WEBVTT 00:00.000 --> 00:20.200 The fence! 00:50.200 --> 01:02.040 This is the Man in Black, here again to introduce Columbia's program, Suspense. 01:02.040 --> 01:07.220 If you have been with us on these Tuesday nights, you will know that suspense is compounded 01:07.220 --> 01:12.320 of mystery and suspicion and dangerous adventure. 01:12.320 --> 01:18.500 In this series, our tales are calculated to intrigue you, stir your nerves, to offer you 01:18.500 --> 01:24.680 a precarious situation, and then withhold a solution until the last possible moment. 01:24.680 --> 01:29.760 And so with five canaries in the room, and the performances of Ona Munson as Anita, Osa 01:29.760 --> 01:34.480 Massen as Seife, and with Lee Bowman as Ronald Denham, who tells the story, we again hope 01:34.480 --> 01:49.960 to keep you in suspense. 01:49.960 --> 01:52.800 The trouble was, you see, that a whole apartment vanished. 01:52.800 --> 01:53.800 It's true. 01:53.800 --> 01:59.760 A flat disappeared straight out of that apartment house, and the dead man disappeared with it. 01:59.760 --> 02:01.520 No, I'm not crazy. 02:01.520 --> 02:05.880 And in spite of what they said, I hadn't taken too many drinks. 02:05.880 --> 02:10.200 You see, I was getting married to Anita in another two weeks, and Jimmy Westlake gave 02:10.200 --> 02:11.840 a bachelor party for me. 02:11.840 --> 02:15.960 Well, hang it, it's a situation that might have happened to you. 02:15.960 --> 02:21.440 The party was at the old Cap and Bell's Club on Lower Fifth Avenue, and it wasn't a brawl. 02:21.440 --> 02:26.400 Jimmy Westlake was in the chair, I admit, but nothing could have been more quiet, more 02:26.400 --> 02:27.400 dignified. 02:27.400 --> 02:34.400 Oh, mademoiselle from armadillo, parley boo. 02:34.400 --> 02:37.400 Mademoiselle from armadillo, parley boo. 02:37.400 --> 02:40.400 Oh, mademoiselle from armadillo. 02:40.400 --> 02:43.400 Quiet, you fellas, quiet! 02:43.400 --> 02:44.400 Quiet down, can't you? 02:44.400 --> 02:47.400 Wait a minute, the chairman wants to say something. 02:47.400 --> 02:49.640 Gentlemen, gentlemen, this is a solemn occasion. 02:49.640 --> 02:53.400 If those dopes over there will kindly get away from the piano and sit down at the table, 02:53.400 --> 02:55.400 I have another toast to propose. 02:55.400 --> 02:58.400 Excuse me, Mr. Westlake, excuse me, please. 02:58.400 --> 02:59.400 Yes, Uncle Kato, what is it? 02:59.400 --> 03:04.400 Excuse me, Mr. Westlake, but you ain't got to bust the glasses on this toast, yes? 03:04.400 --> 03:06.000 Why shouldn't we bust the glasses, Uncle Kato? 03:06.000 --> 03:07.000 Why shouldn't we bust the glasses? 03:07.000 --> 03:11.900 Oh, but Mr. Westlake, if you keep on busting the glasses, there ain't going to be no glasses 03:11.900 --> 03:12.900 left. 03:12.900 --> 03:16.400 Well, from that sad eventuality, Uncle Kato, we will simply start busting the plates. 03:16.400 --> 03:19.400 Isn't that fair enough, boys? 03:19.400 --> 03:29.400 Oh, look, Jimmy, don't you think you'd better tone the gang down a little? 03:29.400 --> 03:31.400 Be quiet, Ron, you're only the group. 03:31.400 --> 03:32.400 Yeah, I know, Jimmy, but... 03:32.400 --> 03:37.400 Gentlemen, I regret to tell you this, but the protesting voice you just heard was that 03:37.400 --> 03:39.400 of our guest of honor, Ronald Denham. 03:39.400 --> 03:47.400 Now, we all know Ron and we all like him, but I am sorry to say he is not himself. 03:47.400 --> 03:51.400 Where now is the terror of nightclubs, the chorus girl's friend? 03:51.400 --> 03:55.400 I say it to his face, he is sober. 03:55.400 --> 03:57.400 But we like him just the same. 03:57.400 --> 04:01.400 Friends, guests, and bachelors, I give you the groove. 04:01.400 --> 04:12.400 Oh, please, please, gentlemen, don't bust the glasses. 04:12.400 --> 04:14.400 Hey, come on, Ron, come on, say a few words. 04:14.400 --> 04:16.400 That's right, Ron, get up. 04:16.400 --> 04:20.400 Now, look, boys, I thank you for all the good words, and I don't want to be a wet blanket 04:20.400 --> 04:25.400 on the party, but it's nearly midnight and I've got to get home early. 04:25.400 --> 04:28.400 Don't you understand, boys, I'm a reformed character. 04:28.400 --> 04:30.400 Yeah, how's Fifi Latour? 04:30.400 --> 04:31.400 I haven't seen Fifi for over a year. 04:31.400 --> 04:33.400 She doesn't mean anything to me anymore. 04:33.400 --> 04:35.400 Me thinks he does protest too much. 04:35.400 --> 04:40.400 Now, look, I'm marrying the sweetest girl in the world, but Anita's a little, well, 04:40.400 --> 04:41.400 straight lace. 04:41.400 --> 04:42.400 You know how it is. 04:42.400 --> 04:49.400 What's more, there's my Uncle Rufus. 04:49.400 --> 04:50.400 Quiet! 04:50.400 --> 04:53.400 Anita and Uncle Rufus. 04:53.400 --> 04:57.400 Anita and Uncle Rufus have apartments in the same building as I have. 04:57.400 --> 05:00.400 What's more, they're on the same floor, and that's not all. 05:00.400 --> 05:02.400 Tom Evans, the fellow I share my flat with. 05:02.400 --> 05:04.400 Hey, wait a minute, where is Tom Evans tonight? 05:04.400 --> 05:05.400 What's the matter with him? 05:05.400 --> 05:08.400 Tom works for Uncle Rufus and he doesn't drink. 