatives, pastor.
I didn't know it took a registered pharmacist to lick a label.
Well, in my store it does.
Okay, let's forget it.
Where's my jacket?
In the back.
Here.
Are you sure you don't want to wear your white coat so people will know you're a drugist?
A pharmacist, I mean.
All right, that's enough of that.
Okay.
We all set the safe lock files closed, lights out.
Let's roll, doll.
Has the stern disciple of Hygieia forgotten something?
Ooh, Mrs. Peabody's digitalis.
She'll murder me.
Just a second.
I'll be right back.
Marion.
What?
What bottle did you give that woman?
What is it, Cal?
What do you mean?
That woman, we've got to stop her.
Where was she parked?
Where'd she go?
What is it?
The bottle that's left on the sink.
It's the kid's medicine.
You gave her the digitalis.
Now where are they?
No, Cal, I took the bottle that was there.
There were two bottles there, Marion, and two labels.
The Belladonna's left and the digitalis label.
You understand?
Yes, Cal.
Did she say where she was heading?
To meet her husband, to meet his ship.
I know, but where?
I don't think she said.
Think, think.
She started to tell me, and then the boy, Tippy it was.
Come on, come on.
He picked up a magazine.
I can't remember, Cal.
Maybe she didn't say.
Oh, Lord Digitalis.
If he takes it, what'll it do?
In that dosage, it'll probably kill him.
Mom.
Yes?
You think Dad'll know me?
What do you mean will Dad know you?
Will he?
Well, of course he'll know you.
Why wouldn't he?
Well, you said once he wouldn't.
I didn't.
Well, that time he called from Japan.
You said he wouldn't know me now.
Well, you did.
Oh, Tippy.
That's just something people say.
Of course he'll know you.
Oh, and you and he have lots of fun together before he leaves again.
Turn on the radio.
Okay.
And for Marge and Jim and the guys and dolls of the Maxwell driving.
Hey, kids, now you watch that movie, now you hear me.
And for the captains of the Upper Valley and for Matilda from her mother on her sweet 16.
And for Donnie R. from you.
Oh, we don't want that, Tippy.
Try something else.
I'm just going to play the kind of crazy wax.
That's what it's going to do.
We got a real good one for you.
That's all I get.
So from Al, your DJ pal, and KRMX, the voice of the valley, here we are with Per Fidiam.
How's your stomach?
Well, it doesn't hurt a bit.
I feel just fine.
Boy, I'm glad you're here.
Boy, it's a nice night, isn't it?
Do you like to drive, Mom?
Uh-huh.
When I get older, I'll help you with the driving.
Jimmy drives for his folks sometimes.
He's three years older than you.
And anyway, that's too young.
Hey, look at that lake over there, Mom.
Tippy.
What?
Stop it.
What?
You're trying to make me forget about the medicine, aren't you?
You said we could play the game before I had to take the medicine.
Oh, all right.
We'll start now.
How many is the out-of-state licenses?
Five.
We won't see five in an hour.
Two.
Oh, no.
You'll see two right away.
Three?
All right.
Now, when I see three, you have to take your medicine.
And what do you know?
You see that car ahead?
Yeah.
Oh, Mom, that isn't fair.
Not the first car.
We didn't really start yet.
Oh, yes, we did.
See?
Ohio.
Aw.
One down, two to go.
No more out-of-states.
Uh-oh.
That doesn't sound right.
Uh-oh.
That doesn't look like a California plate to me, is it?
Oh, yes, it is, Mom.
Oh, you're right.
Well, still two to go.
Oh, the things I have to do to make you take a perfectly harmless little medicine.
I don't like that junk.
I'm beginning to believe that.
All right, all right.
Now, let's stop that record.
Our goofy engineer, he put the...
I wanted Artie Shaw's for a video.
Which one is that?
Is that that Perez somebody or something?
It sounded like a pair of
freoholi's spinning there or something.
Well, anyway, folks, you guys and dolls, this is old Al, your DJ pal, and I've got time
for a couple of more phone requests here before the 7 o'clock news.
Here's a call.
One of the buttons there.
Let me get the...
Hello?
Hello, who's this?
Mom?
Yeah?
How far do we have to go?
Tonight?
Oh, about 100 miles.
When do we get to San Diego?
Oh, Tippi, what's wrong?
Oh, nothing.
There's your stomach ache again.
Oh, nothing.
There's your stomach ache again.
Oh, no, honest, Mom, I'm okay.
It doesn't hurt at all.
You what?
I want us to play the game.
