 Autolight and its 96,000 dealers present Mr. James Stewart in Mission Completed, a suspense play produced and edited by William Spear. A-L-R-S-P. A-L-R-S-P. Hey, I'm the Autolight Resistor Spark Plug Salesman here. I know, Harlow, but I'd like to get in a plug for the plugs, too. Swallow, let's have it again. Sure. A-L-R-S-P. Yes, A-L-R-S-P, Autolight Resistor Spark Plugs. And only Autolight Resistor Spark Plugs have that exclusive built-in, 10,000 ohm Autolight Resistor. That means 200% longer electrode life, less spark plug interference with radio and television. Why, with wide gap Autolight Resistor Spark Plugs, your engine idle smoother runs better on leaner gas mixtures, actually saves you gas. So, friends, see your Autolight Spark Plug dealer and have him install a set of the new sensational Autolight Resistor Spark Plugs in your car. Remember, you're always right with Autolight. And now, with the performance of James Stewart in Mission Completed, a special Pearl Harbor anniversary drama, Autolight hopes once again to keep you in... SUSPENSE! Are you all right for the night, Tom? How do you know when he's all right? Tom and I have a secret code, don't we, Tom? He blinks once for yes and twice for no. Are you okay, Tom? Night. Okay, sure, I'm okay. I've been okay ever since I got liberated from Sagamo Prison in Tokyo in 1945. Yeah, ever since I woke up in this Veterans Hospital four years ago, I've been okay. I got nothing to do but lie flat in my back and let my eyes wander over the ceiling and look at Suki smiling down at me. Suki seems to smile down at me from the little plaster square ceiling that reminds me of the prison yard in Sagamo. He can't help smiling and laughing because he knows I can't get at him. Suki knows I'm paralyzed. He knows I can only blink my eyes once for yes and twice for no. You see, Suki was in charge of the camp at Sagamo. He helped slaughter guys like Camel and Jones, Mayberry, Evans, too many more to count. First he starved them so they couldn't crawl, and then he... Well anyway, just before we got liberated I fuzzed up in my mind and I couldn't remember anything. Sometime later I woke up in a Vets hospital, California, USA, and I've been on my back for four years staring at that little square. Well once in a while they dumped me in a wheelchair and pushed me out into the sunshine, wheeled me up and down the walk like I was a baby. Only babies can cry. Which road today, Tom? Do we get down the walk to the ground or the sidewalk down by the flower shop? Just open your eyes wide if it's a sidewalk. Well, good. You'll see all the flowers. Oh, here comes Janet, willing murder. Do you remember him? Hi, Tom. Hello, Tom. Hi, Janet. How are you doing? I'm getting in shape for the dance tonight. Am I really? I'll see you there. Isn't Janet a pretty girl? I'll bet you have a nice girl somewhere. Come on now, haven't you? We're almost at the flower shop, Tom. Whoa. See that man in the window? Isn't that a pretty bouquet he's getting together? Well look how tan he is. I'm sitting in a wheelchair paralyzed looking at a man on a flower shop window and the man I'm looking at is Suki. And while I'm looking at him, something's happening to me. My fingers that I haven't worked for four years are grabbing the arms of the wheelchair and my legs are straining and pushing against the floor. The same legs I haven't used for 48 months and I want to cry out and I feel my tongue getting ready to... Tom! Tom, what's the matter with you? Come on, Tom, now relax. Maybe you don't like flowers. That's just like a man. Doesn't like flowers. Do you want to go home now, Tom? It's Suki. A man on the flower shop window and it's Suki. I know it is. If we can get closer, all I have to do is look at that scar down the side of his face. I gave him that scar and sagamo. Do you want to go home, Tom? Now don't frown like. Tom, what's the matter? Do you want to go closer? Okay, if you want to go closer to the flower shop. It was Suki, all right? Yeah, it was Suki. We got real close to the shop and I got a good look. The scar on his face stood out like a half moon. He was busy with flowers. Flowers, I couldn't imagine him working with flowers. But it was Suki. And this time I didn't clench my fingers or strain my legs. I just laid back in the chair and relaxed. And I began to plan. I began a plan. I began a plan that I'd started the day I looked around and I found myself in a Jap