 Suspense! Autolight and its 96,000 dealers present Mr. Victor Mature in momentum. A suspense play produced and edited by William Spears. Say, Hap! Yes, Harlow? This morning I was telling a cantankerous cartoon of a car. It would run better with autolight resistor spark plugs. When it reared up on its differential and replied, What do you think I'm waiting for? A talking car. Well, every bright buggy knows that autolight resistor spark plugs mean a smoother idle and better engine performance on leaner gas mixtures. Well, that's common knowledge among cars. Right, you are Hap! Autolight resistor spark plugs have 200% longer electrode life and they cut down on spark plug interference with radio and television too, while millions are in use. Backed by the engineering know-how of autolight, wide gap autolight resistor spark plugs assure top all-round spark plug performance. Get autolight resistor spark plugs. Remember, you're always right with autolight. And now with momentum and with the performance of victimature, autolight hopes once again to keep you in suspense. I look just like any other guy standing on a platform waiting for a train at night. The other people walking up and down here waiting for their train, they might look and they might not. Just a guy waiting for a train, waiting to say goodbye to New York. They don't know I'm different. They're starting to snow. They think the way I'm clutching my coat collar together is because I'm cold. They don't know I've got a bullet in my neck. Yeah, this is some of that bad trouble my wife always is telling me I'm gonna get myself in. Bad trouble. All those people dying on account of it. Like a snowball when it starts rolling itself up, gathering, what is it? Momentum. Well, in another 20 minutes, the train will be here and I'll meet her and we'll be on our way to San Francisco and things will be different. Things will be a lot different. I never thought today was gonna be like this. Since noon today, it's already lasted a couple million years. A couple of million years. What's your idea? Oh, dick, get up. It's noon. 12 o'clock and you haven't even gotten out of bed yet. What? 12 noon. Hey, you're gonna be late for work. I'm home on my lunch hour. I thought you'd do something like this. Sleeping all day. I was up late last night. Shooting pool. All right, all right. A guy's gotta have some relaxation. You've been relaxing for six months. You haven't even tried to get a job. Oh, nuts. Nobody's out of work these days. Look, I told you, it's gotta be the right thing. That's all. I don't want to take the first think of job that comes along. Or do you want me to go on supporting you? You didn't have to say that. Well, everybody's saying. Everybody's downstairs. The landlord, everybody. I didn't have my little job. How could we eat? So everybody's saying you're supporting me. Is that it? Well, isn't it? I'll show them. I'll show them all. Who are they with their cheap little ideas and two-bit jobs? You don't have to work like a slave to make a living. Oh, dick. When you talk, I... Sometimes I'm afraid you're gonna get in trouble. A guy's a little down on his luck and all of a sudden little wife is a martyr. She has to go out and work. Dick, please. That's it, isn't it? You're a martyr. No, darling. I didn't say that at all. Oh, yes, you did. Yes, you did. Dick, when I get home from work tonight, we're gonna have to find a place to live. Now this place isn't good enough for you. No, darling. This is our last day. We're being evicted. Says who? The landlord stopped me this morning. We owe him three months' rent. I simply haven't got it. Well, we haven't till tomorrow morning. Listen, nobody throws dick pain out of his own place. I gotta get home early. Find a hotel, maybe. Wait a minute. Don't bother. I'll get some dough. I know just where. Mr. Burroughs. Oh, Dick, you're not going to Mr. Burroughs. Why not? He owes it to me. He's making money out of my invention, isn't he? Dick, you know that when you worked for Mr. Burroughs, you were paid for everything you did. Yeah, if you call a couple of bucks a week, pay. Burroughs is making a lot of dough in that stinking shop just because of my invention. But he's not that way. I work for him, too, remember? Then you ought to know how he cheated me. Yeah. That's what he did. He cheated me. You know Mr. Burroughs isn't that kind of man. The firm isn't run that way. If you had anything, come in. Go ahead, go ahead. That's right. Stick up for that shyster who robbed your own husband. I'm going over and see him today for a showdown. Oh, Dick, please don't go over there. Don't make any trouble. We need dough, don't we? We're being evicted, aren't we? Well, I'm going to show you