 Autolight and its 98,000 dealers bring you Mr. Peter Lofford in tonight's presentation of Suspense Tonight Autolight presents a classic study of suspense a new dramatization of one of the most terrifying stories ever written Wilkie Collins a terribly strange bed our star mr. Peter Lofford What is so wonderful as a day in June why a world famous auto light spark plugs of course have what? I said world famous auto light spark plugs are tops half because they're ignition engineered Designed and built by ignition experts to give the best performance money can buy That's why auto light spark plugs are specified as original equipment on many leading makes of our finest cars trucks and tractors But what does spark plugs have to do with June why half June is the perfect time to get your car tuned up to get the Spark plugs checked for summer driving so friends see your auto light spark plug dealer soon He's a specialist on spark plug cleaning and adjustment for all makes of cars and if replacements are needed He will install ignition engineered auto light spark plugs either resistor or standard type Vest suited to your car and your style of driving Remember from bumper to tail light. You're always right with auto light and now auto light presents Mr. Peter Lofford in Wilkie Collins story a terribly strange bed hoping once again to keep you in suspense Shortly after my education at college was finished. I happened to be staying in Paris with an English friend We were both young man and lived I'm afraid rather a while life in the city of our sojourn and Thus had probed the various refined pleasures suitable to our class and Search for others less elegant Search for them in the neighborhood of the Palais Royal which lies covetly against the dark river Sain and From each closed doorway the small echoings of small promises That one every that doorway there. Oh, you're drunk Gerald pleasantly Exquisitely modestly delicately am I drunk and therefore Therefore what Gerald the doorway? I have suggested at the word frascati painted on it noble word Noble mysteries. I've been there. Oh Sly sly sly and traitor's friend you have been there and alone slyly and without me And it has a ghastly kind of respectability five Frank respectability and it would not amuse me Come along Gerald come along That's it Gerald you're coming along very nicely what I want Gerald. Oh, what you want? Want and you shall find want and you shall find what I want is somewhere where we can see a little genuine Blaggard poverty stricken gaming with no false gingerbread glitter thrown all over it no gingerbread for my friend Thank you a place not fashionable not respectable a Place of evil perhaps and of emotions. I've never known Oh Gerald come along Gerald will not come along Gerald is content here listen to me Gerald is content here to lean his weirdness and his search against this doorway against Gerald The door had flung open behind him and Gerald had fallen flat on his back and for a while laughed Then with my help got up And Gerald last no longer For the room the gaming room was tragedy mute weird tragedy And acquired in the room Horrible and the people of the room a thin haggard long-haired young man who sunken eyes fiercely watched the turning up of the cards and never spoke The flabby fat-faced perspiring player who registered on a passport how often black one and how often red and never spoke The dirty wrinkled old man with a vulture eyes and the darn great coat who had lost his last suit and still looked on desperately and never spoke The voice of the croupier Voice of the croupier down thick in the atmosphere of the room We had entered on a laugh that the spectacle before us was something to weep over I'd found it The pleasure I searched I'd found it and then yeah your eyes The look in them yes, and it's what you wanted, isn't it the place of evil and of emotions You'd never I want to play what you do come then Red and black make your bet Red and black your bets Red and black your bets a Thousand francs on black black black wins Leave it all of it black Wait black black wins leave it all of it black Yes Another passion idle amusement. Yes only amusement wait black all of it All of it red this time red. Oh not passion then intoxication perhaps. Yes intoxication as I have never known it intoxication Yes Yes Yes, which has become red Great wins all of it red and 10,000 more for all which has become passion which has become passion red red wings now The black croupier Permit me to restore to their proper place the two coins which were dropped There in their proper place a thousand francs a tall man and quite fat pinched into a frogden braided serto a Man of gargling bloodshot eyes mangy moustaches and a broken nose And the dirtiest pair of hands I ever saw Yet in the mad excitement his look his hands held no repelling influence on me For now in the mad excitement in the reckless triumph. I was ready to accept even such as he was