WEBVTT 00:00.000 --> 00:01.000 Suspense. 00:01.000 --> 00:25.080 This is the man in black, here again to introduce Columbia's program, Suspense. 00:25.080 --> 00:30.680 The distinguished star this evening is that delightful gentleman, Mr. Roland Young, playing 00:30.680 --> 00:37.120 as author of detective novels who invented his best plot when his life was at stake. 00:37.120 --> 00:42.760 With Mr. Young to play his long-suffering secretary is Miss Peggy Conklin. 00:42.760 --> 00:49.960 A story by John Dixon Carr in a somewhat lighter mood than is our habit and called The Customer's 00:49.960 --> 00:55.440 Like Murder is tonight's tale of Suspense. 00:55.440 --> 00:58.920 If you've been with us on these Tuesday nights, you will know that Suspense is compounded 00:58.920 --> 01:02.960 of mystery and suspicion and dangerous adventure. 01:02.960 --> 01:08.440 In this series, our tales calculated to intrigue you, to stir your nerves, to offer you a precarious 01:08.440 --> 01:13.040 situation and then withhold the solution until a last possible moment. 01:13.040 --> 01:18.520 And so with The Customer's Like Murder and the performance of Roland Young, we again 01:18.520 --> 01:23.720 hope to keep you in Suspense. 01:23.720 --> 01:28.520 On a hot summer night in a village on the east coast of England, a famous writer of 01:28.520 --> 01:32.320 detective stories is dictating to his secretary, 01:32.320 --> 01:46.600 You have all heard of Mr. Gerald Hoxton, celebrated author of Murder on the Wolfhound, Aconite 01:46.600 --> 01:52.320 at the Admiralty, Who Shot the Prime Minister, and other thrillers which have held us past 01:52.320 --> 01:53.320 the midnight hour. 01:53.320 --> 01:57.720 You have followed the exploits of Pendleton King, diplomat detective. 01:57.720 --> 02:03.920 Gerald Hoxton lives quietly at Deel with his friend Dr. Roberts nearby in case he should 02:03.920 --> 02:09.800 need medical knowledge and his pretty, if somewhat perc, Canadian secretary, Miss Patricia 02:09.800 --> 02:10.800 Phillips. 02:10.800 --> 02:19.000 Gerald Hoxton would be a happy man, even in wartime, if he were not. 02:19.000 --> 02:20.000 You got all that, Mr. Lipps? 02:20.000 --> 02:21.000 Yes, Mr. Hoxton. 02:21.000 --> 02:22.000 Good. 02:22.000 --> 02:23.000 New paragraph. 02:23.000 --> 02:24.000 Yes, Mr. Hoxton. 02:24.000 --> 02:29.800 As the head of the great banqueting table, comma, the Lord Chief Justice staggered to 02:29.800 --> 02:31.400 his feet, full stop. 02:31.400 --> 02:36.000 His face was a ghastly whitish color and his eyes had become grouchy. 02:36.000 --> 02:38.000 Is he drunk, Mr. Hoxton? 02:38.000 --> 02:41.600 No, Mr. Lipps, the Lord Chief Justice is not drunk. 02:41.600 --> 02:43.600 Sounds pretty cock-eyed to me. 02:43.600 --> 02:47.440 For your information, Mr. Lipps, the Lord Chief Justice has just been poisoned with 02:47.440 --> 02:51.840 curare because he discovered the identity of the master criminal. 02:51.840 --> 02:52.840 Is that clear? 02:52.840 --> 02:56.240 Yes, Mr. Hoxton, but I wish you wouldn't do it. 02:56.240 --> 02:57.240 Do what? 02:57.240 --> 03:01.840 Well, in the last four books, Mr. Hoxton, you have shot the Prime Minister, killed the 03:01.840 --> 03:06.400 Lord Chancellor with an axe, poisoned the Home Secretary, and blown up the first Lord 03:06.400 --> 03:07.400 of the Admiralty. 