Suspense - Man Who Couldn’T Lose [episode 0] Broadcast Unknown

Summary

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Old Time Radio Stories | Suspense – "Man Who Couldn’t Lose"

Main Theme & Purpose:

In this edge-of-your-seat episode of Suspense (“Man Who Couldn’t Lose”), the story follows Leonard Snell—a hapless insurance agent and compulsive gambler—through a wild day in which he tries to escape the consequences of theft, murder, and mounting bad luck. With a tense, noir atmosphere, the show explores fate, luck, and how quickly someone’s fortunes can turn deadly. This fully restored classic radiates with the charm, suspense, and moral uncertainty typical of the golden age of radio drama.

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Key Discussion Points & Story Beats

1. Leonard’s Troubles at Home

• Opening Scene (00:57–05:17):
  • Leonard Snell’s wife, Celia, berates him for his laziness and gambling habits.
  • Celia reveals she manages all the household bills and has her own savings ($1,800), which Leonard covets.
  • Leonard admits he has embezzled $1,800 from his work and is short on his accounts, risking jail.
  • Under pressure and desperate, Leonard murders Celia to steal her safe deposit key.

Celia (E) [04:46]: "You think I haven't noticed? ...Now look, Steven, I suppose you think I don't know all those times you tried to get that chain off my neck when you thought I was asleep."

• Leonard forges a suicide note to the police and prepares to flee.

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2. A Streak of Luck and a Big Payout

• Neighbor’s Good News (06:50–09:19):
  • Neighbor Old Man Morsley shares news that his chemical formula has been optioned and buys a substantial insurance policy from Leonard, netting him a large commission ($1,800).
  • Irony piles on—Leonard now has more than enough to cover his theft.

Morsley (B) [08:13]: "Well, sir, now I've got a theory about luck....Sometimes it’s almost as though fate had planned it out ahead of time."

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3. The Escape Plan

• Switching Identities (10:26–14:10):
  • Leonard withdraws Celia’s money and the policy commission.
  • He picks up a drifter, Floyd Eustace, switches clothes and identities, and drives their car off a cliff, staging his own suicide.
  • The authorities believe Leonard is dead.

Leonard (A) [13:17]: "I had to be sure they'd say it was me, nobody else. Then I put her in gear and let her go."

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4. Fate’s Twists and The Sweepstakes Ticket

• At the Diner & Reading the News (14:36–16:15):
  • Now flush with $5,000, Leonard learns in a diner that the sweepstakes ticket he took from Celia has won at least $40,000.
  • Irony strikes—the ticket and his identification are now presumed lost, with the dead drifter identified as "Leonard Snell" holding it.

Leonard (A) [16:17]: "That 40,000 was just a one way ticket to the hot seat...that Irish sweep ticket was in Leonard Snell's wallet, and Leonard Snell's wallet was in the pocket of that bum."

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5. A Catastrophic Mix of Fortune

• A Fire and Another Chance (16:37–18:15):
  • While riding a bus, Leonard reads about a freak explosion at his home: Celia, the neighbors (the Morsleys), and the house are destroyed.
  • Authorities think Celia died in the explosion; Leonard now seems in the clear and believes he can claim the sweepstakes ticket by asserting his true identity.

Leonard (A) [17:39]: "It may only happen once in a hundred years. But it was happening to me. My luck was riding high. And when your luck is like that, you just can't lose."

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6. The Fatal Letter and the Unbreakable Chain of Luck

• The Lost Confession (18:15–20:26):
  • Leonard heads to the police but suddenly remembers the incriminating confession letter he mailed—certain to undo him.
  • Before panic can set in, the radio reports that a gang has robbed the 43rd street mail truck, stealing all the morning mail—the letter included.

Leonard (A) [20:21]: "I knew it had happened. Now, I couldn't lose. I simply couldn't lose."

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7. Counted Lucky—and Caught at Last

• Turning Himself In (20:40–23:19):
  • Leonard reappears at the station claiming his car was stolen. The detective informs him that Celia perished in the explosion and that he’s won the sweepstakes.
  • He’s lauded by the press and offered $40,000 for the ticket—his luck seems back in full force.