05:08.400 --> 05:11.400 Hey, hey, fellas, fellas. 05:11.400 --> 05:14.400 Oh, wait a minute. 05:14.400 --> 05:15.400 Quiet, you baboons. 05:15.400 --> 05:16.400 Quiet. 05:16.400 --> 05:20.400 He's a morning coffee broker and he never ends his ink. 05:20.400 --> 05:21.400 Now, wait a minute. 05:21.400 --> 05:24.400 Will you put yourselves in my place? 05:24.400 --> 05:28.400 My girl and my uncle and my best friend Tom Evans are all expecting me to come home from 05:28.400 --> 05:30.400 this party in an ash cart. 05:30.400 --> 05:32.400 And I'm going to fool them. 05:32.400 --> 05:35.400 Oh, and I have a heart, can't you? 05:35.400 --> 05:37.400 This Uncle Rufus must be a pretty tough egg, isn't he? 05:37.400 --> 05:40.400 Oh, he's all right, but after his first million dollars, it went to his head. 05:40.400 --> 05:42.400 Has he got any human weaknesses? 05:42.400 --> 05:44.400 Yes, he keeps canaries. 05:44.400 --> 05:46.400 Oh, no, not the kind of canaries you're thinking. 05:46.400 --> 05:49.400 I mean the kind that go tweet, tweet in cages. 05:49.400 --> 05:51.400 Oh, what's the use? 05:51.400 --> 05:53.400 What do you say, gentlemen? 05:53.400 --> 05:56.400 Shall we allow this pure and heart to wind his way home? 05:56.400 --> 05:58.400 He's got a drink for the bride, Joe. 05:58.400 --> 05:59.400 That's right, Ron. 05:59.400 --> 06:02.400 Can you, as a chivalrous gentleman, refuse to drink to the bride? 06:02.400 --> 06:04.400 You can't and you know you can't. 06:04.400 --> 06:05.400 Uncle Cato. 06:05.400 --> 06:06.400 Yes, sir, Mr. Westlake. 06:06.400 --> 06:08.400 Get a beer mug from the sideboard there. 06:08.400 --> 06:09.400 Fill it with champagne. 06:09.400 --> 06:10.400 Oh, now, wait a minute, Jim. 06:10.400 --> 06:12.400 One more drink won't hurt you, surely. 06:12.400 --> 06:13.400 Just one little drink? 06:13.400 --> 06:14.400 Well, no, I suppose not. 06:14.400 --> 06:16.400 Fill it up, Uncle Cato. 06:16.400 --> 06:19.400 All right, I'll have one more drink, just in honor of the occasion. 06:19.400 --> 06:20.400 But that's all, do you understand? 06:20.400 --> 06:45.400 That's absolutely all. 06:45.400 --> 06:46.400 Here you are, sir. 06:46.400 --> 06:49.400 098 Park Avenue. 06:49.400 --> 06:51.400 Hey, hey, hey, mister, mister. 06:51.400 --> 06:54.400 Come on, wake up. 06:54.400 --> 06:55.400 What's wrong? 06:55.400 --> 06:56.400 You're home, mister. 06:56.400 --> 06:57.400 This is the apartment house. 06:57.400 --> 06:58.400 Oh, yeah. 06:58.400 --> 06:59.400 Yes, of course. 06:59.400 --> 07:00.400 Thanks. 07:00.400 --> 07:01.400 Off we go. 07:01.400 --> 07:02.400 Easy now. 07:02.400 --> 07:04.400 Are you sure you're all right? 07:04.400 --> 07:07.400 Yes, I'm all right. 07:07.400 --> 07:09.400 I have been to a bachelor party. 07:09.400 --> 07:10.400 Yeah, sure, I know. 07:10.400 --> 07:12.400 Well, take it easy now. 07:12.400 --> 07:14.400 I can't see straight. 07:14.400 --> 07:16.400 The whole street's going around. 07:16.400 --> 07:19.400 The funny part is, I only had a couple of drinks. 07:19.400 --> 07:22.400 They must have put something in that last one. 07:22.400 --> 07:26.400 Well, it's none of my business, mister, but I wouldn't tell that to the missus if I was you. 07:26.400 --> 07:27.400 It's absolutely true. 07:27.400 --> 07:28.400 Sure, sure, I know. 07:28.400 --> 07:31.400 And I haven't got a missus, not yet. 07:31.400 --> 07:33.400 In my word of honor, I'm a reformed character. 07:33.400 --> 07:35.400 I have nothing to do with any woman except... 07:35.400 --> 07:37.400 Ronald Denham. 07:37.400 --> 07:40.400 As I live and breathe, it is Ronald Denham. 07:40.400 --> 07:41.400 Fifi Latour. 07:41.400 --> 07:43.400 Oh, sure, how good it is to see you. 07:43.400 --> 07:45.400 I look everywhere for you. 07:45.400 --> 07:48.400 I cry my eyes out, but I don't find you. 07:48.400 --> 07:50.400 What are you doing here? 07:50.400 --> 07:52.400 I live here, Fifi, I moved. 07:52.400 --> 07:54.400 Oh, you try to get away from me, yes? 07:54.400 --> 07:55.400 Yes. 07:55.400 --> 07:58.400 No, no, I mean, here's your money, driver. 07:58.400 --> 07:59.400 Good night. 07:59.400 --> 08:00.400 Good night, sir. 08:00.400 --> 08:01.400 It's one of yours, lady. 08:01.400 --> 08:03.400 You better take care of him. 08:03.400 --> 08:04.400 I'd take care of him. 08:04.400 --> 08:06.400 Yes, you bet you. 08:06.400 --> 08:08.400 My poor Ron. 08:08.400 --> 08:13.400 I forgive you this time, because you've been under wrassled-assled, 08:13.400 --> 08:15.400 and you need someone to take care of you. 08:15.400 --> 08:17.400 You live in this building, yes? 08:17.400 --> 08:19.400 Yes, fifth floor, I... 08:19.400 --> 08:21.400 Oh, good, I take you to your apartment. 08:21.400 --> 08:23.400 No, no, no. 08:23.400 --> 08:25.400 You say no, eh? And why not? 08:25.400 --> 08:27.400 Because you mustn't go in there. 08:27.400 --> 08:29.400 Oh, oh, there's an hour of woman, oh, yes? 08:29.400 --> 08:33.400 Well, yes, the fact is, Fifi, I'm going to get married. 08:33.400 --> 08:35.400 Married? 08:35.400 --> 08:37.400 For heaven's sake, Fifi, don't make a scene in the middle of the street. 