 Now, Roma Wines, present. Suspense! Tonight, the black curtain, starring Kerry Grant. Suspense is presented for your enjoyment by Roma Wines. That's R-O-M-A, Roma Wines. Those excellent California wines that can add so much pleasantness to the way you live. To your happiness and entertaining guests. To your enjoyment of everyday meals. Yes, right now a glassful would be very pleasant. As Roma Wines bring you... Suspense! This is the man in black, here for the Roma Wine Company of Fresno, California, to introduce this weekly half-hour of suspense. Tonight in Hollywood, we are honored and happy to have with us one of the entertainment world's most distinguished gentlemen, Mr. Kerry Grant. This becomes somewhat of an anniversary broadcast, since it was one year ago tonight that Mr. Grant inaugurated this series of suspense programs sponsored by Roma Wines. And in response to requests from our listeners, he will appear once more in the suspense play by Cornel Woolrich, which starred him on that occasion. And so, with the black curtain and with the performance of Kerry Grant, we again hope to keep you in suspense. It began, or rather life began again for me, I guess you'd say, that day on that street. My head was pounding terribly. I could hear all the noise and the people milling around. Everything was a jumble at first. Policeman, he was running. Boy, he really gave himself a clunk on the beam. All right, now get back there. Oh, my head. All right, all right, take it easy, brother. His wallet fell out of his pocket and a big boy grabbed it and ran away. Back, everybody back. Give the doctor room. I'm okay, I'm okay. Never mind, doc, I'm okay. Uh-huh. Well, it seems to be nothing much to the matter with you, sir. No, I'm all right, thanks. I guess I can talk to him now, doc. Yeah, sure. Go ahead, officer. Just a bad bump on the head, I think. Yeah, you're all right. You can walk, all right, can't you? Yeah, sure. Here, let me brush you off. Oh, thanks. I'll be fine. Hey, wait a minute. What am I doing with the notebook on? All right, Mr. Now, just so they got it on the plotter, what's your name and where do you live? Townsend. Frank Townsend. 820 Rutherford Street. Here, have a cigarette, just a little shake. Oh, thanks, I don't smoke. Well, I'll be getting back. Dropping at the receiving hospital, do you want us to check you up? Yes, I will. All right, back to you. Here's your hat, Mr. I found it. Oh, thanks, kid. Well, that's all now. Come on, move along, move along. This guy's all right. Oh, thanks, sir. I'm sorry about the fellow that got your wallet. Anyway, here's your cigar case, Mr. Townsend. Guy found it right alongside of you. Oh, thanks, but I don't own a case. And besides, look at the initials. D.N. Well, I don't know the same initials in the hat. See? D.N. Yes, but this isn't my hat. Don't you even know your own hat, Mr? Wait a minute. Wait a minute. I'm trying to think. Where is this? What? Well, this street. You're on Tillerie Street. Tillerie Street? Yes. What am I doing on Tillerie Street? He's lost. All right, now, sir. My suggestion is that you go on home and go lie down. It's cold. Start the smoke. Wait a minute. Wait a minute. Don't leave me. Tell me. What happened? Oh, you slipped on this icy sidewalk. Well, down hit your head good and hard on the curb. You were out for about 20 minutes. Wait. Wait. Ice on the sidewalk? Well, look at it. That street cleaning department ought to clear away that snow, too. But snow and ice? Sure. Why? Snow in July? July? It's December. December 1944. 1944? Yeah, you better get on home, son. Good night. 1944? December 1944. Well, the last I remember was July 1941. Three years, just gone. Amnesia. The black curtain comes down over your mind out of nowhere. Well, that black curtain had been over my eyes for three years. Where'd I been? Who'd I been? I hadn't been Frank Townsend. I've been someone else. Someone whose initials were D.N. I walked along Tilleries Street, thinking about it, those three years. I could have been married. I could have been a thief. Something made me turn around on the street for a moment. And it was when I first saw him. Grey eyes. He'd been talking to the cop who took my name. He looked up as I did. And then he started to walk rapidly in my direction. I backed away instinctively. Something about him spelled trouble. He called to me to pay forward. Hey! Hey, you! Stop, Townsend! Instinctively, I knew I should run and get away from him. Hey, you! He looked back and went to the corner. He had a gun in his hand. He raised it. And then I turned and ran from my life. What lay behind that black curtain which separated Townsend from his past? Roma wines are presenting