8. Blackmail and The Inevitable End

• The Blackmailers (23:35–25:15):
  • At a fine dinner, Leonard is confronted by the actual mail robbers—they have his confession letter and demand $40,000 to keep silent.
  • Leonard pays them, taking the letter in return, but is shot in the ensuing clash with police.

Blackmailer (F) [24:11]: "Your secret is safe with me."

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9. Final Irony and Reflection

• The Curtain Falls (26:22–27:19):
  • Mortally wounded, Leonard boasts about his luck to the police—believing he’s still untouchable.
  • As the episode closes, the cops debate his luck; the officer proclaims Leonard’s luck has finally run out—he’s dead.

Officer Jerry Maloney (B) [27:19]: "Cause that lad's gonna fry just as sure as my name is Jerry Maloney. // You're wrong, Jerry. His luck is still good, huh? He's dead."

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Luck:

  "Luck's a funny thing. You've had a lucky start today. Maybe your luck's changed."
  — Old Man Morsley (B) [10:00]

• On Fate’s Irony:

  "And now...that forty thousand was just a one way ticket to the hot seat."
  — Leonard (A) [16:17]

• On the Inescapable Confession:

  "Because it seemed like I almost had that money right in my hands. I was pretty shaky."
  — Leonard (A) [18:15]

• On the Final Twist:

  "Officer, those are the gangsters that held up the mail truck I saw this afternoon. Officer. Somebody better help that poor man. He's been shot."
  — Passerby (D) [25:15]

• Final Words on Luck:

  "He said you can't lose. Yeah, well, he's wrong... His luck is still good, huh? He's dead."
  — Jerry Maloney (B), Police (A) [27:18–27:19]

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Important Timestamps

• Leonard’s marital troubles and confession of theft: [00:57–05:17]
• Neighbor's “luck” theory and purchase of annuity: [06:50–09:19]
• Staging the suicide / identity switch: [10:26–14:10]
• Discovering the winning sweepstakes ticket: [15:27–16:17]
• Explosion wipes out evidence, Leonard feels invincible: [17:39–18:15]
• The confession letter is stolen with the mail truck: [20:22–20:26]
• Leonard learns Celia is dead—and about his sweepstakes win: [21:44–22:35]
• Blackmail and Leonard's demise: [23:35–25:15]
• Officers debate Leonard's "luck" as the story closes: [26:22–27:19]

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Tone & Style

The episode is a quintessential noir thriller: hard-boiled, fatalistic, laced with dark humor and irony ("You can't lose"). Dialogue is sharp, brisk, and emblematic of the era's radio storytelling—with stakes mounting at every twist. Dan Duryea’s Leonard is both pitiable and chilling, giving voice to the desperate gambler pushed to extremes.

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Summary

"Man Who Couldn’t Lose" perfectly encapsulates the genius of Suspense Radio: a relentless, irony-packed tale of luck, fate, and consequence. Leonard’s wild swings in fortune, his persistent belief in his own invincibility, and the cruel hand of coincidence all lead to a conclusion both inevitable and grim. The story is a masterclass in grim storytelling, loaded with fatalistic banter and punchy performances—a must-listen for fans of vintage radio drama and the darker edges of classic mystery fiction.

Transcript

[A]

You are listening to Old Time Retro Radio. For full access to our archive, visit patreon.com old time RetroRadio.

[B]

Suspense.

[A]

Produced, edited and directed by William Spears. Tonight, from Hollywood, we bring you Mr. Dan Durier as star in the man who Couldn't Lose, a radio play by Emil C. Teppelman. We trust that with this tale we shall once again keep you in suspense. You feeling all right now? Sure.

[C]

Sure.

[A]

I feel swell. You better not talk anymore, though. Why not? I got nothing to worry about. That's what I'm telling you. Something's happened to me. I'm not as scared. It's just like Old Man Mostly said. It doesn't happen often, but when it does, well, it's happened to me. Something's happened to me that doesn't happen once in a hundred years. And it all happened in one day. Yeah. It began this morning.

[D]

Leonard.

[E]

Leonard, get up.

[F]

Sure, sure, sure. Okay.

[E]

I cook your breakfast.

[A]

I come home and cook your dinner.

[E]

In between, I work behind that counter all day until I'm so tired I can't hardly stand up. The least you can do is get up and drive me to work.

