This is Robert Montgomery inviting you to join us for the story of a woman named Eve.
Tonight's study in Suspense. An hour of suspense, a full 60 minutes at this time,
with the distinguished actor-director Mr. Robert Montgomery as your host. Tonight our star is
Miss June Havoc. Miss Havoc will appear in The Black Angel, a suspense play produced,
edited and directed by William Spear. Mr. Montgomery, I believe an apple is honest. Until a
couple of days ago, I don't suppose I'd given an apple a solid thought in months. But it was a
warm afternoon and the striped awning over the fruit stand offered shade. And besides,
I found myself staring at the apples. All lined up they were, in nice even rows, shiny and round
and red. They were supposed to tempt me, and they did. The first thing you know, I picked one out
and shined it up. And then I looked at it, close. For the first time, I think I understood why an
artist ever set up an easel in front of an apple and painted it. It's really very beautiful a good
apple is. The way the red dissolves into the yellow, it's warm, it's full of promise. I bit
into it and then I got to thinking. That coloring, I thought, is just a come-on, a private sales
promotion to make you want it. As a matter of fact, an apple does its advertising in an extremely
honest fashion. Mind you, I'm not selling apples, but even a bad apple says, here's a blemish, a spot,
a fault. If you take me, you take the bad of me with the good. And don't say I didn't warn you.
So you can take an apple on its face value. And that's what I was doing. But as I ate it,
I found myself wishing that all of nature's products were as frank and open. You choose
a friend, a sweetheart, the come-on, the sales campaign, the covering. Maybe it lives up to its
promise and maybe it doesn't. With an apple, you can tell. So the one I was munching on set me to
thinking about apples and people, about the confusion that arose when the first apple and
the first human being got together. The forbidden fruit and the woman, Eve. That name reminded me of
the only Eve I ever knew very much about, Eve Jeremy. I didn't actually know the Jeremy's
personally, Eve and Frank, but I don't think Hollywood will ever forget them. Eve and Frank
Jeremy are memorable, not as individuals, but together as husband and wife. Not just because
she was a beautiful actress or because he was an influential producer, but because of what they
became in combination. Let's take a look at Eve and Frank. Look past the covering and see what we
find. Now with the performance of our distinguished star Miss June Havoc as Eve Jeremy, we hope once
again to keep you in suspense. Frank, is that you Frank? Well darling, we'd better get a move on.
You know how Azadia is about her sit-down dinners. It's after seven now and it'll... Oh Frank,
you're not even dressed. I can't go baby. Oh for heaven's sake. What do you mean you can't go?
I've just been on the phone half an hour. Crawford won't do the part. Well she never was right for it.
I thought she was. Anyway she won't do it and now I've got to find someone else. Well let's talk about it later,
huh darling? Go on, get your dinner jacket on please. Look, you go without me honey. I will not. I will
not be the odd woman there. Oh you know how Azadia is about how carefully she arranges everything. Honey, now listen, this is serious. Oh. Look, I didn't want to
discuss it at home. I'm not the kind of guy who brings the office home every night. Maybe I'd be a
bigger shot producer if I did. Anyway business is lousy. See just lousy. Money's frozen all over.
It's all right for the big studios, MGM, Paramount and Warner's. But it's murder right now for an
independent. I know. Guys like me depend on money from the banks honey. And even if I've got the best
picture in the world with money the way it is, I've got to have at least one big box office name.
So the banks will think their investment is protected. Oh Frank, I know all about this.
You told me enough about it when you explained why I couldn't play the part myself. Well. Oh, oh Frank honey, I am sorry.
I suppose it is terrible that I'm fussing over a little thing like a dinner party when you have. Oh that's better, sweet.
Well Frank, why don't we go out to dinner anyhow? You know it might relax you and take your mind off this.
No honey, now if I don't get my whole deal set within the next 48 hours and get word to New York
about who my star is, we can't shoot this year. And frankly, Eve, I can't afford, I simply just can't afford.
I mean it literally. To lay out the rest of this year. Well Fontaine can't do it. Crawford won't.
All right, who's it going to be? Eve, it's just one star that's been right for it from the beginning.
Now you'll get sore again and we'll have a big shindy about it. But honestly honey, now if you could
just believe me when I tell you that she doesn't mean anything to me. Nothing but a big. Lorna Moore.
Yes, Lorna Moore. And I suppose you've been talking to her, seeing her, trying to warm up that old.
