Roy Rogers 48-03-28 ep000 The Case of the Mysterious Puppet epSERIES AUDITION

Summary

---

Podcast Summary: Harold's Old Time Radio

Episode: Roy Rogers 48-03-28 ep000 "The Case of the Mysterious Puppet" (Series Audition)
Original Air Date: March 28, 1948
Podcast Air Date: January 3, 2026
Host: Harold's Old Time Radio
Featured Cast: Roy Rogers, Dale Evans, Gabby Hayes, Reverend Smith, Lindsay Lockridge, Sheriff Masters

Overview

This episode features a classic Roy Rogers radio adventure: “The Case of the Mysterious Puppet.” Set in Paradise Valley, the story blends wholesome Western fun, musical interludes, and a clever mystery involving ghostly puppets, cryptic warnings, and a church robbery. Listeners are treated to the charming camaraderie of Roy Rogers and his companions as they unravel a series of baffling events—perfectly capturing the spirit of Golden Age radio.

---

Key Discussion Points & Plot Breakdown

1. Sunday Morning in Paradise Valley

• Setting: Quiet church scene, with Roy, Dale, and Gabby attending service and singing a hymn.
  • (01:26) Dale Evans sings “I Come to the Garden Alone,” joined by Roy Rogers.
• Sudden disturbance as church bell rings unexpectedly, interrupting Reverend Smith.
  • (03:04) Reverend Smith: “Someone seems to be ringing the church bell. There must be some mistake.”

2. The Bell Tower Mystery

• Discovery: Roy and Gabby rush to the bell tower and find Luke Peabody fainted.
  • (03:40) Gabby: “Standing there by the door that leads to the bell tower. Why, it’s Luke Peabody that runs the general store.”
• Shock: The bell is being rung not by a person, but by a puppet attached to the rope.
  • (04:09) Gabby: “Gabby, the thing that’s ringing that bell… Why, it’s a doll.”
  • (04:16) Roy: “Not exactly a doll, Gabby. It’s a puppet.”

3. Further Mysteries and Intrusions

• No Clear Suspect: The group investigates, but finds no one else in the bell tower.
• The Next Day: Lindsay Lockridge—local businessman—reveals he was visited by a talking puppet demanding $5,000.
  • (10:00) Lockridge: “For there, sitting in my chair behind my desk, was this... After a moment, I realized it was nothing more than a marionette... And at that very moment, I realized that it talked to me.”
  • (10:36) Lockridge (quoting puppet): "Tell Roy Rogers to leave $5,000 in the Hollow stump at Three Pines by midnight tonight or suffer the consequences."

4. The Puppet Escalates

• Threat Escalates: A puppet on horseback approaches, again delivering the $5,000 demand—this time audibly to the group.
  • (13:19) Puppet: “Take warning. Leave $5,000 in the hollow stump at three pines by midnight tonight or suffer the consequences.”

5. The Robbery & Occult Tricks

• Church Poor Box Robbed: Reverend Smith seeks Roy’s help after the church’s poor donation box is stolen; puppet strings found inside.
  • (15:21) Reverend Smith: “The poor box at the church. It’s been robbed... Roy, I found these inside the box.”
  • (15:36) Roy: “Strings. Marionette strings.”
• Clues: Shoemaker’s waxed thread traces to Luke Peabody’s store, tying puppet materials to him.
  • Gabby (connecting dots): “...These puppet strings, they made a shoemaker’s thread that comes from Peabody’s general store... Peabody’s the hombre behind all this hocus pocus.” (18:03)

6. The Handwriting on the Wall

• Paranormal Escalates: Handwriting appears on the Reverend’s wall, warning Roy in the same words as the puppet:
  • (18:49) Gabby: “Look at it. A message appearing on the wall as if a ghost.”
  • Message: "Roy Rogers be warned. $5,000 in the hollow stump by midnight or you will regret it."

7. Kidnapping & Revelation

• Dale in Danger: Dale calls in panic—puppet is threatening her, and she’s kidnapped.
  • (19:06) Dale: “Roy here in your office. The puppet. The puppet’s talking to me, threatening me.”
• Confrontation: Luke Peabody found at the ranch, puppet across his body; he confesses he was forced by the real culprit to cover their tracks.

