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Relic Radio Thrillers (Old Time Radio)
Amnesia by Obsession
We'll hear from Obsession on this week's Relic Radio Thrillers. From February 19, 1951, here's their story, Amnesia. Listen to more from Obsession https://traffic.libsyn.com/forcedn/e55e1c7a-e213-4a20-8701-21862bdf1f8a/Thriller935.mp3 Download Thriller935 | Subscribe | Spotify | Support Relic Radio Thrillers
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- [00:11]
A
Relicradio.com presents stories of mystery and intrigue, espionage and suspense. Hear tales of ticking time bombs, mysterious crime scenes and cloak and dagger action. This is Relic Radio Thrillers. Welcome back to the show. Thanks for joining me this Friday. Friday we're going to hear from Obsession this week. Series that aired over CBS stations for 78 episodes from October 1950 to May of 1952. Our story today is from February 19, 1951. It's titled Amnesia.
- [00:57]
B
Obsession. The pot is boiling and in its churning content all the evils brew. There is something which makes for a mixture of hate, envy and malice. Add some murky fog closing about a man's mind and that is our story of Obsession. Starring Barry Sulliv. Horizontal pillars of early morning sunlight break through the window pane of the room. Out of a drifting sleep a man is slowly awakening. He rubs his eyes in amazement as he stares from the big four poster bed. And on the stage of his mind the demons dance a strange obsession. What? Hey. Hey. Somebody come here. Hey. Where am I? Good morning. Now please don't make so much noise. Who are you? What am I doing here? You had a slight accident last night. I. I hit you with my car. Oh, you did, eh? Well, I guess maybe I ought to see my lawyer. I wouldn't bother. It was your fault. I had plenty of witnesses. You were quite intoxicated. Well, why not? But look, if it wasn't your fault, why did you bring me here? You've never seen me before. No, not that I remember. Then I might as well come to the point. I brought you here for a purpose. You resemble very closely someone I used to know. A man named Robin Marshall? Yes, or what? The name means nothing to you. Nothing. If I didn't know that the other Robin Marshall was dead, I'd swear you were he. But you're very sure this other guy is dead. Very sure. But at first you were not so sure. Why? I knew you couldn't be Marshall. Yet you're so like him. All right, all right. Let's have it. What's the racket? Robin Marshall was killed three years ago in a plane crash in Peru. Come on. There's a girl who was in love with him. She has never believed him dead. She still waits, hoping against hope that he'll return. It's ruining her life. She lives in a sort of never Never Land, afraid to face reality. Well, if she's not sure he's dead, how can you be so sure? When the accident happened, the shock was so great that her father insisted we leave Her. Some hope he didn't tell her that he went to Peru himself to identify the body. I'm the only one that knows that. What's all this got to do with me? Robin Marshall was a crooked. She never learned that about him, though. All of us knew that one day she'd face a bitter disillusionment. And of course, his death spared her that, eh? Exactly. But now she faces something worse. She's dedicated her life to the memory of a ghost. Sure, sure, I can see that. There's a man who's in love with her, a friend of mine. But what chance is he against a Green? That's why I brought you here. I wanted to live again in the present. I want Robin Marshall to come back to life. Oh, so that's my job, to impersonate a heel? Yes, for three months. And for those three months, I'll pay you $5,000. You'll live exactly as you did before he went away. What about the people he knew, the questions I'll be asked, the things and places I'll be expected to remember. You've heard about amnesia? Amnesia? Yes. You were hurt in the plane accident and lost your memory. But somehow you made your way back here. Yeah. What about the father? You say he identified the body. He's bound to smell a phony somewhere. He could have made a mistake. And anyway, he's out of town. And when he's returned, you'll. You'll be firmly established in your old life. My only worry is Marion. Marion? Marion Bingham? That's a girl. It all depends on her whether she accepts you as Robin Marshall. If so, there's nothing to worry about. There's one thing I should tell you. Rather curious coincidence. I'm suffering from the same malady. I'm being hired to pretend. Yes, it's a laugh, isn't it? It's true. I don't know who I am or where I came from. That's why I wanted to be so sure that you knew the real Robin Marshall was dead. Because the joke would certainly be on you if I turned out to be him. Oh, no. No, it couldn't be. You do look incredibly like him, except for one thing. Your eyes. Yours are warm and kind. If it wasn't for the girl's father's identification, there might still be a doubt. Fantastic as it might seem, three years can change a man more than you think. He could have made a mistake, but I don't think so. And I'm going to gamble on the fact that he didn't. If you are willing. I'll arrange your meeting with Marion. Okay. The sooner the better. At least if she accepts me for three months, I'll have a name and a history. You can't imagine what that'll mean. You can't imagine how lost a man can be without an identity. Well, we're ready for the test, eh, Peter? Yes? Mary is downstairs. I've told her Robin Marshall has come home. It's going to be a little odd being madly loved by a woman I've never seen before. There she is. Why, she's beautiful.