Hollywood's distinguished Kerry Grant as star of tonight's tale of suspense. Haven't you often realized that many of life's finest enjoyments are simple and moderate rather than the opposite? I give you the words of a high and well-loved authority, Miss Elsa Maxwell, international expert on smart entertaining and gracious living. Good hospitality is always simple, genuine, and moderate. That is why I often suggest enjoyment of delicious Roma sautern, when you have friends in to dinner or with your everyday meals. Serve this delicate golden sautern well-chilled with any food in any glasses you have. Special wine glasses are pretty, but not very important. Now, what can I add to such charming good sense as that? Maybe just this. Roma sautern and all Roma wines are the best that California's magnificent sun-ripened grapes can provide. In glorious color, fragrance, and flavor, protected for you by the ancient wine skill of Roma's famed wineries. That's why Roma wines and Roma quality do not vary. Never fall short, but are always enjoyable. Unchanging high quality gives tremendous popularity to Roma wines and makes low cost possible. Only pennies a glass. Remember, more Americans enjoy Roma than any other wines. R-O-M-A, Roma wines. And now it is with pleasure that we bring back to our soundstage Mr. Kerry Grant and the Black Curtain, a story well calculated to keep you in suspense. Why was that man following me with a gun? What did Grey Eyes want with me? I must have done something. I had to get away someplace to be safe and think. I beat it down into the subway and hid. For two hours I stayed down there. I thought it all out carefully during those two hours. I knew I was on the spot for something. Grey Eyes meant business. What could it be? Who had I been during those last three years with that Black Curtain in front of them? Well, maybe I've been a gangster and he was one of a mob that wanted to rub me out. I didn't know. There was no identification, my wallet stolen, nothing in my pockets that would help. Just D-N in the hat and D-N on the cigar case. D-N. My head was aching with worry and my stomach had panic in it. I had to find out who I'd been, what I had done. But how? Where? Tillerie Street. That's where I've been when I woke up. Tillerie Street. Well, maybe Grey Eyes would go back there too looking for me, but I had to take that chance. Tillerie Street. Tell me. Sure, couldn't see under that hat at first. What can I do for you? Say, have you got an evening paper I can look at? No, sorry, never read them. Too much trouble in the world these days, anyhow. See, how you been? You haven't been around two or three weeks. Oh, well, I'm in busy. Look, Pop, I made a bet with a friend of mine that even though you see so many customers, you'd walk right up and give me my full name. Well, I'm sorry. I don't know it. I don't think I ever heard your name. But I know your girl. My girl? You do? Sure. Well, now. Maybe I can still win my bet, huh? Well, of course. Ruth. This is right across the street, the Tillerie Apartments. Well, that's right. Ruth. Ah, but now. Now, what apartment? Apartment 3C, of course. Don't I take the sandwiches up there every night? 3C. Yeah. Yeah, well, thanks. Will you win your bet, mister? What? Oh, yeah, I think I will. What is your name, Saws? I'll know it next time. Oh, I'll tell you tomorrow. I hope. So long. So long, Pop. I'll be... What's the matter? Drop something? No, nothing. Nothing. I just tying the shoe. I'd just been going to walk out when I saw him standing across the street, gray eyes again. I dug down behind the store window and watched him. He looked over in my direction and then up and down the street. Oh, then he lit a cigarette and stalled down to the corner. The minute he disappeared, I yanked the door open, dashed out, ran across the Tillerie Apartments that went in. Has he got gray eyes? What? Do you ever see a detective that didn't? Oh, no, sure, sure. Danny, what's the matter with you? You're acting so strangely. I just want to look at you. You seem so different, so far away. You haven't kissed me. Well, that's easily fixed. Oh, darling, darling, where have you been for three weeks? Oh, all around. Miss me? You know I did. Danny, Danny, do you suppose... Do you think we could get away tonight? I've got $3,000 saved up. We could go to Mexico or South America. We could get married. Mr. and Mrs. Daniel Nearing, tour the world. Daniel Nearing? Mr. and Mrs. It sounds plenty good to me. You will never know how good. We'll get out of here tonight. I'll call up and tell him I'm quitting my job. I'll say I'm sick. All my stuff's here, nothing out there but a couple of uniforms. I'll make Aiden