8. The Solution—Mystery Demystified

• How the Tricks Worked: In the sheriff’s office, Roy explains:
  • The bell was rung by someone shooting it from a distance with a silenced rifle.
    • (23:09) Roy: “Someone stationed in a window across the street from the church must have been firing at the bell with a rifle.”
  • The puppet “spoke” via a hidden “watch case” wire recorder inside.
    • (23:22) Roy: “There’s a new wire recorder on the market now... there was a watch case recorder inside that puppet.”
  • The handwriting was done with invisible ink, revealed by heat from the fire.
    • (23:33) Sheriff: "Was it invisible ink that started to appear when the heat of the fire brought it out?"
• Perpetrator Unmasked: Lindsay Lockridge, desperate for money and knowledgeable about puppets, is revealed as the true villain.
  • (24:20) Roy: “The first clue, Gab, was that Lockridge used the words articulated figure and vertical controller in describing a puppet... That made me realize he knew something about puppets.”

---

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• Gabby’s Storytelling Humor:

  • (10:57) Gabby Hayes: “Hanged, if it don’t mind me, of the time that I was forced to sew up my watch with a needle and thread.”
  • (11:41) “Why, ain’t you never heard the proverb, stitching time saves nine?”

• Comedic Wordplay:

  • (07:20) Gabby (mishearing “marionette”): “One of them Harriettes that you work with strings.”
  • Dale: “You mean marionette?”
  • Gabby: “Well, I knowed it was some gal’s name.”

• Puppet Sends a Chill:

  • (13:08) Gabby: “How can anybody be steady with that thing sitting there in the saddle or staring at Roy Rogers?”

• Roy’s Deductive Style:

  • (24:20) Roy: “The first clue... Lockridge used the words articulated figure and vertical controller... The second clue was the stocks... he was trying to sell me…”

---

Musical Highlights

• (01:26) “I Come to the Garden Alone” – Dale Evans and Roy Rogers
• (25:08) “Carry Me Back to the Lone Prairie” – Roy, Dale, Gabby & the gang
• (28:39) Closing: “Smiles Are Made Out of the Sunshine” – Dale Evans

---

Important Story Timestamps

• Church Scene & Puppet Discovery: 01:04–04:26
• Lindsay Lockridge’s Claim & Threat: 09:18–10:47
• Puppet Delivers Ransom Demand: 13:00–13:31
• Church Donation Box Robbed: 15:16–15:53
• Handwriting on the Wall: 18:27–18:53
• Dale Kidnapped: 19:05–20:43
• Mystery Explained: 23:03–24:20
• Culprit Identified and Arrested: 24:20–24:43
• Musical Finale: 25:08–28:13

---

Tone & Spirit

The episode is filled with camaraderie, gentle humor, and clever sleuthing, offering a comforting “all ages” Western vibe. Gabby’s comic relief and Dale Evans’s musical contributions balance the suspense with charm and warmth. The close community of Paradise Valley shines through, affirming honesty, teamwork, and a sense of neighborliness.

---

For New Listeners

This episode is a fantastic window into Old Time Radio: pure-hearted adventure, catchy songs, and classic Western comic relief. It combines ingenious mystery with friendship, music, and a little frontier wisdom—delightful for fans young and old.

---

Transcript

[Announcer]

From Hollywood, Roy Rogers, King of the Cowboys. Brought to you by Quaker Oats, the giant of the cereals.

[Quaker Oats Commercial Voice]

The giant of the cereals is Quaker Oats. The giant of the cereals is Quaker Oats.

[Dale Evans]

Delicious, nutritious, makes you feel ambitious.

[Quaker Oats Commercial Voice]

The giant of the cereals is Quaker Oats.

[Announcer]

Out of the west and into your home. Riding the range of adventure and mystery. Blazing a trail of Western, song and story. Dale Evans, Gabby Hayes, and America's king of the cowboys, Roy Rogers. Today's adventure, the Case of the Mysterious Puppet. And here is Roy Rogers.

[Roy Rogers]

Well, howdy, boys and girls. And mothers and dads, too, of course. This is Roy Rogers. This adventure I'm going to tell you about began on a Sunday morning in our little church at Paradise Valley. It was just about like any other Sunday, you know, quiet and peaceful. And as usual, before Reverend Smith began his sermon, Dale and I were singing a hymn.

[Dale Evans (singing)]

I come to the garden alone.

[Gabby Hayes]

While.

[Dale Evans (singing)]

The dew is still on the roses and the voice I hear Falling on my ear the Son of God discloses and he walks with me and he talks with me and he tells me I am his own and the joy we share as we tarry there none.

[Roy Rogers]

Other.

[Dale Evans (singing)]

Has ever.

[Roy Rogers]

Known.

[Reverend Smith]

I have taken my sermon today from the passage. And it came to pass in those days that he went out into a mountain to pray. And continued all night in prayer. Dear friends, as I sat in my study the other day reading over these words, composing my. My thoughts. Oh, dear me.

[Announcer]

Roy.

[Roy Rogers]

Yes, Reverend?

[Reverend Smith]

Someone seems to be ringing the church bell. There must be some mistake. Would you mind?

