 You're about to hear a story based on actual events to protect the innocent. Names and places have been changed. AutoLite and its 96,000 dealers bring you the popular young motion picture star, Mr. Tony Curtis, in a story taken from life. Tonight's presentation of... Suspense. Tonight, AutoLite presents the McKay College basketball scandal, a story taken from the headlines and concerning the bribes offered to college athletes, starring Mr. Tony Curtis. Hi, Harlow. Where are you been? I've been fishing, Hap, and here's my catch. Well, that's just a bunch of worn-out spark plugs. Yeah, but they sure caused plenty of trouble before I landed them. I went fishing with a friend of mine, and his car was slow on the pickups, sluggish on the hills, and a toughie to start. What did you do, Harlow? What I had him see is AutoLite spark plug dealer who compared his spark plugs with the famous AutoLite plug check indicator. This shows the exact condition of your spark plugs and whether they're right for your style of driving. Well, suppose they're not right, Harlow. Well, if cleaning or adjustments are needed, your AutoLite spark plug dealer is equipped to give you the finest spark plug service. Well, suppose he finds that new ones are required. Well, then he'll install standard or resistor type, ignition engineered AutoLite spark plugs to give you smoother performance, quick starts, and gas savings. Good reasons to visit your AutoLite spark plug dealer. Right, you are. Just call Western Union by number and ask for operator 25. She'll tell you without charge the name of your nearest AutoLite spark plug dealer. And remember, from bumper to tail light, you're always right with AutoLite. And now with the McKay College basketball scandal and the performance of Mr. Tony Curtis, AutoLite hopes once again to keep you in South Spence. And so, sport fans of America, while there's still a minute or two before game time, I'd like to tell you something about the man most of us are here to see in action tonight. And of course, I'm speaking of Fred Hudson, a great ball player when the chips are down. What a lie that's going to turn out to be. I know. I'm Fred Hudson. Twenty years old and his junior year as a McKay student, he's six feet tall, that's a laugh. Hudson has been the recipient of many trophies and awards. You put them all together and you add a dime and you can stand on a main street bus. Including seven loving cups and three all state trials. My old man uses them for ashtrays. But there's the referee's whistle and the game is on. The center steps into the circle. The balls tossed up the jump. And it's McKay's ball with Rudd University falling back into a zone defense. They've got two man guarding Fred Hudson. And believe you, they'll need him. Now McKay's working the ball in passing sharp. French dribbles close to the deck. Passes to Hudson and cuts fast down the court. French is clear. Wide open under the basket and Hudson loses the ball. That's right. Loses the ball. It's hard though playing this way. Why? I wish I knew the answer. But it's all knotted together with the school and the town and the people in it. You see, McKay is in an ordinary college. It's like a school song. The last two lines. But the game that's at the top of all the students is the basketball brigade of old McKay. Get that brigade. Anywhere else it's a team, but at McKay it's a big deal. Same way in town. Basketball isn't a game in my town. It's a way of life. Yeah, but your promise, your promise. Sorry, I tell you and press out. But the magazine's just arrived. Two minutes after they arrived I was fresh out. Look, you want a subscription? No, I want this week's copy. Well, I can order you one. I'm ordering for 60, 70 people. Well, how about your copy? Well, I'll lend it to you. Oh, gee, fine. Oh, thanks, Bar. Oh, thanks a lot. Fine. You take good care of it. Yes, gentlemen? What's all the excitement? Nothing. May I help you? Yeah, you can help me. You can tell him what's all the excitement. Oh, well, it's just his big sped in the magazine about a fellow living here, a basketball player. Yeah, that's Stanley. My, my. I'm boy named Fred Hudson. You fellas new in town? Fred Hudson, the all-American boy. He's all state. That means more than all-American around here. Me, I'd like to meet