a little action. I'm going out and get us some dough. You know Mr. Burroughs won't listen to anything so foolish. He'll listen to me and he'll pay too plenty. Oh, darling, no, no, please. What are you crying about? Look, when I get that dough, you won't have to support me anymore. Cut it out. Go on, back to work. I'm going to lie here a couple of minutes and figure this out. Come on, come on. I guess I was pretty sure when I talked to her like that. But it made me mad. You know, like one of those things leads to another and the whole thing gets going like momentum. By the time I cool off, I was up in the Bronx as his little office and machine chopping back. I phoned from a drug store on 192nd Street and the girl said there'd be a lot of people there all afternoon so I killed time with a double feature. But I was back there at 6.30 just after dark and I was mad again thinking about the eviction and all. There was a light in his office so I got around the side street and I tried to see what was going on. The blinds were down over the window but there was enough space for me to see the part of the room. I was in there with him. I couldn't see who it was. They were just shaking hands. I waited right there by the window until whoever it was had gone and I walked around and up to the door. But I didn't have to knock. Oh, good evening, Mr. Burrows. I was just leaving you. You want to see me about something? Yeah, yes, sir, I do. Well, all right, come in, come in. It's chilly out tonight. It's snow, maybe. Well, sit down, sit down. Thanks. Now what? Well, I used to work here in the shop once. I quit six months ago. Remember me, Dick Payne? Well, certainly do remember you, Payne. Married the best secretary I ever had. Yeah, Pauline, a wonderful girl. I think so. I'm sure you appreciate that. She's a very fine girl. Yeah, she's all right. How are things with you and Pauline? Good. Good. Want to come back to work, Payne? No, no, that isn't what I came to see you about. It's about that lug wrench you're still using in the shops, the one with the long side screw. You know what about it? I invented it, Mr. Burrows. Really? I thought Tim Riley worked that out. Well, Tim worked on it, but it was me who figured out how to set that thumb screw. Hasn't the thumb screw always been set that way? Not high on the wrench, no. I see. And since I figured it out while I was here and since you're using it, well, I think I ought to be paid for it. I worked on it a long time. Payne, I just don't believe this, frankly. Tim Riley's been my foreman for 12 years. I know him pretty well. He'd have been the first to tell me if he'd contributed anything to it perfecting that wrench. Well, he wanted all the credit himself. No, no, no, Payne. It's not a matter of credit or money or anything else. Now, look here, Mr. Burrows. I'm not going to be cheated out of any of these things. Oh, stop it, Payne. I'm not obligated to you in any way. Look, you're still using the wrench, aren't you? I don't want to argue with you and I don't want to be bothered with you. If it weren't for Pauline and the respect I have for her, I wouldn't even listen to you. I told her just the other... Let's leave her out of this, huh? She's my wife, unfortunately, for her. You know, Payne, I expected you to try something like this and I'm ready for it. Yeah, well, where's my dough? I want you to sign this. Here. What is it? A release. Although I don't owe you anything, for Mrs. Payne's sake, I'm giving you some money because I know you're both needed. This release will be my receipt. It'll ensure me against you bothering me about this again. Yeah. Go ahead, sign it. Where's the dough? Where's the dough? How much? $200. Well, why didn't you say so? Oh, no, you don't wise guy. I want more than that. Look, if it's big enough to make me sign a release, it's big enough to bring in a lot more dough. Get out of here, Payne. And who's going to make me? I'm smaller than you, Payne, but so help me. I'll throw you out myself. There are no good words with that. Cut that. How Pauline could ever have seen anything. Look, I told you to leave it out of this. Did I? Get out of here. Give me my dough. Get out of here. Oh, no, you don't. You don't like that, huh? Well, try this. All right now. All right now, Mr. Burrows. Come on, Mr. Burrows. I didn't mean to. Mr. Burrows. It was just one of those days. He said something and I said something and it all piles up like a snowball. The first thing somebody gets hurt. If he'd listened to reason and, well, if he'd just listened to reason, he'd be alive now. When I felt his pulse, there was nothing. I opened his coat to feel his heart. And that's when a black, shiny billfold fell out. It was crammed