[Roy Rogers]

Sure, Reverend. There must be some mistake. I'll get to the bell tower pronto.

[Gabby Hayes]

Reckon I'd better motor along with ye.

[Roy Rogers]

All right, Gabby.

[Gabby Hayes]

Brand meat with a cold iron. Roy, who'd be doing a loco thing like this? Ringing the church bell just as the Reverend Smith started his sermon?

[Roy Rogers]

Don't know, Gabby, but it sure isn't my idea of a joke.

[Gabby Hayes]

Well, my, another. We'll corral this hombre, whoever he is, and turn him over to Sheriff Masters. Hanged, if this. Don't mind me. Of the time, that. Hold on, Roy. Standing there by the door that leads to the bell tower. Why. Why, it's Luke Peabody that runs the general store.

[Roy Rogers]

He looks sick. He. Come on, Luke. Luke Peabody.

[Gabby Hayes]

What?

[Reverend Smith]

Don't go in there. The thing I saw, I.

[Gabby Hayes]

Wait. He's fainted. Roy. What in the name of Rowels and Jingle Bobs is in that bell tower?

[Roy Rogers]

Only one way to find out, Gabby. Let's get in there.

[Gabby Hayes]

Now, what in the peel Me for a bronc? It ain't possible. Do you see what I see or do I need specs?

[Roy Rogers]

I'll be dog gone.

[Gabby Hayes]

Gabby, the thing that's ringing that bell hanging under the rope and yanking it up and down, it's. Why, it's a doll.

[Roy Rogers]

Not exactly a doll, Gabby. It's a puppet.

[Announcer]

And so, on a Sunday morning, this strange mystery began for Roy and our friends when they found a puppet, a marionette made of wood and cloth, ringing the bell in the tower of the little church. Stranger things than that would have happened, though, as we'll learn in a few moments. Now, listen.

[Quaker Oats Commercial Voice]

The giant of the cereals is Quaker Oats. The giant of the cereals is Quaker Oats.

[Dale Evans]

Delicious, nutritious, makes you feel ambitious.

[Quaker Oats Commercial Voice]

The giant of the cereals is Quaker Oats.

[Roy Rogers]

Yes, Quaker Oats is a giant in nutrition.

[Announcer]

That's right. To protect the health and growth of youngsters. Don't skimp on breakfast. See to it they get delicious whole grain Quaker Oats every morning. For doctors say the more often youngsters eat a good oatmeal breakfast, the better they grow. Yes, nourishing whole grain oatmeal gives you boys and girls more growth and endurance than any other whole grain cereal. As for you, mom and Dad, a nourishing Quaker Oats breakfast helps avoid mid morning fatigue. Because here again, good whole grain oatmeal gives you more energy and endurance than any of the others. Yes, truly, Quaker Oats is a giant in nutrition.

[Roy Rogers]

Quaker Oats is a giant in economy.

[Announcer]

Yes, Quaker Oats still costs less than a penny a serving. Quaker Oats breakfasts save you up to $4 a week for a family of four. As against scarce, expensive foods. Saves precious minutes in the morning, too. Because it cooks so fast, Quaker Oats.

[Roy Rogers]

Is a giant in flavor.

[Announcer]

Yes, Quaker Oats is so delicious, so good to eat. People eat more of it than any other cereal in the world.

[Quaker Oats Commercial Voice]

Delicious, nutritious, makes you feel ambitious. The giant of the cereals is Quaker Holtz.

[Announcer]

Well, there they were in the bell tower, Roy and Gabby, staring at just about the weirdest sight they had ever set eyes on. A puppet working the rope of the church bell.

[Gabby Hayes]

Roy, this is the orange thing I ever did see. That thing's alive.

[Roy Rogers]

No, it isn't. Gabby, look here. Somebody's attached the hands of this puppet to the bell rope. When the bell started ringing, well, the puppet went up and down with the rope.

[Gabby Hayes]

Yeah, yeah, I can see that. But if the puppet ain't ringing the.

[Roy Rogers]

Bell, who is the maverick up there in the bell tower above us. All right, you come on down.

[Gabby Hayes]

He ain't a coming hang, if this don't mind me of the time.

[Roy Rogers]

Wait a minute, Gabby. Come down, I said, or I'll come up there and get you. Roy.

[Dale Evans]

Roy.

[Roy Rogers]

In here, Dale.

[Dale Evans]

Roy, what happened to Luke Peabody out there and. Oh, Roy, what's this?

[Gabby Hayes]

It's a puppet. One of them Harriettes that you work with strings.

[Dale Evans]

You mean marionette?

[Gabby Hayes]

Well, I knowed it was some gal's name.

[Roy Rogers]

That hombre's still playing possum up there in the tar. Gabby, I'm going up after you.

