Now, Roma Wines present...
Suspense!
Tonight, The Man Who Knew How, starring Charles Lawton.
Suspense is presented for your enjoyment by Roma Wines. That's R-O-M-A, Roma Wines.
Those excellent California wines that can add so much pleasantness to the way you live,
to your happiness and entertaining guests, to your enjoyment of everyday meals.
Yes, right now a glass full would be very pleasant, as Roma Wines bring you...
Suspense!
This is The Man in Black, here for the Roma Wine Company of Fresno, California,
to introduce this weekly half hour of...
Suspense!
Tonight from Hollywood, Roma Wines bring you a star, Mr. Charles Lawton.
And so with Dorothy L. Sayers' intriguing story of The Man Who Knew How,
and with the performance of Charles Lawton as Mr. Pender,
a law-abiding citizen of suburban London, we again hope to keep you in...
Suspense!
Hello, is this seat taken?
Oh, no. You're perfectly welcome, I'm sure.
Thank you.
I'm glad to see some of you.
Night journeys are always a bit tedious, don't you think?
Well, I suppose it depends upon one's destination.
Oh, yes. Would you like a book to read?
I have a copy of Hangman's Holiday here. I found it extremely...
Thank you very much. I never read detective stories.
They're so inadequate, don't you think, sir?
Well, most of them are rather lacking in characterisation and human interest,
but on a railway journey one really has to...
Well, I wasn't speaking of the character so much.
I meant the crimes. Bungle, you know.
Oh, but I don't agree with you there.
All these penitent, dreadful murderers are so incompetent, they bore me.
Oh, I say, I think you're quite wrong.
The criminals in books are usually a good deal more imaginative and ingenious
than murderers in real life.
Than the murderers who are found out in real life, yes.
Well, even some of those did pretty well before they got pinched.
Crippen, for instance. Don't you remember Dr Crippen?
Oh, yes, of course.
Crippen need never have been caught if he hadn't lost his head and run off to America.
Well, that's the point, you see. He did lose his head.
Very good. Yes.
He bungled the whole business. It could be so simple.
Now, just for argument, if you were going to commit a murder,
what weapon or means would you choose?
Me?
Oh, let's see, I've...
I've never really given it much thought to actually...
I know.
Yes.
I should use a sandbag.
A sandbag?
Yes, it's worked very successfully in two stories I've read recently.
A sandbag! Oh, yes!
Pardon me, I didn't mean to be rude.
The clumsiness of it all, the elaboration, the lies, the paraphernalia, the alibis...
Absolutely unncessary.
Come, come, come. You can't expect committing a murder
and getting away with it to be as simple as shelling peas.
Oh, you think that, do you?
Well, your mistake, sir, it can be quite simple.
Oh, well, if it's so easy, how would you set about committing a murder?
I? Oh, well, that's different.
I shouldn't have to think twice about it, you see.
I know how.
Er...
Ha-ha-ha!
You haven't tried, have you?
Oh, my dear fellow, it isn't a case of trying.
There's nothing tentative about my method.
Well, what is this wonderful method?
Oh, you don't expect me to tell you, do you?
Well, I'd never think of merging anybody.
Oh, yes, you would if you really believed me saying.
We've all of us got a nice little murder locked up inside
just waiting for a chance to come out.
Why are all these tremendous artificial barriers built up around murder
by the Church and by the law?
Just because it's anybody's crime, that's why.
It's as natural as breathing.
That's ridiculous.
Yes, that's what most people would say, but I wouldn't trust them.
Not with sulphate of Thanatol to be bought for tuppence at any chemist.
S...sul...sulphate...
of what?
You think I'm giving something away? Well, I'm not.
It's a mixture of that and one or two other things.
You see, all equally ordinary and cheap.
For ninepence, you couldn't make up enough to poison the entire cabinet.
Tell me.
Of course it wouldn't do to polish off so many at one time.
It might look weird if they all died simultaneously in their baths.
In their...why in their baths?
Well, that's the way it would take them.
It's not the mixture alone that does the trick.
You see, it needs hot water to make the stuff take effect.
Just a hot bath, any time from a few hours to a few days after administration.
It's quite a simple chemical reaction.
It couldn't possibly be detected by analysis.
It would just look like heart failure.
I...I...I...I...I...I've never heard of such a thing.