I just hung up the phone from talking to her. I'm going to see her and so that's why I can't go to
dinner. She's out at the Malibu Beach House. Oh look Eve, why can't you believe me when I. Oh Frank, leave me alone.
Oh what do you think I am? Do you think I'm going over to Azadia's and tell them the reason I'm alone
is that you couldn't come? You had to go out and see Lorna Moore at her beach house in Malibu.
Oh I can just see that look on Azadia's face when you and Lorna and Azadia all used to be such great
friends. You never went to have dinner at Azadia's alone up until six months ago. Oh no, you always
had Lorna along even though she hadn't made a picture for you for three years. She wasn't
a business deal then. Oh no. All right, you know how I feel about everything so you can just go and do as
you exactly please. Darling if you just listen to me, I don't care about Lorna at all. You must know
that. I don't even care for her particularly as an actress but I need that name or I'm sunk.
She's the only available actress in the whole world that can play that part. Yes, she's the only actress
that I can get in a hurry with a big enough name. Oh for Pete's sake. Okay Eve, I'm going out to Malibu.
Honestly honey, I don't think I'll be any more than an hour. You can call Azadia from there.
I'm not going to call her. All right, I'll call up from there.
All right, I'll call up from there.
Oh it wasn't like me. It really wasn't like me but if a man would only understand that a woman is a
really delicate sensitive instrument and of course that goes double if you're an actress.
Frank was actually a very nice sweet guy. A bit older of course but kind and swell.
I guess I knew basically that Lorna didn't mean anything to him but business
but the whole thing seemed to explode that night. My wanting to be an important actress and the
mortification of having a dinner party called off with me sitting there all dressed up and looking
really wonderful. I got up and put my coat on. I was so mad I was cold. I wandered into the living
room. On the coffee table was a bottle of gin. Frank had just gotten it out. I guessed I'd start
to make a martini. I let out a little into the jigger glass and I gulped it down.
I thought some plaster had fallen off the ceiling and hit me on the chest for a minute
and I saw something lying under the loveseat. A little package. I untied it and I put it on the
package. I untied it. It was from Rheingold's. A gold compact and on it was engraved to Lorna dear
from Frank. I guess it was the gin made me decide to do it. Anyway the next thing I knew I was out
in my car backing out of the driveway and turning off sunset. I knew I was headed for Malibu.
All the way there I did the most wonderful scenes in my mind. I'd knock on the door then quickly
open it so they wouldn't be able to get out of each other's arms. Good evening. Oh no no please
don't let me disturb you. I merely came to bring you this present that Frank in his haste to get
over to see you neglected to bring. It's this lovely gold compact. He picked it out all by himself of
course and that's his very own writing on it too. Well good night and I'm certainly looking forward
to your Academy Award performance in his new picture. I knew which house it was. A white one
a white one all by itself up on Trancas Beach about a mile beyond Merleau Browns.
I stopped a couple of hundred feet from the house. Frank's car was nowhere in sight.
I opened the wrought iron gate and walked on the door. There wasn't a light on the house.
Oh please no no don't let me disturb you. This lovely gold compact.
I beg your pardon.
Then I saw that the door was standing open a couple of inches. I pushed it wide open.
Took a couple of steps in and stood there. I smelled cigar smoke. Cigar. I was looking for
them but I couldn't see anybody. It was all dark in my end of the room but at the other end
30 or 40 feet across it was quite bright and blue. Well that's where they are I thought. Out there
on the terrace looking at the sea having a drink. I walked across the marble floor black and white
checkerboard. It was so beautiful. I stumbled over something as I made my way around a chaise.
I kicked at it. Discarded boudoir slipper but it wasn't. It was a foot and a leg. A silk clad leg
and then I could see better. It looked like a tumbled mass of boudoir pillows. Perhaps a discarded
negligee and a chaise coverlet all intermingled and allowed to fall into a neglected heap on the
floor. There at that one place. I got down waveringly and edged aside one of the pillows.
Satin it was and so soft so harmless but someone had smothered her to death with it.
I was sorry I tampered with that concealing pillow. I looked for one moment at that
grimacing suffused mask with a protruding tongue. And then panic came on. I made several confused
half turns this way and then that and then I located the door and I sped for it. But just as I got there
the drunk was arriving. It was that drunk.
Lorna. Lorna. I came back. Forgive me but I came back. I had to come back. I guess you can't speak to me Lorna.
