And now, tonight's presentation of Radio's outstanding theater of thrills, Suspense.
Tonight, we bring you a story of a woman who holds death over her husband's head.
We call it, When the Bough Breaks.
So now, starring Virginia Gregg with Stacey Harris, here is tonight's Suspense play, When the Bough Breaks.
I remember when I was little. I remember how you used to swing me in the garden.
The big maple tree and the rusty squeak as I went up and down, up and down.
Grandfather, don't let me fall. I want you to hold me like you used to when I was hurt.
I'm afraid because I'm dying. Just the way you died, Grandfather.
Why should I die? How did it all happen?
This is it, baby.
It looks very nice.
Gary, please be careful of my coat. You're dragging it.
Sorry. Here, you hold it while I get the key out, will you? I'll get the suitcases later.
Oh, no, wait a minute. Come on, let's do this right.
Harry, Harry, put me down.
Let him watch. We're married. This is the way it's done. You've got a lot to learn.
All right, now put me down, Harry. Please, Harry. I asked you to put me.
All right, baby. I'm sorry.
You're sweet. I'm tired. I didn't mean to be angry. I'm tired, that's all.
Sure, sure, yeah. Well, you like it?
It's a very nice house, dear. I'm sure we'll be comfortable.
Oh, it's not bad for a short-order deal.
Take a look around. Come here. Open this door.
It's a closet.
Not bad. They're all like that. Nice and roomy.
Living room, dining room through there, kitchen.
Harry, please. Can I sit down for a minute? My head's splitting.
Oh, sure, baby. Sure, come here.
It's not bad, huh? Come on. Off with the shoes. Here, put your feet up.
Thank you, dear.
It all looks very nice. You must have spent a lot of money, though.
Money? Nothing.
As soon as the probate judge turns the real money loose, we'll get something that'll knock your eye out.
I don't want to talk about that, Harry. I don't even want to think about it. Never again.
Of course not, baby. I don't know what's the matter with me. Of course you don't.
I don't want to think about it, Grandfather. But I have to talk about it. To you.
There'll be lawyers to pay in the inheritance tax.
I never realized how very much you were worth.
But you never spoke much about money. It was always there. Ever since I can remember.
Funny, I never thought about it until after you'd gone.
Harry did, though.
I lied to you about Harry. I'm sorry.
I didn't meet him the way I said I did.
I picked him up, Grandfather, on the beach.
I went looking for a man, and I found him.
The man you chose for me was so weak. I wanted someone like you.
Like Harry.
It wasn't respectable for a woman in her late 30s to do that, was it?
I'm sorry.
Honey, I guess you didn't know I had a feel for interior decorating, did you?
No, I didn't.
Well, maybe when we get the dough we'll...
I'm sorry, Evie. I was just thinking maybe I'd go in the business.
Harry, how did you know they'd let me go?
How did you know all this wouldn't be wasted?
Or maybe you'd be here with another girl.
Now, you're the girl, Marcy. Only you.
Besides, they couldn't have pinned it on you.
I watched that jury. You're high class.
They believed you.
Yesterday. I didn't think I'd be married now and in a new house.
Why don't you forget it? You've been acquitted and that's it.
From here on in...
Oh, Harry!
Baby, you're jumping.
Yes, I'm jumping.
Relax, honey. Married couples have callers.
It's probably the next door neighbors. You stay right there. I'll get rid of them.
Hi, Harry Striker. Fancy meeting you here.
What do you want, Corker?
He doesn't say glad to see you. He doesn't say come in and have a drink.
All he says is, what do you want, Corker?
We're busy. No statements.
No statements? You just got married, didn't you? You moved into a new house.
Your wife beat a murder rap yesterday. No statement. You're new.
Harry, make him go away. Harry, please.
Mrs. Striker, well, well, congratulations on all counts. Marriage, murder and money.
All right, Corker, get out.
Are you kidding? You and Evie are good for five or six more front pages.
You're my babies, my story of the year.
