 Suspense! Autolight and its 96,000 dealers present Mr. Danny Kaye in I Never Met the Dead Man. A suspense play produced and edited by William Spear. Hello? Wake up, Mr. Wilcox. It's a brand new year. Happy new year. Okay. Oh, what a sleep. Hey, did she say a new year? Boy, let me at it. At that Autolight's Stateful Battery, I promised myself. That wonderful water wagon, that thirstless, thrilling three-timer. Yes, sir. It needs water only three times a year in normal car use. Hello again. Are you up, Mr. Wilcox? Am I up? I'm as up as an Autolight's Stateful Battery is up and away at a single starter shove on a winter's morning that's as cold as Blitzen. And alive. Alive as an Autolight's Stateful Battery, built with fiberglass retaining mats, to give 70% longer average life according to tests based on SAE life cycle standards, compared to batteries without those stateful features. Mr. Wilcox, it's time for... Oh, yes, yes. Suspense. And now, with I Never Met the Dead Man, and the performance of Mr. Danny Kay, Autolight hopes once again to keep you in... Suspense. I never even met the guy. I was just walking along Humming, on an empty side street on New Year's Day. I didn't do anything, Officer. Oh, nobody ever does anything. Why they pay us cups of salary I don't understand. Well, you know me, Mr. Callan, Joe Wyckoff. I was on my way home from the plant. Running home, boy? Oh, I wasn't... bullets were flying around here. Somebody killed that man in the car. Sure, somebody. Are you crazy or something? I had nothing to do with it. Ask anybody. Ask who, for instance, boy? There wasn't anybody else on the street when I turned the corner. Well, how about these buildings around here? He could have been shot from one of them. That's right. He could have. But you better stick around anyway, boy. That's how it started. Just walking along Humming. All of a sudden, bang, bang, and half hour later, the cops have me in the yes room at headquarters. No rubber hose, none of that kind of stuff. Just where did I hide the gun? Where did I hide the gun? Where did I hide the gun? And I keep telling them I don't even know the gun. All the time I know they got nothing on me, that they're playing a long shot, but just the same, I'm scared. Murder rap, who wouldn't be scared? Finally, after a couple of hours, they let me go. Callan, the cop that nabbed me, was standing on the sidewalk outside. Well, well... Look, Mr. Callan, I wanted to tell you, I know you were just doing your duty, and there's no heart feelings. Well, that's real generous of you, boy. I was only trying to be nice about it. I'm wondering why you're trying. You're worried, aren't you, Wyckoff? You're holding something back, and you're worried. You're lying, I can tell. You know so much, why don't you sound off inside headquarters? I'm just a neighborhood cop, a beat man. But even a beat man gets a good idea once in a while. What are you holding back, boy? Mr. Callan, nothing, I tell you. Bad business lying to the police? I'm not lying. Go on home, boy. Talk it over with your wife. Maybe she's got some sense. Bella, my wife would some sense. That was funny, only Callan didn't know. Bella's like a friendly kitten. Pretty and lovable and full of fun. All Bella could think was, gee, her husband's name was in the evening paper. Look, Joey, right here on page 27. The only witness to the murder was Joseph R. Wyckoff. They misspelled it. Only one F, wouldn't you think they'd know better? Joseph R. Wyckoff, a truck driver on his way home from woods. The victim has not yet been identified. The guy that got killed, the cops don't know who he was. He was on the body and his face was full of bullet holes. Terrible. The police expect to make an arrest within 24 hours. It says so, right here. A professional job like that is going to take their cops more than 24 hours to pin down. I don't understand. Professional? A hired gunman steps off a train from Detroit to someplace. He fires a couple of shots and takes the next train back. No clues, nothing. Oh, well then how could we... I've waited a while, will you honey? I don't feel like talking about it. All right, Joey. Okay. You sick or something, Joey? You're all jumpy. You didn't eat hardly any supper. Right, I've got no appetite. Lots of times I'm like that. No, no appetite. It's a shame. All that good spaghetti going to waste. Joey. What? We ought to celebrate your name in the paper. Let's go out dancing some way. I'm tired, Bella. Bushed. Gee, we never go out anymore. Some other time, Bella. That's what I mean. We're all jumpy. I'm sorry, Bella. I shouldn't have yelled off like that. Those cops this afternoon, they got me upset. Oh, honey, I don't blame you being upset. They got that nerve practically saying you killed a