Suspense-S1E14: Help Wanted
25min | Drama, Mystery, Thriller | TV Series (1949–1954)
An elderly man who's barely getting by looks for employment to continue giving his daughter the institutional help she requires. He receives an offer from a "Mr. X" that turns things around for him. That is, until he finds out that he must kill "Mr. X"'s wife's first husband who is blackmailing them.
Stars: Rex Marshall, Robert Emhardt, John Baragrey
25min | Drama, Mystery, Thriller | TV Series (1949–1954)
An elderly man who's barely getting by looks for employment to continue giving his daughter the institutional help she requires. He receives an offer from a "Mr. X" that turns things around for him. That is, until he finds out that he must kill "Mr. X"'s wife's first husband who is blackmailing them.
Stars: Rex Marshall, Robert Emhardt, John Baragrey
Category
🎥
Short filmTranscript
00:00And now, Autolite and its 60,000 dealers and service stations everywhere present, Suspense.
00:20Suspense.
00:50Yes, come in.
01:00Oh, good morning.
01:02Oh, Mrs. Griffin, has the mail come?
01:05There's nothing for you, Mr. Crabtree.
01:07Oh, well, I suppose the rest of these applications will be just so much chaff in the wind, too.
01:14Well, that's what I came in about.
01:17I was wondering if we could have a little talk.
01:20Yes, I know. The rent, eh?
01:22It's more serious than that.
01:24Eh?
01:25I've decided I need the apartment, Mr. Crabtree, so please take this as two weeks' notice.
01:30Mrs. Griffin, this is my home. I've lived here for 15 years.
01:33Your last year and a half practically went free.
01:36Yes, but you understand that you'll get it all eventually as soon as I get a job?
01:40You've been promising that for months. I can't gamble on it any longer.
01:45Well, I don't know what further to suggest.
01:47You know that I have to meet my daughter's sanitarium expenses every month.
01:52They've got to be paid.
01:55My bank account is zero.
01:59I've borrowed to the limit on my insurance.
02:03And I'm just... I've lost everything. I've nothing more to pawn.
02:07Well, then it's high time you cut your coat according to your cloth.
02:11I do. I deny myself everything.
02:14I walk everywhere. I don't even smoke anymore.
02:17Oh, trivial expenses, Mr. Crabtree.
02:20There's one major item you could cut down on.
02:23You could bring your daughter Ann home from that expensive sanitarium.
02:27There are state institutions that take care of mental cases for nothing.
02:31Never.
02:32I'll never send her to one of those places.
02:35If she would die, I know she would.
02:39The doctor told me that only expert care and understanding treatment would pull her through.
02:45Well, you can't think about things any longer with your rent money.
02:51I don't want to behave like a dragon.
02:55We'll make it four weeks. Notice if that will help any.
02:58But in two weeks, I shall have to show the apartment to Professor Kent.
03:09Tell me what to do, Ann, darling.
03:12I'm at my wit's end.
03:15I'd willingly kill myself, but what good would that do now?
03:20No more insurance.
03:23What would become of you?
03:26Mr. Crabtree, this young lady has come to see you about an advertisement you answered.
03:32Oh, yes, of course.
03:36Well, come in, Miss...
03:38My name is unimportant. I'm merely a spokesman in this matter.
03:42And it's highly confidential.
03:44Oh, would you mind...
03:46Yes, come in.
03:47Now, Mr. Crabtree, about your application.
03:50Oh, which one? You see, I've answered so many.
03:53This.
03:54Oh?
03:55Man wanted for hard work at moderate pay.
03:58Sober, honest, industrious.
04:00Former accountant, aged 55 to 60.
04:03Write details, send references, Box 111, General Delivery, New York.
04:07Yes, yes, I answered this a month ago.
04:10I'd given up hope of hearing.
04:12It took a month to investigate you.
04:14Well, you must be thorough.
04:17My employer leaves nothing to chance.
04:19Oh.
04:20Tell me, Mr. Crabtree,
04:22do you feel qualified to operate your own establishment?
04:26My own establishment?
04:28Well, I don't want to misrepresent my previous experience.
04:31You see, I've always been in the position of employee.
04:35For the last 20 years, I've been...
04:37Yes, yes, we know the biographical details.
04:40Oh.
04:42Well, this particular job is a simple matter of regular confidential reports
04:47to be sent through the mail.
04:49You would have your own office and no supervision.
04:52What kind of confidential reports?
04:55On various important corporations.
04:58It would be a matter of covering references to them in the financial journals.
05:02Well, to what address do I mail these?
05:04Well, the box number you already have, of course.
05:06Oh, yes, yes, of course.
05:08Your hours would be nine to five, six days a week, with an hour off for lunch.
05:12Oh.
