 Now, Auto-Lite and its 60,000 dealers and service stations present... Suspense! Tonight, Auto-Lite brings you Van Heflin in Cornell Woolwich's famous... Three O'Clock. A suspense play, produced and directed by Anton M. Lieder. Vans, get in step. Give your car a rep for pep. Replace those narrow-gap spark plugs with wide-gap Auto-Lite resistor spark plugs. Your car will idle smoother, smooth as silk and satin. Give you tip-top power and performance on leaner gas mixtures. Actually save gas dollars. That's right, actually save gas dollars. Auto-Lite regular type spark plugs have long been standard factory equipment... on many leading makes of cars and trucks. And now, six, that's right, six of these leading makers of cars and trucks... have switched to Auto-Lite resistor type spark plugs... for factory installation on their new 1949 models. The new Auto-Lite resistor spark plugs are the spark plugs of today and the future. Remember, you're right with Auto-Lite. And now, Auto-Lite presents Van Heflin in a tale well-calculated to keep you in. Suspense! Francie signed her own death warrant. She signed her own death warrant, didn't she? You're a good husband to her and yet she's too tomming you with another man, isn't she? And you made up your mind weeks ago to kill her, didn't you? Well, now at the last second, what are you waiting for? You've got everything down here you need to do the job. That box near the wall filled with explosive, two copper wires already kept. This alarm clock, what's holding you back? Memories of your honeymoon? She's too timing you with another man. Wait that in your hand! All right then, get to work. First set the alarm. She gets back from shopping around 2.30. You better set it for three o'clock. Good. Now then, wind it up. Now then put the cap into the wires into the little holes you drilled in the box. Oh no, no, no, wait. That explosive's kind of tricky, temperamental. Don't touch that box any more than you have to. First, attach the wire to the alarm clock. I wonder why more people haven't thought of this. Probably wouldn't know how to go about it if they did. There. Now the cap into the wires into the box. Careful, careful. There it is. Check it over now, you don't want any slip-ups. Three o'clock, the alarm goes off. It sets up a spark. The spark runs along the wires to the detonators in the box. And that's all there is to it. Don't just stand here. Get back downtown to the shop. What are you doing in my house? Hey Duke, somebody is home. Got a hold of my couple of seconds. I shouldn't have stood in here. Must have been down the cellar all the time we was here. You said you'd case this place for three days. Give me some time up and let's go. No, no, no, don't tie me up, don't tie us. Slug him again, again. Okay. Cut the cellar down there. See if there's any rope around. Coil a rope on the shelf down here, I'll get it. No, no, we'll carry him down, tie him up there. No, don't tie me up, this house is... Shut up, you. See if he has a handkerchief. Roll it up in a ball. Listen to me, this house is... I'm shoving this man, shoving in. Take off his belt and buckle it between his teeth, Phil. Fast. What's he putting up such a fight about? This place is a lemon, nothing in it. Take his legs, okay. I did my last stretch just on account of leaving a guy in the open where he could put a squad car in my tail too quick. Okay, it's up to me here. Now give me that rope, I'll hold him. What's he putting up such a fight about? Look, mister, we ain't gonna hurt you. Just leave you here in the cellar. He still ain't convinced. I can't figure him. Okay, that does it. Turn to this pipe. Otherwise somebody's liable to come home right after we leave and hear him thrashing around. These houses are like matchboxes. Look at what he's trying to say. Don't leave me tied up down here. I won't call the cops, I swear. This place is gonna blow up, don't you understand? Explode, this house is gonna explode. Oh, cares what he's trying to say. Let's go. We'll pull another job tonight. This time I'll do the picking. I could set up, stand and weigh off like it is. Hey, mister, will you relax? You'll never get out of them nuts. What's he so bug-eyed about? What is it, mister? This alarm clock over here? What do you care what time it is? You ain't going any place. Hey, should we take the clock, Duke? Nah, couldn't raise our buffalo, Nikolana. Order the two. Let's go, we got work to do. Right. Come back. Don't leave me here. This house explodes at three o'clock. Listen to me, it blows up in an hour and a quarter. Come back, come back, come back, come! Gone. They're gone. The only people in the world who know where I am. Got to get out! For Suspense, Auto Light is bringing you Van Heflin. In radio's outstanding theater of thrills, Suspense. Can you help me with my income tax? Why, I'm just the guy. Here, just fill in form W1066, IOU, RSVP, your telephone number and ALRSP. ALRSP? Auto Light Resistor Spark Plug? Why, Harlow, why they ought to jail you for this? After all, I... Hey, do you and your income tax reports want to look good? Well... Then save, half my boy. Save gas, for