I guess you aren't hardly able to speak to me Lorna. I'm sorry. I'm truly sorry for anything.
Luella or somebody said you wanted to get married again and I I'm sorry. I'm sorry.
I said you wanted to get married again and I I just couldn't stand it Lorna. I didn't mean to do it.
It's a bad deal Lorna.
Oh Lorna.
Lorna there's a phone.
You want to speak to anybody Lorna? You can't speak to anybody. No you can't speak to anybody.
Oh Lorna can't come to the phone. Who wants to know?
Well Jerry this is Jack. I'm her husband by a previous marriage.
Wait a minute. Wait a minute. I'll write it down. Oh away from New York huh?
Sounds like you're just in the next room.
Oh yeah yeah Jerry Jordan. All right Jerry. Kiss Broadway for me. No trouble I'm sure.
Lorna I wish it were possible.
Oh Lorna what's the matter? What's the matter? How you fall out?
Oh Lorna. Lorna.
I hadn't been able to move. I stood there for minutes after he'd gone. I remember I could hear
seagulls and I wondered if seagulls were like vultures. If they knew that someone was dead
on their beach. And about now something very strange was happening to me. I was getting
stronger, braver, more interested than shocked. I thought I'll call Frank. He must have gotten home
by now. And then I remembered my fingerprints on the telephone. I wiped it off carefully with my
handkerchief. Even though I knew I was wiping away the drunk's fingerprints at the same time.
By the phone was the piece of paper he had scrawled the message on.
Jerry Jordan it said. New York Broadway. I put that in my pocket. Something shiny was lying on the
floor near her. I thought it must be the compact. It had fallen out of my hand when I first stumbled.
I bent down to pick it up. Oh it was awful. Because it was her hand. It was a gold lipstick that she had
in her hand. I let go. But then I looked at the white square of linoleum that was there. A letter.
She'd scrawled a red letter on the marble with her lipstick. A big letter J. While she was being
suffocated, put to death with a satin pillow. She'd been trying to write the name of the man who was
killing her. What an actress trick. What a corny actress trick I thought. But J. Not so many men's
names begin with J. Jerry Jordan begins with J. Two of them. And Jack, her drunken ex-husband,
that begins with J. And Frank Jeremy begins with J. And Frank is my husband.
I picked up her address book. The beautiful white leather tooled address book on the phone table.
I was getting panicky again. I was about to tear the J page out of it. But then I thought,
no, no, that would look suspicious. It would look very suspicious. So I put the address book in my
purse. The phone was still ringing when I left. Oh, what to do. What to do. I'm going to have to
get it. Oh, what to do. What to do. Let's see.
Hello? Oh, may I speak with Azalea, please? They're all upstairs looking at the television.
The rousing matches. I wonder if I could take a message. This is Mike Romanoff. Oh, Mike. Mike,
this is Eve Jeremy. Hello there, darling. Are you all right? We've been worried.
Tried to call you. Azalea said she couldn't understand why she hadn't heard from you. Well,
Mike, I've had this frightful headache. Just more than I could bear. It came on me while I was
dressing and I just had to lie down. It just won't stop. But didn't Frank call and tell you
that we couldn't make it? Haven't heard from Frank, isn't he? No. That is, he had to go out,
Mike, some business or something. You know how he is, so much in his mind. I quite understand,
dear. Terribly sorry about your headache. Thank you. It's better now, but, well, I still don't
think I'd better go out. Oh, darling, I hope you understand I did my best to see it wasn't printed.
What? What wasn't printed, Mike? You haven't seen tonight's Hollywood hush, then. Oh,
oh, that. Oh, well, I... Of course it's just that it was mean and it happened in my restaurant
and I knew you'd understand. Oh, why, of course I do, Mike. Good night, my dear. See you soon. Take
care of that headache. Thank you, Mike. I will. Good night.
Good night.
The evening paper was where Frank had dropped it. I opened it to the Hollywood hush column.
It was the first item. If Frank Jeremy would like to get Lorna Moore back to work for him,
starring in Eagles Nest, his proposed new indie production, and if Lorna Moore would like to do
the parts for her ex Heart Flutter, why can't they keep from fighting at that number one table in
Romanoff? It started politely yesterday over the consomme and ended up with shrieks for coffee.
Round two was at today's lusty luncheon, during which Lorna did most of the talking at a medium
shout, with Frank eating very dark bread indeed. If this keeps up, Mike Romanoff will be auctioning
off seats at ringside tables. We're sure that Mrs. J understands it's all just business.