[A]

Sure I will.

[E]

And what do you do? Nothing. When did you last sell an insurance policy? When? I'll bet you can't even remember. I'm sure I can.

[A]

All right, all right.

[E]

And when you do get up enough energy to sell once in a while. I never see the money. Horses, sweepstakes, tickets, the numbers, anything. Just so long as you gamble it away. But do you ever bring a dollar home? Not that I ever hear anything about.

[B]

Oh, shut up.

[E]

Don't you tell me to shut up. Leonard's Nell. I pay the rent when it gets paid. I pay the grocery bills. I pay for everything.

[A]

You'd think at least I get a little appreciation once in a while. I appreciate it. I hear about it enough.

[E]

Well, then why don't you do something about it sincere?

[A]

I don't feel so good today.

[E]

Sure, that's what you always say every time anybody talked about work. But I'm sick and tired of it. You promised you were going to get a job this weekend. You're gonna do it.

[A]

Celia, there's something I gotta tell you.

[E]

I suppose you want to wheedle some money out of me again. Well, if you can't even keep a little lunch money in your pocket.

[A]

No, listen, it's more than.

[E]

Oh, it is, is it? I suppose you got another hot tip on the races. Well, if you think I'm going.

[A]

Will you shut up? Hey, what's the Matter with you? Listen, Celia, I sold quite a few insurance policies in the last six months.

[E]

Oh, you have, have you? Well, where's the money? Don't you try to pull that on me. You're gonna get a job.

[A]

All right.

[E]

I spent the money on the races.

[A]

Yes, only it wasn't all my money.

[E]

What do you mean?

[A]

I mean I'm $1,800 short. And this is the last day to settle at my accounts with the company.

[E]

You stole it?

[A]

I thought I was gonna get it back and make a killing. I had some tips that were supposed to be sure things.

[E]

Oh, I get it. Eighteen hundred dollars. Quite a coincidence, isn't it?

[A]

All right, 1750. What's the difference?

[E]

And it just so happens that I have $1,800 in a safe deposit box that Aun left me this spring. Quite a coincidence.

[A]

Celia, I gotta get that money back to him today.

[E]

Well, I don't believe a word of it. And you're not gonna get that money.

[A]

If I don't, they can send me to.

[E]

And if I did believe you, you wouldn't get it. Maybe a few months in jail would teach you a little consideration. You know, I gotta have an operation sometime this fall. You think I want to go into a charity ward? And who pay the rent while I was sick?

[A]

They can give me five years.

[E]

You're just a little too cute, Mr. Snell. You've had your eye on that money ever since you heard I got it. But you're not gonna get it. Why do you think I wear the key to that safe deposit box around my neck?

[A]

Did you folks?

[E]

You think I haven't noticed? Now, look, Steven, I suppose you think I don't know all those times you tried to get that chain off my neck when you thought I was asleep. Yeah, yeah, but, well, I wasn't quite as sleepy as you thought.

[A]

All right. See you.

[E]

And don't you think you can wadle it out of me. Get away from me, Lynn Pick.

[A]

I knew I'd have to do that to you someday. I bent over. She was dead, all right. The key was on the little chain around her neck, just like it had always been. I yanked on the chain, snapped, and the key came way in my hand. I shaved, got dressed, then I went through a purse. There was $9 and some change in the usual junk. And that sweepstakes ticket made out in the name of. I'm a winner. I put the money in my pocket and the ticket in my wallet. I'm all set to go now, except for writing a letter all of a sudden, I realize what I'm doing doesn't seem strange to me at all. It's like one of those dreams where you think it's all happened before. Sometime I wrote to police. I have killed my wife in a fit of anger. I can't go on living anymore after doing a thing like that. To fear you. I'm short in my accounts, too. So there's only one thing for me to do. Don't bother looking for me. By the time you get this letter, you can find me in the city morgue. Yours truly, Leonard Snell. Leonard. Oh, Leonard. Oh, good morning, Mr. Morsley. Leonard, I've just had some great news. I knew you'd want to hear about it right away. Well, I'm in sort of a hurry this morning. All right, but wait till you hear this. You know that piclic acid dye formula

[B]

I've been working on?

