 Suspense! Autolight and its 96,000 dealers present Mr. Dan Daly in Six Feet Under, a suspense play produced and edited by William Spear. Harlow, did you know that in the springtime a young man's fancy turns to... The world famous quality and performance of ignition engineered autolight spark plugs? Well... Autolight, you know, is the world's largest independent manufacturer of automotive electrical equipment. And when you come right down to it, who knows more about the best spark plugs for your car than autolight ignition engineers, the men who design coils, distributors, and all the other important parts that go to make up the complete automotive electrical system? Why, it's the skill of the same autolight ignition engineers that made possible the practical development of the Autolight resistor spark plug, the greatest advancement in spark plug design for automotive use in the past 20 years. Have you no sentiments about spring? Sure, hap, spring into your car tomorrow and see your friendly autolight spark plug dealer. Have him replace worn out spark plugs with world famous ignition engineered autolight spark plugs. Whether you choose the resistor type or the regular type, you can't buy a better spark plug for your car because you're always right with autolight. And now with Six Feet Under and the performance of Dan Daly, autolight hopes once again to keep you in suspense. You'll never know what it's like down there. You're six feet under 10 hours a day without food or water, with that light on your face so the yokels can pay their dimes and stare down at you. It's like being dead only you know what's going on. The pump that feeds the air down to you seems to be keeping time with your heartbeat and you can't help thinking that if it ever stops, the heartbeat will stop with it. You get a lot of time to think down there, to think of all the things that can happen. And when the show closes for the night and they dig you up, you head for the nearest bar to forget all the crazy things you've been thinking. What'll it be? Double whiskey beer chaser. You with the carnival? Yeah. Must be interesting. What do you do? Got a side show. Fill this up, will you? Sure. What's your trick? Sword swallowing? Now I roll over and play dead. Oh, you're the guy that's buried alive. Yeah, I saw you this afternoon with the matinee. He took the kids over. Yeah. What are you raising? A couple of undertakers? Oh, I didn't take them in the tent. Seemed kind of a morbid thing for kids. But not for you. What do you mean? Skip it. How about hitting this glass again? Okay. Now that people see that act of yours, the tent was crowded. I kind of thought it'd be different. How different? Well, paying a dime a head just to look down at you through that glass. It's not a bad racket you got there. Yeah, big, fat, happy racket. Not tough like standing behind a bar and breathing and eating and moving whenever you want to. Well, if you think it's a hot dig yourself a hole and pull up a car for nobody stopping you. You want another drink? Call me. Just leave the bottle. I'm still alive. I can pour my own. Do it yourself, friend. They're all the same. They paid a dime to look at you down there. But if they saw you later above the ground, they acted like you were cheating them. Like you owed it to them to stay buried or they won't get no money's worth. I used to do another act. A juggling act. An act that took me years of sweating practice to learn. But nobody came to see that. You had to learn a dog's trick to make a living. You had to trust people. People you're wondered about. Hello, Jack. Good luck. Come on, get lost, Cliff. Don't follow me around. Merriam sent me out to find you. She knows where I am 10 hours a day. That's more than most wives know. Merriam was my wife. I'd spend a little time with her. You spend quite a little time with her, is it, Cliff? Quite a little time. You're talking through that bottle, Jack. Merriam and I are old friends. Yeah, I heard about it. Lots of times. You were a stage door Johnny when she worked on burlesque, weren't you? I used to laugh about you. That was before you came to work for us, but now I don't laugh anymore, Cliff. Now I wonder. You're drunk. Am I? What's a guy like you doing around a carnival, Cliff? You were a big shot accountant with a good business. And all of a sudden you chuck everything to learn to be a barker for a pitch like mine. And it digs me out of that hole every night. I'm not complaining. Why should you? Because I figure you got to have a reason, Cliff. I figure that maybe some night you're going to forget to dig. Oh, you're being ridiculous, Jack. Sure. Only you still haven't told me why you joined the show, Cliff. That's my business. Oh, never mind. I'll tell you. Because you're in love with Merriam and it's killing you to see her married to me. All right, Jack. That's part of it. Sure, I love Merriam, but that isn't what's killing me. A bad heart is a thing that's killing me. What do you mean? I chucked my business and joined