Mrs. J. Mrs. J. And then I heard them coming in. Hello, baby. Don't be frightened,
baby. It's all right. It's all right. It's good. They think I...
We're looking... I know. I know about it. And it wasn't you. Tell them, Frank. Tell them it wasn't you.
Tell them. Yeah. Tell us, Frank. How did you know? Oh, the radio. I was there. I was right there.
The baby. What did you say, lady? She didn't say anything. She said she heard it on the radio.
Tell them, Frank. I have been. Two hours now. It doesn't seem to help. He couldn't have, don't you see?
He couldn't have. Yeah, we'd better let him go, Lieutenant. She says he couldn't have done it. Shut up.
Mrs. Jeremy, did you not... Can you say with certainty what your husband's whereabouts were,
have been since seven o'clock this evening? Baby, shut up. Can you, Mrs. Jeremy? Listen, I...
No. You know he was going to visit out at Malibu to visit Miss Lorna Moore. Yes,
I knew that. It was a business thing and I... Well, we've got to get going. Oh, Frank. Oh, Frank.
Look, what have they done to you? Look, they've been fighting with you. We ain't been fighting with
them. But that Lorna Moore, you know, she used to be a swimmer in the Olympics. Your hand, darling,
it's all bleeding. She had long fingernails too. Her cat did that. I told you over and over again
where they came from. She wouldn't let him in, but her cat raked his hand. It was outside the door.
It had gotten out of... Oh, so much for the cat. No, no, wait. Wait. Won't he need something?
Oh, please, let me give him something to take with him. It's all right, sweet.
I ran into his bedroom, looked around blindly, snatched up something at random from under one of
the bed pillows and I ran back with him. When I got there, the door was standing open
and the street beyond was empty. They hadn't waited. They were gone.
I stood there in the open doorway and the rolled up pajamas
dropped to the floor at my feet and lay there. Oh, sit down, Mrs. Jeremy. Thank you.
It's just a technicality. I know it frightens people so, but it isn't final. It's just a legal
phrase that's automatically spoken in these cases. Honey, I've seen Mr. Benedict gift more people
off on appeals and reversals. Haven't you, Mort? How about it, Mort? Haven't you? Yeah, yeah.
He wouldn't even let me take the stand and the compact and the address book.
I do feel terrible not being allowed to... Honey, what could you have done? Don't you suppose he
would have been the first to call you if it would have helped any? Mr. Benedict never overlooks a
witness he thinks can help a case and he never uses one and he thinks we'll weaken it. Does he,
Mort? Mort, does he? Well, now, you see, nobody saw you come or go there that night. Oh, of course.
The jury wouldn't have believed you any more than the arresting detectives. They would have thought
that you were making it up to try to shield your husband and the sympathy you aroused for yourself
would have worked in reverse. Anyhow, honey, you have to admit he was mixed up with it. Oh, surely.
Well... All right, I know that as well as he does. How are you, Mrs. Jeremy? I'm fine.
Then it's pretty bad, isn't it? Let me have a cigarette, will you, Mort?
Long day. It's... it's pretty bad, isn't it? It isn't over yet. You're taking the typical layman's
point of view. But isn't it all just circumstantial evidence? I just don't see how they can... Sure it
is. Sure it is. Now, Mr. Jeremy and I had a long talk this morning. Long talk. You understand that
I felt from the very beginning, and I've been very frank with you as to my reasons for thinking so,
that you shouldn't appear on the stand. Yes, I know, Mr. Benedict. However, I expressed to Mr.
Jeremy your natural desire to come forward and tell the circumstances that you detailed to us.
Your visit to the beach house and the detail about the probable explanation for the gold compact.
There's no probable explanation for the compact. I told you, Mr. Benedict. Yes, yes, yes. At any
rate, Mr. Jeremy and I had a long talk again about the advisability of your going on the stand. Yes.
He's absolutely dead set against it. Now, if you insist on it, of course, I shall have to introduce
you. But let me once again say that if you do, you'll hurt our side more than you'll help it.
Well, you all know so much more about it than I do. That's right. That's right. Mr. Jeremy, it is his
wish, and it's also mine. He doesn't want you to get all smeared up, too, if it can be avoided.
And the wife isn't required to testify anyway, you know, honey. Now, you mustn't feel that it's a...
