 This is Robert Montgomery inviting you to join us for love's lovely counterfeit tonight study in Suspense an hour of suspense a full 60 minutes at this time and with the distinguished actor director Mr. Robert Montgomery as your host tonight our star in one of his rare radio appearances Mr. James Cagney our author guest mr. James M. Cain our story mr. Cain's loves lovely counterfeit a suspense play produced edited and directed by William Spear mr. Montgomery funny thing about a gun nobody likes to have a gun pointed at him and yet it gives you a sort of a phony sense of power to hold one in your hand to do the pointing the gun itself is cold steel its message is written in hot lead and the death it brings is cold again I still don't know anyone who thinks a gun going off makes a pleasant sound I suppose a lot depends on knowing why the guy who points it wants to fire it and what kind of a gun it is guns have personalities a fat blue revolver is a lot different character from the first slim rifle you get when you're a kid you take a rifle like that they look clean they are clean but did you ever take a good look at an automatic a 45 nothing healthy looking about those babies something very final about an automatic there for the tough boys probably you haven't known any tough boys personally but you read about them and heard about them and high caliber actors like James Cagney have made them live for you on the screen you want to know how it is to meet a tough boy we've got one for you names Ben Grace and Jim Cagney's portrayal of him tonight reflects an important ingredient of suspense because of the character as James M came drew it and because of the masterful interpretation you are about to hear a respected actor and my friend James Cagney has been grace in love's lovely count of it I'm writing this lying in a nice clean bed with the sunlight coming in the window and nothing to do but look out at the people walking along the streets and the kids playing in the park and any little thing I want all I have to do is ask to a lot of poor guys nowadays that had probably sounds like the softest spot in the world but with me a couple of slight disadvantages I think you'll see what I mean how I got here and that begins when I went to work driving for Sal Casper you haven't been in Lake City chances are you've never even heard of Sal Casper but Sal is the kind of a boy who would have got plenty of headlines he would operate in the big city he had the bookies dope gambling everything and he owned the best commercial hotel in town as a front the only trouble with Sal was he was mean and he was greedy but I never had any real kick coming until that Friday morning last June that I'm going to tell you about I got in a call and I went up to Sal's private office in the hotel I knocked on the door and a minute the slot opened up and it was lefty Gauss looking out through the slot to give me the one soldier oh oh it's you huh hey come on in Sal here yet no no not yet he ought to be pretty soon though what's he got on his mind I wouldn't know Ben this is supposed to be my day off well I hope you didn't make any heavy dates oh so you don't know a thing about it huh not enough to tell you Ben okay hey huh what what's that huh oh that must be those poor suckers the citizens league have in the political parade yeah there they are you can see through the window just coming in the main street say that uh that must be Jansen huh the guy there running from there yeah that's right now in the backseat of the big open packet oh who's the doll riding with him what's the matter Ben don't you read the papers sure I read the ladder who's that Daisy May her name is June Lyons Jesus new secretary or something but everybody says she's the brains of his campaign yeah I could use a little brains like that myself no no not that kind you couldn't not that missionary kind uh what uh what about this Jansen ah not a chance putting out a lot of publicity you must have some dough behind him ah you can't elect a reform ticket in the town like this the machine's too strong Ben not unless you've got some dirt some real dirty dirt that stinks so bad people just can't ignore it then the machine boys can't put the pressure on but otherwise everybody knows Saal is backing Maddox he even brags about it in the papers sure and who's going to get anything on Saul with half the police force on his payroll Saul isn't even worried huh why should he be Saul puts up the dough Maddox wins again and Saul keeps on running the town yeah house muscle bound how are those big broad shoulders hey I haven't built right into my suit you ought to try that saw might make you look like a man what's that crack supposed to me what's the matter fellas can't you take a joke so can I what you got on this afternoon Benny I guess you forgot this is my day off I said what you got on this afternoon oh nothing that I can remember now why little job what kind of a job gotta tip some friends of mine may be a little trouble something about a bank why don't you stick to the bookies and the gambling sale you'll be safer listen Benny any time you think you're big enough to run this business just let me know I'll be glad to work something out for you what's the job these kids are gonna crack the castle and place national just after closing time it's loaded on Fridays it ought to be a big hall yeah they got a they got a room here in this hotel room 480 I'll be back here about 330 now you see I own this hotel and I want you to go up collect the room rent you're giving them pretty good protection so I figure it'll come to about 20 grand yeah well figure on