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C
Robin. Robin, look at me. I can't believe it's true. That it's you standing here before me, alive and well.
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B
It's been a long time. You must be very sure.
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C
But I am sure, Robin. Very sure indeed. It's your eyes. I'd never forget them. Oh, Robin, darling. You've come home at last. We're almost there now. Do you remember at all how your apartment looked?
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B
Well, just vaguely. It was in brown and quite a lot of wood.
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C
Is that right? We did it over together. We were to live there.
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B
Oh, we. We will live there.
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C
Oh, yes, darling. So very soon.
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B
This is it.
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C
The one with the balcony and the three windows. Everything is just as it was when you went away. No one's had the key but me.
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B
Here, here, let me help you out.
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C
Oh, thank you. Every time I've been here, I prayed it before I came again. You will be back.
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B
I'm not worthy of a love like that.
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C
That's for me to decide, isn't it? And don't forget, darling, love, like virtue, must always be its own reward.
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B
Yeah, I suppose it is.
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C
When two people are in love, there's always one that loves more than the other. I don't know why that should be, but it's so. I've always loved you a little more than you ever loved me. And I. I think I'd rather have that way. It's a sort of martyr complex, I guess. Well, here's your key. There's a door to your manor. Open, my lord, and enter. Well, Robin, what are you waiting for?
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B
It's such a small key to open such a large world.
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C
Yes, isn't it?
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B
Now.
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C
Now do you remember?
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B
I suppose I do. I can't tell, really. You've been here this morning.
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C
Oh, yes. I brought some flowers because I wanted your home to look lived in, as if you'd never really been away.
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B
But I have been away. I've been away for a very long time. There's no use pretending things aren't the same. They. They can't be the same, Robin. I'll have to learn to live in these rooms all over again. I'll have to learn to. To be with you all over again. I'm not the same man who went away. You've got to believe that.
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C
But you only think you've changed. You haven't at all. Why, I knew you better than anyone else. I can tell. I say, you haven't changed.
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B
What sort of a man was I? Marian? Tell me that. What sort of a man was I?
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C
What an odd question.
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B
But I must know.
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C
You can't remember even that?
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B
No.
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C
And you're asking me to hand you a character all nicely tailored and ready made like. Like a part handed out to an actor?
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B
Yes. Yes, it would be easier that way.
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C
Well, I won't do it.
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B
Robin.
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C
Whatever you were, whatever you are now, you've got to find out for yourself. Maybe you're right. Maybe you have changed. Maybe you're no longer the man I knew at all. But that's something we've got to find out together.
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B
How much a part of my world were you?
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C
I've got to know that the only part of your world that I knew was that which concerned me. Look, Robin. In that desk over there is locked. Everything that had to do with that part of your life which I didn't share. I've never opened it. I never wanted to open it. You'll find the key in that vase. You always kept it there.
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B
Yes. Oh, yes, of course.
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C
I never dreamed your coming back would be like this. I'd always thought of it as being simple. You just take me in your arms and I would kiss you. And there we'd be, just as we always were, leaving.
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B
And the returning of people to each other is never simple. Particularly the returning.
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C
Robin. Answer me one question truthfully.
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B
As truthfully as I can, as I
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C
am now, as you see me and know me in this little while we've been together. Can you say honestly that. That you love me?
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B
Honestly? What if I said I don't know?
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C
I believe you'd answer me honestly.
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B
What are you doing?
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C
It's an old record. We used to dance to it, remember?
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B
Sure. Sure, I remember.