prison camp. A plan that almost worked the day Suki got that scar. It didn't work that day. It's going to work now. I'll leave you here by the door a minute, Tom. Then we'll put you to bed. How did you get moved over there? Didn't I leave you right here by the door? Tom, did you wheel yourself over there? Oh ho, so that's it. Somebody came in here and gave you a push. One day you'll be pushing that chair around like mad, Tom. Just you wait, just you wait. All right now, we'll get ready for bed. You ready for me? Just about. Would you bring Dr. Benson here? Okay. Can't imagine who just walked in here and gave you a shove. Wouldn't it be funny if you did it yourself? Didn't know it. Sent for me, Miss Rhodes. He must have used his hands. He wheeled himself across the room. How are you tonight, Tom? I think that sunshine is doing you some good. Tom, did you move yourself across the room? And if you did, blink your eyes once. And if you didn't, blink them twice. No, you didn't do it, huh? That's all. Thank you, Tom. I got myself in a jam already. It's funny how I grabbed those wheels instinctively. I guess I gave myself a shove. And now I'm in bed. I'm looking up at that little square. The hospital's quiet except for Murdoch, who you can always hear mumbling someplace far off. So then I'm turning over in my face in bed, moving muscles I haven't moved for four long years. And in a moment I was sitting up. I was trying to light my own cigarette. But then I got so exhausted, I decided to wait till the next night. And it was the same thing over again. Night after night I practiced at being alive. Ten days later I got out of bed and I stood up and two weeks later I was so strong that I walked around the room ten times. I never felt better in my life. That night I nearly got caught. I was sitting in my chair smoking a cigarette. I scrambled in a bed. Sleep, Tom? You've been having visitors, Tom. Ears full of smoke. Tom, are you asleep? Nothing ever came of it though, but I was more careful after that. A week went by. Every day brought me closer and closer to Suki. And Suki closer and closer to some of his own medicine right back in his face. And then something happened that spoiled everything. Tom, we've got good news for you this morning. Look how wide his eyes are. You better not keep him waiting. Tom, you're getting out of here. We're moving you to within 20 miles of your old home town. You're going to Coalville Hospital. Better tell him when. Yes, tomorrow morning. He doesn't seem to like. Tom, what's the matter? Suki was laughing now. He stood on that little square in the ceiling and he laughed at me because he knew I was going away and I'd never get him. So they were shipping me out on Sunday. Yeah. Tomorrow was Sunday. I had a desperate plan. It might work, it might not. But if it did, it would bring Suki right into my room. You see, the plan wouldn't work except today was Saturday. Today was Saturday. And right the day before they were shipping me to Coalville, 3,000 miles away. Today, yeah. Today was Saturday and on Saturday... This is your last spin around the ground, Tom. And here comes Jackie. I bet you forgot this was Saturday and Jackie's out of school. And he's going to play Mr. Wheelchair conductor. Oh, Jackie, you ready to take over? Sure thing, Miss Rhodes. I get him lots of sun and keep him up full time. Then when you're through, you can help Janet with Murdoch. Yes, Miss Rhodes. Now, see you later. You be careful. You bet. I said stop right here. Gosh, I didn't know you could talk, mister. Well, sure I'll stop right here, but maybe I'd better get Norden with you. Now, stay right here and shut up. Now, listen to me. You and I are going to have a little secret. Are you with me? What kind of a secret? You just don't say anything about what you see or hear until tomorrow. Now, what are you going to do? Are you going to help a soldier or are you going to spill everything? What? What? Well, I'll help, of course. Now, keep pushing me until we get down to that tavern and then push me in that little alcove there. Come on, come on, come on. What are we waiting for? Yeah, mister. Yeah, but I shouldn't be doing this shit. Yeah, that's the best thing you ever did. Now, now go into that tavern and get me three dollars worth of quarters. Here's three bucks. I'm going to use this phone. Don't get any funny ideas about calling the hospital. You're working with me, aren't