 Suspense, transcribed Mr. Dick Powell in Slow Burn, a suspense play produced and edited by William Spear. I'm standing here staring at a clock on a dresser in a crummy hotel room. I've been watching the men at hand drag itself up the face of the clock and I'm not gonna pull my eyes away from that man at hand until it touches 12. Because at 12, the slow burn that started in my insides way back three months ago, the slow burn that built till my whole body was on fire is gonna be sued. Yeah, in another few seconds it's gonna be 12 midnight and I'll be able to breathe again. Then they can come get me. I won't care. There it is. I can make that call now. Let me speak to Todd Sloan. This is Johnny Wilson. Don't interrupt. This call is a sense to be traced. I got a lot to say. The cops have a tight circle around this town and I know I got no exit. But before they get me, I want to clear a few things up. Now listen to me. I did it. I'm not denying it. I'm telling you why I did it. You're gonna print it because you're a right guy. Shut up. I don't have much time. It all started the day I fought in Duval, Pennsylvania. Daniel, my wife, didn't want me to fight. But to me, it was the fastest way to make a buck. I was just beginning then right after the war and the cold town was the best I could do. I was fighting Tony Tadro, a good boxer and a puncher. And the second round was just squared off and the crowd pulled to its feet, roaring the guy's name. Not mine, not Tony's. Me, it didn't throw, but Tony it did. He dropped his guard just long enough. Tony was flat on his back out cold. I let the referee raise my mitt. Then I walked to Lefty Wilkins, my manager. Nice work, Johnny. Thanks. Thanks, Lefty. What was your shouting about? Ain't you heard? The hometown kid who won that medal of honor blew in a town today. Not only that, he blew into the arena just before you tagged Tony. Well, not a glad hand to kid myself then. He made it easy for me. You don't have time. We're gonna meet Courtney Barr at the club tree in on in 30 minutes. Okay, okay. And just this once, let your tongue lay flat inside your face. I'll do the talking. Okay. You saw Johnny fight tonight. Mr. Barr, he's good. It takes more than good these days. We know that, Mr. Barr. That's why I ask you when all we need for him is the right build up and the connection. Look, when I engine a short and I cover a fighter, I want a reasonable chance to get my money back. Lefty, you never brought a fighter to the top yet. But this time it's different. Johnny Wilson is the next champ. Oh, don't beg him, Lefty. If he's too blind or recognize a good thing when it's shoved in front of him, let him get a seeing eye door. Oh, I'd take a chance on Johnny if he had an exploitation angle. The way it is now, there's too many good boys bouncing around. Don't need the build up, we'll have to go into him. No. I'm returning to New York tonight. Goodbye, gentlemen. He's got nothing. Nothing but money. Someday I'm gonna walk into a bank and look at the stuff. You know, they keep the trap behind little cages. But there's that kid again, the metal boy. Name's Chuck Masters. They say he got 30 jabs. 30 jabs? Oh, I'd like to meet the hero. Well, it looks like maybe your willies coming right at us. Pardon me, but aren't you Johnny Wilson? Yeah, that's right. I got to the stadium just in time for the knockout. I'd like to congratulate you. Oh, thanks. Thanks. 30 jabs, huh? You've been pretty busy. Me, I was in the medical core, Walter Reed Hospital. Have a drink, Chuck. Oh, no, thanks. I can't stop my family's waiting. I, I really have a favor to ask Mr. Wilson. I'm chairman of the juvenile delinquency committee. Oh, let me offer my congratulations. Thanks. Now if you'll offer just one more thing, your services in an exhibition. You mean a benefit? Yeah, look, Sonny, you're a nice, clean cut American boy and I like your style, but the only benefits I fight are for the Johnny Wilson fight. Now, wait a minute, Johnny, wait a minute. After all, we don't want to see no kids go wrong. Do we? Who are you figuring on Johnny fighting? Well, nobody yet. I just got the idea. Do you box, Chuck? Me? Well, I did a little boxing in the 39th infantry strictly amateur. Then it's a natural. You box, John. Oh, now wait a minute. I couldn't sure. Sure you could. And you look like a welter too. If you get into the ring with Johnny, it's a deal. Good idea. Good publicity. You don't understand. You can't ask a guy to fight unless you're willing yourself. Especially for nothing. You do, we do. You don't, we don't. Wow. Okay, it's a deal. Thursday night at the stadium. Yeah, yeah. All right, lefty. What's the setup? In the ring Thursday, I want you to make them look good. I want the kid to think he's a wonder boy. I want to sign him. And then? Then I take him to bar as my new fighter. Medal of Honor and all. All bar like that. Endorsed by Congress. Keep talking. We've got some of the exploitation angle he's talking about. And with the dough we make on Chucky Boy, we'll finance you to the title. Go