Mr. Benedict, there's one thing I haven't told you. I was confused and worried about Frank, and,
well, anyway, I didn't think of it again until just lately. Her address book. When I was there,
I found her address book. I don't want to hear about it, Mrs. Jeremy. Well, you just hold on.
You're being wonderful about it. This is a real test, and you're taking it like a major.
Come on, I'll take you downstairs and put you in a taxi. Do you want more to the girl to ride home
with you to your place? No, thank you. I'll be all right. I'll have to get used to going around alone
from now on, I guess.
Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, have you reached a verdict?
We have, Your Honor. The defendant will rise.
Frank. Take it easy, sweet. It's gonna be all right.
What does the jury find? We find the defendant, Frank Jeremy, guilty of murder in the first degree.
In tonight's full hour of suspense, June Havoc, our star, appears as Eve Jeremy
in William Spears' production of Eve. Tonight's study ends suspense.
In just a moment, we will return with Act Two of Suspense.
This is CBS, the Columbia Broadcasting System.
This is Robert Montgomery again. Quote,
A woman is a delicate, sensitive instrument, and that goes double if the woman is also an actress.
Unquote. Eve Jeremy said that a long time ago before Lorna Moore was murdered.
Now the sensitive instrument that is Eve Jeremy is forced to follow a course that she's never planned
for herself. A course dictated by somebody else's verdict. A verdict of guilty of murder in the first degree.
We bring back to our Hollywood sound stage our star, Miss June Havoc, as Eve Jeremy,
with William Johnstone as Frank Jeremy and Wally Marr as Jerry Jordan in Eve. Tonight's study ends suspense.
Right over there, Mrs. Jeremy. The second booth. Thank you. You have five minutes.
Oh, sweet. Frank. Take it easy, sweet. We don't have much time. I have to talk to you like this
through an iron screen, not even to be able to touch you. That's sweet as sweet when a guy's been convicted.
Oh, Frank, don't. I know you didn't do it. I know you didn't. Of course I didn't, sweet, but
it's just one of those things, circumstantial evidence. But Frank, there must be something.
I was pretty optimistic during the trial because I knew I didn't do it, I guess.
But now that I look back on it, they had enough coincidence pieced together to convict a dozen
innocent men. Frank, how can you be so calm? How can you? What's the use of being anything else?
I'm like an old man waiting to. Oh, don't. Oh, there's one thing I want you to know, dear.
I want to be sure you didn't believe that I was starting over with her,
or that she meant anything to me at all. She was a star and I was a producer. I needed her for my
picture. She's a, well, she was, big name in pictures. You knew I'd been seeing her and when I quarreled
with her, it was about you, dear. Oh, darling, honestly, I know, I know. I just wanted to be sure.
You know, I've got nothing to hide now. Frank, how much more time is there? Two or three minutes.
No, no, I mean. Oh, November the 16th. November the 16th, six weeks. Yes. Frank,
I'm going to do something. What can you do, sweetie? Don't you realize there's a murderer running around
loose, some man who's free and having fun and going out with girls, the man who did the thing
that you're going to be. Yeah. I'm going to find him. How could you find him, sweet? The police tried.
They didn't try. All they wanted was to convict you. But it's nice to hear you say it, sweet, because I.
What? Because it makes me know that you really did love me. Oh. You see, sweet, there,
there are things you can face when you're like this that you didn't dare talk about or even think
about before. I always loved you, Eve, but you were so much younger and full of ambition. Oh, don't,
please don't. I'm sorry, sweetie. I wish I could have done things for you. There won't be much left
for you now. You know how it is in this business. You spend it as fast as you make it. Oh, stop, Frank, I don't care.
Why, my heel. Forgive me, sweet, but it's wonderful to know how you do for you. Frank, Frank, I'm not
going to let this thing happen. There must be something. There must be some clue. Don't you think
the police thought of it? But there are things the police didn't know. Things I saw. Things maybe, maybe you saw when you were up there
and didn't tell them. I couldn't very well have told them anything about that. My whole defense was
that I hadn't been up there, but there wasn't anything, nothing important. There must, there must
have been something. Whoever was there before you, whoever did it, must have left some trace.
I know what I'm going to do. What Eve? Her address book. I took it away in my purse because, well, it was
open at the letter J and your name was in it. It was a silly thing to do, but I have it now and I...