instance. Replace your old narrow-gap spark plugs with wide-gap Auto Light Resistor spark plugs. They make your car idle smoother, give you better performance on leaner gas mixtures. Actually, save gas dollars. Harlow, with me all tied up in taxes in internal revenue... For internal revenue, for your engine, switch to wide-gap Auto Light Resistor spark plugs. They're ignition engineered by Auto Light to meet the highest standards of automotive engineers to give you smoother idling, more mileage for your dollar. I'm worried. You don't have to worry, Harlow. Why, with wide-gap Auto Light Resistor spark plugs, you even cut down spark plug interference with radio and television reception. Remember, you're always right with Auto Light. And now, Auto Light brings back to our Hollywood soundstage, Van Heflin as Paul in 3 o'clock. A tale well-calculated to keep you in... Suspense! Get out! Nobody knows I'm here. 56, 57, 58, 59, 12 minutes to two. It goes so fast that second hand goes so fast. 5, 6, 7, less than 72 minutes. Help me. Somebody help me. Help me. Help me! 11 minutes to two. Only 71 minutes. Not even that now. 3, 4, 5, 6. Francie, Francie, come home and get me out of this. I love you. I can't help being jealous. Can I? I'm sorry I tried to kill you. It's because I love you so much. But you deserve it. You deserve to die for what you've done to me. Can't you imagine how I felt that day last month when I came home? You're home so early. Are you sick? Another one of your headaches? No, I feel fine, honest. Why are you home so early? Well, I don't know. I just got lonely for you and I said to myself, you're the boss, old boy. It's your watch repair shop. Now, if you want to close ahead of time, who's to say no? Come on, hold still for a second. Your lipstick is smeary. It is? Well, I was lying down. I guess I... Well, it's all right. Now come on, pucker up. You smeared again. I'll fix it. As long as you're home early, why don't you rest a while? The morning paper's still in the den. I guess so. I had a heavy lunch, pot roast and potatoes and apple pie and... What'd you do today, Annie? I sat down on the couch and there it was in the ashtray on the end table. A cigar butt, still moist on one end, still warm on the other. Any visitors today? What'd you say? I said any visitors today. No. None. Not even a peddler. You're a liar, Francie. You lied to me that time. 42, 43, 44, 45. No clock has ever gone this fast. Of all the thousands I've looked at and sat right in my shop, not one has ever gone so fast. It's quarter hours go around like minutes and it's minutes like seconds. Three minutes to two. That's cheating me. It's not keeping the right time. That second hand's whirling like a pinwheel. Make it stop somebody. When the clock says three, the house explodes. Make it... Oh, somebody's at the door. Come in, please. Please, please, come in and find me. Let me out of here. Please, please, please. Cash, come in. The one call in all the day's routine from the earliest morning to the latest night that can possibly bring anyone down here to the cellar. I am. I am. I'm down here. Don't wait for somebody to answer the door. It's not locked. Come in, come in. Please, please. He's gone. He's gone. No, no, no, no, no. He's coming around to the back. Yes, yes. But I am home. I am. I'm right down here. I can see your legs through the window. All you have to do is to bend down and look in and you'd see me. No, no, no, no. Don't go away. Stay. I'll kill you if you go. So help me. I'll kill you. No, no, no. No, no, I didn't mean that. Please stay. Please stay. Look at the time. One minute past two. Fifty-nine minutes left. Not even an hour now. Fifty-nine minutes less. Eight, nine, ten, eleven. How long the fifty-nine minutes seems when you're waiting for someone. Like the night that I waited for Franca to come home from a movie. And she was late. The night Franca was late coming home from a movie. Yes, in a pig's eye she was at a movie. She was with her boyfriend. Well, sure, I was worried. What did you think? You said you'd be home before eleven and here it is almost midnight. I was about to call the hospitals and the police. Oh, Paula, I'm sorry. Really, I am. All those short subjects and then the bus was late. I'm sorry you were worried. Forget about it. How was the movie? It was all right. Nice western. Oh, western? I thought you were going to see three musketeers. I was, but I changed my mind. I saw Red River instead. I didn't know that was playing in the neighborhood. I went downtown. I thought as long as I'm out of the house I might as well do a little shopping. Well, these stores were open tonight? No. Did I say shopping? I meant window shopping. Oh. What was the movie about? You know, western. A lot of shooting and riding. All right. How was Gary Cooper's performance? Oh, good. I've always liked him. No, I didn't mean Cooper. Cooper's not in. I meant John Wayne. Oh, was that John Wayne? You know, they all look alike to me. Those big hats. That was the night that she signed her own death warrant. Little things put the official seal on it like the cigar butt in the living room, like the gasoline drippings on the street in front of our house, and we don't even own our car. And it wasn't a delivery truck either because the drippings showed that it stood there a long time and hour more, and like the time last week when... the time, 12 minutes after 2, no. Oh, no, that can't be. It was just 2 o'clock. It can't be that late already. 