him. Do you, Stanley? No one I'd like to meet more. Where's he lived, this Hudson? Elm Street, next to the corner on the right. Anything else you fellas want? Cup, coffee, bottle, pop? You got a two cents plane? Uh, what? Forget it, farmer. I haven't got time. What's bothering you, Fred? Nothing. What you doing? Nothing, nothing, I tell you. Okay, buddy. Look, look, I'm sorry, French. Let's go. There's the bell. I mean, a whistle. You said bell. I must have been thinking of something else. Forget your key or something? Yeah, I'm sorry, Ma. Don't forget your head if it wasn't shaped like a basketball. I was weighing the back of the house. We've got anything to eat around here. It's too oily for supper. Think this is a restaurant or something? Look, Ma, all I want is... There's some bologna in the icebox. You can make it yourself if you're not too much of a big shot. I got ironing to do. Don't I make my sandwiches every day? You eat like a horse every day. Hey, boy, you seen this? You read about yourself? Yeah, pop. You make me proud, boy. I tell you, I'm proud. Your father's always proud about supper. 23 years, he's been too proud to work. Fred, will you tell your mother not to start that again? Will you ask your father where the next meal's coming from? Cut it out, won't you? You give me indigestion, you two. I'd like to give you indigestion. And maybe you wouldn't play basketball. Maybe you'd get a job, bring some money into the house. She don't understand, Freddie. She don't appreciate. What's to appreciate? Your son is a basketball bum. My son's one on a million. He'll have his pick of jobs. What kind of jobs? He don't know a trade. He never opens a book less than it's a basketball manual. You don't understand. Best paying jobs in America go to the athletes. Everybody wants them for publicity with what you call goodwill. I know. Sure you do. Being a big athlete yourself. Who ever wanted you? Fred's different. He's the biggest... Biggest basketball bum, some on a... You got a tongue like that. Shut up, shut up. I'm sick of it. Every day the same thing for 20 years. 23 years. Always a fight. Even when something good happens. What's so good about your picture in a magazine? You get paid for it? I'm getting out of here. Fred, there was two gentlemen here to see you and I... Now look what you did. He's gone. He'll be back for supper. Here, take this laundry over to the call wells and make sure you collect. I could kill you. You don't have the knife. And there goes the gun. At the end of the first half, Rod leading 33 to 25. K squad looks tired. Very tired as the team walks off the court. Particularly Hudson. Never saw him perform like this before. Even the fans are against him. Well, that's the way it goes, folks, in the world of sports. A few days ago, Fred Hudson was king of the campus. Fine, fine. Hudson. Oh, Hudson. Yeah. Oh, oh. Hello, Dr. Kellogg. Hudson. I'd like you to drop in on me during office hours. I want to talk with you. Well, is it something bad? I mean, can you tell me what it's about? It's about your exam paper. Don't tell me I'm flunking history. Oh, on the contrary, it seems to be the only course you're not flunking. That's what my colleagues tell me. They tell me the same thing. Uh, I did okay on your exam? Well, you didn't stick to the facts, but that's all right. Too many minds are mortgaged to facts, and facts themselves are comparative. Then what is it? I mean, uh... Have you ever read Spengler, Hudson? Who? Oswald Spangler. Wrote a book called The Decline of the West. Never heard of him. It's very interesting. You see, in your exam, you expounded a theory about Western civilization that parallels Spanglers. You went off half-cocked, but it's still very interesting. I did that? It seems that, along with all your physical splendor, you have a brain. Uh, does that surprise you? Well, uh, frankly, it surprised me. But now that we've made the discovery, what do you intend to do about it? Uh, I don't know what you mean. I mean, Hudson, you might spend your time more profitably by majoring in history rather than basketball. What's wrong with basketball? Oh, nothing as a sport, but as a career. It could be dangerous. Dangerous? How? Let's be honest, Hudson. Now, you might be one of those sad young men who reach such an acute