08:37.400 --> 08:39.400 Oh, you break my heart, eh? 08:39.400 --> 08:42.400 Right in the middle of Park Avenue, you take my heart and you break it bang, bang. 08:42.400 --> 08:43.400 Fifi, please. 08:43.400 --> 08:45.400 Now I tell you what you do. 08:45.400 --> 08:47.400 You will take me to your apartment this very minute. 08:47.400 --> 08:48.400 No, definitely no. 08:48.400 --> 08:50.400 You will give me one cigarette and one brandy. 08:50.400 --> 08:52.400 You will tell me what this means. 08:52.400 --> 08:56.400 Oh, I warn you, by golly, I start screaming so they can hear me at City Hall. 08:56.400 --> 08:57.400 I can't do it, Fifi. 08:57.400 --> 08:59.400 All right, then I start screaming. 08:59.400 --> 09:00.400 No, wait a minute. 09:00.400 --> 09:03.400 Oh, of all the times in the world you had to pick this. 09:03.400 --> 09:06.400 Do I go along, Cherie? Yes or no? 09:06.400 --> 09:09.400 Well, if I do take you, Fifi, will you promise to be good? 09:09.400 --> 09:11.400 Cherie, I am always good. 09:11.400 --> 09:14.400 You won't kick up a row or start banging at doors. 09:14.400 --> 09:16.400 Oh, if Anita heard of this. 09:16.400 --> 09:17.400 Anita? And who is she? 09:17.400 --> 09:20.400 Oh, never mind. I'm too groggy to argue. 09:20.400 --> 09:21.400 Come on. 09:27.400 --> 09:29.400 I remember going into that building. 09:29.400 --> 09:35.400 Dim religious light, deep carpets, an automatic elevator that you work yourself. 09:35.400 --> 09:38.400 I remember stepping into that elevator because the floor creaked. 09:38.400 --> 09:41.400 I remember pressing the button for the fifth floor. 09:41.400 --> 09:47.400 I took Fifi with me and I took her into what the champagne told me was my own flat. 09:47.400 --> 09:52.400 Maybe you think that's funny, but it won't be funny much longer. 09:52.400 --> 09:56.400 Either the door of the flat was unlocked or my key fitted it. 09:56.400 --> 10:00.400 Anyway, I remember stumbling through the little hall inside, 10:00.400 --> 10:03.400 getting a light on and into the living room. 10:03.400 --> 10:08.400 I remember sitting back in an easy chair thanking the Lord I was home. 10:08.400 --> 10:12.400 You don't mind if I take my coat off, Cherie? 10:12.400 --> 10:14.400 Look, Fifi, couldn't you just go home? 10:14.400 --> 10:20.400 I want to talk to you, Cherie. And this is one very nice flat. I like it. 10:20.400 --> 10:21.400 Thanks a lot. 10:21.400 --> 10:25.400 You and Tom Evans, you have good taste in furniture. 10:25.400 --> 10:27.400 We didn't choose the furniture, Fifi. 10:27.400 --> 10:29.400 This girl of yours chooses it, I suppose? 10:29.400 --> 10:31.400 No, it comes with the flat. 10:31.400 --> 10:32.400 Oh, you mean? 10:32.400 --> 10:35.400 Well, these are furnished flats. They're all furnished exactly alike, 10:35.400 --> 10:38.400 except for the personal things you bring yourself. 10:38.400 --> 10:41.400 I've got a picture on the wall behind me. 10:41.400 --> 10:43.400 What picture, Cherie? 10:43.400 --> 10:45.400 The painting of the clipper ship over there. 10:45.400 --> 10:50.400 But Cherie, your eyes are funny and you cannot see straight. 10:50.400 --> 10:53.400 There's no picture on that wall. 10:53.400 --> 10:54.400 Wait a minute. 10:54.400 --> 10:56.400 What's wrong? Why do you jump up? 10:56.400 --> 11:01.400 We don't own any bronze bookends. And the lampshades are different. 11:01.400 --> 11:04.400 And, Fifi, we're in the wrong flat. 11:04.400 --> 11:06.400 Well, then that explains everything. 11:06.400 --> 11:07.400 Explains what? 11:07.400 --> 11:09.400 It explains about the canary birds. 11:09.400 --> 11:10.400 What canary birds? 11:10.400 --> 11:14.400 When we first come in here, I think I hear a lot of birds sing. 11:14.400 --> 11:18.400 And I think, oh, la, la, this is a funny taste for one denim and Tom Evans. 11:18.400 --> 11:21.400 Uncle Rufus, Great Scott, Uncle Rufus. 11:21.400 --> 11:24.400 This uncle of yours, he keep canary birds? 11:24.400 --> 11:26.400 Yes, five of them. But this isn't his flat. 11:26.400 --> 11:28.400 I know his flat as well as I know my own. 11:28.400 --> 11:30.400 Where did you hear this singing? 11:30.400 --> 11:32.400 Behind that door over there, where I point. 11:32.400 --> 11:35.400 That ought to be the door to the dining room. But... 11:35.400 --> 11:36.400 What was that? 11:36.400 --> 11:38.400 Oh, it is a car backfire. Maybe yes. 11:38.400 --> 11:40.400 Maybe no, unless they keep cars in dining rooms. 11:40.400 --> 11:41.400 That was a gun. 11:41.400 --> 11:43.400 It came from the dining room. 11:43.400 --> 11:44.400 Yeah, I think so. 11:44.400 --> 11:45.400 Quick, let's get out of here. 11:45.400 --> 11:46.400 Oh, no, we don't. 11:46.400 --> 11:48.400 I've been pushed around tonight till I'm good and mad. 11:48.400 --> 11:51.400 And I'm just about crazy enough to find out what this is all about. 11:51.400 --> 11:53.400 You're not going to open that door. 11:53.400 --> 11:56.400 You just watch me. There's a light in that room anyway. 11:56.400 --> 11:57.400 How you know? 11:57.400 --> 12:00.400 Look under the sill of the door. 12:00.400 --> 12:02.400 Not a very bright light, but... 12:02.400 --> 12:03.400 Don't do it. 12:03.400 --> 12:06.400 Stand back now, while I get the door open. 12:09.400 --> 12:10.400 Dining room. 12:11.400 --> 12:12.400 Not Uncle Rupert's. 12:13.400 --> 12:15.400 Five canary birds. 