[Gabby Hayes]

Better let me know. You ain't carrying no six guns neither, are you.

[Dale Evans]

Gabby, who does Roy think's up there?

[Gabby Hayes]

I don't know, Dale. There must be somebody up there. First, it looked to us like it was this here Henriette Marionette.

[Roy Rogers]

Gabby.

[Gabby Hayes]

Yeah. Well, it looked just like the thing was pulling on the rope, you see. But of course, that ain't possible. Some coyote tied it to the bell rope, then got up above there, started pushing the bell to make it ring and. Oh, here comes Roy now.

[Roy Rogers]

Roy, I don't savvy this thing at all. There's nobody up there.

[Gabby Hayes]

But there's just gotta be somebody up there.

[Roy Rogers]

Well, there isn't.

[Dale Evans]

But Roy, a puppet couldn't ring a church bell all by itself.

[Gabby Hayes]

Sure, a shootin couldn't. But if the puppet want ringing it. How is it rung?

[Roy Rogers]

That, Gabby, is the mystery we've got to solve.

[Announcer]

The following day, down at one of the corrals of Roy's ranch, the Double R bar, Roy had just finished peeling a bronc and he and Dale and Gabby were sitting on the top rail of the corral fence when.

[Roy Rogers]

Watch that.

[Gabby Hayes]

Roy, maybe you figured an answer yet to that low code business in the bell tower yesterday, Gabby?

[Roy Rogers]

I can't seem to ride a straight trail on that. Somebody played a trick on us, of course. But don't ask me how he did it. No hidden wires attached to the bell. Nothing to show how it was rung.

[Dale Evans]

But a bell certainly can't ring by itself.

[Gabby Hayes]

Well, it sure begins to look like this one did. Roy, you say you questioned Luke Peabody real close.

[Roy Rogers]

Yeah, I figured maybe he would be behind her, but, well, you know what a practical joker Luke is. Well, we didn't find him right outside the bell tower when he was. Looks like we've got visitors.

[Gabby Hayes]

Yeah, Lindsay Lockridge and Phineas Salt. Wonder what them two want with us.

[Dale Evans]

Maybe Lockridge wants to sell Roy some of that stock they're interested in. What Is it again, Roy?

[Roy Rogers]

Oh, some new chemical and dye company.

[Lindsay Lockridge]

Roy Dale. Gabby. Roy, look at this thing. Look at it. And then I implore you, explain it to me.

[Announcer]

There isn't any explaining it.

[Lindsay Lockridge]

Please, Phineas.

[Roy Rogers]

Roy. Well, it's a puppet. Just like the one we found in church yesterday.

[Lindsay Lockridge]

Then that story is true. I didn't attend Sunday services. I had one of my distressing, sick headaches. You know that marionette you found ringing the church bell?

[Announcer]

Did it.

[Lindsay Lockridge]

Did it talk to you?

[Gabby Hayes]

If it had, I wouldn't be here now. They'd be scraping me off from the walls of a padded cell.

[Lindsay Lockridge]

Well, this one spoke to me.

[Roy Rogers]

It spoke to you?

[Announcer]

He imagined it. Of course.

[Lindsay Lockridge]

I did not imagine it. I'm not an imaginative man. I'm not.

[Roy Rogers]

Well, now, just try and steady down, Lindsay. Steady down and tell us what happened.

[Gabby Hayes]

Yeah, don't get yourself in a nupro.

[Lindsay Lockridge]

Well, ill as I felt this morning, you know, sick, headache. I reached my office on time, and I tell you, I nearly collapsed. For there, sitting in my chair behind my desk, was this.

[Announcer]

This thing.

[Lindsay Lockridge]

After a moment, I realized it was nothing more than a marionette and an articulated figure that.

[Roy Rogers]

A what?

[Lindsay Lockridge]

An articulated figure, Gabby. That's what a marinette is. An articulated figure motivated by a vertical controller, I believe they call it.

[Gabby Hayes]

All right, all right, I know what you was talking about.

[Lindsay Lockridge]

And at that very moment, I realized that it talked to me.

[Roy Rogers]

What did it say?

[Lindsay Lockridge]

It said, tell Roy Rogers to leave $5,000 in the Hollow stump at Three Pines by midnight tonight or suffer the consequences. Now, don't look at me that way. I'm telling you, it did.

[Gabby Hayes]

You know, this here business is getting worser and worser. We better do something about it. Hanged, if it don't mind me, of the time that I was forced to sew up my watch with a needle and thread.

[Dale Evans]

You what, Gabby?

