 In just a moment suspense with Madeline Carroll Hello. Oh, hello Tom. Where are you thought you were driving over tonight? Couldn't get your car started. Well, what's wrong with it? Well sounds like ignition trouble to me Tom. Why don't you call Ed's auto electric best service station in town? He's an auto light man really knows his stuff and believes in preventive service You know fixes things before they happen carries auto light parts You know auto light spark plugs batteries complete ignition systems. Yeah, that's right the works Oh, oh by the way Tom auto light has that swell high-tension show on the air suspense ever hear of it Well, why don't you tune in it's coming on right now? Suspense Auto light and its 60,000 dealers and service stations bring you Radio's outstanding theater of thrills starring tonight miss Madeline Carroll in Anton leaders production of The Morrison affair a tale well-calculated to keep you in Mr. Balloo there's a woman outside she doesn't have an appointment, but she must speak to mr. Balloo privately all right I'll see her. I'll lay you six to five. It's a divorce. She's got that nothing must get in the paper lure Thank you very much, mr. Balloo. Please sit down. Dottie buzz me when it's half past We can't be overheard here can we? Now then mrs. I'd rather you didn't take notes. Oh, all right, but I do need your name. I'll tell you later Do lawyers have any kind of code or rule against revealing confidential information like priests? Yes However, you want me to promise before I hear your case. Yes, all right if it makes you feel better I've handled hundreds of divorces. Oh and never lost a patient. It is a divorce Yes, in a way, but he's dangerous and there's a child the courts usually lean toward giving the mother custody I know but but mr. Balloo. I'm in desperate trouble. I'm afraid you can't understand till I tell you well then You see, I'm English My husband is American. He grew up here in Boston a very prominent family The the Morrison's he's dr. Paul Morrison. Yes. I know dr. Morrison. Oh that is I've heard of him Then you know he's a surgeon. I Met Paul in London in 1939 We were married very soon after we met and then England went to war and Paul decided to stay in England to help out He was different then So deeply concerned over human suffering The war changed him changed him hideously For those first two years in London, we were happy almost completely happy Quite suddenly America was in the war and Paul had his orders to return to the American Army Medical Corps We spent the little time we had left at a cottage in the country And all the time I was trying to forget the one thing that had been preying on my mind ever since they told me at the hospital that But I couldn't and so finally Even though it was our last day together I went up to London to do what I'd always known someday. I would have to do It was late afternoon when I return Who is it? Oh darling, where on earth have you been? I'm sorry. I'm so late Paul never mind about being sorry Come over here this incident. Give me a kiss Want to know something? What? You're a heartless hussy going off leaving me alone all day Our last day do you think I'd have gone if it hadn't been important look darling. I'm a doctor too I don't know what doctor you want to see this time But none of us can perform miracles. I don't believe in miracles Paul and I and I didn't go to London to see a doctor I went to find out if we could adopt a child Adopt a child. I know you've always been against the idea darling. This is no time to go to a big complicated thing like that I've got to be on my way home by this time tomorrow. It's not this time tomorrow. I'm thinking about Paul It's all my life if I can't have a child of my own then I want to adopt but Sheila I sort of halfway picked out when at the orphanage today What his parents were killed in an air raid and I know Paul you've always wanted a boy. I wanted a son. Yes Adopting a child involves certain risks There are fundamental laws of heredity. Now you're being plain old-fashioned. You can call it anything you're like It's out of the question. Why give me one reason why you know the reasons as well as I do all I know is I'm a woman And I want a child Sheila come here Look at me Maybe I'm old-fashioned or over cautious But if we got a child that way picked him out like something on a grocery shelf You might feel he was your son, but he wouldn't be mine and the son has to be for both of us or not at all I stayed on in London for more than six months after Paul left It was ghastly there for everyone as for me. I lived in a fever of loneliness worse than loneliness Then my mother asked me down to the country to wait out the war with her It was a summer evening when I took a crowded train from Paddington And I sat alone in the compartment numb with my hunger for Paul. You must understand that day. I wasn't myself I wasn't accountable. You see I had a double kind of loneliness When the conductor opened my compartment door for other passengers. I didn't even look up at first Thank you I Recognize it's going to want some of their pressure for the little nipper Yeah, you can have my seat if you like it doesn't make any difference to me. Oh, it's very kind of you miss I'm sure I want to see the guards then not now Johnny This is all that you know when we're near Redding John she oh, thank you I hope Mary's not taking up too much room on the seat miss. Oh, no, not at all She's shoving in pushing me Very stop rummaging in my carry-all. There's nothing in it to eat Children can be such a troll Yes, I know you're angry can I hold him for a minute about what miss who too like to look at pictures Here's a magazine