Don't do it, Eve. I'd love you to want to, but I can't stand to have you in this mess. Frank,
please. I'm an actress. I can carry it off. Now tell me, please. Wasn't there anything you noticed?
Well, I, I was only there a second. I, I saw it right away and I bit it. It was only, well, well, well, Frank,
a smell. A what? Cigar smoke. Yes, yes. I remember that too.
Frank, Frank, I'll write every day.
All right, Mrs. Jones.
Goodbye, darling.
So long, sweetie.
October 5th.
Frank, darling.
I've been studying the address book.
Under the J's, there are only three others besides yours.
And I'm going after them one at a time.
Tomorrow, I'm going down to see Lieutenant Trout
at the Homicide Bureau.
I won't tell him anything, but he always seemed to me
to be one of the few who tried to be fair.
And I might need help.
Oh, darling, I know it isn't much.
But you must keep on hoping.
Something will happen.
And if only because I love you so desperately.
So desperately.
What's your angle, Mrs. Jeremy?
My, my angle?
Yeah.
Why are you doing all this?
Why, he's my husband and I love him and I...
Look, Mrs. Jeremy, the cops around this town
aren't exactly dumb, as you know.
We know what you were like before you married him.
We know that what you kept on being after you married him.
Everybody seems to have known it except him.
All right, Dick Tracy.
A person can change, can't they?
Sure, they can.
The cop just hates to have anyone think they can make
a sucker out of him.
You know how it is.
They can skip the apologies if that's what they're supposed to be.
Sure.
And what's this new evidence?
Anything specific?
Well, not very.
Well, for instance.
Did you know that Lorna Moore had a first husband named Jack?
Eh? Go on.
Well, it just occurred to me that he...
He might be worth investigating.
Why?
Because, well, how do you know he wasn't some kind of
madman or drunk or something that got off on a spree
or something and just came out and killed her?
Huh.
You're pretty smart.
Thank you.
That nobody can take away from you.
You're smart, Mrs. Jeremy.
I suppose you've been through the old newspaper files
and you dug that up.
The drama appealed to you.
You thought of tomorrow's newspaper files.
Actress, wife of convicted man,
frees adored husband at last moment by securing evidence
overlooked by bungling police.
You're very insulting me.
Then maybe the next day the caption would read,
Hollywood Studios vie in effort to place Eve Jeremy,
glamorous actress detective, under contract.
I want to forget everything you've just said.
I haven't the time to allow myself the luxury
of putting you in your place.
Now, please listen to me.
Oh, I'm sorry, Mrs. Jeremy.
I really am.
It isn't fair to string this out any longer.
It's just that a policeman gets a little irritated sometimes
at all the help private citizens try to give him
in a case like this.
I withdraw any untoward remarks I may have made, Mrs. Jeremy.
Thank you. I forgive you.
Now, regarding Jack Gordon,
the murdered woman's ex-husband,
he is a lush and he is, as you say,
a slightly unpredictable and screwy guy.
However, we've already questioned him,
investigated him thoroughly,
and we're satisfied with his story.
We can't prove that he was near the Malibu beach house that night.
There's nothing there that would incriminate him,
no fingerprints or anything.
No.
Unless, of course, you want to step forward
and say you were in the murder room and saw him.
Well, I really... No, no, of course not.
You don't want to go that far, hmm?
Of course not. I...
All right.
Anything else besides Gordon?
Nothing definite. Well, not yet.
But I have a plan, and I want your help
when I want your help.
Okay. What do you want me to do?
Tell me, what kind of evidence
would I have to have? How specific?
To upset a first-degree murder rap? Yes.
Hmm. Something in writing.
Oh, that's not so easy.
You got a suspect in mind? Some particular person?
Well, not yet. But you might have.
Well, there's one other thing.
It's an old, old trick, but it's still good.
What do you mean, what?
Have you ever seen one of these things?
No, I don't think so.
Yeah, talk into this little gadget here.
What would you suggest I say?
Oh, anything. Just talk.
Lieutenant Trout is one of the most
chivalrous gentlemen I have ever met.
Quite a realist, aren't you?
Here, listen.
Lieutenant Trout is one of the most
chivalrous gentlemen I have ever met.
Ah, you see?
What is it?
Detect a graph.
Think it might come in handy?
Uh-huh. It might.
October 7th.
Darling, I saw Trout, and I'm afraid
he's not quite the kindly soul I thought he was,
but he did help me in one way.
He installed a detect a graph in my new apartment.