12 minutes past 2, only 48 minutes less than 48 minutes. It's 47, 56, 55, 54. Look at that second hand. Fancy, fancy, fancy, fancy. She's in the kitchen. She's putting down her parcels. How can I make her hear me? There must be some way. And now she's at the hall closet and he must be hanging up her coat. Oh, Fancy, thank you so much for coming home early. I love you so, and I need you. How could I have thought of hurting you? I must have been crazy, but I'm not now. Back to the kitchen. Why doesn't she come down here to look for something? She might stay up there all afternoon, lie down, she might wash her hair. She might stay up there till it's time to get supper ready. What she does is no supper, no francy. No me. Fancy, Fancy, come down here. I know that you can't hear me, but come down here, please, please, come down here. She knows we've been robbed. I should get the police now and they'll search the whole place and they'll look down here. No, no, no, I won't, I won't honest. You're not kidding. Can't you guess there's something wrong if I'm not in the shop? Sure, come on. If I go, both of you go with me. What time is it? Oh, no, no, it can't be 19 past two. Only 41 minutes left. 33, 34, 35, 36. Tick-tock, tick-tock. Oh, there, I go there. Stop it, stop it, didn't think. Think fast. Think like you did last week when you came home and she threw her arms around you and hugged you and were that little liar. Hi, Farley. Hello. No kiss? No, sure, honey. Oh, what's the matter? Hard day? So hard you can't even force a smile? I'll make you smile, I'll make you laugh. Kiss you, kiss you. Come on, smile, smile. Stop tickling, wait, wait. Cut it out. What's this in your pocket? Friends, don't. A present for me? I said don't. Oh, right. You don't have to grab. What is it? Well, it's, it's fertiliser, that's what it is. Fertiliser? Yeah, a sample package. I figured maybe we'd start a little garden in the back, a few flowers maybe. Well, that's a nice idea. That's just what I'll do. Yeah, well, I'll keep it down in the cellar. The fella gave it to me, said that it should be kept in a cool dry place. I'll buy the seed just as soon as you make up your mind what you want. Fertiliser. She never even suspected that it was an explosive. I brought other things home last week too. Every day something else. Some more sample packages of fertiliser, which I carefully packed into a soapbox that I had in the cellar. I had to clean copper wire and dry cell batteries in this clock. And she never suspected the thing. She was so flustered trying to cover up the fact that she had a caller that I could have brought in a grandfather's clock into my arm, she probably wouldn't even have noticed it. Oh, but, Francie, that doesn't matter now. If you, if you just come on downstairs. He's here. Her boyfriend's here. Dude, just, just sit there, don't they, they know that it's 28 minutes to three. Only minutes left now, minutes not even a full half or anymore. Don't blame ourselves and tell him about you and then wait till he finds out. He's loving to think something else entirely. What's she talking about? I know he didn't believe me that night when I helped you find the funny straw and told him I'd been to a movie. I'm, I'm so nervous and upset all the time. I feel as guilty as if I were one of those disloyal whys of something. Oh, didn't you ever tell him about me at all? I told him you'd been in one or two little scrapes, but I didn't think I'd lost track of you and I didn't know where you were anymore. Well, that was her brother. She, she said that about her brother. Oh, Francie, Francie, I didn't know. Why, why didn't you tell me it was your brother? Why didn't you tell me? No, no, no, stay here. Don't, don't go downtown. Stay here. You shouldn't be seen as staying. Yes, yes, yes, stay here with me. Please stay. I'm gonna do this pipe. This pipe leads upstairs. Hit it with something. With what though? What? My head. Yes, you did. You did. It's me. It's me. Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes. No. Francie. Francie. Only 22 minutes left. Mama. Mama, mama, mama. It's gained another minute. Help me, mama. Help me, mama. Help me, mama. What? Oh, that's a kid bouncing his ball against the house. Yeah, it's a little kid. Bobby, come away from that. Oh, no, no, no. Let him stay. Stay there, Bobby. Don't move. Did you hear what I said, Bobby? Bobby, just turn your head this way and you'll see me. A little more, Bobby. That's it. He's looking right at me, but he doesn't see me. Don't you see me turning my head from side to side, back and forth, back and forth, back and forth. He sees me. Because he understands what he sees. Oh, if, if he were only just a few years older, a child of seven or eight could understand. Bobby. Stay where you are, Bobby. Make her come to you. No, no, no. How much time is left? 10 minutes. Well, someone could come down here now, or even six minutes from now or seven, and I could still escape. 