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Well, the government's just bought an option on it. They're going to try it out under

[A]

factory conditions, and when they do, why, my boy, it'll be worth a million dollars. So, what do you know? That's really great. Well, I guess I better be going along. So I decided to take out that annuity you've been trying to sell me. Got an application with you, have you? Yep. Oh, yeah, sure. Go on inside.

[D]

Hello there, Leonard.

[A]

Good morning.

[C]

Why, my land. You look as though you've just seen

[A]

a ghost or something. He just sold a policy. You don't sell him like that every day, do you, my boy? What's that first premium? About $3,400, isn't it? Yeah, there's a nice commission in that. About, oh, eighteen hundred dollars, isn't it? Yeah. Yeah, Leonard certainly deserves it.

[C]

He works very hard. I see him coming home every evening with that briefcase and all those papers under his arm.

[B]

Oh, I'm sure he works hard, but

[A]

perhaps I'm a little more observant than you, dear. Oh, sit right down there, my boy. Okay.

[B]

Watch out for those bottles behind you, though.

[A]

That's pic, Rick.

[F]

*.

[C]

Uh, what do you mean you're more observant than I?

[A]

Most of those papers are the racing forms, aren't they, Leonard? Well, you know, I've been watching you, Leonard. Yes, you've had a hard time, but you're a gambler. You believe a lot in luck.

[B]

Well, sir, now I've got a theory about luck. When were you born?

[A]

Oh, March 1, 1878. Yes, luck is something that can come in big doses. Sometimes it's almost as though faded Plan

[B]

it out ahead of time.

[A]

Who's the beneficiary? Oh, my wife. That's a good. There's a perfectly good mathematical explanation for it. Of course, Now, a number of unrelated events converge and they all add up to the good fortune of a single man. Oh, happens once in a century, perhaps, but it does happen. You can make out the check? Oh, of course. Why don't I make it out to you personally? Then I can collect that three months rent.

[B]

You

[A]

sure? Sure. That'd be $3,255.

[B]

Oh, fine, fine, fine.

[A]

I'll make it out right.

[C]

You know, Leonard, I was saying to Sam just this morning, I'm almost as glad for your sake as for ours. My, won't Celia be surprised? Huh? I said, won't Celia be surprised?

[A]

Oh, yeah, yeah.

[D]

Say, where will you.

[C]

Celia. She usually leaves work long before this. I always hear her.

[A]

Well, she's.

[C]

Oh, don't tell me there's anything wrong. I know she hasn't been feeling well.

[A]

Oh, no, no, no, no. It's. It's just a little headache, you know. Well, the poor thing.

[C]

Why didn't you tell me? I go right upstairs and fix herself.

[A]

No, no, you better not. She told me she wanted to sleep. She's asleep now.

[C]

Oh, well, then I. I won't bother. Yeah, I'll go up around noontime. Maybe I can fix her a little something then.

[A]

Well, yeah, sure, my boy.

[B]

Here's your check.

[F]

Thanks.

[A]

Now, don't play that on the races. Don't worry. But you keep playing your luck just the same. Luck's a funny thing. You've had a lucky start today. Maybe your luck's changed. Yeah. Yeah, maybe it has. Why couldn't he have signed it yesterday? That's all I could think of for a couple of minutes.

[E]

Why couldn't.

[A]

He assigned it yesterday, but it was done. Now I get in the car and drive downtown. First I go to Celia's bank and I get that $1,800 deposit box. Nobody says a word. Then I drive over to Maudsley's bank and cash this check. I've got over five grand. Now, that's pretty good for a guy that started out the day by being 1750 in the hole. I drive over towards the park. A clock in the jewelry store says 10:15. 10:15. That was plenty of time. At the park, I stop and give the once over to the bum. Sitting around on the benches in the sun. There's always a bunch of them. Pretty soon I see a guy that looks about right. Hey, you. Me yeah. You want to make five bucks? You mean the job? You won't have to strain yourself. I just hurt my wrist and I can't drive. I gotta go uptown and meet a guy. You want to drive me? Oh, okay. You got a license? Yeah, I got a license. Let's see. Okay. Yeah. Floyd Eustace, Omaha, Nebraska. You're kind of a long ways from home, aren't you? Yeah, but it's okay to drive with

[B]

an estate if you got a licensed driver with you.

