WEBVTT 00:00.000 --> 00:14.920 The Spain. 00:14.920 --> 00:29.560 This is the man in black. 00:29.560 --> 00:34.360 Here again to introduce Columbia's program, Suspense. 00:34.360 --> 00:39.760 Our distinguished star this evening is the stage and screen favorite, Mr. Paul Lupus, 00:39.760 --> 00:44.760 whose performance is in The Lady Vanishes, and in the stage production The Watch on the Rhine, 00:44.760 --> 00:47.160 you will recall with pleasure. 00:47.160 --> 00:51.760 Tonight's tale of Suspense is a story by John Dixon Carr, 00:51.760 --> 00:55.560 fire, burn, and cold and bubble. 00:55.560 --> 00:57.560 If you've been with us on these Tuesday nights, 00:57.560 --> 01:03.160 you will know that Suspense is compounded of mystery and suspicion and dangerous adventure. 01:03.160 --> 01:07.760 In this series, our tales calculated to intrigue you, to stir your nerves, 01:07.760 --> 01:14.360 to offer you a precarious situation and then withhold the solution until the last possible moment. 01:14.360 --> 01:18.160 And so with fire, burn, and cold and bubble, 01:18.160 --> 01:22.160 and the performance of Paul Lupus and the other members of our company, 01:22.160 --> 01:23.760 we again hope to keep you in. 01:23.760 --> 01:32.760 Jury Lane Theater presents the distinguished American actor, 01:32.760 --> 01:36.160 Myron Willard, in Shakespeare's Macbeth, 01:36.160 --> 01:52.360 with magic effects especially designed by Ludwig von Arnheim. 01:52.360 --> 01:57.060 Double, double, toil and trouble, 01:57.060 --> 02:09.160 fire, burn, and cold and bubble. 02:09.160 --> 02:13.960 Historic Drury Lane Theater, a relic of old London. 02:13.960 --> 02:17.960 On this site, in the cramped and crooked lanes of Ulwich, 02:17.960 --> 02:21.960 there has been a playhouse since Nell Gwynn sold oranges in the pit. 02:21.960 --> 02:27.560 The present theater, though modernized, is heavy and darkened with time. 02:27.560 --> 02:33.960 By daylight, it is a dinginess of red plush seats, haunted by old ghosts. 02:33.960 --> 02:38.760 But at night, when the lights bloom for some new production, 02:38.760 --> 02:43.360 when the murmur of a crowd fills the carpeted aisles, and the orchestra begins to tune up, 02:43.360 --> 02:48.960 it is kindled with that strange magic before the rise of the curtain. 02:48.960 --> 02:52.760 Oh, it's this way, sir. E12 and 13. Broderon, talk it. 02:52.760 --> 02:53.160 Thank you. 02:53.160 --> 02:55.760 No, madam, this is Roe E. Your seat's a G4. 02:55.760 --> 02:59.760 And backstage, where nerves crawl and there is a tendency to scream, 02:59.760 --> 03:03.360 the three witches of the play are huddled around the peephole in the curtain, 03:03.360 --> 03:05.360 looking out into the audience. 03:05.360 --> 03:11.360 They are hideous-looking creatures, these witches, in gray rags like cobwebs. 03:11.360 --> 03:13.360 But as they speak... 03:13.360 --> 03:15.760 Oh, dear, I am scared. 03:15.760 --> 03:17.360 Don't let it bother you, darling. 03:17.360 --> 03:19.760 You can't even see the audience when the floats are on. 03:19.760 --> 03:21.160 There's nothing to worry about. 03:21.160 --> 03:23.760 Nothing except the size of the teak at the box office. 03:23.760 --> 03:26.760 You won't even have to worry about that tonight. Look out there. 03:26.760 --> 03:29.560 You two are as shaking as much as I am. Now don't pretend. 03:29.560 --> 03:33.160 All right, all right. Everybody's jumpy on first nights. 03:33.160 --> 03:37.160 What I can't understand is why they want to use young girls as witches, 03:37.160 --> 03:40.360 and then make us talk in cracked voices as though we were 80. 03:40.360 --> 03:45.360 Double, double, toil and travel. 03:45.360 --> 03:49.760 Fire, burn and cauldron bubble. 03:49.760 --> 03:51.360 Oh, oh, what's that? 03:51.360 --> 03:54.560 Say, dear darling, it's only one of the ghost effects. 03:54.560 --> 03:56.960 You've been hearing it for weeks at rehearsal. 03:56.960 --> 04:00.760 I will say this for Martin Willard, as an actor and a manager too. 04:00.760 --> 04:04.160 He's the first one who's ever had a real professional magician 04:04.160 --> 04:06.760 to do the ghost effects of this ham show. 04:06.760 --> 04:08.360 Oh, are they, Celia? Look there. 04:08.360 --> 04:09.160 Where? 04:09.160 --> 04:12.560 Out in the audience in the second of the box on the left-hand side. 04:12.560 --> 04:14.360 Don't you see the woman who's just coming in? 04:14.360 --> 04:15.960 Yes, I can see her. 04:15.960 --> 04:18.360 Not a bad-looking bit of good for her age. 04:18.360 --> 04:19.760 What about her? 04:19.760 --> 04:21.760 But that's Marcia Blair. 04:21.760 --> 04:23.160 Marcia Blair? 04:23.160 --> 04:25.160 You don't mean you've never heard of her. 04:25.160 --> 04:27.360 I can't say I have either if it comes to that. 04:27.360 --> 04:29.360 Move over, Ivy. Give us a squint. 04:29.360 --> 04:32.360 Marcia Blair used to be Mr. Willard's leading lady. 04:32.360 --> 04:34.760 She was a very great actress 15 years ago. 04:34.760 --> 04:36.960 Oh, 15 years ago. 04:36.960 --> 04:39.360 She's had a terribly romantic history. 04:39.360 --> 04:42.560 Well, she's made lots of money and retired from the stage. 