 Autolight and its 96,000 dealers present Mr. Ray Mulan in Chicken Feed, a suspense play produced and edited by William Spear. We have, what happened? Get me a doctor, rush the fast, get him here, run my battery dry. Why you don't need a doctor, you need an autolight, stay full battery. Why these brilliant, beautiful, bouncy babies want water only three times a year. Yes, only three times a year in normal car use. Their larger liquid load is like a lake compared to ordinary batteries. And autolight stay full batteries have extra protection with fiberglass retaining mats for longer life. While tests conducted according to life cycle standards of the Society of Automotive Engineers, autolight stay full batteries gave 70% longer average life than batteries without the stay full features. So folks, get an autolight stay full battery. Remember you're always right with autolight. Oh and friends, a reminder, suspense may be seen on television in many parts of the country every Tuesday night. And now with Chicken Feed and with the performance of Ray Mulan, autolight hopes once again to keep you in suspense. Alright, it was a silly thing to fight over, I admit it, but there it was. A nickel, a measly worthless nickel, Chicken Feed. But of course, that was the only the beginning. Junior had asked for a nickel and I flipped it over to him. After he left the room, Mary said I shouldn't spoil the kid. It was time he learned the value of money and I said, Grace, God, if I couldn't give my own child a nickel without her jumping down my throat, I said, after all, what's a nickel good for? A cup of coffee or, oh, you know, you know how these things get going. He keeps saying things you shouldn't and she lashes out with an answer. Before you know it, you've stormed out of the house and you're taking it out on the car. Fifty miles cooled me down a little, but not much. I automatically slowed up when I came with the sign. You are now entering Lansing, California. Go slow and see our town, go fast and see our jail. Everybody knew Lansing. Speed trap, tough town. Driving at a normal speed through the quiet Sunday street gave me time to think of something besides the biting words Mary and I had slugged at each other. I pulled up in a little cafe next to the police station. Had a whitewash sign in the window. Best cup of coffee in town for five cents. Side. What's yours, Mr. Coffee, please. Coming up. Here you are. Say, officer Brady, how's your star border? Phillips? Ah, they're coming for him in the morning. They could be able to hold him until then. He got out of that Pennington jail like a paper bag. But don't worry, sister. Mr. Phillips won't get out of this room. Not I, and listen to him. Half in the air while I sip my coffee. Best cup in town for five cents. That reminded me of our argument over a nickel. That's about all a nickel's good for. A cup of coffee someplace. Newspaper. Phone call. There was a stack of the local papers nearby and I poked over to look at. This Phillips is on the front page. Bank robber. Killed a teller. Yet a face I wouldn't want to run into. Close. After a while, a hot coffee made me feel a little better. Maybe, well, maybe I'd been at fault as much as Mary. She wasn't the only one who had a bad temper. On a sudden impulse, I left my coffee, went over to the phone in the far wall. I heard the dial tone and then I fished in my pocket, but changed. It was empty. Uh, say, Miss, could you change the dialer for me? I want to use the phone. Oh, yes, sir. What's the matter, mister? My wallet, I seem to have... Look, I'll be back in a minute. Oh, Mary wasn't the only one with the temper. I'd stormed out of the house without changing the contents of my pockets to clean my suit. Didn't have a dime on me, not a nickel. I rummaged in the glove compartment. Mary sometimes left the coin purse, but this time, naturally, it wasn't there. I felt like a fool. It seems to me the trouble, mister. Oh, uh, hello, officer. I seem to have come out without any money. It's embarrassing. Yeah, yeah, embarrassing. I didn't realize it, I tried to phone, but I... Wait a minute, just a minute. Huh? Where's your driver's license? Oh, it's in my wallet, San Francisco. Got any other identification? Well, the registration slip on the car. Oh, yeah, that's the car. What about you? Look, officer, I'm Ralph Clark. Clark and Jacobs in the Hatfield building. We're attorneys. Attorneys. I should have a card somewhere. Quite a far from home to be without any dough, ain't you? Well, I came out of the house without changing the stuff into this suit. You know how it is. Yeah. How do you happen to have the keys to the car? Well, I don't take them out in the garage. Yeah. Say, you don't think... Where you headed for? Well, I know it sounds funny, but nowhere really. You see, I had a fight with my wife and I just batted out of the house to