fella. You can't blame the cops, Bella. They know they got their work cut out and they ain't missing any bets. They're trying to advance themselves too. But you've never been in trouble before. You think that would be enough for them? Well, the only thing is I... I have been in trouble. Huh? Back in New York before I met you, I did a stretch in prison. You? Yeah, it was nothing very much robbing a grocery store. The kind of crazy things young guys do. Joey, you never told me. Well, you spend a year with the bad boys. I certainly don't hire a skyrider to tell people about it, Bella. But I'm your wife, Joey. I wanted to tell you and I would have. But I don't understand. Sure, sure, Bella. But lots of times you talk without thinking, honey. I was scared you might let it slip. Oh, I never would have blabbermouthed about a thing like that, Joey. You know that? Did you tell a police, Joey? No. No. They asked me, did I have a record and I said no. Oh, golly. Maybe I shouldn't have lied. I don't know. But I was rattled. I'm still rattled. Will they find out anyway? I don't see how. They didn't book me this afternoon, so... Well, there's no fingerprints to check with. Oh, well then. Well, the callan, the comp I told you about, he worries me. He's the one. He knows I get something on my mind and he keeps needling and needling. So let him needle. You know how it would look. The record spotted near the murder and callan. Mr. Callan's got plenty of other things on his mind. In a couple of days he'll forget all about you. You think so, Bella? Well, sure. And I'm supposed to be the dopey one around here. I got to thinking maybe Bella was right. Maybe it was just another side street killer that wouldn't amount to a hill of beans. I might even have had a good night's sleep if we hadn't stayed up for the late news broadcast. An obscure murder lost in the back pages of tonight's papers will be headlined on page one tomorrow morning. The victim has been identified as Willoughby Roberts, feature reporter of the news gazette. And that newspaper has already posted a $10,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of the killer. Willoughby Roberts, it was revealed tonight, had been engaged in an undercover investigation of the county's illegal gambling palaces. Today, President Truman made an address to... My luck. My luck. Now, Joey... $10,000 every cop in town will be out for that reward. If they find out about my record... Oh, Joey, don't! Bella, what am I gonna do? There was nothing I could do, but wait and pray that the cops would let me alone. Next morning I went to work, same as usual. All day long I sat behind the wheel of my truck, trying to act like nothing was wrong. Finally, I went back to the plant. Hugo, he was the boss of us truckers. He had left word for me to see him in his office. Come in. Sit down, Joe. Now, I'm not supposed to tell you, Joe, but you're in trouble. Bad trouble. Yeah? A cop in here all afternoon pumping me. What's his name, Callan? Well, he didn't mention no name. Thick neck, hard eyes. All the time looks like he's smiling at something he don't think is funny. That's Callan, all right. His wick off a friend of Pigeon Watts, he asks me, and I tell him I'm... Pigeon Watts? The gambler, the big gambler. He owns that place outside of town, the pigeon coop. The reporter, the guy that was killed, he was working on Pigeon Watts. The cop's figure, the pigeon, paid someone to do the job. Maybe you. I don't know any Pigeon Watts. That's what I told this cop, this Callan. Joe wick off mixed up with gamblers. I said, don't make me laugh. He can't even beat his wife, a gin rummy. And anybody that can't beat Bella, a gin rummy. Thanks, thanks. Thanks, you... Slowed him down a little, Joe. Now comes the bad part. Go ahead. This cop, he went nosing around the trucker's locker room. He found a gun, Joe. Where? In the box for dirty towels. Near where you keep your stuff. Was it the gun that... No, no, it wasn't the one he was looking for. Not the one that did the killing. But it makes things look bad for you. Now look, you go... All I'm telling you is what he said, Joe, what Callan said. He said at headquarters, you swore up and down you didn't own a gun. And when he found this one in the locker room, he said it makes things look bad for you. Bad, Joe. All the truckers used that room, but right away it's my gun. Why didn't he ask the other guys who... He did, he did ask, Joe. They all say no. Well, so do I say no. Why does Callan believe the other guys and not me? I ask him that. He said... Well, he said the other guys didn't do a stretch in the jailhouse. Oh, so he found out already, huh? It's true then, huh, Joe? Yeah. Yeah, it's true. What am I gonna do, Joe? I don't know what you mean. I don't get it. What