[Gabby Hayes]

Sewed up my watch with a needle and thread. You see, I was guiding the party of hunters. Eight of them there was, on a trip up in the mountains. I warned them we might have trouble with the redskins, but they wanted to go hunting in the worst way. The second day in camp, we were set on by a band of Injuns and they took us prisoner.

[Dale Evans]

My goodness.

[Gabby Hayes]

Well, come the time when we was to be burned at the stake, I knowed Southin had to be dead and did pronto, or the nine of us was dead ducks right then and there. I took out my watch, took a needle and thread. I always carry one for emergency, you know. And I begin taking stitches in the works of that watch. And that's what saved us all.

[Dale Evans]

But, Gabby, how could sewing up your watch save you?

[Gabby Hayes]

Why, ain't you never heard the proverb, stitching time saves nine? Gabby, it's a gospel, so help me.

[Roy Rogers]

Bob, like an ordinary puppet. Lindsay, I sure don't see how it could have spoken to you.

[Lindsay Lockridge]

Roy, you must believe me.

[Gabby Hayes]

It did. Maybe you're sicker than you think you are, Lindsay.

[Lindsay Lockridge]

What's the sense of telling you anything? Roy, I got to get back to my office. What are you going to do about this thing?

[Roy Rogers]

Do?

[Lindsay Lockridge]

About the money. The $5,000.

[Roy Rogers]

Look, Lindsay, I can't believe this thing talked to you. You must have imagined it. But anyhow, just. Just forget the whole thing until you hear from me.

[Lindsay Lockridge]

Very well, Roy.

[Announcer]

Very well.

[Lindsay Lockridge]

Come along, Phineas.

[Gabby Hayes]

Yeah, go on home. Phineas. You allow. Maybe he's been taking too many of them medicines he's always dosing himself with.

[Roy Rogers]

Dale, Gabby, there's something mighty peculiar about this.

[Gabby Hayes]

I'd like to know how that bell could ring with nobody up there to ring it.

[Roy Rogers]

Well, I want to know more than that. I want to know what's behind all this. Who attached the puppet to the church bell yesterday and why? And as for this one, well, we can't believe it actually talked to Lindsey. But who propped it up in the chair in his office? There's something behind all this hocus pocus. Roy, listen up.

[Gabby Hayes]

Well, warp my backbone and call me a bronc. Look what's heading his way.

[Dale Evans]

Oh, no. A horse with a puppet riding it.

[Gabby Hayes]

By Hootin Harry, you're right.

[Roy Rogers]

That is a puppet riding that horse.

[Gabby Hayes]

Did you hear that? Did you hear that? The thing talked.

[Dale Evans]

Troy, I feel faint.

[Roy Rogers]

Steady, Dale, steady.

[Gabby Hayes]

How can anybody be steady with that thing sitting there in the saddle or staring at Roy Rogers?

[Dale Evans (singing)]

Roy Rogers.

[Gabby Hayes]

Well, answer the dratted things yes.

[Dale Evans]

Take warning. Leave $5,000 in the hollow stump at three pines by midnight tonight or suffer the consequences. Get up there.

[Dale Evans (singing)]

Come on.

[Roy Rogers]

Roy.

[Gabby Hayes]

Roy. Now we gotta believe it. We just hear the puppet speak ourselves.

[Roy Rogers]

We heard it speak, all right. And I'm finding out how right now. Trigger. Come here, boy. We've got to catch those two, Trigger. And it's up to you. Let's go. Come on, Trigger. Come on, boy. They've got a good start. And that puppet's a lot lighter than I am. We've got to stop. And Trigger, we've got to stop. That's it. You're gaining on them.

[Gabby Hayes]

You're gaining.

[Roy Rogers]

They'll be close enough to Rope in a minute. I've got the rope coil now, Trigger. Ready to throw it just as soon as we get.

[Gabby Hayes]

Yeah, yeah.

[Roy Rogers]

Now. Got him? Got him, Trigger.

[Gabby Hayes]

Hold him now.

[Roy Rogers]

Hold him while I get that puppet in the saddle. Oh, boy. Steady down, now. I just want to have a close look at that puppet on your back. Let's see now. Well, I'll be.

[Gabby Hayes]

So.

[Roy Rogers]

That's it. That's how this thing talked. Good work, Trigger.

[Gabby Hayes]

Good work, Boy, I know Trigger can beat that critter. Well, I see you got the Henrietta Harrietta. Oh, shucks. That ornery puppy.

[Roy Rogers]

I got it, all right.

[Dale Evans]

What's the answer to it, Roy? How did that thing talk?

[Roy Rogers]

There's only one answer to that, Dale. And if I'm not mistaken.

[Gabby Hayes]

If you ain't mistaken, what?

[Roy Rogers]

Hold it, Gabby. Looks like we've got another visitor. It's Reverend Smith this time.