with all sorts of pictures about America My husband said it's all that scorns of your miss. I'm sure no factor. I did thank go Yeah, that'll keep them quiet My mother ought to be two people that she ought to hold the baby while you fill his bottle What if it won't trouble you know, I don't mind I sat there scarcely breathing looking down at the baby in my lap It was as though I'd never felt warmth before He stopped whimpering and looked up at me with very big brown eyes that seemed to hold recognition He's taking a real fancy to you miss and now mistake. What's his name? Jamie? It was his father's name He was killed last week in a bomber over Germany. Oh, I'm terribly sorry But at least you have the children. Oh, yes, miss But sometimes I don't know Sometimes I think it would be better if I didn't have this last one No, you can't mean that not easy miss with no man to provide You said you're married miss. Do you have any children? No, I have no children You'd know if you had one now in all the things I won't be able to give him Can't help thinking they'd be better off if I left him on someone's doorstep so to speak Someone well fixed like you you'd regret it all your life, but it's his life. I'm thinking about when I say it Of course, I'm not brave enough to do it That was Shawa's if wishes were sources as they say We're just pulling into red injunction missus if you still want to get their cappuccino. Oh, thank you. Thank you, John and Mary Come on Mary. I'm gonna get something to eat. I want to see this pie first You can look at the magazine when you come back and I'll run along bus of your wait for me outside I'll take Jamie now miss I'm going to sit right here. Why don't I hold him till you come back? Oh, well, I wouldn't want to bother you. It's no bother at all. Well You won't have any trouble with him. He's always been a good baby If you're sure miss quite sure Maybe you'll say what I did was wicked that she didn't tell me to take her child But I know she did she made her decision and I made mine After a few minutes. I got up and carry the baby down the corridor. I was trembling so I was afraid I'd drop him I managed to get off the train and made my way across the crowded platform. It was nearly time for the train to pull out Then I saw the woman had two older children coming toward me. I stepped behind a post Now we have to are it I stood there and watched the three climb onto the train Then he began to move and it was the brakes or a train whistle if only I hadn't imagined it was something else Above the racket of the train. It sounded like screaming For suspense auto light is bringing you miss Madeleine Carroll in radio's outstanding theater of thrills suspense Well program in what the name of that auto light service station Well, it's a auto electric and just look for the big auto light sign down on Main Street But wait, here's more dope on auto light service. Listen to Frank Martin for expert ignition check up and repair stop At your nearest auto light service station highly trained mechanics working with specialized machines are ready to give you a car the best most complete most Reliable ignition service possible and when it comes to replacement parts why money can't buy finer ignition equipment than auto light Auto light is the world's largest independent manufacturer of electrical equipment for automobiles and many of America's finest cars and trucks are equipped with auto light Distributors coils generators starting motors batteries and spark plugs ride on the assembly line So friends if you want truly reliable ignition parts and service Call on your nearest auto light service station or the car dealer who sells your make-of-car Auto light service stations are listed in your classified telephone directory under automotive electrical service And now auto light brings back to our Hollywood soundstage miss Madeleine Carroll as Sheila in the Morrison affair The tale well calculated to keep you in suspense I Can't file for your divorce Mrs. Morrison until you and your husband turn the child over to the British consul My husband doesn't know he thinks it's his child. He suspects something's wrong But we'll then make a clean breast of it. Tell him. Oh, no, you mustn't he mustn't ever know He'll kill me or Jamie or both of us how on earth. Did you make your husband believe that was easy? I figured it all out on the way to mothers. I Took a bus at Reading Junction then another train. It was almost midnight when I got home And let myself in the front door Mother was waiting up Yes, mother He's a fire still lit in the kitchen mom don't ask questions now, please. He's hungry. I'm gonna eat him up some milk He's mine now I don't know Oh baby You mean you've adopted him I stole him Sheila. I don't ask you to understand mother I only ask you to help me because I'm your child and because I can't ever have a child of my own But Paul won't let you keep this child if he thinks it his own he will It may be years before the war's over and I see Paul again He looked forward to seeing his son. He's bound to ask where his son was born He was born here. What's it our records of such things Sheila the date the place the parents the doctor. I know Mother telephone dr. Lucas dr. Lucas. He's a charlatan. He's not even a real doctor. Does that matter? He's greedy and that's the kind of man. I need tell him. I want to see him tomorrow Because tomorrow my son Jamie will be born That night before I went to bed. I cabled Paul at his last APO address Why haven't you answered my letters or don't you like my news his answering cable came in the morning? What letters what news will phone? It was going to be easy Paul had traveled so much New York Baltimore