wonderful lucky sure sir I pledge you my word of honor as an old soldier in the course of me long experience in this sort of thing never But never have I seen such luck as yours. Thank you. Go on sir boldly handsomely break the bank I assure you sir. I have every intention do it then sir. Go on break the bank My gallant English comrade boldly break the bank all of it black And I did go on went on at such a rate that in an hour Gentlemen the bank has discontinued for tonight in an hour in an hour of a kind of ecstasy I'd never known all the notes and all the gold in the bank now lay in a heap under my hands The whole floating capital of the gambling house under my hands waiting to pour into my pockets No No, no No, not in your pockets for no breeches pockets, whatever sold could hold such heavy winnings But then how may I take your pocket ankle chief, sir? Thank you Tie it up sir tie it up in your handkerchief as we used to tie up a bit of dinner in the army Shove it in Now answer to tight double knots each way with your permission And the money safe Thank you feel it feel it sir hard and round hard and round as a cannonball feel it Champagne sir, I will buy you champagne. No, thank you. I will for your friend. They're Henry's friend Amiable gracious Englishman Champagne champagne for the friend of the conqueror of the bank and for me come sirs to my table I Am Fabian Nero gallant sirs and you Henry Calder and this is my friend Gerald titsch now Henry Gerald Fabian lovely lovely lovely Henry and Gerald Fabian Hey, we are friends aren't we who have touched your sleeves to have you seated here beside me? This old soldier's heart will burst my eyes will weep my hands. Ah, the champagne A toast gentlemen a toast to not for me, please. Oh, of course not for you Gerald and I then you when Gerald Fabian a toast To the goddess fortune who embraced tonight our Henry and smiled secretly upon him and nestled very close The goddess fortune gentlemen an English cheer Gerald you were tipsy before now you Henry not to permit the golden blood of France to flow through the veins of this vivacious Englishman and Gerald your friend Oh Drink Gerald toast to France To the present company to the groupie and the groupie's wife and the groupie's daughter the groupie's daughters and the ladies elsewhere And to ladies I should like coffee Fabian a coffee coffee for me and for Gerald For intoxication will coffee it shall be a coffee coffee for the darling of fortune coffee The word pronounced by Fabian Nero seemed to have a magical effect on the company present They suddenly had lost interest and and all rose to the park Probably they had expected to profit by my intoxication by the proffering of champagne Finding I would have none of it had now abandoned all hope of thriving pleasantly on my winnings Whatever their motive might be at any rate. They went away in a body and the silence of before was now deeper than ever Then from a sort of vestibule at the far corner of the room a woman appeared Bearing a tray of coffee and glasses and walked towards us enveloped in silence Woman of a masiated face and burning bright eyes and wisps of colorless hair drifting across her rouge cheeks Your coffee sir Thank you. You will find it strong and good. Thank you Strong and good handsome, sir Here you are sir Thank you for I am pouched with thirst And it was kind of you and of Fabian and gracious and Generous, how wise you are Henry to drink this coffee of Millie's the coffee of Millie Prudom Millie Prudom Divine Millie beautiful Millie Prudom Will you have coffee? No champagne Millie To drink your beauty Why sir then your friend Gerald to drink coffee and rid yourself of your little amiable exaltation of spirits before you think of going home And you must my good and gracious friend who full with all that money With all that money to take home tonight, it is a sacred duty to yourself to have your wits about you Drink Henry drink your coffee You are known to be a winner to an enormous extent by several gentlemen present tonight Who are but mortal men sir and have their own amiable weaknesses? drink Henry Who'd surely rob and murder if you were to wait? Wait, oh Christian I'm ill. I'm very poor. He is ill very ill. I will weep Henry is ill and I'm drunk Millie will sob will you solve Millie ill? a fit of giddiness The room world's round and round curious Henry Your voice Defends me Furiously oh my dear friend my dear friend Madness to go home in your state would be robbed murdered You need a walking and then asleep and not a murdering a walking and then sleep and in a safe place Sleep in a safe place the place of Millie Proudhon a rooming house above the game room and that Capital beds of Millie's rooming house. I don't madness to go to your own home Leave that Millie Proudhon and tomorrow tomorrow Go home safely with your winnings tomorrow in full-flow life and in broad daylight Tomorrow Gerald babes right if anyone needs sleep