 Suspense and the producer of radio's outstanding theater of thrills the master of mystery and adventure William and Robeson Out of the mouths of babes and sucklings. What is the rest of it? Well, no matter Childish Prattle can be dangerous in its pristine innocence So if you are about to do something you shouldn't we advise you not to do it around your mopets They can be such blabbermouths as the upcoming story demonstrates Listen listen then as miss Mercedes mccainbridge stars in America's boyfriend Which begins in exactly one minute folklore isn't always something out of the past Each day a new legend anecdote joke or colorful character is added to our collection of Americana Like the story about the man who was nailing shingles on his house Somebody noticed that he was throwing half the nails away and asked him why Because he said the heads are on the wrong ends on those Well, you dope said the other man those are for the other side of the house Folklore belongs to every nation's legendary past and I guess we Americans have our share of some tall ones Like the one about ha ha, but we'll have to save that one for the next time we travel your way see you then and now Miss Mercedes mccainbridge in America's boyfriend a Tale well calculated to keep you in Suspense They used to call him America's boyfriend His face was known everywhere from South Dakota to Saudi Arabia Those mischievous eyes that lovable teenage grin the lock of blonde hair over his forehead Remember first love his most popular movie his freckled face was on billboards everywhere in four colors Dickie Keith that bad boy who steals your heart that bouncing laughing wisecracking all American boy It's funny every picture of Dickie that could be found was like that one The police are looking for a murderer's face That doesn't exist When he came into the kitchen that morning, I didn't know whether to laugh or feel sorry for him I was too busy to do either. I had to fix breakfast get the kids washed and dressed and fed and be at work by nine Between putting the coffee on the perk and getting the bobby pins out of my hair I kept glancing at his calypso pants and monogram t-shirt and the tennis racket under his arm Maybe I said the wrong things. I guess I've been seeing the wrong things for a long time Coffee ready yet. What are you dressed up as juvenile delinquent? I got a call from the studio yesterday I told you Harry Landon wants to see me. What's he got amnesia? Did he forget the last picture? You may be so bad it smelled up the theaters before it was taken out of the can Just black for me You know, maybe if you grow up you might get a job again. Oh, well, I see Harry today He just bought the sidewalk to know where terrific book about a teenage murderer. I'll convince him I'm not too old for the lead How old does he think I am anyway? Oh, please dickie. He's got your social security card. All right. All right, so I'm 31 33 Time certainly flies doesn't it Married to me four years already parents of a bright two-year-old boy And if you'd like any more vital statistics, you've been out of work for more than three years This coffee tastes like formaldehyde. Well, that's the best we can afford What times your appointment? Don't worry. I'll leave lumpy with Mrs. Vogel for a few hours I'll be sure you wait for the laundry man first. Okay Okay, you support me you pay the bills if you like I'll do the laundry myself. I'm sorry, dickie I'm well tied up in knots That last check that I gave the supermarket bounced our credit is Down the drain is that all No, when lumpy, I know he's a lot of trouble for you to take care of no trouble Now the park's peppered with kids his age What do you do there? Just sit around with sandpile. Hmm. Yeah with the other doting mothers Are you learning anything about child psychology? Why oh just that lumpy's almost two years old You noticed he's learning to talk. No, he's been talking since he was 11 months that one Well, those were just sounds just separate words. I mean, he's just put together his first sentence and hide His first real sentence Funny the way he keeps repeating it. No, maybe you're right at that. Maybe I ought to wear something more dignified Get lumpy ready while I change Come on lumpy you can't dawdle over your breakfast this morning if you want to go with daddy Who is she lumpy Pretty the first time he said it was a week ago It hit me right between the eyes His first sentence Something to cherish to put in his scrapbook with his first tooth and a curl from his first haircut his first sentence Go see pretty lady It burned in my mind all day long, but it burned deeper that night when mrs. Vogel delivered lumpy herself Dickie hadn't picked him up as he was supposed to After I got lumpy to bed I canvassed the neighborhood bars by phone nothing Then I just sat and waited my insides gnawed by fear and anxiety and plain old-fashioned jealousy Then about 10 o'clock the front door opened and there he was He swayed in the doorway. There was blood drying on his face. His eyes looked stupid and beaten The only reason he was able to stay on his feet was the hand steadying him from behind the big powerful hand of Harry Landman Dickie tooks one step inside and then he pitched forward Table crashed to the floor with him I'm sorry Jean. Oh Harry what happened came to my house a couple hours ago Lucky I wasn't alone should have heard of the things he called me I wouldn't let my own mother-in-law talk to me that way, but he didn't mean it Harry He must have been drinking that's what I thought till he grabbed the poker from the fireplace and tried to kill me Me he feels like a father to the boy He tried to kill me and my house man had to beat him right down into his shoes before he quit trying Oh, he must have been drunk. Oh, he's out of his head. I could put him away for ten years for this Harry, what did you tell him at the studio this