the show because I've only got about a year to live. Merriam is the only thing in the world I care about and I wanted to be nearer. That's a very touching story, pal. What am I supposed to do? Break down and cry? Jack, I'd do anything to see Merriam happy. And if it meant killing you, I could do it without batting an eye. Because I've got nothing to lose. I want you to know that. That's good, Cliff. Now we understand each other. Have a drink. I don't want one. Oh, well, this ain't just an ordinary drink, Cliff. This is a toast. The one of us. To the guy who buries the other one. For good. It was a fool thing to do. A mistake. Because he'd play his cards closer now. If I told him to pack up and get out, he might take Merriam with him. And I was crazy about Merriam. Something was wrong between us, but I was still crazy about her. I had to know I had to wait to find out if he could take her from me. And that meant I had to keep him around. And every day he'd have me helpless down there in that hole like a baby. I didn't want to drink anymore. I went back to the tent and tried to sleep. But I kept having that same dream over and over again. Not a picture dream, but a dream and sound. The sound of that air pump that kept me alive down there. It got slower and slower. And then it stopped. And I woke up choked and jumped on a bed. Jack, Jack, Jack, is that you? Yeah, yeah, Merriam. You go back to sleep. Is something wrong, dear? Oh, I had a dream. That's all. Go back to sleep. Oh, well, maybe if I may just... I don't want any hot milk. I'm going out for a while. Jack, I hope you're not... Where would I get at this time of night? I'm not going to drink to save the lecture. But you don't have to snap at me like that. That's all you've been doing lately. Have I? Well, nobody's died from it so far. I don't get you at all. Don't you? Well, maybe you're not trying hard enough. I'm going for a walk. Jack, Jack! I walked around the grounds. The moon was doing trick things with the shadows around the tents and my pitch signs along the midway. I loved it. A cheap, two-bit carnival, but I loved it. When Merriam and I were first married, I used to dream about owning the work someday. Yeah, I was going to do big things. Clean up with a juggling act, then write to Becker Brothers and offer to buy them a book. The Ferris wheel arrives, the whole show. I was going to own the world, but instead I wound up with six feet of it. They could dig me up out of that hole every night, but I couldn't dig my dreams up anymore. Finally, I went back to my own tent and slept in the showtime. Merriam was gone when I woke up, so I walked over to our pitch. I was going to pull a flap and go in, but then I heard a talk in the cliff. So I listened. I hate it when he's like that. I can't stand it much longer. He won't have to stand it after tomorrow night. He'll be away from here. Things will be different. You're sure you want to do this for me, Cliff? I want you to be happy. He suspects something. I know him. If he finds out... He won't find out. Not until tomorrow night. And when he does, it'll be too late. He won't be able to do anything about it. You love your wife and you stand outside a tent and hear her planning the murder. It wasn't only Cliff. It was her, too. And I knew right then what I had to do. I had to kill her. I had to kill the both of them. And tonight... Right away. The fight is bringing you Dan Daley in Six Feet Under. Tonight's production in Radio's Outstanding Theater of Thrill's Suspense. Hey, Hap! Who knows more about law than a lawyer? 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And whether you choose the resistor type or the regular type, you can't buy a better spark plug for your car because you're always right with auto light. And now auto light brings back to our Hollywood sound stage our star Dan Daly in six feet under a tail well calculated to keep you in suspense. Now I know it wasn't only Cliff. It was Miriam too. It was like getting hit in the stomach when you didn't expect it. You love your wife and you stand outside a tent and you're planning to move here. I walked around the grounds in a daze. I tried to tell myself that I was wrong, but your own ears can't lie to you. Oh, hello, Bonnie. I've been screaming in my head off at you. You hypnotized or something? Sorry, Bonnie. I was thinking. Oh, call for Cliff on the phone in the office wagon. You want to take it for him? All right. Hello? This is Morton at Transcontra Airlines. I have your reservations confirmed. Oh, oh, good. Two seats on the midnight plane to Chicago tomorrow night. Thanks a lot. I know you said you'd come in to pick up the tickets this afternoon, but I wanted a call. Let you know it's confirmed. I'm glad you did. You'll never know how glad. It's just part of our service there. I'll hold the tickets for you. Now, are you going to enough trouble? You can cancel the tickets. But I thought. I'm changing somebody's mind. Nobody's going to Chicago tomorrow night. Nobody. When you see