Episode 419 - Favorites from 1948

Summary

Stars on Suspense (Old Time Radio) - Episode 419: Favorites from 1948

Release Date: August 14, 2025
Host: Mean Streets Podcasts

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Introduction

In Episode 419 of "Stars on Suspense," hosted by Mean Streets Podcasts, listeners are treated to a curated selection of the host's favorite suspense episodes from the transformative year of 1948. This episode delves into a pivotal period for the classic radio series "Suspense," highlighting key episodes that showcase legendary Hollywood stars in gripping narratives. The host provides insightful commentary, contextualizing each story within the broader landscape of radio drama during that era.

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1. The Candy Tooth
Timestamp: 00:57 - 06:54

Overview:
"The Candy Tooth" serves as a standout episode, blending the worlds of "Suspense" and "The Adventures of Sam Spade." Originally aired on January 10, 1948, this two-part sequel to "The Maltese Falcon" features Howard Duff reprising his role as the iconic detective Sam Spade.

Key Points:

• Crossover Event: This episode marks a significant crossover between "Suspense" and the detective adventures of Sam Spade, bridging genres and audiences.

• Production Quality: Unlike other hour-long episodes that often felt padded, "The Candy Tooth" maintains tight narrative tension, demonstrating why it stands out among the favorites. (04:02)

• Star Performances: The episode boasts an impressive cast, including Lorene Tuttle as Effie Perrine and Joseph Kearns stepping into Sydney Greenstreet's role as Caspar Gutman.

• Plot Highlights: Sam Spade receives a cryptic telegram from the presumed-dead Caspar Gutman, igniting a suspenseful quest involving a stolen relic—a tooth from Dom Constantino's jawbone, connected to the legendary Maltese Falcon.

Notable Quote:
Robert Montgomery, serving as a narrator and guide, emphasizes the importance of character and emotion in suspense:
"But always the basic ingredient is people. For people give us emotion. And emotion marks the high drama that cold logic can never achieve."
(05:30)

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2. The Big Shot
Timestamp: 67:35 - 77:09

Overview:
Burt Lancaster takes center stage in "The Big Shot," portraying Charles Morton, an ambitious engineer whose quest to amass gold in Mexico leads him down a path of greed and peril.

Key Points:

• Star Power: Burt Lancaster's debut in a dramatic radio role brings a charismatic presence to the story, enhancing the episode's appeal.

• Plot Dynamics: Charles Morton's arrogance and desire for wealth drive him to deceitfully secure a gold mine, only to face betrayal and conflict with his partner, Martin Quinn.

• Themes: The episode explores themes of ambition, trust, and the destructive impact of greed.

Notable Quote:
Lancaster's character, Charles Morton, asserts his dominance with grit:
"You gotta be tough to be a big shot. Especially when you're cursed with yellow curly hair and a pretty baby face."
(68:25)

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3. The Man Who Wanted to Be Edward G. Robinson
Timestamp: 93:07 - 125:12

Overview:
Edward G. Robinson stars in this intriguing narrative as Homer J. Hubbard, a meek librarian who becomes obsessed with mimicking Robinson's tough-guy persona, leading to a series of distressing events.

Key Points:

• Character Study: The episode offers a deep dive into Hubbard's psychological transformation, blurring the lines between reality and delusion.

• Narrative Twist: As Hubbard's imitation becomes increasingly violent, the story culminates in a confrontation where his obsession leads to unintended consequences.

• Themes: Identity, obsession, and the impact of media on personal psyche are central to this story.

Notable Quote:
Homer J. Hubbard reflects on his transformation:
"After I hit this berg, I've been feeling like the forgotten pardon man. Now I'm the strangler, a murderer at heart."
(110:25)

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4. A Little Piece of Rope
Timestamp: 06:54 - 29:15

Overview:
Lucille Ball delivers a compelling performance in "A Little Piece of Rope," one of the host's all-time favorites. This episode stands out for its engaging plot and Ball’s portrayal of Isabelle, showcasing her range beyond her well-known comedic roles.

Key Points:

• Performance: Lucille Ball's role as Isabelle demonstrates her versatility, bringing depth and emotion to the suspense narrative.

• Plot Elements: The story revolves around mysterious events tied to a valuable relic—a sacred tooth—and the ensuing conflict among various characters vying for its possession.

• Production Values: High-quality direction by Anton M. Leiter ensures a seamless blend of suspense and character-driven drama.

Notable Quote:
Lucille Ball's character, Isabelle, muses on the perilous events unfold:
"The tooth. It's gone. It was cremated."
(30:22)

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5. The Hands of Mr. Ottermole
Timestamp: 156:46 - 179:35

Overview:
Claude Rains and Vincent Price star together in "The Hands of Mr. Ottermole," a gripping tale of deceit, betrayal, and the relentless pursuit of a hidden relic connected to historical lore.

Key Points:

• Dynamic Duo: The chemistry between Rains and Price adds a rich layer of tension and intrigue to the narrative.

• Plot Intricacies: The episode intricately ties present-day conflicts with historical legends, as characters navigate treacherous alliances and moral dilemmas in their quest for the sacred tooth.

• Climactic Conclusion: The story builds to a riveting climax where hidden motives and true identities are unveiled, culminating in a dramatic confrontation.

Notable Quote:
Vincent Price's character, Caspar Gutman, outlines the stakes:
"To mark you, sir, what part of it survived the claw? You believe in omen?"
(34:25)

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Host Commentary and Insights

Throughout the episode, the host, Mean Streets Podcasts, provides valuable insights into the production changes "Suspense" underwent in 1948, including:

• Format Shifts: The show's expansion to an hour-long format in early 1948 and the subsequent return to thirty minutes in July, drawing parallels to "The Twilight Zone's" similar experience. The host notes that while the longer format often felt diluted, "The Candy Tooth" remained exceptional. (02:00)

• Behind-the-Scenes Changes: The transition in production leadership from William Speer to Anton M. Leiter and later Norman MacDonald, highlighting how these changes influenced the quality of episodes.

• Legacy and Impact: The host emphasizes the enduring legacy of "Suspense" as radio's premier theater of thrills, noting its ability to adapt and maintain high standards despite challenges.

Notable Quote from Host:
"With a full hour for our theater of thrills, we can give these authors a full stage on which to have their people play out their lusts and desires, their temptations and frustrations, their frantic fears and villainous triumphs."
(05:00)

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Conclusion

Episode 419 of "Stars on Suspense" masterfully showcases the pinnacle of 1948's radio drama, featuring legendary performances and intricate storytelling. From the detective charisma of Sam Spade in "The Candy Tooth" to the psychological depths explored in "The Man Who Wanted to Be Edward G. Robinson," each featured episode exemplifies the best of what "Suspense" had to offer. The host's expert commentary enriches the listening experience, providing historical context and highlighting the significance of each story within the golden age of radio.

For enthusiasts of classic radio dramas and suspense narratives, this episode serves as both an entertaining journey through riveting tales and a scholarly exploration of the genre's evolution.

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Notable Quotes with Timestamps:

• Robert Montgomery (Host/Narrator):
  "With a full hour for our theater of thrills, we can give these authors a full stage on which to have their people play out their lusts and desires, their temptations and frustrations, their frantic fears and villainous triumphs."
  (05:00)

• Victor Price (Caspar Gutman):
  "To mark you, sir, what part of it survived the claw? You believe in omen?"
  (34:25)

• Lucille Ball (Isabelle):
  "The tooth. It's gone. It was cremated."
  (30:22)

• Burt Lancaster (Charles Morton):
  "You gotta be tough to be a big shot. Especially when you're cursed with yellow curly hair and a pretty baby face."
  (68:25)

• Claude Rains (Homer J. Hubbard):
  "After I hit this berg, I've been feeling like the forgotten pardon man. Now I'm the strangler, a murderer at heart."
  (110:25)

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Production Credits:

• Producer/Director: Anton M. Leiter
• Musical Director/Conductor: Lucian Marowak
• Composer: Led Gluskin
• Special Thanks: Joseph Kearns, Claude Rains, Vincent Price, Howard Duff, Lucille Ball, and other supporting cast members.

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Next Episode Preview:

Looking ahead, Episode 420 will continue the journey through 1949's favorite "Suspense" episodes, promising another collection of thrilling narratives and stellar performances. Stay tuned for more classic suspense tales that defined radio's golden era.

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Support and Feedback:

If you enjoyed this summary, please rate and review "Stars on Suspense" on your preferred podcast platform. Your feedback helps us bring more classic suspense stories to life!

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This summary is intended to provide a comprehensive overview of Episode 419 of "Stars on Suspense." For full episode details and to experience the stories firsthand, tune into the episode on your favorite podcast platform.

Transcript

[Robert Montgomery]

Now, let's see. Suspect, suspect, suspend. Ah, here we are. Suspense, the condition of mental uncertainty, usually accompanied by apprehension or anxiety. Fear of something which is about to occur as do not keep me any longer in suspense.

[Howard Duff]

Hello and welcome to Stars on Suspense, where today I'm back from a sort of impromptu summer hiatus and kicking off the 10th year of the podcast. I'm continuing my journey through the years of radio's Outstanding Theater of Thrills and today I've picked my favorite suspense shows from the year 1940. 481948 found suspense in a transition period. In late 1947, the show lost its longtime sponsor Roma Wines, and it wouldn't pick up its new sponsor Autolite until July. So for the first seven months of the year and for the first time since 1943, radio's outstanding theater of Thrills aired on CBS without a sponsor. And for the first few months of the year the show expanded to an hour long format with actor, director and past suspense star Robert Montgomery on hand as a sort of master of ceremonies. By and large, this change in format didn't help suspense. Like the fourth season of the Twilight Zone when that series also expanded to 60 minute episodes, the shows felt padded and the nail biting tension of the taught earlier stories was gone. Now there were exceptions like one of the episodes we'll hear today, but I can't imagine many people were disappointed when the show returned to 30 minutes each week in July 1948 also saw some changes behind the scenes as longtime producer and director William Speer was succeeded in February by Anton M. Leiter who was coming off of the syndicated horror anthology show Murder at Midnight. His tenure was relatively short. Norman MacDonald stepped in as director in July 1949, but Leader's Run produced some very good episodes as we'll hear today. So now here are my favorite suspense episodes from 1948, beginning with my pick for the best of the hour long shows. It's an old time radio crossover event between suspense and the adventures of Sam Spade. It's the Candy Tooth, a radio sequel to the Maltese Falcon that originally aired on CBS on January 10, 1948. Suspense and Sam Spade were both produced and directed by William Speer, and when suspense switched to 60 minutes, Speer revived a two part Spade episode for the series and he brought Spade star Howard Duff along to reprise his role. If you're not familiar with the Sam Spade radio show, the Candy Tooth serves as a great introduction to one of radio's best detective programs. And since it's a story that was designed to be an hour long. It doesn't suffer from padding along with Howard Duff, you'll hear Lorene Tuttle reprise her role as Sam's secretary, Effie Perrine. We've also got a cast of suspense veterans. Kathy Lewis, Bill Johnstone, Wally Mayer, Hans Conreid and Joseph Kearns, who steps into Sydney Greenstreet's shoes as the fat man. Then we'll jump to September 9th and the big Shot, which marked Burt Lancaster's first dramatic appearance on the air. Lancaster plays an engineer who's been hired to help run a clandestine gold mine in Mexico. But his short temper and his arrogance don't earn him many friends on the crew. And he decides he'd rather keep the entire haul of gold. For himself. With the help of a local barmaid he's fallen for. Lancaster cooks up a story to make the mine's boss think that the crew is in danger and in the sights of a notorious bandit. Lancaster is a great heel in this show. And the whole thing builds to a classic suspense ending. Then we'll hear Edward G. Robinson starring appropriately as the man who Wanted to Be Edward G. Robinson from September 30th. Robinson plays a milquetoast man who discovers he's a dead ringer for the star. And he decides to emulate the actor's tough guy gangster roles. In real life. Robinson is terrific in a dual role. Playing both himself and his unlikely look alike in scenes where he plays against Edward G. Robinson. It's a great dark comedy and a wonderful showcase for its star. Now, our fourth show today is one of my all time favorites. And it's a story that's better the less you know going in. So all I'll say is the episode is A Little Piece of Rope. Starring Lucille Ball in what I think is her finest hour on suspense. It originally aired on CBS on October 14th. And finally, we've got a two hander. With Vincent Price and Claude Rains starring together. In the hands of Mr. Ottermole from December 2nd. Adapted from the classic story by Thomas Burke. It's about a murderer who preys on the city of London on fog shrouded nights. And about a policeman and a newspaper reporter who meet up to swap theories about the crimes. The story was adapted for several radio shows. Including a very good production on the Mole Mystery Theater. But this version is the best. With the two old pros batting the ball back and forth with great performances. Now let's journey back to 1940, 48. And my favorite episodes from the year in suspense.

[Lucille Ball]

Would you hand me that, please?

[Robert Montgomery]

Thank you.

[Lucille Ball]

Now, let's see. Survey. Survive. Susanna, suspect. Ah, here we are. Suspense. Meaning held in doubt, expressing doubt. The state of being uncertain, undecided or insecure. State of anxious expectation or waiting for information such as to keep one in suspense. Therefore delay acquainting him with what he is eager to know.

[Vincent Price]

Suspense.

[Robert Montgomery]

An hour of suspense. Now a full 60 minutes at this time.

[Vincent Price]

And with the distinguished actor, director Robert Montgomery as your host tonight. Our star is Howard Duff, famous wherever radio is heard, as Sam Spade, detective.

[Robert Montgomery]

And as Spade, he will appear in.

[Vincent Price]

The Candy Tooth, a suspense play produced, edited and directed by William Spear.

[Lucille Ball]

This is Robert Montgomery. My pleasure and privilege it is to be here during this hour each week as a sort of guide, philosopher and fiend, an accessory before and after the facts of crime and punishment, which calculatedly fill our minutes with suspense this evening. Before we chat a little about the private life of America's favorite private eye, let me, on behalf of Mr. Speer and all of us, thank you sincerely for your wonderful letters and telegrams expressing appreciation and interest in this new full hour presentation. It's wonderful Fun to have 60 minutes to play with in radio drama. In our new double strength king size format. We plan to bring you radio plays based on complete novels and on theatrical productions and pictures. Many of the best writers of this literature, James M. Kane, Dashiell Hammett, Raymond Chandler, Graham Greene, Eric Ambler and Agatha Christie, have been happiest with a more spacious canvas upon which to display their characters of passion and purpose. With a full hour for our theater of thrills, we can give these authors a full stage on which to have their people play out their lusts and desires, their temptations and frustrations, their frantic fears and villainous triumphs, their descent into black and terror laden bewilderment. Sometimes we find ourselves locked in the tortured brain of the scheming criminal. At other times we know the dread of the hunted and hapless victim. But always the basic ingredient of suspense is not mechanical gadgetry, not the detectable piecing out of fingerprints and convenient clues. But always the basic ingredient is people. For people give us emotion. And emotion marks the high drama that cold logic can never achieve. Nowhere will you find stranger people, motives and situations than those that pass through the door of a little office in San Francisco's Post Street. The lettering on the door reads Samuel Spade, Private Investigations. Once it read Spade and Archer. But that was before Miles Archer stopped a bullet and plunged Sam Spade into the greatest detective adventure of modern times. The search for the Maltese Falcon. It was literally A shot heard round the world. For it brought into prominence the name of Dashiell Hammett and the so called hard boiled school of crime detection. Since then, the fictional private eye has become a national institution. But Sam Spade still rules the roost in book sales in motion pictures. The Maltese Falcon has been filmed four times now and now on the air every Sunday night in the Adventures of Sam Spade starring Howard Duff and produced by our very own Bill Speer. It's a great pleasure for me to introduce to our suspense audience now a young star from my home lot, Universal International, in the role with which he has become so closely identified that most of his fan mail is addressed to Sam Spade. Howard Duff.

[Claude Rains]

Thanks, Bob. I'd like to go on record right now as saying that any checks I may sign with the name Sam Spade will be accepted at your own risk.

[Lucille Ball]

The detective business has been pretty good lately, I hear. How much did Sam make during 1947?

[Claude Rains]

Effie would know. But no matter how much it was, it won't change Sam. He's. He'll still do business at the same old stand in a rickety office building on Post street where the elevator seldom ever works and the janitor never ever works.

[Lucille Ball]

As a matter of fact, I got into my Philip Marlow pants this morning and did a little Spade work on Spade myself. Don't stop me if I'm wrong, but here are some of the facts. F A X Facts the way I dug them up. Age, Nobody talked. History. Mysterious, but was probably a Pinkerton man to start with. Height, 6ft in a small chunk. Weight, enough muscle to go with his height. Hair, dim out blonde. Eyes yellow gray. Unmarried. Lives alone in a small furnished apartment within walking distance of his office. Is economical to the point of. Well, never takes a cab where streetcars can get and has been known to walk where they can't get. Secretary Effie Perrine. The only person who really knows what makes Sam tickets when he wants her to. Otherwise he's a lonely man who trusts no one. Lives alone and loves alone and expects others to like it. Have I left anything out?

[Claude Rains]

Nothing you left out, Bob. Something you put in. It's not true that I don't trust anybody. I trust everybody. All my clients are honest until I prove them otherwise.

[Lucille Ball]

Maybe that's what's kept you in the private eye business all these years.

[Claude Rains]

That and the strong hatred that I have.

[Robert Montgomery]

Hatred?

[Claude Rains]

Yeah, for time clocks and the hours between 9 and 5. That's why I went into business for myself and that's what keeps me there.

[Lucille Ball]

Then you Regard it as a business, Sam, and not as an adventure.

[Claude Rains]

Well, when you break an arm in an adventure, the cost of setting it is not tax deductible. In a business, it is.

[Robert Montgomery]

Yes, I see.

[Lucille Ball]

How many cases have you had? And do you think all private dicks are clever?

[Claude Rains]

Well, I've had so many cases, I can't remember them all about being clever. I once knew an operative who, while looking for pickpockets at Santa Anita racetrack, had his wallet stolen. He later became a lieutenant of detectives in Glendale.

[Lucille Ball]

Sam, tell me, what was the most surprising thing that ever happened to.

[Claude Rains]

The most surprising thing that ever happened to me was in 1936, in Washington, D.C. i met a young lady on a bus who did not remark that my work must be very interesting.

[Lucille Ball]

Well, that's very interesting.

[Claude Rains]

Thanks a lot. But I guess my most exciting caper since the Maltese Falcon was the hugger mugger over the candy tooth. Usually when I wind a caper, I call Effie just to let her know I'm okay before I hustle down to the office to dictate my report to the client. But this time it was 4:30 in the morning before I could get to a phone. The reason was that I was in jail.

[Edward G. Robinson]

Sam's Bay Detective Agency.

[Claude Rains]

Wake up, angel. You're home in bed, not at the office.

[Edward G. Robinson]

Is that you, Sam?

[Robert Montgomery]

Mm.

[Edward G. Robinson]

What time is it?

[Claude Rains]

4:30 in the morning.

[Edward G. Robinson]

Are you up already?

[Claude Rains]

Effie, pull yourself together. Get dressed. Hustle down to the city jail.

[Edward G. Robinson]

Oh, Sam, what happened?

[Claude Rains]

Well, that's what I got to get on the record now while I'm still alive to do it. Grab a taxi and hustle on down. Bring a book, pencils, the encyclopedia that has the letter K in it, and any old $20,000 you got laying around.

[Edward G. Robinson]

Sam, where am I going to get pencils at this? Oh, I hurried just as fast as I could. There was no taxi run. What are you doing in jail?

[Claude Rains]

My apartment's being redecorated. Did you bring your book?

[Edward G. Robinson]

Of course I did, and pencils, too. But you're here on a murder charge. Sam, whatever could have happened.

[Claude Rains]

Take it down, Effie.

[Edward G. Robinson]

But, Sam, what did you do?

[Claude Rains]

San Francisco Homicide Bureau. Attention. Detective Lieutenant Dundee. Date. Fill it in. From Samuel Spade, license number 137596. Subject, the Candy tooth caper. Dear Dundee, I don't know all the answers, not yet. What I do know is going down on paper while I'm still alive to get it there. Oh, Sam, the scenario runs something like this. This morning, a telegram came to my office. It was addressed to Samuel Spade, Esq. And it was signed Casper Gutman. Gutman? The Fat Man? So far as I knew, Dundee, when you closed your books on the Maltese Falcon capers seven years ago, Gutman was entered as dead. First, I thought the telegram was somebody's idea of a joke but when I read it through the second time, I knew it was no joke. There's nobody else who thinks or talks or writes like Caspar gutten.

[Vincent Price]

My dear Mr. Spade, you will no doubt receive with mixed emotions the news of my imminent reappearance in the city of the Golden Gate. Hence the companion dispatch of a telegraphic draft in the amount of $1,000, which you are free to convert into coin of the realm. This trifling sum, sir, is merely a token of my esteem for a man of many resources and nice judgments and for it I do not require any specific service. However, if you feel so disposed, sir, you are free to accept my considered advice in the matter of an invidious pair of rogues, to wit, one Lawrence laverne, DDS and or Hope laverne whose charms and aliases are far too myriad to enumerate in this necessarily abbreviated communication. Should either or both of these persons approach you, beware the hidden tooth. Believe me, sir, they are untruthful and reliable and totally devoid of all moral sensibilities. I count upon you to make no commitments to them or anyone else until you've heard my proposition. This I hope to lay before you when I arrive in San Francisco this very evening. Dear Joel, send regards. I remain your obedient servant, Caspar Gutman.