Oh, apartment. Only a room, really.
And of course, my hair is dark again.
Really black.
I've changed my name and my appearance.
I don't think that even you, my darling,
would recognize me now.
Now, about those other three men
who were the Jays in her address book,
I'm afraid they're a dead end so far.
Johnson was her dressmaker,
and Stanley Jellicoe is a doctor
who's definitely been in the South Pacific
for over a year.
I know that the J she tried to write
with her lipstick is one of those four names
in her book.
Naturally, darling, we know it wasn't you.
And for the time being, at least,
we'd better forget about her husband, Jack.
After all, Frank, it would incriminate me
to bring that out.
Maybe if the last one doesn't pan out,
I can go after him then.
There's just one more. Jerry Jordan.
You remember, darling, he was the one who called
on the telephone on that horrible drunk answer
at the beach house.
He said he was calling from New York.
But maybe that was some trick or something.
Anyway, I have his Hollywood number.
Hello?
Oh, is this Mr. Jerry Jordan?
Yes.
Well, I finally found you.
Can you guess who this is?
Well, I'm afraid I'm not very good at that.
I suppose I'll have to tell you.
This is Evelyn Jarvis.
Oh?
Well, don't you know who I am?
No, I'm sorry. I don't, Miss Jarvis.
Oh, well, this is embarrassing.
Didn't you get the letter?
No. What letter?
Oh, my goodness.
Well, a very good friend of yours,
who's also a very good friend of mine,
wrote you a letter about me, or at least
he said he would.
I see.
And I'll give you one other clue.
I'm from out of town.
How can you guess?
You, uh, you wouldn't be from San Francisco,
would you?
Well, I...
Oh, Ed Thornton, eh?
He always did have a terrible memory
for anything but phone numbers.
I didn't mean to bother you, but Ed said
to be sure and look you up.
Well, where are you staying?
I managed to find a little place.
Oh, lucky you.
Well, have you got any plans for dinner?
Why, I hadn't really thought...
The same, but still.
Have you got any plans for right now?
Well, really, Mr. Jordan...
No, no, seriously, seriously.
By the time we've had a drink and got acquainted,
you'll be ready for dinner anyway.
Oh, no, I...
Now, now, now, you wouldn't want Ed Thornton
to know you were acting that way, would you?
You just jump in a taxi and tell him to take you
to the Brown Derby on Bynestreet.
Well, I...
And, knowing Ed the way I do,
I'm dying to meet you.
Well, as a matter of fact, from what I know,
I'm sort of anxious to meet you.
Darling, just a quick P.S.
I'm going to meet him now.
And I have a hunch he's it.
I don't know why.
I'll remember what you said about cigar smoke.
And yet, although I've got a hunch,
it makes me feel a little shaky.
He's got such a nice voice to be a murderer.
Oh, so that's what he says about me, huh?
Fine pal.
I'll say one thing for Ed.
He may be an awful liar, but he's sure got good taste.
Well, thank you, which proves that he's no liar.
Tell me, Jerry, is this the Brown Derby?
I mean, the one you hear about?
Uh-huh, this is it.
Are there any people, you know, famous people here now?
Well, it's a little early, but...
I'm just a small town girl, as far as you see.
San Francisco isn't such a small town.
Well, I live sort of outside of San Francisco.
Oh, look, Jerry, isn't that Jean Tierney over there?
Yep, that's who it is.
My goodness, she looks just like her pictures, doesn't she?
Oh, what lovely skin.
There's Gregory Peck.
Oh, yes, I thought he was talking.
He is.
Jerry, do you know any of these people?
No, no, I've never gone around with a picture crowd.
Oh, now I suppose you're disappointed.
Oh, no, I'm not.
I've always thought it was awfully silly, really, all this worship of stars.
Still, Hollywood must be sort of an exciting town to live in.
I mean, from some of the things I hear that go on.
Oh, that's mostly newspaper talk.
Hollywood's about like any other town.
They have their regular quota of divorces and fistfights.
And murders.
Oh, you mean that Lorne Amore business?
Well, I read something about it.
Yes, that was a genuine tragedy, all right.
Jerry, I don't suppose you knew her either?
Well, as a matter of fact, Lorne was one of the few celebrities I did know.
Really? What was she like?
Well, Lorne was a long ways from being the sweet little thing she seemed to be on the screen.
She what? But, oh, but murder.
Yes, I suppose nothing really excuses that.