Franklin the present of those. Aiden Franklin? Don't you bother your head about those two. Maybe they weren't glad when it happened. A couple of vultures. By to them. Oh, with you back, Danny. Just think with my $3,000 we can... Miss, but do you think you ought to quit your job? Absolutely, I think so. I never was cut out to be a nurse anyway. No, if you weren't. Any more than I was... Any more than you were meant to be a secretary. That's right. I never wanted to be a secretary. Just drifted into it, I guess. And got on my nerves, especially toward the end. The boss was no cinch to work for. He certainly wasn't. He was a rat. The whole deep red bunch of me rotten, the whole family. Yes, that's right. I'll accept the old man. Oh, the old man? Yes, I... I sort of liked him, didn't I? He loves you, Danny. I think he wished you'd been his son. Poor old man. He's the only reason I've stuck around out there this long. How are things out there? Oh, they've been questioning all of us. They've laid off lately, though, since you... Oh, don't let's talk any more about it. You're back. That's the main thing. I want to forget New Jericho and the whole... New Jericho, huh? Yes. Danny, if only it hadn't happened. What hadn't? You know what? Danny, what's going to become of you and me? I wish I knew. Danny, get away from that window. Leave that shade down. He's down there. Who? Grey eyes. He's standing in front of the hydrant. He's coming in here, in the building. Oh, did he see you? Listen, Ruth, will you help me? What are you going to do? Give myself up. No! No! Well, it's better than getting shot at. What can they do to me? You crazy fool. They can send you to the chair. The chair? Well, what do you think happens to a man when he's guilty of murder? Ruth, listen to me. I'm not a murderer, but the whole world says I committed murder. I say I didn't. The me that's in me says I didn't. I never said your word, Danny. I always said you didn't do it, but they found the body and they... So that's it. Did you come here, Danny? Why? Why? Ruth, quick. You've got to get out of here. How about the fire escape? Shaft, dumbwaiter. Dumbwaiter. All right, lock that kitchen door. Get in and I'll stand on top of the ropes. I don't think you can hold us, bro. It's got to. Can you hear me? Yes, Danny. Oh, Danny, what do we do? We're going back there to New Jericho. To Jericho? I've got to. I've got to find out, Ruth. We're going together. No. No. We can get out of here and we can... Stop it. Okay, Ruth. From here on in, we're sticking together. You're going to take me back there, back where it happened. All right, darling. I'll go wherever you go. I can't lose you again. Ruth and I said very little to each other. While I had hidden the telephone booth at Pennsylvania Station, she'd bought us a couple of cheap overcoats and I sat hunched up in mind, thinking, thinking. Ruth had brought along the newspaper clippings. I looked at what they said for the 20th time and trying to see if there was anything there that would help me. Detrick Slayer's salt, it said. Secretary wanted in brutal slaying its suburban estate. Police are pressing the search for Daniel Nearing, Secretary and the employee of the late John Detrick, 58 member of a well-known local family who was shot and killed in the drawing room of his new Jericho estate on the morning of November the 7th. Nearing disappeared November the 7th, on the morning of which date he is known to have had a bitter quarrel with the deceased. This last was attested to at the inquest by Ada and Franklin Detrick, widow and brother of the murdered man. While I had all the facts now, wanted for murder. And yet everything that was in me told me that no matter who I'd been, however many memories I'd lost, that I was no killer, that I just couldn't have. Jericho! I had to get into the Detrick house and stand again in that room where it had all happened. Maybe something would come back to me. Maybe there would be... Jericho! Go down to the village. Did they say anything about you being out here on your day off? Yeah, Ada made some crack. Uh-huh. But I said I had nothing to do in town and came out to write some letters. Well, let's go then. Oh, Danny, I'm scared. Please, let's not stay here. No, you said you loved being. Dude, Danny, I do. That's why I'm scared. They're only going to the village. I'll be back in a half hour at the most. I'll open the door, Ruth. Hurry. I've got to see the inside, that room. The place where it happened. Oh, it's wrong, Danny. I'm telling you, you're crazy. They'll find you. Open the door, Ruth. Quickly. Now, let's have a look at that room. Please, Danny, please. Don't, don't, don't talk about it. So