03:07.400 --> 03:12.960 Why don't you stop picking on the poor government and murder somebody else for a change? 03:12.960 --> 03:15.800 The Lord Chancellor, Mr. Lipps, was not murdered with an axe. 03:15.800 --> 03:17.520 No, Mr. Hoxton? 03:17.520 --> 03:18.520 Definitely no. 03:18.520 --> 03:22.000 He was beamed with a great seal and found dead on the Wolf Axe. 03:22.000 --> 03:26.520 And there's another thing, Mr. Lipps, whether you talk like this because of a dense vacuum 03:26.520 --> 03:28.720 in what we will charitably call your mind. 03:28.720 --> 03:29.720 Really, Mr. Hoxton? 03:29.720 --> 03:34.880 Or whether you are really making out what you might define as pot cracks, I don't know. 03:34.880 --> 03:37.880 But I don't want any more of it, do you hear? 03:37.880 --> 03:39.560 Just as you please, Mr. Hoxton. 03:39.560 --> 03:40.560 Aye, aye. 03:40.560 --> 03:42.600 Oh, Lord, where was I? 03:42.600 --> 03:47.040 His face was a ghastly whitish color, and his eyes had become glassy. 03:47.040 --> 03:48.520 Sounds like me. 03:48.520 --> 03:49.520 All right. 03:49.520 --> 03:58.120 A single choking cry escaped his lips, comma, and his body crumpled to the floor, full stop. 03:58.120 --> 03:59.120 New paragraph. 03:59.120 --> 04:03.360 With one such stride, Pendleton King had reached the fallen man. 04:03.360 --> 04:05.640 He can't have done that, Mr. Hoxton. 04:05.640 --> 04:07.000 Who can't have done what? 04:07.000 --> 04:08.000 Pendleton King. 04:08.000 --> 04:09.000 What about him? 04:09.000 --> 04:11.400 Well, on the last page, you had him sitting at the foot of the table. 04:11.400 --> 04:16.200 So he can't get there in one stride unless you want him to sail across the room like 04:16.200 --> 04:17.200 a kangaroo. 04:17.200 --> 04:22.000 There are times, Mr. Lipps, when I should like to poison you with curare and dance on 04:22.000 --> 04:23.000 your grave. 04:23.000 --> 04:25.280 I was only trying to help. 04:25.280 --> 04:26.280 All right. 04:26.280 --> 04:27.280 Change it. 04:27.280 --> 04:28.280 Change it. 04:28.280 --> 04:29.280 Strike it out. 04:29.280 --> 04:30.280 With hardly a second delay. 04:30.280 --> 04:31.280 How's that? 04:31.280 --> 04:32.280 Comma. 04:32.280 --> 04:33.400 Comma. 04:33.400 --> 04:35.560 Pendleton King had reached the fallen man. 04:35.560 --> 04:36.920 Full stop. 04:36.920 --> 04:37.920 New paragraph. 04:37.920 --> 04:38.920 Quote. 04:38.920 --> 04:39.920 I feared it, comma. 04:39.920 --> 04:40.920 Quote. 04:40.920 --> 04:41.920 He muttered. 04:41.920 --> 04:42.920 Full stop. 04:42.920 --> 04:43.920 Quote. 04:43.920 --> 04:44.920 Note the rigidity of the muscles. 04:44.920 --> 04:45.920 Exclamation point. 04:45.920 --> 04:48.920 Note the characteristic odor of your curare, which... 04:48.920 --> 04:50.520 That won't do, Mr. Hoxton. 04:50.520 --> 04:51.520 Why not? 04:51.520 --> 04:52.520 Curare hasn't got any odor. 04:52.520 --> 04:54.760 Now there, Mr. Lipps, you've really gone too far. 04:54.760 --> 04:55.760 But I can't help that. 04:55.760 --> 04:56.760 It's true. 04:56.760 --> 05:01.920 If you will permit the small vanity, I am noted for the correctness of my medical knowledge. 05:01.920 --> 05:04.760 Who is murdering the Lord Chief Justice, you or I? 05:04.760 --> 05:05.760 You are. 05:05.760 --> 05:08.440 But you might murder him properly. 