04:42.560 --> 04:45.360 Then she married some horrible no-good and... 04:45.360 --> 04:47.760 Do you see that tall grey-haired man standing beside her? 04:47.760 --> 04:49.960 Well, he doesn't look much like a no-good. 04:49.960 --> 04:52.360 That's not the man I mean, Celia. 04:52.360 --> 04:54.160 That's Howard White, her second husband. 04:54.160 --> 04:54.960 Oh. 04:54.960 --> 04:57.560 They say he loved her for years and followed her about 04:57.560 --> 04:59.760 and practically worshipped her. 04:59.760 --> 05:02.760 But she was married to this no-good and wouldn't get a divorce. 05:02.760 --> 05:04.960 Then the no-good died, I suppose, 05:04.960 --> 05:08.160 so Marcia Blair and her faithful Howard got married. 05:08.160 --> 05:09.360 Yes. 05:09.360 --> 05:13.160 I remember reading in the paper that they'd been married one year tonight. 05:13.160 --> 05:15.360 I... I expect they're very happy. 05:15.360 --> 05:18.960 Well, I'd be happy, too, if I had a mink coat and a string of pearls like that. 05:18.960 --> 05:20.760 Well, you've got to admit she's beautiful. 05:20.760 --> 05:23.760 All right, Katie, if you say so. 05:23.760 --> 05:26.560 I used to go and see her act when I was a little girl. 05:26.560 --> 05:29.560 She... she was kind of an idol. 05:29.560 --> 05:33.360 I wonder what they're saying to each other up in that box now. 05:33.360 --> 05:47.760 I wonder what they're saying. 05:47.760 --> 05:51.160 Marcia, dear, I wish you wouldn't be so uneasy. 05:51.160 --> 05:52.760 Nothing can happen to you here. 05:52.760 --> 05:54.760 You're uneasy yourself, Howard. 05:54.760 --> 05:56.760 Yes, I suppose I am a little. 05:56.760 --> 06:01.160 Howard, I know I shouldn't be talking like this on our first anniversary, 06:01.160 --> 06:02.960 but that's what worries me. 06:02.960 --> 06:04.760 What if Barry isn't dead? 06:04.760 --> 06:06.160 What if he isn't dead? 06:06.160 --> 06:07.960 Oh, listen to me, darling. 06:07.960 --> 06:11.560 Your late husband, heaven condemn his soul, 06:11.560 --> 06:13.360 died in New York more than a year ago. 06:13.360 --> 06:14.560 We have proof of that. 06:14.560 --> 06:16.160 Well, then who wrote those letters to me? 06:16.160 --> 06:17.360 I don't know, dear. 06:17.360 --> 06:18.560 Somebody playing a joke on you. 06:18.560 --> 06:19.560 Joke? 06:19.560 --> 06:23.160 If you marry him, Marcia, you won't be alive a year from then. 06:23.160 --> 06:23.760 Joke. 06:23.760 --> 06:26.960 But you're married to me, my dear, and you are alive. 06:26.960 --> 06:29.560 Shall I quote you something from another play, Howard? 06:29.560 --> 06:30.560 Well... 06:30.560 --> 06:33.160 The ides of March are come. 06:33.160 --> 06:36.360 Aye, Caesar, but not gone. 06:36.360 --> 06:37.960 And it's still two hours. 06:37.960 --> 06:40.360 Two hours to the time we were actually married. 06:40.360 --> 06:41.760 Oh, look here, dear. 06:41.760 --> 06:44.160 This is carrying an obsession too far. 06:44.160 --> 06:46.960 It would be just like Barry to wait until the last moment, 06:46.960 --> 06:48.360 just to make it worse. 06:48.360 --> 06:49.360 You knew him. 06:49.360 --> 06:50.760 Yes, I knew him. 06:50.760 --> 06:51.960 He was a genius. 06:51.960 --> 06:53.360 I suppose so. 06:53.360 --> 06:57.160 As a mere businessman, I never quite understood this theatrical temperament, 06:57.160 --> 06:58.560 except yours, of course. 06:58.560 --> 07:01.760 Barry was a greater actor than Myron Willard will ever be. 07:01.760 --> 07:05.560 Barry could play anything, from a cockney to King Lear. 07:05.560 --> 07:07.960 His skill at make-up wasn't merely good. 07:07.960 --> 07:09.760 It was terrifying. 07:09.760 --> 07:11.960 Oh, Howard, I am frightened. 07:11.960 --> 07:14.560 Suppose he's managed to get close to us tonight and... 07:14.560 --> 07:17.560 and yet we can't see him. 07:17.560 --> 07:19.560 Well, the music started, Marcia. 07:19.560 --> 07:21.160 I... I shall have to go. 07:21.160 --> 07:23.360 Must you go, Howard? Really? 07:23.360 --> 07:25.360 If I break this appointment with Ferndale, dear, 07:25.360 --> 07:26.960 the deal will be called off. 07:26.960 --> 07:29.360 And since I haven't got too much backing anyway, I... 07:29.360 --> 07:32.160 All right, dear. I understand. 07:32.160 --> 07:32.960 Go ahead. 07:32.960 --> 07:34.360 Unless you wanted to come with me. 07:34.360 --> 07:36.360 And Miss Myron's opening tonight? 07:36.360 --> 07:37.560 Oh, I couldn't do that. 07:37.560 --> 07:39.960 I tell you, you'll be perfectly safe here, dear. 07:39.960 --> 07:42.360 Of course, Howard. I know that. 07:42.360 --> 07:45.960 You're in full view of 3,000 people. Nobody could attack you. 07:45.960 --> 07:48.160 The only door to this box is guarded. 07:48.160 --> 07:51.160 Outside that door will be Miss Fenton, who's devoted to you, 07:51.160 --> 07:53.560 and the chauffeur who's even more devoted to you. 07:53.560 --> 07:54.760 What could happen, dear? 07:54.760 --> 07:56.560 Nothing, of course. 07:56.560 --> 07:58.960 And I'd prefer to be alone anyway. 