cool off. I'll tell you what, Mr. Clark, suppose we just mosey over to the station house. The station house? Say, what is this? Oh, nothing, nothing at all. It's right next door and you can call your wife from there. But I don't see why that's necessary. If you'd just lend me a nickel, I could call here and reverse the charges. Come on, we'll go. You can leave the car here, I'll take that key. And look here, Rob, as I don't... Come on, move on. Move on. You could set your wages today. Then what you got this time? I'll tell you it better after he makes his call. Give me the phone, will you, Ross? It's out of order. Went dead half hour ago. Yeah? I reported it. They said they can't have a man here before tomorrow. But did you tell them this is a police station for Pete Sakes? Oh, sure, I told them. It ain't dead, though. We get incoming calls and we still got the nickel snatcher over there. Oh, yeah. Well, there's a pay phone, Mr. Clark. You can make your call from there. I don't have any money, remember? Oh, yeah, okay. Here's a nickel. Gee, thanks. Let me speak to your wife when you get her. This is gonna sound fine, just fine. You'll think I really tied one on. Oh, I want to call San Francisco. Film mode 6-0098. Reverse the charges, please. Thank you. Your number, please. Uh, this is, uh, 4-6-0. It's me, Mary. Take the call. Call. Look, operator, get her back with you. This is important. I will ring them again. Well, that's a sweetheart. He's dead. A little... Why doesn't she pick up that phone? Your party does not answer. No! No, sir. That's your nickel. Let me have another one, will you? I'll get hold of my partner. He'll identify me. Look, we've wasted enough time. Come on in here. But those are the cells. Right. You're locking me up? Right again. But what's the big idea? I didn't do anything. What are you charging me with? I don't have to charge you with anything. I'm holding on suspicion. Suspicion? Suspicion of what? I'm loading the cafe for one thing. I don't want to check that car. You think I stole it? Well, it's been done. Now, wait a minute. If you'll just let me forward... You're entitled to one call. You've had it. But look here, officer. Come on in, son. Some jail. All on account of a measly nickel. A lousy stinkin' nickel. Welcome to our jail. Stink part of the Santa Nueva Valley. Hi, Slim. Yeah, you said it. What's your beef, Chum? Suspicion. Can you feature that suspicion? They won't even give me a nickel to phone. Then you ain't even got a nickel. No, you see, I... That's too bad, ain't it, Pete? Oh, yeah, sure is. I wish we could help you out. Yeah. Maybe we can at that. You got a nickel? Sure. I got three of them. Well, let me one. Well, you just one. I'll pay you back. I'll send you $10 as soon as I get out of here. What's it worth to you, Chum? What? I just told you $10. Yeah, yeah, I know. Pie in the sky. Hey, Maristwatch. Why didn't I think of that before? What's the matter with it? Nothing. Nothing's the matter with it. It's worth $50. Yeah, you fool. Look at it. It's yours of five cents for one measly nickel. What can you lose? Must be something wrong with it. Is it hot? Hot? You mean stolen? Yeah. Of course not. What are you offering it for a nickel for? Because I want to get out of this filthy place. Oh. So you don't like our company, is that it? Well, if you want to put it that way, no, I don't. Oh, the man don't like our company. And I want that just too bad. Hey, what do you think of that, Mr. Phillips? He don't like us. You got any nickels, Mr. Phillips? I followed his glance. For the first time I saw, deep in the gloom of the locked cubicle, the face I'd seen on the front page of the newspaper. The face I'd said I wouldn't want to run into. Close. Well, it was close, and I was glad there were bars between us. Of course, us guys ain't much, but Mr. Phillips here, he's a big shot. He robbed four banks and broke into two jails. He killed a man, too. Yeah, sure. We're just vags. But Mr. Phillips, he's going to the hot seat. Yeah, they're coming to get him, take him back to Utah and bind him. They don't bind him in Utah, they shoot him. Oh. Ain't that right, Mr. Phillips? Hey, Mr. Phillips don't want to talk about it. Yeah, Mr. Phillips, he don't want to talk about nothing. Mr. Phillips, he ain't very sociable. Oh, now look, fellas, I didn't mean to... I just meant to want to get out of this jail. Here, take the watch and give me the nickel, huh? Tell you what I'll do, I'll match you for it. Match me? Yeah, nickel against the watch. Well, that is... Take it or leave it. Well, all right. Uh, leave Pete Hall a watch here, huh? I'll flip a nickel on the floor and you call it, huh? Head. Tails, I win. Hey, wait a minute, wait a minute. Get your foot over it. How do you know it's tails? It's tails. I ain't a piece. Sure it's tails, all right. Here's the watch, Slim. Say, what is