am I gonna do? Well, these trucks... Sometimes the cargo is valuable. What am I gonna do, Joe? Yesterday I'm your best friend. Today I'm an ex-con. I might steal a monkey rich. Why? I got the owners to answer to, Joe. Suppose you were me. Suppose you had a driver you liked, but it turned out he had a record. What would you do? Same thing you are gonna do. There are other jobs. Oh, sure. All kinds of jobs for an ex-con, a murder suspect. Baby-sitting, maybe. Don't do anything crazy. Please, Joe. Well, suppose you were me. What would you do? I'd go out and get drunk. But I ain't a married man. Bella will need you, Joe. She's not having any picnic. Does she know what's been going on? Well, the cop was heading for your apartment when he left here, so I called Bella to... Well, just to call her. In case there's any evidence to hide. Was that it? Oh, Joe. My buddy. My trusting buddy. Ah, don't feel that way, Joe. Well, what way do you expect me to feel? It's me, hon. You all right? Oh, Joey. I haven't felt scared, Joey. A policeman, that Mr. Callan. He only just left. It was awful. Oh, now, take it easy, honey. Take it easy. Everything will be all right if you'll just take it easy. He kept asking me, did you know pigeon watts? And I kept saying no and all the time I had these things in my pocket. Things? I was afraid they'd fall out and he'd see them. It was awful, Joey. What things? Well, these are chips or whatever you call them. But these are gambling chips. I found them in your bureau drawer just before Mr. Callan came. They all got a pigeon marked on them and I figured you wouldn't want nobody to see them. So I hid them in my pocket. Wait a minute. Wait a minute. I don't get this. It doesn't make sense. On account of the bird on them, the pigeon. I knew right away you must have got him a pigeon watts gambling house. So I hid him. I never saw them before. Never. Oh, we better drop them down a sewer or someplace where nobody will find them. Bella, look, listen to me. I never saw them before. Oh. You believe me, Bella, don't you? Sure. Sure, I believe you. Bella, why were you looking at my bureau? I... Oh, don't ask me that, Joey. Why, Bella? Why were you looking? Please, Joey, don't. Listen, it's raining. Why? All right, Joey. It was on account of all the crazy things that have been happening. Like about you having been in jail. And then Hugo, your best friend. He sounded so funny over the phone when he said they found a gun in your locker. Near my locker. Not in. Near. Near then. I was scared Mr. Callum might find something else when he got here. So I searched all through the apartment. And you found these chips from pigeon watts's joint? Yeah. Oh, Joey. You think I'm mixed up in this murder, don't you, Bella? No, Joey. No. It's just that I don't know what to think. What does that mean? Oh, I... I guess I'm kind of dumb. Like, you're always kidding me. I'm... All these crazy things happening. I don't know what to think. First Callum. Then Hugo and now you. You're sore, Joey. I can tell just by looking at you. You're sore clean through. Yeah, I'm... No, no, Bella. Maybe it's better you're honest than I know where I stand. What? Maybe it's good I'm sore. Maybe now I'll get off the dime. Off the dime, John? Bella, I want you to listen to me now. Did you go out today, Bella? Did you go out at all for shopping or anything? Well, just a few minutes at noon. I went in to talk with Mrs. Minnelli and 4G, just gabbing. Well, try to remember now. Did you leave the door open, the apartment door? Yeah, I think so. Then somebody could have sneaked in here and planted these gambling chips while you were gone. I guess so. Sure. But who'd do a thing like that? Somebody who wants the $10,000 reward. Somebody who wants it bad enough to frame an innocent guy. Joey. I'm a natural. I'm an ex-con. I happen to be right there when the shots were fired. But Joey, who? Who's framing you? I don't know who. But whoever it is, he got these chips from Pigeon Watts' joint. Where are you going, Joey? To have a talk with Mr. Pigeon Watts. Maybe I can get some information out of Mr. Pigeon Watts. Just a minute, Joey. I'm going with you. I thought I was so smart. If I only hadn't gone on with it. If I'd only just stayed there and let the cops arrest me, convict me, burn me, anything just so it wouldn't have ended up like it did. Auto-light is bringing you Mr. Danny Kay in I Never Met the Deadman. Tonight's production in Radio's outstanding theater of thrills. Suspense. It's cold outside. Button up your... Overcoats the word, my girl. And friends, auto-lights stay full batteries. Don't need overcoats. Anywhere, anytime, anyplace. These power-packed partakers of water only three times a year in normal car use will make your new year as happy