12:16.400 --> 12:20.400 Five canaries in cages, all in a line. 12:21.400 --> 12:22.400 Where in Satan's name are we? 12:22.400 --> 12:24.400 Oh, sure, I don't know. 12:24.400 --> 12:26.400 Whose flat is this? 12:26.400 --> 12:29.400 Who except Uncle Rufus would keep five canaries? 12:30.400 --> 12:32.400 I tell you one thing, though. 12:32.400 --> 12:34.400 And then I go out of here. 12:34.400 --> 12:35.400 Well? 12:35.400 --> 12:37.400 There's somebody watching us. 12:38.400 --> 12:39.400 Where? 12:39.400 --> 12:42.400 That swing door to the kitchen's party open. 12:42.400 --> 12:43.400 But don't look. 12:43.400 --> 12:45.400 How the devil can I see it if I don't look? 12:45.400 --> 12:48.400 There's somebody standing behind it. 12:48.400 --> 12:50.400 I see the light shine on his eye. 12:50.400 --> 12:52.400 Quiet, Fifi. 12:53.400 --> 12:54.400 Hello there. 12:54.400 --> 12:56.400 The door moved a little more. 12:56.400 --> 12:57.400 He's pushing it. 12:58.400 --> 12:59.400 Excuse me, sir. 12:59.400 --> 13:01.400 We didn't mean to barge in here. 13:01.400 --> 13:03.400 We're not burglars or anything like that. 13:03.400 --> 13:06.400 We got into the wrong flat, that's all. 13:06.400 --> 13:08.400 I want to apologize if we... 13:10.400 --> 13:14.400 ...straight out through the door, back on his pace. 13:14.400 --> 13:15.400 What's the matter with him? 13:15.400 --> 13:17.400 Why don't he move? 13:17.400 --> 13:19.400 I've got an idea, Fifi. 13:19.400 --> 13:24.400 It's because he's dead. 13:31.400 --> 13:35.400 He was a little fat man with eyeglasses and a spade-shaped beard. 13:35.400 --> 13:38.400 He looked foreign somehow. 13:38.400 --> 13:41.400 And there was a bullet hole over his heart. 13:44.400 --> 13:46.400 You ask me what happened then? 13:46.400 --> 13:47.400 I don't know. 13:47.400 --> 13:49.400 Fifi turned and ran. 13:49.400 --> 13:51.400 At least I think she did. 13:51.400 --> 13:54.400 I bent over the man to make sure he was dead. 13:54.400 --> 13:56.400 And then something hit me. 13:56.400 --> 13:59.400 As though it hadn't been enough of a nightmare already, 13:59.400 --> 14:03.400 I could hear that blackjack strike the back of my skull. 14:03.400 --> 14:06.400 And everything exploded. 14:06.400 --> 14:07.400 I couldn't get my breath. 14:07.400 --> 14:10.400 And I seemed to be swimming in dark water. 14:10.400 --> 14:13.400 The next voice I heard wasn't Fifi's at all. 14:13.400 --> 14:14.400 It was Anita's. 14:14.400 --> 14:17.400 Wrong. Wrong denim. 14:17.400 --> 14:19.400 Oh, my head. 14:19.400 --> 14:22.400 Oh, Lord, my head. 14:22.400 --> 14:24.400 Well, I'm not at all surprised. 14:24.400 --> 14:26.400 What's that, Anita? 14:26.400 --> 14:27.400 I can't hear you. 14:27.400 --> 14:29.400 I said I'm not at all surprised 14:29.400 --> 14:33.400 of all the disgraceful, dissolute objects I ever saw. 14:33.400 --> 14:36.400 Anita, where am I? 14:36.400 --> 14:39.400 Oh, darling, as though you didn't know. 14:39.400 --> 14:41.400 But I don't know. 14:41.400 --> 14:45.400 My head feels like a printing press in full blast. 14:45.400 --> 14:48.400 Well, you're out in the main hall, dear, on the fifth floor, 14:48.400 --> 14:51.400 sitting on the stairs beside the elevator shaft. 14:51.400 --> 14:53.400 That's true. 14:53.400 --> 14:55.400 But how did I get here? 14:55.400 --> 14:57.400 Oh, now really, Ron. 14:57.400 --> 14:59.400 I must have been carried here. 14:59.400 --> 15:00.400 That's it. 15:00.400 --> 15:02.400 By your drunken friends at the club? 15:02.400 --> 15:04.400 Well, I don't doubt it, at least. 15:04.400 --> 15:07.400 No, Anita, no, you don't understand. 15:07.400 --> 15:09.400 I left that party early on. 15:09.400 --> 15:14.400 I was cold sober, but the low hounds wanted to see me come home in bad shape. 15:14.400 --> 15:17.400 So they could... so they put something in my glass. 15:17.400 --> 15:19.400 Oh, naturally, Ron. 15:19.400 --> 15:20.400 Whiskey or champagne? 15:20.400 --> 15:23.400 Oh, no, Anita, I mean a drug of some kind. 15:23.400 --> 15:25.400 I was dizzy when I got here. 15:25.400 --> 15:28.400 Just as I was getting out of the taxi, I met... 15:28.400 --> 15:30.400 Well, go on, dear. 15:30.400 --> 15:32.400 Whom did you meet? 15:32.400 --> 15:35.400 Nobody, Anita, nobody at all. 15:35.400 --> 15:38.400 I came up here to what I thought was a good place. 15:38.400 --> 15:42.400 I came up here to what I thought was my own flat, but it wasn't my flat. 15:42.400 --> 15:44.400 It was somebody else's. 15:44.400 --> 15:49.400 There were a lot of canaries singing and a dead man with a bullet hole in his chest. 15:49.400 --> 15:51.400 And... 15:51.400 --> 15:53.400 Well, this sounds pretty crazy, doesn't it? 15:53.400 --> 15:55.400 Yes, dear, it certainly does. 15:55.400 --> 15:57.400 But it's true. 15:57.400 --> 16:00.400 Oh, Ron, I suppose I've got to forgive you. 16:00.400 --> 16:02.400 I always do forgive you. 16:02.400 --> 16:04.400 Now run along like a good boy and sleep it off, hmm? 16:04.400 --> 16:08.400 Listen, Anita, there's a dead man in one of these flats. 