[Gabby Hayes]

Yeah, and he sure is racking into the Double R bar. Reverend. Reverend. What?

[Roy Rogers]

In town.

[Gabby Hayes]

Incarnation.

[Announcer]

Roy.

[Reverend Smith]

Roy, I need your help. The strangest thing has happened.

[Roy Rogers]

What is it, Reverend?

[Reverend Smith]

The poor box. The poor box at the church. It's been robbed.

[Dale Evans (singing)]

Oh.

[Dale Evans]

Who would do a terrible thing like that?

[Reverend Smith]

I don't know, Dale. I discovered the robbery less than an hour ago. What's more, Roy, I found these inside the box.

[Roy Rogers]

Strings. Marionette strings.

[Reverend Smith]

Yes, Roy, what is the meaning of these puppets? I thought that affair of yesterday was someone's idea of a joke. Joke in very poor taste, but still a joke. But this. This robbing of the poor box, I.

[Roy Rogers]

It's no joke. I agree with you, Reverend. It's a trick, and a mighty serious one. Dale.

[Dale Evans]

Mm?

[Roy Rogers]

Take this puppet to my office, will you?

[Dale Evans]

All right.

[Roy Rogers]

When I get back, I'll show you how it managed to talk. Meanwhile, Reverend, Gabby and I will go back with you. We'll pick up Sheriff Masters on the way.

[Gabby Hayes]

You gonna have some hombre arrested, Roy?

[Roy Rogers]

No, Gabby. But Sheriff Masters may be able to find fingerprints on that poor box. Let's get going. Come on, Trigger. Hit the trail, boy.

[Announcer]

About an hour later, in the study of the Reverend Warfield Smith.

[Reverend Smith]

Boys, would you mind very much if I went on writing my sermon for next Sunday while you look for fingerprints on that poor box?

[Roy Rogers]

Of course not, Reverend. Go right ahead.

[Reverend Smith]

Thank you. I think I'll light the fire in the fireplace. Feel a little chilly.

[Gabby Hayes]

Let me do it for you, Reverend. There's a little. My chili today. Minds me of the time I. Gabby. Huh? Oh, yeah, yeah. Well, there's your fire, Reverend. Once she gets going, she'll be real nice and warm.

[Reverend Smith]

Thank you, Gabby. I really don't know what I'd do without you and Roy sometimes. Well, I must get back to my servant.

[Gabby Hayes]

What's he going to be about? Your sermon, I mean.

[Reverend Smith]

Oh, the handwriting on the wall, Gabby.

[Gabby Hayes]

Handwriting on the wall. Oh, yeah, I remember now. That's about how a finger appeared in the air and began to write a message on the wall of some king's palace or something.

[Reverend Smith]

Yes, Gabby. Yes, that's right.

[Gabby Hayes]

Yes. Well, how you doing at the poor box, Sheriff?

[Sheriff Masters]

Appears to me like the thief wore gloves. There's nary a sign of a fingerprint on this box at all. What do you make of these marionette strings, Roy?

[Roy Rogers]

Well, I've been going over them carefully, Sheriff. They're made of shoemaker's thread, I'd say. Shoemaker's thread that's been thoroughly waxed.

[Gabby Hayes]

Shoemaker's thread. Well, hog tie me with a piggin string. Beg your pardon, Reverend.

[Roy Rogers]

Oh, what is, Gabby?

[Gabby Hayes]

Why, you reminded me of something, Roy.

[Roy Rogers]

Oh, now, Gabby.

[Gabby Hayes]

No, no, no. I don't mean a tall yarn. I mean something that happened just t' other day. I took a pair of boots to Tony Alturas, our shoemaker here in Paradise Valley, and he just happened to mention he was running kind of low on thread. Said he'd have to order some more from Luke Peabody.

[Sheriff Masters]

Well, what about it, Gabby?

[Gabby Hayes]

Shucks, don't you see? Roy and me, we found Luke outside the belfry door yesterday when somebody had tied that puppet to the bell rope. And these puppet strings, they made a shoemaker's thread that comes from Peabody's general store. They ain't no double gate about this. Hoss. Peabody's the hombre behind all this hocus pocus, and I'm gonna. Roy. Roy, what is it? What are you staring at?

[Roy Rogers]

Look.

[Dale Evans]

Look.

[Roy Rogers]

What?

[Sheriff Masters]

Great Caesar's ghost. There on the fireplace wall above the Reverend Smith's head.

[Reverend Smith]

Dear me. What is it?

[Gabby Hayes]

Why, my soul and body writin' handwriting beginning to appear on the wall and there ain't nobody there writin it. Look at it. A message appearing on the wall as if a ghost.

[Reverend Smith]

Roy.

