Murder at Midnight 46xxxx (013) Till Death Do Us Part

Summary

Podcast Summary: "Murder at Midnight – Till Death Do Us Part"

Podcast: Harold's Old Time Radio
Host: Harold's Old Time Radio
Episode: Murder at Midnight 46xxxx (013) – Till Death Do Us Part
Air Date: October 28, 2025

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Episode Overview

This classic episode from the golden age radio series "Murder at Midnight" immerses listeners in a macabre newlywed tale: "Till Death Do Us Part." What begins as a honeymoon spirals into psychological torment, obsession, and the quest for the perfect crime. The narrative blurs love and vengeance, with literary references and psychological manipulation at its chilling core.

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Key Discussion Points & Plot Breakdown

1. Opening and Setting the Stage (00:39–02:08)

• The narrator sets a foreboding tone:
  “Midnight. The witching hour. When the night is darkest, our fears the strongest and our strength at its lowest ebb...” (01:06)
• Introduction of Frank and Ruth Clark, with an immediate sense of unease as Frank caresses and nearly chokes Ruth (00:46–01:06).

2. The Honeymoon Turns Dark (02:08–05:55)

• Frank oscillates between deep affection and disturbing urges:
  • “Ruth, I want to tell you something... I love you.” (02:14)
  • Recitation of poetry with dark undertones by Ruth, hinting at something sinister concealed within love.
• Ruth, calm and affectionate, seems to brush away Frank’s concerns—even when he blurts:
  • “When I take you in my arms... I love you and I want you so, that I feel a hideous urge to... to strangle you to death.” (04:13–04:20)

3. Frank’s Inner Turmoil and the Mysterious Line (05:55–07:44)

• Frank confides his obsessive urges, questioning whether he is going mad.
• Reference to his recent traumatic car accident and Ruth's psychological training.
• Frank recalls Ruth reading him a particular line during his hospital recovery, underlying his torment:
  • “There’s something you read to me over and over when I was barely conscious. I’ve heard it ever since. Deep down… I feel that it had something to do with my crazy behavior last night.” (07:20–07:35)

4. Descent into Madness and Self-Exile (08:30–10:24)

• Frank flees the honeymoon suite, checking out abruptly, tormented by the line he can’t remember:
  • “She’s better off without me... would make a nice corpse in a bridal suite.” (08:48)
  • Frank, in a delirium, calls himself "Jack the Ripper" or "Bluebeard" when speaking to the cabby (09:54).
• The cab driver notices his odd behavior and obsession with "the line."

5. Ruth’s Loyalty and the Police Station (13:49–17:13)

• Ruth traces Frank to a boarding house, expressing unwavering devotion despite his threats:
  • “I won’t. You need me. I’m your wife. Come back to me, Frank.” (14:05)
• Inspector Wade grills Ruth about Frank’s potential for violence, her safety, and the mysterious line.
  • “Man loves wife so much he wants to strangle her. Kisses her, gets an irresistible yen to choke her to death. And on their honeymoon. You want to prefer charges?” (15:03–15:17)
• Ruth refuses to press charges and insists on helping Frank, even as the Inspector warns her:
  • “You die just as dead when you’re in love.” (16:58)

6. The Truth Revealed: Power of Suggestion and Revenge (17:51–22:56)

• Frank returns to Ruth, convinced her psychological manipulation is at fault:
  • “I’m convinced now that you’ve done it all with a single line. A single line of poetry. In my jail cell, I was sure of it.” (19:59–20:13)
• Ruth confesses her elaborate plot. The fatal car crash was not accidental, her sister’s death was involved, and she’s orchestrated the entire scenario for revenge:
  • “I had to commit the perfect crime... Even the police will testify that it was against a homicidal maniac.” (21:35–21:45)
  • “You killed my sister... She told me... she was going to crash the car... including what you’d done to her.” (22:00–22:11)

7. The Poisoned Line and Fatal Climax (22:56–23:38)

• The line is finally identified as coming from Oscar Wilde’s "The Ballad of Reading Gaol."
• Ruth, holding a gun, aims to kill Frank for revenge:
  • “Now do you see why I wasn’t afraid of you?” (22:57)
• The final revelation:
  • Ruth: “All men kill the thing they love.” (23:28)
• Inspector Wade enters, but too late to stop the tragedy, closing with the refrain from Wilde’s poem.