this is where I'm supposed to have murdered John Detrick, huh? Danny, please. Well, where was it? Show me exactly where it was, Ruth. I've got to know. It was there. Right there. He was standing by the grandfather's clock and... Why are you going crazy, Danny? If they, if they get you, they'll, you'll hang. By the clock. You still believe me, don't you, Ruth? I believe you, Danny, but I'm scared. Ruth, wait a minute. What's that? Listen. It's only the old man. He's asleep in that room off there. Don't go in there, Danny. Don't, you'll wake him. I want to see him. Don't, Danny, don't. He can't help you. You know he's paralyzed and he can't talk. Turn on the light. I want to see him. There, you walk him. It's me, Mr. Detrick. Ruth, this is Danny. Danny, you remember Danny, don't you? Hello, Mr. Detrick. See how his eyes are shining. Yes. Was, uh, was he here when it happened? You know that, Danny. Why do you ask such funny questions? He's been in bed here for five years. Well then, that mirror on the wall here, the clock. Look. You can see the grandfather's clock in the other room. What are you getting at, Danny? Well, he could see it. The old man could see the murder through the mirror. Oh, if he could only talk. But he can't talk. You scared me, Danny. He saw the man who killed John Detrick. Look, he understands what I'm saying. He's blinking his eyes. Oh, stop torturing him, Danny. Can't you see what you're doing to him? He's trying to say something. Look, his eyes are blinking. He's got to help me. Go outside and watch, Ruth. Go on. I'll watch out the entranceway. Be careful, Danny. They'll be back any minute. Leave me alone with him. I'll call if I hear them coming. Look now. Now, Mr. Detrick, don't be afraid. I'm going to ask you a question and I'd like you to answer me. Are you trying to tell me something about the murder? Now, blink your eyes. Blink twice if you are. That's it. Once, twice. That's good. Did you see it happen here in your mirror? Blink once if the answer is no. Twice if the answer is yes. Once, twice. You did, huh? You saw it. Now then, here's the murderer in this house. Danny, Danny, they're coming. Franklin, they get out of here and hide. Run, Danny, run. Here's the murderer in this house. Blink once for no, twice for yes. Yes, in this house. Danny, Danny, they're coming. Wait, wait, I've almost got it. Mr. Detrick, was it me? Once for no, twice for yes. Was it me? Get out of here, Danny. They're in the big room behind the curtains. I'll talk to them. Okay. Well, thanks, Mr. Detrick. I'll be back. Yes, Mrs. Detrick. Are you here alone? Yes, why? We, uh, we thought we heard voices. What are you so jittery about, Ruth? I'm tired, it's all. May I go to bed now? Oh, there's still a week, Ruth. He'll go to sleep all right. I'm going upstairs, Mrs. Detrick, now. Good night, Ruth. Good night, good night. She brought someone back here with her. It's him, I think. Who? Dan? Oh, Franklin. Take it easy, darling. Take it easy. If he's here, we'll get him. After the evidence we gave against him at the hearing. Oh, I'm scared. Let's get out of here fast. I'll go to the village for the police. No, call the police here. I'll do it. Hello? Hello? It's too late. It's dead. The wires will cut. Come on, we'll both drive to the village. But he may be waiting for us out by the car. Uh, Ada. What? What are you doing there, Franklin? I think I just might need my gun. Well, come on, let's be on our way. The moment they left the house, I made for the old man's room. I called for Ruth, but she was gone. Well, maybe Franklin later caught her after she cut the telephone wire. But I couldn't wait. My life was hanging on minutes now. I shot the flashlight on the old man's face again. Now, Mr. Dietrich, you're helping me fine. You know I'm trying to save my life, don't you? Now, the murderer, was it me? Was it me who did it? Me, Danny Nearing? Blink once for no. Once. Once. You're sure. You're sure it wasn't me. Oh, you're smiling, Mr. Dietrich. Smiling. Now, now there's somebody in this house. Then who was it? Oh, can't you make a sound? Help me, you've got to. Was it Ada? Twice for yes, once for no. Once, not Ada. All right then. Was it Franklin? Up with the hands, Danny. Or you'll never go to trial. Franklin, wait a minute. You've got to listen. You've got to. That flashlight. So you're trying to kill the old man, too, eh? The murderer returns to the scene of his crime. You know I didn't kill him. Go tell that to the police. They'll have them here in a couple of minutes. Where's your girlfriend, Ruth? She's not here. I don't know where she went. Never mind. They'll find her. You're the dead duck, Nearing. You killed my brother and beat