You know, it's very odd how often one seems to read
of people being found dead in the bath tub.
Have you noticed?
No.
No?
But look here.
If...if...if...if nobody is fit to be trusted with this potent formula...
I'm not to be trusted either.
Exactly.
Well, that's true, but it's past praying for now.
I know the thing and I can't unknow it.
Unfortunate, perhaps, but there it is.
Huh. Are we flowing down?
Yes, this is Rugby.
Rugby already, dear me. I must get out here.
I have a little business to do with Rugby.
I most indebted to you, sir.
I've been quite entertained with your secret formula.
Thank you.
Just a moment. What did you say was the name of that stuff?
Sulfate of...
Oh, no, look here.
If I were you, my dear sir, I'd just put it out of my head and forget it.
There's a good fellow.
Yes, yes, yes, that would be better. I will try to forget it.
Tonight for Suspense, Roma wines bring you a star, Mr. Charles Lawton,
whom you have heard in the prologue to tonight's study in Suspense.
Far to the south of us is our good neighbour country, Ecuador.
Let's imagine ourselves there now,
dining on the roof terrace cafe of the exclusive Hotel Metropolitano
in Guayaquil, Ecuador.
Near us, an American has just complimented his hosts on the magnificent dinner
to which his host quickly responds,
Ah, yes, it is true that our host is a very good friend of mine.
And I am very happy to have you here.
And the host quickly responds, Ah, yes, it is true that our foods are famous.
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That's R-O-M-A, Roma wines, America's largest selling wine,
made in California, for enjoyment throughout the world.
And now it is with pleasure that we bring back to our sound stage
Charles Lawton in The Man Who Knew How,
a tale well calculated to keep you in suspense.
Good morning, sir. Morning, Charles.
I have an egg for your breakfast, sir. Oh, thank you.
They're quite scarce now, you know. Yes, I know.
Will you have your tea now, sir? Yes, please.
Ending in the post, Charles. Only a note from your tailor, sir.
He'd be pleased to have you come in for a fitting at one on Tuesday next.
Oh, very well.
Charles, what's the back-stairs gossip in the neighbourhood?
Nothing much, sir.
Mr. Skimmings, the old gentleman in number 11,
had a falling out with his nephew and has drawn up a new will, they say.
Oh, really?
He's left everything to his housekeeper, Mrs. Digby.
Well, well, well, she's been with him nearly 20 years.
That reminds me, Charles,
I should draw up my will, you know, one of these days.
Charles, I shan't forget you.
You've been more than loyal to me, Charles.
Oh, well, thank you, sir.
Charles? Yes, sir?
Charles, has it ever occurred to you
that an unusually large number of people die in bathtubs?
In bathtubs, sir?
Yes, yes. You know, they seem to have a heart attack
while in their bath and they never come out of it.
It's a common occurrence, I dare say, sir.
There was one in the paper like that this morning.
There was? Yes, sir.
Right on the front page it was.
That's how I happened to notice.
Here, it's this account, sir.
Oh, it was...
Wealthy manufacturer dies in bath.
Mr. Brittlesea, it was, sir,
of the Brittlesea's engineering works at Rugby.
Rugby? Did you know him, sir?
No, no, I didn't know him.
I believe the paper says his wife found the poor man.
Heart failure.
That's a very peculiar coincidence.
What, sir?
I was just thinking, Charles.
I met a man on the train down from Carlisle last night.
He got off at Rugby.
He said he had a bit of business there.
I wonder what his business was.
Oh, Charles. Charles. Charles.
Charles, there's someone at the door.
Oh, dear, I mean, the bell must be out of order.
Charles! Where is that other slipper, damn you?
Charles!
All right, all right, just a moment, just a moment.
Is anybody there?
I'm coming, I'm coming.
Oh, Mrs. Digby.
Oh, I didn't mean to rouse you, sir.
But Mr. Skimming's never kept the phone in the house, sir.
And also, perhaps you could tell me who to call.
Step inside, Mrs. Digby.
Now, what precisely seems to be the trouble?
Well, I thought he was a long time in the bath, sir.
But I never dreamed.
Oh, dear me, has Mrs. Skimming been taken in? Is that what the matter?
Worse than ill, sir. All blue ears.
Dear me.
If only I'd looked in sooner, sir.