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• Frank’s haunted confession:
  “When I take you in my arms… I love you and I want you so that I feel a hideous urge to… to strangle you to death.” — Frank Clark (04:13–04:20)

• Ruth’s psychological mastery:
  “Now do you see why I wasn’t afraid of you?... I had to commit the perfect crime. And I’ve done it.” — Ruth Clark (22:57–21:35)

• The line that spurred madness:
  “All men kill the thing they love.” — Ruth Clark (23:28)

• Reflection on love and death:
  “You die just as dead when you’re in love.” — Inspector Wade (16:58)

• Inspector Wade’s poetic irony:
  “How’s the next line go, Mrs. Clark?... it happened to be The Ballad of Reading Jail.” — Inspector Wade (23:38–24:14)

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Important Timestamps

• [00:39] — Show introduction and signature "Murder at Midnight" opening
• [02:08] — Start of Frank and Ruth's dialogue; dark tension established
• [04:13] — First explicit declaration of Frank’s murderous urge
• [08:30] — Frank’s breakdown and flight from honeymoon suite
• [14:01] — Ruth’s devotion despite the threat
• [15:03] — Inspector Wade's incredulity and offer to charge Frank
• [19:59] — Frank's realization of poetic manipulation
• [21:35] — Ruth’s detailed confession and the master plan
• [23:28] — Climactic revelation of Wilde’s line and gunfire showdown
• [24:14] — Inspector Wade's final poetic reflection

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Tone & Style

The episode sustains a moody, gothic atmosphere, blending literary allusions (Oscar Wilde, poetry) with melodramatic performances. The interplay between psychological suspense, doomed romance, and vengeance delivers the quintessential flavor of golden age radio thrillers.

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For Listeners

This episode exemplifies "Murder at Midnight" at its most psychologically rich and sinister. It’s a tightly-woven story of obsession, manipulation, and fatal attraction—well worth a listen for fans of vintage suspense, literary mysteries, and psychological drama.

Key takeaway: Sometimes the deadliest weapon is a single, well-chosen line.

Transcript

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[Ruth Clark]

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[Frank Clark]

Murder at Midnight. So lovely. Everything about you. Your eyes, your lips, your lovely white throat. I can feel it pulsing under my hands, throbbing.

[Ruth Clark]

Go, Frank. You're hurting me. You're choking.

[Narrator/Inspector Wade]

Midnight, the witching hour. When the night is darkest, our fears the strongest and our strength at its lowest ebb. Midnight, when the graves gape opened and death strikes. How? You'll learn the answer in just a minute. In Till death do Us Part. And now, Murder at Midnight. Tales of mystery and terror by radio's masters of the macabre. Our story by Joseph Ruskill is Till death do Us part.

[Ruth Clark]

I never saw a man who looked with such a wistful eye upon that little tint of blue which prisoners call the sky.

[Frank Clark]

Ruth, I want to tell you something. Put down that book and listen. I love you.

[Ruth Clark]

Some love too little, some too long. Some sell and others buy. Some do the deed with many tears and some without a sigh.

[Frank Clark]

Do you hear me, Ruth? I love you.

[Ruth Clark]

Some do it with a bitter look, some with a flattering word.

[Frank Clark]

Professor Clark?

[Ruth Clark]

Yes, Professor Clark. Love me, darling, Wildly.

[Frank Clark]

Put the book away. Almost there now. Bridal suite waiting.

[Ruth Clark]

Oh, Frank. Promise you'll always love me.

[Frank Clark]

Till death do us part. Another glass, darling.

