 Now, Auto-Lite and its 60,000 dealers and service stations present... Suspense! Auto-Lite brings you Miss Betty Grable in... The Copper Tea Strainer. A suspense play produced and directed by Anton M. Lieder. Friends, even a camel can't compete with an Auto-Lite stay-full battery because an Auto-Lite stay-full battery needs water only three times a year in normal car use. Yes, sir, that dandy, dynamic, dependable Auto-Lite stay-full battery needs water only three times a year in normal car use. An Auto-Lite stay-full battery has extra plates, too, for extra power, protected by fiberglass insulation for longer life and stronger life. Why, in recent tests conducted according to the Society of Automotive Engineers Life Cycle Standards, Auto-Lite stay-full batteries gave 70% longer average life than batteries without all these features. So, remember, be battery right. Switch to Auto-Lite. And now, Auto-Lite presents Betty Grable in a tale well-calculated to keep you in... Suspense! I was in the 2x4 dressing room changing into my street clothes. It was raining, beating down on the low skylight like a fury. It made such a racket that I didn't hear a thing. Until a buzzer rang and the outer door opened. The first I heard your voice, I was sorry for you. You sounded tired and you had a cold. You'd be surprised if I ever told you, but I wasn't frightened at all when you spoke to Irwin. You, the photographer who runs this place? I'm James Irwin and this is my photo agency, yes. Do you have some work to do? I got work to do. Is there a name named Jeannie Dunn here, Irwin? When you said my name, I got a little scared without knowing why. I'd been modeling a sun suit and I was cold anyway. Irwin was never a guy to pay for decent heating. Now I got cold way inside and my fingers trembled as I tried to zip my dress. I leaned against the partition to try and hear better, but the rain was too loud. I couldn't figure out why I was so jittery. I was blank. I couldn't remember what had happened all day or yesterday. But I knew you were dangerous to me and I had to find out why. I opened the door a crack to hear better. Oh, Jeannie's posed for me for the past five years of an army. Say, why don't you wait until she gets dressed and ask yourself? Any pictures ever handy? Say, who was- Easy, easy. This is police business. Oh. And that was all it took to make Irwin dangerous, too. Then he was against me. I stood there, hidden by the door, sick of you pawing through my pictures. Even sick of Irwin faunting over you because you were a cop. She's really stacked, isn't she, Cat? But if she's done anything wrong, don't worry. I'll tell you all I can't believe it. I'll cooperate. I believe you. You're the type. I couldn't stay out of sight any longer. I slipped into my shoes and stepped out from behind the door. Jeannie's done. What do you want, mister? I want to find out a few facts. You live with your mother, don't you? Sure. The old lady's an invalid. Hey, what happened? Shut up. I'm talking to Miss Dunn. She's got a boyfriend, too. She might not tell you herself, Cat. Get out of the room. Get out and stay out until I call you. Hey, look, miss- Get out! Okay, all right. Thanks for that, anyhow. But look about Ted Ward. If it's anything you're trying to pin on Ted, then Irwin's right. I won't talk. No. I didn't mention that name, did I? Ted wouldn't do a thing. Nothing wrong. What time do you usually leave home for work, miss? About eight, if it's any of your affair. Yes, I'm afraid it is. Could you be more specific? Describe your routine, say, this morning, for example? This morning. I've had such a headache all day. I really don't know about this morning. Actually, I can't remember. Most mornings, I get up about 6.30 and fix breakfast. Does your mother eat with you? My friend, Mr. Irwin, told you. My mother's not well. She stays in bed until noon. And you leave her breakfast ready for her? That's right. Oh, being sick, your mother hasn't much appetite. Has she, miss? No. I leave her teak up on the kitchen table with the tea measured out in a strainer ready to pour hot water through. Now, mister, you'd better tell me what... How long have you been going with this fellow? What's his name, Ted? A year or so, but... How old are you? I'll beg your pardon, miss. 30. About 30. You plan to marry him? Why, yes, as soon as... Well, as soon as possible. What, with supporting your mother? Excuse me. The price is nowadays. The dollar don't go far. You'd better take care of that call, mister. Oh, thank you. Are your mother and Ted work friendly? You'd better take