to the crowd. Any more people come in without the rest of the oxygen. That's what bar means by exploitation. That Medal of Honor drags them in. There it is. Remember Johnny, don't win. You don't have to lose, but don't win. That was a fair enough fight. Like lefty wanted. I didn't lose it. I didn't win it. The kid was a cinch to sign a lefty wired bar to find out if he was interested. He was. And now we're in New York in the Copa Club signing the contracts. There's one thing left now that Chuck is signed where does Johnny here fit in? Oh, Johnny's gonna stop boxing for a while. He's gonna groom Chuck. Me. I wasn't having any conversations just then. I was watching Chuck watch a long haired slinky dame come towards our table. She had on a gown that had no straps and didn't need any. There was sweet rhythm in her walk and she wore a hands-off look that beat blood into a guy's head. She stopped at our table and Chuck's mouth flopped open. I said, well, gentlemen, this is my wife. Hello. Daniel, this is Chuck bastards. Sit down, baby. So you're the new fighter? Yeah. I hate fighters. Oh, you're frightened the boy. And I hate the parasite to live off. Oh, have a drink, baby. Why do you take that, Johnny? Shut up. Hey, new fighter. Why don't you duck out before they knock that gentle look out of your eyes? I don't want to fight, Mrs. Wilson, but I need money. Johnny looked like you when he first started. And after only four thousand push-ups a day, look at me now. Childhood sweethearts, sweetness and light. Now he's not happy unless I wear gowns like this. There's nothing wrong with that dress. Hey, baby, have you heard? I'm gonna stout of the ring for a bit. What? I'm gonna teach Chuck here a thing or two. Who can tell? With me behind him, he may get to be our next champ. You've given it up, Johnny. What happened? He's just taken a rest, Daniel. That make you soar? Not me. It just sounds like Johnny's using his head. And that sounds so strange. It makes me suspicious. Oh, great little kid, ain't she, Chuck? Hey, Mr. Bar. Come on, baby. Let's dance. Now the publicity buildup started. Chuck was a hero. The story of the signing hit the papers coast to coast, border to border. The Fighting Marine, they traced his medals every beachhead. I even came in for some publicity as Chuck's best friend, the guy who was sidetracking his own career to training. Another day, Chuck signed for his first fight with Whitey Cards and the Bronx Coliseum it was. Who should come in to give him his medical but my old CO from the Med Corps, Doc Peterson? Hey, Cobra Johnny Wilson. Don't make me say what are you doing here. Tell me. I'm a fighter, Captain. Well, that's a far cry from Walter Reed Hospital, Johnny. How you doing? So far the army paid off better. Oh, Doc, this is Chuck Masters. Oh, how you, Chuck? According to all the publicity I hear, you're going to be the next welder, champ. Yeah. With bars of money, we opened a training camp in the Berkshires. I talked to Chuck to box and he learned fast. His left wasn't too good, but his right was okay and he was shifting. Three days before his fight with Carnes, Chuck and me were in the ring, sparring. Hold it, Johnny. There's Daniel. Hello, Daniel. Hi, you, chump. Well, baby, I don't expect to see you. All right, all right. What are we waiting for? Oh, it's you, huh? Hello, lefty. Training camps are no places for dames. You know that. Yeah. Yeah, that's right. You never watched me train before. What's the magnet? I got the day off and I wanted to watch the process whereby they turn a guy like him into a guy like you. I looked at her lips while she was talking and the thought that she might be hoping for somebody else's lips on her is Chuck's and maybe tore it my inside. The gong sounded and I went for him. Take it easy. Take it easy. What's the matter with you? Your nuts? Why are you slugging like that? Well, I figured Chuck is about ready for anything. Come on, Chuckie boy. Put him up. Let's see if you can take it. Really cut loose there. I've been storing it for a long time. I've belted him good. He went down and stayed there. When they carried him out, he opened his eyes. But he didn't look at me. He looked at Dania. She looked back at him with tears in her eyes. I should have killed him both then. Still on the phone, Todd? Yeah. Now, hold it a second. I want to gander out the window. The cops in large numbers, Todd, but they won't find me for a while and I only need a little more time to finish. Well, Chuck won his first fight naturally. He was getting the slow, careful buildup. He won a second fight over in Jersey. So then lefty began to book him. He said Courtney Barr wanted Chuck to go out and make a tour and get a list of knockouts so he'd have a record. So I shat on my mitts. The day Chuck got back from his tour, he called and Dania invited him to dinner. How was the tour, Chuck? Oh, fine. I had a couple of fights that were terrific. In Denver, I fought William Myers. What a boxer. But I found his weakness. See, when he was getting set to throw his right, he