it. What did you ever get out of it? That's always puzzled me. You killed your brother and now you're going to kill me. You've gone nuts, too. Why should I kill my own brother, you idiot? To get his share of the estate. And his wife Ada, amongst other things. But you can't stop with killing me. Someone else knows the truth. The old man saw it in the mirror. Huh? Yes, you'll have to kill your own father, too. The old man saw it? How do you know? He told me. You're lying. He can't walk. He can't talk. He can't even move. He can hear. And he can blink his eyes. Now come over here and look. Look here, you are. Ruth! I had to do it. I heard him. He was going to kill you. Here's the gun, then. He'll be all right. Well, Ruth, you shouldn't have done that. In another minute, I'm not sure it was Franklin. Oh, Dan Dolly, please, please, let's run for it. They'll be here in a second at your last chance. They'll all swear you did it. Not if I can be with the old man another half minute. Mr. Dietrich, Mr. Dietrich, it's Danny again. No, Danny, don't. Don't. Tell me, Mr. Dietrich, was it Franklin? Did Franklin kill your son, John? Blink once if he did. What's the matter, Mr. Dietrich? Don't be afraid. I won't hurt you. Or why are you afraid? He's afraid, Ruth. Oh, it's this gun. Here, take the gun, Ruth. You take it. He's afraid. I'm not going to hurt you, Mr. Dietrich. What's the matter? Why don't you answer me? Who killed John Dietrich? It wasn't me. It wasn't either. It wasn't Franklin. What's someone in the house? Was it Ruth? Ruth, you! I love you, Danny. I wanted you to let them get you. Why? Why, Ruth? Why did you kill John Dietrich? He was always after me. He wouldn't leave me alone. I hated him. The night he came at me, threatened me, said he killed me. He couldn't have me. Nobody could. He had a gun, Danny. I got it away from him. He hit the clock. He leaned against it. But he'd never fall down. Die. It was the day he ran away and I was crazy. They thought it was you and they started looking. Oh, you. Why was it you? I love you, Danny. I love you. I beg you not to come back here. Ruth, please put down that gun. No. Stand back, Danny. Stay right over there. I just want to look at you. I was hoping we could get away together. But you've been through enough, Danny. All because of me. Now you're clear, Danny. And this is going to clear me. And, darling. Well, that's about all there is to tell. I've tried to put it all behind me to resume my life where it left off three and a half years ago. But sometimes when it gets toward evening, I go and walk along Tillery Street. And once in a while, somebody, somebody I don't know, will say, hello, Danny. And I just say hello and walk on. I don't want to find out anything more. I want it all to die away and be still. And it will all except Ruth. Because somewhere behind that black curtain, I was loved and loved someone. We must have known a love that I'll never know again. And so closes the black curtain, starring Kerry Grant. Tonight's study in Suspense. Suspense is produced and directed by William Spear. We are sometimes asked, why does Miss Elsa Max will always say it is smart to serve Roma wine? Her explanation is simple. It is smart to serve Roma wine. First of all, because Roma wines are so delicious, so good with food or any time. It is smart further because Roma wine affords simple pleasure, enjoyment that is truly moderate. Finally, it is smart because it is such an easy and inexpensive addition to hospitality and everyday living. Yes, in every way, it is smart to serve and enjoy Roma wines. They are California's finest, always good, unvaryingly fine in flavor and quality. And remember, the cost is only pennies a glass. More Americans enjoy Roma than any other wines. Roma, R-O-M-A, Roma wines. This is Kerry Grant. I certainly enjoyed reappearing tonight on Suspense. It's a program I've always admired tremendously, and it has achieved distinguished success during this past year. Two weeks from tonight, my friend Robert Montgomery will be your star in one of the really all-time great suspense plays, The Lodger. Next Thursday, there will be no performance of suspense because the time will be given over to a special Pearl Harbor Day program on behalf of the Sixth War Lone Drive. And that brings me to the seven most important words I can say to you at this time. Buy more war bonds and save them. Thank you, Mr. Grant. Don't forget then, next Thursday, no performance of suspense. But two weeks from tonight on December 14th, Mr. Robert Montgomery will be your star of Suspense. Presented by Roma Wines. Made in California for enjoyment throughout the world. This is CBS, the Columbia Broadcasting System.