07:58.960 --> 08:00.360 Yes, I rather guess that... 08:00.360 --> 08:01.760 Oh, please, dear. 08:01.760 --> 08:04.160 It's just that I can't endure anybody being with me 08:04.160 --> 08:06.160 when I'm watching a great play. 08:06.160 --> 08:08.360 But that doesn't include you, darling. 08:08.360 --> 08:10.760 Then if you'll accept these, madam, 08:10.760 --> 08:13.160 in honor of our first anniversary... 08:13.160 --> 08:14.760 Oh, Howard! 08:14.760 --> 08:16.360 Well, they're lovely. 08:16.360 --> 08:17.960 Of course I'll accept them. 08:17.960 --> 08:19.960 And here's a program. 08:19.960 --> 08:21.560 Got everything else you need? 08:21.560 --> 08:23.360 Yes. Yes, I think so. 08:23.360 --> 08:26.360 I'll just open the door to the passage to make sure I'll watch dogs around, 08:26.360 --> 08:27.560 and guard. 08:27.560 --> 08:29.560 Yes, they're out there all right. 08:29.560 --> 08:31.160 Good night, master. 08:31.160 --> 08:32.760 See you in an hour or two. 08:32.760 --> 08:34.960 Good night, Howard, and good luck. 08:36.560 --> 08:37.960 Miss Fenton, Bradley. 08:37.960 --> 08:39.360 Yes, Mr. White. 08:39.360 --> 08:40.960 Is there anything wrong? 08:40.960 --> 08:43.160 Miss Fenton, you've been my wife's companion secretary 08:43.160 --> 08:44.560 for five or six years. 08:44.560 --> 08:47.160 Yes, Mr. White, and I've loved every minute of it. 08:47.160 --> 08:50.360 And you, Bradley, you haven't been my chauffeur for quite so long, 08:50.360 --> 08:52.360 but they tell me you're an ex-wrestler. 08:52.360 --> 08:53.560 That's right, she. 08:53.560 --> 08:55.960 Champion of the Shore Ditch Athletic Club. 08:55.960 --> 08:58.360 And in me prime, though I says it shouldn't, 08:58.360 --> 09:00.560 as good a man as ever climbs through the ropes. 09:00.560 --> 09:02.160 Now, you know your instructions badly. 09:02.160 --> 09:03.360 Yeah, trust me, sir. 09:03.360 --> 09:06.960 Nobody gets into this here box tonight unless it's over my dead body. 09:06.960 --> 09:09.360 Nothing must happen, do you understand? Nothing. 09:09.360 --> 09:11.560 Please, you're as white as paper. 09:11.560 --> 09:14.960 As for you, Miss Fenton, I'm afraid it's a little awkward. 09:14.960 --> 09:17.560 I know I ought to ask you to go in and join, Marcia, but this... 09:17.560 --> 09:19.760 You needn't apologize, Mr. White. 09:19.760 --> 09:21.760 I know she doesn't want company. 09:21.760 --> 09:24.760 She'll be leaning forward with her elbows on the box rail, 09:24.760 --> 09:26.560 just as she always does. 09:26.560 --> 09:28.360 She isn't merely watching a play. 09:28.360 --> 09:30.160 She's acting, Lady Macbeth. 09:30.160 --> 09:32.560 Every line, every gesture. 09:32.560 --> 09:34.360 And I don't mean to disturb her. 09:34.360 --> 09:36.360 You won't leave this door, either of you. 09:36.360 --> 09:38.960 You trust me, sir. If... 09:38.960 --> 09:40.560 Oh, no. 09:40.560 --> 09:41.560 Anything wrong, Bradley? 09:41.560 --> 09:44.960 It is a very rummy-looking cove coming along the passage, sir, 09:44.960 --> 09:47.960 wearing a big black cloak with a red lining. 09:47.960 --> 09:51.160 Oh, that man, Bradley, that's only her von Ahlenheim. 09:51.160 --> 09:54.360 He's a professional magician and escape artist. 09:54.360 --> 09:56.560 I was just wondering... Excuse me, please. 09:56.560 --> 09:59.560 Don't worry, Mr. White. We'll look after her. 09:59.560 --> 10:02.560 Von Ahlenheim. I say von Ahlenheim. 10:02.560 --> 10:04.560 Thou canst not say I did it. 10:04.560 --> 10:06.160 Never shake the gory luxe at me. 10:06.160 --> 10:07.560 I beg your pardon. 10:07.560 --> 10:09.160 And I beg yours, my friend. 10:09.160 --> 10:11.960 I was merely quoting a line from the play. 10:11.960 --> 10:13.760 You are not leaving the theater. 10:13.760 --> 10:15.560 Surely not walking out on Macbeth. 10:15.560 --> 10:16.760 I'm afraid I've got to. 10:16.760 --> 10:18.360 Oh, that's a pity, my friend. 10:18.360 --> 10:22.160 You will miss some of my best effects, to say nothing of Shakespeare's. 10:22.160 --> 10:24.360 When Banko's ghost appears at the table. 10:24.360 --> 10:26.560 I don't want to hear any more about ghosts, thanks. 10:26.560 --> 10:28.560 Banko's or anybody else's. 10:28.560 --> 10:31.560 I imagine you mean your wife's late husband. 10:31.560 --> 10:33.160 You've heard about it then? 10:33.160 --> 10:36.160 Yes, your wife has told me a good deal. 10:36.160 --> 10:37.560 She seems to think that in my profession, 10:37.560 --> 10:41.160 I might have some charm over demons or spell against ghosts. 10:41.160 --> 10:43.960 You know, von Ahlenheim, in a muddled kind of way, 10:43.960 --> 10:46.160 that's what I've been wondering myself. 10:46.160 --> 10:49.760 Unfortunately, no. I am all too human. 10:49.760 --> 10:51.960 But your problem interests me. 10:51.960 --> 10:53.560 And I confess, it worries me. 10:53.560 --> 10:56.160 What is you? What about me? 10:56.160 --> 11:00.360 As I understand it, her first husband was a half-made American actor, 11:00.360 --> 11:04.160 who later went completely mad and died in New York. 11:04.160 --> 11:05.360 His, uh... 11:05.360 --> 11:06.960 Oh, what's the word I want? 11:06.960 --> 11:07.960 Our obsession? 11:07.960 --> 11:09.360 That's it, obsession. 