05:08.440 --> 05:10.080 Curare hasn't got any odor. 05:10.080 --> 05:11.080 I say it has. 05:11.080 --> 05:12.080 And I say it hasn't. 05:12.080 --> 05:13.080 Listen, Miss Phillips. 05:13.080 --> 05:19.640 I propose to settle this rather childish dispute by going next door and asking Dr. Roberts. 05:19.640 --> 05:20.640 Will that convince you? 05:20.640 --> 05:22.640 Curare hasn't got any odor. 05:22.640 --> 05:27.200 In any way, the Lord Chief Justice wouldn't be mixed up in any such silliness as this. 05:27.200 --> 05:28.200 Silliness, eh? 05:28.200 --> 05:29.200 Yes, I said silliness. 05:29.200 --> 05:30.200 Read your evening paper. 05:30.200 --> 05:35.400 The Lord Chief Justice is sentencing some American gangster who got involved in a robbery over 05:35.400 --> 05:36.400 here. 05:36.400 --> 05:38.200 That's the sort of thing he really does. 05:38.200 --> 05:40.800 You're very fond of these gangster reports, aren't you? 05:40.800 --> 05:42.800 Yes, I am, because they're real. 05:42.800 --> 05:43.800 Real. 05:43.800 --> 05:44.800 Far. 05:44.800 --> 05:45.800 Don't you say far to me. 05:45.800 --> 05:50.200 Merely remarking, Miss Phillips, with your usual ingenuity, you side-track the argument. 05:50.200 --> 05:51.920 I am going to see Dr. Roberts. 05:51.920 --> 05:53.760 That's not necessary, of course. 05:53.760 --> 05:56.520 My own knowledge of poisons is as great as that of any doctor. 05:56.520 --> 05:57.520 Dr. Far. 05:57.520 --> 06:00.160 And finally, kindly don't say far to me. 06:00.160 --> 06:01.160 I won't say either. 06:01.160 --> 06:05.000 When I return, Miss Phillips, I hope to find you in a better frame of mind. 06:05.000 --> 06:08.160 Please observe that I, at least, have been able to keep my temper. 06:08.160 --> 06:09.160 Excuse me. 06:09.160 --> 06:10.160 All right. 06:10.160 --> 06:11.160 Go on. 06:11.160 --> 06:12.160 See if I care. 06:12.160 --> 06:34.160 Oh, excuse me, but... 06:34.160 --> 06:40.080 Good evening, Mr. Hawkstone. 06:40.080 --> 06:41.080 Good evening, Mrs. Roberts. 06:41.080 --> 06:42.080 May I come in? 06:42.080 --> 06:43.080 Of course. 06:43.080 --> 06:44.080 Mind the blackout curtains. 06:44.080 --> 06:45.080 Isn't it hot and stuffy tonight? 06:45.080 --> 06:46.080 Rather close, yes. 06:46.080 --> 06:47.080 Is the doctor in? 06:47.080 --> 06:48.080 I'm afraid he isn't, Mr. Hawkstone, but I expect him back any minute. 06:48.080 --> 06:49.080 Oh. 06:49.080 --> 06:50.080 Out on a call? 06:50.080 --> 06:51.080 No, I'm almost certain he isn't, because that's his medicine case and stethoscope there 06:51.080 --> 06:52.080 on the table. 06:52.080 --> 06:53.080 I think he's just gone up the road to get some tobacco. 06:53.080 --> 06:54.080 Do you mind if I wait? 06:54.080 --> 06:55.080 Not at all. 06:55.080 --> 06:56.080 But, I'm afraid I'll have to wait a little longer. 06:56.080 --> 06:57.080 I'll be back in a minute. 06:57.080 --> 06:58.080 I'll be back in a minute. 06:58.080 --> 06:59.080 I'll be back in a minute. 06:59.080 --> 07:00.080 I'll be back in a minute. 07:00.080 --> 07:01.080 I'll be back in a minute. 07:01.080 --> 07:02.080 I'll be back in a minute. 07:02.080 --> 07:11.080 I'll be back in a minute. 07:11.080 --> 07:26.080 I'll be back in a minute. 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