[Claude Rains]

Casper Gutman. The Fat man. I know, Dundee. You figured I didn't get hurt much the last time I tangled with Gutman over the Maltese Falcon. But that's because you didn't know Bridget o' Shaughnessy as well as I did. As well or as warmly. Well, I figured if Gutman was still in the land of the living, let him come this time. I wasn't going to get hurt in any way. There couldn't be two bridges. Nevertheless, I ate a can of spinach, which I found on Effie's desk. Then I sat down again, facing the door. Nothing much happened for almost 10 minutes. I was still trying to dig the meaning out of Gutman's double talk and I'd gotten about as far as his warning about a hidden tooth when Effie ushered a man into my office.

[Robert Montgomery]

Mr. Spade. Well, well. I must say that you are indeed a pleasant surprise. But pleasant.

[Claude Rains]

You said it. What can I do for you.

[Robert Montgomery]

My name is laverne. Larry Lawrence laverne.

[Claude Rains]

How do you do?

[Robert Montgomery]

I shall spare you the tasks and details and plunge right into the problem. At the Hotel Royal George, there is a mildewed creature, but mildewed. Registered as Mr. Herman Julius. Oh, a really frightful person.

[Claude Rains]

Very frightful.

[Robert Montgomery]

Huh? Oh, the kiss of death department. The only thing about this creature that has any charm is a four tooth lower bridge in his right jaw. Now, Mr. Spade, I want you to get that bridge for me.

[Claude Rains]

I'm sorry. It sounds as though you're saying I want you to get that bridge for me.

[Robert Montgomery]

Precisely. Mm. Why? Because he refuses to pay me for it.

[Claude Rains]

You're a dentist?

[Robert Montgomery]

I prefer to regard myself as a dentist Sculpture. I created this bridge for Mr. Julius with infinite pains. And now. Now he refuses to pay me. I ask payment and he accuses me of acting without charm.

[Claude Rains]

Mr. Julius wouldn't happen to be a very large, fat man?

[Robert Montgomery]

Oh, contraire. Skin and bones.

[Claude Rains]

Well, Mr. Spade, I'm afraid you come to the wrong man. Mr. Laverne, what you want is a lawyer to sue him.

[Robert Montgomery]

Sue him? Months of legal wrangling.

[Vincent Price]

Oh, no.

[Robert Montgomery]

Oh, no, no, no, no. I intend to be vindictive about this. I am by nature a very gracious and charming person. But now, now, let him beware. I shall have that bridge from Herman Julius, even if you must knock him down and wrench it from his jaw.

[Claude Rains]

You tried knocking him down yourself?

[Robert Montgomery]

Oh, I. I could never even bring myself to perform extractions. I always send those patients to less sensitive dentists.

[Claude Rains]

Yeah, well, I'm afraid you'll have to find yourself a less sensitive private detective.

[Robert Montgomery]

Oh. Oh, dear. Well, Mr. Spade, what would you advise me to do?

[Claude Rains]

Hiya, Mr. Laverne. I would advise you to get out of California before Walt Disney sees you.

[Vincent Price]

Well, good day, sir.

[Robert Montgomery]

I would like very much to have you in my chair someday. Might teach you some manners.

[Claude Rains]

Beware the hidden truth.

[Edward G. Robinson]

Hello.

[Claude Rains]

Hello. Please sit down, miss.

[Edward G. Robinson]

Thank you. Laverne.

[Robert Montgomery]

Hope.

[Edward G. Robinson]

Laverne.

[Claude Rains]

Miss laverne.

[Edward G. Robinson]

Yes.

[Claude Rains]

What can I do for you?

[Edward G. Robinson]

Well, I'm. I'm looking for my brother.

[Claude Rains]

Missing?

[Edward G. Robinson]

Well, yes. Yes and no. I mean, he's been gone since yesterday, and I'm terribly afraid he'll get into trouble.

[Robert Montgomery]

Oh?

[Claude Rains]

What kind of trouble?

[Edward G. Robinson]

Well, you see, it.

[Robert Montgomery]

It.

[Edward G. Robinson]

Well, it just isn't easy for me to talk about this, Mr. Spade.

[Claude Rains]

Well, now, Ms. Laverne, suppose you just lean back in that chair, close your eyes and.

[Edward G. Robinson]

Yes, thank you. Yes, it's. It's easier like this. My brother's name is Lawrence. He's a man of 52. He's. He's not well. I mean, he gets spells and he acts peculiarly. He suffered a nervous breakdown some years ago, and he spent most of his life in sanitariums.

[Claude Rains]

Where are you from, Ms. Laverne?

[Edward G. Robinson]

Kansas City. During the past year, Larry was in a rest home in Palo Alto, and I arrived two days ago to take him home. Yesterday morning he. Well, I don't know how it happened, but he's gone.

[Claude Rains]

These spells you mentioned, what are they like?

[Edward G. Robinson]

Oh, well, he assumes different personalities. His favorite seems to be that of a dentist. He becomes obsessed by the thought that he's done some work, a bridge or something for someone who refuses to pay him. He'll walk up to a perfect stranger and create a scene. He's been arrested a few times. Nothing serious. Public nuisance, Mr. Spade. I'm afraid that he'll be. He'll be put away if he's arrested.

[Claude Rains]

Once more, I say. And you want me to look for him, then?

[Edward G. Robinson]

He hasn't been here.

[Claude Rains]

Why'd you think he'd come here?

[Edward G. Robinson]

Oh, that's another one of his tactics. He goes to a private detective, hires him to either follow a man or get back the work he thinks he's done. Dental work, you know.

[Claude Rains]

But what made you think he'd come to me?

[Edward G. Robinson]

Well, not you particularly. Ever since yesterday, I've tried almost every private detective in San Francisco. No one has seen him.

[Claude Rains]

Who'd you talk to?

[Edward G. Robinson]

I beg your pardon?

[Claude Rains]

These private detectives. Who'd you see?

[Edward G. Robinson]

Oh, well, there was a man named Graham and one named Marlow. Philip Marlowe.

[Claude Rains]

Excuse me. Would you like a drink?

[Edward G. Robinson]

No.

[Lucille Ball]

Marlow speaking.

[Claude Rains]

That's Spade. Phil.

[Lucille Ball]

Hiya, Sam.

[Claude Rains]

Phil, you got a rumble on a missing brother named Larry laverne?

[Robert Montgomery]

Yeah, yeah.

[Lucille Ball]

Gal was in early this morning. Brother some kind of a screwball.

[Claude Rains]

You meet him?

[Lucille Ball]

No, no, hasn't been around yet.

[Claude Rains]

Ah. Thanks, Phil. See you.

[Edward G. Robinson]

Why did you do that, Mr. Spade?

[Claude Rains]

It's doing things like that that have kept me alive and in business all these years. That was Marlow. Your brother hasn't been to him.

[Edward G. Robinson]

I told you that.

[Claude Rains]

But your brother has been here.

[Edward G. Robinson]

When?

[Claude Rains]

A few minutes before you came in. Can't see how you missed him.

[Edward G. Robinson]

What did he tell you, Mr. Spade?

[Claude Rains]

Pretty much as you outlined it.

[Edward G. Robinson]

About the dental work and some man owing him money?

[Claude Rains]

Yes, some man named Julius Herman. Julius, he said. You know him?

[Edward G. Robinson]

I never heard of him. He's probably just another figment of Larry's imagination. Mr. Spade, I'm terribly worried about Larry.

[Claude Rains]

I got that impression.

[Edward G. Robinson]

Will you try to find him for me?

[Claude Rains]

Can you give me any idea where I might start looking?

[Edward G. Robinson]

Well, I, I, I think I know how Larry's mind works when he's in the midst of one of these bells. And if you find this Mr. Julius, you'll probably find Larry close by.

[Claude Rains]

So you want me to find Mr. Julius first?

[Edward G. Robinson]

Oh, well, I only thought it would be simpler checking on this Mr. Julius movements than on Larry's unpredictable whims. You see, I. Don't you think that makes good sense, Mr. Spade?

[Claude Rains]

Ms. Laverne told me she was staying at the Pickwick Arms, and I said I would call her if I found her brother. And she said, thank you. Thank you very much. And I said, it's nothing. Just part of the day's routine. And then she kissed me and left. After lunch, I strolled over to the Royal George Hotel. Duke, the housekeeper, gave me a rundown on Mr. Julius, a quiet, nervous little man who'd sealed himself up in his room for two days, eating out of room service. I didn't have any trouble finding the hackey who had driven him away. When he checked out, he gave me the address and 20 minutes later I was mounting the front steps of a greasy rooming house on Sacramento Street. I twisted the rusty bell in the door and a long, sharp nose that could only belong to a landlady stabbed out at me.

[Edward G. Robinson]

What you want?

[Claude Rains]

I'm looking for a man named Herman Julius.

[Edward G. Robinson]

Don't have no Julius here.

[Claude Rains]

Well, maybe he gave some other name. A little skinny guy with a foreign accent.

[Edward G. Robinson]

You the Lord?

[Claude Rains]

Take me to his room.

[Edward G. Robinson]

Now wait a minute. No, no. Well, step inside. Up the stairs.

[Claude Rains]

Tom.

[Edward G. Robinson]

Never seen him go out. Ain't for one door. Watch that step. Second from the top. It's busted. Don't want no lawsuits.

[Claude Rains]

That's the third.

[Edward G. Robinson]

Said he was a refuge and Nazis was after him. Another flight. Never knew he was in a dangle with the Lord. Smell that?

[Claude Rains]

Certainly do.

[Edward G. Robinson]

Cooking in the rooms. I got a rule too. Sneak in electric plates, they do. Run up the bills.

[Robert Montgomery]

Buzzards.

[Edward G. Robinson]

Here's his room. Mr. Julius.

[Robert Montgomery]

Mr. Julius.

[Edward G. Robinson]

Mr. Juliet. You sick in there? They drink some of them. Then the don't cook in the room drinks. Get DTs. Some of them. Oh, go on in and get him. I don't want no part of it.

[Vincent Price]

Holy stick.

[Claude Rains]

I didn't see who it was right away. His face was the color and consistency of crushed strawberries. I helped him up and over to the wash basin in the corner of the room. With his face washed, he looked a little better, but he still looked like Larry laverne.

[Robert Montgomery]

Oh. Oh, am I ever glad to see you. I thought it was them coming back to kill me.

[Claude Rains]

Did you find Julius?

[Robert Montgomery]

No, no, got away. The wretch down the fire escape as I came in.

[Claude Rains]

Who did this to you? Big fat man.

[Robert Montgomery]

To tell the honest truth, Mr. Spade, I never even got a good look at him. He was all over me before.

[Claude Rains]

Hey, Julius. What's in his bridge work?

[Robert Montgomery]

I'll tell you everything. Everything. But please, first let's get out of this horrid room. Smells like cabbage.

[Claude Rains]

Larry Laverne was tougher than he looked after the going over he'd gotten you or I would have been hospital bound, Dundee. But he did a late take. We were on the way back to his hotel, walking toward Market, when he crumpled in the middle like a sack of flour. I grabbed him and held him upright. Looked wildly around for somewhere to park him. We were standing in front of a newsreel theater. I bought two tickets and piloted him inside. We sat down. I undid his clutch in my arm and concentrated on the screen. The subject that followed the football game was some big Oriental celebration somewhere in India or someplace. A very fancy parade with white elephants.

[Robert Montgomery]

The famed white elephants of the Orient.

[Vincent Price]

Get their annual airing as crowds of devout Buddhists gather to do homage to some of the strangest relics in the modern world. Here in Kandy, the Mecca of the Buddhist religion, pilgrims gather from near and far. Indian rajahs, Burmese officials and Chinese dignitaries in ceremonial dress prostrate themselves before the jewel casket containing the most sacred object of the Buddhist world, legendary relic of Buddha himself. As the Orient goes wild in jubilant celebration, temple dancers of Candy perform for the crowned heads of the Orient.

[Robert Montgomery]

Take me out of here. I can't stand it, Uncle. Man like that, you start craving.

[Edward G. Robinson]

Man.

[Claude Rains]

Take it easy.

[Robert Montgomery]

Annoying the customer. You brought me in here on purpose. You're trying to drive me crazy. But. Crazy.

[Claude Rains]

Easy, easy.

[Robert Montgomery]

Listen to me.

[Vincent Price]

Two men holding up the sacred relics. High Priest, if that man says that.

[Robert Montgomery]

One word, candy, just once more, I won't be responsible. I tell you, I won't be responsible. All right, Larry.

[Edward G. Robinson]

The end.

[Vincent Price]

But the end got me towing a ceremony indeed.

[Robert Montgomery]

Oh, I promise you, Mr. Spade, all I need is just one night's sleep and I'll be a new man.

[Claude Rains]

Yeah.

[Robert Montgomery]

Why, I haven't even dared to take 40 winks since I arrived in this town for fear those monsters might murder me in My bed.

[Claude Rains]

Yeah, yeah, I know it's tough. Sit down.

[Robert Montgomery]

So this is your apartment?

[Claude Rains]

That's what I laughingly call it. Living room, bedroom, icebox. Here, have a drink. Me too.

[Robert Montgomery]

Oh, thanks. Oh. Oh, did I ever need that.

[Claude Rains]

Dump yourself with a bottle.

[Robert Montgomery]

I don't touch alcohol as a rule. But after what I've been through.

[Claude Rains]

Well, now, drink all you like. You deserve it.

[G]

Oh, thank you.

[Robert Montgomery]

Well, I hardly know where to begin. It's all so strange. There I was in Lisbon, Mr. Spade, the only English speaking dentist worthy of the name in the entire diplomatic colony, where. Well, you must have read in the papers about Dom Constantino's tomb being violated. It was the scandal of the season.

[Claude Rains]

Oh, it sounds so horrible, Mr. Spade.

[Robert Montgomery]

I just can't talk about it.

[Claude Rains]

A little more of this settles the nerves.

[Robert Montgomery]

Oh, I just don't know how I.

[Vincent Price]

Can ever thank you.

[Robert Montgomery]

Ever since I hit this berg, I've been feeling like the forgotten pardon man.

[Claude Rains]

Yeah, you were saying something about a tomb being broken into in Portugal, this was?

[Robert Montgomery]

Yes, well, you know, the draft board just took one look at me and.

[Claude Rains]

I know what you mean.

[Robert Montgomery]

So I just stayed on in Lisbon and, well, you know how people gossip, having patience of all nationalities and all that.

[Claude Rains]

Yeah, yeah, I get it. Between the Nazis and the Allies, you were quite a social lion.

[Robert Montgomery]

Oh, now, wait a minute. Don't get the idea I was a spy. Oh, no, but sometimes people had things that could be hidden in a hollow tooth and like that bridge work. You know, I think I told you, I'm not so much a dentist as a dental artist. Well, that fat Mr. Gutman brought me this tooth, you see.

[Claude Rains]

Gutman?

[Robert Montgomery]

Yes, yes, Mr. G. And that Joel Cairo person that was with him. Well, they brought me this tooth, though a horrid yellow old thing, practically a fang. They wanted to put it in Mr. Julius Bridge. Paid me a thousand pounds. Can you imagine? Then when I learned what they had done, well, it made me positively ill. This person, practically sacred old tomb in the cathedral. They'd broken in and literally torn out a piece of his. Of his jawbone.

[Claude Rains]

Whose?

[Robert Montgomery]

Why, Dom Constantinos.

[Claude Rains]

And who's Dom Constantino?

[Robert Montgomery]

Ah, the Portuguese viceroy.

[Vincent Price]

It didn't hurt him any.

[Robert Montgomery]

He's been dead 500 years if he's dead a day. Oh, dear, I'm as tight as a tick. This, this liquor is getting to me.

[Claude Rains]

And it was. I thought he'd open up some more, but I overplayed the bourbon. Half a bottle later he passed out. I flopped on the sofa and tried to get some Sleep for myself. But my dreams kept getting in the way. I had newsreel dreams in Technicolor. I dreamed that a white elephant with a face like Caspar Gutman was leading a parade down Market Street. The howdah that was strapped to his back looked like a dentist chair. Herman Julius was sitting in it. But this face seemed to be blanked out. Joel Cairo, wearing a surgeon's gown and a turban, was drilling Julius tooth. The crowds were throwing diamonds and rubies from the peanut bags they were carrying and Gutman vacuumed them up with his trunk. That was when the bells started ringing in the Buddhist temple that had been built on top of the Mark Hopkins. Yeah?

[Edward G. Robinson]

Mr. Spade?

[Claude Rains]

Yeah.

[Edward G. Robinson]

Mr. Spade, I need your help.

[Claude Rains]

Who's this?

[Edward G. Robinson]

Hope Laverne? Please, Mr. Spade, I'm. I'm terrified.

[Claude Rains]

Where are you?

[Edward G. Robinson]

I'm in a drugstore at 5th.

[Claude Rains]

Admission at the bus depot.

[Edward G. Robinson]

Yes. Please come at once, Mr. Spade.

[Claude Rains]

Can't you come here?

[Edward G. Robinson]

I can't. I don't dare go into the streets.

[Claude Rains]

All right, wait there. I'm on my way. I took a quick gander at laverne, saw he was still out cold, slipped under my top coat and left the apartment. I figured it would take me 11 minutes to hustle over to 5th and Mission. But I never got any further than 50 yards from the front of my building. I sensed him behind me, wheeled suddenly, bumped him into a doorway, held the thumbs of his hands gripped tightly in my fists. Stand still or I'll tear him off ago.

[Robert Montgomery]

I'll kill you.

[Claude Rains]

Don't move and it won't hurt you, filthy beast. The boy twisted suddenly and finally and I heard the crack of his left thumb breaking. He swallowed a screen, dashed on into the deserted street. I went after him, turned over the alley and caught the butt of a gun behind my right ear. I don't know how long I was out, but I do know I came to at least three hours too soon. I needed much more rest. I opened my eyes, steadied a swaying ceiling and then I heard his voice.

[Vincent Price]

Well, sir, this is indeed a jolly reunion.

[Claude Rains]

It couldn't be. But it was. Casper Gutman, the fat man of the Maltese Falcon caper, looking at the unholy trio. There in the room, Joel Cairo, the little Levantine, still as oily and smiling as ever and still fragrant. Marvin, a sullen white faced, hollow eyed youth as near Wilmer's double as anyone will ever see. And Gutman, spruce as ever in his black cutaway coat, black vest and gray striped trousers. He'd have thought nothing had happened since then, not even the war. The grayness at Cairo's temples only made his baby face look more babyish. And about Gutman, nothing was different except his watch chain. A curious jewel. Encrusted ornament dangled from it, shaped like a claw.

[Vincent Price]

You seem surprised to see me, sir. No wonder. It's always disconcerting to encounter a ghost. Especially such a substantial ghost. A lot of water has gone under the bridge since last we met, eh? Under the bridge, yes. Which brings us to the subject at hand. The bridge.

[Claude Rains]

My head aches. What about the bridge?

[Vincent Price]

First we'll talk of it. After all, this is quite an occasion, sir. Reunion of old friends, eh, Mr. Spade?

[Claude Rains]

Yeah, Tommy, did you ever find the falcon? If you'll excuse the expression.

[Vincent Price]

Your eyes are resting on all that remains of that fabulous bird, sir.

[Robert Montgomery]

Yes, that trinket on his watch chain. All that remains of the Maltese Falcon.

[Vincent Price]

To mark you, sir, what part of it survived the claw? You believe in omen?

[Claude Rains]

Right now, I'm ready to believe almost anything.

[Vincent Price]

Indeed, sir. Well, no need for dissembling. We're old and wiser, I trust. And in the days of the falcon, suffice it to say the unsavory and bloated object which the police dredged up from San Francisco Bay and identified as myself was some other poor soul. Wilmer, I am happy to say, remembered the debt of gratitude he owed me and at the last moment agreed to be a party to the very necessary little deception. That is, since they had him cold, as you detected, say, for the other killings, he might as well confess to murdering me. He did so in exchange for my agreement to take care of his family in a financial way. An investment, by the way, which is paid rich dividends.

[Claude Rains]

How's that?

[Vincent Price]

Oh, indeed. Well, thanks to it, I now have Marvin, Wilmer's younger brother.

[Claude Rains]

I thought I noticed a family resemblance.

[Robert Montgomery]

Shut up.

[Vincent Price]

Oh, yes, yes. Poor Wilma. He was like a son to me. Like a son?

[Claude Rains]

That doesn't stop you from making him a patsy.

[Vincent Price]

I detest killing, Mr. Spade. I cautioned Wilmer time and again, he was so headstrong.

[Claude Rains]

You better caution this punk or he won't last to take any raps for you.

[Robert Montgomery]

Break his head. Marvin.

[Vincent Price]

Marvin.

[Robert Montgomery]

That dirty shamus lays another hand on me.

[Vincent Price]

No, no, no. Marvin. Marvin, you'll take Marvin in the other room. Explain to him that Mr. Spade and I are very old friends.

[Robert Montgomery]

Casper knows best.

[Vincent Price]

Marvin, come with me. And now, no nonsense, you two.

[Robert Montgomery]

Now, someday I'll kill him.

[Vincent Price]

Hot Headed runs in that family.

[Claude Rains]

Yeah, well, let's have it, Gutman. What are you after this time?

[Vincent Price]

My dear boy, you misjudged me. It's true. I had Marvin check up on you, but only because of your association with Ms. Laverne. No matter now, now. I'm weary of the chase. All the way from Candy.

[Robert Montgomery]

I.

[Vincent Price]

What did the girl tell you?

[Claude Rains]

She asked me to find her brother, a dentist named laverne.

[Vincent Price]

You believed her story?

[Claude Rains]

No.

[Vincent Price]

Most unscrupulous woman. No veracity, no regard for truth whatsoever. Her true motive? Merely to make trouble for me and my friends. Because of her association with Kimidoff. Aye, the Russian's hand again. Mr. Spades.

[Claude Rains]

Kamedov. Did I ever meet Kamada?

[Vincent Price]

You'd hardly forget if you had. In short, here is my proposition. Another thousand dollars coin to the realm, sir, for which you will refund whatever money Ms. Laverne gave you and send her packing.