you surely Come then Quickly come then quickly. I will help you About me that's the dear Gerald come Incher Henry here the choicest room of Millie Proudhon the capital bed there and the tasteful furnishing and the deep sleep to be had And the safe one till tomorrow Henry. I don't know how to thank you You have thanked me enough already with the exaltation of your splendid company and that I could have been of some small service to your small malady Oh Millie Go to come in here Henry wants to sleep Those of my memory Oh Millie Proudhon see Gerald passed into his particular oblivion in the middle of a sentence. I Walked over and locked the door Then I took my money my winnings wrapped in a handkerchief and placed beneath the pillow of my bed. I Lay down My senses still swam and I looked up at the heavily brocaded canopy and it seemed to move Somehow to move And for an instant I thought This was a terribly strange bed Auto light is bringing you mr. Peter Lawford in Wilkie Collins a terribly strange bed tonight's presentation in radio's outstanding theater of thrills suspense Well Harlow vacation times nearly here. Yes hap but not for spark plugs They're the very heart of your car's ignition system And if they're not right the chances are you won't get smooth and efficient engine operation During summer's hot and heavy driving. That's why now is the time to check them a Harlow Yes hap and when replacements are needed wise drivers insist on ignition engineered auto light spark plugs like the famous auto light resistor spark plug That's the amazing double life spark plug that gives top performance for twice as long as ordinary spark plugs And the auto light resistor is only one of a complete line of auto light spark plugs designed for every use right Harlow Right hap so friends see your auto light spark plug dealer tomorrow for a spark plug checkup And if you need replacements take nothing less than ignition engineered auto light spark plugs either standard or resistor type You'll be glad you did because from bumper to tail light. You're always right with auto light And now auto light brings back to our Hollywood soundstage mr. Peter Lawford in Elliot Lewis's production of a terribly strange bed a Tail well calculated to keep you in Suspense I could not sleep Restlessness took me over and I got out of bed That was the dim quiet flicker of a single candle And next to it a wash stand I plunged my face into the water There was a single chair, and I sat down and tried to compose myself Slowly slowly the giddiness left me shutter and a window Shutter attached by a single hinge and flapping against the side of the house And no lock on the window no way of locking the window Gerald Gerald are you up? Where where in a room over the gaming place? It's all right. I've locked the door, but the window and there's a window I was wide awake, and every one of my senses seem to be preternaturally sharpened Piano and a song I had never heard and then behind it the laughter Wide awake yet somehow the effects of whatever drug I had drunk seems suddenly to arise again and For an instant toy with my perception so that I reached for the wall to steady myself as I fall down leaned against the wall for support The moment their voices wavered and fled a kind of melancholy sees me I Walked over to the window and looked out looked out upon blackness a swarm of blackness no shapes definable could be made out Through the gloom Except a lighter grayness of a sort as if an abutment of some kind I supposed Directly across the window and somewhat below it But how far across into what length below I could not determine For all purposes then I knew only that we were above the street level and some three stories And having felt the walls directly adjacent the window. I found them to be sheer No one could enter there. I walked over to the bed and took a pillow and placed it beneath Gerald's head The bed again, and I lay down This bed that now I was lying upon I must again describe to you A four-post bed with a regular top line with chints The regular fringe balance all around It was ridiculous now that I tried to sleep. I couldn't even close my eyes I Resolved then to beguile the tedium of my wakefulness by making inventory of every article of furniture. I could see window washstand chest chair dressing table picture Upon the wall opposite the bed a picture A fellow in a high Spanish hat crowned with a plume of towering feathers Swarthy sinister Ruffian looking upward it might be at some tall gallows on which he was going to be hanged Such was the picture Another chair handle stick Picture It seemed to be moving The hat had been pulled over the eyes and there The hat itself was gone The hat was gone the plumes that was the bed move now Now it was at a brief and terrible dream. How could the top of a bed move? Brief terrible dream trick of the eye and the mind's going down for a moment into sleep Yet I let my mind say it The top of