11:09.360 --> 11:11.360 His obsession was Marcia Blair's eyes. 11:11.360 --> 11:13.760 Yes, always her eyes. 11:13.760 --> 11:15.160 They seem to hypnotize him. 11:15.160 --> 11:16.760 It is not new, you know. 11:16.760 --> 11:19.160 You'll find the same motif, the eyes of a beautiful woman, 11:19.160 --> 11:21.760 all through the works of Edgar Allan Poe. 11:21.760 --> 11:24.960 Then, as I understand it, after this man's death, 11:24.960 --> 11:26.960 she began to receive a series of letters. 11:26.960 --> 11:29.360 Foul letters, apparently, written by him, 11:29.360 --> 11:32.160 and threatening her with some rather horrible form of death, 11:32.160 --> 11:32.960 if she married you. 11:32.960 --> 11:34.360 I tell you, Barry Lake is dead. 11:34.360 --> 11:35.760 He can't get a part of his coffin. 11:35.760 --> 11:38.360 Oh, getting out of coffins, my friend, is not so difficult. 11:38.360 --> 11:39.360 I have done it myself. 11:39.360 --> 11:41.560 Oh, please stop joking, von Ahlenheim. 11:41.560 --> 11:43.760 You don't happen to be dead. 11:43.760 --> 11:47.360 True. There is that small difference. 11:47.360 --> 11:48.560 Um... 11:48.560 --> 11:50.760 Is your wife here in the theater tonight? 11:50.760 --> 11:53.560 Yes. She wouldn't have come here except that it's 11:53.560 --> 11:56.160 Maron Willard's first night, and we haven't seen Maron, 11:56.160 --> 11:58.160 either of us, in years. 11:58.160 --> 11:59.560 She's back there in box, indeed. 11:59.560 --> 12:00.760 So I hear. 12:00.760 --> 12:05.360 I was hoping that you might invite me to share the box. 12:05.360 --> 12:08.560 Look here, old man, I don't want to seem inhospitable, 12:08.560 --> 12:10.960 but she doesn't want company. 12:10.960 --> 12:12.360 Well, that's about it. 12:12.360 --> 12:15.760 Well, then walk back a little distance with me, this way, 12:15.760 --> 12:19.160 so that you can see the stage from the back of the dress circle. 12:19.160 --> 12:22.560 Now, the orchestra has stopped, and they'll ring up in a moment. 12:22.560 --> 12:24.160 There. Look at it. 12:24.160 --> 12:25.160 Look at what? 12:25.160 --> 12:26.760 The stage, men. 12:26.760 --> 12:28.160 The lights have gone out. 12:28.160 --> 12:32.160 All except the dim yellow footlights shining at the curtain. 12:32.160 --> 12:35.560 The last cough, the last murmur, the last rustle of program 12:35.560 --> 12:38.960 dies away in one vast breathing hush. 12:38.960 --> 12:40.560 The curtain goes up. 12:40.560 --> 12:43.160 It goes my arm, von Ahlenheim. I've got to leave. 12:43.160 --> 12:45.760 Now, what are the stage directions? 12:45.760 --> 12:48.760 Desert place, thunder and lightning. 12:48.760 --> 12:50.560 Enter three witches. 12:55.560 --> 12:59.160 When shall we meet again? 12:59.160 --> 13:02.760 Is the sun not rising or in rain? 13:02.760 --> 13:05.960 When indeed. I wonder. 13:05.960 --> 13:07.560 May I beg your pardon, von Ahlenheim? 13:07.560 --> 13:09.760 No, it was nothing. 13:09.760 --> 13:12.560 That will be the fact of the sun. 13:12.560 --> 13:15.960 Where the place of the deep fair 13:15.960 --> 13:36.760 chases your shadow away will show upon you a face of 13:36.760 --> 13:43.760 darkness and a dark slave. 13:43.960 --> 13:45.560 A feast! 13:45.560 --> 13:58.160 In the London newspapers for that year 1936, you may read how Myron Willard triumphed at 13:58.160 --> 14:00.200 Drury Lane as Macbeth. 14:00.200 --> 14:07.520 But tonight, as the clock ticks on, there is another drama in the dimly lighted corridor 14:07.520 --> 14:10.360 outside Box D. 14:10.360 --> 14:16.320 There sits Miss Louise Fenton, Marcia Blair's companion secretary. 14:16.320 --> 14:23.120 Beside her, burly and broken-nosed, is Big Jim Bradley, the ex-wrestler. 14:23.120 --> 14:26.120 And when more than half an hour has passed... 14:26.120 --> 14:29.120 There's the applause, Jim. 14:29.120 --> 14:31.960 That was for the end of the first act. 14:31.960 --> 14:32.960 Yes, I hear it. 14:32.960 --> 14:33.960 Nothing's happened. 14:33.960 --> 14:36.800 But take my word for it, nothing's going to happen. 14:36.800 --> 14:39.520 Oh, she's such a likeable person, Jim. 14:39.520 --> 14:41.800 And I think one of our greatest Shakespearean actresses. 14:41.800 --> 14:45.320 I don't much care for this Shakespeare business, Miss. 14:45.320 --> 14:47.480 You give me a good movie with gangsters in it. 14:47.480 --> 14:48.480 That's my style. 14:48.480 --> 14:50.320 Oh, you don't understand, Jim. 14:50.320 --> 14:56.000 I've seen her as Juliet, as Ragland, as Portia, in our own drawing room without any props. 14:56.000 --> 14:58.120 I've heard her as Lady Macbeth, too. 14:58.120 --> 14:59.560 You should see her eyes. 14:59.560 --> 15:00.560 Her eyes, Miss? 15:00.560 --> 15:04.800 Yes, you should see her eyes when she delivers that speech. 15:04.800 --> 15:08.480 The raven himself is horse that croaks the fatal end... 15:08.480 --> 15:10.240 Miss, look there. 15:10.240 --> 15:11.240 What is it? 15:11.240 --> 15:14.440 That foreign-looking cove in the black cape coming along the passage. 15:14.440 --> 15:15.440 Now, easy. 15:15.440 --> 15:16.440 I beg your pardon. 