this? Watch it, brother. You're not going to get away with this. Get him, Pete. Yeah. Learn ya? Uh, this is for me and me. Oh, don't kick me. Hey, what's going on in there? Officer, these men... It ain't nothing, officer. This new guy is acting up. That's all. Well, quiet down in there. I can't, he kicked me. Trying to get us in trouble, huh? No, no, I... Look, fella, for heaven's sake... Shut up. Okay. Kangaroo. I'll be the judge and you'll be the prosecutor, huh? Right. Maybe Mr. Phillips will be the defendant's attorney. You want to, Mr. Phillips? He don't want to. Prisoner at the bar, stand up. I said stand up. Cut it out, will ya? Shut up. All right, counselor. What is the prisoner charged with? Your Honor, this man's a desperate criminal. He's charged with breaking into jail and solving his fellow borders. Poor sportsmanship and fighting. A very dangerous character, Your Honor. Oh, yeah. You have got guilty on all counts. Prisoner, have you anything to say before I pronounce sentence? No? Well, I find you. Five cents. Hand it over. You know I haven't got it? Can't pay, huh? Well, then you can work it out. A rate of one cent a day. Your first job would be to shine the court's shoes. Shine your own shoes. Oh, he's going to be like that, huh? Hold them slim. Yeah. Officer! Officer! Stand in there! Now get on them shoes. I don't have anything to, to shine them with. You got a coat, ain't you? Now get going. The next hours were unadulterated agony. It was unbelievable, the filthy, inhuman things they could think up for me to do. It was, it was just frightful. With every move I made, I could feel the glittering, steely eyes of the silent man in the locked cage on me. Following me, weighing me. And finally, when they couldn't think of anything more, they forced me to stand at attention, looking right into Philip's cage. They couldn't see his face. It was too close to mine. But he, he winked at me. And he nodded his head as though it were a single. And then his two huge arms came through the bars and thrust me really across his cell and I fell and hit my head. And that's all I remember. It's bringing you Mr. Ray Milland in chicken feed. Tonight's production in radio's outstanding theater of thrills, Suspends. Hey, Hap, get a load of this picture. What the, a herd of camels picketing the auto light battery plant. Yeah, look at the signs. Auto lights stay full batteries, unfair to camels. How do you figure that? Well, it's easy. Those thirstless auto lights stay full batteries have kicked camels water reserve reputation into a cocked hat. You mean because an auto light stay full needs water only three times a year? Yeah, and verily and also correct. Auto lights stay full batteries need water only three times a year in normal car use. This extra liquid reserve X spells one of the major causes of battery failure. Means exceedingly excellent performance and extremely long life. You'd say it's expedient to own an auto light stay full battery. Exactly. And for a few more auto light stay full extras, get this extra protection with fiberglass retaining mats. Extra long life is compared to batteries without stay full features. In fact, 70% longer average life as established by tests conducted according to life cycle standards of the Society of Automotive Engineers. Why with an auto light stay full battery you can tell the difference in your car. You're right with auto light. And now auto light brings back to our Hollywood soundstage Ray Maland in chicken feet. A tale well calculated to keep you in suspense. I don't know what time it was. Two or three in the morning I guess when I felt a stealthy touch on my shoulder. I opened my eyes. I was still on the stone floor. And Phillips was bending over me holding a revolver. My mouth open for an involuntary cry and he clapped a hand over it. Shut up you fool. You want to wake him? Punks, get up quick and be quiet about it. I glanced quickly at Phillips' cell. It was open. So was the door to the corridor. He pushed me on and locked the door behind us. In his office spout and gagged securely to his desk chair, Sergeant Ross clad at us. The empty holster at his side told where Phillips had got his gun. Here. Which is the key to your car? This one. Okay. Take it and let's move. Where's the car? Over there. Good right. There are me hicked bulls. They panic me. The guy could spring that crock with a hairpin. But you, you're nearly done a fine job of lousing things up. What happened to you? Getting thrown in the can in the middle of the day. Well, they picked me up on suspicion. Well, I wasn't supposed to be till midnight tonight. And all that phony kid stuff about the nickel. The nickel? Yeah, all that double talk when all you had to do was slip me the word that Jerry Nichols sent you. Served you right the way them luscious treaty did. Acting like I died in no room school. Nichols. My