some getting somebody else to collect it what I said get somebody else I don't like guns and I don't like gunsles and you know it listen listen you punk you think you're a big guy don't you a big guy with muscles and I'm just a little guy that's what you think isn't it isn't it but if you try to cross me I'll have you crawling me on your hands and knees oh and I get through with you you'll beg me to use a gun on you because you're yellow aren't you aren't you what's the room number 480 come on lefty okay that was lousy skip it you're gonna do it though aren't you sure I'll see you up there 315 by the way oh what did you say that dame's name was what dame that dame with Jansen that brains of the opposition you mean June lion yeah that's it now now wait a minute have been wait a minute you know that's poison by Saul even thought you had you know lefty miss lion's interests me in more ways than one an election from mayor in a place like lake city can be a pretty tight little situation particularly if the town has been run for years by our mobster like Saul Casper and I knew that with me working for Saul playing around with the opposition wasn't exactly the healthiest pastime in the world but when I saw that June lion's doll that was running their campaign there was something about her that gave me an idea that's why I phoned her and she said okay I met her at an instant section a little ways out from the main part of town she described the car and given me the license number she drove up as though she had stopped for the light just like I had told her I got in and light change she drove on for a minute we just sat there nobody said anything then the least I expected was a blue chin and a broken nose you're disappointed a little what's this hot tip you told me about over the phone I don't have much time what's the matter you're worried not particularly you don't have to be I'm not interested in you where are we going just keep driving around but keep out of the main part of town is it as melodramatic as all that could be for me why do you want to see Janssen elected I don't oh well then what why did suppose you let me ask the question all right I'll ask you the same one why are you working for Janssen I'm just one of those crazy idealists I guess just a missionary huh well Janssen may not be the best man in the world but at least he isn't hooked up with a racketeer like Saul Casper the way Maddox is June June now is it what's your name maybe I'll tell you that later and maybe I won't listen June if you were one of those earnest kids who stand around on street corners handing out leaflets I might believe you wanted to reform the world but you're not I know that you know that electing Janssen isn't going to reform the world or even reform Lake City it just doesn't make that much difference oh well it does to me let me out of the next corner with you why because if you're like that I don't know how to deal with you and if you're lying I don't trust you but I'm not lying I'll get out here wait a minute why listen it's partly that but there is something else too like what if Janssen wins of course I'll get a city job out of it a good one that's more like yeah but I want to explain what why I wanted you don't have to explain anything but I want to I'm a lawyer at least I've got a degree from law school and I want to be a good lawyer if you start on on your own it can take years but but with the right job at city hall you can build up a practice in no time the others partly true but but this is this is about 90% of it okay as long as it's the door you're thinking about we can do business it isn't just money I know now listen if I give some dirt on Sal Casper I will send them up for 10 years or so Janssen wins right oh if you can prove it you're going to prove it three punks from Chicago are sticking up the castle in First National Bank at about three this afternoon Sal Casper is hiding them out at his hotel room 480 if there's any shooting at the bank and anybody gets killed it'll be that much better it will happen for accessory to murder have your people there at four o'clock I'll take care of the rest you must have been to college too what to think of one like that in the first place who's going to arrest Sal Casper in Lake City the second place that we come out with this and it can't be proved it's criminal libel and that's all Janssen needs to really lose so what do you think I think you're working for Maddox and Casper that could be but at least I know my law what law the castle and bank is ensured by the government that makes the stick up a federal wrap if you want the number of the FBI I'll give it to you oh that's for the second place have you ever heard of a guy named Ben Grace Ben Grace is one of Sal Casper's gang isn't he that's right he's my driver's license with a picture on it not a very good one but there there is a resemblance the name is Bennett J Grace oh you can turn left here all right does that make any difference what that I work for Sal Casper no it doesn't well should because a I put myself on the spot giving you this plenty and B I'm not a guy who's in a very good position to go around giving phony tips to the FBI you can pull up right here huh where is this this is where I live oh anything else yes just why are you doing this because I just decided the Salie Casper is an old meanie and I don't like him is that enough if you say so room 480 at four o'clock Ben yeah will I see you afterwards don't worry baby you'll see me I was back at the hotel by 315 things were going pretty good the one thing I was afraid of that she'd want to call in the pedals before