05:13Oh, might I ask you about my salary?
05:17I'm empowered to offer you $100 a week.
05:20Oh.
05:24Do you mind if I sit down?
05:26No.
05:27This is the address of the office.
05:29Room 1202, 581, East 42nd Street.
05:33One of these keys is for the door, one for the desk,
05:36and the other for a filing table.
05:38You will report tomorrow at 9 a.m. sharp.
05:44Mr. Crabtree, am I to gather from your attitude
05:47that you are dissatisfied with this offer?
05:49Oh, no, no.
05:51No, I accept with profound gratitude.
05:54We thought you would.
05:56Any questions?
05:58Well, yes.
06:00Who is my employer?
06:04It's necessary for him to remain anonymous, even to you.
06:08Moreover, the nature of your work
06:10is not to be discussed with anyone whatsoever.
06:13Oh, well, I understand.
06:14I mean, you may tell him, please,
06:16that I'll follow his instructions to the letter.
06:18Good.
06:19Yes.
06:20Now, as to your salary,
06:21it will reach you at the end of every week through the mail, in cash.
06:25Yes.
06:26Goodbye.
06:27Goodbye.
06:29And good luck, Mr. Crabtree.
06:36I can't believe it.
06:38It's going to be all right, Ann.
06:40Now you will get one.
06:45Hello, darling.
06:46Is it... is it all right for me to talk?
06:49Good.
06:50I just couldn't wait to tell you.
06:52It went off perfectly.
06:54My dear, he's ideal, just exactly what we've been looking for.
06:59I put on such a marvelous performance,
07:01he hasn't any idea it isn't a bona fide job.
07:04Yes.
07:05Yes, I'll phone the building right away
07:06and tell them to put his name on the office door.
07:17Well.
07:19Managing director.
07:21I never thought I'd live to see that.
07:26Oh, my.
07:28Not exactly palatial.
07:32However, as Shakespeare says,
07:35a poor thing, but mine all.
07:45Bird's-eye view of termites scurrying to work.
07:50Yeah, this makes me dizzy.
07:55Besides, it's very cold.
08:14Please.
08:15Please feed me.
08:17My function is to keep you company
08:20so that you will not be tempted to chatter
08:24to friends on the telephone.
08:28My name is
08:30Discretion.
08:33Oh, Discretion.
08:35It's lucky for you that I'm partial to cats,
08:38that I'm not one of those silly people who
08:41are terrified of them.
08:43We'll be great companions.
08:47We'll be great companions.
08:57Nail.
08:58Nail to the floor.
09:00That's us.
09:02Yes.
09:04Hello?
09:05Mr. Cratchit.
09:06Your employer's secretary speaking.
09:07Oh, yes.
09:08We wanted to check on your arrival.
09:09Is everything clear as to your duties?
09:11Oh, yes.
09:12Yes, perfectly.
09:13I'm very comfortable.
09:15Oh, but would you mind telling me
09:16Don't you mind telling me why my furniture is nailed to the floor?
09:20No, Mr. Crabtree, that is one thing I cannot tell you.
09:26Well, we put our foot into it that time, Kitty.
09:30Well, discretion, I suppose you don't realize that this is a red-letter day in history.
09:38January the 10th.
09:40Chester Crabtree, accountant.
09:44He opens his own office for a very mysterious Mr. X.
09:59Well, listen to this, pussy.
10:03Some optimistic person wants me to contribute to a fund for the revival of the 18th Amendment.
10:14Yes, come in.
10:19Mr. Crabtree, I give you one guest as to who I am.
10:24Oh, could you be my employer, sir?
10:29I always think of you as Mr. X.
10:32You may continue to call me that.
10:35Thank you. Well, I'm very proud to make your acquaintance, sir, at long last.
10:40Won't you take my chair, sir? I'm afraid it's the only one.
10:45And it's not through an oversight, Mr. Crabtree, that it is the only one.
10:49It's malice aforethought, a small detail in an elaborate plan, but I'll explain all that in its turn.
10:57I find it very stuffy in here.
10:59Open the window, will you?
11:01Yes, sir.
11:02From the bottom.
11:05And wide.
11:08That's better.
11:10I think we should always fill our lungs with fresh air when we can, Mr. Crabtree.
11:14They can so easily cease to function.
11:17Yes, sir.
11:18Well, Mr. Crabtree, I believe we've come to the point without preamble.
11:21You are content with your job and your salary?
11:24Oh, yes, sir. I've never been so happy, sir.
11:27And I hope that my reports have met with your satisfaction.
11:30I haven't read them. I burned them on arrival, unopened.
11:33You what? You burned them?
11:35It comes as a shock to you to discover that their real function is to lull you into a state of security?
11:41False security.