But you know a gentleman in his bath how it is, sir.
Oh, yes, of course.
I must say, I've always been afraid something of this sort might happen.
The old gentleman would take his bath, so very odd.
Probably had a slight stroke, Mrs. Digby.
I dare say the doctor will be able to bring him round.
Not likely, sir.
I've heard him. He's been dead for some time, sir.
Stand back, stand back.
Predicates won't be admitted until the coroner's completed his animation of the body.
Hello. Would you have a look at this card, please, officer?
Who did you want to see in there, sir?
Mrs. Digby.
You'll find her in the library, giving testimony, most likely.
Yes, they've discovered the will, I imagine.
I don't know nothing about that, sir.
Well, I'll just run in and have a look around, eh?
Sir. Officer!
Yes, sir.
Who was that man who just went into Mr. Skimming's house?
Search me. Why did you let him in?
He persuaded me like.
Do you realize, officer, what you may have done?
Of course, officer, I had no right to say it,
but that man may have gone in there to destroy evidence.
What evidence?
Oh, I get it.
You're one of them there's sensation seekers
in the wrong team, my lord.
There ain't no murder case here.
The old bloke died of heart failure.
Yes, I know.
While taking a hot bath.
Really, Danton's every day.
Five or six cases right round this neighborhood
in the past month for loans.
I've been keeping track of them, officer.
Did you know that in every single one of these cases
the persons who died left quite a lot of money?
I wouldn't be surprised, sir. This is a wealthy neighborhood.
All right, then that's my number, Mrs. Digby.
Give me a form of any unusual development, eh?
I will, then, sir.
There he is, officer. There he is.
That's the man, all right. What man's debt, say?
Well, well, well, hello.
We meet again.
Yes.
I rather imagined we would.
Did you know the old gentleman, Mr. Skimmings?
Only to speak to on the street.
Oh, then you live near here, eh?
Oh, yes, fourth house down.
I'm just going back.
Mind if I walk along?
Oh, no, no, of course not.
It's a rather odd meeting again like this, isn't it?
Most peculiar.
Uh, do you live in these parts, too?
Oh, no. I was only here on a little matter of business.
Matter of, uh, yes.
Last time we met you had a business at Rugby.
Oh, yes, I had.
Well, my business takes me all over the country.
I never know where I may be wanted next.
It was, uh, it was while you were at Rugby that, uh...
silly, old Brittle say was found dead in his bath, wasn't it?
Oh, yes.
There's a funny thing, coincidence.
He left all his money to his wife, I believe.
She's a rich woman now.
Good-looking girl, a lot younger than he was.
This is my gate. Oh, already?
Will you, uh...
Will you come in and have a drink?
Why, yes, thanks. I should like to very much.
I trust your wife won't object to this intrusion.
I have no wife.
Oh, bachelor's quarters.
Yes.
I do myself quite well under the circumstances.
Oh, you're right. This is capital.
Would you give me your hat? Oh, thank you.
I think my man has gone after bed, but I dare say we can manage.
This way, please.
Oh, that fire looks good.
Would you take soda? Yes, please.
It is remarkable how many people have been found dead in their baths lately, isn't it?
You think it's remarkable, huh?
Well, I suppose... I don't know, perhaps it is.
I suppose I've been taking more notice on account of that conversation we had on the train.
You know, it is a curious thing how when once your attention is attracted
to any particular set of circumstances,
that that set of circumstances seems to haunt you.
True.
Let us say, for instance, that you get appendicitis.
Now, immediately the newspapers are filled with paragraphs
about people who have died of or recovered from appendicitis.
True.
You see, it mentioned in all the magazines,
you discover that many of your friends and acquaintances have had appendicitis.
The thing seems rather to pursue you.
Yes, yes, that's exactly how it is.
And all these baths have deaths.
The sequence of events is the same in each case.
The hot bath, the discovery of the body, the inquest, the death of the body.
The inquest and the medical opinion,
always the same, death due to heart failure,
following immersion in hot water.
Yes.
It just makes me wonder, you know how one does, foolishly,
whether anybody else had happened to hit on that drug you mentioned.
What was the name of it?
Oh, I shouldn't think so.
I fancy I'm the only person who knows about that.
Are you a chemist?
Oh, I'm a bit of everything, sort of a general utility man.