something coming and you know it's too late to stop it, you get calm. You'll watch it like it was happening to somebody else. I had to kill them. I had to kill the both of them. Tonight, after the show, after they brought me up. I'd have 10 hours down there to think of a way. I went into the tent and watched Cliff getting the hole ready for me. I wanted to laugh. Is this all right now? Yeah, that's deep enough. Cliff, I want that speaking tube hooked up today. Oh, it's a matter of getting lonesome down there. I thought you didn't like to talk to the customers. Today, I feel sociable. I had a glimpse into the bright and cheery future. Hook it up. Yeah, boss. Where's Miriam? Getting a new roll of tickets from the wagon. When there's a crowd out there on the midway, Cliff, Calliope going on the merry-go-round and all, can she hear my buzzer? Well, why wouldn't she? It's hooked up right from the box to the ticket, Kate. But you never use it, so what difference does it make? It could make a big difference if nobody was in the tent and the air shut off on me. A big difference. Let's check it. All right, there's a button in the box. Press it. Counter's just outside the flap. We can hear it from here. Are you pressing it? You see me, don't you, Cliff? I don't hear anything out there. Neither do I. Must be a loose wire or something. No, Cliff. It's the batteries. Because I checked while you were digging and the batteries are gone. Oh, that's right. I forgot. When we were moving from the last town, my flashlight went dead. I borrowed the buzzer batteries. But you forgot to put them back. Oh, I'm sorry. Jack, it slipped my mind. You never use a buzzer, so I didn't think of it. You thought of it when we needed the batteries. Jack, I tell you it was a mistake. That's all. Look, the midway is opening up. There's no time to start an argument. Yeah. Yeah, there'll be time for that later tonight. We can talk it over tonight, Cliff. That suits me. Come on. Let's lower the box. I'll go get a new set of batteries. You might as well climb down, slide into the box. I'll cover you when I get back. I lit a cigarette. My hands were wet and shaking. Suppose he didn't wait until tomorrow night. Suppose this was it. I couldn't tip my hand by refusing to get down. But I had to make sure I'd come up again, just this once. He'd be going a couple of minutes, long enough. I ducked out of the tent and across the midway to the pitch of old Anna the fortune teller. Why are you so jumpy about, Annie? You act like you've been seeing ghosts. I was communing with other world. Save that for the suckers. I want you to do something for me. I want you to promise and I don't want you to forget. Is it evil thing? No, no, Anna, it isn't evil. When we shut down at night, I want you to come over to the tent. That's all. I want you to hang around there until Cliff digs me up. Beware of lower world, Jack. Evil things look there. Promise me, Anna. I promise. But let me read you fortune in the cards. It only takes a minute. There's no time. Besides, you read them for me on the train the other night. Was there something there you didn't tell me? Are you trying to fright me with a sucker pitch? There was evil. The death cards were around you. They were all around you. Shut up, you old fool. Just come over to the tent tonight. That's all I want from you. That's all. I had to grab a hold of myself. Crazy old woman with a deck of greasy cards. I'd been with tent shows too long to let a thing like that get me. I went back to the tent, got down into the hole and slid into the box. Cliff lowered the narrow view shaft that the customers looked through. I fastened it to the hole just above my face. Then he started to shovel the dirt in on top of me. I could hear it hitting the box. There isn't another sound like it in the whole world. Then I was all done. Cliff looked down at me through the glass and the smile on his face made me cold. Then he was gone and I was alone with the sound of the air pump. In a few minutes, the customers started to come in and it wasn't so bad. If anything went wrong, they'd be able to hear me through the speaking tool, just as I could hear them. Creeping who is it? Well, you're the one who wanted to come in. Come on, it can't hurt you. Look, you can talk to him right through this ear. Who's Nanny? Well, can you hear me down there? Yeah, I can hear you. Is it... Well, are you all right? Yeah, yeah, I'm all right. See, just like I told you, there's nothing to it. That's all we see for our money? Sure, the whole darn thing's a gift. Well, so long down there, we'd all join you someday sooner or later. Oh, Dad, what a silly day. Didn't they give you a little more for your money, though? That's the way it was, hour after hour face after face until all the faces blurred and ran together. Their voices came down with the same questions and the same disappointed wisecracks, but they kept paying and they kept coming. It was getting on to late afternoon because the crowd was beginning to thin