[Narrator/Inspector Wade]

Come on.

[Ruth Clark]

It's sweet to dance to violins when love and life are fair. To dance to flutes, to dance to lutes Is delicate and rare but it.

[Frank Clark]

Is not so sweet with nimble feet to.

[Ruth Clark]

To dance upon the air. Frank, darling, you've hardly kissed me. Why are you looking at me like that?

[Frank Clark]

You're so lovely.

[Ruth Clark]

Come over here to the couch. A shy bridegroom in this day and age. Darling, why are you acting so strangely? Well, if the mountain won't come to Mohammed. Come here, my lord and master. Kiss me.

[Frank Clark]

Oh, Ruth. I love you so much.

[Ruth Clark]

Darling. Why do you keep staring at me like that? Frank?

[Frank Clark]

Ruth, no.

[Ruth Clark]

Darling, what's the matter?

[Frank Clark]

I don't know.

[Ruth Clark]

Please, Frank. After all.

[Frank Clark]

No. Don't come near me. Don't touch me. Ruth, something terrible is happening to me. It's a feeling. It's too dreadful to believe.

[Ruth Clark]

What is it?

[Frank Clark]

When I take you in my arms, when I kiss you, I love you and I want you so that I feel a hideous urge to.

[Ruth Clark]

To what, darling?

[Frank Clark]

To strangle you to death.

[Ruth Clark]

Darling. Hurry, dear. The waiter just brought in breakfast. What are you doing?

[Narrator/Inspector Wade]

Shaving.

[Frank Clark]

Finishing up now. Morning, Professor.

[Ruth Clark]

Morning, Professor. Life is wonderful.

[Frank Clark]

Wonderful, Tom. Thank you.

[Ruth Clark]

Leave us into the parlor, husband.

[Frank Clark]

Yes, leave us. Eat, my bride. Ah, what feast is this that tempts me palate? Fall to spouse. Citrus, me favorite. I squirt.

[Ruth Clark]

I'm so happy.

[Frank Clark]

I feel like dancing.

[Ruth Clark]

It's sweet to dance to violins.

[Frank Clark]

Yes, that's right. How's it go? It's sweet to dance to violin when.

[Ruth Clark]

Love and life are fair. Eat, dear. What's wrong?

[Frank Clark]

I guess I'm not very hungry.

[Ruth Clark]

Frank, you're thinking of that incident last night again. You are, aren't you?

[Frank Clark]

How could I have said that to you? I can't understand it. What got into me?

[Ruth Clark]

Now, darling, you're to forget it. Don't talk about it anymore. Don't even think of it. It was just your little joke.

[Frank Clark]

Some joke. Wonder I didn't frighten you to death. Well, the funny thing is, the next minute I was laughing at myself and so were you. But when I said it, I. Ruth, I can't explain it. I can't eat now, Frank. It was like an obsession. Yes, that's it. It was. It was an obsession. Ruth, you're a psychologist. What does it mean to have felt that horrible urge to. To do that to you? To you? I must have been mad.

[Ruth Clark]

Now, darling, don't say that. Don't spoil our honeymoon with this nonsense. You'll be talking things into yourself. I don't know what it is. Your nerves are on edge from your accident. That terrible crash just three months ago.

[Frank Clark]

Please, Ruth. Please. I don't want to think about it. I can still see it. That horrible, twisted wreckage.

[Ruth Clark]

Well, you're lucky you're alive. Be thankful I am.

[Frank Clark]

She was hitting 80, showing off. I couldn't stop her. That daffy little sister of yours. I'm sorry, dear. I'm sorry. I dare say I felt as awful about it as you did. Brilliant student. Could have been one of my best if she'd ever opened a book. But poor kid. What a way to die. Maybe if I. If I hadn't accepted a lifter down. Who knows? She might still be.

[Ruth Clark]

Oh, please. Please, darling, let's forget it. It's not good for you. You haven't done it all yourself. Ever since Then, no, I haven't. Well, everything has its compensation, dear. After all, that's what brought us together. Closely, I mean.