the stick up she never even mentioned I knew she was my kind the minute you began to talk about the dough when I got up to room 480 left he was already there lying on the bed reading the paper so this is room 480 looks just like room 481 how you left it okay sit down on a bottle of beer no you uh you didn't take it too hard what Sally said did you can't say I liked it what time is it a couple minutes for yeah it's too bad about you Ben what's too bad the way I got you figured Ben you're a chiseler then what that's all sounds like there might be more not unless you ask for it okay I'm asking for it lefty well Ben a chiseler's like this he isn't crooked and he isn't straight either he's he's just in between but above all he doesn't like trouble maybe he's just smart I don't say he isn't oh he'll always make pretty good dough and he'll die in a nice clean bed with a doctor certificate instead of a coroner's but he'll never be a big operator no uh-uh now a big operator he runs it or he doesn't operate and that means he doesn't mind a little trouble once in a while I guess that's right and that's too bad Ben because you got brains now me well I'm different how's that because I I don't mind the trouble but I don't have the brains oh I wouldn't who told you that I know I know 10 years in stir off and on didn't help any and I didn't have much to begin with did I ever tell you how I started Ben no Ben I was a preacher or what do you expect yes a preacher so helping I was by rights I still am look here I got the license right here in my war yeah it was one of those hillbilly outfits and the bishop as he called himself he was so far away from where I was that he never even heard about me I guess anyway he never canceled the license the Reverend Richard Jose gas haha that's one for the books lefty eh I was just a kid but I got hooked up with one of those big-time evangelists and if I stuck with it I could have hit the big time myself and there's plenty of dough in that racket but you know what I did first time we really make a big take I tie a handkerchief over my face and get me a rod and stick up the cash box and they caught me and that's how I know I haven't got the brains I wouldn't let that's not what's worrying me now Ben what is what is what's going to be happening in here in a couple of minutes ever sat in on a divvy before Ben no and I wouldn't be now except for the manpower shortage these are three wild kids Ben chances are they'll be coped to the ears and slobbering at the mouth with half being half scared to death and half crazy with excitement thinking how much do they got and what big shot public enemies they are and we you and I we got to walk up and take 20 grand away from them all right they know that yeah no and it's one thing kicking in with it's another and suppose uh Sally's double cross this how suppose he didn't tell the kids how much his cut was suppose he left it for us to break the nose they just come from maybe killing a couple of people for 40 grand maybe they just assume kill a couple of more to keep the 20 maybe so now we're going to find out I'm the man that collects the room rent yeah stick them up first come Marty okay Johnny I don't need a rod to handle punks like you this guy's clean Johnny yeah what about the other one he's with me and he's got a gun and don't try to take it away from him because it's an old family heirloom and he's very fond of it yeah oh yeah okay stop acting like something you've seen in the movies and put that cannon away you might drop it and break somebody's foot what's the matter with your pal here he got shot anybody else no the guard shot him when we were pulling out better get him over on the bed he's out of his head yeah and you get the dough did we get the dough look at this wise guy 40 grand maybe more look at it touch it taste it smell it what about it sucker you ever see so much double four in your life sure I work in the mint you know how much this room is costing you how much 20 grand 20 grand that's right I'll be back after a while I collect it what are you going to do with your pal there with the holes in it I don't know you know that's bad don't you why the kids out of his head already suppose he makes trouble start screaming or something you got doctors haven't you sure that kind of a doctor that's one more guy they'll have to get a cut pretty soon you guys won't have anything left but small change that's what you think but of course maybe the kid will die and then what do we do that's even worse oh no no that that would be easy then we just take him out of here at night and dump him someplace oh and if the kid was to die there will be one less guy who had to get a cut wouldn't it huh yeah well come on lefty okay we'll be seeing you yeah I hope you know what you're doing Ben I don't know what do you think I think so come on I got the room next door you know you're just as good as signed that kid's death warrant don't you that's right the other tool knock him off now before we got time to get this miss miss miss miss miss no no they did it yeah maybe we better call sol huh I hope you know what you're doing uh give me mr casper's room uh sol yeah who's this Ben uh you better come up to room before 80 sol why they want to see you personally why I said they want to see you personally I still want to know why you want your door don't you you're supposed to be the I'm not going to wrestle those punks for your purse okay charles I'll be right up and show you how it's done maybe right up then what what do you mean then well Ben yeah if you got any little plans you know I'm all form don't you sure and you know