It does hurt, doesn't it?
Oh, I think we better stop at the next place and give you those drops.
You are listening to To None, A Deadly Drug, tonight's presentation in radio's outstanding
theater of thrills, Suspense.
Listen in twice every weekend for exciting dramas of gun smoke on CBS radio.
Listen Saturday in the daytime when United States Marshal Matt Dillon fights to hold
the frontier against spoilers and outlaws, and listen again Sunday night on most of these
same stations for an entirely new story of gun smoke in America's early West.
Make gun smoke a listening habit, and you will readily appreciate the sentiments of
critics who have given this thrilling, realistic program their generous applause.
Gun smoke at the Star's Address.
And now we bring back to our Hollywood sound stage, Harry Bartel, starring in tonight's
production, To None, A Deadly Drug, a tale well calculated to keep you in suspense.
There are certain things a druggist learns in the school of pharmacy, certain things
that have nothing to do with chemistry or toxicology or physiology.
He learns the code of ethics, and he reads the oath of Hippocrates, and he knows that
it applies to him as well as to the physician.
To none will I give a deadly drug, even if solicited, nor will I counsel such.
To None, A Deadly Drug.
Yes, there are certain things a druggist learns in the school of pharmacy, but no one tells
him how to track down a woman with a common name driving an unknown car on any one of
three heavily traveled routes toward an unknown destination.
For that, he gets the sheriff.
No, she didn't say where she was heading.
Are you sure she didn't tell your wife while you were in the back there?
Marion can't remember.
Is she okay?
She kind of just sits there.
A little shock, maybe.
Foster, I just don't see how you expect us to stop this woman.
We got no license number, no make a car, her last name is Smith.
We don't know where she's heading, and with the traffic that we have here, I don't know
what...
We've got to stop her.
What time is it?
Ten to seven.
You said the first dose was at seven?
That's right.
Hello.
Mr. Foster?
Yes, yes.
Ready on your call to San Francisco.
Oh, thank you.
Hello, Dr. Peters?
This is Dr. Peters.
Doctor, this is Cal Foster.
I'm here to see you.
Cal Foster, I got your number from a prescription.
I'm a pharmacist in Manksville, Foster's Pharmacy.
Yes?
You treated a child named Tippy Smith, about 12 or 13, a Navy man's son.
You wrote a prescription for Belladonna and Phenumbarbital.
I think I recall.
Go ahead.
Well, my wife...
I made a mistake.
He got digitalis instead, the same dosage.
What?
Digitalis.
A well-built, rugged boy, blonde hair, pretty mother?
Yes, that's right.
Yes, I remember.
Is he alive?
We can't find him.
They're on the road.
That's why I called.
Well, I'll do anything I can.
Digitalis and that dosage...
Do you know anything about them?
Where they might be going?
The make-of car?
No.
Well, they were new in the city.
Their first visit to me.
Look, I'm at home, but her address will be in my files downtown.
Just a minute, please.
Sheriff, if we get her address, can we find her license number?
Well, sure, from Sacramento, if it's a California license and if it's current.
But it'll take time.
It's too long, that's for sure.
We've got to try.
Doctor, will you get her address?
I'm on my way.
I'll call back.
I don't know what we can do until we find that license number.
Can't you set up roadblocks?
Call the State Highway Patrol.
Where are we going to set up those blocks?
Well, she's only been gone 20 minutes.
How far is she driven?
Oh, 12, 15 miles, maybe.
But which road?
We don't even know where she's heading.
Her husband's ship was coming in.
Where would a Navy ship come in?
Oh, that's easy.
San Diego, Long Beach, San Pedro, Port Woonhamey.
She's on 399 or 99 or maybe 466.
Now, we don't know.
So I call the Highway Patrol for an all-points bullet.
I want a roadblock for a woman and a kid.
No car description, no license number.
We don't know what road they're on.
They're going to laugh at me.
It's too late anyway, Foster.
We only got three patrolmen who could even get in the vicinity.
Now, you've got to forget the roadblock.
Well, we've got to do something.
We can't sit here and let this kid kill himself in five minutes.
All right, what do we do?
They're probably playing their game, Mr. Smith and Tippie.
What?
Their game.
What game?
They played a game before he had to take his medicine.
When he lost the game, he had to take it.
Foster, you'd better do something for your wife.
All right, now look, Marion, snap out of it.
Do you hear?
They were going to play a game.
He gets bored on the road, so they play games and listen to the radio.
They do what?
Play games and listen to the radio.