care of that cold. I repeated that stupidly so as not to hear your questions. Then I stared at something you fished out of your coat pocket. I felt the arteries jumping on the sides of my neck. You were looking at my neck. Maybe I could ask you some time if that was a tip-off you learned by studying people like me. You toyed with the thing in your hand and it picked up a sliver of light from a flood lamp. It sparkled like a... a jewel. Only it wasn't any more a jewel than any of the junk on my bureau. It was a common tea strainer made out of bright, new copper. You watched me and spun the thing by the handle between your finger and thumb. I couldn't stop looking at the shiny wire and mesh like a net. Well, miss, what do you say? Are your mother and Ted work friendly? Suddenly my mind cleared. Everything I'd managed to block out came back. Everything. There was no more escaping the past. Or you... Stop playing with that tea strainer! Put that thing away! Get it out of my sight! Suspense? Auto-light is bringing you Betty Grable in radio's outstanding theater of thrills. Suspense. Here's to go on tonight. I'm hurt. Auto-light won't let me say what I want to say about auto-light stay full batteries. The sponsor won't let you talk about his product. I'll tell you half, they inhibit my artistic expression. I want to sling wonderful words about my personal experience with auto-light stay full batteries. And all they'll let me say is, not auto-light stay full battery needs water only three times a year in normal car use. Yup, needs water only three times a year in normal car use. Well, that's important. What's more, having auto-light stay full battery has extra plates protected by fiberglass insulation for a stronger life and longer life. Folks want to know those things, Harlow. Maybe so. And in recent tests conducted according to the society of automotive engineers, life cycle standards, auto-light stay full batteries did give 70% longer average life than batteries without all these features. Well, now, Harlow, folks should be told those facts. No, maybe you're right, half. Maybe I shouldn't be angry. Maybe I should put in a commercial right here. Oh, it's too late, Harlow. Here's suspense. And now, auto-light brings back to our Hollywood soundstage Betty Grable as Genie in The Copper Tea Strainer. A tale well-calculated to keep you in suspense. Can you faint dead away and keep sitting in a chair talking and acting normal? I did, Mr. Detective. At the side of the tea strainer you kept spinning between your fingers. A cold blackness paralyzed me and our two voices seemed to be coming from a great distance. My stomach felt sick. It set me with questions and I fought with all my will to keep from giving dangerous answers. The rain banged louder on the skylight. A flood lamp sputtered out. And my breathing quieted down. You said your mother and Ted walk are friendly? Yes, yes, I told you. Where did you get that tea strainer? The five and dime store. Why, miss? Nothing. You leave your mother's breakfast ready for her? Why didn't you ask me that before, too? I wasn't sure. But the word started in memories flashing through my mind like jumping movie scenes. You studied me with your tired, expressionless eyes. But you couldn't see into my memory. The nagging clatter of my alarm clock at home was waking me one morning. Any morning except today. The others were all alike for the last ten years. Right, you devil! Get up! Another day. Yes, mother. Sleep well? I'm always in pain, you know that, dear. If you're up, you could rub my back a while before you have breakfast, dear. Yes, mother. Oh, my, you're so fortunate to be able to eat a hearty meal and have a career that takes you out into the world. Well, I lie here in pain. Oh, I'm not complaining. It's just... Yes, mother. Hadn't you better take your medicine before I rub your back? My medicine, oh yes, indeed. And, Jean, don't forget to have the prescription refilled. It's getting low and I can't bear the day without... I'm sure there's plenty, mother. I'll get it for you now. When I wish you would. I don't know how... I went into the bathroom while mother kept droning on and on. The bottle was almost empty. Mother, you haven't been taking more than you should have this, have you? Don't be absurd. You heard the doctor say that my medicine, more than one capsule a day, is poised. Talked and talked, accusing me of being careless with her medicine and neglecting her. She said if it hadn't been for me, she would still be on the stage and famous. But I realized she was in pain and unhappy and