[Claude Rains]

The bidding starts at 10,000.

[Robert Montgomery]

Ooh.

[Vincent Price]

Ooh. You drive a hard bargain, Mr. Spade. Very well. I'll meet your turn.

[Claude Rains]

I told you, the bidding starts there.

[Vincent Price]

And where does it stop?

[Claude Rains]

Half of whatever the caper nets you. I deliver Julius, you do the rest.

[Vincent Price]

Between you and me, Mr. Spade, I'm not as affluent as I once was. The Falcon pretty well wiped me out financially, considering the time and money I've already invested in trying to track down the weasel Julius.

[Claude Rains]

What's in, Julius? Bridge work.

[Vincent Price]

And if I don't choose to tell you?

[Claude Rains]

Then it's no dice. Think it over, Gutman. Either I'm in all the way for half, or I deliver Julius to the other outfit.

[Vincent Price]

And that is your final dictum, sir?

[Claude Rains]

Take it or leave it. Either you're in or out.

[Vincent Price]

Good night, Mr. Spade. I trust you will call me on the telephone when you reach your diggings and tell me that you've changed your mind. No hard feelings.

[Claude Rains]

The fog was clearing, and only a few white wisps of it were clinging to Twin Peaks. When I walked home, that morning was too late to worry about hope. Or did she phone for Gutman to decoy me out so that I started walking faster? As I climbed the stairs to my apartment, I heard a door open on the landing, and the slot of light that stabbed out from it showed me it was my door. The light came from behind whoever had opened it, and I couldn't see who it was at first, only that it was not Larry Laverne. I took the last flight, four steps at a time. Hello, Sam Dundee. What's happened?

[Lucille Ball]

Come in and see for Yourself.

[Claude Rains]

What I saw for myself. I wish somebody else had seen for me. Hysterical, Larry was lying on his back on my bedroom floor. His eyes were wide open, and he had a crooked grin on his face. A very crooked grin. Whoever had killed him had wrenched his jaw out of place.

[Robert Montgomery]

I'm not saying you killed himself, Sam. I'm only asking you who did.

[Claude Rains]

Don't be a child, Dundee.

[Robert Montgomery]

Why was he killed?

[Claude Rains]

No statement.

[Robert Montgomery]

What was he doing here? Who is he?

[Claude Rains]

The name he gave was laverne. I let him flop here because he was afraid to go home.

[G]

Afraid of who?

[Claude Rains]

A man named Caspar Gutman.

[Vincent Price]

What?

[Claude Rains]

Yeah, Gutman.

[Robert Montgomery]

Quit stalling, Sam. Gutman's dead and you know it.

[Claude Rains]

You bury him, Dundee.

[Robert Montgomery]

I believe you mean it.

[Claude Rains]

Where Gutman's concerned, it doesn't pay to kid around.

[Lucille Ball]

What's he after now?

[Claude Rains]

The bridge work? Out of a man's mouth. The man's name is Julius.

[Robert Montgomery]

What's in this, Julius? Bridge work?

[Claude Rains]

Maltese Falcon, something like that.

[Robert Montgomery]

I'm sorry, Sam.

[Lucille Ball]

It's not good enough. I'll have to take you in.

[Claude Rains]

So you took me and you booked me. Bail was set at $20,000. You saw to that. You figured there's only one operator who put up that kind of money to spring me, and that's Casper Gutman. I. I hope you're right. Period. And the first part, at least, of Sob Story.

[Edward G. Robinson]

But, Sam, what is in Herman Julius Bridgewood?

[Claude Rains]

Laverne told me it was a tooth Gutman stole out of a skeleton in an old Portuguese catacomb.

[Edward G. Robinson]

What's so valuable about that?

[Claude Rains]

I don't know.

[Edward G. Robinson]

Could be a jewel inside of it.

[Claude Rains]

It's not Gutman's kind of game. Besides, the thing that made poor laverne blow his top in that newsreel theater was something more like an elephant tusk. Oh, where's that encyclopedia? Did you bring it?

[Edward G. Robinson]

Oh, yes, I did, Sam. Yes, I did. Wasn't I smart?

[Claude Rains]

Look it up.

[Edward G. Robinson]

Look what up? Candy with a K. Oh, Ka K. Oh, here it is. Candy K. Isn't that funny? City capital of central province of Ceylon. Located near the center of the island North.

[Claude Rains]

Spare me the geography.

[Edward G. Robinson]

Well, the railroad from Colombo, noted for its waterfalls. And stuff. And stuff. And stuff. The city surrounds an artificial lake and is sacred to Buddhists for his temple of Maligawa, which enshrines the tooth of Buddha, brought, according to legend.

[Robert Montgomery]

Why?

[Claude Rains]

Let me see that.

[Edward G. Robinson]

Don't grab.

[Claude Rains]

Let me see. Sacred the Buddhist for its temple at Malaga, which enshrines it.

[Edward G. Robinson]

Effie, what's the Matter, Sam?

[Claude Rains]

The tooth of Buddha.

[Edward G. Robinson]

Sam, you don't think that's what's in Herman Julius bridge work?

[Claude Rains]

If it was, Gutland would be after him.

[Edward G. Robinson]

But how did he get to Portugal?

[Claude Rains]

If it did, Gutman's the man that could track it down.

[Edward G. Robinson]

Sam, you sure of that?

[Claude Rains]

No, angel, no. The only thing I am sure of is this. When the Maltese Falcon laid an egg, it hatched a flock of vultures. And they're all circling right around my head.

[Edward G. Robinson]

Well, cheer up, Sam. You won't be in jail long. I'll bring you a cake with a file in it.

[Claude Rains]

Angel?

[Edward G. Robinson]

No. Devil's food.

[Vincent Price]

In tonight's for hour of Suspense, Howard Duff, our star, appears as Sam Spade with Joseph Kearns as Caspar Gutman in William Spears production of the Candy Tooth, tonight's study in suspense.

[Lucille Ball]

In just a moment we will return.

[Robert Montgomery]

With the second half of the Candy Tooth. This is cbs, the Columbia Broadcasting System. And now back to our Hollywood sound.

[Vincent Price]

Stage and Robert Montgomery.

[Lucille Ball]

At the point at which we interrupted Sam Spade's narrative just now, things were at a pretty pass.

[Claude Rains]

A pretty pass indeed, a pretty pass.

[Lucille Ball]

Sam wound up with the body of the dentist, Larry Laverne in his apartment. The girl Hope waiting for him in the bus station. Casper Gutman, the fat man waiting for him to answer the and waiting for an answer to his ultimatum that Spade produced the tooth or else me in.

[Claude Rains]

City prison under $20,000 bail and the fabulous candy tooth still chumping on two bit hamburgers. And the bridge work of a very elusive man named Herman Julius. Yes, and well, after I dictated my report to Effie on what had happened until then, she left and I laid down to think. Lieutenant Dundee and I had agreed that I should spend the night in the poky. He figured that the 20G bail would draw only one man to put up that much moolah to spring me. Caspar gutman along. About 9 in the a.m. the turnkey unlocked the door on my cell. I followed him out to the desk. The 20,000 bucks were there, but no sign of benefactor, benefactress or Samaritan of any type. The bond was in my name. I signed my release and walked out. Across the street was parked a long black limousine with the curtains drawn. I started for it when a voice at my elbow checked me.

[Robert Montgomery]

Your senior spade? Si. I'm Dom Constantino de Braganza. He's I who have put up the $20,000.

[Claude Rains]

Is that so? Well, thank you. Now, why?

[Robert Montgomery]

Ah. I desire a service. My card.

[Claude Rains]

Send her Dumb Constantino.

[Robert Montgomery]

Wait a Minute you seem to know the name.

[Claude Rains]

Yeah, yeah. For a guy who's been dead 500 years, you don't look too.

[Robert Montgomery]

Oh, thank you. You are referring, of course, to my illustrious ancestor, Dom Constantino, the first Portuguese Viceroy of India, who indeed had been dead since the 16th century. Is on his behalf I speak to you now.

[Claude Rains]

What can I do for him?

[Robert Montgomery]

Restore the tooth which was wrenched from his skull by a pack of unspeakable ghouls who violated his tomb in Lisboa.

[Claude Rains]

You think they're in San Francisco?

[Robert Montgomery]

Let us not be naive, senor. The contemptible little dentist, like Laverne, was killed in your apartment. Therefore, you must know the whereabouts of the other ghouls.

[Claude Rains]

I know so many ghouls, senor. You'll have to be more specific.

[Robert Montgomery]

I refer to a fat pig named C. Gutman and an odorous little camel named Jake iro. And most especially to a woman of the female sex, by name H. Laverne.

[Claude Rains]

You want them or the tooth?

[Edward G. Robinson]

Both.

[Robert Montgomery]

Not one.

[H]

Without the other.

[Claude Rains]

It'll take a little time. They haven't got the tooth.

[Robert Montgomery]

You know where it is?

[Claude Rains]

In the bridge work of a man named Julius.

[Robert Montgomery]

Oh, that then explains the dentist and the diabolical manner which they employed in smuggling the tooth out of Lisboa.

[Claude Rains]

Now, you go on home and you stay there until I call you, huh?

[Robert Montgomery]

Senor, I respect your judgment.

[Claude Rains]

Thank you.

[Robert Montgomery]

You will find me at the Hotel San Rafael. And for your retainer, you may consider the twenty thousand dollar bond as yours.

[Claude Rains]

Wow.

[Robert Montgomery]

Adios, senor.

[Claude Rains]

Adios. Be careful crossing streets.

[Vincent Price]

Adios.

[Claude Rains]

Adios.

[Robert Montgomery]

Adios.

[Claude Rains]

Adios. Tom Constantino.

[Robert Montgomery]

Yeah. Adios.

[Claude Rains]

Adios.

[Edward G. Robinson]

Mr. Spade. Sam, get in.

[Claude Rains]

You got a hack license, Ms. Laverne?

[Edward G. Robinson]

Oh, please don't, Sam. I know this car is ridiculous, but I don't dare use taxis or be seen on the street. What did that man tell you?

[Claude Rains]

What happened last night when you called me from the police bus station in such a panic?

[Edward G. Robinson]

Why didn't you come?

[Claude Rains]

I went to see the fat man.

[Edward G. Robinson]

You saw Gutman. Did he mention me?

[Claude Rains]

You didn't make that call last night to get me out of the apartment so that somebody could get in and kill Laverne.

[Edward G. Robinson]

Oh, Sam.

[Claude Rains]

Then why did you call?

[Edward G. Robinson]

Because I found Herman Julius and I'm driving you there now.

[Claude Rains]

We didn't do any talking after that. She sat very close to me. There was plenty to talk about. But we didn't do any talking after that. I was vaguely aware that we were driving across to Oakland. And a few minutes later we pulled up in front of an apartment building. We took the elevator up to the ninth floor.

[Edward G. Robinson]

This is it, Sam. 9B.

[Claude Rains]

Nobody home.

[Edward G. Robinson]

Oh, he's in there, Sam. I know he is.

[Claude Rains]

Mr. Julius. Mr. Julius?

[Vincent Price]

Go away. There's no Julius here.

[Edward G. Robinson]

That's his voice.

[Claude Rains]

Mr. Julius, I've got to talk to you. It's very important. If you don't open the door, I'll have.

[Robert Montgomery]

I'll kill myself. I'll kill myself.

[Edward G. Robinson]

He will, Sam, he will. You've got to stop him.

[Robert Montgomery]

Go away, Julius.

[G]

Wait a minute.

[Robert Montgomery]

Wait.

[Claude Rains]

It was the ninth floor he started from. Poor, frightened little Herman. Julius was dead on arrival. By the time we made it downstairs, the street was cluttered with cops. I grabbed Hope by the arm, hustled her around the corner to a rented limousine and told her I'd call her later. My next stop was the fat man himself.

[Vincent Price]

Well, sir. So you reconsidered. You found Julius.

[Claude Rains]

I know where he is.

[Vincent Price]

And your terms, sir? What are your terms?

[Claude Rains]

100,000, cash on the line.

[Vincent Price]

Out of the question, Mr. Spade.

[Claude Rains]

No cash, no tooth.

[Vincent Price]

You found another buyer?

[Claude Rains]

Yeah, a man named Constantino de Braganza. Says the tooth belongs on the head of his ancestor by a previous marriage.

[Vincent Price]

Acquaintance eats are very true. And what else did he say to you?

[Claude Rains]

That he'd double any bid that you made on the tooth.

[Vincent Price]

My dear fellow, have you any inkling, any remote idea the value of that tooth?

[Robert Montgomery]

No.

[Vincent Price]

Well, I'll tell you, sir. But let me warn you, if I tell you and you do not, then produce the tooth.

[Claude Rains]

Yeah, yeah, let's get on with it. Goodman.

[Vincent Price]

Yes. Sit down, sir. How much do you know? The 16th century history of the Orange?

[Claude Rains]

Well, enough to fill that tooth with capital joke, sir.

[Vincent Price]

I shall give you a little more. An Essay to Fill an Elephant Tusk.

[Claude Rains]

I'm listening.

[Vincent Price]

Well, sir, when the Portuguese invaded India in the 16th century and established the city of Goa, there were three main empires in the Orient, namely, China, India and Berber. And the rulers of all three empires sought to rule the world. Now, legend had it that in order to become Lord of the World, a monarch had first to be the possessor of seven gems. That's gems spelled with a J, sir. Yes.

[Robert Montgomery]

Gem.

[Vincent Price]

This is no fantasy, I'm telling you, Mr. Spade. This is actual history. Seven gems. And what were those seven gems?

[Claude Rains]

You tell me.

[Vincent Price]

The first six do not concern us, Mr. Spade. A golden wheel, a white elephant. All easy to come by for an Oriental monarch. But the seventh. Ah, Mr. Spade, the seventh.

[Claude Rains]

What was that? A tooth.

[Vincent Price]

The tooth, Mr. Spade. The tooth. The sacred tooth of the great Lord Buddha himself that remained in the temple of Maligawa Candy on the island of Ceylon. Many kings sent armies to capture it, but all were defeated by the fierce Brahmins who stood guard at the temple gates. And so we come to the year 1552.

[Claude Rains]

It's about time.

[Vincent Price]

Now, in that year, the Portuguese Viceroy, Dom Constantino de Braganza, landed near Jaffna with a force of 1220 men and defeated the king's legions in a savage battle. He returned to Goa with his victorious army and the tooth, which he retained as his personal pride. It was not long before the Burmese king, Bayou, now by name, sent an emissary to Dom Constantino, offering the modern equivalent of a million pounds sterling as ransom for the two.

[Claude Rains]

How did get the Portugal.

[Vincent Price]

No, hear me out, sir. Hear me out. Hear me out. Well, before the transaction could be consummated, the Portuguese archbishop called on Dom Constantino and in the name of the Inquisition, demanded the tooth. After some delay, Don Constantino, under threat of torture, delivered a tooth into the archbishop's hand, and that tooth was publicly destroyed. The archbishop grinding it into powder with mortar and pestle and scattering the residue upon a fire that the tooth might be utterly consumed. Shortly after this, Dom Constantino's personal physician, after drawing a tooth, now, mind you, a tooth from the viceroy's head died under very mysterious circumstances. We may safely infer that the substitute tooth which he drove into the viceroy's jawbone, after the primitive fashions of dentistry in those days, was the candy tooth, put there for safekeeping until Dom Constantino could resume negotiations with Bay Noung's emissary.

[Claude Rains]

Yeah, but, But.

[Vincent Price]

But before that could be accomplished, Dom Constantino was stricken with the plague, carried aboard ship and home to Portugal, where he died. He was entombed with a candy tooth still in his head. Now, the manuscript, which fell into the possession of the Russian Kemidov and later into mine. But I shall not go into unnecessary detail.

[Claude Rains]

Of course not.

[Vincent Price]

Was Dom Constantino's deathbed confession proving beyond the shadow of a doubt that the real candy tooth had reposed for more than four centuries? Not in the great temple at Candy and Ceylon, but in a Portuguese too?

[Claude Rains]

Yeah, well, I think I can take it from there. You still haven't told me what my percentage is.

[Vincent Price]

My dear boy, if Your percentage were 1/10 of 1% of what can be realized on that tooth, you could retire to a life of sloth and luxury for the rest of your days. For the restoration of the true relic, there Is no limit to what the Buddhist world could and would pay. Gifts and tribute paid to one temple alone exceed $11 million a year. Now, my boy, you begin to comprehend something of its value.

[Claude Rains]

Still settle for cash?

[Vincent Price]

Very well, then. $10,000.

[Claude Rains]

It's a deal.

[Vincent Price]

You understand, Mr. Spade, now that you have my secret, the affair must be gotten over quickly for good and all. If it is not, believe me, this time I shall not bargain with you for my life. You shall bargain with me for yours.

[Claude Rains]

After I left Gutman, I called you Dundee and found out by a clever ruse where Herman Julius body had been sent. You told me. Then I hustled on over to the mortuary. As I walked in, a hushed young man wearing a hushed cutaway and a hushed expression greeted me. Good evening, sir.

[Vincent Price]

I'm Converse Etheridge. Can I be of service?

[Robert Montgomery]

Thank you.

[Claude Rains]

I've come to pay my last respects to an old friend. I. Can I be alone with him for a few minutes?

[Robert Montgomery]

His name?

[Claude Rains]

Julius. Herman Julius.

[Vincent Price]

Oh, yes, yes. His widow is here, sir. Mrs. Julius.

[Claude Rains]

His widow, huh?

[Robert Montgomery]

Yes.

[Vincent Price]

She's inconsolable.

[Robert Montgomery]

Perhaps as a dear friend of the.

[Vincent Price]

Departed, you might give her words of comfort. Please go in.

[Claude Rains]

Thank you. A little woman in black was sobbing quietly to herself. She turned around when she heard me come in. Her eyes lit up with hatred. And suddenly she grabbed something from her pocketbook and held it at me. It was a.45. And her hand was shaking.

[Edward G. Robinson]

Yeah, this time I will do it. Always. Before, I didn't have the heart. Always hating bloodshed. But this time. Yeah, this time.

[Vincent Price]

Nick.

[Robert Montgomery]

Nick.

[Claude Rains]

Frau Julius. Freund.

[Robert Montgomery]

Freund.

[Edward G. Robinson]

You. You are not one of them.

[Robert Montgomery]

No.

[Claude Rains]

No, I'm a detective. I. I want to punish the people responsible for your husband's death.

[Edward G. Robinson]

Yeah, yeah, I believe you. This gun. I was going to follow poor Herman. There didn't seem to be any reason for going on.

[Claude Rains]

Tell me something about yourself and your husband, Mrs. Julius.

[Edward G. Robinson]

It's an old story now. Years of separation in different concentration camps. Bribery. Bribery. Then my children and I, we were finally released. Came to this country after two years. Herman brought us from Lisbon. We knew soon he would be with us. But even though the war was finished, they had lost. Still they were not to Herman Julius. He knew the Nazis were behind him all the time. And even here in this country, he did not dare come to me.

[Claude Rains]

Mrs. Julius, you see, those people that followed your husband this time weren't Nazis. They weren't even after him. They were after something he was carrying in Lisbon. Didn't he Go to a dentist named Laverne.

[Edward G. Robinson]

Oh, yeah, yeah.

[Claude Rains]

Didn't Laverne put an odd shaped tooth, kind of yellow, into his bridge work?

[Edward G. Robinson]

Yeah.

[Claude Rains]

So he smuggled the candy tooth out of Portugal and never even knew it.

[Edward G. Robinson]

Oh, well, it does not matter now poor Herman is dead. Surely you, David, leave his poor broken body in peace?

[Claude Rains]

I doubt it very much, Mrs. Julius.

[Edward G. Robinson]

No, no, surely, David.

[Claude Rains]

That's why I want to make a request of you. You see, others have died besides your husband because of this thing. More will die unless you do as I ask you.

[Edward G. Robinson]

Oh, to stop terror, any terror, I will do anything, Mr. Spade. Anything you say.

[Claude Rains]

I told her what I wanted done and she agreed. Then I started on my part of it. I called gutman on the St. Mark and told him 11 at my apartment. Then I called Dom Constantino at the San Rafael Hope, and I got there around 10:30. Go on in, Angel.

[Edward G. Robinson]

Well, this is where you live, Sam.

[Claude Rains]

Where I sleep.

[Edward G. Robinson]

Must be lonely for you.

[Claude Rains]

Sorry, no vacancy.

[Edward G. Robinson]

Sam, listen. There's so much I want to tell you about myself.

[Claude Rains]

I'm listening.

[Edward G. Robinson]

Well, listen. Just before the war started, I was engaged to marry a man named Kemidoff in London.

[Claude Rains]

The Russian? Yeah. Gutman mentioned him. Something about an old manuscript.

[Edward G. Robinson]

Yeah. Kemadoff had stolen it in India. It was very old, and Kemedov said that the information in it made it worth more than the Maltese Falcon. It was in Latin.

[Robert Montgomery]

Mm.

[Claude Rains]

How'd the fat man get this manuscript away from Kemadov? So you double crossed Kamadov and took the manuscript to Gutman.

[Edward G. Robinson]

Sam, before they get here, I've got to tell you something. No matter what happens, I want you to know this.

[Claude Rains]

Sure, sure, I know. Say it. Angel.

[Edward G. Robinson]

Don't torture me, Sam.

[Robert Montgomery]

I like to hear it.

[Edward G. Robinson]

Angel, I. Sam, I love you so much it feels like hate. It feels like a.

[Claude Rains]

Go on, go on.

[Robert Montgomery]

Hate me.

[Claude Rains]

Angel.

[Edward G. Robinson]

What, darling? No, no, don't answer it, Sam.

[Claude Rains]

Relax, Angel.