I hope they come up don't you sure but if they don't come up you know where I stand on that too don't you I know you stand right behind me with a gun in my back just so you know Ben I can see how you'd have made a preacher lefty you've got a terrible streak of honesty in you just so you know what's going on here what's going on oh uh mr casper there's been a little trouble mr casper what kind of trouble the arch here he just died right he was shot yeah all right so we'll get him out of here tonight we got the dough sure sure we got it let's see it here all right put up your hands what's this department of justice we're all under arrest that's all town where you're going I got a date with a missionary in tonight's full hour of suspense james cagney is our star mr cagney appears as ben grace with kathy lewis as june lions and walley mayor as lefty gauss in williams pierce production of love's lovely counterfeit tonight study in suspense in just a moment we will return with act two of suspense this is cbs the columbia broadcasting system this is robert montgomery again when such incompatible words as lovely and counterfeit found themselves together in the title of tonight's story by james cain they said a lot not only about the story but about the man ben grace as well elements of both words crowded through him on the one side for example was his dislike for meanness and greed and on the other side something forged fictitious false that was a smooth operation he pulled and he was going to get even smoother as he went along but it never got ben grace anything but trouble because the smoother he got the further he got away from the true ben grace a real lost guy trying to find north and maybe for him june lions could be north but ben wouldn't stop long enough to take a reading as james cain described them in the novel whatever it was june needed in life ben had it for her and when she was with him and she acted with that complete abandon of a novice having her first drink constantly he watched her he studied her as though he were trying to make up his mind about something or to figure out something into which she definitely fitted and then he began to really look at her it was the first time he had really studied this girl who had started such a chain of circumstances in his life and he looked with a lively interest it was all the more lively since he was unable to connect this face with all that he had learned about its owner it was in anybody's contest an extremely beautiful face it was perfectly chiseled in profile at least it slightly droopy lines reminding him of pictures he had seen of ancient sculpture there was some exquisite invitation about the mouth it pursed a little with an expression of expectancy the skin was soft with just a brush of bloom on it the figure was lovely too not too tall but slender soft and willowy he had the dizzy half nauseated feeling of a man who has been rocked to his heels by a woman and knows it and so continues the history of ben grace in james m canes love's lovely counterfeit played out for us by james cagney in a narrative well calculated to keep you in suspense after that the action moved along just the way i'd seen the play in my mind sal might have had a six to an even chance beating the rap of having the t loaded kids in the hotel but when the guns were checked against the wounds in the stiff the beef was murdered and that was one beef sal couldn't square janson walked into the city hall on a bread plush carpet and june she got the job she was after jansen's first day in the driver's seat was celebrated by the cocktail party at june's house all the loyal party workers were invited to receive the thanks of his honor i called june on the phone when i heard about it she hammed and bought around a little and then she finally asked me if i'd like to like to come didn't seem too anxious but i i wasn't going to miss this chance to meet the mayor she told me i could bring a friend if i liked i said i would i suddenly realized that i i didn't have any friends i brought lefty was a corny house a depressing pile of wooden stucco with four tired walls leaning in against the sagging roof for support june was nervous when she saw me i introduced her to the left hello how do you do i'm glad you could come how you been and i saw us thank you um you know everyone here ben um everyone i want to know well uh there's there's a bar in the alcove over there you got any beer all you can drink mr gas you want to make book ben uh you'll excuse me while i speak oh sure sure you just go right ahead and host us like crazy i'll just drift around thank you ben i'll see you later class ben real class educated dude huh that she is lefty that she is well how about the suds benny then we'll go pay our irrespective to his honor how do you do i'm mrs lyon june zan how do you how do you do mrs lyons my name is grace this is mr gox i'm so glad you're here mr my name is gals lefty gals oh i'm sorry i don't hear very well so hey excuse me you'll find me in the suds ben excuse me have you met mr uh jansen yet no i'm looking forward to that oh he's a wonderful man just a wonderful man nice and settled in with a wonderful future don't you think so i think i'll be able to tell more about his future after i've talked to him exactly my very words to do i can see things like that i beg your pardon then you agree with me oh of course you do you look like a very intelligent young man mrs lyons you don't make much sense exactly what i've been telling june but she just says oh be quiet oh for heaven's sake auntie be quiet i can understand that oh if you really would encourage