some mornings I was afraid all of my strength would be drained before I could get away from her, especially when she hopped on Ted and me getting married. Dear, don't be angry, but I simply must ask whether you're serious with your young man this time. After all, Jean, in the past years, there were several young men I certainly thought she were going to become engaged to. And every single one lost interest. Oh, Mother. Oh, yes, they did. You can't deny it. At your age, dear, a good has to consider her future. Now, that young man, William, something, he surely wanted to marry you and he had a bit of money too. Now, why did he stop coming to see you, dear? Was it anything you might have told him? You're trying to use me to excuse your own shortcomings, dear. What on earth, how could I scare away any of your young men? When I was on the stage, young men used to flock around me like bees. And now your Ted certainly thinks well enough of me to bring me flowers and look at my scrapbooks, even if my own daughter doesn't. I wonder how long that will go on. When will you ask him whether he thinks the daughter has the right to let a helpless old invalid die alone? Horrible, horrible girl. Have you asked him that already? After the sacrifices I've made for you, ruining my own health, destroying my youth and my career, so that you would have the best from life. Oh, mother. Perhaps the easiest way for both of us would be for me to not try and hang on to this mortal coil any longer, to close my eyes and never wake up. He used death as a weapon against me many times. I felt weak and nauseated, but I was certain she was bluffing. And I would rush out with no breakfast and a panic to feel the healthy life of the city around me and lose myself in the traffic and crowds. A rotten deal, isn't it, miss? Huh? Honest, I'm interested in you and Ted Walker. You serious about each other? What are you getting at, mister? What's happened? I have a right to know. You two really in love? You paid no attention to my panic. You kept prodding me with that question and twirling the tea strainer. Faster now, it seemed to me. Was I really in love with Ted? I couldn't have answered even if I'd wanted to. How can you tell a stranger your dreams? Miss, tell me. Exactly what's the matter with your mother? What treatment is she getting? That was funny. Ted asked almost the same question last night. You'd give a lot to know about last night. But you'll never get a word out of me. If you had seen Ted and me last night, you wouldn't have had to ask if we were in love. Last night was one of those miserably few times I found a neighbor to come sit with mother. And Ted took me to a little neighborhood bar where they have a jukebox and postage stamp dance floor. We were dancing crowded in like cigarettes in a pack. How about a kiss, baby? Ted, not right here in public. Nobody here but us, Jeannie. Us and the mob. Anyway, it's just as crowded at zeroes. They tell me. Well, we'll get to the ritzy places some day, baby. We got it coming to us. Oh, darling, you make it sound real sometimes. You stick it out a little longer, baby, and it will be real. Just trust me. There's always ways. Sure. A million bucks. Yeah, a million would help, wouldn't it? Oh, forget the gloom, honey. Uh, your feet had enough of my dancing. Uh-uh. You want another beer, you mean? Well, there is a booth. Hey, watch where you're going, you big ass. Ted, Ted, don't start a fight. Come on. I should have poked him. Maybe you'll tame me down, baby. Here, sit next to me, huh? I don't want to reform you, darling. It's not that. But if anything happened to you, I'd die inside of me. Oh, baby, I... I don't know the words like you do. How can I tell you? You don't have to tell me in words, darling. I want to, though. Somehow I want you to know I... I love you, Ginny. More than at first, and I was crazy about you then. We could be so happy together. Together? Yeah, that's what we both want more than anything else in the world, isn't it, baby? Ted, what's the matter? Huh? Matter? Oh, there's nothing the matter. I'm just figuring things out. What do you folks have? What? Oh, uh, what'll it be, honey? Beer's fine. Uh, two beers, huh? Come on up. Then we'll have to be leaving. I promise Mrs. Grogan I'd get home by midnight. Oh, baby, you promised me we'd make a night of it. I'm sorry, Ted. But Mother was worse this evening before I left. Ginny, what really ails you, Mother? The doctor has a long list. She's pretty bad off. Nothing's bad enough for her to keep you chained on like a slave. Ted, tell me the truth. Has