[Robert Montgomery]

You'll be okay, Sam.

[Edward G. Robinson]

Yeah, Only you, Sam. All I want are only you.

[Claude Rains]

Just stay on third, Angel. I'll bat you home safe.

[Vincent Price]

Ah, you see, sir, I have a punctual man.

[Claude Rains]

Come on in, Gutman.

[Robert Montgomery]

Look. The same apartment, the same colors, everything the same.

[Claude Rains]

Yeah, the same Rat race. Cairo. Hello, Marvin. Killed anybody since lunch?

[Robert Montgomery]

You want me to give it to you Shammas? Please, please, Marvin, no unpleasant talk. Mr. Gutman, please tell Marvin.

[Claude Rains]

In here, gentlemen.

[Vincent Price]

Yes, yes, yes, Marvin. Mr. Spade, I'm sure regrets the unfortunate. Where and what have we here?

[Claude Rains]

You all know the lady.

[Robert Montgomery]

You see, Mr. Gutten you see? I told you. Now he's dealing with her. Oh, this is.

[Vincent Price]

Shut up.

[Claude Rains]

You hear me? Shut up.

[Edward G. Robinson]

Don't talk just like that.

[Claude Rains]

I'm jumpy.

[Robert Montgomery]

I don't feel good. I don't know what I'm.

[Claude Rains]

You shut up, too.

[Robert Montgomery]

Always fighting violence, unpleasantness. I am getting too old for this.

[Vincent Price]

Now, Mr. Spade, to the business at hand. You have the tooth.

[Claude Rains]

I want some answers first. Did you have our dentist friend laverne killed?

[Vincent Price]

No.

[Claude Rains]

Did Marvin kill laverne?

[Robert Montgomery]

No.

[Claude Rains]

Cairo?

[Vincent Price]

No.

[Claude Rains]

Nobody killed laverne. He died of old age.

[Vincent Price]

Have you asked the little lady there?

[Claude Rains]

Sam, I gotta ask you, baby.

[Edward G. Robinson]

Oh, Sam, how could you?

[Claude Rains]

Answer me.

[Edward G. Robinson]

No, Sam, you know I didn't.

[Claude Rains]

Well, it doesn't matter. I got my pigeon picked at. Take the fall.

[Vincent Price]

Now, now, now, Marvin. Retain yourself. No violence. Well, sir.

[Claude Rains]

That's it. Sit still. I have a package from the avalon.

[Vincent Price]

Mortuary for Mr. Spade.

[Robert Montgomery]

Oh, hello, sir.

[Claude Rains]

Yeah, let's have it.

[Vincent Price]

Mrs. Julia said to tell you.

[Claude Rains]

Yeah, yeah. Thanks. Well, Gutman, this is it. This little package. The candy tooth.

[Vincent Price]

The tooth. At last. Give it me, sir. Give it me.

[Robert Montgomery]

Oh, Mr. Cutting, it's all over. We've got it. We've got it.

[Vincent Price]

We have? Come, sir. No more teasing.

[Claude Rains]

Put those fat lunch hooks down before I chop them off.

[Vincent Price]

I rather thought this wasn't all. What now, sir?

[Claude Rains]

I told you there was another bitter. And here he is.

[Robert Montgomery]

I would advise you not to reach for your gun, Mr. Spade.

[Claude Rains]

You're pointing that gun at the wrong belly. The fat man's inside. Mr. Gutman. Mr. Cairo. Dom Constantino de Braganza of Portugal.

[Vincent Price]

Portugal, indeed. It's the Russian Kemeto.

[Claude Rains]

Do not be so formal.

[Robert Montgomery]

Hope, my darling. You may call Mr. Gevanovich.

[Claude Rains]

I must get off the copeck.

[Robert Montgomery]

We're all here, you see.

[Vincent Price]

You see, Mr. Spain, you are an unmitigated cad, sir. You knew all along this man was an imposter.

[Claude Rains]

That was the name he gave me.

[Vincent Price]

Well, what matter? There's enough for all but your soul, Mojique.

[Robert Montgomery]

Mr. Spade, you'll please give me that pack now, Marvin.

[Edward G. Robinson]

Now.

[Claude Rains]

They both had their guns into each other at once, practically. Kamadov fired first. But Marvin didn't fall. He spit out his chewing gum. Then he squeezed the trigger of his.45. They both looked more surprised than anything else. But they were both very dead before they fell down.

[Vincent Price]

Marvin. Marvin, dead? As dead as Kennedore. Well, it was worth it, you know, of course. It was he who killed laverne.

[Claude Rains]

I told you I had my pigeon Picked for the fall.

[Vincent Price]

By gad man, you are a winner.

[Edward G. Robinson]

Poor Marvin.

[Robert Montgomery]

He looks so dead.

[Claude Rains]

You can have the package now.

[Vincent Price]

Oh, yes, yes, yes.

[Robert Montgomery]

The tooth.

[Vincent Price]

The tooth.

[Claude Rains]

He seized the package with his fat little fingers. They were trembling so. He could hardly undo the strings. He tore the outer wrappings, exposed a small metal jar. He looked at me and wrenched the lid off it. He dumped the contents out of the table.

[Vincent Price]

The tooth. What is it? There's nothing here.

[Robert Montgomery]

Ashes.

[Vincent Price]

Ashes, sir. Ashes.

[Claude Rains]

That's it, Gutman, ashes. The tooth is there, along with the rest of Herman Julius. He was cremated this afternoon.

[Robert Montgomery]

Cremated? The tooth. It was cremated. Oh, this.

[Vincent Price]

It cannot be.

[Robert Montgomery]

No, but it is. It is the truth. Oh, you idiot. Again, you are the idiot. Why do I stay with him? Why? Why?

[Vincent Price]

Well, well, well. Come, come, come, Joel. Shall we stand here weeping and bemoaning a curious quirk of fate, or shall we defy all fates? Were we not well underway to finding the Romanov scepter when this charming lady detoured us with her romantic notions? Come, come. What say you, Joel?

[Robert Montgomery]

Eh? You mean we go to.

[Vincent Price]

Yes, joel. To samurai.

[Robert Montgomery]

Mr. Button, do not say it. He is listening.

[Vincent Price]

Yes, a wise precaution. Then we go.

[Robert Montgomery]

Yes, Mr. Gutman. Yes, we go.

[Vincent Price]

Adieu, Mr. Spade. Oh, sound. It's like the stage of the Old Vic at the final curtain of Hamlet. Alas, poor Marvin. I knew him well. Oh, well. Many slip twixt the cup and the tooth.

[Claude Rains]

I Let him go, Mr. Montgomery. I knew there was nothing on them that Dundee's boys could make stick. I thought twice before I let Dundee take Hope laverne. But we both agreed it was the smart thing to do. And what do you suppose Effie said when I said period, end a report?

[Edward G. Robinson]

Oh, say for once you came out of hand. $20,000. Oh, just think of the things we can do. Pay all the bills, a year's rent on the office, have that awful old leather chair reupholstered, and a new ribbon for my typewriter.

[Claude Rains]

Effy, about that typewriter.

[Edward G. Robinson]

Well, maybe I can get along on this one for a while. But, Sam, I do think we should get my mother's earrings out of Moishe's pawn shop.

[Claude Rains]

Effy, I know this is gonna be a terrible blow to you, but, Sam.

[Edward G. Robinson]

What did you do with the $20,000?

[Claude Rains]

I put it up for bail.

[Edward G. Robinson]

Bail? Yeah, but that was the $20,000 and you're released. So you get the money. It's very simple, Sam. You just go down and ask them for it.

[Claude Rains]

Jeffrey, you see, you don't Understand these things. Now, bail is a very complex legal technicality. You see, you put up a bond and then you.

[Edward G. Robinson]

Sam, how much was the bail for Hope laverne?

[Claude Rains]

Yeah, that's what I mean, Angel.

[Edward G. Robinson]

Oh, Sam, you're such a child. You'll never see her again. She was just. Just using you.

[Claude Rains]

I'll take it, Effie. Hello, Angel. Hello, kitten.

[Edward G. Robinson]

Sam, I'm free. Shall I come over?

[Claude Rains]

Well, I'll always be waiting for you, kitten.

[Edward G. Robinson]

Me too, Sam. Kitten, indeed. C A t, kitten.

[Claude Rains]

What's that, Angel?

[Edward G. Robinson]

Oh, forget it, Sam. I just get.

[Claude Rains]

Can't figure me out, eh, Angel? Well, I'll tell you. I've lived without faith and I lived without charity. But I've just got to have about.

[Edward G. Robinson]

Here is what I say. Oh. Good night.

[Claude Rains]

Good night, sweetheart.

[Lucille Ball]

This is Robert Montgomery. I'm sure our suspense audience agrees with me when I say that whenever it is. It can't be too soon to have Sam Spade back with us again in a full hour adventure on radio's Outstanding Theater of Three. Incidentally, our producer, editor, director on these weekly full hours of suspense, Bill Speer joins hands with Dashiell Hammett to bring you the Adventures of Sam Spade each Sunday night on this network.

[Robert Montgomery]

Thanks for the plug, Bob.

[H]

I have a basket full of thanks to my friend Howard Sam Duff, the kind of actor a director lights candles for. And the wonderful Lorraine Tuttle, who plays Effie each week. And to Joseph Kearns, who is the Casper Gutman of them all. And all you other ornaments to your profession, Kathy Lewis, Wally Mayer, Jay Novello, Jeanette Nolan, Jack Edwards, Jr. Sidney Miller.

[Robert Montgomery]

Hans Conrad and Bill Johnston.

[H]

And of course, as always, to our musical director and conductor, Led Gluskin. And to the composer of our original scores, Lucian Marowak.

[Lucille Ball]

And our special thanks to Bob Tolman and Jason James, who wrote the Candy Tooth and who were voted by their fellow Mystery Writers of America, the Edgar Allan Poe Award for Sam Spade, the best detective show on the air.

[H]

And to the Wild Root Company, a.

[Robert Montgomery]

Gracious sponsor of same, for this courtesy and cooperation in making tonight's Spade available. Now tell about next week, Bob.

[Lucille Ball]

Next week we will bring you another great American master of suspense, the author of the Postman Always Rings Twice and Double Indemnity, James M. Kane. It's a full hour of Mr. Kane's very wonderful novel, Love's Lovely Counterfeit. This is Robert Montgomery, who will welcome you once again next week to radio's Outstanding Theater of Thrills, Suspense.

[Robert Montgomery]

Don't forget, next week at this same.

[Vincent Price]

Time, a full hour of suspense.

[Robert Montgomery]

This is cbs, the Columbia Broadcasting System.

[I]

In just a moment, Suspense with Burt Lancaster.

[Robert Montgomery]

You just sit down and make yourself at home. Doc. Mary, look who's here.

[Vincent Price]

Doc Lewis.

[Edward G. Robinson]

Oh, my goodness, who's sick?

[Claude Rains]

Oh, golly.

[Vincent Price]

Can't a poor doctor make a simple.

[Robert Montgomery]

Social visit like ordinary folks? I just finished my last call, so I stopped by to a steel haps easy chair, relax and listen to the Auto Light Suspense show. My car and I have had a tough day. We have to keep in shape too, you know. I suppose you've got a sure fire prescription for keeping your car in shape, Duck? Oh, you bet. Auto light resistor, spark plugs, auto light batteries and auto light ignition systems. I wish every case was as easy as that one.

[Edward G. Robinson]

Well, you sound like Frank Martin. Is your prescription for tired doctors? The Auto Light Suspense Show.

[Vincent Price]

Right again.

[H]

Next mission.

[J]

Suspense Autolite and its 60,000 dealers and service stations bring you radio's outstanding. Thanks Theater of thrills. Starring tonight Mr. Burt Lancaster in Anton Leiter's production of the Big Shot by Brett Halliday. A tale well calculated to keep you in suspense.

[H]

You gotta be tough to be a big shot. Especially when you're cursed with yellow curly hair and a pretty baby face. I learned about that early when I was a kid and the other kids started razzing. I learned that if you bounced a brick off somebody's head, the razzing stopped and you were somebody. It was a very profitable lesson which paid off as I grew up. And I found it pays dividends whether you're on East 10th street or down in Mexico.

[Robert Montgomery]

Martin. Charlie Morton. Yeah, yeah. Well, welcome to Mexico.

[H]

Well, thanks. You're Quinn, I suppose.

[Robert Montgomery]

Right. Glad to be meet you.

[H]

Same here.

[Robert Montgomery]

Well, it's lucky you were the only American on the bus or I'd never have recognized you. No? No. Collins wrote he was sending a young fella out just from engineering school, but I didn't expect.

[H]

Listen, Quinn. Never mind my looks. You asked for a mining engineer and you got one. Any complaints?

[Claude Rains]

Why, of course.

[H]

Well, if there are, you can pay me off my guarantee and I'll get back on that bus.

[Robert Montgomery]

Now, wait a minute, Morton. I didn't mean to offend you. I got no complaints as long as you can do the job.

[H]

I can do the job.

[Robert Montgomery]

Yes, I guess maybe you can.

[H]

Now, how about a drink?

[Robert Montgomery]

Sure. Right over here at the corner in Mexico, there's always a bottle of tequila not too far away. That's one thing makes it attractive.

[H]

Must be the only thing then.

[Robert Montgomery]

Oh, I don't know. Some of us like it down here.

[H]

Is that so?

[Robert Montgomery]

Why'd you come then?

[H]

That's easy. They told me there was money in it.

[Claude Rains]

Yeah.

[Robert Montgomery]

Yeah, there is. In here.

[Edward G. Robinson]

Ah, bienvenidos, senores.

[Vincent Price]

Dos tequilas.

[Edward G. Robinson]

Dos tequilas. See?

[Robert Montgomery]

I hope you like tequila, Morton. It's about all they have around here.

[H]

It'll do. Are all the bartenders like that?

[Robert Montgomery]

Oh, no, that's Lolita.

[H]

Her father owns a place sure to be plenty good for business.

[Claude Rains]

I guess so.

[Robert Montgomery]

Say, your stuff is all arrived. Last box of equipment came in last night. So you can start setting up the mill as soon as we get back.

[H]

Don't worry, I'll get it up.

[Robert Montgomery]

I'm not worried. But time is important.

[Edward G. Robinson]

Dos tequillas, senores.

[Robert Montgomery]

Si. Gracious Lolita.

[H]

Yeah, thanks. Beautiful.

[Edward G. Robinson]

Beautiful.

[H]

Si, baby, that's you from top to bottom.

[Edward G. Robinson]

Is okay, senor?

[H]

Is plenty okay, baby?

[Robert Montgomery]

Plenty.

[Edward G. Robinson]

Gracias, senor.

[H]

Maybe I'm gonna like Mexico after all.

[Robert Montgomery]

Look, Martin, I don't know how much Collins told you about the setup.

[H]

Not much. Said there was a chance for some money and plus a little excitement.

[Robert Montgomery]

He didn't tell you? There might be more than excitement. Jail, maybe, or worse.

[H]

He mentioned it.

[Robert Montgomery]

Oh, okay. Then you understand that we've got a tip ticklish proposition on our hands. We gotta be careful, especially with these people. If they knew what we were planning.

[H]

Okay, what are we planning?

[Robert Montgomery]

We struck a rich vein of gold, quartz, in the remote mountains about 20 miles from here. I've got my crew mining as fast as we can before anybody around here finds out about it. So the tough part comes in getting it out of the country. There's a wave of Mexico for Mexicans right now. And if we haul the ore out to the regular stamping mill in town, the government will confiscate most of the gold.

[H]

I see. So you bring me in to set up a small stamping mill at the moment and mill the ore there.

[Robert Montgomery]

Right. We figure that in the next month we can sluice out maybe a half million dollars worth of free gold. Then get out quick before anybody gets wise.

[H]

Half a million dollars?

[Robert Montgomery]

Yes, but we'll still have to smuggle it out of the country.

[H]

It's gonna be a tough job, kid stuff.

[Vincent Price]

Yeah.

[Robert Montgomery]

It's not just the law we've got to worry about.

[H]

What else, Lolita?

[Robert Montgomery]

Sure, these people would inform on us if they found out. But they wouldn't tell the government. They'd tell some bandit gang around in the hill somewhere.

[H]

Bandits. I suppose they got a Robin Hood down here too.

[Robert Montgomery]

Okay, Morton, Maybe you'll learn.

[H]

Well, I thought a half a million would tempt anybody.

[Robert Montgomery]

And a 20th of that is your share. Maybe 25,000. That's not hay. Careful, Morton. No, no.

[Vincent Price]

Gracious.

[Edward G. Robinson]

Quanto un pleso? Gracias, senores.

[H]

Hello, Lita.

[Edward G. Robinson]

Si, senor.

[H]

You understand comprende English?

[Edward G. Robinson]

Si, senor. I speak English. Muy gul.

[Robert Montgomery]

Oh, so I see.

[H]

Never mind, baby. A little is enough. Your old man ever give you any time off?

[Edward G. Robinson]

Que, senor, no comprendo.

[H]

Well, let's put it another way. Are you doing anything Saturday night?

[Claude Rains]

Wait a minute.

[Robert Montgomery]

Morton. Better not make any dates. Well, why not?

[H]

A guy can't work all the time, especially with stuff like this around. You don't expect me to stay up there.

[Robert Montgomery]

Quiet, you fool.

[H]

Okay, never mind. Beautiful. See you later. Comprendi?

[Edward G. Robinson]

Si, senor. See you later.

[H]

Yeah, you get the idea.

[Edward G. Robinson]

Hasta luego.

[Robert Montgomery]

Look, Morton, I warned you. Be careful.

[H]

I'm a big boy. I can take care of myself. And her.

[Robert Montgomery]

Just remember, there's a half a million involved.

[H]

Yeah, half a million, maybe.

[Robert Montgomery]

Altogether, for the company, 25,000 for you.

[H]

Half a million dollars?

[Robert Montgomery]

Listen, Morton.

[H]

And 25,000 for me.

[Robert Montgomery]

That's not enough for you.

[H]

It'll do for a start.

[Robert Montgomery]

You think you're a pretty big shot, don't you, Morton?

[H]

And you don't like it, is that it?

[Robert Montgomery]

I don't like you.

[H]

That bus is still out there. And you could get another engineer down here in maybe six weeks.

[Robert Montgomery]

Something tells me I ought to take you up on that. But I don't have to like you as long as you do your job and stay out of trouble.

[H]

Okay, then let's leave it at that. Whatever happens, it won't be me who'll have any regrets. The setup was just like Quinn said, except that the ore was even richer than I'd expected. There was a pile of it already mined. And I put them into work right away assembling the stamping mill. You know, hard rock miners are funny. They hate being bossed by an engineer who's learned all his mining out of books. And they didn't like it either. That I was getting a bigger share than it than they were. And of course, to add that my looks, the yellow hair and the baby face. I knew that sooner or later I'd have to show them that they couldn't draw any wrong conclusions from my face. Well, it didn't take long for the showdown to come.

[Robert Montgomery]

On, Hank, let's knock off. Chow's ready.

[Vincent Price]

Okay.

[H]

Wait a minute, Logan.

[Claude Rains]

Yeah?

[H]

That sluice is not tight. You better get down there and tighten up those bolts.

[Robert Montgomery]

You can wait till tomorrow, Charles.

[Claude Rains]

Ready?

[H]

I said get down there and tighten up those bolts.

[Robert Montgomery]

Who's gonna make me a dude engineer? Why, you measly little. Ya. Look out. Look out. You're too close to the gully. Morton. Look out. Morton. You knocked him over the cliff. He went down on the gully.

[H]

I saw him.

[Robert Montgomery]

Hurry up. Get down there.

[Claude Rains]

Man.

[Robert Montgomery]

He's probably hurt bad. Must have fallen 30ft. Morton, where are you going?

[H]

Somebody said supper was ready.

[Robert Montgomery]

You didn't have to do that. You didn't have to knock him over the cliff.

[H]

Yeah, I only asked for.

[Robert Montgomery]

But you didn't have to fight like that. Like you meant to kill him.

[H]

They wouldn't take orders. And I had to show him.

[Robert Montgomery]

Okay? Martin.

[Vincent Price]

Quinn.

[Robert Montgomery]

Hey, Quinn.

[Vincent Price]

Yeah, he's dead.

[Robert Montgomery]

His neck's broke. So you gotta show us all how tough you are, don't you, Morton? Even if it amounts to murder.

[H]

If nobody else wants any supper, I do. I'm hungry.

[J]

For suspense. Autolyte is bringing you Mr. Burt Lancaster. In radio's outstanding theater of thrills. Suspense?

[Edward G. Robinson]

Oh, my. I wouldn't call suspense Very relaxing, Dr. Lewis.

[Robert Montgomery]

Well, suspense is certainly no sedative, Mary. But I like it that way. Full of ginger. Like those Autolite resistor spark plugs you mentioned. Ain't I now? Say, Hap, don't you get me started on those auto light resistors. Cause I'm a bug on them. I guess it's pretty important that you doctors have spark plugs that you can really depend on, huh? Riders. Rain, Hap. You know, my patients just can't wait. They expect me to be Johnny on the spot. Day or night, fair weather or foul.

[I]

Yes, folks, come rain or shine, Autolite Resistor spark plugs are just what the doctor ordered for your car. Right now you can get Autolite Resistor spark plugs anywhere in the United States. And they're sensational. Why, no other spark plugs can give and maintain such performance. Autolite ignition engineered a 10,000 ohm resistor right into the Autolite spark plugs. This permits a wider gap setting and maintains it far longer than any other spark plugs. Replace your narrow gap spark plugs with a set of wide gap Autolite resistor spark plugs. You can actually tell the difference in your car. Autolite resistor spark plugs are a great new development of Autolite Ignition engineers. Autolite engineers, tests and produces complete ignition systems. That's why Autolite spark plugs work in special harmony. With your car's entire electrical system. Get a set of Autolite resistor spark plugs right away.