limited excellence at 20 that everything afterwards savers of anticlimax. Basketball isn't the most important thing in the world. What is? It isn't even a very significant occupation, although it may seem that to you right now. But look, I've got nothing else. It's the only thing I'm good at. How do you know? What else have you tried? You're getting me all fouled up. I'm trying to unfoul you, friend. I've seen too many campus heroes who discovered too late that there's more to life. Oh, this sounds so corny. Well, there's more to life than, well, muscular coordination. But basketball, it's like my anchor. It's an anchor of driftwood. In five years, 25 years, you'll still be drifting, you'll still be seeking a little wistfully for the excitement of some irrecoverable basketball game. You think I should give it up? Well, no, no, of course not. Play basketball, Fred. Get all you can out of it. But don't make it your life's work. Make it sound so bad. I feel like whatever I do is wrong. Well, maybe I'm too blunt, Fred. Or maybe I resent athletes and I'm taking it out on you. Why should you do that? Maybe because I've always had spindly legs and a scrawny neck and no chest at all. Well, either way, Fred, don't take it too hard. I'm just a tired old windbag in a cow college or should I say a cow hide college? Isn't that what basketball's made of? Well, if you're interested in Spangler, I have a copy in my office. Well, not now, sir. I gotta go see my girl. Well, anytime, Fred. It's funny. You know, she thinks sorta like you do about basketball. She thinks I've got no ambition. Well, Fred, I hope you haven't taken our talk too serious. Oh, it's all right, sir. Anyway, my girl, she's got enough ambition for the both of us. Listen to me. The way you've been playing is the reflection on me as coach. So get the lad out, Hudson. You're feeding in the ball like slow motion. Fred, how do you like that? He's not even listening. Fred. Yeah? Fred, you happen to realize you've been pacing for an hour up and down over and over again. Really, it's a bore. I'm thinking, Jean. Anyway, you've been wrapped up in that magazine. Magazine's all about you as if you didn't know. Hey, you read where it says, Handsome Hulk Shouldered Fred Hudson. I get that. Handsome. Well, I haven't exactly read it. I've sort of been scanning the ads. You and your advertisements. Advertisements, sweetie. Advertisement is so unsheak. I guess that's just one of the things that's wrong with me. Oh, don't be so serious. It was perfect. What is wrong with me, Jeanie? Please, Fred, don't start that. I mean it. Look, let's take those guys in the ad... advertisements. Now, what have they got I haven't? Well, for one thing, they were nickties. Oh, now there's something really important. Why must you be so morbid? Come on over here and relax. Jeanie. Not that way. Now cut it out, Fred. That's better. Just sit quietly and look at the pictures. Jeanie. Look at that car. Isn't it dreamy? Yeah. Hey, you know Charlie Mason? That phony. He's not. You see his new car? Yeah, how could you miss it? Just like this one. Only convertible. Listen, Jeanie. Look, instead of a movie tonight, couldn't we just talk? Look, there's something... Well, Fred, as a matter of fact... You got a date? Yes, as a matter of fact... Charlie Mason. He asked me ages ago. I was going to tell you... That's all right, Jeanie. Well, you don't have to be so big about it. Look, I'm fed up, Jeanie. I'll see you. Well, after all, Fred, you don't own me. That's why I'm fed up, kid. I don't own anything. No neckties, no convertibles. Fred, you... I'll be seeing you, kid. Fred! I don't know anything. Fred. Hello, Fred. Eh, don't rush your, Freddie. We've been waiting a long time. For me? Sure. Who else? Who are you guys? You can call us a couple of your fans. I call you a couple of wise guys. Awful tough, ain't he? A big man on a little campus. From the magazine piece, I thought maybe he was a regular Joe. What do you want? Oh, uh, how about your autograph? You guys make funny jokes. Or maybe you'd like my autograph. I bet that's it. You want his autograph, Freddie? I bet he would, on a fat check. You want that, Freddie? What are you talking about? See, he's interested. I knew it. Then talk or get at it away. How'd you like to make $2,000? $2,000. Two Gs, Freddie. All yours. How? Well, we figure you work pretty hard at basketball. We figure you ought to get paid for all that work. Particularly if you don't work too hard. I don't get it. We want you to work for us, Freddie, this Friday night. I got a basketball game. Yeah. We want you to dump the game. For $2,000? What do you say? I don't know. $2,000. I got your mind. I got to think. There's no time. You want to be amateur all your life? It's four days to Friday. You got till midnight. Four hours. I'll let you know. All right. We're at the Drake Hotel. Yeah. Oh, just one thing. Keep an open mind and a shut mouth. Get the picture. Yeah. Because we wouldn't want to hurt a nice, clean cut boy like you. AutoLite is bringing you Mr. Tony Curtis in the McKay College basketball scandal. Tonight's production in radio's outstanding theater of thrills suspends. Say, Harlow, getting back to fishing. You know, the only fishing you do is for compliments on auto light spark plugs. Well, sure. Because when you replace worn out spark plugs with ignition engineered auto light spark plugs, you get smoother performance, gas savings, and quick start. What do you mean, Harlow? Why, with those mighty mites under the hood, your car will take off like a scared salmon and speed along smooth as a sailfish. Tell the folks why, Isaac Walton. Because, friends, auto light spark plugs are designed by the same auto light engineers who designed the coil, distributor, and all the other important parts of the complete ignition system used as original factory equipment on many leading makes of cars. That's why ignition engineered auto light spark plugs are world famous for outstanding quality and performance. Lead me to them, Harlow. So, friends, see your auto light spark plug dealer soon. Have him replace worn out spark plugs with resistor type or standard type ignition engineered auto light spark plugs. And remember, from bumper to tail light, you're always right with auto light. And now auto light brings back to our Hollywood soundstage Mr. Tony Curtis in Elliot Lewis' production of the McKay College basketball scandal. A dramatic report well calculated to keep you in... South Spence. What'll I do? What'll I do? You got till midnight. He's a basketball bum. He's one on a million. Get a job. Dump the game. Bring some money into the house. Best paying jobs in America go to the athlete. Neck ties. Convertibles. Dreamy. Two G's. Dump the game. It seems you have a brain. Dump the game. You make me proud, boy. Proud. Dump the game. Get all you can out of it. Dump the game. Give me the number of the Drake Hotel. Bounds missed the ball now and then. You got that? Yeah. Throw hook shots over to basket. When you get rebounds, don't pass so quick. This way, you might flub two points. Don't try too hard to block the other guy's shot. Don't cover too close. All right, all right. When do you want to see me again? We don't. How about the dope? Here it is. We'll take it. But suppose something goes wrong. Look, Hudson, you got to stop acting like a hick. There'll be more than a million bucks spent on this ball game from New York to L.A. If something, anything goes wrong. We're going to kill you. Get the picture. I just wonder if you guys get it. What do you mean by that? I mean, well, you guys think we're a bunch of hicks. What do you think? Could be. But we know basketball. Even grammar school kids, they know the game. So what? So I hope we get away with it. It's your problem, Freddie. Just remember, don't try anything. Don't stink up the joint. We'll be dead. Well, they seem to have Hudson pretty well bottled up. He sunk one free throw and a field goal all evening. And time's beginning to run out. Just, uh, 11 minutes to go and the score, Rudd 51, McKay 46. Take it, Mom. Go on, use it for the house. $25. Where'd you get it? I want it popping a basketball pool. Oh, what luck. Skill, that's what it is. That boy knows basketball. You feel good, Freddie? You gonna play good, Freddie and I? Yeah, I feel okay. Uh, Freddie, don't you want some of this? Well, I already took a few bucks. I bought some neckties. Well, why don't you wear them? I don't like them. They're uncomfortable. Uncomfortable? A necktie? Please, Ma, please. Cut it out, huh? All right, Freddie. All