she gotten to you with her...her talk? Oh, honey, don't... Ted, please, I want the truth. Well, I bring her flowers and try to win her over, Ginny, but it's no soap. She says, what do I want to do? Kill her by taking you away from her? She said that, huh? She did. I'm glad I know that. I'm glad I know that for sure. Look, maybe it's because she's so sick. Maybe...maybe she's not getting the right treatment. Say, what is the doctor giving her? Some stuff and capsules, mixed with strictening. Strictening? Right. That's poison. Yes, she has to be very careful. You, uh, need a prescription for that, don't you? Uh-huh. Here, I'll show you the prescription. I have it somewhere in my handbag. Oh, here. Yeah, my Latin sort of rusty. Excuse me, Ted. I'll freshen up and we'll go. Be right back. Okay, baby. The mirror in that dingy little powder room was cracked and clouded, but I could see my own face all too clear as I tried to dab on some rouge. My face was an old face, the thin, cruel mouth. I tried to remember how I looked ten years ago when I had the screen test. I was Garbo and Dietrich, only younger, the director said. It was then my mother started getting sick and needing me. I looked into the mirror and saw my strange, pinched face. That was when the whole plan formed in my mind, as I stared into that cloudy mirror. Excuse me, miss. You better take care of that comb. Yeah, thanks. Now tell me, didn't Ted Walk ever blame your mother? Did he ever say that she stood in the way of your marriage? I never told you any such thing. Ted wouldn't have done it. Then what, miss? Mother's dad, isn't she? You're not very subtle. Why else would the police persecute me? She's dead. You believe your mother was killed, miss? No, no. You keep putting words into my mouth. Maybe she was worried about being in the way. Would your mother have been likely to have... Mother suffered night and day. I suppose that's why she acted so depressed. The tea would have been... What tea? Leave me alone, please! Do you believe your mother took her own life by making herself a poisoned cup of tea? Because she didn't want to be a burden any longer? Yes. Yes, that's what must have happened. But I lied. You led me into that lie. And then because I couldn't help myself, I relived the most terrible day of my life. A day I'll never confess to you or to anyone on earth. I woke up this morning with a headache. The pain running deep back of my eyes. I had a feeling of dread with the thought of last night in the mirror. Are you awake, dear? Yes. Then did you get my prescription filled as I asked you to? No, but there's plenty. Well, out later than usual last night, weren't you, dear? I don't mind for myself, but it isn't in position on Mrs. Grogan. Oh, your young man's such a man. She must have gone on complaining as usual. But I didn't hear her. I seemed to be moving in a strange world, all my own as I dressed and went into the kitchen. Sounds lost their familiar proportions and the sharp tinkle of tableware hurt my ears as I went about setting the table. When I put a teacup in its regular place in the center of the faded blue cloth, the spoon fell against the saucer. It was like a foul, rasping a slate in my ears. I ran from the kitchen to get the medicine bottle from the cabinet. There were only two capsules left. My heart was pounding. Only enough for two normal doses. Not enough for... I yanked my coat on and ran out the front door. I hadn't planned on this. I ran all the way to the corner drugstore. Is your ma bad off? No. Well, yes. Her prescription has run out. Having this unexpected job to do. I knew the medicine bottle had plenty the day before. I thought I must be going crazy. I'd known Mr. Harmon since I was a kid, his patient, wise-in-face and celluloid eye-shade. But I found no comfort in him now. Very young lady, I asked you twice for your prescription. Huh? Gene, oh, my sakes, are you will? No, no. You sit down at the fountain, my dear. I'm not supposed to, of course, without a prescription, but I'll make up those capsules anyway. In the meantime, lemon, syrup and soda. Remember how you love that when you were a little pigtail tyke? I think I cried then. I scarcely was conscious as I hurried home. I took a drink of whiskey in the kitchen, gagging on it. Gene, where did you rush out to? I answered her while I struggled. Don screwed the cap from the medicine bottle. I took four capsules and emptied them into the tea strainer. I emptied two more to be positive. On the bottle's label it said, warning, no more than one capsule in any one 24-hour period. Be