11:43Well, sir, I must say I don't follow you, sir.
11:47Well, you have actually been employed by me for work of a very different nature.
11:51What sort of work, sir?
11:53I want you to help me to dispose of a personal problem.
11:58Oh, naturally, I'd do anything to be of help.
12:02Anything?
12:03Then tell me, Mr. Crabtree, how would you go about killing a man?
12:10I, sir...
12:11Yes, that's why I've hired you.
12:14To carry out the very ingenious murder...
12:19Now, here's Act Two of our suspense story, Help One.
12:30I gather from your stony silence, Mr. Crabtree, that the idea of taking life is repugnant.
12:36It's not a good idea.
12:38It's not a good idea.
12:40It's not a good idea.
12:42It's not a good idea.
12:44I gather from your stony silence, Mr. Crabtree, that the idea of taking life is repugnant to you.
12:49Well, sir, I am an accountant, not an assassin.
12:52I've never even dimly contemplated such an action.
12:56I envy you the serenity of your existence.
12:59Unfortunately, I have never contemplated anything else for five unhappy years.
13:06Well, who is this man that you want eliminated?
13:10He's a blackmailer who's setting too high a value upon his silence for the moment.
13:15He is my wife's first husband.
13:17When we married, she thought him dead.
13:19We have two children who will become illegitimate if he prosecutes for bigamy as he threatens.
13:25I occupy a public position of great trust.
13:28Such a scandal would ruin us.
13:31It must not be allowed to happen.
13:34Well, sir, if you have decided to destroy this man,
13:38why do you insist on trying to get me to do it?
13:42Why don't you do it yourself?
13:43I am totally incapable of committing any act of violence.
13:47Why, if a fly should land in the palm of that hand, I lack the force to crush the life out of it.
13:52Yes, but why not hire someone outside the social boundaries,
13:55someone who would do anything for money, a gangster?
13:58And exchange one blackmailer for another?
14:01No, Mr. Crabtree, I have decided it has to be you.
14:05Me? But I never, never, never...
14:08Calmly, calmly, my dear fellow.
14:10And before you make a hasty decision, consider the consequences of a refusal to you.
14:16When you leave this office this evening, you would leave it permanently.
14:21But with a secret, Mr. X.
14:24A secret that might be of interest to the police.
14:28Oh, forgive me, my dear fellow, forgive me,
14:30but I was visualizing the scene when you go to the authorities
14:33with this story of the fantastic demands made upon you by an employer who does not exist.
14:40Yes, sir, but this office, all the subscriptions to the magazines,
14:45you paid for everything.
14:47Through the mail, by cash, in your name.
14:50But then you, you, you inserted the advertisement in the newspaper.
14:54Anonymously.
14:56Of course, it would not be impossible for you to discover my real identity,
15:00but it would only lead you to an institution for the mentally deranged.
15:05Hallucinations, my dear fellow.
15:07But the lady who engaged me in your behalf was no hallucination.
15:12Quite correct, Mr. Crabtree, she was not.
15:15That was my wife. Disguised, of course.
15:18And I do not think even your landlady would recognize her again.
15:22I still don't understand why you want to pick on me.
15:27Then I will explain.
15:29My advertisement was intended to attract the man
15:32to whom a steady salary might mean a matter of life and death.
15:36I examined numerous replies.
15:40You seem to me to be the ideal candidate,
15:42for to you a steady salary is a matter of life and death.
15:45Well, if not to you, at least to your daughter.
15:47What good would I be to my daughter if I went to the chair for murder?
15:51You underestimate my ingenuity.
15:54My plan is foolproof.
15:56For example, this cramped office was found after a weary search,
16:00as perfect for our purpose.
16:02The exact spot in which this desk is placed was carefully selected.
16:06It has even been nailed to the floor to make it impossible to move it.
16:10Now observe.
16:12When you are seated at this desk,
16:14a visitor is confined to the space you occupy now at that window.
16:21Within the hour, the man we have been discussing will come to that door.
16:26He will stand there with his back to the open window.
16:30And now he will ask you for an envelope containing a contribution.
16:35You will hand him that.
16:38Being a methodical man, he will place it in the inner pocket of his jacket.
16:43Every time I've paid him for the last five years, he has never failed to do exactly that.
16:48At the psychological moment, when his hand is in his pocket,
16:51he will rise swiftly, one good clap, and he'll be through that window.
16:55To his death.
16:56No! No!
17:00A second or two later, you will close the window and quietly resume your work.
17:07Yes, but someone will find him.
17:09The police!
17:10Yes, they will find an unfortunate individual who has jumped from the roof above you.
17:15They will know it's not a suicide because the envelope you gave him will contain a note,
17:19not the money he anticipated.