15:16.440 --> 15:19.440 You are Miss Louise Fenton, aren't you? 15:19.440 --> 15:21.120 Yes, my name is Fenton. 15:21.120 --> 15:22.120 What is it? 15:22.120 --> 15:24.720 I am looking for Arnheim, a friend of Mr. White's. 15:24.720 --> 15:26.200 And I must see Marcia Blair at once. 15:26.200 --> 15:27.200 No, you don't, Governor. 15:27.200 --> 15:28.200 You're not going in there. 15:28.200 --> 15:29.200 Why not? 15:29.200 --> 15:30.920 Because nobody goes in there. 15:30.920 --> 15:32.360 Not if it was the King himself. 15:32.360 --> 15:33.360 That's all this. 15:33.360 --> 15:35.400 Now, listen to me, both of you. 15:35.400 --> 15:39.960 When the lights went on, I happened to be looking at Box D from the other side of the 15:39.960 --> 15:40.960 theatre. 15:40.960 --> 15:42.960 And I think there is something wrong. 15:42.960 --> 15:45.160 But there can't be anything wrong. 15:45.160 --> 15:47.720 Jim Bradley and I have been sitting here the whole time. 15:47.720 --> 15:49.000 Except, of course... 15:49.000 --> 15:50.000 Except when? 15:50.000 --> 15:52.440 Well, except when I went in there for a few seconds. 15:52.440 --> 15:54.360 You went in there, Miss Fenton? 15:54.360 --> 15:55.840 May I ask when that was? 15:55.840 --> 15:59.000 Well, it was after Mr. White had gone and just before the play started. 15:59.000 --> 16:01.200 I went in to ask if she wanted anything. 16:01.200 --> 16:03.080 She said she didn't, so I came out again. 16:03.080 --> 16:06.280 Bradley's been with me all the time, except when he went to get a drink of water up the 16:06.280 --> 16:07.280 corridor. 16:07.280 --> 16:08.280 That's just true as Goshbrook, Captain. 16:08.280 --> 16:10.280 One moment, and listen to me. 16:10.280 --> 16:12.680 Marcia Blair is leaning forward across the railing of the box. 16:12.680 --> 16:15.080 Oh, but that's nothing, Herr von Arnheim. 16:15.080 --> 16:16.920 That's the way she always is. 16:16.920 --> 16:21.760 Does she always fall forward with her arms held straight out and her head down on her 16:21.760 --> 16:22.760 arms? 16:22.760 --> 16:23.760 Better be careful, Miss. 16:23.760 --> 16:24.760 It's a trick. 16:24.760 --> 16:25.760 Trick? 16:25.760 --> 16:28.160 Why not open the door and see for yourselves? 16:28.160 --> 16:29.160 Would that do any harm? 16:29.160 --> 16:30.160 No, I... 16:30.160 --> 16:31.160 I suppose it wouldn't, but... 16:31.160 --> 16:34.400 Oh, there must be some mistake. 16:34.400 --> 16:36.240 We haven't heard a sound from in there. 16:36.240 --> 16:38.320 There couldn't be anything wrong. 16:38.320 --> 16:40.200 You open the door, Miss Fenton. 16:40.200 --> 16:43.880 I'm going to hold tight to this gentleman just in case. 16:43.880 --> 16:45.880 Quiet, please. 16:45.880 --> 16:46.880 Quiet. 16:46.880 --> 16:49.920 What is it, Miss? 16:49.920 --> 16:52.360 Walk in there with me, both of you. 16:52.360 --> 16:54.440 Please go carefully as though nothing were wrong. 16:54.440 --> 16:56.440 We don't want to attract attention. 16:56.440 --> 16:57.440 Now. 16:57.440 --> 16:58.440 Herr von Arnheim. 16:58.440 --> 17:01.440 There's blood all over her face. 17:01.440 --> 17:02.440 Yes. 17:02.440 --> 17:07.440 And don't begin screaming again, Miss Fenton, when I tell you she's dead. 17:07.440 --> 17:08.440 Bradley. 17:08.440 --> 17:09.440 Yes, sir? 17:09.440 --> 17:12.840 Pick Miss Blair's body up and carry her out into the corridor. 17:12.840 --> 17:16.360 In another minute we'll have the whole theater wanting to know what's wrong. 17:16.360 --> 17:17.360 All right, sir. 17:17.360 --> 17:18.360 You win. 17:18.360 --> 17:21.280 But what about the people in the other boxes? 17:21.280 --> 17:22.280 Won't they see? 17:22.280 --> 17:24.280 They've gone down to the bar to get a drink. 17:24.280 --> 17:25.280 They won't see anything. 17:25.280 --> 17:26.280 Hurry. 17:26.280 --> 17:31.280 She ain't no lightweight, the poor lady, ain't she? 17:31.280 --> 17:34.640 Steady does it. 17:34.640 --> 17:35.640 Hold the door open. 17:35.640 --> 17:36.640 That's got it. 17:36.640 --> 17:37.640 Now, close the door. 17:37.640 --> 17:40.640 Shall I put her down on the floor, carefully? 17:40.640 --> 17:41.640 Yes, better do that. 17:41.640 --> 17:42.640 I never took those threats seriously. 17:42.640 --> 17:43.640 That's what I blame myself for. 17:43.640 --> 17:44.640 And if something did happen, well, I thought he'd attack her. 17:44.640 --> 17:45.640 I never thought he'd hide away across the theater and fire a shot. 17:45.640 --> 17:46.640 And you were correct. 17:46.640 --> 17:47.640 I was right. 17:47.640 --> 17:48.640 I was right. 17:48.640 --> 17:49.640 I was right. 17:49.640 --> 17:50.640 I was right. 17:50.640 --> 17:51.640 I was right. 17:51.640 --> 17:52.640 I was right. 17:52.640 --> 17:53.640 I was right. 17:53.640 --> 17:54.640 I was right. 17:54.640 --> 17:55.640 I was right. 17:55.640 --> 17:56.640 M私 obaire wanted a shot. 17:56.640 --> 17:58.160 And you were quite right, miss Fenton. 17:58.160 --> 17:59.500 Marcia Blair was not shot. 17:59.500 --> 18:01.300 She wasn't shot. 18:01.300 --> 18:02.300 No. 18:02.300 --> 18:03.300 Take a look at the wound. 