[J]

And now, Autolight brings back to our Hollywood soundstage. Mr. Burt Lancaster as Charles Morton in the Big Shot. A tale well calculated to keep you in suspense. Ben.

[H]

You gotta be tough. It's a tough world and you gotta be tougher than the next guy. I was tougher than Joe Logan, that's all. I beat him in a fair fight. If he slipped and fell over that cliff, well, it's just too bad. While they buried him, I ate my supper. After that, I had no more trouble with the men. The first Saturday that everything was running smoothly, I went up to Quinn's tent.

[Robert Montgomery]

Quinn?

[Claude Rains]

Yeah.

[Robert Montgomery]

Oh, come in, Martin. We're just looking over the take so far. What's your guess?

[H]

Maybe 100,000?

[Robert Montgomery]

Yes, maybe we'll pull at least 250.

[H]

We'll get that half a million. Don't you worry. If nobody bothers us, it'll be so jumpy. Nobody's going to bother us.

[Vincent Price]

I hope not.

[Robert Montgomery]

Say, Morton, I gotta admit, you've done a whale of a job so far.

[H]

Forget it.

[Robert Montgomery]

Don't worry, Morton. I don't like you any better. But I can appreciate it when a man knows his job and does it well.

[H]

Okay, okay. Look, I'm going into town.

[Robert Montgomery]

You want any supplies, I'm sending Andy in for him.

[H]

Well, there's no use of the two of us going, Morton.

[Robert Montgomery]

And I'm the boss here. Are you? Yes.

[H]

You told me as long as I did the job, that was all you cared about.

[Robert Montgomery]

That's right.

[H]

Okay, I've done the job. It'll take the crew two days to catch up. I'm going to town.

[Robert Montgomery]

I'll tell Andy you'll get the supplies.

[H]

C.C. baby, come here.

[Edward G. Robinson]

Senor Charm.

[Robert Montgomery]

Love me, baby.

[Edward G. Robinson]

I have never meet one like you.

[H]

Well, it goes double. Baby, you're sensational. You'd knock em dead in the States. I'd like to take you back there. I'd like to dress you up in fancy clothes with diamonds in your hair.

[Edward G. Robinson]

Diamonds? Oh, senor, you must be very rich.

[H]

Not yet. Not yet. But give me time.

[Edward G. Robinson]

It's very interesting. Tell me more, Kido.

[H]

Later, baby, later. Right now let's blow this joint.

[Edward G. Robinson]

But, Senor Charlie, is it not you must go back to wherever you go?

[H]

Ah, they can do without me for a while. I like it here better. Okay.

[Edward G. Robinson]

Okay, Senor.

[Robert Montgomery]

Well, what? What was that?

[H]

What'd the kid say?

[Edward G. Robinson]

It's nothing, Senor Charlie. It's a game they play.

[H]

Well, what'd he say?

[Edward G. Robinson]

He say, beware El Chico.

[Robert Montgomery]

Oh.

[H]

Who's El Chico?

[Edward G. Robinson]

It's no worries, senor. You must not mind.

[H]

Sounds like a Mexican goblin or something.

[Edward G. Robinson]

El Chico is, they say, a bandido. You know, like americanos. He rob, kill them. They see me with americano, they say, beware El Chico. It's a game.

[H]

I get it. He's the Mexican equivalent of Superman, eh? An imaginary Robin Hood in a sombrero.

[Edward G. Robinson]

No comprendo, senor.

[H]

Well, never mind, baby. Forget the fairy tales. That kid ought to be home in bed anyway, instead of running around a saloon.

[Edward G. Robinson]

He's my little brother.

[H]

Oh, I get it now. This is the family game to scare off the americanos, eh?

[Edward G. Robinson]

No, no, senor.

[H]

Well, I don't scare easily, baby. I don't scare at all.

[Edward G. Robinson]

Ah, bueno.

[H]

No, sire, I say, okay.

[Edward G. Robinson]

What does the matter, Senor Charlie?

[H]

Nothing, baby, nothing. I just had a great idea, that's all. Thank your little brother for me, baby. He's just given me a great idea. Yeah, a great idea. For a long time I've been thinking, why just 25,000? Why not the whole half a million? There's something wonderful about those little bags of free gold, you know, they're so negotiable. You don't have to exchange them for anything else before you can get the cash with a half a million. And Lolita, life could be beautiful. And now the plan was shaping up in my mind. I started putting it into effect as soon as I got back to the camp. Quinn was waiting there for me as I rode up, and I could see he was boiling.

[Claude Rains]

Where in thunder have you been?

[Robert Montgomery]

You were due back two days ago.

[H]

Ah, I got drunk. I didn't feel like hitting the trailer this morning.

[Robert Montgomery]

Oh, just like that. Take it or leave it.

[H]

Well, that's it.

[Robert Montgomery]

I don't blame a man for getting drunk once. But I'll send somebody else in for supplies next week.

[H]

I'm going in. I got a date next Saturday night.

[Robert Montgomery]

Listen, Morton, I told you.

[H]

You want to fire me now, huh? You got anybody else that can keep the mill going?

[Robert Montgomery]

I haven't, and you know it.

[H]

All right, then. Let's get to work. Morton, maybe we better speed up a little, too.

[Robert Montgomery]

Why?

[H]

Well, they're talking in town about this El Chico.

[Robert Montgomery]

El Chico? Yeah.

[H]

Bandolo thinks he's gonna run all the americanos out of Mexico. He's making a war on the Americans. Been raising Cain up north.

[Robert Montgomery]

Up north? Yeah.

[H]

The talk in town was that he's heading down this Way I was afraid.

[Robert Montgomery]

Of something like that. You better tell me about it, Morton. Tell me all about.

[H]

It was a cinch from the very first. He swallowed it all. By the next Saturday, he was begging me to go back to town, keep my ears open, find out all I could. Of course, I heard plenty. Then Quinn was hurrying them in, trying to figure out a way we could get out. But the way I told him, El Chico had complete control of the province to the north and blocked our way back to the States. The only other way was across the mountains to the west and they were impassable without native guides. He knew that, but I reminded him. And then the next time I went into town, I brought back the map. A greasy, crumpled dog eared pencil map scrawled on butcher paper. It was a masterpiece. It should have been. It took me a whole night to draw it. And it showed an old wagon road going out over the mountains to the coast. I told Quinn I bought it from an old Mexican. It was the prelude for my trump card.

[Robert Montgomery]

Okay. Map looks genuine, all right. And if it is, that road can't be more than 10 miles due west of here.

[H]

Well, I figure less than that. Straight over there in that low pass.

[Robert Montgomery]

My golly, I think you're right. Sure.

[H]

All we gotta do is to get across this one. This. This one canyon right here.

[Robert Montgomery]

And how do you figure we do that? With wings? It's 300ft deep and 100 wide.

[H]

That's easy.

[Robert Montgomery]

Yeah, that tequila you've been swilling in town's got you goofy.

[H]

I wanna throw a bridge across.

[Robert Montgomery]

I love the way you say that. Like, why not have another flapjack for breakfast?

[H]

Look, I'm an engineer, remember? I'll put a bridge across there in three days.

[Robert Montgomery]

Morton, you do that, and I'll take back everything I ever said about you.

[H]

The next morning, I tied a 200 foot length of rope around my waist, took a pulley with me and started down to the bottom. It took me all day to make it up to the other side. I tied the pulley to a jack pine and pulled the rope through tight and tied it off. And then I came back, hand over hand. After that, it was simple to finish. The slickest the of suspension bridge you ever laid eyes on. Plenty strong enough to hold all our men and mules. Fully loaded. Was so good that even Quinn had the grace to admit it.

[Robert Montgomery]

I gotta hand it to you, Morton. I've seen a lot of engineers that can work things out on paper, but not many that can do the job themselves.

[H]

Thanks.

[Robert Montgomery]

What do you say we take a look over there tomorrow for that road?

[H]

No need to. I took a little walk the day I ran the cable across. Road's there all right. Just where the map shows it.

[Robert Montgomery]

Oh, all right. If you found it. I guess that takes care of that.

[H]

Sure, we're all set.

[Robert Montgomery]

Thanks to you. I guess I owe you an apology, Morton. Maybe we all owe our lives to you.

[H]

That's the only time before or after that. I had a qualm when he said that. But you gotta be tough. I couldn't forget that. It was too late now to back out. Everything was ready. We were all set to leave on short notice. Quinn wrote a letter to Collins in the States telling him to meet us on the coast with a boat. Quinn gave me the letter to mail in town, but of course I never mailed it. I spent my time in town getting the necessary mules and the gear. And then I went to Lolita.

[Edward G. Robinson]

Kirito mio. I have missed you.

[H]

Well, it's the last time you'll have to miss me, baby. This is it. The diamonds, the fancy clothes. All of it. Yours.

[Edward G. Robinson]

Mine, querido. You are rich now.

[H]

By this time tomorrow, we'll both be rich with more gold than we'll know what to do with for the rest of our lives.

[Edward G. Robinson]

Gold? You have found much gold, see?

[H]

And it's ours, thanks to El Chico.

[Edward G. Robinson]

El Chico, Remember?

[H]

Beware El Chico. The game you played with your brother. Oh, see, that's what gave me the idea. And it worked perfectly. We'll have to thank El Chico if we ever run into him.

[Edward G. Robinson]

Oh, I do not think that will happen. After all, El Chico is only in a game, remember?

[H]

Well, never mind the games now, baby. We got work to do. Now get some clothes. But keep it light. We'll plot of here at midnight. And tomorrow. Tomorrow we're rich.

[Robert Montgomery]

Hello there.

[Vincent Price]

Alto.

[Edward G. Robinson]

We are here already, carido.

[H]

No, but. But you stay here with the mules while I go into camp with Quinn's train. It'll be done in an hour. Then you start up. And remember, raise as much dust as you can. That's part of the plan?

[Edward G. Robinson]

Si.

[H]

By the time you get there, everything will be ready. Comprende?

[Edward G. Robinson]

Si. Si, querido. You are sure there will be no mistake?

[H]

Not with me running this clam bake, honey. Now give me a kiss. Atta girl. Hasta la baby.

[Edward G. Robinson]

Good luck. Carri though.

[H]

But I wasn't depending on luck. You don't need luck when you got everything figured. I knew the leader and I'd be on Our way back to the States with a trunk full of that yellow stuff. And the men. I didn't even give them a thought. Not even Quinn. Dumb lungs. Too stupid to reach for what they wanted. They deserved whatever life handed them. Just before I rounded the last bend into camp, I stopped the pack. It's awful quiet in the mountains just before dawn. I took a deep breath and.

[Vincent Price]

Quinn.

[Edward G. Robinson]

Quinn.

[H]

Get going. You major cutters try to look like you've been running for 20 miles.

[Robert Montgomery]

Quinn or. Quinn? Who is it?

[Claude Rains]

Is that you? What is it? What's the matter, Alta?

[H]

We'll have to get out in a hurry. El Chico's on his way here with 20 men. He'll be here inside of two hours.

[Robert Montgomery]

How'd he find out about us?

[H]

Oh, it's all my fault. I was a fool to trust Alita. I thought she was okay. She sent word to old Chico about the gold.

[Robert Montgomery]

You blasted idiot. I told you to keep your mouth shut. I know, I know.

[H]

You can kick me anywhere. I've been kicking myself all the way up here.

[Robert Montgomery]

I'd like to kill.

[H]

Well, I wouldn't blame you, Quinn.

[Robert Montgomery]

All right, men, get those mules back. We're getting out the gold first. Two saddlebags for each mule. Hurry up.

[H]

I work like a demon alongside the men, getting the stuff packed. And then, just as the last mule was getting his diamond hitch, I grabbed Quinn's arm.

[Claude Rains]

What do you want when I've been.

[H]

Thinking I gotta do something.

[Robert Montgomery]

Looks to me like you've done enough.

[H]

Don't you see it's my fault? It's up to me to do something now.

[Robert Montgomery]

This is no time to beat your breast. We're getting out, getting out of here as fast as we can.

[H]

No, look. Look, I got an idea. You gotta let me square myself.

[Robert Montgomery]

Make it snappy. We can't waste time.

[H]

Well, listen. I placed a dynamite charge under the eye bolts at this side of the bridge. Now, I'll stay on this side and wait till you're safely across, then blow the bolts clean so there'll be no trace left.

[Robert Montgomery]

I see. You.

[H]

Cut the cables on the other side with a hacksaw, and the whole bridge will drop to the bottom where the brush will hide it. You'll be out of sight when El Chico comes, and I'll tell him you've out slicked him, gone north. He'll waste several days riding after you before he realizes that truth. And by that time, you'll be safe on the coast.

[Robert Montgomery]

What about you?

[H]

Well, I don't matter. This wouldn't have happened If I had shut my mouth off. Come on, you fellas.

[G]

Get going.

[Robert Montgomery]

Nuts. We'll stick together. Cutting the cables on the far side's a good idea. He'll lose a day going back to where he can cross the canyon.

[H]

Day is not enough. His horses will catch your moves. We got to destroy every sign of the bridge. Make them think you've gone the other way.

[Robert Montgomery]

I'm staying.

[Vincent Price]

I don't know.

[H]

It's the only way. Quinn, look.

[Robert Montgomery]

Look.

[H]

You can see the dust cloud over.

[Robert Montgomery]

There on the trail.

[H]

He's coming. You haven't got much time to get out of sight.

[Robert Montgomery]

All right, Martin.

[Claude Rains]

Maybe I was wrong about you.

[Robert Montgomery]

Let me shake your hand.

[Claude Rains]

Good luck.

[H]

Good luck. That's all guys like Quinn can think about. They don't understand a man who's tough enough to make his own luck. All of them lined up and they shook my hand. They all hated me since I came on the job. Now they were shaking my hand, and in a minute, the lead mule started. Soon they were all strung out on that long, swaying bridge. Quinn stayed till last, spacing them out. I waved to him and waited for him to step out on the bridge. My hand inched toward the plunger. Then the stupid fool started back toward me. Go on, Quinn.

[Robert Montgomery]

Hurry.

[H]

There's no time.

[Robert Montgomery]

I can catch up with him. Listen, I've been thinking, Morton. Sunday, while you were in town, I looked around for that road. I couldn't find it.

[H]

They're all right. You'll find it. Hurry, Quinn.

[Robert Montgomery]

Maybe so, but I was just thinking. Why'd you plant the dynamite under this end of the bridge?

[H]

Well, I.

[Robert Montgomery]

Why couldn't you have strung wires and blown it out from the other side? I just didn't.

[H]

I made a mistake.

[Robert Montgomery]

All right.

[H]

I'll take the consequences.

[Robert Montgomery]

Still do it, Morton. We've got plenty of wire. No need for you to fall into El Chico's hands.

[H]

Go on, you fool.

[Robert Montgomery]

Go on.

[H]

In a minute, it'll be too late.

[Robert Montgomery]

Too late for what?

[Claude Rains]

Morton?

[H]

Look at that dust.

[Vincent Price]

He's coming.

[Robert Montgomery]

You know what I think? I think El Chico isn't anywhere within 500 miles of here. What? I think you plan to blow up this bridge with a men on it. Drop us all at the bottom where you could pick up the pieces. Get away, Quinn. You can't stop me now. I'll take care of you later. To eat in that project. Stop it, Martin. Get your hand off that. Stop.

[H]

The concussion had my head reeling for a few seconds. When the landscape swam back into focus, I could see the bridge was gone. The bridge and the men and the mules. But I couldn't seem to figure out what happened. Quinn lay beside me, very still. I could see blood. How did I seem to remember hearing a shot? But where did it come from?

[Robert Montgomery]

Charlie.

[Edward G. Robinson]

Senor Charlie.

[Robert Montgomery]

Lolita, you did it. You shot him. You're wonderful.

[H]

We did it, baby.

[Robert Montgomery]

We did it. Look it down there. A half a million bucks, baby. Three million pesos in gold. And all we gotta do is go down and pick it up.

[Vincent Price]

Indeed.

[Robert Montgomery]

A good job, senor.

[H]

I stared stupidly at the little man in the big sombrero who stepped out of the manzanita and grinned at me. A smoking revolver dangled from one hairy paw and the other. The other was pulling Lolita toward him. My Lolita. She put her arms around him and kissed him in a way that she never kissed me.

[Robert Montgomery]

We will pick up your gold for you, senor. You are very smart man, Senor Charlie. I should like to be your friend. Except you are gringo and you mistake to make the love to the sweetheart of El Chico.

[J]

Thank you, Burt Lancaster, for a splendid performance. Mr. Lancaster will return in just a moment.

[Robert Montgomery]

What do you do for an acute case of goose pimples? Well, if I knew, I'd prescribe some for myself.

[Edward G. Robinson]

What you both need are some cool cough carefree Autolite words from Frank Martin.

[Robert Montgomery]

Now, Mary, can't a couple of old jalopy men talk about spark plugs?

[I]

Everybody's talking about auto light resistor spark plugs. Why, they're the best thing that's happened in spark plugs for years. Replace your narrow gap spark plugs with the sensational new wide gap Auto Light resistor spark plugs. You can actually tell the difference in your car. You'll enjoy immediate improvement like smoother idling and gas saving. Buy a set of Auto Light Resistor spark plugs tomorrow. So remember, Autolite means spark plugs, ignition.

[Robert Montgomery]

Engineered resistor spark plugs.

[I]

Autolite means batteries stay full batteries. Auto light means ignition system, the lifeline of your car. Yes, and Autolight also makes, in its 26 nationwide plants more than 400 automotive, aviation and marine products famous the world over for engineered dependability.

[J]

And now, here again is Mr. Burt Lancaster.

[H]

My thanks to the fine cast of radioactors who appear on tonight's show. Suspense is always one of my favorite programs, whether I'm acting on it or listening to it. And you can be sure that I'll be glued to my radio next Thursday evening when Gregory Peck appears in a story called Hitchhike Poker. Another gripping study in suspense.

[I]

Burt Lancaster will soon be seen in the normal production, Kiss the blood off My Hands. Tonight's suspense play was written by Brett Holiday and adapted for radio by Lawrence Goldman. With music composed by Lucian Marwick and conducted by Led Luskin. The entire production was under the direction of Anton M. Leiter. In the coming weeks, Suspense will present such stars as Robert Young, Virginia Bruce, Edward G. Robinson, Ray Milan and many others. And of special note, our star tonight, Burt Lancaster, may currently be seen in the film version of Sorry, Wrong Number, that great suspense play soon to be repeated on this program with Agnes Moorhead in her original role. Make it a point to listen each Thursday to suspense radio's outstanding theater of thrills. And next Thursday, same time, hear Gregory Peck in Hitchhike Poker.

[Edward G. Robinson]

This is the Auto Light suspense show. Drive slowly. Death and danger travel in fast company. Good night. Switch to auto light.

[I]

This is cbs, the Columbia Broadcasting System. In just a moment, Suspense with Edward G. Robinson.

[Edward G. Robinson]

Boy, have I got the hicks.

[Robert Montgomery]

Here comes. I say you have. And the way you're sputtering, you sound like a car that needs a set of new autolites boxes.

[Edward G. Robinson]

No, Hap, it isn't funny. Billy, have you tried drinking a glass of water while you hold your breath? Mom, I'm so full of water now I feel, I feel like an Autolite.

[Robert Montgomery]

Stay full. Battery.

[Edward G. Robinson]

Men never take anything seriously.

[Robert Montgomery]

Maybe what Billy needs is a hiccup. I mean, a checkup at an autolite ignition service station.

[Edward G. Robinson]

It might help if I could get.

[Vincent Price]

My mind on something else.

[Robert Montgomery]

Say, I know what'll make you forget those hiccups and give you a bunch of thrills to boot. Switch to autolite, Mary. It's time for suspense.

[J]

Suspense AutoLight and its 60,000 dealers and service stations bring you radio's outstanding theater of thrills. Starring tonight, Mr. Edward G. Robinson in Anton Leiter's production of the man who Wanted to Be Edward G. Robinson. A tale well calculated to keep you in suspend.

[G]

I, I I'm making this statement in accordance with the promise to a very dear friend. It's a complete statement in every detail, even including those matters which are to me personally most incriminating. Because my trust in my friend is such that I haven't the slightest concern on that score or any other. What follows concerns primarily two persons. Myself, Homer J. Hubbard and my wife, Ada Sampson Hubbard. Even when I was courting Ada, I was aware that hers was a strong and domineering personality, to say the least. And after we were married, well, at first I put up with Ada's constant Nagging and petty persecutions as best I could. I put up with them for 20 long years. It wasn't until a memorable evening a little over a year ago that the first dim outlines of an escape. And finally a plan began to take shape in my mind. You see, I never was much of a one for movies, but Ada and I had gone to see a picture called Little Caesar. It was a reissue, I think they call it, with an actor in it whom I never even heard of before for. Oh, so you thought you right on me, huh? Well, get this. Nobody rats on Little Caesar.

[Robert Montgomery]

See.

[G]

The moment I saw that face on the screen, the minute I heard that voice, the world of reality around me simply ceased to exist. I lived that picture. I was Little Caesar. I was Edward G. Robinson. I was dimly conscious that my voice was like his. That even my face, without my spectacles and with my hair parted differently, might have been mistaken for his. But it was more than that. It was his personality that fascinated me. And that I assumed, calm, assured, tough kind of a man who made people do what he wanted done the way he wanted it done. Walking out of the movie theater afterward, I knew something had happened that was going to change my whole life.

[Edward G. Robinson]

Well, there's a man. Yes, Caesar, they call him, and well they may. And that Edward G. Robinson. I'll wager he's no Casper Milquetoast.

[G]

Yes, dear.