Look, I'm going to bounce you or you can beat me to it by walking out, but fast.
Why didn't you leave us alone? The trial's over. The state is finished with us. Why can't you...
Finished, Evie, you're acquitted, if that's what you mean.
You can never be tried again for the same murder.
Then please...
Not even if you said to me it might amuse your readers to know, Mr. Corker,
that I really did murder my grandfather. They can't touch you.
Now, look, boy, I'm going to work you over so you'll never chew a steak again.
Oh, I wouldn't.
Well, then get out of here.
Okay. But first, I came here to tell you something.
Evie, go on in the next room.
No.
What do you want, Mr. Corker?
Nothing much, Mrs. Stracker. I just wanted to tell you I'm going to do a Sunday feature on you.
I'm going to call it she hands him in the palm of her hand.
No. No, forget about us. Please.
Harry, give him some money. Tell him to stop.
Oh, you couldn't pay me enough, Evie.
The story of why you hold this guy's life in your hands is too good.
Now, what do you mean by that crack?
I knew your wife had beat the case a minute I laid eyes on her, Harry.
That holier than thou look grandfather known by one and all to be a wretched old man, Myerson as a lawyer.
You've already written about those things, Mr. Corkman.
Now, wait a minute. I'm leading up to it.
The autopsy showed your grandfather had a disease that had killed him anyway in a few months.
Anyway, so verdict suicide, huh?
Why can't you understand that? He knew. He knew he was going to die.
I don't buy it, but I buy this.
You were never brought to trial, Harry, because they couldn't tie you into it.
You had an alibi for the night the old man drank that poison.
That's right. I wasn't there.
And the DA knew that you're a photographer, among other things, and had access to cyanide,
but he couldn't hang anything on you. So you weren't tried for murder.
She was. She can't be again.
Uh, not for that one.
Harry, I'm tired of this. Mr. Corkman's trying to frighten us, that's all.
Will you ask him to leave?
Oh, hollabilly.
Go on, Corkman, get to the point.
Like I say, you weren't indicted, but, um,
you could be if your wife talked.
Talked? But there's nothing for me to talk about.
What? What could I say?
Oh, you could say that Harry got the cyanide for you,
and you worked it out together to get the old man's money.
Then they'd try Harry, but not you, Evie, because you've been acquitted.
I won't listen. I won't.
All right, Evie. Come on, Corkman. Come on.
Sure, sure, don't get sore.
If you didn't do it, you haven't got a thing to worry about, Harry.
But if you did, then you'd better be nice to Mrs. Stryker,
because maybe someday she'll get mad,
and if she talks, it's bye-bye Harry.
Come on, Corkman. So long.
You got him in the palm of your hand, Evie.
Remember, they can't touch you for it.
When Harry came back from the door, I knew what he was thinking.
What that horrible newspaper reporter had said. He wouldn't look at me.
He just went to the bar and poured a drink.
I was afraid of him.
I wanted him to hold me and tell me it was all right,
like you used to, but he didn't.
And then I wanted to run away, anywhere.
Get on a boat, fly, never see Harry Stryker again.
Run, run, run.
Where are you going, Vivian?
I need some air. I thought I'd...
Don't be silly. You don't want to go out there.
Corkman's probably still hanging around.
Harry, Harry.
What?
What is it, Nancy?
Harry, it's all right, isn't it?
I mean, you don't believe what he said.
Of course not. Of course not.
He's just a snooper. That's all.
It wasn't the money, was it, Harry?
You didn't want me just because of the money.
Oh, baby, you...
I'm not pretty. I'm not clever.
You don't love me, do you?
Why should I attract a man like you?
It was the money, wasn't it?
Wasn't it?
Look, baby, you're upset.
Now, why don't you go lie down?
It's okay. Everything's okay.
Say it!
Say you love me! You never have!
Please, Harry, look at me.
Tell me you think I'm pretty.
Harry, say nice things to me.
Tell me you love me, Harry!
Keep your voice down, Evie.
Listen, Corkman's still outside. He's listening.