16:08.400 --> 16:10.400 A dead man? 16:10.400 --> 16:12.400 In which flat? 16:12.400 --> 16:14.400 Well, that's just it. I don't know. 16:14.400 --> 16:16.400 You're not saying it's on this floor. 16:16.400 --> 16:19.400 Yes, I definitely remember pressing the button for the fifth floor. 16:19.400 --> 16:21.400 Suppose you listen to me, dear. 16:21.400 --> 16:24.400 Now, don't make faces and rumple your hair. Just listen. 16:24.400 --> 16:27.400 There are only two other apartments on this floor. 16:27.400 --> 16:28.400 One is your uncle's. 16:28.400 --> 16:29.400 It wasn't his. I'll swear to that. 16:29.400 --> 16:31.400 Well, then the other is mine. 16:31.400 --> 16:33.400 You don't think I'm hiding a dead man. 16:33.400 --> 16:34.400 It wasn't your flat either. 16:34.400 --> 16:36.400 Well, then where is it, darling? 16:36.400 --> 16:40.400 A whole flat can't vanish and take the dead man along, can it? 16:40.400 --> 16:43.400 No. But I'll tell you something else, Anita. 16:43.400 --> 16:45.400 I've seen that man's face somewhere before. 16:45.400 --> 16:46.400 Well, whose face? 16:46.400 --> 16:47.400 The dead man's. 16:47.400 --> 16:52.400 Thick eyeglasses, square black beard, something foreign about it. 16:52.400 --> 16:55.400 I've seen him or I've seen his picture or... 16:55.400 --> 16:56.400 Oh, Ron, please. 16:56.400 --> 16:57.400 What's wrong? 16:57.400 --> 16:59.400 It's the elevator. Somebody's coming up. 16:59.400 --> 17:01.400 Please don't let people see you. 17:01.400 --> 17:03.400 You've got your cats smashed in and your ties untied. 17:03.400 --> 17:05.400 You look like nothing on earth. 17:05.400 --> 17:06.400 Well, look here, Anita. 17:06.400 --> 17:09.400 If it comes to that, what are you doing out in the hall in negligee and pajamas? 17:09.400 --> 17:12.400 Well, I wanted to make sure you got home safely. 17:12.400 --> 17:15.400 Ron, the elevator. It's Tom Evans and your Uncle Rufus. 17:15.400 --> 17:16.400 All right. I can take it. 17:16.400 --> 17:17.400 But your Uncle Kat. 17:17.400 --> 17:20.400 Now, don't say anything to him about this dead man. Promise me. 17:20.400 --> 17:22.400 Hold on. I've got it. 17:22.400 --> 17:23.400 Pierre Duroc. 17:23.400 --> 17:24.400 Who? 17:24.400 --> 17:28.400 Pierre Duroc. That's the dead man's name. He... 17:28.400 --> 17:34.400 And furthermore, Evans, you may expect to me that in this year of 1938, 17:34.400 --> 17:40.400 the prospect of a European war is so remote as not to be worth serious consideration. 17:40.400 --> 17:42.400 Excuse me, sir, but isn't that a little strong? 17:42.400 --> 17:44.400 Now, don't argue with me, Evans. 17:44.400 --> 17:45.400 No, sir. 17:45.400 --> 17:49.400 You may tell my secretary to look here. What's this? 17:49.400 --> 17:50.400 Well, now look, Uncle Rufus. 17:50.400 --> 17:52.400 Oh, I can't stand any more of this. I'm fed up. 17:52.400 --> 17:54.400 Well, I don't blame you, my dear. 17:54.400 --> 17:56.400 Hasn't a view of mine been annoying you again? 17:56.400 --> 18:01.400 No, of course not. But please don't pay any attention to him. He's... 18:01.400 --> 18:02.400 He's drunk. 18:02.400 --> 18:05.400 For the last time, I am not drunk. 18:05.400 --> 18:08.400 I just want to ask Uncle Rufus before I go completely nuts 18:08.400 --> 18:09.400 whether he hasn't heard of Pierre Duroc. 18:09.400 --> 18:11.400 What is that, Ronald? What did you say? 18:11.400 --> 18:13.400 Pierre Duroc, the French millionaire. 18:13.400 --> 18:14.400 Well, what about him? 18:14.400 --> 18:17.400 He's the man who always deals in cash on the line. 18:17.400 --> 18:19.400 Spot cash, even if it's a million. 18:19.400 --> 18:20.400 I saw his picture in the paper. 18:20.400 --> 18:22.400 He's in New York to put through a business deal with you, isn't he? 18:22.400 --> 18:24.400 Oh, indeed, Ronald. 18:24.400 --> 18:27.400 You show a commendable interest in my affairs. 18:27.400 --> 18:29.400 That's what you want me to do, isn't it? 18:29.400 --> 18:32.400 Well, I believe Duroc does want to buy some property I own, 18:32.400 --> 18:35.400 but he hasn't approached me and I haven't approached him. 18:35.400 --> 18:37.400 It's a bad business. 18:37.400 --> 18:41.400 Why have you developed this sudden interest in Duroc? 18:41.400 --> 18:43.400 Because he's dead. 18:43.400 --> 18:44.400 Dead? 18:44.400 --> 18:47.400 Somebody shot him in a room full of canaries and then slugged me over the head. 18:47.400 --> 18:49.400 Do you believe me, Evans? 18:49.400 --> 18:53.400 If your uncle will excuse me, old man, I don't see any reason not to believe you. 18:53.400 --> 18:54.400 Where's the body? 18:54.400 --> 18:55.400 Well, that's the trouble. 18:55.400 --> 18:59.400 Ron claims he found it in a flat that doesn't exist. 18:59.400 --> 19:02.400 Listen, what's that? 19:02.400 --> 19:05.400 It sounded like somebody running upstairs in a devil of a hurry. 19:05.400 --> 19:06.400 Maybe it's the dead man. 19:06.400 --> 19:07.400 As a matter of fact, it's the night porter. 19:07.400 --> 19:08.400 He's the one who can tell us. 19:08.400 --> 19:09.400 Tell us what? 19:09.400 --> 19:11.400 Well, maybe I did get off at a different floor, 19:11.400 --> 19:14.400 but that flat's got to be somewhere in this building. 