[Frank Clark]

Yes, that's right. In the hospital. You were an angel. Well, you were just an angel from heaven. The way you helped to nurse me through all that time when I was only half conscious. Nursed me and read to. Read to me? Yes, the way you read to me.

[Ruth Clark]

Why do you say it like that, Frank?

[Frank Clark]

Well, I don't know. There's something you read to me over and over when I was barely conscious. I've heard it ever since. Deep down. I can't seem to recall it, but I feel that it had something to do with my crazy behavior last night.

[Ruth Clark]

A line.

[Frank Clark]

It's still with me. It never seems to leave me. Seems to make me want to do something horrible.

[Ruth Clark]

Now, Frank, stop talking. You're ill again. You're pale as a ghost.

[Frank Clark]

What is that line? I've got to know.

[Ruth Clark]

Please, darling. Please stop shouting. I'm with you. Your love is with you. Now kiss me, dear. Hold me tight.

[Frank Clark]

Oh, so lovely. Everything about you. Your eyes, your lips. Your lovely white throat. I feel it pulsing. I can feel your throat pulsing, darling, in my hands. Pulsing.

[Ruth Clark]

No, Frank, you're hurting me. Oh, you're choking me.

[Frank Clark]

Yes, sir? I'm checking out. Room number 438. Call me a cab from the bridal suite. Just a moment. Is something wrong, sir? You and your wife just checked in last night. Any complaint? No, no complaint. Just call me a cab. Oh, an emergency? What business is it of yours? Where's another hotel?

[Ruth Clark]

Why?

[Frank Clark]

You'll find it very difficult in New York without a reservation. And if you and your wife. I'm checking out. Who said anything about my wife? She's better off without me. Do you hear? Well, what are you gawking at? She's very lovely, remember? Would you make a nice corpse in a bridal suite or go to the devil? Where to now, mister? Where now? Just shake off that other cab. I did three hours ago. I told you ten times. What now? Just drive around the park. We've been around and around and around. How long can this go on? That line? What was that line? What was it? What was that line, pal? We going over that again? To what line? You want the 7th Avenue line? If I'm not talking out of turn. But you must have lifted quite a few today. Get me to a hotel. We tried a dozen. Remember that. Full op. Hey, just who are you, mister? What's your racket? What's that to you? Okay, okay. I Just asked. I was a teacher. Cabbie in a woman's college. But that's only a blind. My name is Jack the Ripper, see? But some people just call me Bluebeard. This is the end of my line, chum. Hurry up and get out. No. No, I won't. You can't make me get out. You can't. I can't, huh? No. Because if I do get out, I may go back. And if I go back. Don't you understand?

[Ruth Clark]

I'll kill.

[Narrator/Inspector Wade]

Forager for poorer, in sickness and in health, till death do us part. A bridegroom, dazed and obsessed, standing on a city street, fearing to return to his bride because he knows if he does, it will mean murder at midnight. And now back to murder at midnight and till death do us part.

[Frank Clark]

Yes?

[Narrator/Inspector Wade]

What do you want?

[Frank Clark]

Good evening, sir. My name is Bluebeard. You're the proprietor of this charming boarding house? You're drunk. Forsooth. Tis true. May I tarry the night. No vacancies. Go on now. Get on your way.

[Ruth Clark]

Where is his room? Top floor, rear, Mrs. Clark. He came in about an hour ago, drunk as you please. He asked for a single. I'm not one to rent the drunks, mind you, but I can see he's really educated. And a gentleman. Though a queer one, if you ask me, with his eyes all bloodshot.

[Frank Clark]

Here it is.

[Ruth Clark]

Did he say when he'll be back? He said he was going for his bags. I'll just wait in his room, if you don't mind. It's all right. I'm his wife. I tell you, I don't know. Something mighty fishy about all this. Excuse me. There's the hall phone. If it's not one thing, it's another.