[F]

Okay, Floyd Eustace.

[A]

You'll do. We get in the car and head up town. My luck is holding. This guy couldn't have been better if I looked a week. I see another clock, and it's only a little past 10:30. Now, I still got lots of time, so I decide to clean up the details now. How am I doing? Okay. Return right at the next block. Floyd, I want to go by the 43rd Street Post Office and mail a letter.

[B]

Sure.

[A]

Hey, you could mail it at a letterbox, though. Yeah, but I don't want to mail it at a letterbox. Oh, okay. I go into the post office and get a stamp, mail a letter. It's a letter where I tell about killing Celia. And it's just addressed to police commission at 21 Center Street. Somehow, I just don't trust the letterbox. Because if the police don't get that letter right on time and start looking, it's not so good. I go out and get in the car, and I tell Floyd Eustace where to go. We head uptown. After a while, we get to Fort Tryon park, right above Riverside Drive, looking over the river. There's hardly ever anybody up here at this time of year, so I felt pretty safe. And sure enough, there wasn't. I got the monkey wrench out and I had it in my hand. Is this right? Yeah, just pull over there, up against the rail. Gee, I never been up here. Must be quite a drop down there, huh? A couple hundred feet, huh? Huh. This where you're supposed to meet the guy? Yeah, right here. I dragged him into the backseat and took off all his clothes and then all mine. I changed clothes with him, right down to the underwear and socks. I put all my papers in his pockets. My license, old man Mosley's application, my wallet. It works. Then I dragged him up front again in the driver's seat. I propped him there with his arms through the wheel so his head would go through the windshield. I had to be sure they'd say it was me, nobody else. Then I put her in Gear and let her go. All right, stand back now. Stand back.

[D]

The officer didn't even want creepy from me.

[E]

Right by me.

[D]

What are you gonna happen?

[B]

This car just roll off the Palisades up there somehow and landed smack in the middle of the street. Look at his face. He must have gone right through the windshield. Poor fella identified him from his wallet. Guy named Snell. Leonard Snell.

[A]

I was free. I was free of Syria and all her belly of heel. I was free to do anything I wanted. I had five grand in my pocket and the cops had Leonard Snell's body down at the morgue. Just like I told them they would in the letter. My luck was holding but good. I went over to the 181st street bus station. There was a bus leaving for Boston in 20 minutes. I bought a ticket. Then I got a paper on the corner, went into the lunch room and sat down at the counter.

[E]

What's yours?

[A]

Scrambled eggs with bacon, french fries, orange juice and coffee. And I gotta catch a bus. It won't take long, will it?

[E]

No longer than it takes an egg to scramble.

[A]

Whoop. Excuse me. It's all right, Mac.

[B]

I like to read a newspaper while I eat myself.

[A]

Uh huh. Kinda aids the digestion, I find. Yeah.

[E]

Here's your orange juice.

[A]

Thanks.

[B]

Some guys are mollar luck, don't they?

[C]

Huh?

[B]

I said some guys have all the luck. I was just noticing in your paper

[A]

there about those Irish sweepstake winners. Oh, yeah? Yeah. Some guys. What's the matter? You feel bad? I have all my luck. When I came to, somebody was swabbing my head with water. I pay my check and get out of there. Somehow I look at the paper again. That's what it said.

[D]

All right.

[A]

I'm a winner. Draws favorite and Irish sweeps my ticket. And it went on to say how it was worth at least 40,000, maybe 150,000 if the horse won. All of a sudden I was standing there and cursing and swearing and seeing you right out loud. Just as though she was alive. I see some people are staring at

[D]

me and I stop.

[A]

Because if it hadn't been for her, I'd have $40,000. $40,000. And now. Now that 40,000 was just a one way ticket to the hot seat. Because that 40,000 belonged to Leonard Snell. And that Irish sweet ticket was in Leonard Snell. And Leonard Snell's wallet was in the pocket of that bum that was supposed to be me. By now the cops would have it

[B]

along with the rest of Leonard Snell's stuff down at headquarters.

[A]

After they put the body in the morgue. If you've ever kissed off $40,000, you know how I felt. But what was the use? Well, I still have my five grand and the bus ticket to Boston. You can't get all the breaks all the time was what I figured then. So I got on the bus.