19:14.400 --> 19:15.400 Pearson! 19:15.400 --> 19:16.400 Just a minute, Pearson! 19:16.400 --> 19:19.400 I'm very sorry, sir, but I can't stop now. 19:19.400 --> 19:20.400 Please stand aside. 19:20.400 --> 19:21.400 I've got to go upstairs and get the manager. 19:21.400 --> 19:22.400 Why, Pearson? 19:22.400 --> 19:23.400 Is anything wrong? 19:23.400 --> 19:24.400 Well, Mr. Evans... 19:24.400 --> 19:25.400 Speak up, man. 19:25.400 --> 19:26.400 Is anything wrong? 19:26.400 --> 19:27.400 It's the police, sir. 19:27.400 --> 19:29.400 We found a dead man in the palm garden downstairs. 19:29.400 --> 19:33.400 Now do you believe me? 19:33.400 --> 19:38.400 You will oblige me, all of you, if you remain quiet and allow me to deal with this. 19:38.400 --> 19:41.400 What does this man look like, Pearson? 19:41.400 --> 19:43.400 He's a foreign-looking gentleman, sir. 19:43.400 --> 19:44.400 Never saw him before. 19:44.400 --> 19:45.400 He doesn't live in the building. 19:45.400 --> 19:47.400 Well, then how did he get to the palm garden? 19:47.400 --> 19:49.400 Well, sir, that's what we don't know. 19:49.400 --> 19:51.400 He certainly wasn't there when I looked in half an hour ago, 19:51.400 --> 19:53.400 but I went back to the palm garden just by chance, 19:53.400 --> 19:58.400 and there he was in a wicker chair with singing birds in cages all around him. 19:58.400 --> 19:59.400 Birds again? 19:59.400 --> 20:00.400 Oh, be quiet, Ronald. 20:00.400 --> 20:01.400 He'd been shot, sir. 20:01.400 --> 20:06.400 The police think he was brought down in the service elevator from somewhere upstairs. 20:06.400 --> 20:07.400 Why do they think that? 20:07.400 --> 20:09.400 Well, of course, they found a revolver in that elevator 20:09.400 --> 20:13.400 and a little paper band of the kind that goes around banknotes. 20:13.400 --> 20:15.400 If they could tell where the dead man came from... 20:15.400 --> 20:16.400 You can tell us where he came from. 20:16.400 --> 20:17.400 Huh? 20:17.400 --> 20:18.400 I can, sir. 20:18.400 --> 20:21.400 Yes, you've been in most of the flats in this building, haven't you? 20:21.400 --> 20:23.400 I've been inside all of them, sir. 20:23.400 --> 20:24.400 Why? 20:24.400 --> 20:27.400 Well, would you recognize any given flat if I described it? 20:27.400 --> 20:30.400 Well, yes, sir, certainly, but... 20:30.400 --> 20:32.400 Well, then for the love of Mike, think. 20:32.400 --> 20:35.400 Who lives in a flat with five canary cages in the dining room? 20:35.400 --> 20:37.400 Ronald, are you out of your mind? 20:37.400 --> 20:41.400 In case you don't happen to remember, you're describing my place. 20:41.400 --> 20:44.400 No, it was like your place, but it wasn't at all the same. 20:44.400 --> 20:46.400 Oriental prints on the walls. 20:46.400 --> 20:50.400 In the living room, bronze bookends and bronze lamps. 20:50.400 --> 20:52.400 Dragon patterns on the lampshades. 20:52.400 --> 20:55.400 There was a queer kind of clock on the mantelpiece, 20:55.400 --> 20:57.400 shaped like a figure of Father Time. 20:57.400 --> 21:00.400 And what's the matter with you, Pearson? 21:00.400 --> 21:04.400 Nothing, sir, but you're sure you saw all that? 21:04.400 --> 21:06.400 Yes, of course I'm sure. Why not? 21:06.400 --> 21:10.400 Because I'm sorry, sir, but you couldn't have seen it. 21:10.400 --> 21:12.400 What do you mean, I couldn't have seen it? I did see it. 21:12.400 --> 21:14.400 Who lives in the blasted place? 21:14.400 --> 21:15.400 Nobody. 21:15.400 --> 21:17.400 Well, you mean the flat's vacant? 21:17.400 --> 21:22.400 No, sir. I mean, there's no such flat in the whole building. 21:32.400 --> 21:38.400 And that's the position I was in when the police took us down to that palm garden to see the body. 21:38.400 --> 21:41.400 I never did like the palm garden much. 21:41.400 --> 21:44.400 It's a big dimly lighted hollow of a place. 21:44.400 --> 21:49.400 Bird cages beside the palms and an artificial goldfish pond in the middle. 21:49.400 --> 21:55.400 I liked it even less at three o'clock in the morning with a dead man looking at me from his chair. 21:55.400 --> 21:57.400 They sent us in one at a time. 21:57.400 --> 22:01.400 I was first to see the homicide squad officer. 22:01.400 --> 22:07.400 And there was Inspector Braddock, a big sleepy looking hulk with a hat like a pirate, 22:07.400 --> 22:10.400 sitting on a bench throwing pebbles at that pond. 22:10.400 --> 22:14.400 Back would go his arm and a pebble would hit the water. 22:14.400 --> 22:18.400 Back would go his arm and a pebble would hit the water. 22:20.400 --> 22:23.400 And that's all you've got to tell me, Mr. Dunham? 22:23.400 --> 22:26.400 That's all, Inspector. It happens to be true. 22:26.400 --> 22:29.400 Oh, I believe you. After all, son, we've got corroboration. 22:29.400 --> 22:30.400 Corroboration from whom? 22:30.400 --> 22:33.400 From your other girlfriend, Fifi Latour. 22:33.400 --> 22:37.400 Fifi's not here. She ran out of here as soon as Duroc's body fell through that door. 22:37.400 --> 22:41.400 Yes, but she didn't run far. A cop wondered why she was running and brought her back. 22:41.400 --> 22:42.400 Where's Fifi now? 22:42.400 --> 22:45.400 In that room there, talking to your official girlfriend. 