morning? The truth once and for all that he's washed up Now if you're smart you'll get him out of this town take him back east for he can be himself himself Where he can grow up where he could get a job without his pride getting all mixed up in it here in Hollywood He can't stop being America's boyfriend. He he's turning into a full-fledged Schizophrenic a homicidal maniac. You're afraid of him of Dickie. I'm telling you. He's dangerous. He tried to kill me That's really funny You're afraid of this thing you created this lovable tap dancing monster this horrible spirit of you Blaming me for years you kept him a teenager you didn't let him go up You made this stunted thing out of him because there was money in it He made plenty of money himself and he spent it faster than he made it. Oh, he lived the part. All right It was cute how irresponsible. He was look Jean. I'm not arguing with you I'm telling you get him out of my hair take him back east anywhere But do it inside of 24 hours or what? Well, I'll bring charges against him for assault with intent to kill You're forgetting something here. I'm only his wife. I don't have much influence with him 24 hours, he's got other attachments in Hollywood besides his family Another woman Yeah, oh, I don't know I Heard about it from Somebody Somebody who won't talk Well That's the problem. I can't help you with Jean. That's strictly your problem. Just remember 24 hours Or I'll charge him with attempted murder. I tried to help Dickie up, but he pushed me off He made his way to the bedroom like a bulldozer knocking over a lamp a chair anything in his way He sprawled face down on the bed and for a long time. I could hear his heavy breathing. I Don't know what time it was when I fell asleep on the sofa, but in the morning a little before 7 I looked in He was gone. I left lumpy with Mrs. Vogel, but I didn't go to work. I Tried a dozen bars three Turkish baths every alleged friend he had I Knew when there was still no trace of him. So I went back to Charlie's and sat down at the end of the bar Charlie shuffled toward me his eyes refusing to meet mine. Mrs. Keith. I'm sorry. Are you wasting your time here? Listen, I've got to find Dickie It's terribly important Charlie. He couldn't just disappear into thin air. The air in this town I understand as you think well if you try maybe you can remember something Somebody he's been in here with Charlie, please tell me tell me who that woman is You mean that the day me was with last night last night He came back here last night. Yeah, I rocked two in the morning. It was just sitting together right here. That's all they know What did she look like Charlie? Could could could you describe her to me? Mrs. Keith the dames are coming here to all look as much alike as a row of bar stools Was she taller short kind in between well was she a blonde or redhead or brunette what I don't remember She had hair didn't she? Oh, yeah Yeah, she had dark hair Thanks, Charlie. That's something anyhow. At least I know she has hair She isn't a midget At five o'clock I gave up There was only one thing to do see Harry Landman and explain that Dickie disappeared and that there was really nothing to worry about Harry lived up above the strip I climbed a steep incline made a sharp turn that almost broke my steering gear and there it was a Low pink house sitting back against the hillside There was an ugly iron dog beside the front door. I Went to the door and I pushed the bell And somehow I knew that the man who answered the door didn't belong in that house Yes, I'm Mrs. Keith. I Must see mr. Landman right away. You want to see I didn't wait. I brushed right past him into a dim hall And I stopped it Whatever it was that had been holding me together all day snapped. I Closed my eyes to shut myself in darkness But the thing I saw was still there is it painted on the inside of my eyelids. It was Harry Landman Faced on on the floor With a knife sticking out of his back In just a moment we continue with Suspense Do you know the social security benefits to which you will be entitled when you separate from the service and take a civilian job? Here's a tip from Social Security 1940 an important year in the security of American families It was in 1940 that the first Social Security checks began to find their way into the mailboxes of the nation That was the year that retired people and their families and the families of working people who had died Began to get payments from the government insurance program to partly take the place of earnings that were no longer coming into their homes Social security has done much through the years to relieve the grinding worry of old people To keep widows and their children together living as families beneath the family roof Just recently within the last five years Social security has helped to relieve the financial plight of the disabled find out about Social Security What you can expect from it for your security and the security of your loved ones right to Social Security Department 15 Hollywood 28, California and ask how it will work in your case They'll be glad to give you the information and to send you a free booklet a booklet that tells the Social Security story and now We continue with the second act of America's boyfriend starring Miss Mercedes McCambridge a tail well calculated to keep you in Suspense It was a beautiful knife It had a carved pearl handle about four inches long It seemed to grow bigger as I stared at it until it crowded everything else out of my mind until it floated there huge In my nightmare Then a small gray haired man touched my elbow And the knife got smaller like a punctured balloon and I knew it wasn't a nightmare. It was a knife sticking out of Harry Landman's back I'd never seen a corpse before not even a dead grandmother. I thought I was gonna be sick. I Was helped gently into a chair The room was hot and stuffy with cigarette