[Roy Rogers]

Steady, all of you. It's a trick.

[Gabby Hayes]

It says Roy Rogers be warned. $5,000 in the howler stump by midnight or you will regret it.

[Reverend Smith]

Roy, what does it mean? What does it mean?

[Roy Rogers]

It means it. I'll take that. Hello, Roy?

[Dale Evans]

Roy.

[Roy Rogers]

Yes, Dale, what is it?

[Dale Evans]

Roy, in heaven's name, come quickly.

[Roy Rogers]

Dale. What?

[Dale Evans]

Roy here in your office. The puppet. The puppet's talking to me, threatening me.

[Announcer]

Dale.

[Roy Rogers]

Now Steady.

[Gabby Hayes]

Down.

[Roy Rogers]

Listen to me. That's just a trick. It's a trick.

[Dale Evans]

Yes, I know, I know, but. Luke Peabody.

[Roy Rogers]

Yes, yes, What? Luke Peabody. Hello?

[Dale Evans]

Hello?

[Roy Rogers]

Dale?

[Gabby Hayes]

Dale? What in tarnation?

[Roy Rogers]

No time to lose, Gabby. Something's happened to Dale. We're hitting the trail for the Double R bar, pronto. Dale, kneel.

[Gabby Hayes]

Most likely, he's.

[Roy Rogers]

Yep, in here. Gabby, what in the.

[Gabby Hayes]

Roy. There, on the floor. Luke Peabody. And look, puppet laying across his body.

[Roy Rogers]

Luke. Luke. Come on, snap out of. Roy. Luke. What happened here? Where's Dale?

[Reverend Smith]

Dale.

[Gabby Hayes]

Oh, Roy. Roy, you gotta save her.

[Reverend Smith]

You gotta save her.

[Roy Rogers]

Yes, but where is she? They.

[Gabby Hayes]

They took her.

[Reverend Smith]

They got her, Roy. And you.

[Gabby Hayes]

Who's got her?

[Reverend Smith]

The puppets. The puppets. They came and. Roy listened to me.

[Roy Rogers]

No, you listen to me, Luke. Huh? On your feet, Luke.

[Gabby Hayes]

But. But Roy.

[Roy Rogers]

Start talking and talk fast.

[Gabby Hayes]

So he. He's the hombre behind all this, is he? Let me at him. I'll smoke him up with a six gun. I'll send him to heaven to hunt for a harp. I'll shoot himself full of holes. He'll sink when he takes a bath.

[Reverend Smith]

Oh, boys. No, no, no, please.

[Roy Rogers]

Look, Luke, let's ride a straight trail on this. Robbing that church, poor box, was bad enough. But now that something's happened to Dale. You better come clean with me, Prado.

[Gabby Hayes]

All right, Roy. All right.

[Reverend Smith]

Now, the puppet ringing the church bell don't waste time.

[Roy Rogers]

I know all that. I know how that bell rang, even though there was nobody there to ring it. I know how these puppets were made to talk. And I know how the handwriting appeared on the wall in Reverend Smith's study.

[Gabby Hayes]

You know all that?

[Roy Rogers]

Yes. But I don't know where Dale is. And that's what you'd better tell me, Luke Peabody. That's what you better tell me right now.

[Announcer]

Do you know. Do you know how a bell could be made to ring with no one there to ring it? Do you know how a lifeless puppet can be made to speak? And what's the answer to the handwriting on the wall? We'll know the answers to all these questions in a very few minutes. But now, friends, Roy Rogers has something he'd like to tell you. Roy?

[Roy Rogers]

Thanks, Art. Today is a big moment in my life, believe me. Sucks. My folks brought me up on Quaker Oats. Quaker Oats has been a pal of mine since I was knee high to a duck. So I am mighty proud that we're teaming up together. I'm gonna sort of be the Quaker Oats ambassador to your house. I'm not Gonna be backward about telling you to eat Quaker Oats because I know it's mighty good eating and mighty good for you, too. So from now on, folks, when you think of Roy Rogers, doggone it, think of Quaker Oats.

[Announcer]

Thanks, Roy. And friends, remember the wonderful benefits to everyone in delicious whole grain Quaker oats for breakfast. Yes, there's more energy and endurance for you grownups, more growth and health for you youngsters in good, wholesome oatmeal than any other Whole grain cereal. That's because Quaker Oats is so much richer in vital food elements. And like protein, vitamin B1 and iron. Remember to buy Quaker Oats the giant of the cereals. Quaker and Mother Oats are the same.

[Quaker Oats Commercial Voice]

Delicious, nutritious, makes you feel ambitious. The giant of the cereals is Quaker Oats.

[Announcer]

Our scene changes now to the sheriff's office in Paradise Valley.