the bed had moved Gerald Gerald wake up. Well, open your eyes. Well now watch quietly Keep your voice in a quiet tone. Why why what listen? Above you Directly above you. Look. There's a picture. You see it. Yes a minute ago. The man was wearing a hat He was wearing a hat. Now. He is not Listen to me Where there was a hat is now a peephole and we are being watched All right, Henry, I'll stay where you are But be alert. All right, honey. Yes What are you going to do? Make sure of a thing what thing the bed what? Keep your eye on the canopy. I'm going to lie in the bed now Gerald and make sure that they're not trying to murder us Oh by feigning sleep what by feigning sleep Gerald just that quiet Yes, I am constitution anything but timid I have been on more than one occasion in peril of my life And I have not lost my self-possession for an instant But when the conviction settled on my mind that the bed top was actually moving it loosed a feeling within me foreign lace through with terror So I lay there motionless speechless breathless The candle spent went out, but the moonlight still bright in the room I lay there it descended The whole canopy came down close down Henry I Lay there Henry literally spellbound by what was happening out of bed But once I could not tell whether reality was here or my imagination was taking hold quickly before they're close Closer Henry Gerald's voice shattered this warm sea of fascination that bound me and I Left from the bed look look Henry. Yes there the middle of the bed top the huge wooden screw like a press To smother me and relieve me of my winnings and then kill you The light of the morning Gerald and look it comes up and through the window across the narrow shaft another building We can leave it. Not I what no not I my legs are still unsteady if I should stand up on that still I fall into space then wait and hurry. Yes, hurry the rest of my story is soon told From the building next door. I reached the ground and saw police With them I returned and mr. Fabian was seized as was mrs. Proudhon The police congratulated me on my good fortune and Gerald's on his And told us that they would probably never know how many people had been smothered in this diabolical bed So tightly was the canopy pressed to the bed that I could not retrieve my money The mechanism had to be released from the room above The police paid us go and finding ourselves walking homeward Gerald said to me I know a place where gambling is carried on at such a fever pitch that you'll be carried to the heights of excitement Needless to imagine I refused to go along with Gerald My adventure cured me of ever again trying rouge and why as an amusement The sight of a green cloth with packs of cards and heaps of money on it Well henceforth wouldn't be associated in my mind With the sight of a bed canopy descending to suffocate me in the silence and the darkness of the night Suspense Presented by auto light tonight star mr. Peter Loughard Here are the results of the great $100,000 auto light family charity drawing over five million two hundred thousand entries were received for this event Last week the final drawing was held in New York under the supervision of a distinguished committee Here are the names in the order of their selection $50,000 will be distributed to the charity or charities Designated by Desi L. Irish of Vallejo, California $20,000 will go to the charity or charities designated by Lucille foissy of Miami, Florida $5,000 to the charity designated by Vincent W. Sistler of Howe, Indiana $3,000 to the charity designated by Stuart Smith of Ogdensburg, New York and $2,000 to the charity designated by L. G. Bridgewater of Kennewick, Washington These people and 20 others who will each designate $1,000 to their favorite charities have all been notified And now this is Harlow Wilcox Wishing you a summer of safe driving with the reminder that wherever you travel from bumper to tail light You're always right with auto light Next Tuesday night June 15th We will continue with a new series of suspense programs at that time and through the summer We hope that you will join us and that we will be able each Tuesday night to keep you in Suspense Suspense is produced and directed by Elliot Lewis with music composed by Lucian Morrowick and conducted by Lud Blusken a Terribly strange bed was adapted for suspense by Morton Fine and David Freedkin from the story by Wilkie Collins In tonight's story Ben Wright was heard as Gerald Paula Winslow as Mildred Joseph Kearns as Fabian and Vic Perrin as the croupier Peter Loughard may currently be seen co-starring in the Columbia picture. It should happen to you and Remember suspense continues on Tuesday nights beginning next week at which time we will present the earth is made of glass This type spark plugs auto lights stay full batteries and auto light original service parts at your neighborhood auto light dealers Which to auto light? This is the CBS radio network