[Frank Clark]

All right, all right. Hello?

[Ruth Clark]

Yes. Who? Who? Oh, just a minute. It's him, ma'. Am. He wants to talk to the lady who just came in. Let me speak to him.

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[Ruth Clark]

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[Ruth Clark]

Hello, Frank.

[Frank Clark]

I saw you go in. What are you doing in my house?

[Ruth Clark]

Darling, it's so good to hear your voice again. I was so worried.

[Frank Clark]

Answer me. What are you doing there? How did you know where to find me?

[Ruth Clark]

I've been following you everywhere. I don't want you to leave me. Darling, I love you.

[Frank Clark]

Get out of there. Stop haunting me. I'm no good for you. Haven't you had enough? Go away.

[Ruth Clark]

I won't. You need me. I'm your wife. Come back to me, Frank.

[Frank Clark]

Come back. How can you still want me? What are you inviting? Why don't you take a train home? Do you want to die? You know I'll kill you the next time we're alone. You know I've gone mad.

[Ruth Clark]

Now, don't say that. You're just ill and I'll nurse you back to health. Oh, Frank. This is your wife talking. What sort of spineless thing do you suppose you've married? How would you have me do? Run to the police and ask them to protect me from my husband? Run to the police and cry that the man I love wants to kill me? Run to the police and say, that's right, of course.

[Frank Clark]

Why didn't I think of that before?

[Ruth Clark]

No. Frank. Frank. Frank. What are you going to do?

[Narrator/Inspector Wade]

Have a seat, Mrs. Clark.

[Ruth Clark]

What is it you want of me, Inspector Wade? Why was I called here to the police station?

[Narrator/Inspector Wade]

You've no idea?

[Ruth Clark]

No. Oh. Is he here? My husband? He told you?

[Narrator/Inspector Wade]

But I thought he was just drunk.

[Ruth Clark]

Oh, I told him not to come here. I told him not to.

[Narrator/Inspector Wade]

Then it's all true. This beats anything I've ever heard. Man loves wife so much, he Wants to strangle her, kisses her. Gets an irresistible yen to choke her to death. And on their honeymoon. You want to prefer charges?

[Ruth Clark]

Preferred charges. What for?

[Narrator/Inspector Wade]

Attempted homicide ought to cover it.

[Ruth Clark]

I won't. He's my husband. I love him. I'll stick by him no matter what.

[Narrator/Inspector Wade]

But he ought to at least be sent to Bellevue for a mental.

[Ruth Clark]

Oh, no, you won't. There's nothing mentally wrong with Frank. Nothing at all. It's simply nerves. The result of an accident he had recently.

[Narrator/Inspector Wade]

This really takes the cake, Mrs. Clark. Another thing that puzzles me.

[Ruth Clark]

Yes?

[Narrator/Inspector Wade]

He kept raving about a line when he staggered in here as if it were life or death. A line of poetry he couldn't remember. Wanted me to tell him what it was. Confidentially, I've only read one poem in my life. Now, what's that all about?

[Ruth Clark]

I haven't the vaguest notion, Inspector. Just part of his neurotic state, I suppose. When we get back to our hotel room.

[Narrator/Inspector Wade]

What? You want him back after what happened?

[Ruth Clark]

Yes. Don't you see? I must cure him of that awful obsession. Who else can do it but me? I'd like to see him now, Inspector, please release him to me. I'll take the consequences.

[Narrator/Inspector Wade]

He's not here.

[Ruth Clark]

Not here?

[Narrator/Inspector Wade]

No. We held him overnight just to let him sober up like we would any other drunk. Thought it was just all boozy eyewash. This morning he seemed a new man. Laughed it all off. So we released him just a few minutes ago.

[Ruth Clark]

Oh, wonderful.

[Narrator/Inspector Wade]

But then I had a hunch I ought to warn you anyway. Just a hunch?

[Ruth Clark]

Warn me?

[Frank Clark]

Yeah.