[Edward G. Robinson]

Is that all you have to say? Well, yes, dear. What does it take to arouse a little enthusiasm in you, anyway? Here, you've seen a fine performance, a picture that'd get anybody in the world excited. And all you can say is, yes, dear? I wish you were half the man that Robinson is.

[G]

But from that moment, I no longer really cared what Ada wished or thought. I'd begun my escape into a dream world of my own making. A world in which I was Edward G. Robinson. As the weeks went by, I began to identify myself with him more and more. I imagined myself in countless dangerous situations. And when no one was looking, I imitated him and I affected his mannerisms. I would start daydreaming at my desk, wondering what the other people in the office would think if I suddenly exposed this hidden side of my personality. Okay, everybody stay where you are. Hold your hands over your head. I don't want any monkey business, see? Now, stand back there, Ryan. Any funny stuff from you, and I'll let you have it.

[Vincent Price]

This is preposterous. What do you mean? Is this your idea of a joke?

[G]

We'll see whether it's a joke or not if you make one false move. Now, this isn't a water pistol I'm.

[Vincent Price]

Holding here, you know. Corette, you're fired. Leave this office immediately.

[G]

I'm getting out, all right, but I'm not fired, see? I'm leaving well healed. That's where you come in, Mr. Ryan.

[Vincent Price]

Please, please, Hubbard, be reasonable.

[G]

Shut up and do what I tell you. Keep your hands up in the air. Well, you walk over to that safe, open it up, get all the money out of it and put it right here on the desk in front of me. I get moving. I don't want to have any trouble with you, Orion. I'm gonna count three, and if you're not moving when I finish, you'll never move again. See? One, two.

[Vincent Price]

Hubbard, what are you doing? Daydreaming? You better get busy or I should be forced to report you to Mr. Pemberton. Again.

[G]

Yeah. Oh. Oh, I'm so sorry, Mr. Ryan. I'm terribly sorry. I can't understand what could have come over me. Well, that's the way it went at the office. Walking down the street, riding home on the bus, my life outwardly calm and well ordered, possibly even dull, was actually 24 hours of harrowing adventure with myself as the central figure. I saw every Edward G. Robinson picture that came out. It was the day after seeing Key Largo for the third time that Ada finally caught me. I was lathering my face and talking to myself. Okay, a rat. You asked for it. You don't come out, say we coming in and get you, see? And we're coming and shooting, see? What's that? Oh, yeah. Well, only a dirty yellow rat would say that. Okay, boys, let him have it.

[Edward G. Robinson]

Well, I never. Of all the full performances I ever heard of, this beats everything. What in the world are you chasing, jabbering about in here?

[G]

Well, it's really nothing, dear Ada. I, I, I was just sort of trying to imitate Edward G. Robinson.

[Edward G. Robinson]

You were what? Edward G. Robinson?

[G]

Yeah.

[Edward G. Robinson]

Oh, that's rich. You trying to imitate Edward Garen. Stand. Don't stop. Don't let me interrupt the performance, Mr. Movie Star. Come on, come on, do your act for me.

[G]

Well, well, dear, I, I, I, I don't see anything so funny about it.

[Edward G. Robinson]

Well, maybe you don't, but you're the only person in the world who wants. Oh, my. Well, I'll leave you to your rehearsing. Why don't you imitate any Bracken or Margaret or Brian? I think you'd find it easier.

[G]

It was right then that I decided to Kill her.

[J]

For suspense. Autolyte is bringing you Mr. Edward G. Robinson in radio's outstanding theater of thrills. Suspense.

[Robert Montgomery]

Say, Mary, looks like Billy's all over those hiccups. Thanks to Edward G. Robinson in suspense.

[Edward G. Robinson]

Shh. Don't mention hiccups again. He might get them back. Let's switch his mind to something else.

[Robert Montgomery]

Well, you know how he is about anything Autolite makes. Let's listen to Frank Martin. That'll do the trick.

[I]

Friends, money can't buy better electrical equipment for your car than Autolite. And here's why. In the first place, Autolight is the world's largest independent manufacturer of automotive electrical equipment. Original factory equipment for many of the finest cars and trucks in America. In its 26 nationwide plants, Autolight manufactures distributors, generators, starting motors, spark plugs, batteries, wire, not to mention such things as bumpers, die castings, horns, instruments and gauges, lights, ornamental plastics and over 400 other products. What's more, Autolite service stations all over the country are staffed with trained men and specialized machines to give your car the best possible electrical service. So, friends, when your car's electrical equipment needs attention, drive into your nearest Autolite service station or the dealer who sells your make of car and ask for original factory parts and service.

[Edward G. Robinson]

Remember, Autolight service stations are listed in your classified telephone directory under automotive electrical equipment.

[J]

And now, Auto Light brings back to our Hollywood soundstage, Mr. Edward G. Robinson in the man who Wanted To Be Edward G. Robinson. A tale well calculated. To keep you in suspense.

[G]

I. I might have decided to have Missy on her if she'd only let me alone. But Ada could never leave anyone alone. She ridiculed me at home and in front of our friends. Sometimes she'd let a few weeks go by without saying anything, and I would think that perhaps she had forgotten. No, Ada never forgot. She would wait until we were in a group of people and then she would come out with it.

[Edward G. Robinson]

Well, my dear, you mean I haven't told you about Homer's dream world? He thinks he's Edward G. Robinson.

[Vincent Price]

Oh, no.

[Edward G. Robinson]

Do tell us, Mr. Homer G. Robinson, when do you think you'll be getting your next contract from Hollywood? Oh, you folks have got home, are all wrong. He's a killer at heart. Just a cold blooded killer.

[G]

I want to buy a gun.

[Robert Montgomery]

Yes, sir. What kind of a gun?

[G]

Well, I don't know much about guns, but that one looks all right.

[Robert Montgomery]

Yes. Yes, that's a nice little gun.

[G]

Yes, isn't it?

[Vincent Price]

28, 50.

[G]

Do I have to have a license?

[H]

Oh, not unless you're going to carry.

[Robert Montgomery]

It on your person. Otherwise, we just register it for the police records under your name.

[G]

Oh, yeah?

[Robert Montgomery]

What's the name?

[G]

Oh, Edward G. Robinson.

[Robert Montgomery]

I beg your pardon?

[G]

You heard me, mug. Edward G. Robinson.

[Vincent Price]

See.

[G]

I had made my plans very carefully. My plan was that her murder would look like suicide. It would be a night when the moon was full so that I could see a head on the pillow and aim carefully. I would fire the shot through the temple quickly wipe my fingerprints from the handle of the gun and then push it into her hand. And as the shocked and bereaved husband, I would call Dr. Wallace. The police wouldn't come until later, and when they did, I would be ready for them. I was so busy laying my plans that I hadn't been reading the papers and had to be told the big news.

[Robert Montgomery]

Homer.

[Edward G. Robinson]

Oh, I beg your pardon, Mr. Robinson, please. Would you mind passing the spirit? That is, if you're not too preoccupied with planning your next murder.

[G]

Please, please, Ada.

[Vincent Price]

Yeah. Held up any banks lately, Homer?

[G]

Here you are, dear.

[Vincent Price]

Oh, say, that reminds me. All kidding aside, did you know that he's gonna be here next week?

[Robert Montgomery]

Who?

[Edward G. Robinson]

Edward G. Robinson. He's going to address the hobbyist convention.

[Robert Montgomery]

Oh, is that so? Yeah, sure.

[G]

Well, hi. I'd like to hear him.

[Edward G. Robinson]

I would too. Oh, I'd love to see what a real he man is like. Not just a poor imitation.

[G]

We went and at first it was the most terrible disappointment of my life because he wasn't tough or hard boiled or anything like it. He seemed to be a mild mannered little fellow. A little shy, almost like me. He talked about orchids and modern art. There were his hobbies, he said, raising orchids and collecting paintings. Modern paintings, yes. But as the lecture went on, I began to understand. By the time it was over, I knew. And so, ladies and gentlemen, I consider myself twice blessed. Every man is blessed who has a hobby. But I am among the fortunate few who have two hobbies. And as the fellow said, whose fiance had a twin sister. I love them both.

[Vincent Price]

Thank you.

[Robert Montgomery]

Thank you very much.

[G]

Later that evening, I made an excuse to get away from Ada and went down to the hotel where I knew Mr. Robinson was staying. I bribed the bellboy $1.75 to tell me which was his room. I went down the hall and knocked at the door of 708. Yeah, Western Union. Come on in. Just put it on the. Well, say, Western Union dresses their boys up pretty snappy in this town, don't they? I must apologize for adopting the subterfuge Mr. Mr. Robinson. But I have something of the utmost importance to discuss with you. And I was afraid you might not see me since. Well, we've never been formally introduced. Formally introduced? Why, that's all right. What is it? Autograph? I'm afraid it's something a good deal more serious than that, Mr. Robinson. Yeah, well, you caught me right in the middle of shaving, as you see. But if you don't mind my finishing the job while you talk, why, come right along inside, tell me all about it. Thank you. Well, now, what's on your mind? Well, Mr. Robinson, I have a problem. And I feel you are the person best fitted in the world to tell me what to do.

[Robert Montgomery]

That so?

[G]

Well, what is the problem? Mr. Robinson, suppose. Of course, this is purely hypothetical, but suppose you were going to kill somebody. Kill somebody? Yes. In your own home. Somebody was, shall we say, related to you. Now, hold on a minute. Mr. Hubbard. Homer J. Hubbard. Mr. Hubbard, I may look like a bad guy on the screen, but when I'm not working, I'm just a plain, peace loving citizen like anybody else. Oh, you, you, you. You can fool people like that audience tonight with all that talk about orchids and modern art and it was very good. And I quite understand why you do it. Man in your position must have a front. Of course. But you didn't fool me. I didn't, huh? Well, I. I know, rather. I. I knew I. I could come to you and be perfectly frank. Yeah? About what? Why, about the murder. About the what? Look at me, Mr. Robinson. I'm a shy, inhibited, weak, utterly ineffectual person. I have none of your assurance. Your hardness, your ability to cope with any situation the direct, ruthless way.

[Robert Montgomery]

Yeah.

[G]

How many times I wished I had. Because for 20 years my life has been made horribly, unbearably miserable by one person. My wife. Oh, so that's the way it is. Yes. For years I bore it as best I could. And then one day I thought, how would you have coped with it? Of course, I knew at once you would kill her. Here, now, wait a minute. Are you kidding me? Oh, no, no, Mr. Homson, I wouldn't think of such a thing. Look, look here. I've even secured a gun to do it with. You better give me that. No, no, don't point it. Hand it at me by the barrel.

[Robert Montgomery]

Here.

[G]

Put it over here. Safer, you know. Yeah. I must admit I know very little about firearms. And they're quite distasteful to me as you and me both. You, Mr. Robinson. Well, I mean, Small arms like that. Of course, tommy gun, that's different. That's the only thing to use. Yeah, I suppose you're right. But I didn't know where to get a tommy gun. I was afraid even if I did, I'd never master the art of using it. Yeah, well, now you want to kill your wife, is that it? You want me to help you? If you would, Mr. Robinson, if you could speak, I can't tell you how grateful I'd be. Yeah, well, you know, Mr. Hubbard, you. You look like a pretty nice little guy. Must really be an old battle axe to have got you in a frame of mind like this. All right, now, I'll tell you what I'll do. I will help you. Oh, Mr. Robinson. Yes, but it's got to be done my way, see? It's got to be done right. You got to plan these things. Yeah. Now, take this gap, this little fleet, for instance, that you got over there. That's no kind of a rod to kill your wife with. Why, the caliber is all wrong. The ballistics would be all wrong. Things would be on your trail just like that. Now, I got a guy at home that's perfect for the job, get me? I've knocked off Orson Welles. Jimmy cag. Oh, I don't know how many guys were there. Now, the first thing, when I get home, I'll send it to you parcel post, see? Would you, Mr. Robinson? Oh, sure, sure. Now, when you get it, just lay low, see? Now, don't do a thing till you hear from me. I'll lay this thing out for some of my boys, and then I get in touch with you, okay? Oh, yes, Mr. Robinson, I don't know how to thank you. Ah, forget it, pal. What's a little miter between friends? I could scarcely maintain my composure in the two days that followed. The second day, sure enough, the gun arrived. It was a great heavy thing, the kind that's referred to, I think, as an automatic. Remembering its history, I handled it with the utmost care and reverence. I hid it in the garage where I keep my pipe that Ada won't let me smoke in the house. It was the next afternoon, Saturday, that the phone rang. I rushed into the bedroom to answer it and closed the door after me so Ada wouldn't hear, in case it was. Hello, Homer? Yes. This is Eddie. Eddie? Yeah, yeah, you know, Eddie Robinson. Oh, yes, yes, Miss. Eddie, you get that package I sent you? Oh, yes, yes, I. I got it. Okay, but don't fool around with it, will you? Until the time comes. Kind of Tricky. Oh, no, no, no, I won't. Now, listen. The deadline is tomorrow night, midnight. Got it? Yes. Now, here's the layout. Tomorrow night, you go to bed just as always, but have that cat handy and leave the front door open, see? I, I, I understand. Oh, say, wait a minute. I meant to ask you, is it safe to talk where you are? Oh, yes, yes. The phone's in in the bedroom, and the door is closed. The bedroom, huh? That's well, well, now, listen. A little before midnight, you get up, see? When she's asleep, you take a spot just outside the bedroom door, see where you can keep an eye on her. And on the front door too, see? Yes. Well, at midnight I'll contact you. We'll do your job and then make a quick getaway. And you can hold up in the hide until the heat's off.

[Robert Montgomery]

Get it?

[G]

Tomorrow night, midnight. I'll do everything. Just as you say, Eddie. I followed his instructions to the letter. Seemed hours before Ada went to sleep. That night. Seemed days until my watch finally crept around towards midnight. But at last, the time had come. I crept out of bed, got the gun out of my coat pocket. And took my position on the landing outside the bedroom door as he had told me to. And then suddenly, Suddenly the phone rang. The plan was ruined. Even Edward G. Robinson couldn't have foreseen this. I rushed back into the bedroom, hoping against hope that I could catch it before Ada woke up. But she already had the light on.

[Edward G. Robinson]

Homer, what in the world are you doing prowling around at this time of night with a gun in your head?

[G]

Why, I thought I heard a burglar.

[Robert Montgomery]

Burglar?

[Edward G. Robinson]

When I've answered this phone, I want to talk to you, Homer Jeremiah Hubbard. Hello? Yes. What?

[Robert Montgomery]

Hmm? Oh.

[G]

What?

[Edward G. Robinson]

Homer, there is a burglar.

[Robert Montgomery]

Is there?

[Edward G. Robinson]

Someone just saw him trying to get into the house.

[Robert Montgomery]

Are you sure?

[Edward G. Robinson]

Of course I am. A man just phoned that he saw the burglar. Well, don't just stand there. You've got a gun. Go on down and stop him.

[G]

Yes, but, Ada, do you want us.

[Edward G. Robinson]

To be killed in our beds? Go on, I say.

[G]

Oh, wait. Why do you have to spoil everything? There was nothing to do but go. I crept down the stairs. In the darkness, I knew what Edward G. Robinson would have done. He would have gone down and captured the burglar without the slightest trouble and turned him over to the police after giving him the beating he deserved. But somehow I I didn't feel much like Edward G. Robinson just then. It was at that moment that the Terrible thought occurred to me that maybe it wasn't a burglar. Maybe this was Edward G. Robinson. I had no time to pursue the thought further.

[Vincent Price]

Let him have it.

[G]

Suddenly there was a barrage of shots and a confused yelling of voices. In my terror, I suppose I must have squeezed the trigger of my own gun because it began jumping and splashing in my hand. I tripped on some, and the next thing I knew, I was tumbling headlong down the stairs. And that was the last I remember. When I woke up, Ada was holding my head in her arms and she was crying. They made me stay in bed for a couple of days, but I really didn't mind. There were reporters to see me and take my picture for the paper. And all kinds of people, even Mr. Ryan and Mr. Pemberton, came to see me. And Ada. Well, Ada was simply a changed person. Nothing was too good for me. My slightest wish was literally her command. If the whole thing hadn't been an accident, if I planned it that way, it couldn't have turned out better.

[Robert Montgomery]

Then.

[G]

As the final climax that afternoon when the phone rang by my bed.

[Vincent Price]

Yes?

[G]

Oh, yes, Eddie. You did, eh? Oh, nothing. Nothing, really. Yes. Oh, well, about that. Things have changed. Oh, yes, they. They've changed quite a lot. I don't think we'll have to go through with her. Yeah, that's right. Oh, sure, sure. She's right here. Just a minute. Eddie wants to talk to you, Ada.

[Edward G. Robinson]

Eddie?

[G]

Yeah, Eddie Robinson. Quite a pal of mine.

[Edward G. Robinson]

You mean Edward G. Robinson?

[Robert Montgomery]

Oh, yes.

[G]

We had quite a little chat that night he was in town after I let you eat. He got pretty chummy.

[Robert Montgomery]

Go on.

[Edward G. Robinson]

Hello? Oh, yes. Oh, yes, Mr. Robinson. Oh, I know he is. Oh, I certainly will, Mr. Robinson. Yes, yes, I know. I'm very lucky. All right, Mr. Robinson. Goodbye. Oh, Homer. He knew all about it. He'd seen it in the papers.

[G]

Yeah, so he said.

[Edward G. Robinson]

And he said you were a hero, a real hero. Bigger than any movie hero that ever was.

[G]

You did, huh?

[Edward G. Robinson]

Oh, Homer.

[G]

Well, if Eddie Robinson says I'm a hero, I guess maybe I am. Couldn't have turned out better. Eddie, you know how grateful I am. I'm a regular Little Caesar around town now and my married life is all I've ever wanted to be. Of course, there are some things about the whole thing that confuse me a little. It has even occurred to me, I'll confess, that you might have had more of a hand in it. That was generally known. And that the gun you sent me might have contained blanks. I believe you call them because in spite of all the shooting. There wasn't one bullet hole anywhere in the house. And the gun had disappeared. Which confused the police on what to. And the burglars. Might have been some of your boys playing a little joke. But I don't think you would do a thing like that to a pal, Eddie, would you? I don't even think you would use the statement that you asked me to send you to hold over my head. As a guarantee that I wouldn't try to kill Adie again. No, not that I ever would. Yes, but even if you did all that, Eddie, I don't really mind. Because as you might say yourself. What's a little joke between pals?

[J]

Thank you, Edward G. Robinson, for a splendid performance. Mr. Robinson will return in just a moment.

[Edward G. Robinson]

My, that was a wonderful performance, wasn't it?

[Robert Montgomery]

Half sure was. Oh, say, Billy, how are the hiccups?

[Edward G. Robinson]

Oh, God, Dad, I think I lost them during Mr. Martin's last autolite commercial.

[Robert Montgomery]

That's fine. Well, I guess it's time to. Oh, my gosh. Now I've got them. Mary, turn up Frank Martin again, quick.

[I]

Auto Light original factory parts. And Autolite service stations work as a team to help you maintain carefree, economical performance for your car. So, friends, when your car's electrical system needs attention. Drive into your nearest auto light service station. Or the dealer who sells your make of car. And ask for original factory parts and Autolight service. Money can't buy better electrical equipment than Autolight. And remember, Autolight means spark plug ignition.

[Robert Montgomery]

Engineered spark plug.

[I]

Auto light means batteries stay full battery. Autolite means ignition system.

[Robert Montgomery]

The lifeline of your car.

[J]

And now, here again is Mr. Edward G. Robinson.

[G]

It's been fun appearing in our suspense story tonight. But just so nobody gets the wrong idea, it was only a story. I'm not really so tough. Only get this. I'm telling you, see? You better listen to suspense next week, see, because Ray Milan will be hearing the story called Night Cry by William L. Stewart. Another gripping study in suspense.

[I]

Edward G. Robinson may soon be seen in the Paramount production Night Has a Thousand Eyes. Tonight's suspense play was written by Leslie Raddatz. With music composed by Lucian Morowic and conducted by Lud Gluskin. The entire production was under the direction of Anton M. Leiter. In the coming weeks, suspense will present such stars as William Powell, Lucille Ball, John Garfield, Sydney Green street and many others. Make it a point to listen each Thursday to suspension. Suspense Radio's outstanding theater of thrills. And next Thursday, same time, hear Ray Milan in Nightcry.

[Edward G. Robinson]

This is the Autolite Suspense Show. Drive as if your life depends on it. It does. Good night. Switch to Auto Night.

[I]

This is cbs, the Columbia Broadcasting System.

[Robert Montgomery]

In just a moment, suspense with Lucille Ball. Hi, Arnold. Well, look who's here. Say, it's mighty nice of you to be sitting around all week just to hear me tell more about Autolite. Oh, I haven't been waiting around all week. Why, I was way up in Oregon. Oh, that's. Well, that's. Well. Hey, Hap, do you know the real story about Autolite Stay full batteries. Well, sure. I know the real story about Autolyte. Stay full batteries need to water only three times a year in normal car use. What? A battery stay full. That is why, by Cornelius. An Autolite stay full battery has more liquid reserve than a centipede has legs than an ocean has waves than a rabbit has. Well, rabbits, what water. Whales spout it, geysers gush it, people drink it. But Autolite stay full batteries carry good old Aquapura so long and so well. They take a drink about as often as you have a birthday, a wedding anniversary and a New Year's celebration. Only three times a year in normal car use. And let me tell you something else. You'd better get an Autolite stay full battery before. Before you go on some more. Harlow. Let's listen to suspense.

[J]

Suspense. AutoLight and its 60,000 dealers and service stations bring you radio's outstanding theater of thrills. Starring tonight, Ms. Lucille Ball in Anton Liter's production of A Little Piece of Rope. A tale well calculated to keep you in suspense.