him to grace you see she never tells me a thing never thinks i'm dumb so i don't have good sense but i see things i can tell you why he's so crazy about her that all she'd have to do is lift her little finger to marry him just a little finger mary mary who yes and it will be such a fine match for june mrs olas jansen whiteness and man oh goodness i i get dizzy when i just think of it yeah and i know what you mean there too oh there he's there he's oh mr mayer mr jansen well how are you mrs lyons mr jansen this is mr mr the name is grace ben grace ben grace eh that's right your honor june uh mrs lyons tells me that you've been very may i congratulate you your honor thank you i was about to say that mrs lyons tells me that you work to help make my election possible how very clever of you mr jansen i did what i could your honor please accept my sincere thanks mr grace it's highly encouraging to find young men fighting for good clean government government is my hobby really and uh if i might make a suggestion of course this town needs a cleaning from addicts or seller there we agree mr grace and you'll need the right man a chief of police to help you do that are you uh ambitious for a police career now oh no no no your honor myself i have no ambitions but i think i can suggest the man you need cantral joseph cantral cantral that's the man but i've just thrown him out he was one of sol casper's rats i i'm sorry to use words like that you work for sol yourself didn't you mr grace you uh you mustn't get emotional about these things your honor i'm sorry sir but i fail to follow your reasoning or your emotions you said you wanted to clean up this town you'll have to appoint the best available man to do that for you if you go through the list you'll find that cantral is the best officer on the force he's got more copper and him than a ton of pennies it wasn't his fault that a crook got elected and he had to play along give him half a break and he's the best law enforcement officer in the country and the good officer is what you'll have to have if you're going to deliver what you promised the you can't deliver with jerks and thugs now let me tell you something silly man let me make this very clear mr grace when the people of lake city voted for me i promised them that i gave your breath your honor i heard all your campaign speeches mrs lands may i take you to the bar for a ginger ale are they really mr jansen we've been waiting a long time you're leaving so soon now that you mentioned it i i guess i am have you met mr jansen i met him what do you think of him i think he's a very educated gentleman but he learned he learned and you know what i think i'm in love with you i think i love you too the next couple of weeks while casper is waiting trial i let everything coast everything that is but but you there i kept the motor running and finally the night arrived when there's time for me to step on the gas secret bite the piano and less keys to punch on me less keys but more music junie he's stuck on you isn't he man's name his honor the mayor sure you don't generate a little amperage for him oh then you you can ask that fix me another drink all right yes nice little apartment you have here makes that home you lived in before the election looked like a flea bag well i earn a little better i live a little better sure ben why'd you ask me that ask you what about jansen skip it no no then i want to know why kind of got that notion from the way he always shows up here after i bring you home at night and stays for a while you're wrong ben don't give me a razzle dazzle angel i've clocked him in and out you know me better than that ben he has no personal interest in me honest it it's just business it's the things we have to talk over not enough hours in the city hall day huh it's lonely sometimes in the evening you know his wife just died and that's what i mean all right ben he likes me and i i just feel sorry for him honest he's so grateful if i just let him come in and just sit for an hour and talk grateful oh ben please you probably got him jumping through hoops i'd rather have you jumping through hoops you know when i was a kid my old man used to say banny'd say don't ever jump through a hoop course from the hoop it's only a hop to the halter and then you drop the h and what are you left with the altar oh where'd you jensen coming here again tonight oh not if you object oh i don't object that's better then there's nothing to be jealous of you uh you could ask him a favor though june all right anything you say ask him to appoint cantal chief of police a point can't whom did you say you heard me ben what on earth are you talking about cantral but he's a crook but well he was hand in glove with sol casper how could jensen appoint cantral it would make a laughing stock of the whole campaign oh ben he can't appoint cantral okay ben where are you going oh the bed i gotta make an early train in the morning where to new york you're going away ben guys got to think about his future nothing for me in this town that's the way you played it get rid of sol casper and go after me and then when you found out that jansons in love with me you you thought you had him that through me you could make him do whatever you want get cantral made the chief and then you you can run this town just the way casper did well you won't goodbye angel don't forget to dust in the corners lock your door at night and peek under the bed ben close the door ben from the inside it was a question of who would break first june or ben grace and she broke maybe seconds before i would have turned back to her with all my hard boiled