[B]

Plenty seats in the rear.

[A]

Your seat taken?

[B]

Wow. Not at all. Sit. Right.

[F]

Thanks.

[B]

Wow. Wow. Somebody must be feeling pretty good this afternoon, huh? The guy that's got the I'm a

[A]

winner ticket in the sweeps. I see it says there they'd pay

[B]

him $40,000 for it right now. $40,000?

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

I'd sure like to be in his shoes, wouldn't you? Yeah.

[A]

I see it says here you want to read it? Well, you don't need to get sore. Yeah, but I. Holy board.

[B]

All aboard.

[A]

Hey, he let me out of here. I gotta get out of here.

[B]

Well, make up your mind.

[A]

I don't have to make up my mind, brother. I don't have to make up my mind. It was right then I got the idea what was happening. It was just like old man Morsley said. It may only happen once in a hundred years. But it was happening to me. My luck was riding high. And when your luck is like that, you just can't lose. Because there it was, right in the paper again, on page three. Freak explosion in Brooklyn kills three. And it was my house. And the people killed were Maudsley and his wife and Celia. They thought it was caused by old Morsely chemicals or something. I don't know. And I didn't care. All I knew was they thought Celia had been killed by the explosion in the fire. And I was in the clear. I could walk into the police station and get my sweepstake ticket. And collect that 40,000 and be set for life. I knew just what I was gonna tell them. Lead pipe cinch. I was walking on air all the way to the police station. And I was going up the steps. And then I stopped because I just remembered something terrible. And if I'd remembered it 10 seconds later, I'd have walked right into the electric chair. I remembered the letter. I was licked by morning. The cops that had that letter in my own handwriting over my own signature. Tell him how I'd kill Celia. That letter that I'd taken my all the trouble to mail at the 43rd street post office. So it'll be sure to get off all right. I felt even worse this time than I had before. Because it seemed like I almost had that money right in my hands. I was pretty shaky.

[B]

I went into a bar, get a drink. Guess who won the drink.

[A]

Double shot. All right, sir.

[B]

Little chaser on the side.

[A]

No.

[B]

That'll be a dollar a bottle. Yes. And now we bring you five minutes of elitis Fuse.

[A]

Hey, Charlie, turn that radio off, will you?

[B]

Daring hold ups in the annals of New York crime. A gang of armed men this noon robbed a United States mail truck just as it was leaving the 43rd street post office, removing eight sacks of mail. The entire morning collection of the post office. Apparently, the gunmen were after a shipment of currency destined for the Federal Reserve Serve Bank. But according to officials, the joke is on the gangsters. All they got was the regular mail.

[A]

I knew it had happened. Now, I couldn't lose.

[E]

I simply couldn't lose.

[B]

Because those mugs that stuck up that

[A]

nail truck had got my letter. Nothing in the world could stop me now. Officer, I just been held up.

[B]

Held up, huh?

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Well, what happened?

[A]

Well, I picked up a guy who asked me for a lift about 225th street in Broadway.

[B]

I was driving along by Van Cortlandt

[A]

park when suddenly he grabbed me. Then he hit me with something. That's all I remember till I woke up lying in the park. My car was gone. Then I found out that he'd taken my wallet, my mom, money, everything.

[B]

I see.

[F]

And what's your name?

[A]

Leonard Snell.

[B]

Leonard Snell?

[A]

That's right.

[B]

Oh, say, Lieutenant.

[F]

Yeah?

[A]

This gentleman is Mr. Leonard Snow.

[F]

He was held up this morning. His car was stolen.

[A]

Oh,

[F]

just step in here, will you, Mr. Snell? Why, sure. Sit down. Thanks. I've got some news for you, Mr. Snell.

[A]

Did you find my car?

[F]

Well, yes. Fella didn't get far. He drove off the cliff at Fort Tryon Park. He's dead. For a while, we thought it was you, but that wasn't what I was going to tell you. Well, what was it? Haven't seen the papers today.

[A]

Not since this morning. What?

[F]

I've got some good news and some bad news for you. Maybe I better tell you the bad news first. It's pretty bad. Go ahead. Your wife was killed this morning, Mr. Snell, in a fire at your home.