[Sheriff Masters]

Well, that about does it, Roy. You feeling all right now, Ms. Evans?

[Dale Evans]

Yes, thank you, Sheriff.

[Gabby Hayes]

I don't savvy it. Don't savvy it at all. How'd you know, Roy? How did you know?

[Roy Rogers]

Well, there was only one way that a bell could ring, Gabby. Someone stationed in a window across the street from the church must have been firing at the bell with a rifle. Of course. A rifle with a silencer.

[Dale Evans]

Yes. But what about that puppet that talked?

[Roy Rogers]

That was a wire recorder, Dale. There's a new wire recorder on the market now. It's so small. They call it the watch case recorder. Well, there was a watch case recorder inside that puppet.

[Sheriff Masters]

And the handwriting that appeared on the fireplace wall in the Reverend Smith's study, that was invisible ink. Was it invisible ink that started to appear when the heat of the fire brought it out?

[Roy Rogers]

Exactly, Sheriff.

[Gabby Hayes]

And all the time I thought that Luke Peabody was the ornery culprit.

[Roy Rogers]

It couldn't have been Luke. He was in church yesterday. So he couldn't have fired a rifle at the church bell from outside.

[Reverend Smith]

As I fessed up to you, I suddenly realized that the material used to make the puppet we saw in church yesterday come from my store. And I remembered who bought it. I scally hooted out to the ranch to tell Roy, but he followed me. He told me he'd kill me if I didn't give you that low code story about puppets kidnapping Dale. I was scared. I was mighty scared.

[Gabby Hayes]

But Roy, I still know savvy. How you knowed it was Lindsay Lockridge.

[Roy Rogers]

The first clue gab was that Lockridge used the words articulated figure and vertical controller in describing a puppet. That made me realize he knew something about puppets. The second clue was the stocks that he's been trying to. Well, he's been trying to get me to buy for a long time. That made me figure he was kind of hard up for cash.

[Gabby Hayes]

Shucks, I knowed all them things, but I just never put them together, that's all.

[Sheriff Masters]

Well, Roy Lockridge is locked up safe. And the folks of Paradise Valley are mighty beholden to you. You've done it again.

[Gabby Hayes]

Ain't nothing unusual about that, Sheriff. It was my partner who done that. My partner, Roy Rogers.

[Announcer]

And now Roy Rogers, Dale and the gang sing Carry me Back to the lone prairie.

[Dale Evans (singing)]

Carry me back to the lone prairie where the coyotes howl and the wind blows free and when I die.

[Gabby Hayes]

You.

[Dale Evans (singing)]

Can marry me Neath the west eastern.

[Announcer]

Sky.

[Dale Evans (singing)]

On the lone prairie. Give me back my saddle, give me back my gun.

[Roy Rogers]

Give me back my.

[Dale Evans (singing)]

Bronco that I used to run. Let me spread my blanket Buy a peaceful stream. Hear the cowboys singing by the campfire's gleam.

[Dale Evans]

Oh, carry me back.

[Dale Evans (singing)]

To the lone prairie where the coyotes hop.

[Roy Rogers]

And the.

[Dale Evans (singing)]

Wind blows free and when I die. When I die you can bury me.

[Quaker Oats Commercial Voice]

Beneath the western sky.

[Dale Evans (singing)]

On the lone prairie. Oh, carry me back.

[Gabby Hayes]

To the lone prairie.

[Dale Evans (singing)]

Where the coyotes How. And the wind blows free and when I die you can bury me.

[Announcer]

Neath.

[Quaker Oats Commercial Voice]

The western sky.

[Roy Rogers]

On lone prairie.

[Dale Evans]

Meet.

[Dale Evans (singing)]

The western sky on the lone prairie.

[Roy Rogers]

Well, folks, it's time to hit the trail. Before we go, though, I'd just like to say to all the boys and girls listening in, that I'd take it kindly if they were mighty careful about accidents. You know, kids, on the Double R bar, every cowboy is always on his guard against accidents. I want you to be like that, too. So you do that for me, will ya? Fine. And in the meantime, don't forget.

[Dale Evans (singing)]

Smiles are made out of the sunshine. And a frown from a rainy day. You'll be more than repaid if you remember that a smile goes a long, long way.

[Roy Rogers]

Well, now, until next Sunday. Don't forget this is Roy Rogers saying for Dale Evans, Gabby Hayes and myself. Also Quaker Oats. Goodbye, good luck, and may the good Lord take a liking to you.

[Dale Evans (singing)]

Don't forget smiles are made out of the sunshine. And the smile goes a long, long way.

[Announcer]

This has been a recorded audition created by Sherman and Marquette for its client, the Quaker Oats Company.