off the arm toughness melted away in little pools at her feet but that was something i couldn't ever let her know the next morning i found lefty in the blue bottle blowing the head off his glass of breakfast oh hi ben sit lefty how much it's all pay you the truth ben 35 what a week so go ahead laugh let's see it left for all i did gambling my neck every other day 35 a week and i took it hey that's the funny part i i took it you can start tomorrow at 50 who for now on i'm running it so it was you all the way down the line you were the tip step so what nothing ben nothing what is it lefty what is it only this benny is see i call you benny that's because i like you yeah i like you and that's maybe why you're a great success makes me a little sad listen reverend hosey the only revival i'm interested in is reviving the fortunes of ben grace you got anything else to say not a thing i got not a word to say pals two beers ben and they're on you so i took over where salt casper dropped out we moved things around a little to make it look respectable but the bookies and the gambling joints and so on kept right on in business and i collected wasn't hey things were fine just fine my evenings were filled with june and my days with putting the automatic pump on the town like the day i finally got around to the office of bleaker and yates the lawyers oliver bleaker had been elected district attorney along with jansen so it was misty yates the junior partner that i wanted to see and what do you want with me uh you know anything about pinball misty yates well i played the machines once in a while i guess i mean the hookup well not exactly uh you reform guys you don't know much to you is it important listen closely misty yates because i'm only going around once there are five thousand pinball machines in lake city and they're owned by a few hundred scrimy jerks you know what those machines take in a month more than a hundred thousand dollars a bigger fund that's what i said one hundred thousand dollars they're still going strong but what happens to them in the very near future depends on your partner mr bleaker the new da i can't tell you what he's going to do well i've got a flash for you i say that as far as lake city is concerned pinball is finished or because it's gambling and it's wrong but to the extent that it's a game of skill it's good clean recreation and that's not against the law i'm going to bring a new kind of machine into lake city if as and when the old ones are tossed out but this much i've got to know before i bring five thousand machines in will mine be legal no gambling no payoff only a certificate if you make a homerun now you know bleaker you can put a certain legal question to it no well uh the next thing the next thing is to protect the interests of the little storekeepers will use my machines i'm going to organize an association the association will need an attorney the attorney will get a very respectable retainer by the year yeah those machines will do a hundred thousand dollars a month and i want you to be the lawyer for the association well there's a little question of uh ethics here that i figure the attorney should get to five percent of the take you see mister i'm bleaker's partner maybe even as much as 10 percent but you see the ethics of the situation well if you're busy you're busy studying ethics maybe you wouldn't have time to handle this job mr yates no hard feelings i'll just look for another man no no no just a minute i i would like to think it over a bit sure have to talk to mr bleaker about it see what he thinks of the propriety of my accepting was a gem now i get it well uh shall we meet again say next week next week is fine and next week was fine joey cantrell was appointed chief of police the da listened to the legal advice of his partner mr yates and decided was for the good of the community to yank all those hard and nasty pinball machines and save the citizens the temptations of gambling chief cantrell's first official job was to supervise the smashing of these machines which had been condemned i went around to see how he was getting off before he got smashed too many and don't forget if any nickels roll out they belong to city what's no ban they uh tell him the whole of them in a will you uh oh yeah yeah hey you guys quit it will hold up there will you there's too much noise come on hold up the condom nationals machines a minute okay joe you ever been abroad no neither have i but i have been to mexico mexico south of the real grand war is across the river from el paso well when when i came back i thought i'd bring in some perfume yeah so what so this on some of that perfume they got a rule that the customs officer has to destroy the label before it's brought in you got that you're still listening you know how he destroyed it no but i'm dying to hear he drew a blue pencil across it he made one blue mark and that legally destroyed it the man put a blue pencil right through if one blue mark will destroy a label why won't it destroy your pinball machine oh say you sure do think of things don't you i do my best you mean destroy it legally legally got a blue pencil i could try i just happened to have one with me then we'll see look at that i just destroyed it see now another thing joe yeah uh you'll want those trucks again uh to haul the destroyed machines over to the reservoir street dump well i guess they gotta be put someplace all right i'll have them here tonight funny how a blue pencil ruins stuff isn't it oh and another thing yeah just one sign those vouchers for what for the trucks the trucks i furnished the city yesterday to haul