18:03.300 --> 18:04.400 Oh I can't look at it. 18:04.400 --> 18:06.160 She was stabbed. 18:06.160 --> 18:10.120 Stabbed through the right eye with a narrow sharp blade, which entered her brain and killed 18:10.120 --> 18:11.120 her instantly. 18:11.120 --> 18:14.340 Not a pretty death, but a quick one. 18:14.340 --> 18:15.520 You seem to know a lot about this governor. 18:15.520 --> 18:17.280 Perhaps I do, my friend. 18:17.280 --> 18:19.600 And perhaps I can guess a lot more. 18:19.600 --> 18:22.700 You mean somebody stood out there and threw a knife at her? 18:22.700 --> 18:24.700 Like a ready music all turn? 18:24.700 --> 18:26.700 No, I don't mean that either. 18:26.700 --> 18:28.700 There's no knife in the wound and none in the box. 18:28.700 --> 18:30.700 The murderer took it away. 18:30.700 --> 18:31.700 Took it away? 18:31.700 --> 18:32.700 Exactly. 18:32.700 --> 18:34.700 Halfon Arnheim, please wait. 18:34.700 --> 18:36.700 You're not saying someone climbed up from outside. 18:36.700 --> 18:38.700 Twenty or thirty feet from the floor 18:38.700 --> 18:42.700 and stabbed poor Marcia in full sight of three thousand people. 18:42.700 --> 18:44.700 That, Miss Fenton, is what the evidence seems to indicate. 18:44.700 --> 18:46.700 But it's impossible. 18:46.700 --> 18:48.700 Yet it happened. There is Marcia Blair's body. 18:48.700 --> 18:50.700 What's that? 18:50.700 --> 18:52.700 The warning bell for the second act. 18:52.700 --> 18:54.700 People will be coming back here any minute. 18:54.700 --> 18:56.700 What are we going to do? 19:08.700 --> 19:10.700 I am a man of fear. 19:10.700 --> 19:12.700 To be strong before young Marcia's feet 19:12.700 --> 19:14.700 and to be patient with the rabble's curse. 19:14.700 --> 19:18.700 A woman who would be confident in our cause 19:18.700 --> 19:22.700 being of no woman born yet, I will try the last. 19:22.700 --> 19:26.700 Before my body I throw my water like shield. 19:26.700 --> 19:29.700 Lay on that dust and damn people that first cry, 19:29.700 --> 19:31.700 hold enough. 19:42.700 --> 19:44.700 A clause, a claim, triumph. 19:44.700 --> 19:46.700 Myron Willard is Macbeth. 19:46.700 --> 19:48.700 Helen Gale is Lady Macbeth. 19:48.700 --> 19:52.700 Magical effects by Ludwig van Arnhem. 19:52.700 --> 19:56.700 Very few persons knew that there is a dead woman in the theatre. 19:56.700 --> 20:00.700 But at the end of the play, it is a different story. 20:00.700 --> 20:04.700 The crowd files out, past a cordon of police. 20:04.700 --> 20:06.700 The lights are extinguished. 20:06.700 --> 20:11.700 The great theatre is dark and mumbling with echoes. 20:11.700 --> 20:14.700 See the stage now? 20:14.700 --> 20:16.700 Only the theatre is dark. 20:16.700 --> 20:18.700 The theatre is dark. 20:18.700 --> 20:20.700 The theatre is dark. 20:20.700 --> 20:22.700 The theatre is dark. 20:22.700 --> 20:24.700 The theatre is dark. 20:24.700 --> 20:26.700 The theatre is dark. 20:26.700 --> 20:28.700 The theatre is dark. 20:28.700 --> 20:30.700 The theatre is dark. 20:30.700 --> 20:32.700 Only the great theatre is salt. 20:32.700 --> 20:34.700 Is the theatre dark? 20:34.700 --> 20:36.700 The theatre is dark. 20:36.700 --> 20:38.700 Only the theatre is black. 20:38.700 --> 20:40.700 Only the Takeshi building. 20:40.700 --> 20:56.700 The theatre is dark. 20:56.700 --> 21:00.500 Howard. Howard White. 21:00.500 --> 21:02.700 Confounded, man. Can't you hear what I'm saying? 21:02.700 --> 21:04.200 Excuse me, madame. I... 21:04.200 --> 21:05.700 This is almost finished. 21:05.700 --> 21:07.500 Not that I'm blaming you, old man. 21:07.500 --> 21:08.700 Thank you, madame. 21:08.700 --> 21:11.700 It's traditional, you know, that Macbeth's an unlucky play. 21:11.700 --> 21:14.200 But up to the very end, I thought I'd never done better. 21:14.200 --> 21:16.700 Eleven curtain calls. No, twelve. 21:16.700 --> 21:18.700 How did you like my tomorrow-on-tomorrow speech? 21:18.700 --> 21:21.700 I'm sorry, madame. I'm afraid I didn't hear it. 21:21.700 --> 21:23.700 Yes, poor old Narsha. 21:23.700 --> 21:24.700 She'd have heard it. 21:24.700 --> 21:28.700 Yes, poor old Narsha. She'd have hated to die like that. 21:28.700 --> 21:31.200 Narsha was proud of her eyes. 21:31.200 --> 21:34.700 Always nearsighted as an owl, but too vain to wear glasses. 21:36.700 --> 21:39.700 There's Von Arnheim looking at us from under the castle archway. 21:40.700 --> 21:42.700 Von Arnheim! 21:48.700 --> 21:50.700 Did you call me, my friend? 21:50.700 --> 21:53.700 You're rather difficult to recognize under all that Macbeth make-up. 21:53.700 --> 21:55.700 Yes, I was just thinking the same thing. 21:55.700 --> 21:57.700 Never mind that. 21:57.700 --> 21:59.700 Where are the police now? 21:59.700 --> 22:01.700 At the moment, Mr. Wheeler, the police are in your dressing room. 22:01.700 --> 22:03.700 They are using it for questioning. 22:03.700 --> 22:05.700 No reception tonight, of course. 22:05.700 --> 22:09.700 No, but I thought you might be interested in two items of information 22:09.700 --> 22:11.700 that police have just discovered. 22:11.700 --> 22:13.700 Well, go on. 22:13.700 --> 22:15.700 We had a fairly full house tonight, I believe. 