three months in the Pacific It would be easy to make him believe that some of his mail had gone astray I waited all day for Paul's call and for dr. Lucas that miserable little man took his time about it Mrs. Morrison, I'm late, but your mother assured me no one was ill. No, it's about my son. Why I didn't hear that Difficulties about his birth record. I've lost the certificate and I need a duplicate. Well, Mrs. Morrison I'm sure if you write as a matter of fact, I want the record chain chain I want the certificate to say that he was born here today This is Morrison It can be done. Can't it? It's a rather difficult You mean it's expensive. Yes very expensive. There's the risk to a doctor's reputation How much? Thousand pounds All right No, I'm afraid it will have to be 1200 pounds. All right, but that's all I can pay here. You can write it out under this lamp One moment. I'll find the form. Yes, here it is He's the son of mr. And mrs. Paul Morrison. Excuse me, please Yes, go ahead major Morrison. Hello. Hello Sheila Poor oh darling Where are you India? I turned the whole army inside out to get a priority. Can you hear me? All right fine? But darling, why didn't you answer my letters? I answered everyone I got then the the important ones got lost or something You haven't heard the news. What news you're you're going to be a father Paul Did you hear me Paul? Yes But Sheila that seems impossible, but it's happened all the same Any day now you'll have a son and air. Oh, you've made up your mind. It's gonna be a boy. That's what you want, isn't it? Yes, it's what I want But it seems like a miracle. I was dead certain that I Something wrong mrs. Morrison. I was cut off Operator operator. Yes, I prayed I was cut off. It was a call from India. Didn't you hang up? Certainly not. I was cut off. Well, I'll try to get your party back. Yes, try But it's all right if you don't What is the name of your son mrs. Morrison? Jamie Jamie Morrison You know mrs. Morrison heredity is tricky. There's nothing wrong with my son's heredity And then there's always the danger of being found out as long as anyone knows Beside yourself At first some nights I dreamed that Jamie's mother had come to fetch Jamie that was only at first I buried my goat buried it deep Four years went by then the war was over and Jamie and I sailed to join Paul in America The day I arrived in New York, I may have been nervous But I was sure at last of happiness as sure as I'd ever been in my life Paul darling my dear. I've never seen you look better darling motherhood suits you. Is that my daddy? Jamie well Well, how do you do James? My name isn't James. It's Jamie. Jamie. Yes, I've always told him that I don't know why it's a kind of nickname I suppose well from now on we'd better settle for James. We morrisons never appreciated nicknames Funny about his eyes his eyes. I've got to look up my Mendel can two blue-eyed people have a brown-eyed child They must we did no matter what Mendel says. Well, he's positively the first Morrison with brown eyes But why not he's the miracle kid I Rolled the phrases around my mind hunting their real meaning. I was oversensitive of course, but From the first day I felt that Paul was hostile to Jamie Where's my miracle kid he's taking his nap. What do you want with him? I'm driving down to the rifle range with a friend I thought I'd take James along, but he's too young Paul too young for what to play With guns, it's just why I want to take him along. Sooner he knows how to handle guns the better off. He'll be I am Jamie Darling darling, what's happened? He's more scared than hurt. Oh not. I had I news for oxide. It won't sting. I told you he was too young to ride Oh, it was a gentle horse. Jamie lost the seat when it started the trot. That's all. We'll do better next time. Won't we kid? I guess so There won't be a next time. Yes, there will be Sheila Jamie go up to mother's room. I'll be along in a minute to fix your knee. All right, mommy. There's candy in my bureau. You know where Paul what are you trying to do? I'm trying to make my son like my son. He's my son, too. You know what you're doing to him Sheila is not anybody's son. He's a zombie. I swear. I'd rather see him dead than what you want him to be I suppose it was then that I first realized what I would have to do But someday someday soon I'd have to get Jamie away from Paul I was frightened. I even began to carry a gun in my bag and I began to make plans I'd start again build a new life for myself and my son then yesterday I knew that I'd have to hurry that I couldn't postpone my decision any longer I found out when Paul came home from the hospital He came directly to my room Ah, there you are. I want to tell you something Sheila. What is it? What's happened? Big day at the conference. Oh, you mean the medical conference? The psychiatrist from Chicago named Drake read a paper on psychosomatic medicine. Terrific And then there was a curious report on euthanasia. You know, mercy killing. Interesting but extreme In what way? Well, the doctor delivering the report favors not only the mercy killing of incurable He advocates weeding out and purifying the race by studying heredity And eliminating those whose heredity is questionable. Real crackpot Horrible Sheila, well, his report was going on though. I began to wonder about you and Jamie About me and Jamie? Yes. I wanted to ask you Is there something about Jamie's heredity that you don't want me to know? The danger was real. The danger was real and now. For myself, but mostly for Jamie Paul was playing with me like a cat plays with a mouse This talk about mercy killing, heredity, this subtle, cruel talk Threatening me with Jamie's death, announcing