these various gambling devices from various and sundry addresses here to the ninth street police warehouse three thousand bucks in all a slow up boy slow up cost money to clean up a town joe okay but don't run a good thing to death it's the people's will huh you forgot that mandate to cleanliness sign and that's the way it went and with the little remodeling those pinball machines were back at their old stands but now they were working for ben graze yep whatever i touched turned green with pictures of presidents on it things were going so good i started a worry but i knew that the real worry was going to be june i knew she was going to spring in on me sooner or later and that was last night when i was out at her new place that she decided to get it off her chest then i want to talk to you what about don't you know yeah i guess maybe i do we can't go on like this ben it isn't right it isn't fair to jansen it isn't fair to it isn't fair to me what what's so unfair about it oh ben you know what's unfair about it mr jansen promised the people electricity that if he got elected he'd clean up the town all right why doesn't he do it he's had six months because he doesn't even know what's going on great then watch the beat i know what's going on the horse racing places the gambling places all the other places are just as open as they ever were and i know who's keeping them open what you do i am listen honey if i wasn't bossing the organization someone else would be people like to bet people like to gamble oh ben don't you see i'm a city official i have an obligation to the people of this community to the people who elected jansen because they believe that that he's still a missionary huh well i'm not a racketeer maybe not but you're the next thing to it what do you mean where do you think the dough came from for that car i got you and the fur coat in this place you never told me did i have to you knew i didn't get it my long lost uncle why don't you admit it baby you're a chiseler am i sure just like me only i'm honest about it you're not then i will be i will be starting now starting right tonight what are you gonna do turn me in oh ben maybe your big mistake was falling in love with me baby now there isn't what you can do about it is there oh then quit it get out of it please for my sake just because i don't like it just because i hate it maybe i don't like it either it's all i know how to do then what was higher bennie so surprise kind of did you break out yeah yeah just to see you bennie put up your hands you know i never carry a rod yeah maybe you sort of wish you did now huh muscles not that you have a chance to use it what are you going to do i'm gonna kill your boyfriend sweetheart no when i've done that i think i'll think it's something real nice to do to you then you sit right there we are sweetheart when you start backing up to that door slow it's a bathroom isn't it yeah i think i'll kill you in the bathtub bennie that way be nice and quiet and there won't be so much mess now reach behind you real careful and open the door when i tell you to stop back and then you back in all right stop back in is he dead since when have you been carrying a gun just lately i've been are you all right i just want to sit down a minute we got to get out of here baby oh yes then we'll go away we'll get out of the country we'll go to canada sure and we can get married there you do want to marry me don't you then you know i do baby and you can get work up there benn i'll do something too and we'll do something decent with our lives darling i know it's been partly my fault and no i've just been weak but it isn't too late to begin again is it is it maybe not but your aim on that second shot wasn't too good baby then so there's just one thing that's stopping us benn what the bullet hole in my belly so that's how i came to wake up in this nice clean bed with nothing to do would look out the window at the kids playing in the park it's a hospital there was a big cop here with me with his chair tilted up against the wall reading the paper hey flat foot hi hello big shot you've been in the landed nod haven't you what are you doing here reading the funny papers can't you tell why can't you read them at home because there's been a little thing that we policemen call murder big shot and you're what we call a material witness where's june june lions he's in a nice cozy cell big shot when she comes to trial your statement will probably send her up for five or ten years to another nice cozy cell what statement oh you'll talk yeah you know what you got big shot uh-huh i got ventilated with a lead slug but that's not all big shot you got peridonitis i have so what so i have seen guys with peridonitis before you know what happens first they start getting a fever then they get kind of lightheaded then they get thirsty terribly thirsty and after a while they get so you can make them talk without they hardly know that they're talking oh you'll talk all right you think so i know so get chief cantrell on the phone chief cantrell ain't chief anymore as a result of these unfortunate series of events seems mare jansen began to wonder about him where's lefty gas you mean your faithful servant right outside can i talk to him alone sure why not how how is he nurse it's hard to say yeah hey putty knows your boss wants to see you thanks you funny funny fella high event how you feeling not too good well he just goes to show you don't it they're all alike who are all alike these big shots and make a lot of dope for a while and then bingo what good's it done he seems like a nice man no oh ben sure he's nice enough to