22:45.400 --> 22:50.400 Oh, that's fine. That's beautiful. The one thing I didn't tell Anita. 22:50.400 --> 22:51.400 Why don't you wake up? 22:51.400 --> 22:53.400 Wake up? How? 22:53.400 --> 22:55.400 This isn't post office any longer. It's murder. 22:55.400 --> 22:58.400 And one of that gang out there shot Pierre Duroc. 22:58.400 --> 22:59.400 Are you serious? 22:59.400 --> 23:01.400 Serious. Sure I'm serious. 23:01.400 --> 23:05.400 This is as clever and slick and mean a trick as ever went on the blotter. 23:05.400 --> 23:08.400 Pierre Duroc was one of the goats. You were the other. 23:08.400 --> 23:10.400 This uncle of yours is a fairly important guy, isn't he? 23:10.400 --> 23:12.400 Wait a minute. Just exactly what are you saying about the old boy? 23:12.400 --> 23:15.400 I'm saying he gets lots of publicity. 23:15.400 --> 23:18.400 This hobby of his, keeping dicky birds, must be pretty well known. 23:18.400 --> 23:20.400 Yes, I suppose so. 23:20.400 --> 23:22.400 All right. So if Duroc came to visit your uncle tonight... 23:22.400 --> 23:25.400 You say if Duroc came to visit my uncle. 23:25.400 --> 23:28.400 What you're forgetting, son, is that Duroc's an important man too. 23:28.400 --> 23:30.400 He's a visiting foreigner. Capital letters. 23:30.400 --> 23:32.400 And the department's caught to keep an eye on him. 23:32.400 --> 23:35.400 Duroc did go to visit your uncle tonight. 23:35.400 --> 23:37.400 And he was carrying $20,000 in cash. 23:37.400 --> 23:39.400 What are you animating? Murder. 23:39.400 --> 23:41.400 Inspector Braddock. Yes, Sergeant. 23:41.400 --> 23:44.400 That crowd out there is raising cane, especially the old man and the French gal. 23:44.400 --> 23:48.400 Shall I let them in? Yeah, you can let them in now. 23:49.400 --> 23:52.400 No. No, more than an hour. 23:52.400 --> 23:55.400 Sitting in an ante room without even hearing why we're here. 23:55.400 --> 23:58.400 I tell you, the evidence is intolerable. 23:58.400 --> 24:00.400 It's all right, sir. They probably know what they're doing. 24:00.400 --> 24:04.400 You think so, my friend? But I still don't know why I'm here. 24:04.400 --> 24:08.400 How very interesting, Miss Latour. Such extreme absent-mindedness. 24:08.400 --> 24:10.400 Perhaps Ron could tell you why you're here. 24:10.400 --> 24:12.400 Listen, Anita, I can explain everything. 24:12.400 --> 24:15.400 Can you explain the disappearing apartment? 24:17.400 --> 24:18.400 That's better. 24:18.400 --> 24:21.400 I'd like, if you don't mind, to have a little quiet here. 24:21.400 --> 24:23.400 Which one of you is Mr. Rufus Denham? 24:23.400 --> 24:27.400 I am Rufus Denham, sir. Rufus Denham of Denham and Company. 24:27.400 --> 24:30.400 Can there be any doubt whatever about that? 24:30.400 --> 24:32.400 No, but I thought I'd ask. 24:32.400 --> 24:36.400 I was just telling your nephew, Mr. Denham, that Pierre Duroc came here tonight to see you. 24:36.400 --> 24:39.400 To see me, Inspector? That's right. 24:39.400 --> 24:43.400 I can only characterize that statement, sir, as a flat and downright lie. 24:43.400 --> 24:45.400 I've never met that man. 24:45.400 --> 24:48.400 I didn't say you met him. I said he came here to see you. 24:48.400 --> 24:50.400 Duroc wanted to buy some property from you, didn't he? 24:50.400 --> 24:52.400 Well, I suppose he did. 24:52.400 --> 24:55.400 And Duroc always paid spot cash, didn't he? 24:55.400 --> 24:57.400 Yes, I believe so. 24:57.400 --> 24:59.400 Just one more question. 24:59.400 --> 25:01.400 I imagine you've got a secretary. 25:01.400 --> 25:03.400 Yes, naturally I've got a secretary. 25:03.400 --> 25:05.400 Miss Helen Gardner. What about her? 25:05.400 --> 25:10.400 Somebody posing as your secretary telephoned Duroc at Metropolis Hotel 25:10.400 --> 25:13.400 and spoke to him in very good French. 25:13.400 --> 25:16.400 Well, Inspector, don't stop there. Go on. 25:16.400 --> 25:19.400 This person, pretending to represent Rufus Denham, 25:19.400 --> 25:21.400 asked Duroc to come here with the money 25:21.400 --> 25:23.400 and said they could settle the deal immediately. 25:23.400 --> 25:25.400 Don't you see the trick now? 25:25.400 --> 25:27.400 Don't you see Duroc was lured into a dummy apartment? 25:27.400 --> 25:30.400 A dummy apartment? What does this man mean? 25:30.400 --> 25:32.400 I'll tell you. 25:32.400 --> 25:35.400 All the flats are furnished exactly alike except for personal things. 25:35.400 --> 25:39.400 Pictures, books, lampshades, ornaments. Is that correct? 25:39.400 --> 25:40.400 Yes, of course it is. 25:40.400 --> 25:43.400 The murderer didn't dare use Rufus Denham's real flat. 25:43.400 --> 25:46.400 But the murderer could always decorate an imitation flat 25:46.400 --> 25:49.400 so that Pierre Duroc would be deceived when he saw... 25:49.400 --> 25:50.400 Five canary birds. 25:50.400 --> 25:51.400 That's it, son. 25:51.400 --> 25:53.400 But what was the idea? 25:53.400 --> 25:56.400 A very neat swindle. Look at Duroc's body now. 25:56.400 --> 25:58.400 Oh, I can't look at it. 25:58.400 --> 26:01.400 Look at his thick glasses. The man was half blind. 