Keep my voice...
That was it, then.
All the time.
That's all you cared about, the money.
It's never been me.
All I wanted was to love you and have you.
Evie, Evie, you're all upset. I'll get you a drink.
No! No!
I wish I were dead.
I wish I'd told them the truth.
I should have said I'm guilty.
We both are.
Harry and I did it.
We murdered him.
We murdered my grandfather!
Don't you ever say that again.
Don't you even think, if not to yourself.
You are listening to When the Bough Breaks,
tonight's presentation in radio's outstanding theater of thrills,
Suspense.
Have you some friends who are hard to please at Christmas?
How would you like to give that musician friend a couple of tickets
for the New York Philharmonic Symphony,
that sports fan, too, for the Orange Bowl game,
and that teenager all the records she wants?
How would you like to do all this on your budget?
It's as easy as buying a radio set and giving it for Christmas.
And now, we bring back to our Hollywood soundstage
Virginia Gregg, starring with Stacey Harris,
in tonight's production, When the Bough Breaks,
a tale well calculated to keep you in...
Suspense.
I remember the scent of our garden.
I remember when you used to swing me in the evening
before supper in the honeysuckle.
Sweet, drifting about us.
We were happy, weren't we?
Not like the sadness that came afterwards
and the bitter taste that isn't the taste of honeysuckle.
Why am I dying?
Grandfather, where are you?
Hold my hand and I shan't be afraid.
Afraid of Harry standing there so close.
This dark, angry face looking down at me.
Evie, you've got to get a hold of yourself.
Do you hear me?
Yes, yes, all right.
Now, this is no good.
Evie, don't you see what Corkeran wants?
If he can get us at each other's throats, he'll have us.
And then his lousy story.
But I wouldn't do anything to hurt you.
How can you think such a thing?
Well, then you've got to get straightened out.
The way you are now, you'll spill over the first time
that anyone puts any pressure on you.
I won't, Harry, honestly. I'll never say a word.
I won't.
I just want to be happy with you.
I want you to love me.
Sure, baby, sure.
But you've got to understand, like...
It's like Corkeran says, it's my neck now, not yours.
You've got to be careful.
Harry, maybe if I went away somewhere, alone,
maybe I could rest and forget the trial
and just go somewhere and rest.
I'd come back. You wouldn't have to worry
about me saying anything.
Everything would be all right when I came back.
You'll let me go, won't you, Harry?
You wouldn't do anything to me, Harry.
Harry, will you shut up?
Honey...
Honey, I didn't mean to do that.
You've got to believe me, I didn't.
But you see what you like, I've got to watch.
I'll even take care of you.
You hit me.
Nobody ever hit me.
Ever.
It's all right.
It's all right, Mousie.
Don't! Don't!
There.
Now do you see?
Look, look, all of a sudden you're afraid of me
and just because of that Corkeran guy.
Mousie, you mustn't be afraid of me.
We're in the clear, don't you see that?
It's all downhill now, Effie.
Your grandfather was already dying, only we didn't know it.
So when we...
when we did what we did, luck was with us.
We're in the clear that they couldn't prove anything against you.
Then they can't now.
I've always been afraid of you.
I've always done what you wanted me to do.
Part of it was because I loved you,
but most of it because I'm afraid.
You never let anything get in your way.
Grandfather was in your way.
Now maybe it's me.
What are you saying? It was all my idea?
Are you saying you never asked me to help you get rid of the old man?
I don't know what I'm saying anymore.
I'm tired.
You're tired?
Sure.
Sure, Effie, that's it.
You're tired.
I'll get the bag.
I'll get the bags out of the car, and then we'll fix something to eat, huh?
Come on.
You gotta start getting domestic, Mousy.
You're an old married woman now.
He went out to get the suitcases,
but he left the front door open.
It was too cold to leave the door open.
He wanted it that way, so that he could see me
or hear me if I picked up the telephone.
You mustn't laugh when I tell you that in the middle of the living room,
standing there, I felt the same way that I did when you punished me.