with money. My money. Autolight is bringing you Mr. Victor Mature in momentum. Tonight's production in radio's outstanding theatre of thrills. Suspense. What do you have? What's the book you have there? Just a story I'm reading, Harlow. Ruggles of Red Gap. Really? Say, maybe you'd be interested in my life story. Wilcox of Wide Gap. Wilcox of Wide Gap? It's all about my sterling and sensational success selling Wide Gap Autolight resistor spark plugs. Sensational success? You? Certainly. Didn't you know that over 20 million Wide Gap Autolight resistor spark plugs have been sold? And small wonder. Who can resist having a set of Wide Gap Autolight resistor spark plugs installed in his car when I tell them these Wide Gap quizzes mean smoother engine idle, better performance on leaner gas mixtures, actual gas savings? Why everybody goes for Autolight resistor spark plugs with the exclusive built-in 10,000 ohm Autolight resistor? You get smoother, faster, easier starts at cold temperatures, 200% longer electrode life, reduced spark plug interference with radio and television reception. So friends, see your neighborhood Autolight spark plug dealer and have him install a set of the famous Wide Gap Autolight resistor spark plugs in your car. Remember, you're always right with Autolight. And now, Autolight brings back to a Hollywood sound stage, Victor Mature in Momentum. A tale well calculated to keep you in Suspense. 11.50. The train will just be pulling out of Grand Central now. It'll be here in 10 minutes, 12 o'clock. It won't be long now. Another 10 minutes, I'll be safe on that train with Paulie. And all of this will be over. I'll make it. Nothing's gonna stop me. Nothing. Not even this bullet. He started it all, Mr. Burrows. And then the whole thing got going in Momentum. I didn't mean to kill him. I just went there to get my money. The money he owed me for using my invention. But nobody saw me do it. And I got out of there. All I wanted to do was get home to Paulie. But first I had to stop somewhere and get a drink. I needed a bath. I found a little place on 3rd Avenue. 60-something, it was empty except for the bartender. Hello. This is kind of slow, isn't it? Big television shows don't start until 8. Well, it'd be. I'd like some whiskey. Just whiskey. Just whiskey and whiskiers, Mr. Chase it? No. Another one? No, that's enough. Thanks. That's $1.20. $1.20? That's no problem. Just take it out of... Something wrong, buddy? No, no, I'll change my mind. What about? I think I'll have another drink. Give me another one. Only make it a double this time. Sure. Want to pay me for the other two first? I'll pay you when I'm finished. How's the rule? Every two drinks we always collect in this place. That way in case anybody tries to run out in a tab. Which they don't generally do. I don't like things like that. We don't lose much if they make it. Just a minute, you don't think... Which they don't generally do. Money? Sure you have. You know, there are some guys around this town you just can't tell about. What's the matter? I feel a little sick. Where's the watch from? Door right back there behind a cigarette machine. Want to pay me now? I'll be right back. Just my luck. The drinks were more than the change I had in my pocket. That meant I had to break one of those bills I took from birds. I couldn't take a chance on that bartender. He might think it was funny and remember and tell the police. I could panic. It was another one of those snowballing things. I've had to get out of that place. In the washroom there was a window to let off to the alley. I just raised it and it was climbing up on the sill when the bartender walked in and it was carrying a gun. All right, wise guy. I thought you'd try something like this. Come on, get off it, I'll let you... Look, I was only opening the window to get some air in here. Tell it to the cops. I'll pay you, look, I'll pay anything you want. That's the spot I'm a while off. Now come on, get moving. No! Shall we? Let go of me! I stood there with the gun in my hand. I didn't mean to hurt him either. But he tried to turn me over to the police for nothing. I hit him in the leg. He was out cold. I didn't know what to do. I didn't dare leave the gun. I just didn't know what to do. Finally I thought I heard somebody coming in the front. I found the back door and ran until I was out of breath. I left the stairs of my apartment house two at a time. And by the time I got inside my door, I thought my knees were going to buckle. But I had the safe feeling that a guy's own place gives him, you know, no matter how stinking it is. Pauline was cooked and suffered. Liver and onions again? I heard you come in, Dick. Glad you're home. Liver and onions. I