42, 43, 44. The clocks, the clocks are getting to look like people like Mama. Oh, my head hurts, Mama. I'm sorry for what I've done. Paul, sorry. He won't do it again, honest. Just let him go this time and not punish him. He's, he's learned his lesson. He'll never do it again. Poor Paul. Poor Paul. Oh, that, that must be Francie. It must have found the shop clothes. Trying to find out if I came back here while she was gone. Wouldn't no one answer? Would that tell her that something's wrong? Why, did she think I'm stretched out down here and seller if I don't answer the phone? Bye-bye, Francie. Bye-bye. Bye-bye. Tick-tock, tick-tock. Seven minutes to three. In seven minutes, the alarm goes off. Seven minutes to three. The alarm rings for me. That's a poem, Francie. It's a funny poem. Seven. Please let time stand still. Seven, not six. What a precious number. Six, so round, so comfortable. Let it be six forever, not five or four, but six for all eternity. Let time stand still at six. That's five, five, five, five. Four, bye-bye, five. All it says, bye-bye, five. Good morning, Paulie dear. Good morning. Wake up, sleepyhead. Wake up. Do you know what time it is? No. What time is it? Take your head out from under the pillow and see for yourself. All right. It's exactly one minute to three. One minute to three. All right. I was dreaming. One minute to three, not even a minute. Barely 50 seconds. 50 seconds to go. 50 seconds to live. Help me, Mama. Help me, Francie. All it needs help. He dies in 40 seconds. 39, 38, 37. He's not a bad little boy. He always means well that we're helping. Help, little boy. Mama, where are you? Quick, I haven't got much time. I have 40 seconds. 19, 18, 17, 16, 15, 14, 13, 12, 11, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1. And the duck's working on him. In the meantime, just a couple more questions. All right. All right. You say when you came in, he was all tied up and this alarm clock here was ringing. Yes. Yeah, duck. I'm sorry. That'll look just one more time in this box. There was some wires going to it from that clock and I pulled them out. You know it was in it. This box? Yeah. Nothing. It used to have some fertilizer in it, but I took it out this morning and used it. I've been trying to raise flowers in the back of the house. Oh, I love flowers. Thank you, Van Heflin, for a splendid performance. I don't know about my income tax report. Oh, forget it. Happen. Be happy. Ask for those mighty marvels, those gas and money savers, those ignition engineered auto light resistor spark plugs. They're made by the auto light men who make over 400 products for cars, trucks, airplanes, and boats in 28 auto light plants from coast to coast. Auto light also makes complete electrical systems for many makes of America's finest cars. Batteries, spark plugs, generators, starting motors, coils, distributors. All ignition 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, from bumper to tail light, you're always right with auto light. And now here again is Van Heflin. First, I'd like to say that it's always great fun and a lot of work to appear on suspense. And second, come on out here, Tony. That's right, come on out. Ladies and gentlemen, Radio Mirror Magazine has asked me to call Tony Lieder, the producer director of suspense, down out of his glass cage up there for a very special reason. What's it all about, Van? Tony, I'd like you to meet Miss Ann Daggett, Western editor of Radio Mirror Magazine. How do you do? How do you do, Mr. Lieder? As a suspense fan of long standing, I'm very happy to have the privilege of presenting to you this scroll. It is in recognition of the fact that suspense has been chosen, Radio's Outstanding Mystery Show, by Radio Mirror Magazine, which will be on the newsstands tomorrow. That's wonderful. And on behalf of our writers and actors and musicians, like Gleskin in particular, technicians without whom suspense couldn't even begin to suspend you, I want to say thank you very much. My congratulations to Tony. And I'll be tuned in next week to hear Gregory Peck in Murder Through the Looking Glass, another gripping study in... Suspense! Van Heflin appeared by arrangement with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, producers of the Technicolor Picture Little Women, starring June Allison, Peter Loughard, Margaret O'Brien and Elizabeth Taylor. Tonight's suspense play was written by Cornel Woolrich and adapted by Walter Newman. Music was composed by Lucien Moraweck and conducted by Lud Bluskin. The entire production was under the direction of Anton M. Lieder. Remember next Thursday here, Gregory Peck in Murder Through the Looking Glass. You can buy auto-light electrical parts, auto-light resistor spark plugs, auto-light stapled batteries at your neighborhood auto-light dealer. Switch to auto-light. Good night. Here's great news. Suspense on television may be seen in many parts of the country every Tuesday night. This is CBS, the Columbia Broadcasting System.