smoke Three other men were busy there Working as calmly and thoroughly over details as bookkeepers in an office We've been looking for you. Mrs. Keith for me. My name is Carlson homicide Actually, we're looking for your husband thought you might be able to tell us something. Oh, he didn't do it Any idea where he is where he couldn't commit murder. He couldn't he's not the kind who could do a terrible thing like that After 20 years experience, Mrs. Keith. I know what kind of people commit murderers. What kind? Murderers what you're wrong about dickie You don't know dickie Keith the way I do. I know quite a few things already I know that he threatened to kill mr. Landman. I know he even attempted to but he didn't mean it Looks like he did. Oh, you don't understand He was out of work. He was trying to cope with all the responsibilities of a family He was always trying to cover up for a feeling of insecurity if you don't mind. Let's leave Freud out of this, huh? I'm no psychiatrist. I'm a cop my job is to put together the fact there's more than facts There's the truth the truth is he's disappeared now. Why well, maybe Maybe to look for a job. He wasn't looking for a job early this morning early this morning When Harry Landman was killed well, there's a There is somebody who knows where dickie was then who's that? It's a woman and you've got to find her. What's her name? I don't know can you give us any information about her description? She has dark hair and she's meeting him height Well go on that's all I know Mrs. Keith that description fits about half the women in this town is but there that there must be some way that you could trace her Don't count on a Mrs. Keith that knife's been identified by mr. Landman's secretary Will you recognize it? Don't you lamb and brought it back from Hawaii a few years ago gave it to your husband for his birthday? Listen, I know how she can be traced. I know how she can be traced that woman who can prove the dickies in this is no There's somebody who has seen her who knows her and if lumpy sees her again, he'll recognize Okay, okay, just tell me who lumpy is and I'll go have a talk with him. No, you can't why not? Because he can't talk. I mean he's a Two-year-old. It's my child. Oh now look no you've got to listen to me Since I got a job dickie's been taking care of him Well, don't you see he was meeting her somewhere, but he had lumpy along and she made quite an impression The pretty lady. That's what lumpy calls her His first sentence. He's just learning to talk. That's the first time he put a kind of sentence together Go see pretty lady. That's what he says whenever he knows that dickie's taking him out Well if he sees the pretty lady again, he can identify her Don't you see we could take lumpy to the park where dickie took him every single morning and we could start from there It's a chance Maybe one in the thousand but it's worth trying Mrs. Keith this beats anything I ever heard in 20 years on homicide every case we get crazy information We get tips from psychopaths confession from cranks, but this All right, I'll find her myself. I will I'll find her myself know where we're going lumpy To see the pretty lady No, no, no just us Now which way lumpy Which way do we go? For a moment feeling the warm early morning sun and hearing the same normal voices of children in the park I decided I was out of my mind. It was crazy to think I could find it that way Dragging lumpy into it using a two-year-old to track her down And he seemed to forget all about it Attracted by the more immediate joys of the sandpile a Couple of hours went by and then lumpy came trotting over to me with his one sentence That was it The pretty lady didn't come to the park Lumpy and his father visited her But where? Maybe in the neighborhood It was worth a try anything was worth a try Dickie might be a crazy mixed-up kid in a faithless husband, but one thing I knew for sure. He was not a murderer How about this street lumpy? On this street lumpy this the street where pretty lady lives I turned up cross streets. I circled blocks. I drove on until lumpy began to get restless and lose interest How about this street lumpy? Darling when we get to the pretty lady. Do you know what we're gonna have? chocolate ice cream and marshmallow cookies and toys I slammed my foot down on the break The way lumpy bounced off the seat the way his eyes got wide with expectation I knew that I was in luck. He pulled me like a puppy on a leash He pointed to a house across the street an old house the downstairs was used as an interior decorator studio We were just getting out of the car when I swung lumpy around and slammed the door the woman coming out of the house Was a pretty lady. All right It's a very pretty lady of medium height with dark hair As soon as I left lumpy with mrs. Vogel. I hurried back the sign downstairs read Maurice burn fine interiors I went in a tall man with a blunt nose came toward me The deep regular waves and his yellow hair must have taken plenty of time and attention And he had an off-balance smile like a man with something stuck in his teeth Good afternoon. I'm uh looking for the woman who lives upstairs. I don't remember her name upstairs Yes, there are three apartments upstairs Three one is occupied by Joe Courtney an electrician. He threw his wife out a few months ago I don't think she's back yet. Well, what about the other two? Well, there's Farley McClain and his wife. Is she? An attractive woman at the last time I saw mrs. McClain She had an ugly gash running the length of her throat and up one side of her face as if someone had slashed her with an axe an axe There are a couple of old hams that get an occasional bit part in pictures They're always practicing makeup and don't go near them at night. No, no the woman. I'm looking for her She has dark hair. Oh a beautiful woman with an expensive look You know her and