I do a good bit of studying on my own too.
You see, well, I see you have some very interesting books here.
Yes, I collect modern first edition.
May I see that green volume now?
Of course, certainly.
I'll set you down.
It's a Henry James.
It's quite a bargain, really.
Here we are.
A very interesting book.
Yes, yes, indeed.
It's a very interesting hobby.
E. Pender, is that your name, Pender?
Yes, it's Everett Pender.
You have the advantage of me now, sir.
Oh, I'm one of the great Smith Clams, and work for my bread.
Here's your drink.
You're retired, I suppose.
Yes, thank you.
Yes, only recently.
I was in a bank until I came into this bit of money.
Lucky ones, not married, comfortably fixed.
I dare say you won't be needing any self-paid euthanics.
No, I didn't quite say that.
Any useful drugs in the near future?
No.
I shan't be coming to you for assistance yet a while.
Besides, how should I find you if I wanted you?
Oh, you wouldn't need to find me. I should find you.
There's never any difficulty about that.
Well, I'd best be getting up.
Don't get up. I'll find my hat.
Thank you for your hospitality.
I don't expect we should meet again, but we may, of course.
Things work out so clearly sometimes, don't they?
Yes. Don't they?
Good night, Mr. Smith.
Good night.
I beg pardon, sir.
Oh, hello, Charles. I thought you'd gone to bed.
I heard voices and thought you might be wanting something.
Oh, it was just an acquaintance, Charles.
I'd like a drink. He's gone.
Shall I take the glasses? Yes, thank you, Charles.
Do you wish to finish yours, sir?
Mr. Fender. What?
Your drink, sir. Do you wish to finish it?
Oh, yes, of course. I thought I had.
There you are.
I'll draw your bath when you're ready for it, sir.
Oh, there's no hurry. Tell me, Charles,
did you ever notice a tall, dark chap
with very thick spectacles and curly hair calling on Mrs. Digby?
Why, yes, sir. Come to think of it, I have, sir.
But then he always seems to be about whenever there's a death in the neighborhood.
Lately, that is.
Did you ever talk with him, Charles?
Why, if I not to mention it, sir?
Oh, you did talk to him, Charles.
Why are you so upset, Charles?
Well, sir, it was about Mr. Skimming's changing his will
in favor of Mrs. Digby.
And the gray-haired gentleman, a smith, I believe his name is,
asked whether you hadn't changed your will lately.
Did you tell him I'd left everything to you?
Well, not in so many words.
But you gave it away.
Ah.
So that's his game.
Ah.
Oh!
Good Lord in heaven, what is it, sir?
That drink. He bought it.
While I was getting a book down from the case.
What is it, sir?
Charles. Charles.
Under no circumstances am I to have a hot bath
for at least two weeks.
Do you understand, Charles?
No hot baths.
Very well, sir.
Oh, Charles.
In the paper, has...
Has anyone else died in his bath?
Why, as it happens, yes, sir.
Here it is, sir.
The inquest will be held tomorrow at three.
The inquest? Yes, the inquest, Charles.
I know what my duty is.
I shall be at the inquest tomorrow.
Good afternoon, sir.
Hello, Charles.
I was not expecting you home for a bit, sir.
You didn't stay long at the inquest.
I wasn't interested in the inquest, Charles.
I went to the inquest only to see if a certain man would be there,
and he was there, Charles.
He was there as I expected.
Yes, sir.
The afternoon papers come.
There is still another of those bath deaths.
Another?
Oh, yes.
Yes.
And they will go on and on
unless somebody stops them.
Charles, where was this one?
In Launceton Place, sir.
A young woman this time.
It's the most...
No, no, no, no, Charles, no.
I'm going out again, Charles.
I have some business to attend to.
Over in Launceton Place, as a matter of fact.
Goodbye, Charles.
Yes, sir.
And what can I do for you, sir?
Do you have one of those old-fashioned sandbags?
Sandbags, sir?
The kind one uses to keep drafts from coming in under a door.
Oh, yes. As a matter of fact, I think we may have one left.
Oh, yes, here we are, sir.
Not much demand for these nowadays.
No, I suppose not.
Careful if you use it on a stair landing, sir.
One of these fell and hit a woman on the head, in case I know,
knocked her out cold.
You don't say.