out. Everybody would be headed home for dinner by 5.30 and the gang working on the midway would knock off and go to the commissary tent for Chow. At 6.30 the crowd would drift back again. The big crowd would then men home from work and by the time they were gone old Anna the fortune teller my insurance policy would be standing by and Cliff would have to dig me out whether he wanted to or not. I was glad to see the crowd go for a while. He gave me the next hour alone to think and plan things out. Then it hit me. The next hour alone. I'd forgotten that part of it. I looked up. There were no faces in the viewing glass. I felt around with my hand and I found a buzzer button and a ticket cage. I pressed it again and again but Miriam didn't come. Sure, this was it. They were up there now getting ready to do whatever they were going to do. Then they'd walk away over to the commissary tent and they'd eat and laugh. Nobody'd suspect them. It'd be an accident. I tried to think of something else. They wouldn't have the nerve to go through with it. And then I knew I was wrong because all of a sudden there was complete silence. Somebody had cut off the air pump. I twisted and turned and I pushed against the lid of the box like a madman. But it didn't budge. There was more than a ton of earth on top of me. The pressure on my chest increased and I couldn't breathe. Flashes of red and blue color were whirling around my head. I looked up. Gasping for air. And there was a face staring down at me. A child's face. Kid, get somebody quick. I'm outside and get some help. I'm smothering. Don't just stare at me. Call somebody. You hear me? Stop looking at me. Get somebody. He kept staring at me. His eyes wide and frightened. He moved his mouth once. But he was frozen with fear. And all of a sudden his face was gone. He was gone. I made one last hopeless try at the lid and then suddenly I didn't care anymore. I relaxed. And the world exploded in my head. Then they all ran together. There was a roaring sound. Everything went blank. I came out of it slowly. The pump was going again. The beat of it keeping time with the throbbing in my head. And they were digging for me. I could hear the sounds of the shovels in the earth. And then finally against the wooden top of the box. Give me your hand. Hey, you all right, Jack? Yeah. Yeah, I'm okay. All right, I'll boost. Come on. Pull it up there. It's all right. All right. Leave me alone. I'm all right. Jack, come over to my tent and sit down. There is evil. I don't want to sit down. Where's Miriam? Where's Cliff? Somebody went for them to the commissary. And they will be here soon. Yeah, soon. But I wouldn't have been soon enough. Lucky thing I spotted that kid running out of here. He's been sneaking in the shows. He saw the air pump motor out and back and turned it off while he was fooling around with it. You figure that's the way it happened, huh? Honey, what's the matter here? There was an accident. Some kid shot off the motor for the air pump. See, Miriam, that's all it was. Just an accident. Nobody to blame. Jack, I should have been here. Yeah, maybe you should have. You could have kept that kid out of the tent. It would have worked out better. Where's Cliff? Around, I don't know. You could have been killed on there. That's what I figured too. I could have been. But I wasn't. Don't worry about it, baby. It won't happen again. It won't happen to me again. It was my game now. I was up walking and breathing. It was my game. I played the tender husband. I wasn't going to show my cards now. That came later. Once you calmed down, I kissed her. Then I went looking for my last answer. The kid would turn off the motor. There were kids all over the place all looking the same the way kids do. But I'd remember his face. Your bond would remember a face when it might have been the last one you'd ever see. Then I spotted him going into the house of fun. I nodded to the ticket taker and went in after him. I caught him in the room with the tillered floors and grabbed him. Take it easy, kids. You won't get hurt. I didn't do nothing honest. Why'd you turn that motor off? I was just booze. Who told you to turn it off? Nobody. Let me go. Stop kicking. Tell me the truth or I'll give you a buck. Tell me. Tell me who told you. Stop biting me and tell me. I'll let you go when you answer me. No. Here's your dollar. Went in the town and drank until the show closed down until I was sure they'd all be asleep. Then I went to the first aid wagon and nosed around until I found what I wanted. A can of ether. Cliff was bigger than I. Much bigger when I had to be sure. I soaked a handkerchief in the stuff and then I let myself into Cliff's tent. He was lying there. Quietly. He was sleeping. In a sound. I crept over to him and pushed the handkerchief over his mouth and nose. I held it. Held his face right into it. He didn't even murmur. I want to let go after a while. His head dropped back. He was out. I picked him up and carried him to the pitch tent. I put him down