you, kid? I guess so. Now, I'm going to watch you through the glass of this phone booth. Stay right out there where I can see you. Get me? Yes, sir. All right, here goes. You shouldn't get up. Hey, don't try to get up of your wheelchair. Already out. All right, now stand right there. Then where I can see you. I want to talk to Bill Mason at Mason's real estate office in San Bernardino. What is your name, please? My name's Tom Warner. It'll be a dollar and a quarter for three minutes. Please deposit a dollar and a quarter for three minutes. Your party. Hello, Bill. Hello, who's this? Tom. Tom Warner. It's Tom. It's Tom, you dope. I... Well, I... What's the matter? What's the matter? That's all. Last time I heard about it. I know, I know, I know, but it's all over now. I'm alive. Now, Bill, listen to me. Now, listen close. That's an awful close, Bill. Bill. Suki's alive. Suki? Yeah. Yeah, Suki. He's working at a flower shop in the hospital here. Are you crazy? Now, no, I've seen him. I've watched him. I've noticed all his gestures. Yeah, he's got the scar I gave him right on the side of his face. Hey, are you listening? Yeah, yeah, I kept going. Now, I want you to get a hold of Curly. And tonight the three of us will blast him right out of the face of the earth. Tom, are you okay? What's the matter with you? I found Suki. He's here right in the United States where we can get at him. Well, if you're sure it's Suki, why don't you call the cops or the FBI? Because I know what'll happen to him then. He'll end up in American jail and he'll have a nice soft bed to sleep in. He'll get three good hot meals a day. And he'll get all the comforts of home. Look what he gave to us. Something in your life, Bill. Now, look, if you start driving right now, you can be here by nine o'clock. Tom, the war's over. I forgot all that stuff a long time ago. I want you to forget it, too. Sure, sure. And you can forget it all if you want to. I know why you're forgetting it is because you're a chicken. That's why. You haven't got the guts to face him. I mean, you're lousy. You yell on your backbone as turned to a sponge. I only wish may bear an oven. And we're all here to listen to the lousy rot that was gripping out of you. Oh, what's the matter? I'm... Tom. I am... I'm going... to throw it on my face. Where are you, Tom? Wouldn't... wouldn't you like to know? AutoLite is bringing you Mr. James Stewart in Mission Completed. Tonight's production in Radio's Outstanding Theater of Thrill's Suspense. Good call, sir. I'm from the S-A-L-R-S-P-S. Sell AutoLite Resistor Spark Plugged Society. Oh, yes. Yes, I'm a charter member, and since I've been on the job, millions and millions of AutoLite Resistor Spark Plugged have been sold. Sure, we know, and that's why we decided to award you the Velvet Hammer. The Velvet Hammer? Yes, it's for nailing down sails with subtle finesse. Don't need one. AutoLite Resistor Spark Plugged is so good they sell themselves. By those worthy wizards of cars, AutoLite Resistor Spark Plugged mean faster starts at low temperatures. With that exclusive built-in 10,000-dome AutoLite Resistor, AutoLite Resistor Spark Plugged lets your engine idle smoother, run better on leaner gas mixtures, save you gas. And friends, AutoLite Resistor Spark Plugged have 200% longer electrode life. Cut down on Spark Plugged interference with radio and television. So stop at your neighborhood AutoLite dealers. Have him install a set of the white-gap AutoLite Resistor Spark Plugged or the famous regular-type AutoLite Spark Plugged, long-recognized for dependability. Remember, either way, you're always right with AutoLite. And now AutoLite brings back to our Hollywood soundstage our star, James Stewart, in Mission Completed. A tale well-calculated to keep you in suspense. Tom? Tom, can you hear me? Help me, kid. Gee, you shouldn't have got off, mister. There, why, brace the chair. Just slide back. There. I'll be all right. My band need a little air. Gee, look as white as a sheet. I don't say anything about this, kid. Just keep your mouth shut until tomorrow, will you? Tomorrow morning, I'll be going away. You promise me that? Well, okay. Okay, now, take me home, huh? Yes, sir. I was back in my room, flattened out like a pancake. And the bed in the room kept spinning around when stay still. Pretty soon I got a sort of a second wind. I decided to try to get out out of bed. I found I could get up okay. I was off