26:01.400 --> 26:05.400 The so-called secretary disguised would meet Duroc in an imitation flat. 26:05.400 --> 26:09.400 Duroc would hand over the money and get forged title deeds in return. 26:09.400 --> 26:14.400 When Duroc had gone, the flat could be put right again and no evidence left. 26:14.400 --> 26:16.400 But something went wrong. 26:16.400 --> 26:19.400 That's right. Something went wrong. Duroc suspected. 26:19.400 --> 26:20.400 It had to be killed. 26:20.400 --> 26:22.400 But what happened right again? 26:22.400 --> 26:24.400 Inspector Braddock, who is the murderer? 26:24.400 --> 26:26.400 Can't you guess? 26:26.400 --> 26:29.400 Grignan, I think I know how it all happened. 26:29.400 --> 26:32.400 Do you, Miss Latour? That's very smart of you. 26:32.400 --> 26:36.400 This poor run-in of mine, he is at a bachelor party. 26:36.400 --> 26:39.400 They do not think that he will be home until daylight. 26:39.400 --> 26:42.400 But he get reformed and come home early. 26:42.400 --> 26:45.400 He blunders straight into that flat in time to interrupt... 26:45.400 --> 26:47.400 In time to interrupt the murder, yes. 26:47.400 --> 26:50.400 Afterwards, when you were supposed to run away... 26:50.400 --> 26:51.400 But I did run away. 26:51.400 --> 26:53.400 Sure, Miss Latour. I'm admitting you did. 26:53.400 --> 26:55.400 Then why do you look at me as though I didn't? 26:55.400 --> 26:58.400 Afterwards, as I was saying, the murderer had to hit Ronald Denham over the head... 26:58.400 --> 27:00.400 and drag him out in the hall. 27:00.400 --> 27:03.400 Duroc's body was brought down here along with the canary cages... 27:03.400 --> 27:06.400 that had been borrowed from here. And the dummy flat was set right again. 27:06.400 --> 27:09.400 Just one moment, Inspector Braddock. 27:09.400 --> 27:12.400 I'm not disputing anything you say, but... 27:12.400 --> 27:13.400 Well, sir, what's on your mind? 27:13.400 --> 27:14.400 The murderer. 27:14.400 --> 27:15.400 What about the murderer? 27:15.400 --> 27:17.400 Well, all this. 27:17.400 --> 27:20.400 Wouldn't it have been much too heavy a job for a woman? 27:20.400 --> 27:22.400 Who said the murderer was a woman? 27:22.400 --> 27:23.400 Well, didn't you? 27:23.400 --> 27:24.400 I don't think I did. 27:24.400 --> 27:27.400 I said the murderer was somebody who planned to swindle. 27:27.400 --> 27:31.400 And you still don't see it, any of you, because you can't find the dummy flat. 27:31.400 --> 27:33.400 No, and I can't find it myself. 27:33.400 --> 27:35.400 That's one question you've got to answer here and now. 27:35.400 --> 27:37.400 Where in Satan's name did I go? 27:37.400 --> 27:38.400 Whose flat was I in? 27:38.400 --> 27:39.400 Your own. 27:39.400 --> 27:40.400 What? 27:40.400 --> 27:41.400 My own? 27:41.400 --> 27:42.400 Naturally. 27:42.400 --> 27:45.400 If you'd been cold sober, you might have made a mistake. 27:45.400 --> 27:48.400 But your instinct brought you home to your own flat. 27:48.400 --> 27:51.400 And the only possible murderer is the man who shares that flat with you. 27:51.400 --> 27:54.400 The man who thought you'd be away until daylight. 27:54.400 --> 27:58.400 The man who knows enough about Denham's business affairs to plan this swindle against Duroc. 27:58.400 --> 27:59.400 Look out, Inspector Braddock! 27:59.400 --> 28:00.400 Grab him, Sergeant! 28:00.400 --> 28:01.400 Oh, damn it! 28:03.400 --> 28:07.400 Thomas Evans, I arrest you for the murder of Pierre Duroc. 28:08.400 --> 28:09.400 Good Lord! 28:09.400 --> 28:12.400 Evans! 28:17.400 --> 28:20.400 Well, that's about all there is to the story. 28:20.400 --> 28:22.400 Anita and I were married last week. 28:22.400 --> 28:24.400 She's a wonderful girl. 28:24.400 --> 28:27.400 I tried to talk her into our staying on in my old flat, 28:27.400 --> 28:33.400 but she said she just had to have an apartment which didn't have such a habit of disappearing. 28:33.400 --> 28:34.400 But we're very happy. 28:34.400 --> 28:37.400 We agree about everything, don't we, dear? 28:37.400 --> 28:39.400 We agree about practically everything, darling. 28:39.400 --> 28:44.400 But I still don't think it was cute of Pheephee to send up three dozen canaries for a wedding present. 28:58.400 --> 29:03.400 And so closes Five Canaries in the Room, starring Ona Munson, Lee Bowman, and Osa Masson. 29:03.400 --> 29:05.400 Tonight's tale of... 29:05.400 --> 29:06.400 ...suspense. 29:06.400 --> 29:14.400 This is your narrator, the man in black, who conveys to you Columbia's invitation to spend this half hour in suspense with us again next Tuesday, 29:14.400 --> 29:19.400 when our suspence play will be Last Night by Cornell Woolrich, 29:19.400 --> 29:22.400 and will star more of your Hollywood favorites. 29:23.400 --> 29:26.400 The producer of these broadcasts is William Spear, 29:26.400 --> 29:31.400 who with Ted Bliss, the director, Lud Gluskin, and Lucian Marwick, conductor and composer, 29:31.400 --> 29:37.400 and John Dixon Carr, the author, collaborated on tonight's suspense. 29:37.400 --> 30:05.400 This is CBS, the Columbia Broadcasting System.