[Edward G. Robinson]

They said I'd never make good here in Hollywood. Everywhere I went, it was the same story. Sure, they'd see me, but the minute they took a look at my baby face, all I'd get was advice and excuses. No job. My last try was for a schoolgirl part. I was too baby faced to even land that one. I was walking home still wearing the school uniform that I'd bought to help me get the part, when I got the idea. Then I remembered another thing. It was years ago reading an old copy of the police gazette in Grandpa's attic. Printed about 1880, I guess. With their falsely youthful faces dressed as innocent schoolgirls, these vicious females haunt the vicinity of select young ladies seminaries. And with their airs of artless girlhood, they entice and trap unwary gentlemen. Some from the best of families. It was funny then, but now, well, those gals were suckers. I take the exclusive gents for all they've got and Give absolutely nothing. That's how I made good in Hollywood. Up to a thousand dollars a month. Good, I just take a little walk. I've got uniforms for all the best schools. And I still have the baby face, so help me. Lots of those kids look older than I do. When school's out, I let some old wolf pick me up. They always want to park up in the hills or some other lonely place. I drop my compact. He bends over to pick it up. I let him have it with a special little blackjack I carry. Then I leave, taking their wallets and any letters I find. You'd be surprised at some of the letters some of them do have. Makes a dandy bank balance now and then, them. Remember, I pick them. Old enough to have families, dignified jobs. Would they want to admit to chasing Bobby Soccers? They never squawk. My landlady thinks I'm the ideal tenant. Oh, she's no trouble at all, the poor little thing. Infantile, you know. Has to take long walks every day and rest the rest of the time. Never any fun or dates like other pretty girls. Well, lucky she can afford it, I say. Be a county ward otherwise. And so sweet and quiet, uncomplaining. Poor little. Yes, Mrs. Tilford is a swell character witness. Of course, I always wear a coat over those uniforms near home. And I keep them locked up just in case she snoops. Yes, yes, I've got a nice career in Hollywood. That is, I. I did have until last month. You going out in this cold, Isabel? Oh, this is a good, heavy coat. Well, don't you overdo now. These walks are just what the doctor ordered anyway. You sure look healthy enough. Thank heaven for that. Anything I can pick up for you on the way back? Oh, no, thanks, dearie. I got everything done. Goodbye now. Bye. I was dressed for Miss Cadwaller School this time, and it was just letting out when I got there. I didn't have long to wait. You know, you get so. You can tell by the way the cars move along the street if the guys on the Pro. This one was driving a big black coupe, and he was a little younger than I liked, about 40. But he can't be too fussy. I stepped off the curb, pretending to look for a bus.

[Robert Montgomery]

Waiting for the bus?

[Edward G. Robinson]

Why, yes, I am.

[Robert Montgomery]

Which one?

[Edward G. Robinson]

The Bel Air bus.

[Robert Montgomery]

Oh, I say, that's a shame. Why, I just passed it back there.

[Claude Rains]

Broke an axle.

[Edward G. Robinson]

Oh.

[G]

You know, I think I've seen you passing my house.

[Robert Montgomery]

What street do you live on?

[Edward G. Robinson]

Cameron?

[G]

Oh, sure.

[Robert Montgomery]

I'm just over on Bender. Hop in. I'll take you home.

[Edward G. Robinson]

Well, you're a neighbor. I guess It's. Gee, thanks, Mr. Rice.

[Robert Montgomery]

Alex Rice.

[G]

Insurance.

[Edward G. Robinson]

How do you do?

[Robert Montgomery]

Like school?

[Edward G. Robinson]

I hate it. School's no fun. I'd like to. Oh, I.

[Robert Montgomery]

What?

[Edward G. Robinson]

Oh, excitement, danger. I suppose you think I'm pretty silly.

[Robert Montgomery]

No, no.

[G]

I think you're the kind of girl who'll get excitement and danger.

[Edward G. Robinson]

Really?

[Robert Montgomery]

Yes, really.

[G]

Look, it's so early yet. Like to take the long way through the hills.

[Robert Montgomery]

It's pretty there now.

[Edward G. Robinson]

Oh, yes, I'd love to. I think the hills are just divine. Oh, isn't it just out of this world?

[G]

Yes.

[Robert Montgomery]

Yes, indeed.

[G]

What's the initial on your bag for?

[Edward G. Robinson]

The initial?

[Robert Montgomery]

Yeah.

[Claude Rains]

Irma.

[Robert Montgomery]

Inez. Ingeborg.

[Edward G. Robinson]

Ingeborg? You made that up?

[G]

No, that's Swedish. Imogene?

[Edward G. Robinson]

No. Irene. Irene Taylor.

[Robert Montgomery]

A pretty name for a pretty girl.

[G]

I'll bet you have beautiful hair and eyes.

[Robert Montgomery]

And a beautiful throat.

[Edward G. Robinson]

Wow. Throat.

[G]

Irene, you're very excited.

[Edward G. Robinson]

Oh, Mr. Rice, I dropped my compact.

[Robert Montgomery]

You don't need it.

[Edward G. Robinson]

But it might get stepped on.

[Vincent Price]

You won't need it.

[Edward G. Robinson]

But I want it now.

[G]

All right, all right. Don't yell so.

[Robert Montgomery]

Here, I'll get it.

[Edward G. Robinson]

Oh, character, huh? Well, here, roll back a little. There. I. Well, what do you know? Rope. Now, why would a guy carry a piece of rope in his inside breast pocket? Nice wallet. Well, goodbye, Mr. Rice, and thanks for everything. Back home, I showered and changed and settled down to see what was in this wallet worth keeping. Only about 50 bucks. What made it so thick was a lot of newspaper clippings. Oh. Oh, no, it can't be. But it was. Those clippings were all about the strangler who'd murdered five girls in the last year, left them in the hills with a piece of rope around their necks and never a clue. And Alexander Rice carried his press notices. Alexander Rice carried a little piece of rope in his inside breast pocket, picked up girls, drove into the hills and Alexander Rice wasn't his name. No. His driver's license said Benjamin Carney. I had picked up and slugged the strangler. My latest sucker was the most dangerous man in the country.

[J]

For suspense, Autolite is bringing you Ms. Lucille Ball in radio's Outstanding Theater of Thrills Suspense.

[Robert Montgomery]

Say there, neighbor, I didn't get going. Going very well on those Autolite. Stay full batteries. Now, look here, Hollow Wilcox. Never mind. I'm right back in there pitching. Gee, if I could only tell you about every one of those 400 auto, light, automotive, aviation and marine Products. But that takes real breath. Lots of breath. And while I'm not as short on taking breath as an Autolite Stay full battery is on taking a drink, not by a jug full, even. I just haven't got enough breath for that. Well, if you just stop talking so much, I can sure wind up and sound off on those auto light stay full batteries. Though making Camels look like topers is just the beginning with them. They've got oversized electrical capacity plus fiberglass insulation. You know what that means, my friend? Sure, I know what that means. It means you should find out for yourself how long these batteries are bound to live. You'd have to hibernate like Rip Van Winkle. I guess you could at that, if you had an auto light stay full battery in your car. I've got an auto light. By the way, those auto light engineers designed. That Auto light stay full battery is so darned ingenious but by Cornelius, that you could pay as little attention to your auto light stay full battery as Rip Van Winkle did to old Father Time. Go down to your Autolight dealer and get one right away. There's no better buy in batteries, my boy, because no better batteries be behind the by line of Barlo Billcox. Now, look, Bill Cox. I mean, Wilcox. You got bees in my bonnet. Now, if you'll only pipe down, we'll hear some more of suspense.

[J]

And now, Autolight brings back to a Hollywood soundstage. Ms. Lucille Ball as Isabelle in a little piece of rope, a tale well calculated to keep you in suspense.

[Edward G. Robinson]

At first, I just shivered over my narrow escape. Why, if I hadn't been out to get him, he'd have gotten me. I'd be number six in tomorrow's headlines. Then I suddenly realized I was the only one who could identify him. I can't be silent. Let him go on killing. I've got to go to the police station and tell them. I started to go out when it occurred to me I couldn't. I didn't dare go to the police and take the chance of exposing my own racket. If that ever came out. And it probably would. San Quentin, here I come. It seems they're a little stuffy about people who carry blackjacks and steal wallets and sell letters. So instead, I went for a walk, a real one this time, and tried to think. Pretty soon, another thought hit me. He knew I could identify him by now. Strangler was no fool. He'd have me figured out and know the kind of place and time to look for me. And he'd certainly be looking for me to kill me, to shut my mouth forever. I had to find a way to.

[Robert Montgomery]

City desk Thompson.

[Edward G. Robinson]

I. I know who the Strangler is.

[Robert Montgomery]

Who's this?

[Edward G. Robinson]

I can't tell you that.

[Robert Montgomery]

Oh, I see.

[Claude Rains]

Well, what can you tell me?

[Robert Montgomery]

You know his name.

[Edward G. Robinson]

Benjamin Carney.

[Robert Montgomery]

Carney.

[Edward G. Robinson]

C A R N E Y. 1156A Boydell Street.

[Robert Montgomery]

Yeah. Description?

[Edward G. Robinson]

About 45, 9 or 10, 160 pounds, dark hair, eyes, skin, even features, not ugly, not handsome. Drives a big black coupe, lady, late model.

[Robert Montgomery]

Got it. Any identifying marks?

[H]

Mustache?

[Edward G. Robinson]

No, nothing.

[H]

And how do you know this guy's the Strangler?

[Edward G. Robinson]

I just know. Goodbye.

[Robert Montgomery]

Hey, wait a minute. Wait a minute.

[Edward G. Robinson]

So you can trace the call? There had been hundreds of phony clues and he thought mine was another. But surely they'd check that name and address. All the way home, I had a creepy feeling he was around somewhere, following me, waiting. Evening paper barely mentioned my call, just listed it with several others. Radio wasn't very much better.

[Robert Montgomery]

An unidentified woman phoned in a description of the killer as a 40 year old brunette, medium height and weight with no distinguishing features, driving a new black coupe. Police checks revealed that such a man with the name she gave had moved.

[Lucille Ball]

From the address given several months before.

[Robert Montgomery]

The first of the Strangler murders. But there is no further trace of him.

[Lucille Ball]

Investigation continues, but it is believed this is another spite accusation.

[Robert Montgomery]

A Portland, Oregon woman reported the strangler as the man who entered her hen house last night.

[Edward G. Robinson]

And no use phoning again. I didn't think a letter would help much either, but I tried being careful. It couldn't be traced to me and mailed it to a newspaper that night.

[Robert Montgomery]

Hey, Mike.

[H]

Mike, you going to the courthouse?

[Robert Montgomery]

Take this to o', Shea, will you? Another Strangler letter telling all. Why can't he just strangle letter writers?

[H]

One more and I'll strangle somebody.

[Edward G. Robinson]

Another failure. The letter wasn't even printed. I was getting jumpy from being cooped up like a prisoner. What if he couldn't find me? As long as I stayed home, I was losing money every day. I didn't pull my act. I could leave town. But why should I give up this good thing? My perfect setup? I've been doing fine. Another year I could quit the racket, make friends, invest my money, maybe even get married. But now this had happened, I'd never be safe, not as long as we both lived. I finally faced it. I have to find him and kill him this time. I put an ad in the personals column. Would he see it? Well, I'd run it till he did. AK Rice can book your rope act for mutual.

[G]

Mutual profit. Have immediate out of town engagement. Signed, Slugger. Rope act, mutual profit.

[Edward G. Robinson]

I knew that would get him because it sounded like blackmail. And by pretending to fall for a shakedown, he'd hope to get close enough to kill me. Only it was gonna be the other way around. And so our strange correspondence began. He answered right away.

[Robert Montgomery]

Slugger interested in offers?

[Claude Rains]

Send details.

[Edward G. Robinson]

Box 047M298. Rice. I had him hooked. I didn't lose any time writing. Dear Mr. Rice, I have an invention which I think you'll want for your robot.

[G]

It's expensive, but remember, it's completely silent and yours exclusively if we agree on terms. Signed, Slugger. Completely silent. It's delicious and expensive. Yes, indeed.

[Robert Montgomery]

Slugger.

[Edward G. Robinson]

Give price and details of contract. Rice. So close now, I couldn't afford the slightest mistake. Now or Dear Mr. Rice, 5,000 cash.

[Robert Montgomery]

Buys, complete assortment of paper and leather goods.

[G]

Time and place of meeting must be my choice, but decide fast. I must leave town immediately. Signed, slugger. P.S. you should never have left that snapshot in your wallet. It's awfully good of you. Snapshot? I thought I. Oh, no, I didn't burn it. Ah, so the little lady's in a jam. Needs money to hide out. And I can help her, make her get away.

[Robert Montgomery]

Oh, I can indeed, Slugger Price.

[Edward G. Robinson]

Okay, we'll close at your convenience. Rice. I've got him. My plan was as foolproof as I could make it. I packed a suitcase with the kind of clothes I'd hate to be found dead in, and maybe I would be. And told Mrs. Milford I was taking a vacation with friends. Oh, I'm so glad, dearie. I said to Ms. Knight yesterday, that child should have country air. City air just don't do the same for you. Yes, I know. It'll do me good. And you stay longer if they ask you, don't worry about me holding the apartment for you. Well, Thanks a lot, Mrs. Tilford. It's certainly nice of you. I have to catch that train now. Goodbye. Goodbye. Have a nice time now. I took those awful clothes to the bus depot, changed, washed and let the soap dry on my face till it was white and shiny. And 10 years older with my hair skinned back tight under an old beret. I saw a stranger in. The baby face was gone. Good. No one had noticed me. And looking like this, nobody would. Then I walked to another apartment I'd rented by phone last week. It was in A dingy neighborhood. I'm Ms. Sproat. Oh, Ms. Sprout. You can move right in. The people left yesterday. Here. This the key. It's the first door at the head of the stairs. Fine. I'll go right up. It ain't clean yet. Them stairs bother me so. I'd really rather do it myself, thank you. Well, I'll just leave you alone then. Now I was Ms. Annie Sproat, librarian. And I looked as much like Isabel Townes, baby face as an alley cat. Looks like a Persian. I sat down to write the last letter. Dear Mr. Rice, come to 609 Fitzgilbert Place at 10pm Friday and don't try.

[G]

To come near me or I'll scream my head off. Tap five times. Come in and stand right by the door while we make sure neither of us is double crossing the other. Have the money in an unsealed envelope. I want that traveling money. But I'd rather take a chance on the cops than on you. So follow instructions, slugger.

[Robert Montgomery]

You fool. You baby faced fool.

[Edward G. Robinson]

He'd have to make sure the layout was right before he. He'd dare attack me. The more precautions I took, the more he'd believe I was on the level near the door where he'd stand. I put a chest with a lamp on it. That was my booby trap, that lamp. The room was so dimly lit, he'd. He'd have to light my lamp to look at the wallet. And when he pulled the light chain, he'd shoot himself. I had a gun fixed where the bulb should be and the chain pulled the trigger. It was set to get him in the chest, heart, if I was lucky, dead or not. I'd leave him there for the cops with his wallet and clippings. Pretty cute, huh? And I'd skip out the back way with all that beautiful money. Go to depot, become Isabel Townes again, safe and free. I wore gloves all the time I was there. And the suitcase with Isabel Towne's identity in it was ready by the back door. The hours passed like centuries and the old house creaked like a sick old man in a squeaky bed. Of course, it might be the house or it might be someone on the stairs. And then it was 10 o'. Clock. I was standing at the other end of the room facing the door. The light was very dim. I heard the feet coming up the stairs. Or. Or was it just the creaking of the old house? No, no.

[G]

Good evening, slugger. You see, I'm prompt.

[H]

Slugger.

[Edward G. Robinson]

Stand where you are.

[G]

Certainly.

[Edward G. Robinson]

Did you Bring the money.

[Robert Montgomery]

Yes, indeed.

[G]

Here, miss.

[Robert Montgomery]

Envelope.

[Edward G. Robinson]

Throw it down in the middle of the room between us. Go ahead, throw it down. It'll stay there while you examine the leather goods.

[Robert Montgomery]

Do you have the wallet here?

[Edward G. Robinson]

Yes. Throw the money. I can't reach it from here. You know, it's quite safe.

[G]

All right. There.

[Robert Montgomery]

The wallet.

[G]

Where is it?

[Edward G. Robinson]

On the chest beside you. By the lamp.

[Robert Montgomery]

Yes. Well, thanks, slugger.

[Edward G. Robinson]

Aren't you going to look to see that everything's there?

[Robert Montgomery]

Why should I? I trust you. So long, baby face. See you around.

[Edward G. Robinson]

He's gotten away. Alive. He must have guessed I'd done something to the lamp. So he was still alive and still dangerous. But at least I had the money. The $5,000. I picked up the envelope and opened it. There was nothing in it but pieces of newspaper cut to the size of bills. Why, you dirty cheat. I ran to the door and opened it. I looked out, but he wasn't in sight. Maybe I could catch him before he got out of the house. You won't get away with this. I stepped into the hall, and before I could turn, I felt the rope around my neck. His hands were pulling it tight.

[Robert Montgomery]

Baby, I told you I'd see you around, didn't I?

[G]

There you are, baby. You're paid off in full. Now I'll just go back inside. Let's see. I guess you'll be safe on the.

[Vincent Price]

Floor floor.

[G]

While we finish our business. Now, I'll take a look at that wallet. Baby, you might have held out some of those clippings. I'll just turn on this light.

[J]

Thank you, Lucille Ball, for a splendid performance. Ms. Ball will return in just a moment.

[Robert Montgomery]

Say, Hap, you're going back to Oregon? Well, that's a nice trip if you can get it with an auto light Stay full battery. You know, I'd advise you to get a sign for your thumb saying, any car with auto light stay full batteries can carry me. I forgot my canteen. But how? No, of course. You could buy an auto Light Stay full battery and simply insist that whoever picked you up use your battery. But you couldn't get back to Oregon that way. No, sir. They'd never let you out of the car just so they could keep that wonderful Autolite Stay full battery. Let's see, after you got to Oregon, you could go to Washington, Montana, Minnesota, Maine, New York and. Hello. I've been trying to tell you. I've got an Autolite Stay full battery. Oh, well, then you know that auto light means battery Stay full battery. Auto light means spark plugs, ignition Engineered spark plug, auto light means ignition system. The lifeline of your car.

[J]

And now, Here again is Ms. Lucille Ball.

[Edward G. Robinson]

It's always a great pleasure to appear on Suspense. Especially when the part is so unusual and exciting.

[Robert Montgomery]

That's right, Ms. Ball. The part of Isabel tonight was very different from your regular radio role on My Favorite Husband, Plug. Why not?

[Edward G. Robinson]

Why not something like. Listen to Lucille Ball as Liz Ku got on My Favorite Husband.

[Robert Montgomery]

Every Saturday night over your favorite CBS station. All right.

[Edward G. Robinson]

Wonderful. And I hope all of you will be listening next week when Suspense presents William Powell in a role that's also different from the parts he's been playing lately. He's playing a man who's just stolen a quarter of a million dollars. And then finds out that. But you'll hear about it next Thursday when Suspense brings you. Give Me Liberty. Another gripping study in suspense.

[Robert Montgomery]

Lucille Ball may soon be seen in the Paramount production Sorrowful Jones. Barry Kroger was heard tonight in the part of the Strangler. Tonight's suspense play was written by Virginia Cross. With music composed by Lucian Morowek and conducted by Lud Bluskin. The entire production was under the direction of Antone M. Leader. In the coming weeks, Suspense will present such stars as John Garfield, Margaret o', Brien, Sydney Greenstreet, Agnes Moorhead, Edmund o', Brien and many others. Make it a point to listen each Thursday to Suspense Radio's outstanding theater of thrills. And next Thursday, same time, hear William Powell in Give Me Liberty.

[Edward G. Robinson]

This is the Autolite Suspense show. Here's your party, Ms. Ball. We should all support our local Community Chest in their drives for funds. Money is badly needed for aid to the handicapped, childcare, hospitals, clinics and a host of other humanitarian services. Subscribe to your local community Chest. Everybody benefits, Everybody gives. Thank you.

[Robert Montgomery]

This is cbs, the Columbia Broadcasting System. In just a moment, Autolight presents Suspense with Claude Rains and Vincent Price.

[Vincent Price]

More coffee?

[Robert Montgomery]

I don't know. I believe not. Hap and I want to thank you and Mary for a marvelous meal. A delightful, delicious Deluvele dinner. You're more than welcome, Harlow. Uh oh, here comes Mary with that who's going to wash the dishes look in her eye. You better start talking about Autolite Resistor spark plugs and fans. Ah, yes, of course, Hap. Auto Light Resistor Spark Plugs. As I was saying, right now by Cornelius is the time when all good men who know good things will come to the aid of their cars With a set of brand new white guys. Gap Autolight Resistor Spark plugs. Why would there wide spark Gap Those auto light resistor spark plugs do things for a car. Your old narrow gap spark plugs just can't match. Why, they're marvelous. They're magnificent. By Cornelius, they're matchless. You're sparking, Harlo. But let's switch to suspense.

[J]

Suspense. Autolite and its 60,000 dealers and service stations bring you radio's outstanding theater of thrills. Starring tonight, Mr. Claude Rains and Mr. Vincent Price in Anton Liter's production of the hand of Mr. Ottermoe. A tale well calculated to keep you in suspense.

[Robert Montgomery]

Tell me, sergeant.

[Vincent Price]

Yes?

[Robert Montgomery]

Why do you think the Strangler killed the five times?

[Vincent Price]

He did six times, Mr. Newspaperman.

[Robert Montgomery]

Six.

[Vincent Price]

Yes.

[Robert Montgomery]

Well, I suppose you do know as much about the strangler as I do. How long have you been on the police for?

[Vincent Price]

This is my 15th year as a member of His Majesty's Metropolitan Police, Mr. Newspaperman. For 10 years, I walked the beats of the Casper street station. And for the past five years, I've been a sergeant of that station. In 15 years, you learn a lot about many things. Including murder.