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C
Would you. Would you like to dance again?
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B
Very much. You're beautiful, Marion. Beautiful.
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C
Thank you, Robin.
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B
And I. Will I. You wanted my answer. Here it is. Robin.
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C
Oh, Robin. You've never kissed me like that before. You do love me.
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B
You too. The stranger victim of amnesia has found resurrection and life in the love with Marian. But can we be sure this Is Robin Marshall here is something like a living ghost. Flesh and blood, bone and sinew. With a strong heart that beats with a new excitement. But what about the past? The rising and falling tides of a torn memory become an obsession. And now back to our story. Starring Barry Sulliv. The stranger, bound in a pact with Ralph, is changing his mind. The values which rested like are now becoming heavy and harder to shoulder. He is striving to emerge from the web and his bargain. I can't go through with it. It's no good. I hadn't counted on the girl. It's a rotten trick to play, and I can't do it. I see. You've fallen in love with her. Whether I have or haven't is beside the point. I'm telling you now that I'm not going through with this deal. You made a bargain with me. You haven't any out Now I can tell her the truth before it's too late. Before things go any farther. I'm afraid you've changed your mind a little late, my friend. I've even told the newspapers that Robin Marshall has come back from the dead. Okay, Painter. You've given me a name and a life. I'm really going to move into that life. I'm taking over that name and that world. Not for just a month, my dear painter. Not for just a month, but for keeps. Why, you. And there's nothing you can do about it. Everybody knows it. Now you've given out the story yourself. You'd look pretty silly going back on your own word now, wouldn't you? Especially when the girl who loves me would swear on her life that I was the man. Oh, no, Peter. You're caught on your own hook this time. And you can dangle there for all I care. You wouldn't have the nerve to do that. Oh, wouldn't I? You don't know me. Then you gave the story to the newspapers. Soon you'll hear them yelling, robin Marshall to come back from the dead. Right when you hear him. Let me tell you this, Painter. They won't be kidding. Good evening, my dear Marshall. What the hey. What the devil are you doing here? And who are you? Ah, so it's true what they say about your amnesia. Don't even remember your partner. I was, of course, the silent partner. My name is Benton. Hector Benton. What sort of business were we partners in, Mr. Benton? We. We had many interests, Marshall. All of them profitable. Good. Then you can tell me what kind of a man I was. You can tell me what I've done. What I've been. The whole truth about Robin Marshall. I don't want one detail omitted. Not one. Very well. I shall start with our meeting. Marshall was after the Bancroft affair. You bungled that. It was a very crude swindle, Marshall, but it showed you had imagination and initiative. Just what I was looking for. So with a little guidance, we planned other things. We started going places. We understood each other perfectly. Yes. Don't pretend that you don't know me. That amnesia story. Another one of your tricks, I suppose. Well, again, my path comes calling. You're my second guest tonight. I have no intention of staying. I read about your miraculous reappearance and I came back to town as quickly as I could. You're Marion's father. You know that as well as I do. Now, look here, Marshall. I don't know what's happened to me in the past three years, but I've cornered a little courage from somewhere. And you can't blackmail me anymore. Just how much have I blackmailed you for in the past, Mr. Bingham? Over a hundred thousand dollars. And what little I've had left during the last three years, I've used to repay most of the money I stole. With a little more time, I might have managed to pay it all. Now, I presume there's little chance of that. Peter said you identified my body in Peru. You must have lied to him. Yes, I did. I wanted him to think you dead for certain. Why? Because I needed his help. With you alive, he'd never help me. He's in love with Marian. And now. Hey, wait a minute. What did you say? I said Painter was in love with Marian. You know that. No, I didn't. But I understand a lot now that I didn't understand before. Go on, go on. What were you saying? I know he'd do anything he could for me if he thought it would help him win Marian. You didn't approve of me, but you didn't mind Painter marrying your daughter if it would help you. I don't admire Painter, but he's preferable to you. I'd rather see Marion dead than married to you, Marshall. That's all I have to say. I'm going now, but remember, stay away from Arion. I mean that, Marshall. Well, Painter, I'm back again. You didn't even begin to tell me the truth about Marshall, did you? I suppose you run into Benton. Yes, and Bingham, too. Peter, you really love Marian, don't you? More than anything else in the world. And how can you be sure I'm not the real Robin? Marshall, I told you that we've Bingham's word for that, but we haven't. What do you mean? He told me last night that he'd lied to you because he wanted you to think that I was dead. He was in a jam. And he knew that, loving Marion, you'd help him out because as a prospective son in law, you couldn't do much else. Then you really might be he. Yes. And if I am, if I was sure that I was the real Robin Marshall, I'd fulfill my bargain with you to the letter. You mean that? I most certainly do. Then let me tell you, you are. Marsha would never make such a sacrifice as that. For you do love her, don't you? Yes, Peter, I do. Now, look, my friend, I never thought I'd say this to you, but I've lost. No matter how it works out for you, there's no chance for me. I know that. There is a chance for you and for her, too. I wish I could believe that. Whether Robin Marshall is dead in memory or in fact, you're the man Marion loves. So why not tell her the truth? But for my sake. Not all of the truth, but tell her that you aren't sure and let her decide. Thanks, Peter. That's exactly what I'll do. Marion, I'm so glad you came. I've been trying to get you all afternoon.