as a Texan with a spanking new oil well in his parlor. With an auto-light stay full battery, you're off like a hound in a hunt. And tests based on SAE life cycle standards show that auto-light stay full batteries have 70% longer average life than batteries without stay full features. Mr. Wilcox, the sponsor says... Don't bother me, my girl, don't bother me. I made one big new year promise, and that promise is packed with auto-light stay full batteries. I'm bulging with stay full battery build-up and buy and buy. No, not buy and buy right now. Why don't you visit your auto-light battery dealer and buy yourself one of those wonderful auto-light stay full batteries. The batteries that need water only three times a year in normal car use. The new year will really treat you right when you switch to auto-light. And now, auto-light brings back to our Hollywood soundstage, our star Danny Kay in I Never Met the Dead Man. A tale well calculated to keep you in suspense. I was a lot more scared than I let Bella know when we drove through the rain to pitch in Watts's place. I didn't know what to expect, so I told Bella to stay in the car with the lights out and the motor on. Then I started toward the door of the gambling place. It looked more like a warehouse, an old dirty warehouse. One of Watts's bouncers finally opened out. He told me to beat it. An account of all the stuff in the papers they were only letting in regulars, people they were sure of. He said Pigeon Watts wasn't seeing anybody and he began to get mean mad when I wouldn't go away. I saw the flicker of brass knuckles coming at me, but I didn't duck. I had to talk to Watts, even if it meant getting my lumps first. Still feel like a hard guy? No. No, sir, I'm not a hard guy. Yeah, I just wanted to see Mr. Watts a few minutes. You're seeing him. My name is Wyckoff, Mr. Watts. Wyckoff. You're the one that saw the reporter get it? Yes, sir. I... Just a second. Nobody bothered me a while. That guy, what's on your mind? Well, it's like this, Mr. Watts. And I told him the whole story. Everything that had happened, and he just sat there and looked at me. No expression at all. Just sat there and looked at me. It was like talking to a chair or something. Even when I showed him the gambling chips pellet found in my bureau drawer, it didn't seem to mean anything to him. Two-bit chips for the piker trade. Anybody could have walked out of here with a handful. Sorry, I can't help you. I've got to have help. The cop I told you about, he really thinks I killed that reporter. I don't blame him. It's a good frame. Nothing obvious about it. Just little things pointing to you. A good frame, all right. A very good frame. But I didn't do it. Honest, I didn't. I know you didn't, but there's nothing I can do to help. Sorry. What makes you so sure I didn't kill the guy? Nothing I can do. I just asked why you're so sure I didn't kill him. Because I know who did. Because I paid an out-of-town torpedo 1,500 rockers for the job. Well, well then... You expect to tell him that to the police? Well, you've got to, Mr. Watts. I could get the chair for this. So could I. It's you or me. Then you won't do nothing? No. It's a tough break for you, like I said. I'm sorry, but that's the way the ball bounces. If you think I'm going to take this lion down, you're crazy. Maybe you're not so tough as you think. Yeah? Our friends are getting hard again. Outside with them, Roy. I'm not going anywhere. You heard the man. Outside. No. Hey, look. I don't get no pleasure slapping people around. Outside before... Hey. A raid. Yeah. Should I open up? Let them pound their way in this time. Maybe you'll talk for the cops, Mr. Pigeon Watts. What do I do with this monkey pigeon? Why a raid? I mean why right now, this minute. Who cares why they're here, and that's... I'll tell you why, Wyckoff. It's so you and I get pulled in together. You got a car outside? I'm staying right here. The cops ain't brainless, Wyckoff. They're pretty sure I pulled me down for that killing. The only place they went wrong, they figured I paid you for the job. They'd have placed this boat before this, if they could have found any connection between us. So what? So this, if they nab us together in this raid, it takes care of the connection. You're right, hot guy. Now will you get out of here? But how the cops know I'd be here? Whoever's framing you planted those chips, so you'd come here. They even knew when you'd come, and he tipped off the police a $10,000 phone call. Yeah. Yeah. Now beat it. Open the window, Roy. You're all right, Watts. You can think pretty fast. You just told me the answer. I think I can find the guy now. That's fine. Go on, kid. Out the window. It's two stories down. All right, it's two stories down. I can make