guess i got nothing against him i just say it's a sucker's racket that's all me i want to live to be a grandfather my grandfather you got to start by being a father you know i know my daddy told me all about that just the other day well i'm going back in have you got it all lefty hello flat foot what did you have now big son uh you say there the da wants me to talk uh maybe he was just pretending well suppose i had i suppose i had some conditions like what oh like i only talk in the apartment where it happened june lion's apartment and and june lion's has got to be there and lefty here lefty here too to back up some things that i might say that might be arranged all right now you think there you think the da might forget a couple of those little things he's been holding against me if i talk that'd be the general idea all right you can close the door as you go out and tell the da to be around in about in about an hour i'll talk that cop was right i'm beginning to feel a little wacky already but the da said he'd do it they're going to take me out there in an ambulance tonight if june only catches on but she's smart she's a lawyer this may be the last chance i'll have to write but don't worry whichever way it comes out you can read all about it in the papers saying is that i won't be responsible dragging a man in his condition way out here in an ambulance lugging him up three flights of stairs on a stretcher doc that's the way he wanted and that's the way it's going to be now all right all right everybody here miss lion lefty goes yes yes all right how is he doctor i've already told you but uh he can talk not worrying about me mr da you're breaking my heart and are you ready to start then yes i'm ready do you bend take this woman june to be thy lawful wedded wife to love and to cherish for better for worse till death to your part i do hey what are you what are you june take this man ben to be thy lawful wedded husband to love and to cherish for better for worse till death to your part i do i pronounce your dog yes i do i'm a licensed preacher and this apartment is outside the city jurisdiction it's in the county and this marriage license was taken out at the county courthouse one minute before they closed today and when i sign it brother it's legal i pronounce you men and wife i uh i suppose you've heard that a man can't testify against his wife mr da yeah i know by the way do you uh do you mind if i kiss the bride go ahead oh then honey that was the finest thing that was nice oh then the face is so hot yeah i thought maybe i was going to make it baby but i guess i'm not then then doctor quick so long so long missionary missus missionary but we pray that you receive the spirit of our daily department and to forgive him his trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us mr montgomery i'm sure you'll agree with me when i say that it has been completely wonderful to hear a performance like the one we've just heard i say like the one we've just heard but that's a futile phrase because there's no one like jim cagney for the benefit of late comers our star tonight on suspense was the one and only mr cagney our deepest appreciation jim thank you bob it's a great part i enjoyed doing it which brings us properly and with gratitude to the author who conceived it mr james m cayne who does us further on it by appearing here with us now and who wishes he had a fresh choice of superlatives handy bob briefly i thought it was excellent of course it isn't exactly startling to learn all over again and jim cagney is a splendid dramatic actor you know bob i can tell you what i think is the particular element that makes king the most powerful writer of true suspense fiction in america you and you interest me jim he's always got a man and a woman the crime the violence murder is an inevitable climax an explosion of the energy that is two people generate from being in love boy meets girl boy wants girl boy kills on a count of it if he has to a well any author hates to think he is a formula man no matter how good the formula is but i suppose broadly speaking my crimes are crimes of passion and successful suspenseful stories all of them the postman always rings twice double indemnity mildred pierce serenade not to mention love's lovely counterfeit or rather to mention it again long enough me to applaud two fine performances by kathy louis who played june tonight and walley mayer was lefty to the supporting players my thanks you're a great company and a special bow in the direction of bill spear your producer director deluxe he beat me to the draw jim but my congratulations to to all concern and may i ask who did the writing of the radio play adapted from my novel to a radio's finest writers robert richards and jason james i think the adaptation was excellent everybody's name is james with a few notable exceptions lug glaskin who is our musical director and conductor and lucia lucian morrowick who composes our original scores i suppose there'll be a james or two around next week bob not a one james not a one next week june havoc will appear as the heroine of one of the most thrilling novels cornell will rich ever wrote you a black angel you have a listener you have two will hold you to it good night and good night to you ladies and gentlemen mr montgomery may currently be seen in the universal international production ride the pink horse mr cagney will soon appear in the delightful motion picture version of william saroyan's the time of your life next week here miss june havoc as star on radio's outstanding theater of thrills one hour of suspense this is cbs the columbia broadcasting