a week. I just about given up my plan when I happened to look out the window. The day Watchman was changing places with the night patrolman and the item that caught my eye was a big fat revolver bulging at the man's side. Maybe my plan would work after all. I didn't need to be a Bill Mason and Curly and anybody else. All I needed was my two hands, a little luck. I'd have to make another phone call. Oh, there's a phone on this floor right in front of Murdoch's door. This is Dr. Benson. Hi, Dr. Would you send a bouquet of flowers? That is, I mean roses. A lot of big roses up to 411. One of the patients is leaving and we'd like to make him feel good. It's kind of a surprise just before he goes to sleep and the ward's quiet. You see, about nine o'clock this evening. Okie dokie. You want some fun to go with it? Yeah, yeah, I think that'd be nice. Just a minute, who delivers at that hour? Have you got someone? Oh, I deliver myself just before I close up. Okie dokie. Fine. Fine, thank you. I just got the phone back on the hook on Dr. Benson and two nurses came walking along. Like a shot I dropped to the floor of the phone booth and I tried to double up like an accordion. My heart beat so loudly. I was afraid they'd hear it. But drowning out in my heart was Murdoch saying something. Hey, Tom's on the phone. Don't be silly. Yeah? Yeah. I held my breath. But they kept on walking down the hall. And they turned into the solarium. Alright, I got up. I got the door open. I almost fell across the hall into my room. I laid back on the bed, gasping and waiting for my pulse to get back to normal. And it was eight o'clock. Getting dark outside. The only sound was the clock ticking in the hall. I was getting all the breaks. The summer shower had just come up. Light wind blowing. I got down the hall, alright, and threw the solarium to the fire escape. It was easy going down, hugging the shadows. Pretty soon I was at the bottom. I spotted the patrolman sitting under the little eaves of the tool shed. He was trying to keep out of the rain. My hand closed around a broken brick that had fallen off the building. I crept up in back of him. I got the brick ready to smash him on the head when I suddenly realized he was asleep. I took a step real close. Then I had his revolver and I was pointing it right into his eyes, which was still blinking off some sleep. He muttered and then he started to yell. One little whisper and this goes off right in your face. Now get up and get in about the tool shed. Open the door and crawl in. Come on, quick. Alright, now take that piece of tape and tie your feet together. Come on, hurry up. Tie it, hurry. Alright. What are you trying to do, fella? Shut up! Do as I say. I made him tie his feet together with a piece of tape, lie flat in his face, while I wound long strips of tape around his wrists. I tied his wrists together and then I hog-tied his wrists and his feet and pulled them up tight behind him. Then I turned them over on his side and I crammed two packages into his mouth. Put long strips of tape around those. The rain was coming down and buckets of them made my way back to the fire escape. I made the first two flights. Then three. Finally, finally hit four and I slid on my face out cold. I don't know how long I lay there on those iron bars of the fire escape. It was too long for my plans. There was nobody in the hall, so I ran for it. Still nobody in the hall. Still nobody. Nobody in my room. I slid open the door and I started for bed. The bed met me halfway and I lay there soaking white with a gun sticking out of my pocket. I spun the cylinder. I saw 645 caliber bullets. Fifteen minutes went by. Then it was nine o'clock. The ward was very quiet. You could have heard a pin drop. Nothing sounded until I heard the sound of the elevator. And it's stopping on four. Someone had got out of the elevator and was patting down the hall and it was the same little shuffle I'd heard every day for three years in a bug-infested hellhole called a prison camp. The same footsteps, the footsteps I used to turn my brain to water and send my heart right down to my shoes. The footsteps that meant someone was going to get it. And I wanted to yell and scream, Come on, Suki, it's Deborah now. Come on, Suki, I'm waiting for you. I took ground out, Suki. Suki was getting closer and so I released the safety catcher and I tried to keep my wobbly hand steady. He was almost here now. The knob