careful. And put two spoons of sugar in my cup, dear. It was too bitter yesterday. Did you hear me, Gene? I hear you. It was careful, all right. Three heaping spoons instead of two to hide the bitterness. A double measure of black tea carefully. Very carefully over the white pottery stuff in the strainer. And it was hidden completely. I left the tea kettle whistling on the electric plate. Ready for mother. I didn't see mother again. I left the apartment half running all the way downtown to the studio in the rain. Everyone was crabbing as soon as I walked in. Oh, good morning, Duchess. All right, hop in your sun suit now and make it snappy. And make up for black and white. What's the excuse today? Have to go to a funeral or something? I did it, he said, silently and got through a series of poses. My mind had gone blank and I struggled to keep that way. Numb. All I knew was I muscled up myself, remember. Keep busy and blank. And that's the way it was when you came in and asked me questions. You spun that ugly little tea strainer till my eyes ached watching it and you tore the protective blanket from over my head. He released my memories but I told you nothing of the scenes you conjured up in my mind. I told you nothing. But still you knew that I lied when I agreed that my mother must have killed herself. You're not telling the truth, Miss. But the odd thing is you're closer to the truth than you realize. I didn't kill my mother. I didn't. Did you know your mother had enough lethal medicine under her pillow to kill a dozen people? What? She'd been hoarding them. Perhaps because she brooded she was a burden. No. But, Miss, your mother never would have taken those capsules the hard way in a cup of tea. There was the flaw in your lie, wasn't it now? What? Your friend Ted Warke got a hold of your mother's prescription. Maybe he took it from your purse. That doesn't matter. Oh, no. No. No, no. I'm afraid I must place you under arrest, Miss Dunn. But I didn't kill my mother. You said... You said... No, no. You didn't kill your mother, Miss. Your mother had a caller this morning after you left. He brought her flowers and some more medicine. Oh, no. Not Ted. He couldn't have done. No. No. You lie. So your mother never had a chance to use the overdose she had hidden? No. You lie. And your mother's caller never had the chance to feed her the poison he brought with him, either. Because as soon as he arrived, he made the mistake of accepting your mother's hospitality. He drank a special cup of tea. Half of it, anyhow. Enough. Your mother is still alive, Miss. I'm arresting you for the murder of Ted Warke. Thank you, Betty Grable, for a wonderful performance. Well, Hono, all over you're mad at the sponsor? No half, you know I never hold a grudge. In fact, I like to talk about auto-light-stay-full batteries. I like to tell people an auto-light-stay-full battery needs water only three times a year in normal car use. I like people to know auto-light-stay-full batteries are made by auto-light, which makes more than 400 products for cars, trucks, airplanes and boats in 28 auto-light plants from coast to coast. Yes, and auto-light 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 auto-light original factory parts at your neighborhood service station, car dealer, garage or repair shop. Remember, you're always right with auto-light. Again as our star, Miss Betty Gravel. I want to thank Tony Leder and his wonderful cast of actors for helping me to make my first suspense visit so pleasant. I'm a suspense fan from way back and I'm sure all of you are as anxious as I am to hear next week's show when Mickey Rooney appears in the Cornell Woolrich story, The Lie. It's another truly gripping study and... Suspense! Betty Gravel appeared through the courtesy of 20th Century Fox Film Corporation and will soon be seen in the technical picture The Beautiful Blonde from Bashful Bend. Tonight's suspense play was written by John T. Copeland with music composed by Lucian Morrowek and conducted by Lud Bluskin. The entire production was under the direction of Anton M. Leder. In the coming weeks suspense will present such stars as Bob Hope, Claire Trevor, James Stewart and many others. So make it a point to listen each Thursday to suspense. Radio's outstanding theater of thrills. And next Thursday, same time, hear Mickey Rooney in... The Lie. You can buy auto-light stay-full batteries, auto-light resistor spark plugs, auto-light electrical parts at your neighborhood auto-light dealers. Switch to auto-light. Good night. This is CBS, the Columbia Broadcasting System.