it. So long, hot guy. Oh! Oh, my leg. Get over fast! My leg! I'll make it. I gotta make it. I gotta know. I gotta know who's the guy. Nobody's following, Joey. You can slow down now. What happened in there? Your leg hurt, Joey. You're looking so funny. Who's the guy, Bella? These roads are wet, Joey. Not so fast. Who's the guy? What guy? What are you talking about? The guy, Bella. The guy you're framing me with. You crazy or something, Joey? Slow down. Not until you tell me the name of the guy. I don't know what you're talking about, even. I'm talking about you getting rid of your husband and collecting 10,000 bucks at the same time. You weren't smart enough to figure it out yourself, Bella. Somebody had to tell you what to say, how to act. Who was it? Joey, please! You'll kill us both! Those gambling chips. You planted them in my bureau yourself. No, no, no. There while I was in the gambling joint, you slipped away and telephoned the guy and he tipped off the cops. Oh, honest, Joey. There ain't no way out of it, Bella. You're the only one new. The guy was with pigeon wants. Oh, you gotta believe me, Joey. Who's the guy you phoned, Bella? Watch out, Joey! Who's the guy, Bella? All right, Joey. I'll tell you, only slow down. It was Hugo, Joey. Sure. The gun in the locker room, sure. It had to be Hugo. It wasn't like you think, Joey. It was just, when you were away on a job, Hugo took me out dancing once in a while. And who gave me those out-of-town holes? Hugo. My good friend Hugo. When I blabbed to him about you having been in jail, he got this idea of telling Officer Callan, I didn't think what it would mean, Joey. I just didn't think. And then when it started, it didn't seem any way to stop it. You know I love you, Joey. Crazy kid. Can we start all over, Joey? Like it never happened. Crazy, crazy kid. Please, Joey. Please. I won't never see Hugo no more. Oh, Joey. Please forgive me. I forgive you. Crazy kid. Oh, Joey. Watch out! Bella's dead. Killed in an accident in Newspaper City. But maybe it wasn't really an accident. But whatchamacallam here at the hospital, a psychiatrist, he says lots of automobile accidents happen because the drivers want them without knowing they want them. Down underneath they want them, that isn't. And they get careless. He says that any... Yeah? It's me, boy. What was the callin'? You. The nurse said I could only stay a minute. I'm sorry, Joe. I'm sorry what happened. Not your fault. I wanted you to know. We got the guy that killed the reporter. Professional gunman. He's still singin' down at headquarters. Pigeon Watts won't like the tune. Good. Yes, sir. And Joe, that guy, that Hugo. He won't be gettin' any more bright ideas for a while. I talked to some people at the plant and, well, Hugo's job is waitin' for you when you get out of here. That's well, Canada. Thanks a lot. About, you know, your wife. The only thing to do is try to forget everything that happened. Sure. Be seen you soon, boy. Well... I'm sorry. Try to forget it, he says. Forget... Forget it. Suspense, presented by AutoLite. Tonight's star, Danny Kay. Hello? Mr. Wilcox, did you make your New Year's resolution? I promised myself the pleasure of another year of telling about AutoLite Stay Full batteries. The batteries that need water only three times a year in normal car use. AutoLite Stay Full batteries are just one of more than 400 products made by AutoLite for cars, trucks, planes, and boats in 28 plants coast to coast. These include complete electrical systems used as original equipment in many makes of America's finest cars. Batteries, spark plugs, generators, coils, distributors, starting motors, and bullseye-sealed beam headlights. All engineer to fit together perfectly, work together perfectly because they're a perfect team. So don't accept electrical parts supposed to be as good. Ask for and insist on AutoLite, and the factory parts at your neighborhood service station, car dealer, garage, or repair shop. Remember, you're always right with AutoLite. Next Thursday for Suspense, Robert Taylor will be our star. The play is called Four Hours to Kill, 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 Morrowak and conducted by Lud Bluskin. The Dead Man is an original radio play by William Druckner. Danny Kaye can currently be seen in the Warner Brothers Technicolor production, the inspector general. You can buy AutoLite staple batteries, AutoLite resistor or regular spark plugs, AutoLite electrical parts at your neighborhood AutoLite dealer. Switch to AutoLite. Good night. Tuberculosis, one of our most dreaded diseases, can be cured. The sooner it's detected, the quicker and easier the cure. Protect your own and your family's health. Get chest X-rays at once. This is CBS, the Columbia Broadcasting System.