always flipped his elbow just a bit. From then on, he was my You're beginning to enjoy fighting, Chuck. Oh, I shouldn't enjoy it. There's money in it. Sure. 50% of the person, a bonus. Don't forget the bonus. Scrambled brains, cauliflower ears, and the nose smattered all over your face. A good fighter keeps his nose straight. Johnny was just like Chuck when he first started. Fighting kills a man's better instincts. I'll get the dessert. I'll help you. So I got no instincts. I'm just a bum, huh? That's a pie, Johnny. Give me the knife. I'm not worth anything. I stay with you because I'm trying to salvage what I think is still there. And that crack that I used to be like Chuck is. We can still save it. I want it to be the way it was. You stay away from him. What's the use? Come in and finish your dinner. You heard me. Stay away from Chuck or I'll finish him. Every sports rider was wondering who was going to fight Mike Gruen. Nobody got a crack at the chapel as he fought Gruen first. I knew who it was going to be. Me. And with the money left, he got out of Chuck's fights. That was the deal we'd made. But, well, I was getting itchy about it all this time. I wasn't getting any particular buildup. We were on the lake cruising around relaxing after two weeks of hard training. Bar and Chuck were watching a kid horsing around doing handstands in a canoe. I took lefty to the other end of the launch. Yeah. Yeah, I know, Johnny. I know. Now, don't worry about the Gruen bounce. Maybe it would be smarter lefty if you gave up my contract on the surface. Then you could hold off Chuck while my new manager signed me for that match. I, I can't, Johnny. No, I'm not. No, don't get mad. But I had to give bar 50% of your contract or he wouldn't back Chuck originally. But I got it fixed. I spun around saw canoe floating bottoms up. Chuck was ripping off his clothes, but I got out of mine fast too. Me and Chuck hit the water together. You see him, Johnny? Huh? No. I saw the kid, but I wasn't telling Chuck. He'd come up about 20 yards away and he went down in the same spot. This was going to be publicity for me. I dove for the kid, grabbed his hair and pulled him up. When the boat came up alongside, lefty hauled him in. That's it. Come on. When they pulled me into the boat, I saw lefty point to the landing. Oh, look at that car load of reporters that just drove up. Chuck, you and Johnny get all of those wet clothes. I'll take care of the reporters. Reporters? Well, send them along, boys. Photographers, bring them on. That evening, I was sparring with Chuck, sharpening his footwork when Dania came up with the New York papers. Don't you two ever get out of that ring? Oh, by the way, congratulations. Huh? Oh, you hear all about the hero stuff on the lake? Yeah. Congratulations. But she wasn't looking at me. She was looking at Chuck. I hopped out of the ring, grabbed the newspapers out of her hand. The story was there all right in big block headlines. Chuck Masters saves boy from drowning. Medal of Honor winner does it again. Me? I wasn't even in the comic section. This is all wrong, Dania. Johnny saved that kid. Yeah, Johnny saved that kid. Now, Johnny's going to save himself. Where's that lefty Wilkins? Oh, that's a dirty trick, Johnny. Chuck, you're trying to tell me you knew nothing of this. Your picture and life history on the front page. I swear. Now your eyes open, Johnny. Look what they've done to Chuck. How they made him lie just for the sake of publicity. I didn't lie. And what publicity? You're a fight with Mike Gruen on the sports page. The whole double cross opened up like a filthy sunflower. I was the patsy, the fall guy, the jerk, the dummy. I was going to be the next champ. Yeah, the next champ under the dunce cap. I wanted to pound someone, something, anything. My eyes focused on Dania. I'm glad this has happened. Maybe, Johnny, now you'll give up. We'll have a chance to live decent, normal lives. I'm glad this has happened. I spark plugged this whole thing so I could get that Gruen bar. I fixed it. You're just stupid, stupid. Shut up. You hit me. You miserable scum. Come back here. Let her alone. Oh, I've been waiting for this, Chucky boy. Johnny, take it easy. Wait a minute. Chucky, Johnny. Take it, boy. What's going on here? Come on. Take it easy. All right, now. Throw Wilson off the ground. Yeah. Yeah. Throw the bum out. Throw the bum out. Through me out all right. And while they were doing it, I was thinking I was going to kill Lefty Wilkins. That was definite. And I remembered that all Dan, you're worried about was Chuck. Chuck's character. Chuck's gentle look. Yeah. I was going to kill Lefty. And for Chucky, boy, I was going to think up something special. Very special. Day after day, I'd wake up with a new idea. But none good enough. Then one night I walked into a bar and saw someone. Someone who was going to give me the answer. It was my old CO, Doc Peterson. Corporal Johnny Wilson. Come on over and bring a drink with you. Well, thanks, Captain. Still medicking for the boxing commission? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Still fighting? Yeah. Off and on. Off and on. Glad to see you, Johnny. Hey, you're the second guy I've seen from our old outfit recently. Yeah. You remember that Lieutenant in the chemical core who nearly lost his eyes? I saw him. I met his new wife. A real mess. I guess we didn't do such a good job on his eyes. Eyes? What do you mean, Captain? You remember, the fool got by a chloride of mercury in him. Severe corny lacerations. The lucky thing we caught him when we did it, he'd have gone permanently blind. It's a terrible thing when a man loses his eyesight. Yep. I suppose it was a man in your profession, huh, Johnny? Huh? Yeah. Yeah. Good thing a guy can tell when that stuff gets in his eyes and a guy can always tell. Burns like mad. Yeah. I guess it would. Well, I gotta be on my way, Johnny. Oh, Captain, how long would that stuff have to be in a guy's eyes to blind him permanently? 26 hours about if he's in top condition. The Captain left and me, I walked the streets all night, most of the next morning until the 42nd Street Library opened. I went through five medical books before I found what I wanted. Eye anesthesia. Plonthochin. Causes loss of sensation in the eye without affecting the eyesight. I went up to the training camp. The growing bout was in three days. I had to get back in favor and I piled it on good. I played it with hearts and flowers. Everything. Sorry, that's the way it is, Chuck. I'm sorry for the hassle I caused. I'd sure like to be with you for the night of the fight. Well, okay, Johnny. It'd be funny fighting a local match without you in my corner. John's fishy to me. You ain't the kind to forgive. Well, it ain't fishy, Lefty. Since Daniel left, things have been lousy with me. I'm out of door. I gotta eat. I need the job. He gets the job, Lefty. He writes it. He taught me everything I know. I want him in my corner. When we walked down the aisle in the garden for the ring, I had three things in my bag. A long, sharp knife for Lefty Wilkins and the Ponticane and bichlorated mercury for Chucky Boy. At the end of the fourth round, Chuck was way out in front and Lefty was beaming all over. Well, nice gun, Chuck. Hey, he's a cinch. Then I reached for the Vaseline that every fighter has smeared over his eyebrows to keep his eyes from getting cut. I had the Vaseline loaded with Ponticane. I smeared it all around those eyes at his. Now all I had to do was wait until the Ponticane took effect. The next three rounds were a nightmare. Chuck seemed as good as ever and Cullen was weakening fast. Suppose he got knocked out before I got the bichlorate in Chuck's eyes. Well, everything's still okay, Chuck? Hey, he sure must be pooped, Johnny. He hit me in the eye three times that round. I didn't even feel it. Yeah? That's all? Ah, come on, Johnny. Swab my face. Little alcohol water, boy. Next round, I'll kill him. He leaned back. I picked up a sopping sponge from the outer bucket. The one with the bichlorate now swabbed his face and kept swabbing it while the liquid ran over his forehead and down on his eyes. He didn't even wince as the poison drained under his lids into his eyes and over his eyeballs. He started the eighth round strong and cocky. He pushed Cullen all over that ring, and then all of a sudden it happened. He stopped and put his gloves to his eyes, trying to rub away the creeping blindness. Cullen played it cagey. He thought it was a trick, but as Chuck desperately hunted for him, Cullen caught wise and he piled into Chuck's. Cullen tore his head off. He hit Chuck with everything but the ring post. Chuck kept going down and coming up from where it was beautiful. I picked up my bag and left the corner. On the way out, I stopped for a moment where Lefty Wilkins bent forward agonizing in his seat as he watched the championship go out the window. He didn't even move when I shoved that knife into his back. The crowd was screaming for the kill as I walked out. Still there, Todd? The law's gonna be in in a second. The reason I couldn't call you in time for your bulldog additions, I had to be sure the 26 hours is up. Otherwise, you could have warned Chuck and his eyesight could have been saved. I want him to stay blind. Take it easy. Take it easy. You can have me. I got what I wanted. Oh, you had meant to kill Lefty Wilkins. Sure, and it was a pleasure. And Chuck, the champ, how does he like it? Got any jobs for fighters you can't see? Why don't you ask him? What? Hello, Johnny. Chuck, well, what are you... Yes, Johnny, he can see. He's not blind. But you can't see. I don't believe it. You can't. Your old CO was at the ringside, Johnny. Dr. Peterson, in what it was a minute had happened. He fixed up my eyes. You can't see. You can't see. You can't see. You're the one who's blind, Johnny. Tonight's Suspense Play was produced and edited by William Speer and directed by Norman McDonnell. The music was under the direction of Lud Blusken. This is the United States Armed Forces Radio Service, The Voice of Information and Education.