know it isn't one of your favorites, but liver was on sale. Turn it off. All right, but I'm going to eat it. No, you're not. Neither one of us are. Well, you've been drinking. Two drinks and I'm drunk, huh? I didn't say that. But when you drink it means something's happened. What is it this time? I made up my mind. Oh, you mean you're going to take a job? Yeah, yeah. Well, you haven't heard it all yet. I don't need to hear any more. Listen, I know I haven't been a model American husband. Nobody ever voted me the guy most likely to become a millionaire, but me, well, I didn't always get the break. No, of course not. You need to get a certain amount of momentum to. Well, I'd kill anybody. It's been my fault. No, it hasn't, darling. You've tried in your own way. Don't keep it up. Everybody thinks I'm a sponge. You're a deadbeat. You told me they did. They don't know you like I do. Nobody believes in me. There's no reason why they should. I believe in you. Do you really? Yes, darling. Yes. Say it again. I believe in you. How much? As much as anybody could. More. Would you believe in me in Chicago, in Milwaukee, or in San Francisco? Anywhere. Anywhere in the world. All right, then we're going. San Francisco. From now on, I'm doing the work for this family. Look, I've got the money here. Look at it. Dick, what is this you have? Never mind, never mind. Look, I got it and it belongs to me. Take half of it. Go ahead. Take it. All right, but I already... Go down to Grand Central and buy two Pullman tickets to San Francisco on the 9 o'clock train. Well, I'll have to pack. Did you rob a bank? Don't bother. Don't bother. Buy what you need downtown and it'll give you something to do. From now on, we forget this stinking place and start over from the bottom up. New clothes, new landlords, jobs, new friends, and new enemies. Thick pain will show them. Yeah, I'll show them all what I can do. Why do you want me to go alone to the station? Why aren't you coming? This is what I'm going to do first. I'm going to pay off all my debts, everybody I owe. How do you like that? Oh, it's wonderful, Dick. Honestly, now, where did you get that money? Just get the questions. It's my dough. I work for it. Satisfy it? Well... Now listen, you get reservations at Grand Central and get on the train. It stops at 125th Street. I'll be busy uptown, so I'll get on at 125th. You got it? 125th Street Station. Right. And when that train pulls out of that station, the guy sitting next to you is going to be me. And we'll be heading for a new life, baby. A new life. If she knew it was really on my mind, she'd never have left. I couldn't risk hanging around 42nd Street showing up at Grand Central with all its bright lights and its cops. I had to hide in some uptown dive where nobody would find me and then sneak on the train to 125th Street. Well, it got only about three bulbs and no cops. I stood at the window and watched across the street. That's when I noticed this guy. A guy standing on the other side of the street looking up right at the apartment. Big, bulky with policeman type shoes. I jumped back from the window as he started to cross the street. I pulled my gun out to see if it was loaded. I heard him coming up the stairs. There was nothing to do but wait for him. Richard Payne? No, Anderson's money. Isn't this apartment 12? Yeah, there's a movie in this morning. Payne moved out yesterday. Wait a minute. You fit the description I got and I don't... I reached out and I jerked him off his feet to the roof. I knew he'd find me, but I didn't think it would be this quick. He was big and I... He knew how to handle himself, but I swung the butt and I glimpsed. I held him up against the door. I didn't want to touch him, but I thought maybe I could find something in his pockets that would tell me how they knew about me. He didn't have a gun or badge, only a piece of paper. He was a bailer from the city hall. He's come to a victor. A victor. And I'd killed him. I wasn't a killer. It was this momentum. Everybody I met. Three people in three hours. Out of my way. Out of my way. Move that baby carriage. Get out of my way. Don't point that gun at me. Move it! I said move it! And the bullet hit me. It hit me somewhere in my back, up high. I don't know where exactly the pain was everywhere at once and I stopped working. I grabbed the edge of a building and saw a long alley wavering in front of my eyes. It was a long dark alley. There was a light at the other end. I got my breath and started towards that bright spot. I knew the whole neighborhood to be after me. Besides everything else. Now, I'd been shooting at cops. The light at the other end turned out to be a milk truck without a driver. All of a sudden, nobody