[A]

My wife? Killed?

[F]

Seeing you and. This probably won't interest you much under the circumstances, Mr. Snell, but you've drawn a ticket worth $40,000 in the Irish Sweepstakes. Well, to win the Irish Sweepstakes and then lose your wife the same day, some people sure have all the hard luck in the world.

[D]

Luck?

[A]

Within about 15 minutes, more things were happening. To me, that can happen to most guys in a dozen lifetimes. And then comes the jackpot I've been waiting for.

[B]

Will you hold it, Mr. Snell? Just hold that pose. Right. Yeah. One more. Now, you mind telling the public how you feel? Good.

[F]

Please.

[B]

Fellas on the side, please. I hate to trouble you at this time, Mr. Snell, but the syndicate I represent is prepared to offer you $40,000 in cash for your sweepstake ticket. I got the money right here. In cash.

[F]

All right.

[B]

I don't care much about the money.

[A]

That was at 4:30 by 6. I've got $45,000 in my pocket, cash. And I'm registered at the Waldorf. And I'm sitting down to dinner. I'll take the plank steak, please. Medium. Yes, sir. I will have your order very shortly, sir.

[F]

Hello, pal. Mind if I sit down?

[A]

You a reporter?

[F]

Not exactly. I'm a sort of a collector. You owe me 40 grand, pal. I come to collect now.

[A]

40?

[F]

Well, I. I just do, pal. Remember that little letter you wrote to the police commissioner this morning that you mailed at the 43rd street post office? Some friends of mine found it. They think it's worth just about 40 grand. You.

[A]

You were one of the guys that stuck up the mail truck.

[F]

You want to make something of it? There's a big reward. There's a cop right outside the hotel. I kind of figured you'd play ball. Where's the letter? My friend's got it right outside in the car. Still got that dough on you in cash, like the paper said? Yes. Come on. All right. You're pretty lucky guy at that, pal. I suppose somebody else had got that letter. Don't worry, pal. Your secret is safe with me.

[A]

Why did the guy think he's.

[F]

Yeah, he's acting real reasonable, too. Get up. The cash, pal. You recognize the letter, don't you?

[A]

Here's your money.

[F]

And here's your letter. Please don't try anything funny because we still know what that letter says. And the cops killed. Always dig up the body and find out how your old lady really kicked off, couldn't they? I think he gets the idea.

[D]

So, Officer. Officer, Those are the gangsters that held up the mail track I saw this afternoon. Officer. Somebody better help that poor man. He's been shot.

[B]

Poor color. Paralyzed. Hey, you. You go call an ambulance. I'll stand by this man. What's up, Jerry? Just had a little match for those mail rounds. The other boys got him down the street. This poor man was shot when he fired back. Huh? What's this letter.

[A]

No, no, please, no.

[F]

To the police commissioner

[B]

before he fell. Hey, you'd better open it. Might be evidence.

[A]

No, no, no, no.

[F]

You better put a guard on this.

[B]

Fell at the hospital, Gary. Right. From the looks of this letter, he's

[F]

going to stand trial for murder.

[A]

You'd better not talk anymore, Mr. Snell. What's the difference? What's the difference how much I talk? That's what I wanted to tell him. What if they did get the last? I'll never go to trial because I got luck. Don't you see? It comes once in a hundred years, and I got it. I got that kind of luck. And when you got that kind of luck, you can't lose. You can't lose.

[D]

You can't lose.

[A]

Oh, Hello. Hello. You still here? Oh, you know, I gotta guard that fella Snell. As long as he's here, I. Yeah, but did you ever see the like of it?

[B]

I don't suppose one man ever had

[A]

so much luck in one day in a whole wide world. I guess his luck is played out now all right, though. Funny, he said you can't lose. Yeah, well, he's wrong.

[B]

He's wrong there.

[A]

Cause that lad's gonna fry just as sure as my name is Jerry Maloney. Now. You're wrong, Jerry. His luck is still good, huh? He's dead. Suspense Produced, edited and directed by William Spear. Tonight you heard Mr. Dan Duryea. As star of the man who Couldn't Lose. This was the third in a limited series which will present radio's Outstanding Theater of Thrill, Suspense.