22:15.700 --> 22:17.700 Fairly full. Every seat was reserved. 22:17.700 --> 22:19.700 Reserved, yes, but not occupied. 22:19.700 --> 22:20.700 I don't follow you. 22:20.700 --> 22:23.700 One box on the ground floor, box E, to be exact, was empty. 22:23.700 --> 22:25.700 Reserved and paid for, but empty. 22:25.700 --> 22:29.700 And box E, oddly enough, was just underneath the one occupied by Marcia Blair. 22:29.700 --> 22:33.700 Well, the same. I still don't see quite what you're... 22:33.700 --> 22:36.700 Now, our next item of information comes from an usher. 22:36.700 --> 22:40.700 An outside-eye seat in the stores, very close to that empty box, was occupied 22:40.700 --> 22:45.700 by a very curious stranger who arrived late in the dark and slipped out again 22:45.700 --> 22:47.700 by a nearby exit a few minutes afterwards. 22:47.700 --> 22:49.700 Just one moment, Von Arnheim. 22:49.700 --> 22:53.700 Are you saying the stranger climbed up and attacked Marcia in full view of the audience? 22:53.700 --> 22:57.700 No, my friend. The murderer did not approach from that direction. 22:57.700 --> 23:01.700 Then he must have reached Marcia through the door, guarded by Bradley and Miss Fenton? 23:01.700 --> 23:03.700 No, not from that direction either. 23:03.700 --> 23:06.700 I've found it, man. It must have been one way or the other. 23:06.700 --> 23:07.700 Not necessarily. 23:07.700 --> 23:09.700 Tell me how. Don't you think I've got enough troubles already 23:09.700 --> 23:12.700 without this nightmare on top of it? 23:12.700 --> 23:14.700 Hef von Arnheim! Hef von Arnheim! 23:14.700 --> 23:17.700 You must take it easy, Miss Fenton. You must not excite yourself. 23:17.700 --> 23:19.700 Have the police been... Yes. Look, you've got to help me. 23:19.700 --> 23:20.700 They won't believe me. 23:20.700 --> 23:23.700 They won't believe the young lady, sir, and that's a fact. 23:23.700 --> 23:29.700 I've tried to help her all I can, but there's things I can swear to and things I can't. 23:29.700 --> 23:31.700 You see, I did go into that box. 23:31.700 --> 23:33.700 Oh, just for a couple of seconds, I admitted, 23:33.700 --> 23:35.700 but no other person went in or could have got in. 23:35.700 --> 23:39.700 So they say, or at least they're hinting that I killed her, 23:39.700 --> 23:40.700 but I swear I never touched... 23:40.700 --> 23:42.700 Who was questioning you, Miss Fenton? 23:42.700 --> 23:44.700 Inspector Grimes or Sergeant Blake? 23:44.700 --> 23:46.700 I'm... Well, I'm not sure. The sergeant, I think. 23:46.700 --> 23:48.700 Then I shouldn't worry if I were you. 23:48.700 --> 23:50.700 Inspector Grimes knows better. 23:50.700 --> 23:52.700 He's guessed, in fact, exactly what I have guessed. 23:52.700 --> 23:56.700 You seem on rather familiar terms with the police, my friend. 23:56.700 --> 23:58.700 I am, Mr. Willard. I am. 23:58.700 --> 24:01.700 Anyone who practices escapes from handcuffs, sex, chest... 24:01.700 --> 24:03.700 And stage boxes, perhaps. 24:03.700 --> 24:05.700 Stage boxes, if you insist. 24:05.700 --> 24:09.700 Excuse me. Isn't that Inspector Grimes in the wings now? 24:09.700 --> 24:11.700 Yes, and he's nodding his head. 24:11.700 --> 24:14.700 Then I can tell you, I think, what you want to know. 24:14.700 --> 24:17.700 Well, if you do happen to know anything, it's your duty to speak up. 24:17.700 --> 24:20.700 Well, Marcia seems to have had some ridiculous idea 24:20.700 --> 24:23.700 that her former husband, Barry Lake, was still alive. 24:23.700 --> 24:25.700 Her fears weren't justified, of course, 24:25.700 --> 24:28.700 and she wasn't killed by any dead husband. 24:28.700 --> 24:31.700 I beg your pardon. Her fears were justified, 24:31.700 --> 24:33.700 though not quite in the way she believed. 24:33.700 --> 24:35.700 And she was killed by her husband. 24:35.700 --> 24:38.700 Then Barry Lake is still alive. 24:38.700 --> 24:40.700 No. Barry Lake is dead. 24:40.700 --> 24:43.700 Well, you don't mean Marcia was really killed by a goat. 24:43.700 --> 24:48.700 No. I mean she was killed by her devoted second husband, Mr. Howard White. 24:48.700 --> 24:50.700 What? You are so... 24:50.700 --> 24:52.700 Will you hear what they say? 24:52.700 --> 24:54.700 That's not true. It's a slanderous statement. 24:54.700 --> 24:56.700 I'll have you in court for it. 24:56.700 --> 24:58.700 Everybody knows how devoted I was to Marcia. 24:58.700 --> 25:01.700 Your devotion, my friend, was devotion to her money. 25:01.700 --> 25:03.700 And your business affairs have been shaky for a long time. 25:03.700 --> 25:05.700 That's not true, and you can't prove it. 25:05.700 --> 25:08.700 Marcia Blyer was inclined to be, shall we say, 25:08.700 --> 25:09.700 a little close-fisted with money. 25:09.700 --> 25:10.700 That's true, anyway. 25:10.700 --> 25:11.700 It's a lie, a lie! 25:11.700 --> 25:13.700 Willing to marry him, but Mr. Howard White knew 25:13.700 --> 25:15.700 he'd never touch a penny unless he killed her. 25:15.700 --> 25:17.700 He wrote the letters himself. 25:17.700 --> 25:19.700 Half-on-on, Harnheim. He can't be guilty. 