right. Hello, Jeannie. Well, where have you been? Around. Here's some flowers for you. Oh, they're dreamy. I missed you, Freddie. I thought you were still thrashing around with Charlie Mason. Oh, I gave him the brush, that phony. What'd I tell you? Nowhere he gets all his money. He steals it from his father. Steals it? Yeah, he told me. Really, it's detestable. Come on in. Jeannie, I gotta be going. But you just got here. I know. Bye, Jeannie. Dr. Kellogg? Oh, come in. Thank you. Dr. Kellogg, what was that poem you were talking about yesterday? The one Lincoln kept on his desk? Oh, it's an order. I mean, I mean, how does it go again? Um, it goes, Do what thy manhood bids thee do From none but self expect applause He noblest lives and noblest dies Makes and keeps his self-made laws. Is that what you mean? Yeah, that's what I mean. Three seconds left to play, and Rudd leading 60 to 59. It's McKay's time up. Believe you me, this has been a ball game. Although half the bands here are disappointed They came to see Hudson, and all night they've been riding him. Fred seems to be off his feet. He's playing ragged ball. And there's the whistle. Stern brings the ball into play, Passes to French, 20 seconds. French vanes to Hudson. Don't stand up and join. Passes to Hudson in mid-floor. Freddy shoots. The ball's in the high arch. Chips her down. Where's their room, Fred? I'm going in with you. No, no, no. This is a personal, but I think they ruined my life. I'm going to ruin theirs. Fred, I'm going to get the hotel caught. This saves us a trouble of coming after you. Here's your money. I bought a couple of ties. I give my mother $25. Now I'm going to kill you both with my bare hands. Stay away from that gun. The bus will be here any minute. Dress warm, Freddy. Get enough to eat. I will, Mom. I'll send you some money as soon as I get a job. Oh, Fred. Yes, Dr. Kellogg? I'd like you to have this book. It's Spengler. I want you to know I did all I could. I know. They had expelled me. Oh, where are you going, Fred? As far as $27 will take me. Eight loving cups and a varsity sweater. Hocked $27. I'll wait for you, Freddy. Honest I will. Well, I'll be seeing you in the advertisements. Advertisements, darling. I looked it up. One's as good as the other. Fred. Yes. Good boy, Freddy. Yeah, Pa. One in a million. Spengler. Presented by AutoLite, tonight's star, Mr. Tony Curtis. And here he is again, stepping out of his role as the all-American basketball player, Universal International's handsome young star, Tony Curtis. Thank you, Harlow. And thanks to AutoLite for this opportunity to appear on suspense. Tony, the pleasure was ours. You played a splendid game of basketball. I was not in coach. Just had a good support. It was teamwork, Tony. Now, take that famous AutoLite team. I know, Harlow. AutoLite spark plugs. The AutoLite stay-full battery designed to work as a team by the same AutoLite engineers who design complete ignition systems. I know, Harlow. In 28 plants, AutoLite makes over 400 products for cars, trucks, tractors, planes, and books. I know, Harlow. It's a great team. Right, you are, Tony. In fact, you're always right with AutoLite. Next week on Suspense, our star will be Miss Jean Crane in another story based on actual events concerning a wife who discovers she is married to the murderer among us. A dramatic report we call the Case Study of a Murderer. In weeks to come, we shall also present Mr. Herbert Marshall, Mr. Cornel Wild, and Mr. Ray Milland. All on Suspense. Suspense is produced and directed by Elliott Lewis with music composed by Lucian Morrowick and conducted by Lud Bluskin. The McKay College basketball scandal was written for suspense by Millard Kaufman. Featured in tonight's cast were Joseph Kearns as Dr. Kellogg, Martha Wentworth as Mrs. Hudson, Lou Merrill as Mr. Hudson, Barbara Eiler as Jean. Also heard were Jack Moyles, Bill Foreman, Jack Krushan, Gil Stratton Jr., and Leo Cleary. Tony Curtis can now be seen in The Prince Who Was a Thief, an international universal Technicolor production co-starring Piper Laurie. Location of your nearest authorized AutoLight service station or your nearest AutoLight spark plug or battery dealer. Phone Western Union by number and ask for Operator 25. Switch to AutoLight. Good night. This is the CBS Radio Network.