[Narrator/Inspector Wade]

He said he was gonna call on you tonight at the hotel for a little reunion.

[Ruth Clark]

Oh, how marvelous. Maybe he's all cured.

[Narrator/Inspector Wade]

I don't know. I didn't like the way he smiled when he said it. Mrs. Clark, after what you just told me, I think I ought to have him picked up again.

[Ruth Clark]

You'll do no such thing.

[Narrator/Inspector Wade]

It's taking your life in your hands. I think he's got wheels in his head.

[Ruth Clark]

I don't care. I love him.

[Narrator/Inspector Wade]

You'd die just as dead when you're in love.

[Ruth Clark]

I'm not afraid. I'll never leave him. Certainly not now, when he needs me more than ever. Is that all? Sick.

[Narrator/Inspector Wade]

Okay, lady, you're 14 carat. He sure doesn't deserve a wife like you. And don't say I didn't warn you. It's your funeral.

[Ruth Clark]

Thank you, inspector. Goodbye.

[Narrator/Inspector Wade]

Oh, Mrs. Clark, there's one more thing. Perhaps I ought to tell you.

[Ruth Clark]

Yeah?

[Narrator/Inspector Wade]

When I released him just A while ago he said something else that puzzled me. That being in jail had suddenly given him revelation. He smiled very queerly when he said it. Oh, I think maybe he found that line of poetry. Mrs. Clark.

[Ruth Clark]

Hello, Ruth. Where are you, Frank?

[Frank Clark]

In the lobby.

[Ruth Clark]

Come up.

[Frank Clark]

I don't know exactly what your game is, my sweet bride. I'm warning you. I've had a revelation.

[Ruth Clark]

I know. It's high time.

[Frank Clark]

I'm going to finish it. Ruth. This time you asked for it.

[Ruth Clark]

Come up, Frank. Sure, sure.

[Frank Clark]

Your funeral.

[Ruth Clark]

A coward does it with a kiss. Come in, Frank. The door's open.

[Frank Clark]

Throwing a party, my dear?

[Ruth Clark]

Yes.

[Frank Clark]

Who's invited?

[Ruth Clark]

You and I.

[Frank Clark]

What are we celebrating?

[Ruth Clark]

An uninvited guest at our honeymoon. Death has come with you, hasn't it?

[Frank Clark]

This time, yes.

[Ruth Clark]

Shall we drink to him?

[Frank Clark]

Why not?

[Ruth Clark]

Do you still love me, Frank?

[Frank Clark]

Yes, I still love you. But I love you better when you're dead for what you've done.

[Ruth Clark]

How much do you know?

[Frank Clark]

Not enough. It came to me in jail last night. The jail had something to do with it. How? I still don't know. But enough to make me remember something you whispered in the hospital. When I was just coming to. You said, I'll get my revenge, Frank. Do you hear me? I'll get my revenge.

[Ruth Clark]

Splendid. A From memory. What else?

[Frank Clark]

Enough to make me realize that you hate me and have always hated me, although you pretended otherwise.

[Ruth Clark]

Brilliant. Say loved and hated you. Go on.

[Frank Clark]

And that somehow I don't know myself in what way. But I'm sure it must be a very clever way, as your psychology students would agree. You've been coldly, deliberately torturing me. Trying to make me think myself a maniac or have others think so.

[Ruth Clark]

Close enough.

[Frank Clark]

Why? What I can't understand is why you did it. Or why you weren't afraid that I'd read.

[Ruth Clark]

You'll soon find out.

[Frank Clark]

And I'm convinced now that you've done it all with a single line. A single line of poetry. In my jail cell, I was sure of it. The very walls seemed to tell me. I don't know why. That it was a line that you kept reading to me at the hospital. Over and over and over again. That made me think I wanted to kill you.

[Ruth Clark]

And what was that line?

[Frank Clark]

That's what I'm going to find out right now.

[Ruth Clark]

Don't come any closer, Professor.