17:21The note will explain the reasons for his sad demise
17:24and offer a pathetic apology for the inconvenience he has caused.
17:33Now, Mr. Cratchit, if I am never blackmailed again,
17:39I shall know that you have carried out your function as my employee.
17:43You will become one of my confidential supporters,
17:46and you will retire at the age of 65 with a generous pension for life.
18:01Madam!
18:02The police department!
18:05Madam, I will bring your daughter around the home in that expensive sanitarium
18:10that the state institutions protect governmental cases for nothing.
18:14In two weeks, I shall have to show the apartment to the subject tenants.
18:23Mr. Cratchit, I am empowered to offer you $100.
18:27$100.
18:28$100.
18:35Last evening, I made the decision to consider the consequences of my refusal to you.
18:39When you leave this office this evening, you will leave it permanently.
18:44But you could become one of my confidential supporters
18:47and retire at the age of 65 with a generous pension for life.
18:51For life.
18:53For life.
18:58Come in.
19:01Mr. Crabtree?
19:02Yes?
19:03I am hoping, sir, to obtain a contribution from you.
19:07Sir, it is my...
19:08I know.
19:10I know.
19:12I...
19:15I have it here.
19:22That's most satisfactory.
19:25Do you mind if I open it?
19:27Oh, no, no, you're not to...
19:28A cat!
19:29Keep him away from me!
19:30Cats terrify me!
19:32Please, somebody come near me!
19:34Please, keep him away from me!
19:47I never touched him.
19:50I didn't have to do it.
19:52After all...
19:54You...
19:56You saved me.
20:00I've got to get out of here.
20:11Hello?
20:13Hey, this is Crabtree.
20:15I was standing at the opposite corner at the end of the block.
20:18I saw a man fall from the 12th floor.
20:20Congratulations, my dear fellow.
20:22Yes, but I didn't do it.
20:24It was an accident.
20:25He fell by accident.
20:26You did give him that letter.
20:28Yes, I did.
20:29But I didn't touch him.
20:31He saw my cat and he became terrified
20:33and he backed up and he fell down.
20:35But, my dear Crabtree, I hope you are not going to spoil everything
20:38when it is all going so splendidly by losing your head.
20:41It would be most unwise to tell that,
20:43shall we say, cat and bull story to the police.
20:47Now, you heard nothing.
20:49You saw nothing.
20:50Go on quietly working at your reports.
20:53Yes, sir.
20:54Sir, but, sir!
20:59The End
21:19Well, this is the last one.
21:21That's the Crabtree.
21:22Maybe he can tell us something.
21:26Come in.
21:29Oh, we're not interrupting, sir, but there's been an accident.
21:32Oh?
21:33About an hour ago, a man fell from this building and was killed.
21:36We want to ask you a few questions.
21:38By all means, do.
21:41Is this your office?
21:42Yes.
21:51Been in it all morning?
21:53Yes.
21:59That door open any time?
22:01No, I always have the door closed when I work.
22:05Then you wouldn't be in a position to see anyone going up the stairs across the hall?
22:10No, no, I wouldn't.
22:15You say you've been sitting at that desk all morning, huh?
22:19Yes.
22:20Yes, I don't believe I have left the chair.
22:25Then you wouldn't be in a position to see anything happening outside the window?
22:29No, indeed.
22:33Did you hear anything?
22:34Anything out of the ordinary?
22:36Out of the ordinary?
22:37Yes, someone yelling.
22:38Anything like that.
22:40Oh, yes, now that you mention it, I believe I did hear someone scream, as though there was startled.
22:51Well, that ties it up.
22:53The guy jumped from the roof, all right.
22:55Second, he did it, he changed his mind.
22:57Clear case of suicide, note and everything.
23:00Sorry to trouble you, Mr. Crabtree, but we have to get all the facts we can.
23:04Yes, but just one moment, officer.
23:06One thing, who was this person?
23:09Oh, some reformer.
23:11He'd been going through the building trying to solicit contributions to revive the 18th Amendment.
23:16Well, it takes all kinds to make a world.
23:19Goodbye, Mr. Crabtree.
23:20Goodbye.
23:23Goodbye.
23:32Mr. Crabtree?
23:34Yes?
23:35I've been informed by a certain party that you have a contribution for me.
23:41Oh, no.
23:44No, I gave it to the...
23:48No, sir.
23:50I have nothing for you.
23:52Then I suggest that you go to the man you are now blackmailing
23:58and tell him that his perfect plan for murdering you has gone astray, sir.
24:06THE END
24:20Next week, we'll bring you another gripping story of suspense entitled Stolen Empire.
24:25Also, be sure to listen to Suspense each Thursday night on the radio.
24:29And now, good night from Autolife.