in a box and then I shoveled a dude in on top of him. I left the air pump running. I wanted Miriam to see him down there. Then I could stop it waiting up for me when I was back together. Well, it's about time you got back. I've been worried sick about you. Worried about me, baby? That's silly. I can take care of myself. That accident this afternoon. I'm still shaky. Yeah, I can see where you would be. Jack, there's been something wrong with us. Maybe it's my fault. I want to straighten it out. Everything will be straightened out all right real soon. Come on, let's go for a little walk. I know, but I've got a surprise for you. Something I want you to see. What is it? Over at the pitch tent. Come on. She came. I had to hand it to her. She was playing the act of the hilt just like nothing was wrong. I took her arm and held it tight. Good and tight. So she couldn't turn and run. And we went into the pitch tent. Well, what's a surprise? It's kind of dark in here. There's enough light down in the box. Go ahead. Take a look. The hole. It's filled in. Yeah. The show has a new star for a one night stand. Go ahead. Look. Jack, what? No. No, no. Yeah. Yeah, baby. Yeah, how do you like it now? That's the way I was today when I'd want to cut off. Get him out, get him out. Oh, it's my turn to cut the pump off. Only nobody will be able to fix it this time. No, don't you crazy. Sure, I just ripped these wires out and he gets what I almost got. You're killing him for why? I know what you were up to. You'll never take that midnight play, Tamara. You'll never run away with him now. I wasn't running away with him. The tickets were for rush. You hear me, for you and me. Well, there you forgot to tell me about it, baby. I couldn't. Cliff was letting us the money to buy the show. He said it'd be mine any else someday. I wanted to do it for you because I loved you. Because I hated what would happen to you down there. Why would he want to help me? Because he loved me. That's why. And he knew you're all I care about. He said the money for the show to pick up brothers yesterday and we were supposed to fly up tomorrow night to sign the papers in Chicago. You're lying. No. Yeah, you're lying. You're lying to get it told me. Would you believe me? Would you believe anybody? Do something, do something. It shovels. It shovels, Miriam. Where are they? Quick, quick. Help me. Miriam, dig. Dig. Help me. Dig. Dig. That's it, Sheriff. You'll never know what it's like down there. You have nothing to do but thinking. Well, you get to thinking crazy things. That's why it happened. When we got to him, he was dead. I see. If you want to have that typed up as a confession, I'll sign it. It's much good that it do. That deputy that came in a while ago, gave me a copy of the coroner's report, caused a death coronary thrombosis. His heart, no strangulation. He was already dead when you stopped that air pump. He was dead even before that before you gave him an ether. You mean Jack didn't kill him? Then according to the coroner, death from natural causes. Then you're not going to charge me with murder? Can't murder a dead man, mister. It's like he came to lock a man up for being a fool. Oh, Jack. Jack. It's all right, baby. You hurt him. They can't do anything to me for being a fool. Suspense, presented by Autolite, tonight's star, Dan Daley. Hey, Harlow, here's a poem for you. Summer, winter, spring or fall, Harlow doesn't change at all. Be it day or be it night, we'll conk stinks of Autolite. Well, you're right there, Hap. Any season is the right season to talk about the more than 400 products made by Autolite for cars, trucks, planes and boats in 28 plants coast to coast. These include complete electrical systems used as original equipment on many makes of America's finest cars, spark plugs, batteries, generators, coils, distributors, electric windshield wipers, starting motors, bullseye, sealed beam headlights, all engineered to fit together perfectly, work together perfectly, because they're a perfect team. So friends, don't accept electrical parts supposed to be as good. Ask for and insist on Autolite, original factory parts at your neighborhood service station, car dealer, garage or repair shop. Remember, you're always right with Autolite. Next Thursday for suspense, our star will be Ray Melland. The play is called Pearls are a nuisance. And it is, as we say... A tale well calculated to keep you in suspense. Tonight's suspense play was produced and edited by William Speer and directed by Norman MacDonald. Music for suspense is composed by Lucian Moraweck and conducted by Lud Bluskin. Six Feet Under is an original play written for radio by Joel Murcott. Dan Daly will soon be seen with Ann Baxter in the 20th Century Fox Technicolor production, Ticket to Tomahawk. You can buy world-famous Autolite resistor or regular spark plugs. Autolite staple batteries. Autolite electrical parts at your neighborhood. Autolite dealers, switch to Autolite. Good night. This is CBS, the Columbia Broadcasting System.