was turning in the door. And he'll never bother you again. You killed him. Oh, Suki. Now give me the gun, Tom. Yeah, that's it. Yes, you killed Suki in your mind. He's dead in your mind. You can forget him now, Tom. Yeah, I think I better sit down. Miss Rhodes, shove that wheelchair out of the room. You can sit in a chair, Tom, but not in a wheelchair. You're through with that for good. Now, Jimmy. What's that? Are you all right? Yes, Doctor. No powder burns? No, I'm fine, Doctor. Good. Now, Tom. Tom, I want you to meet Jimmy Cato, who works in our flower shop here and who was Lieutenant Cato of the Armed Forces in Italy not so long ago. Yeah, I killed Suki. I killed Suki. Yes, yes. In your mind, you killed Suki, Tom, and you're okay now. The man you thought was Suki was Jimmy Cato. He was born and raised here in this community and he has almost as many medals as you have. Now, I want you to shake hands with him. I'm paralyzed. All I can do is blink my eyes. No, no. You are not, Tom. You are going to shake hands with Jimmy and thank him. Oh, Cato, I'm sorry. Oh, nothing to be sorry about. When Dr. Benson told me about your reaction the day you saw me, I was glad to help out. You see, Tom, we're pretty thorough here. When you thought you saw Suki, Miss Rhodes made a notation that you flexed muscles you hadn't commanded for nearly four years. And so we went from there. Oh, you must have flexed skin, Cato. I'm pretty good shot. No, no, no. The patrolmen on the grounds here, Tom, always carry blank snow bullets. You're going home tomorrow, Tom. Well on the way to complete recovery. And in your mind, there's a big X mark canceling out a nightmare of four years duration. And written in huge letters is a beautiful sign, Tom. And it says to you, once and for all, mission completed. Suspense presented by Autolight, tonight's star, James Stewart. Oh, Mr. Wilcox, Mr. Wilcox. Well, Gracie, Alan, what are you doing here? Well, I came to ask you and Jimmy Stewart if you can fix it with Autolight for my husband, Sugar Throat Burns, to sing on suspense. Our sponsor will hear it and realize how great George is and then he'll let him sing on our show Wednesday night. Well, look, Gracie, suspense is all booked up for next week. Mickey Rooney will be on. Well, how about the week after that, Mr. Stewart? No, they're booked up for that week. Delana Turner will be here that week. As a matter of fact, they're booked up for the next 4,000 weeks. Oh, 4,000 weeks would be about... That's 80 years. Oh, how about the week after that? Well, I've got to leave, Gracie. Tell George that he has all my condolences. Oh, really? I'm surprised they fit him. You know, you're so tall. Gracie, would you mind if I get in just one teensy-weensy word about auto-light-resistor spark plugs? Teensy-weensy? Oh, you can do better than that. If George were here, I bet he could sing about your spark plugs. I bet he could at that. Everyone is singing the praises of auto-light-resistor spark plugs. And that goes for the 400 other products made by auto-light for cars, trucks, planes, and boats in 28 plants coast to coast. Those are nice lyrics. Auto-light also builds complete electrical systems for many makes of America's finest cars, batteries, spark plugs, generators, coils, distributors, starting motors, bullseye-sealed beam headlights. All engineered to fit together perfectly, work together perfectly, because they're a perfect team. You wouldn't want George to sing that? No. Friends, don't accept electrical parts 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. You sure, Mr. Wilcox, that you wouldn't want George to sing that? I'm sure. Oh, good night, and happy auto-light. Next Thursday for Suspense, Mickey Rooney will be our star. The play is called for love or murder. And it is, as we say... A tale well-calculated to keep you in... Suspense. Tonight's Suspense play was produced and edited by William Spear and directed by Norman MacDonald. Music for Suspense is composed by Lucian Morrowek and conducted by Lud Bluskin. Mission completed is an original radio play by John R. Forrest. James Stewart can currently be seen starred in the title role of the MGM picture, The Stratton Story. You can buy auto-light resistor or regular spark plugs, auto-light staple batteries, auto-light electrical parts at your neighborhood auto-light dealers. Switch to auto-light. Good night. This is CBS, the Columbia Broadcasting System.