25:19.700 --> 25:21.700 She was alive after he left the box. 25:21.700 --> 25:23.700 He wasn't anywhere near her when she died. 25:23.700 --> 25:25.700 Perfectly correct, Miss Fenton. 25:25.700 --> 25:27.700 He wasn't there, and yet he killed her. 25:27.700 --> 25:30.700 Exactly. But you and Bradley can supply the clue that will hang him. 25:30.700 --> 25:32.700 Me, sir, I don't know nothing. 25:32.700 --> 25:33.700 No, I don't either. 25:33.700 --> 25:35.700 I think you do, if you'll put your mind to it. 25:35.700 --> 25:37.700 Do you remember what Howard White said to her 25:37.700 --> 25:39.700 just before he left the box? 25:39.700 --> 25:41.700 Yes, he said, 25:41.700 --> 25:43.700 Good night, Marcia. See you in an hour or two. 25:43.700 --> 25:46.700 And she answered, Good night and good luck. 25:46.700 --> 25:48.700 No, I mean just before that. 25:48.700 --> 25:50.700 I... Well, there wasn't anything. 25:50.700 --> 25:53.700 You see, it's a slanderous statement without any proof. 25:53.700 --> 25:55.700 It's an insult to my position on the stock exchange. 25:55.700 --> 25:58.700 Wait. I do remember something rather queer. 25:58.700 --> 26:00.700 Think, Miss Fenton, think. 26:00.700 --> 26:02.700 He said to Marcia jokingly, 26:02.700 --> 26:06.700 If you'll accept these, madam, in honor of our first anniversary. 26:06.700 --> 26:09.700 And Marcia said, Howard, they're lovely. 26:09.700 --> 26:11.700 Of course I'll accept them. 26:11.700 --> 26:13.700 That's right, sir. He did say it. 26:13.700 --> 26:15.700 And what do you think he was referring to, Miss Fenton? 26:15.700 --> 26:17.700 What was he asking her to accept? 26:17.700 --> 26:20.700 Well, I imagined it was flowers, a corsage or something like that. 26:20.700 --> 26:23.700 Did you see any flowers in the box or pinned to Marcia Blair's gown? 26:23.700 --> 26:26.700 No. I come to think of it, I didn't. 26:26.700 --> 26:28.700 Then what did he give her? 26:28.700 --> 26:30.700 Don't look at me, sir. 26:30.700 --> 26:32.700 Now, here is a woman who is very nearsighted. 26:32.700 --> 26:35.700 Yet, yet refuses to wear glasses. 26:35.700 --> 26:37.700 But she can accept a pair of... 26:37.700 --> 26:38.700 Opera glasses. 26:38.700 --> 26:40.700 Miss, you can't prove it. 26:40.700 --> 26:41.700 Hold on, let's go. 26:41.700 --> 26:42.700 You better stay here, Governor. 26:42.700 --> 26:44.700 Thank you, Bradley, but the place is surrounded with police. 26:44.700 --> 26:46.700 But I still don't understand. 26:46.700 --> 26:50.700 Now, what happens when you lift opera glasses to your eyes and they are not in focus? 26:50.700 --> 26:53.700 You turn the little wheel in the middle to bring them into focus. 26:53.700 --> 26:56.700 For Marcia Blair, it was deadly. 26:56.700 --> 26:58.700 You mean that the glasses had... 26:58.700 --> 27:01.700 Yes, they were specially constructed glasses, Miss Fenton. 27:01.700 --> 27:04.700 They were invented by a French criminal years ago. 27:04.700 --> 27:06.700 The little wheel is a little trigger. 27:06.700 --> 27:10.700 It releases the spring of a sharp, thin blade which strikes through the eyes into the brain. 27:10.700 --> 27:11.700 Oh, don't, please. 27:11.700 --> 27:12.700 You can't prove it. 27:12.700 --> 27:14.700 Marcia Blair died instantly. 27:14.700 --> 27:20.700 The glasses torn from her eye by their own weight dropped over the box rail to the carpeted aisle below. 27:20.700 --> 27:25.700 The only witnesses who might have noticed would have been the people in the box just underneath. 27:25.700 --> 27:26.700 And that box was empty. 27:26.700 --> 27:28.700 By arrangement, yes. 27:28.700 --> 27:33.700 Even if anybody did see them fall, Howard White was prepared to remove the evidence instantly. 27:33.700 --> 27:35.700 And we haven't forgotten the curious stranger. 27:35.700 --> 27:36.700 Curious stranger? 27:36.700 --> 27:41.700 I mean the man who slipped in after it was dark, took an aisle seat just under the box and slipped out again a few minutes later. 27:41.700 --> 27:44.700 The pack of lies will start to finish a comp from a word of it. 27:44.700 --> 27:46.700 I beg your pardon, my friend. 27:46.700 --> 27:49.700 Didn't you see Inspector Grimes nod to me a moment ago? 27:49.700 --> 27:55.700 You are going to hang, my friend, for one of the neatest and cruelest crimes in my experience. 27:55.700 --> 28:17.700 You must have just found those opera glasses with a neat set of fingerprints in the side pocket of your motor car. 28:17.700 --> 28:24.700 And so ends Fire, Burn and Cauldron Bubble starring the distinguished actor Paul Lucas. 28:24.700 --> 28:28.700 Tonight's tale of suspense. 28:28.700 --> 28:38.700 This is your narrator, Ted Osborne, the man in black, who conveys to you Columbia's invitation to spend this half hour in suspense with us again next Tuesday. 28:38.700 --> 28:44.700 Same time when Nancy Coleman stars in Fear Paints a Picture. 28:44.700 --> 29:01.700 William Spear, the producer, John Dietz, the director, Bernard Herman, the composer, conductor, Robert Salmon, studio technician, and John Dixon Carr, the author, collaborated on tonight's suspense. 29:01.700 --> 29:15.700 This is the Columbia Broadcasting System.