in advance the mercy killing of a child who is inferior Because he isn't a Morris I've come to you, Mr. Baloo. I can't risk Paul's getting custody I have to take Jamie away first, far away, where Paul can't reach him And then get a divorce I want you to tell me where it's safest for us to go and get the papers I need Mrs. Morrison, I promise that whatever you told me would be confidential I'm sorry I made that promise If I hadn't, I'd go to Dr. Morrison and tell him that his wife carries a heavy load of guilt A very heavy load And it's coloring everything she does You think I'm insane? I think you have dangerous delusions And you won't help me? I can't, Mrs. Morrison The psychiatrist might help you, but only if you go to him now before it's too late To go to the hospital, Dr. Morrison said for you to come right away What is it, Elsa? What's happened? It's the little boy Jamie! He got hold of one of his daddy's guns He's done it. He's killed Jamie Jamie was playing with it and it went off and it was pointed right at himself He's hurt bad Take my blood, Paul. Take it. I'll do anything Sheila, get hold of yourself. You're hysterical We have to know his blood type first The lab should be calling back any minute Paul, I'd rather you didn't operate Ask Dr. McDonald This isn't McDonald's kind of a case. I... Don't you trust me, Sheila I thought you might be too nervous being his father Am I, Sheila? What? Am I his father, Sheila? Dr. Morrison speaking. All right, it's the lab Hello? Yes, Brooks? It's what? You're absolutely sure You checked twice? I see Yes, thank you You gave the results of the blood test Paul... We can't use your blood, Sheila You know from the blood test? Yes, Dr. Morrison Get the boy ready for operation. I'll start immediately Yes, sir Know what, Sheila? No, don't tell me All I know is that your blood is type A and mine is type A and James is type B Wait here, Sheila Don't do it, Paul Do what? I won't let you operate I won't, I won't Get Dr. McDonald Or I'll kill you You're out of your mind. You can't shoot that gun I can and I will before I let you touch Jamie Now that you know he's not your son I've always known it You're lying From the first moment I saw him It's a proven medical fact Two blue-eyed people cannot have a brown-eyed child And all your cruelty was deliberate At first I thought you'd been unfaithful That Jamie was your son And another man was his father But the blood proves he's not yours either You adopted him I stole him and I'm not going to lose him now We're all ready, Dr. Morrison Thank you Wait here, Sheila Paul, I warned you Mrs. Morrison, don't... Fell like a sack of dry leaves And liquid the color of dark grapes Seep through and spread slowly Across the front of his surgeon's jacket Then people came and dragged me away I've seen no one since except those who guard me And my lawyer, Mr. Ballew Who came to tell me that Paul was dead And that Jamie would live The operation was performed successfully By Dr. McDonald Then Mr. Ballew began to talk about How to defend me against the charge of murder Why not tell him the truth? Let me tell you the truth, Mrs. Morrison After you shot Dr. Morrison He could have lived He had to choose between his life and Jamie What could he do for Jamie? The bullet had lodged in Jamie's brain It would take hours to find a brain specialist As good as Dr. Morrison But he didn't operate? He ordered them to take him to the operating room Then for an hour and a half He stood at Dr. McDonald's elbow Directing every move of his scalpel When the operation was over Dr. Morrison was dying But Jamie would live And so, in my defense Mr. Ballew intends to plead insanity But I wasn't insane then Nor am I now, I know that I'm nearly a selfish woman Everything I did, I did for myself Not for Jamie I can see that now But Paul Gave his life for his son And no matter what happens to him now Jamie had a father Thank you Madeleine Kerl for a splendid performance Miss Kerl will return in just a moment Hello, Tom Here, I knew it was you What? You just called to say thanks For telling you about AutoLight? Well, don't thank me Frank Martin, your man Well, friends, you'll thank And congratulate yourself For depending on your AutoLight service, man Because of the way your car will perform After it's had his expert care He's got the skill, equipment And those great AutoLight parts To put your ignition system in top shape Look up your nearest AutoLight service station It's listed in your classified phone book Under Automotive Electrical Service And keep in mind, wherever you go AutoLight means spark plugs Ignition engineered spark plugs AutoLight means batteries Stay full batteries AutoLight means ignition system The lifeline of your car And now here again is Miss Madeline Kerl It's been a great pleasure to appear With this fine cast on suspense It's a program I've always enjoyed hearing And I'm looking forward to next week's story In which that rising young star Bert Lancaster appears It's another gripping study in... Suspense Madeline Kerl appeared To the courtesy of 20th Century Fox Whose current production is The Luck of the Irish Starring Anne Baxter and her own power Tonight's Suspense play was written by Pamela Wilcox With music composed by Lucian Marwick And conducted by Lud Blusken The entire production was under the direction Of Anton M. Lieder In the coming weeks, Suspense will present Such stars as Gregory Peck Edward G. Robinson John Garfield and others Make it a point to listen each Thursday To Suspense Radio's outstanding Theatre of Thrills And next Thursday, same time Here, Bert Lancaster Ninja traveling fast Come switch to auto light This is CBS The Columbia Broadcasting System