numbed brain slowly put the meaning of his words into shape. He thought, he thought I was an accomplice. Sent my apartment to help him break jail. Then all my screams about a nickel had been nothing but a signal to him. A signal that I came from Jerry Nichols. Jerry, you got the hideout set up? Uh, yes. Well, where is it? Uh, the hideout? The hideout. We're going to Jerry's place first, ain't we? Then what? Well, I, uh, I'll take you to Jerry's then I guess he'll take you, take over from there. How far is it to Jerry's? Can't it be any more than about five miles, is it? Well, it's, uh, look behind you. What's the matter? There's a car following us, dark lights. Well, I don't see it. Hey, what's a big idea? You're trying to cross me? Well, I couldn't help it. My foot slammed on the brake. Uh, that car, we've got to get out of here. Go ahead, get it started. Come on, come on. It's flooded. I'm getting out till that car passes. You make for the other side no tricks. Just to make sure I'll take this key. I'd made myself a chance and I took it. I slipped out of the car on the other side and ran. Ran across the fields until I could run no more. After an interminable two miles, I found a road and after a while of trampling along the road, a dark shape loomed up before me, a gas station. And through the glass, I could make out the outline of a telephone. I tried the door. It was locked, of course, but I found a tire line and sprang the latch. I'd run to the phone, almost thrown myself on it. Before I saw it was a pay phone. In a rage, I shook the black box. I could hear the nickels inside. Of course, a sheet of metal no thicker than a playing card, yet as inaccessible as the moon. But there must be some money in this room. My eyes focused on a battered desk. There were some changes in it. And a couple of dollar bills. The kind of money a man leaves is a sub to possible burglars. Burglars. That meant me. Carefully, I abstracted a single nickel. Get me San Francisco. It's Maurice Jacobs. Tell him that this is his partner, Ralph Clark, and ask him to accept the charges. Thank you. I'll hold on, but hurry, operator. It's important. As I waited, a glint of light pulled my eyes away from the phone. Far down the road, headlights of a car juggled over the rise and aimed towards me. It was the first car to come by since I'd hit the road. It might be a stray, a farmer, starting out before Santa, but I couldn't take the chance. Hasty, I hung up the receiver, closed the cash drawer, snapped a lock on the door, then I clutched beneath the desk. Looks like a dead man. He may be back on the bottle again. We'll get him up. Hey, Jerry! Oh, my horror, I heard the creek of bed springs from the rear of the station. A light appeared under the door. I thought it was just a rear door to the outside. It opened, and two hairy barefoot legs under a fan and a light gun came through and made for the front. Now the gas is in the middle of the night. Come on, you're chilly with the door open. You don't tell me. Well, how did he do that? Well, you see, there was two of them. He had an accomplice. Said he was a lawyer. We found that car abandoned on the road back at Ferris's Hopperfield, ran out of gas, so they can't be far away. Say, there was a big reward for Phillips after he broke James Bennington, wasn't there? Yeah, $1,000. Hey! You know him, don't you? Yeah! You was in the Bennington poke when he'd done that break. What was it? A drunken disorderly or something. Yeah. I had me a little too much in broker. Wind in the general store. We was roommates for the night. I was pretty scared. How'd he do it, the break? Oh, I don't know. I was sleeping it off. $1,000 reward, huh? Man can do it a lot with $1,000. Not that he couldn't. Don't you get any ideas now that Phillips is a killer and so is his partner most likely? Well, I ain't exactly helpless myself. Get a nice little fella on my side. You take my advice, Chum, and put that gun away. They show up here. You talk soft. Let us do the capture. Oh, sure. Sure. I'll play safe. Well, well, we'll be going. Just wanted to alert you, Jerry. Yeah, thanks, sir. Thanks. It's so long, boys. All right, you. Come out from under that desk. Come on out, I say. This gun's mighty nervous. Now get your hands up and stand over there. Look, Mr. White. I'll do the talking. Who are you? Look, you've got to believe me. I'm not a criminal. I'm a lawyer. Oh, you must be the other one, huh? Keep them hands up. But I got into this by accident. I don't know. He helped me escape. Where is Phillips? Well, I left him in the car. And that's another thing. You can get the reward. I know who he's going to meet. And they're going to a hideout. Oh, no. Who is he going to meet? Well, somebody named Jerry Nichols. There you are. If you let me get to that phone, I can clear everything. No, you don't. Stay right where you