When you used to put me in the hall closet
and make me stand in the dark with the door closed.
I must have been a very naughty little girl sometimes.
Is that why I killed your grandfather?
That night I had a dream.
It was a funny dream.
There was an enormous alarm clock in the middle of the field.
The sun was shining, and you and I were dancing in time to the clicking of the clock.
Then Harry came along, and he tried to dance too,
but he was clumsy and tripped and fell down.
He waved his arms and his mouth went open and shut,
but we couldn't hear him because of the ticking.
We laughed so hard.
What are you laughing at?
What's so funny?
Harry.
Nothing. It was just a dream.
Yeah? Well, tell me about it.
I can't. I don't remember. It was just funny.
You didn't sound like you were asleep.
I was. Really I was.
Maybe you figured out a way to tip off Corcoran about me.
Maybe that's what's so funny.
No. No, Harry. It was a dream.
No, now look, you haven't been kidding me.
Why do you think I've watched every minute? I know what's on your mind.
You're wrong. I thought we were happy.
With what you're holding over my head, with what you can do to me, are you kidding?
Listen to me. I haven't slept since the trial, and do you know why?
Because I'm afraid of you.
Every time we go to the store, every time we go out anywhere,
I'm waiting, waiting for you to run calling the cops.
But I wouldn't. I've never even thought of it. Not since...
Not since yesterday, huh? You thought of it plenty then, didn't you?
Didn't you? Yes. No.
Yes, yes. And that's why you were laughing, because you figure you can get rid of me now.
No. No. No. Well, you... you know no.
And look, don't... don't... don't kid yourself. I figured out the whole thing.
I'm the one that got us in the clear, and now you want to mess it up.
Evie, I'm not going to let you.
What? What are you going to do to me?
That depends. That depends on whether or not you can keep your mouth shut.
Why did we do it? Why did we kill him?
Because you wanted the money. No!
You don't understand. I wanted you, and I wanted to get away from him.
But I'm not away.
Mousy, look, it's all right.
We've done it, and now we've got to follow it through.
You didn't want me without the money. You didn't want me at all.
Just the money. You don't love me.
It happens. I do. That's something you can't understand.
I've tried to make you believe me, and now something like this comes up, and I'm afraid.
I keep remembering that if you want to, you can send me to the chair.
Jerry, I wouldn't. I couldn't hurt you.
Well, don't worry. You won't. I'm going to watch and see that you don't.
Now go on back to sleep.
The next day he didn't talk to me at all. He didn't say a word.
We just sat around the house, and I felt ugly.
I prayed that I would suddenly be beautiful, because then he'd trust me,
and he'd know that I wouldn't hurt him.
It was after lunch that he went into the kitchen.
I wanted to watch him now, just as he was watching me.
I couldn't bear to have him out of my sight.
Supposing he went out the back door, came around to the front, and quietly crept up behind me.
I got up and stood behind the dining room door, looking through the crack.
He was taking down a vial from the closet where he kept his photographic things.
I couldn't see a label, but I knew what it was.
He put the vial in his jacket pocket and closed the closet.
I was going to be murdered with cyanide the way you were, Grandfather.
You stay in here, Evie, and keep quiet.
I'll enter the door, and I don't want to hear a sound out of you.
Good afternoon, sir. I'm your Daily Times delivery boy,
and I've come to welcome you into our community.
Sure, sure. Okay, son, some other time.
As a service to you, so that you may keep abreast of world events, your newspaper...
Now, look, buddy, we don't need a paper. You go peddle them someplace else.
Please, call someone. I'm sorry, kid, we're not interested.
You shut up.
I should have known. I get back in the living room, you're crazy.
Evie, I ought to kill you for trying that. I ought to kill you.
Kill? Kill me?
That's what he was going to do. I had to get away, or use the phone, call the police.
I needed you, Grandfather. I needed you to help me.
He walked slowly back into the living room and took off his jacket.
I thought how funny it was, just like a man before a fight.