[Frank Clark]

You'll know. It's perfectly ridiculous. Looking at you now, close to you, where I can almost touch you. That crazy obsession is still with me. I laugh at it intellectually. I know that You've tricked me into it by some very obvious power of suggestion. But I still. I still feel that way.

[Ruth Clark]

Don't come any nearer, I'm warning you.

[Frank Clark]

Isn't it eerie? I still love you and can strangle you for my love and will stay where you are.

[Ruth Clark]

You're not going to kill me, darling. I'm going to kill you. Now do you see why I wasn't afraid of you?

[Frank Clark]

That gun. You've had it all the time.

[Ruth Clark]

Correct, my love. Right here in the wine table drawer. I've planned this all along, angel. From the very first, before we were even married. Yes, your intuition was right. From the day you and my little sister were brought to the hospital after the accident. From the day she died. And the doctor said you'd pull through. I planned it all. And it's worked out like a perfect equation every step of the way.

[Frank Clark]

Why? Why?

[Ruth Clark]

I had to commit the perfect crime. And I've done it. Even the police will testify that it was self defense against a homicidal mania. And when they find you here with a bullet in your head, they'll congratulate me.

[Frank Clark]

But what's this? I still don't understand.

[Ruth Clark]

It had to be the perfect crime because I must go free. You see, one life has already paid for yours and quote, for court. Your blood is worth no more than my family's.

[Frank Clark]

I don't understand this at all. What did I ever do?

[Ruth Clark]

You killed my sister.

[Frank Clark]

I killed her?

[Ruth Clark]

She told me before she left on that drive with you that she was going to crash the car. She left before I could stop her. She told me everything, Frank. Including what you'd done to her.

[Frank Clark]

Everything. I see. So that's it. Well, I don't suppose it would be of any use, my trying to convince her.

[Ruth Clark]

No, no use. I've waited a long time for this moment. Revenge is sweet. And it was such fun to torture you. I used a weapon. I knew, of course, it was power of suggestion. Sure, you guessed it. But what a pity you don't know the line yet.

[Frank Clark]

What was it? What was it? Tell me. Tell me. Don't keep me in torture.

[Ruth Clark]

Think back. Think hard, Frank. Think all around it. What about a jail and the revelation it gave you? What about a famous poet who wrote a famous poem while in jail? Why, yes, yes, Oscar Wilde.

[Frank Clark]

That's it. Yes, that's it. From Oscar Wilde. A ballot.

[Ruth Clark]

Of course, a ballot.

[Frank Clark]

The ballot of reading jail. How could it ever have escaped me? Why, you witch. You've even been reading from it on our honeymoon. But what part what first? What line? What was the line?

[Ruth Clark]

Take another step or I'll pull the trigger.

[Frank Clark]

Give me the line, I say. I still can't think of the line.

[Ruth Clark]

Back. Keep back or I'll shoot.

[Frank Clark]

Oh, no, you won't.

[Ruth Clark]

One more step and I'll shoot.

[Frank Clark]

Tell me that line or I'll kill you all.

[Ruth Clark]

Men killed thing they love. Remember, Frank?

[Narrator/Inspector Wade]

How's the next line go? Mrs. Clark. By all, let this be heard. So I heard. Too bad I was a little late.

[Ruth Clark]

Inspector Wade.

[Narrator/Inspector Wade]

You know, ma', am, like I said, I only read one poem in my whole life. But ain't it the darndest thing it happened to be? The Ballad of Reading Jail Till Death Do Us Part. A honeymoon in the bridal suite. Red wines spilled on the table and red blood on the floor. As the clock strikes 12 for murder at midnight. Remember to be with us again when death's key turns in the lock and the clocks strike 12 for murder at midnight. The part of Professor Ruth Clark Clark was played by Elspeth Eric.

[Frank Clark]

Professor Frank Clark by Eric Dressler with.

[Narrator/Inspector Wade]

Music by Charles Paul. Murder at Midnight was directed by Anton M. Leider.

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[Ruth Clark]

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