are. I'll plug you. But that's my partner, my law partner in San Francisco. I only broke in here so I could phone him. He'll identify me. You don't believe me? Oh, I believe you, all right. Then what answer it yourself? You'll see. Not on your life, Mr. You think I'm out of my mind? But you've got to answer it, Jerry. You don't know what I went through to place that call. You just can't stand it, but... Jerry. You're Jerry Nichols. That's right. So you see... Jerry. Jerry. Who's that? Turn up that light, you. It's Phillips. Stand over there by the window. Where he can see you. Go on. Jerry. Uh, come on in, Phillips. I ran out of gas and that punk... I asked it for a moment. I had no reaction at all. None. I just watched it. I watched Phillips holding his chest with both hands. I watched that giant body twist convulsively on the floor and then... I still watched Jerry bend over him, then straighten up. Then as he turned, grinning to me, the motion, the feeling came back to what I felt was seizing, overpowering rage, fury. Everything had been through this night. It was like a boiler that had to burst. Well, dare to rely. I just made me a thousand bucks. You foul stinking scum. What? You're worse than he is. Shut up. Maybe I'll get a reward for you, too. A small one. I could feel the bullet. Land in my side just below the belt and the avenues of pain spread out like the cracks in a hammered window glass. But somehow, strangely, it didn't stop me. I kept moving toward him. He backed away, surprised. He was aiming for another shot when we grabbed him. I got the gun, and he got me by the throat. I'm kidding you. He stumbled. The hell out of his hand that was holding the gun. I wouldn't let go, and then as he fell back, was over the chairs on top of it. He wouldn't let go of that gun. As we thrashed her on the floor, I brought his hand up suddenly and smashed his own gun into his face. Then he lay still. I listened. I listened to his heart. He was all right. He was all right. I got up gasping for breath, and then I realized that I was all right. Yet he'd shot me and hit me. I should be lying there on the plank floor instead of that grotesque heap in the shapeless flannel nightgown. I felt my side with the bullet had struck. It brought my hand away. There was no blood on it. Yet there should be blood. I touched the spot again. I fingered the contour of something small and hard and round. I pulled it out of my watchpile, batted with a slug that struck it, bent almost double. A nickel. A nickel. The 20th part of a dollar, all a man needed to buy a cup of coffee, to make a phone call to buy a fine in a kangaroo court to save his life. And I'd had it all the time. I'd had it all the time. I'd had it all the time. Huh? First, get the Lansing police station. Will you, operator? Lansing police. Yeah. Harry, you're going to live. And I'm going to be in court with you. Yeah. Well, I wouldn't give a plug nickel for your chances. The Spence, presented by Autolight. Tonight's star, Ray Milland, in chicken feed. Say, Mr. Milland, in a recent movie, I saw you as a baseball pitcher. Yes, that's right. You as a pitcher and Paul Douglas as a catcher made a wonderful battery. That sounds like a lead-in for me to say that Autolight makes a wonderful battery, too. You can say that again. All right, I will. Autolight makes a wonderful battery. Right, you are, Ray. It's the Autolight Stayful that needs water only three times a year in normal car use. Made by Autolight, makers of over 400 products for cars, trucks, airplanes, and boats in 28 Autolight plants from coast to coast. Autolight also makes complete electrical systems for many makes of America's finest cars. Batteries, spark plugs, generators, starting motors, coils, distributors. All engineered to fit together perfectly, work together perfectly, because they're a perfect team. So folks, don't accept electrical parts that are supposed to be as good. Ask for and insist on Autolight, original factory parts at your neighborhood service station, car dealer, garage, or repair shop. Remember, you're always right with Autolight. Next Thursday for suspense, Dorothy McGuire will be our star. The play is called Last Confession, 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 Spear and directed by Norman MacDonald. Music for suspense is composed by Lucian Moraweck and conducted by Lud Bluskin. Chicken feed was a radio play by Lawrence Goldman. Ray Milland appeared through the courtesy of Paramount Pictures, whose current release is Top of the Morning, starring Bing Prosby, Anne Blythe, and Barry Fitzgerald. Don't forget, next Thursday, same time, Autolight will present Suspense, starring Dorothy McGuire. Autolight resists the spark plugs. Autolight electrical parts at your neighborhood Autolight dealers. Switch to Autolight. Good night. This is CBS, the Columbia Broadcasting System.