Sheriff, the radio, KRNX.
We can call them.
Yeah.
Yeah, you know, that might work at that.
That's the only station most people can get in the Valley on their car radios anyway.
Yeah, give me the phone.
Come on, come on.
Operator.
Give me KRNX.
The radio station?
That's right, quick.
You can dial that number, sir.
Look, this is Sheriff Gibbs and I haven't got time.
Now get it.
Just a moment, sir.
The line's busy, sir.
It's their disk, Jock.
He takes phone requests.
He's always busy when he's on.
Look, this is an emergency.
I want you to break in.
I'll try again, sir.
Hello, this is Al, your DJ pal.
What's your musical pleasure?
This is Sheriff Gibbs.
I want you to make an announcement.
Oh, yeah, sure.
It's Sheriff Gibbs.
Sheriff Gibbs, kids.
And he wants to make an announcement.
You're running for Sheriff Gibbs, right?
Yeah.
And he wants to make an announcement.
You're running for Sheriff again, Sheriff?
Listen, Joker, this is Gibbs and it is an emergency.
Oh, yeah, yeah, I know.
He says it's an emergency, Katz.
There's one in every crowd, kids.
Somebody's always got to get in the act.
Now, look, fella, just let me have your request.
He thinks it's somebody kidding.
Come on, huh?
Come on, I got all the phones going here.
Hello.
Hello, Al.
Al, will you shut up?
This is Cal Foster at the pharmacy.
I just sold the wrong medicine to a woman named Smith for her son.
I'm sorry, I'm sorry.
I'm sorry.
I just sold the wrong medicine to a woman named Smith for her son.
They're on the road now.
We can't contact them.
He's supposed to take it at seven.
We think they might be listening.
Are you serious?
Of course I'm serious.
I want you to announce that the medicine just sold to a Mrs. Smith at Foster's Pharmacy
in Manxville is the wrong medicine.
It's deadly.
She's to call me immediately.
Well, yeah, yeah, I got it.
But, listen, if you think I'm sticking my neck out for a lawsuit on account of a phone
call, you're nuts.
But you're not...
How do I know you're Foster?
I sold you $10 worth of wheat germ last week, you remember?
A wheat germ?
Yeah.
I guess you did.
Well, kids, I guess you're kind of curious.
You heard one side of a pretty strange conversation.
Now then, your old pal's gonna stick his neck way out and make an announcement.
Now that I'm not on the air tomorrow, it means I was wrong.
The guy that called first really was the sheriff, the sheriff of Manxville.
I hope.
Because if he asked me to make an important announcement, and if it's a phony...
We're here for heaven's sake.
Find some music, will you?
I'm dead.
Anything but a silly chatter.
Here's the announcement.
Or turn it off.
Okay.
And it's about a lady named...
Hey, where are we?
Oh, somewhere on US 99 going to meet your dad.
Man, what do you think I see on that car up ahead?
Oh, no, it's a California plate.
Oh, no, it isn't.
It's orange and black.
It's New York.
Oh, and that's two plates.
One to go.
Well, go slower, will you, Mom?
Slower?
So I won't catch up on any more out-of-state cars?
Mm-mm.
You're gonna take your medicine.
Well, Foster, it's almost seven.
We'd have heard by now.
I guess they weren't listening to the radio.
I guess not.
Now, that announcement, that took guts.
I sure hate to see it get wasted.
I gave him a comic book.
I did, Callick.
I didn't mean to hurt him.
Darling, nobody thinks you meant to hurt him.
Here, sit down.
Now, take some of this.
It'll make you feel better.
No, no, I'm all right.
I've got to think.
Maybe she didn't say where she was going.
Tippie was looking at the magazine.
I was by the cash register.
She was about to tell me, and then she saw Tippie.
The ship's coming into...
into...
San.
San?
San something.
San Pedro, San Diego.
She'd take 99E to one.
Well, can you send out that information for a roadblock?
Yeah, if there's a highway patrol officer on 99E,
might try without a description.
But one officer trying to handle all those cars, I don't know.
Well, how about the places she'd stop?
She has to get water for the kid, for the medicine.
Where would she stop?
Oh, there are ten restaurants to a mile down there.
She's probably around Starrett by now.
See, how would we tell which one she'd pick?
Oh, the kid might have taken it by now anyway.
Mom.
Yes?
Suppose I'm well by the time you see the other license plate.
Suppose my stomach doesn't ache anymore.
Yes?
Do I still have to take it?
You sure do.
You don't want to be sick to meet your dad, do you?