Perhaps he thought I'd fight with him to save my life.
What is it like to die, Grandfather?
I used to ask you when I was little, when Daddy died.
It's hot in here. I'm going to have a drink.
Oh, I fixed the phone so you can forget that.
I'll only be in the kitchen so I can hear you. Don't try anything.
How was he going to use it, the cyanide?
He hadn't taken it out of his jacket pocket. It was still there. I knew it was.
I heard him open the refrigerator and get out some ice.
I didn't even have to get up. I could reach his jacket from where I sat.
I was very careful. I used my handkerchief to get the vial out.
I'd learned about fingerprints during the trial.
I knew just how much to put in a drink so that it wouldn't taste. Harry had taught me that.
I was reaching for the cork in the whiskey bottle when I heard him coming back.
Evie, why don't you keep some glasses in here?
He hadn't seen me. He hadn't.
I took the cork out of the whiskey bottle and emptied the vial of cyanide into it.
That was all. It was done.
I was sitting in my chair when Harry came back with the glasses.
What's the matter with you?
Nothing.
Are you sick?
No. No, I'm all right.
Well, you don't look all right. You'd better have a drink.
I don't want any.
Well, you're better. We've got to talk.
Don't bother to pour it. I won't drink it.
Oh, yes, you will.
I'm not going to.
It'll fix you up. Here. Drink it straight. Come on, here.
No, Harry, I don't want it. I can't stand the taste of it. Please.
Oh, now, look, don't go getting hysterical again. Please. Now, come on. It'll settle you down.
No, I won't. I won't.
Come here. Will you drink it?
Oh, me. It'll make me sick. Oh, please, Harry, don't make me.
You know I never drink. I don't want it.
Every look, it won't kill you. Now, would you rather me slap you around?
Now, come out, will you? Here. Drink it.
Go on. Drink it.
Harry, no.
Harry. Harry, no.
There was a terrible burning, Grandfather.
I tried to fight, but I couldn't.
And I saw Harry fade away. Further and further.
Until he was miles above me, leaning down and calling to me.
I can see his face, so frightened.
Then there was nothing.
It was very quiet.
Except for this swing.
Quiet.
You won't let me fall, will you?
I can't see you.
But you're there.
Hold my hand, Grandfather.
I don't want to be alone.
She's gone.
Surprised she held on so long? Cyanide cases are usually faster.
Cyanide? Now, wait a minute.
No telling.
Okay. Come on, Stryker. We're going downtown.
What are you talking about? What's this about cyanide?
What do you mean?
Didn't you know? There was an empty bottle in your jacket pocket. Your prints all over it.
On the glass she drank from.
Well, sure there are. She was having hysterics. I made her drink from it.
Cyanide never cured hysterics, Harry.
I didn't do it. Listen, I didn't kill her.
Like you didn't have anything to do with her grandfather's murder. I know.
What's the matter? She threatened to talk?
I didn't do it, I tell you. I didn't.
Okay, so you didn't do it. Come on.
No, don't you understand? I put that cyanide in my pocket because I was afraid she'd use it on me.
I wasn't going to kill her. I was trying to quiet her down.
Brother, when you quiet them down, they stay quiet.
Let's go.
Suspense
In which Virginia Gregg starred with Stacey Harris in tonight's presentation of When the Bow Breaks.
Next week, the story of Christmas shopping and a present that went astray.
We call it A Present for Benny. That's next week on Suspense.
Suspense
Suspense is produced and directed by Anthony Ellis. Tonight's script was written by Sheldon Leonard.
The music was composed by Rene Garragang and conducted by Wilbur Hatch.
Featured in the cast were Joseph Kearns, Richard Beals, and Barney Phillips.
On CBS Radio, it's authentic, literate, and dramatic. It's Gunsmoke every Saturday and Sunday.
Stay tuned for five minutes of CBS News to be followed on most of these stations by The Jack Carson Show.
Friday nights, join us in the 21st precinct on the CBS Radio Network.
The Jack Carson Show