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C
Whatever's the matter, Robin?
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B
I've got to ask you something and I'm afraid to know the answer.
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C
Well, don't ask it, then.
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B
But there's one thing I've got to know beyond all doubt.
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C
I must know whether you are Robin Marshall. Is that it?
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B
Yes. How did you guess?
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C
Ever since you came back, you've been asking that question. In a thousand ways you've asked.
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B
And knowing my own doubts, you still believe.
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C
Robin, is it awfully important that you
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B
know since last night? It is.
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C
Something my father said to you?
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B
Yes. That and something else I learned.
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C
But supposing I were to tell you now that I didn't care any longer whether you were the man I loved three years ago or the man I loved tonight. Marian, all men change. What I loved in the Robin Marshall of three years ago and what I love in the Robin Marshall of today is the same. And to me that's all that matters.
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B
But you never really knew Robin Marshall. You couldn't have known him and loved him.
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C
But I did. What I loved in him no other person ever saw. No one ever knew him as well as I did. I knew him better than he knew himself.
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B
But you don't know the kind of a man he really was. I found out because I know. I. Well, I. We can't go on like we are, Robin.
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C
That first day in your apartment, I showed you a desk and I said I'd never opened it. That much was true. But actually, I lied. I knew all about you before you went away. I knew about father and the money. I knew about many other things. That's why I knew you didn't die. You couldn't die with so much left undone, so much wrong that still has to be righted. Because you see, darling, you were searching even then. You hadn't found yourself. And to find yourself, to really find yourself, you'd first have to come back to me.
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B
Do you really believe that if I am that man, there is a chance that I could find myself?
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C
Oh, Robin, believe me. Whoever you are, you have found yourself. That's what counts. What a man is and what he seems to be are two very different things. I know the kind of a man you were. I know the kind of a man you are. It was only that you had to find out for yourself.
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B
I. I still don't know what to say to you, Robin.
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C
There's been a great deal of wrong done. But much of it can be undone. Don't you see? That's our job.
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B
Yours.
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C
Mine. And if we're strong and we're not afraid, it won't be hard to do. And now I'd like a glass of sherry, if you don't mind.
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B
Surely you know, I. I don't know whether I'm doing the right thing or not. All I know is that I love you. I love you. And whatever I do, I'll never knowingly make you unhappy. That's the best vow I can make.
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C
That's the only vow I need.
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B
You're Sherry. Salute.
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C
Salute. And now a kiss.
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B
Why, sweet, I'll never forget the first time I kissed you.
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C
Nor will I. You see, that's the first time I really knew the other.
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B
Robin Marshall, You have been listening to Obsession. Obsession has come to you through the worldwide facilities of the United States Armed by forces Radio and Television service.
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C
Sam,
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A
That's our thriller for this week. I'll be back next Friday with more in between. Now and then, you can find more from Obsession, Relic Radio, thrillers and everything else. Relic Radio at the website relicradio.com. you can donate through that website. If you'd like to help support us, there's also a shoutcast stream there with even more to listen to. Thanks for joining me. This Friday. I'll be back tomorrow with the horror. And next Friday with our next episode of Relic Radio Thrillers.