Mom.
Hmm?
Look what I found in the glove compartment.
Your old earring.
Oh, that's interesting.
Look at it, Mom.
Look at it.
What's going on here?
Why the sudden interest in my old jewelry?
Oh, nothing.
Why, you little sneak.
That car that passed, it has a Texas plate.
Well, I almost fooled you.
Okay.
It's the medicine for you.
It's past seven anyway.
I need a glass of water for it.
Oh, what's that for the restaurant?
There's one.
Oh, it looks pretty scroungy.
Look for a nice one.
Okay.
I'll look.
Oh, I just bet you will.
Name the restaurant, Sheriff.
All of them, please.
Well, let's see.
There's Teppits.
And then just about a block.
Cappies.
Laskies.
Uh-huh.
Uh, the A.M. Cafe.
I remember that.
Oh, she wouldn't take a boy in there.
It's dirty.
Yeah.
Now, past Starrett, I think it's a Green Bowl.
Yeah.
And the Valley Cafe.
Look, there's 50 of them.
Oh, please, please.
Further on, let me see.
I think that...
What's it?
Merits?
Yeah.
And then Tiny's.
Oh, I remember Tiny's.
The big place with all the glass and the big neon chicken on the highway.
Yeah, that's the one.
Okay, I'll give me the phone.
Oh, honey.
Well, that's where I'd stop.
It is.
Operator.
Yes, ma'am?
How about some ice cream after the medicine tip?
Okay.
I want chopper, please.
All right.
And what would you like?
Oh, a dish of vanilla for me.
And a glass of water for my boy's medicine, please.
Oh, I'm okay now, mama.
I'm honest.
This is like my little boy.
They all hate medicine.
Oh, this one's impossible.
Thank you.
15 drops.
You want to count them, Tip?
I might get an extra one in by mistake.
Oh, no.
One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven, twelve, thirteen, fourteen,
fifteen.
Okay, pal, there it is.
Mom.
Mom?
Mm-hmm?
It smells funny.
You drink it or I'll tell your dad what a baby you were about it.
All right.
Stop.
Stop it.
I'm sorry.
Are you Mrs. Smith?
Yes.
What?
Take the phone.
Take the phone, please.
The phone?
But how?
Hello?
Oh, no.
No, it couldn't be.
Oh.
Oh, yes.
Yes, thank you.
Mom, are you sick?
I'm fine.
Are you sick?
Sick?
Oh, maybe a little.
Maybe just a little bit.
It's news when it happens, a drugstore mistake, because it almost never does happen.
Stories of mistaken prescriptions in the profession of pharmacy are practically non-existent.
When it does occur, it can ruin a man, because this profession is hard on its own when one
falls short.
It can ruin a man, or it can mold him.
What'll happen to this cow?
This store?
It's your life.
I don't know.
I started from scratch once before.
I know.
But it's not fair.
It wasn't your fault at all.
It's my pharmacy, darling.
Anyway, don't worry.
Will they take your license?
I don't know.
That isn't what matters.
It's the people.
The people?
The people we know, my customers.
They come in blindly, they put their lives in my hands.
That's what'll hurt, even if I keep my license.
Hello, Mrs. Smith.
Where's Tippy?
In the car.
He's tired.
I don't know what to say.
There's nothing to say.
And there's nothing for you to say either, Mrs. Foster.
I didn't really come all the way back to talk.
Why did you come back, Mrs. Smith?
Why?
Well, you could give me Tippy's medicine.
Suspense.
In which Harry Bartel with Charlotte Lawrence and Eve McVeigh
starred in tonight's presentation of To None a Deadly Drug.
Next week, the story of man's assault against nature.
We call it The Mountain.
That's next week on Suspense.
Suspense is produced and transcribed by Anthony Ellis.
Tonight's script was written by Hank Searls.
The music was composed by Rene Garigan and conducted by Wilbur Hatch.
Featured in the cast were Virginia Eyler, Sammy Og,
Hi Aberback, Larry Thor, Jack Crouchon, and John Stevenson.
When people are in trouble, what do they do?
If the trouble is serious and they want help fast, they call the police.
Every Friday night over most of these same stations,
CBS radio picks up the threads of a startling story of people in trouble
who call the police, and just as often, of police who call on people
seen to be in trouble, working out of the 21st precinct.
There's fast-moving drama and intimate glimpses
into the dangerous as well as human side of police work.
Friday nights on CBS radio when you're invited to hear the 21st Precinct.
The 21st Precinct.