I'll be very careful.
Yes, very careful.
Hello.
Bobby, have you got light there?
Right, sir.
Here you are.
Thank you.
Would you like a cigar to smoke later on?
Thank you, sir.
By the way, sir, there's a bloke following here.
I don't know whether he knows...
Yes, I know. Just let him alone, Bobby.
I'm going to have some sport with him.
Right, Charles, sir.
Hello, Panda.
Come on out from behind that post.
I know you're following me.
I've known it ever since I left Launceston Place.
You should have told that Bobby to arrest me.
Why should I?
Because I'm going to kill you.
Why ever do you want to do a thing like that?
To put an end to one of the most fiendish careers
and the annals of crime.
You've committed your last murder, Mr. Smith.
Come, come. Look here, old boy.
My name's not Smith at all. I'm William Barkley.
I didn't imagine it really was Smith.
Do you actually believe that I'm responsible
for all these baths of death?
Do you deny that you are?
Why should I?
You told me yourself you're the only man
who knows the formula for the poison.
Self-hate, if that at all?
Well, yes, indeed. You have me there, Panda.
And you stood to profit by every one of those deaths,
didn't you, Mr. Buckley?
You have me there, too.
Look here, Panda, you're a great reader of crime stories.
Haven't you ever wished someone would commit the perfect crime
and get away with it just once?
Yes, I have. God help me, but I don't anymore.
I saw old Skimming dead in his bath.
Blue and horrible.
The man who committed that outrage must die.
You, Buckley, you must die.
You don't know what you're doing, Panda!
Oh! Oh!
Well, Mr. Pender, what will you have, sir?
A double brandy, if you please, miss.
You're warding off a cold, eh? Yes, yes, sir.
You don't look at all well, if I may say so, sir.
Or to be home in bed, you ask. I dare say yes.
That's fine for the phone given. Right away, sir.
Say, what's up, Tom?
You promised not to beat me to the phone, and I'll tell you.
Oh, if it's interesting like murder, my paper wouldn't print it anyway.
What is it? Bill Buckley of all people.
No. Gone to an inquest.
Some woman died in her bath. Really?
Buckley must have been on his way to interview the husband at his laboratory.
It was a rough district close to the river.
Somebody crept up on him and gave him such a blow, it broke his neck.
Don't say it.
So he says it must have been a sandbag. Who did it, do they know?
The vaguest notion got cleaned away in the fog.
Oh, dear, that's too bad.
Bill Buckley was a great crime reporter.
He was a decent sort, too. I worked with him for a time.
Great sport, no end of a leg for it.
I know.
Did you ever hear about that sulfate of Thanatol stunt he used to work?
No, what was that?
Look at you, sober as a judge you would,
and then tell you about this sulfate of Thanatol.
Sulfate of Thanatol?
Which mixed with a few other things he said would cause death if you swallowed it,
and then took a hard bath.
Nobody believed him, did they?
Oh, yes. He used to work off that wheeze on all boobs and right-away carriages.
See how they take it, really?
Would you believe it? One chap actually accused him.
Oh, Mr. Pender!
What's happening?
Oh, why, that bloke has fainted.
How's the old boy feeling now, child?
Much better, sir. He caught a bit of a chill out in the fog, I think.
I put him to soak in a hot bath.
That ought to do the trick. Well, if there's nothing more we can do.
Mr. Pender wants me to thank you for bringing him home, gentlemen.
Oh, nothing, we are, then. Well, good night.
Good night, gentlemen.
Is your bath hot enough, sir?
Mr. Pender! Mr. Pender!
I found out the name of that drug, Charles.
It was so fatal! It was so fatal! So fatal! Dammit!
Oh, sir! Mr. Pender! Mr. Pender!
You're... He's... dead!
And so closes The Man Who Knew How, starring Charles Lawton.
Appearing with Mr. Lawton was Hans Connery, Des Buckley.
In tonight's tale of... Suspense!
Suspense is produced and directed by William Spear.
Have you had the thrilling experience of enjoying a meal with delightful Roma wines?
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Next Monday, same time, you will hear Miss Agnes Moorhead and Mr. Ray Collins as stars.
They will be heard in the Diary of Sophronia Winters
by the distinguished radio playwright Lucille Fletcher.
Don't forget to listen next Monday to... Suspense!
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