not yet She's new here. She still ignores me which should give you an idea of how discriminating she is Well, I wonder if you could tell me her name and where I could get in touch with her right now. I'm afraid not How do I know you're not serving the summons or maybe a bill collector? No, no, no, it's nothing like that This is something very personal, but it's terribly important Really, I must find her for her own good as well as for somebody else is somebody that she can help And if I don't find her the police will Her name is Alice Evans. She's a model at Maison chic the exclusive dressmaker The sales women were a little startled when I walked past them toward the dressing room The way my hair was blown. I looked like a neglected sheepdog She glanced up at me from a long mirrored table where she was putting the finishing touches on her street makeup. Yes I'm I'm Dickie's wife Congratulations, who is he please? Please? I know everything and you're the only person who can save him save him from what? I know you don't want to get mixed up in this But Dickie's facing a murder charge and you've got to tell the police that he was with you when Harry Landman was killed What is this a gag? You've got me mixed up with a couple of other women, please I'm only thinking of dick. I don't know your husband. I never laid eyes on him if you care anything about him me Why did you pick on me of all the women in this town? Why me if you don't go to the police? I will and I'll tell them everything. I tell you I don't know your husband. I never saw him I never spoke a word to him. I understand how you feel, but you do then be a good girl and go away Listen if you don't want to get involved your name might be kept out of it. I'm sure that the police would cooperate Just tell me where were you and Dickie that night? You're raving mad if I could find somebody else who saw him there. You won't be dragged into this at all I'm getting out of here. No, not till you tell me what happened I remembered the lovely crystal bottle in her hand and then a couple of sales women were helping me to my feet I was reeking of cologne and spattered with broken glass And Alice Evans was gone She was obviously panic struck and I had to press this advantage So I hurried back to her house the hall was dark and I struck a match to look at the names on the mailboxes And then I felt The gun in my back. Why don't you leave me alone? You were with Dickie that night and you can't help him. I don't know your husband But you know plenty about me. Don't you you know enough to come looking for me here Where else would I look you live here? I live in a pink house in the hills with an iron dog at the front door, but that's That's Harry Landman's Hugh The door seemed closer as if it moved the door from the hall to Maurice Byrne find interiors It was crazy and desperate and clumsy the way I knocked the gun aside and got through the door Hurry get the police. She killed him. Don't be silly. Mrs. Keith. She's the first one the police checked and double checked They know she was in Las Vegas that night lock the door Alice You said there was nothing to worry about There isn't why did she come here looking for me? I'm not sure I can't figure out what she knows You said there wouldn't be any suspicion. You had a maid to order fall guy a perfect dupe fall guy Dickie you're a clever woman, Mrs. Keith I don't know how you managed to trace Alice here, but it was clever in a suicidal way You I've seen you somewhere long ago, of course in one of Dickie's early pictures He came walking by here with lumpy a few months ago the first time I saw him in years And I know why he kept coming back. He was lonely He needed somebody sympathetic to talk to about how he hated Landman how Landman had given him a dirty deal And one day he brought in that beautiful pearl handled knife Here wanted to know if it was worth fifty dollars if I could use it in some decorating scheme You killed Landman it was you Fifty dollars Such in gratitude a knife that Harry Landman gave him as a birthday present You know how much that knife was worth to Alice and me? 200 grand left by her late unlimited husband and who would believe dickie of course it wasn't as decorative as Say this silver candlestick. Oh, no, I'm sorry you traced her here. No sometimes the less people know the smarter Saw the blood trickled on this end and under the candlestick and the next thing I knew the police were looking down at me over the edge of a dark deep well Only it wasn't a well. It was an elegant sofa that Maurice burn fine interiors I'll take it easy, Mrs. Keith When you feel better, I guess you and your husband can go home together. Dickie everything's okay, Jean I even picked up lumpy on the way here. Oh, how did you I? Mean what I was running away from everything When I heard the police were looking for me I came back No funny thing. We had a man following you Mrs. Keith since you left Landman's house Thought you might lead us to your husband instead But Where where lumpy pretty lady Well, oh No No, it can't be That's the only pretty lady lumpy ever saw around here Jean that ported it on the wall Was gonna be a surprise a painter burn nose did it from a photograph of you me It's gonna be a birthday present me The pretty lady I was looking for yeah, I had set me back 50 bucks I sold that pearl-handled knife to burn to get the $50 to pay for it suspense In which mr. Sadie's McCambridge starred in America's boyfriend written by Sydney Randall listen Listen again next week When we return with the twist is murder starring Raymond Burr Another tale well calculated to keep you in Suspense Supporting Miss McCambridge in America's boyfriend were Norma Jean Nielsen Joan Banks Dick Crenna Jack Krushen Byron Kane and Alan Reed Suspense Has been brought to you through the worldwide facilities of the United States armed forces radio and television service