[Robert Montgomery]

Oh, yes, murder. It's a word and a deed which has fascinated more people than you and I could count. By all means, sergeant, let's talk about murder.

[Vincent Price]

You'd think there'd be little murder in such a district, wouldn't you, Mr. Newspaperman? Murder for a bit of henning cup of tea. Nothing there to take except lives. And it was there that the strangler came to practice his grim trade. Already it struck twice. Once on Lagos street, once on Breen Street. His strong white hands reaching for an unexpecting throat. Then he vanished into the darkness, leaving behind something that once had been a living, breathing human. What was his gain? Perhaps no more than the satisfaction of a job well done. Perhaps he felt he'd done some poor devil a favorite. That a sympathetic force led him to his victims. The same as a cyclone. Picks one corner and misses another. I was thinking about that the night I first met you, Mr. Newspaperman. I was walking down Mallon End when I saw you standing in the shadows.

[Robert Montgomery]

Good evening, officer.

[Vincent Price]

Stand where you are. Who are you?

[Robert Montgomery]

From the Daily Herald, officer.

[Vincent Price]

Oh, newspaper man, eh? What you doing here?

[Robert Montgomery]

Oh, looking for a stage. Are you expecting to catch the Strangler, officer?

[Vincent Price]

What would you know about the strangler, Mr. Newspaperman?

[Robert Montgomery]

Only that he likes your district and that you have no idea who he is.

[Vincent Price]

That's right. He could be anybody who's about in this district at night. Perhaps even a newspaper man.

[Robert Montgomery]

You suspect that I might Be making my news before I write it. And I shall keep that in mind for dull days. Good night, sir. All right.

[Vincent Price]

I watched you, Mr. Newspaperman, as you walked away. Watched and thought of the force that moved the strangler about the same time that force, whatever it was, brought The Strangler to Mr. Wybrow. An honest worker whom I've seen so many times. I can tell you nearly exactly how he spent his lost few minutes on earth. I know the very sound of his footsteps, almost his every thought. And I can hear the footsteps of the man who followed him. It was six o' clock of an evening and Mr. Wybrow was going home from work. He stepped off the tram at High street and Mallorne End and walked slowly, wondering if his missus would have herring or haddock for his tea. It was a wretched night and he could taste the fog in his throat, feel the dampness through the soles of his shoes. He turned down Lagos street and the footsteps behind turned with him. And so, one behind the other, the two men walked through Lagos and turned into Loyal Lane. Any man Other than Mr. Wybrow might have heard some warning in the footsteps that followed him. Something that said, Beware.

[Robert Montgomery]

Beware. Beware.

[Vincent Price]

No. The foot of a killer falls just as quietly as the foot of any other worker. But those footfalls were bearing a pair of hands to Mr. And there is something in hands behind him. Even then, those hands were flexing themselves, feeling the strength run down through the strong fingers. Mr. Wybrow was almost home. He turned down Casper street, plodding along through the dim light. Small dog barked at the figures. Voices drifted out from the shabby houses. But Mr. Wyb paid no attention or to the steps which followed him. Ahead of Mr. Wybrow was his own house, and he walked a little faster. Maybe. It looked like he was going to get away. But the man behind only smiled and followed at the same pace. Mr. Wybrow turned in at his own gate and opened the door. He stepped inside.

[Robert Montgomery]

Yes?

[Vincent Price]

What's for tea?

[G]

Flossie?

[Edward G. Robinson]

Erin. You're lucky to be getting that. Who's that?

[Robert Montgomery]

How do I know before I've opened the door?

[Vincent Price]

If it's a collector, he can just nip off.

[Robert Montgomery]

Well.

[Vincent Price]

And that is how Mr. And Mrs. Wybrow became the third and fourth, but not the last victims of the strangling horror.

[J]

For suspense, Autolyte is bringing you Mr. Claude Rains and Mr. Vincent Price in radio's outstanding theater of Thrills. Suspense.

[Robert Montgomery]

Say, Hap. Let me tell you about a foolish fellow who got the outside of his car all dolled up with doodads, trinkets, fox tales and whatnot. And then by Cornelius, he comes chuggalugging up the avenue with misfiring spark plugs and his engine sounding like a stutt, stut, stuttering teapot. Hey, friend, I yelled at him, why don't you switch to a set of those smooth firing autolight resistor spark plugs and make that bus of yours sound as fancy as it looks. And what did he answer? This guy said to me, Plugs is plugs. Well, auto light resistor spark plugs, I corrected him, are different. They've got a 10,000 ohm resistor ignition engineered right into the spark plug that permits the auto light resistor spark plug to maintain a much wider spark gap. Setting this extra wide gap, friend, lets your car idle smoother. Gives you better luck with lean gas mixtures. Actually saves gas. What's more, auto light resistor spark plugs cut down spark plug interference with radio and television reception. Pipe that, telling him wow. He says, can you back up all that sales talk? Ha ha. Listen, pal, I told him these are just a few fine and fancy facts. And what's more, those wide gap auto light resistor spark plugs are one of over 400 automotive, aviation and marine products world famous for their Autolite engineered dependability.

[Vincent Price]

Then what? Honor.

[Robert Montgomery]

I'll tell you the rest after suspense. Hah.

[J]

And now, Autolyte brings back to a Hollywood soundstage. Mr. Claude Rains and Mr. Vincent Price in the hands of Mr. Ottermore, a tale well calculated. To keep you in suspense.

[Robert Montgomery]

Sergeant, did you ever stop to wonder at the pranks of fate? Mr. Whybrow died at the one moment when there was no one around to witness his death.

[Vincent Price]

That's true.

[Robert Montgomery]

A few minutes earlier, perhaps a few minutes later, there were people on the street. Think how different it might have been if you had arrived there earlier than you did.

[Vincent Price]

Perhaps, Mr. Newspaperman, but I'd finished my evening tea and was walking through Casper street to the station. Mr. Wybrow was still lying on the door of his house, his wife on the floor a little beyond him. Both were dead. I blew my whistle. The constable came on the run. We searched the house, then talked to the neighbors on either side. Nobody had heard anything except Mrs. Wybrow's scream. And they thought that just a family fight. There's no sign of anything but brutal murder. While we waited for the ambulance, I suddenly remembered something. Smithers.

[Robert Montgomery]

Yes, sir.

[Vincent Price]

Just before I found Them? I saw you standing at the end of the lane. What were you up to there?

[Claude Rains]

I thought I saw a suspicious character mucking about there, sir, and I was.

[Robert Montgomery]

Keeping an eye on him.

[Vincent Price]

Suspicious character be blasted. You don't want to look for suspicious characters. You want to look for murderers.

[Robert Montgomery]

Yes, sir. Think we'll get him, sir?

[Vincent Price]

Well, just between you and me, Smithers, I have my doubts with a man who kills to get a few bob. You know he's going to keep on because as soon as he's broke, he'll slosh another one. But a man like this, you don't know when he'll strike again. Or if he'll strike again. Back at the station, the newspaper men were waiting for the story, having scented it the way dogs will smell out the fresh track of a fox. There was one newspaper man, tall, with shoulders and arms that looked more like a coal heaven than a journalist, who kept asking about clues as though he wanted to solve the case himself. That was you, Mr. Newspaper Man. Or maybe you just wanted to find out how much we knew. After the newspaper men left, I was in my office finishing up my report when there was a knock on the door. Who's there?

[Robert Montgomery]

Do you mind if I come in, Sergeant?

[Vincent Price]

Oh, it's you.

[Robert Montgomery]

Yes, I. I thought of a few more questions I'd like to ask.

[Vincent Price]

You know, it seems to me you are around all the time, so. Yes, and now you want to ask more questions. I'm afraid we can't give out any more information than you already have.

[Robert Montgomery]

Half a minute, Sergeant. All the papers are going to do a regular story on the strangling monster. I thought I'd like to do something different. More of a mood piece. Now, you look like an intelligent man, Sergeant. I thought you might help.

[Vincent Price]

Well, maybe I can, maybe I can't. What do you want to know?

[Robert Montgomery]

What sort of a man do you think the killer is? You really think he's a monster who can slip through the night without being seen? No.

[Vincent Price]

No, I think he's probably a very ordinary man. Everyone, even our own constables, is looking for a monster instead of the man standing next to them. No, this man can move about and no one sees him because he's an ordinary man and it's ordinary for him to be around. He might be a boot black, the man who makes deliveries. Or even a policeman or a journalist.

[Robert Montgomery]

Why do you say that?

[Vincent Price]

I don't think I meant Anything personal, Mr. Newspaper Man. I meant that he is merely someone you look at and never think that maybe he might strangle someone?

[Robert Montgomery]

Your theory is very interesting, Sergeant. And do you also think that you'll catch him?

[Vincent Price]

Well, if he's caught short of actually catching him in the act, it'll be because of only one thing.

[Robert Montgomery]

Oh? And that is?

[Vincent Price]

Curiosity.

[Robert Montgomery]

Curiosity?

[Vincent Price]

Yes. He'll be nabbed if his curiosity is too great, if he wonders how near others are to him, if he has to ask questions and then returns to ask still more questions. Later that evening, I went out into the district, visiting beat after beat. The presence of the killer. The straining horror was in the air, the intense. The entire district was given over not to panic, for London never yields to that, but to fear of the unknown. And while the community still gasped over the deaths of Mr. And Mrs. Wybrow, while fear was moving into every tenement, the killer made his next move. Conscious of the horror caused by his hands and as hungry for more as any giddy girl at her first performance in the music hall. His hands reached out again. Well, I was cutting through Cleming street when I saw you again, Mr. Newspaperman. You slipped along the street, peering into alleys. Even then I had a hunch to stop you. Yet I felt I had no real reason to suspect you. So I walked on. Peterson and Joiner were patrolling Jeinagan Road. It was just 9:32 when I met Joyner near the middle of the street. I spoke to him and went on. At 9:33, I met Peterson coming back from the other end of the street. I answered his greeting and passed, intending to go to the end of the beat and cut over to Logan Passage. Then, during the few seconds that everyone's back was turned towards the spot where he stood, the killer struck again. Joiner here.

[Robert Montgomery]

What's up? Good, Evans.

[G]

It's Peterson.

[Vincent Price]

Yeah, it's Peterson. Dead like the rest of them. Strangled right under our noses. Where were you, Joyner?

[Robert Montgomery]

I just reached the end of my beat, Sergeant. Was already turning when I heard your whistle.

[Vincent Price]

And I just passed him on my way to Logan.

[Robert Montgomery]

Then we were covering both ends of the street.

[Vincent Price]

He must have come from Minnow street.

[Robert Montgomery]

Or Clemming street and gone back the same way before we could see him. It is dimly lit around here, sir. Say, what's up, Constable?

[Vincent Price]

I heard Sam, where you are? Oh, it's you, Mr. Newspaper Man.

[Robert Montgomery]

Yes. So he struck again. What happened, Sergeant?

[Vincent Price]

I've been checking the beats. I came up here passing Joiner and then Peterson. Here I was at this end of the street, Joiner of that, with Peterson in between us. Going towards Joiner. He cried out once and then was like this. We saw no one. Where were you when you heard my whistle?

[Robert Montgomery]

On Clemming street, perhaps. Half a square down. And no one passed that way. That means that he must have come from Menau.

[Vincent Price]

Shall I ring in, sir? Go ahead, Joiner. Half a square down Clemming street, were you?

[Robert Montgomery]

That's right.

[Vincent Price]

That's where you were more than five minutes ago when I passed. And you were coming this way.

[Robert Montgomery]

Well, I thought I saw something in one of the alleys and stop to look closer. Oh, now come, Sergeant, let's not start suspecting each other. The mutual suspicion of this district is catching.

[Vincent Price]

Yeah, I suppose it is.

[Robert Montgomery]

Yes, of course.

[Vincent Price]

Still, there's a murderer who must be caught, Mr. Newspaper Man. The following day I was back on duty early. You know, the sight of a uniformed sergeant somehow gave the people a bit more confidence than that of the constables. Bobbies are well enough in their way, but you know, your average Londoner likes to see more important officials around when things are a bit rough. The talk in the pubs and on the streets was all cut from the same cloth. And the pattern was fear. I say the straggler. Some posh who's off his bean thinks.

[Robert Montgomery]

As I ain't squeezed dry enough.

[Vincent Price]

So he nips over, squeezes a little more and pops back to the West End.

[Robert Montgomery]

Oh, you're bomby. Eat a leg. Didn't he get a peeler last night? And don't that prove it?

[Vincent Price]

He's a bleeding jack, that, that's what he is.

[Robert Montgomery]

And he'll bloody well kill a lot.

[Vincent Price]

Of us without a single bloody flick to stop him.

[Edward G. Robinson]

He got a bobby, didn't he? And when Bobby's crawling all over the place and I want to lay hand on him and who's to stop him? That's what I want to know.

[Vincent Price]

I walked the streets, dropping a bit of cheer here and there. Four or five times I saw you again, Mr. Newspaper Man. Your dark face twisted with emotion as you listened to the talk. This too was queer, for you were the only newspaper man I saw in the whole district. By 9 o' clock I was in Richards Lane, a narrow street, partly a stall market and partly cheap homes. On one side was the shattered wall of the railway yard. The wall of the railway yard put a shadow over the street so that even a garbage can looked like a man crouching. Farther down the street, the outline of the empty market stores looked like a bunch of ghosts waiting for the man who would send them more ghosts. There was no one on the street, no one to Witness that which was about to be. Then suddenly, in the time between one footfall and another, the wall of silence was broken.

[Robert Montgomery]

Help. He's here.

[Vincent Price]

And then the lane came to life. It seemed like they were all released by that scream. All along the street, doors opened and people poured into the street, muttering as the stored up anger began to overcome their fear. They milled around, uncertain which way to turn. Then. Then the whistle pointed the direction to them. Gathering like dark clouds, they moved down on the cottage where I stood with the constables. The sight of so many of us made them feel that he would now be caught. And that anger came up in answer to it.

[Robert Montgomery]

Well, go in and get him. What you're waiting for. He's through killing now. Gone and get him, you bloody peelers. He ought to be strung up, that's what I.

[Vincent Price]

Break it up. Break it up. Move back, all of you. Joiner, get around to the back and meet the constables there. Martin, Addison, take the house on the left. Jones, Edmonds, take the house on the right. Mitch, you come with me.

[Robert Montgomery]

Save a piece of it for me, Sergeant.

[Vincent Price]

Inside the cottage, a whole family lay dead, falling around the supper table. One look at their necks showed us the stranglers trademark again. But there was nothing in that cottage except death. One by one the constables came back to report nothing. Once more he had killed and slipped away again. I looked out at the corporation crowd, now beginning to move back as they realized we were empty handed. Suddenly I saw in the front ranks your face again. The newspaper man who seemed to be. Everywhere I turned. There was a light in your face. A light that was almost happiness. And looking at you in that brief second I was aware that there were two of us who now knew the identity of the murderer. But the crowd shifted back, began to lose themselves in the shadows and you were gone before I could move. The strangler had struck again and again we were empty handed as we waited for the ambulance.

[Robert Montgomery]

You may have been empty handed, Sergeant, but I'm sure there were enough thoughts in your head to make up for the lack of something to put your hands on. Dark thoughts, perhaps.

[Vincent Price]

Yes, I did think, Mr. Newspaperman. I tried to imagine what you were doing during the next hour. I thought perhaps that you went to the nearest pub and sat alone at the bar, attended by a frightened barmaid. I think you dismissed the strangling horror from your mind and thought only of the glass of stout and the sandwich. For even such men as you must rebuild their strength. I think you looked at the sandwich and noticing that it was skimpy, as bar sandwiches usually are. And you may have thought idly of the inventor of the sandwich, the Earl of Sandwich, then of George the Fourth, then of all the Georges, as any good Englishman might. And so to that George, who wondered how the apple got into the apple dumpling. It was while thinking of that and how the ham got into the ham sandwich that your mind came back to the people who had been murdered. Maybe it was then that you thought of the simplest fact of all. That the murderer could escape by either running away or by standing still. It was then, I think, that you got up from the bar without finishing your sandwich. It was perhaps 20 minutes later that you walked down the street and met the man you were looking for.

[Robert Montgomery]

Well, Seen anything of the murderer, Sergeant?

[Vincent Price]

Oh, a chew again.

[Robert Montgomery]

Yes.

[Vincent Price]

Now, nor has anybody else, and I doubt if they ever will.

[Robert Montgomery]

I don't know. He's already struck five times. I've been thinking about it and I've got an idea. So, yes, yes, came to me all of a sudden and I felt that we'd all been blind. It's been staring us in the face.

[Vincent Price]

How has it now? Well, if you're so sure, why not give us the benefit of it?

[Robert Montgomery]

I'm going to. Yes, yes, it seems quite simple now. But there's still one more point I don't quite understand. I mean the motive. Now, as man to man, tell me, Sergeant Otter Mole, just why did you kill those inoffensive people?

[Vincent Price]

Well, to tell the truth, Mr. Newspaperman, I don't know. But I've got an idea just like you. Everybody knows we can't control the workings of our mind. Ideas come into our heads without being asked. But everybody's supposed to be able to control his body. Why, we get our minds from heaven knows where, from people who were dead years before we were born. Some say maybe we get our bodies the same way. Our faces, our legs, our hands, they aren't completely ours. And couldn't ideas come into our bodies like ideas come into our minds? Couldn't ideas live in muscles as well as in a brain? Couldn't it be that part parts of our bodies aren't really us? And couldn't ideas come into them all of a sudden, like ideas come into my hand? You see, Mr. Newspaper man, it was.

[Robert Montgomery]

Six.

[Vincent Price]

One other thing the newspaper man did while he was in that pub. He called his newspaper and told them his idea and said he was coming to meet me. And so they're hanging me, killing me for something which my hands did. I had nothing to do with it. You can see that. But what hurts me the most is what the judge said when he sentenced me. It's not true. It's not true. I tell you that if I lived, someday these hands, my hands, they say, might reach out for you.

[J]

Thank you, Claude Rains and Vincent Price for a splendid performance.

[Robert Montgomery]

Mr.

[J]

Rains and Mr. Price will return in just a moment.

[Robert Montgomery]

Harrow, you were telling me. Oh, yes, yes. Well, Hap, the next time I saw this fancy fellow, his gadget laden car was humming and purring up the street as smooth as the slippery glide of a slide trombone. I got my auto light resistor spark plugs, he yelled to me as he whirled by. And they're terrific. Well, by Cornelius, this fellow had the right dope. Because, friends, when you replace your old narrow gap spark plugs with the wide gap auto light resistor spark plugs, you can really tell the difference in your car. So if you don't already have a set of auto light resistor spark plugs, drive down tomorrow to your nearest auto light dealer and treat your car right. Switch to auto light. And friends, remember to Autolite means spark plugs ignition engineered resistor spark plug. Auto light means batteries stay full battery. Auto light means ignition system, the lifeline of your car.

[J]

And now, here again is Mr. Claude Rains.

[Vincent Price]

The hands of Mr. Ottermole has always been one of my favorite mystery stories. And so it was a great pleasure to be able to play it on suspense, one of my favorite radio programs. What about you, Vincent?

[Robert Montgomery]

Well, I agree with you on both counts, Claude. And in addition, I found it refreshing to play the murder victim for a change instead of the murderer. By the way, Claude, what will we be hearing on Suspense next week?

[Vincent Price]

A treat you won't want to miss. One of Hollywood's most glamorous stars, Ms. Rosalind Russell, in a top story, the Sisters, another gripping study in suspense.

[Robert Montgomery]

Claude Rains will soon be seen in the Paramount picture, the Sin of Abby Hunt. Vincent Price can currently be seen with Lana Turner, Gene Kelly and June Allison in Metro Goldwyn Mayer's Technicolor production, the Three Musketeers. Tonight's suspense play was the famous story by Thomas Burke, adapted for radio by Ken Crossen, with music composed by Lucian Morowek and conducted by Lud Bluskin. The entire production was under the direction of Anton M. Leeder. In the coming weeks, suspense will present such stars as James Cagney, Ronald Coleman, William Bendix and others. Make it a point to listen each Thursday to suspense radio's outstanding theater of thrills. And next Thursday same time hear Rosalind Russell in the Sisters.

[Edward G. Robinson]

This is the Auto Light Suspense Show. Turn in your scrap steel to your local scrap dealer. The more scrap, the more steel. Good night. Switch to Auto Light.

[Robert Montgomery]

This is cbs, the Columbia Broadcasting System.

[Howard Duff]

We just heard the candy tooth, the big shot, the man who wanted to be Edward G. Robinson, a little piece of rope and the hands of Mr. Ottermole. That will do it for this episode. Thanks for joining me and thanks for your patience. I'll be back next week as we conclude continue our march through the years of Suspense, all of my favorite episodes from 1949. In the meantime, you can check out down these Mean Streets, my old time Radio Detective podcast. New episodes of that show are out on Sundays. If you like what you're hearing, don't be a stranger. You can rate and review the show on Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen. And if you'd like to lend support to the show, you can visit buymeacoffee.com mean sts otr now, good night until next week when I'll be back with my favorite shows from 1949. Each of them a tale well calculated. To keep you in.

[H]

Suspense.

[Robert Montgomery]

Sam.

[Vincent Price]

Ladies and gentlemen, the chief hope of our.

[Robert Montgomery]

Enemies is to divide the United States along racial and religious lines and thereby conquer us. Let's not spread prejudice.

[Claude Rains]

A divided America is a weak America.

[Robert Montgomery]

Through our behavior, we encourage the respect of our children and make them better.

[Vincent Price]

Neighbors to all races and religions.

[Robert Montgomery]

Remind them that being good neighbors has helped make our country great and kept her free. Thank you.