had to tell me what to do. I got in and I drove off. I left the truck somewhere on 127th street or someplace I don't know where. A block or two from here. The toughest thing of all was climbing the stairs to get up here to the station. Three flights of stairs, a step at a time, and like my head would fall off from pain every time I took a step. Just a minute. Oh, hello. Hey, you see, Commissioner? Where did the Pullman stop? Oh, the Pullman always stopped up in front by the second light. What time does the Chicago train come in? Oh, they just arrive. Leave at Grand Central, 11.50 o'clock. Arriving here at 12 midnight under the hut. Eight years, I sweep up the platform always on time. You're going to catch? Yeah. My wife got on at Grand Central with the luggage. I'm meeting her. We're going places, boy. That's nice. Where are you going? Chicago, Kansas City? As far as it'll take me, west. Oh, San Francisco. That's a nice town. When you get there, what are you going to do? I got a job there. That's good. Well, maybe someday I take a train to San Francisco. Now I got a job here. Hey, listen. That's a good time. That's a pretty, huh? Except when a train comes at night, when I work, it's always quiet up here. I used to brush the dirt off of the side. Down the sheet goes 45 feet down to the street where the dots belong. Mister, please move the foot so I sweep where you stand. Thanks a lot. Hey, what's this? You also don't bleed. There's a fresh blood drip on the platform. Hey, what's your name? None of your business. Just a minute. More blood. I don't like this. Now I know why you don't tell me your name. You shame. Maybe you're the same fellow shoot a policeman tonight. All right, turn around. Don't you worry. What do you think? Help me up the steps, please. Thanks. Pauline, the lights were flickering. I couldn't see. I couldn't see. Just tired terribly. I kept my word. Not you, but I'm tired. Take care of me, Pauline. Don't... Don't let them get to me. Don't let... What is it, dearest? Who are they? Call me, Pauline. What did you do? My father. I went to get the money from Burroughs. The money he owed me. I killed him. Oh, no, no! Everything. All those people. But I had to get that money. I had to get that money for us. Oh, dick. No, no, no! He had to. Hey, Mr. Burroughs. He gave me $200. He said when you came by, you'd have your sign or a lease for it. Victor Mature. Mr. Mature, that was a top performance. Oh, thanks a lot. Do you know something else that gives a top performance? Well, you're probably going to say auto-light resistor spark plugs, huh? Vic, you're right with auto-light. Harlow, I would have been very much surprised if you'd said anything else. Why, sure. Auto-light resistor spark plugs with the exclusive built-in 10,000 dome auto-light resistor permit a wide gap setting, giving top spark plug performance. It's a great way for cars, trucks, planes, and boats in 28 auto-light plants coast to coast. They include complete electrical systems for many of America's finest cars. Spark plugs, batteries, starting motors, generators, coils, distributors all engineered by auto-light to fit together perfectly, work together perfectly because they're a perfect team. So friends, don't accept electrical parts that are supposed to be as good. Insist on and get auto-light. Original factory parts at your service station, car dealer, garage, or repair shop. Remember, you're always right with auto-light. Next Thursday for Suspense, Red Skelton will be our star. The play is called The Search for Isabelle 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 McDonnell. Music for Suspense is composed by Lucian Morawek and conducted by Lud Bluskin. Momentum is a Cornell Woolridge story adapted for radio by E. Jack Newman. Victimature appeared through the courtesy of 20th Century Fox, producers of the Technicolor production OU Beautiful Doll. In the coming weeks, you will hear such stars as Van Heflin, Lucille Ball, and Desi Arnaz. By the way, the reentuttle tonight was Pauline. Now, don't forget, next Thursday same time auto-light will present Suspense starring Red Skelton. You can buy auto-light resistor spark plugs, auto-light staple batteries, auto-light electrical parts, and your neighborhood auto-light dealers. Switch to auto-light. Good night. This is National Safety Congress Week, the electric auto-light company which received the National Safety Council's Public Interest Award this year, urges you to do your part to promote safety on the highway, in the home, and on the job. Drive slowly. Death and danger travel in fast company. And remember to be careful wherever you are. The life you save may be your own. This is CBS, the Columbia Broadcasting System.