Well, anyway, they got the man who did it.
Frank Jeremy? Yes. Yes, I guess they did.
You mean you didn't...
Oh, the case looked good enough.
You can't always tell about those things, though.
Any number of people might have done it.
Well, who, for instance?
Oh, well, Jeremy's wife, for one.
His wife?
Well, there was talk that Jeremy's relations with Lorne weren't always strictly business.
You can't tell.
But I'm afraid little Lorne's life was kind of a mess.
Jerry, were you...
Mixed up with Lorne? Oh, no, no, no.
But didn't the police, I mean, I should think with a woman like that, all of her friends...
Oh, they nabbed Jeremy so quick they didn't even question anybody else.
Anyway, I was out of town when it happened.
Jerry, may I have a cigarette?
Oh, of course. Waiter, please.
Well, what kind will you have?
Oh, don't do that. I'll smoke whatever kind you have.
I don't have any. Yes, sir.
I'll have two cigarettes, please. Oh, what will they be, dear?
Oh, any kind. I don't smoke awfully enough to care.
Can't pin you down, huh? Just use your judgment, Chris. Yes, sir.
Don't you have a favorite brand?
No, no. I only smoke cigars.
What?
I said, I only smoke cigars.
Darling, don't you see?
His name in her book, and he admits he knew her, and the cigars.
I'm positive.
I can win his confidence, get him up to my apartment near the dictograph.
I know I can do it.
We've still got four weeks, darling.
But I'll have to be awfully careful.
He's clever and intelligent.
Imagine a man who can carry a thing like that on his conscience.
And still be so terribly nice and courteous and thoughtful.
But I'm going to win for you, darling. I know I am now.
Hello. Hello, Jerry.
Hello, baby. You've been waiting long.
Oh, not very.
Jerry, something the matter?
No, no, nothing's the matter, baby.
Oh, something is, though.
Oh, nothing that makes any difference, baby.
Oh, what is it?
I don't know. Sometimes it almost seems as though you were kidding me.
As though you were, well, keeping some kind of a secret that you didn't want me to know.
Isn't it a woman's privilege to have secrets?
Oh, don't talk like that, baby.
Oh, Jerry, you know I couldn't have any secrets from you.
Well, why do we always have to meet here, for instance?
Why can't I pick you up at your own place once in a while?
I don't even know where it is.
Maybe I like this place because this is where I first met you.
There, you see? You see, you haven't even answered me.
Well...
And what about San Francisco?
At first you were only going to be here a few days.
Then you decided to stay longer.
Well, that's because you asked me to, Jerry.
But you're going to have to go back sometime, aren't you?
Oh...
What are you going back to in San Francisco, baby?
Maybe I'm not going.
Maybe I'm not ever going back.
Maybe I'll go to, oh, New York instead.
Do you like New York?
Oh, love it. If you'd be there.
As a matter of fact, I haven't been back to New York in three years.
You haven't?
No. I mean...
I know so little about you, Jerry.
Yes, yes, that's true, baby.
And I don't know anything about you.
For all I know, you might even be married.
Oh, Jerry.
Don't you think that's a kind of a tough thing to say after what I've been doing?
Oh, baby. Baby, I'm sorry. It's only that...
Well, you know...
What are we going to do?
Look, baby, why don't we go out to my place for a change, huh?
A change?
Well, you see, I don't really live at that hotel.
I mean, that really isn't my home.
It isn't.
Oh, I'm a fine one to talk, I guess.
The fact is, I've been holding out on you, baby.
Actually, I live in a place out in Beverly Hills with about 30 rooms and a swimming pool a block long,
and I've got more money than I know what to do with.
Cattle ranches in Argentina, oil wells in Mexico.
I don't know what all.
Yes, my dad left it to me, and I found out something about money from him.
It can be a terrible thing to be rich.
Oh, can it?
All kinds of things can happen to you.
Like...like what?
Cheap promoters, cheap lawyers, cheap women, blackmail.
Oh?
That's why I usually don't let people know until...
I see.
Oh, baby. Baby, I feel like a dog about it now, but I didn't want you to know at first.
Until you were sure I didn't care about money.
Is that it, Jerry?
Will you try to forgive me, baby? Will you, please?
Oh, Jerry, my poor darling.
Of course I will. I do. And Jerry?
Yes, darling.
About those secrets of mine.
Suppose there were some things I couldn't tell you yet.
Would that matter?
Not if I was sure you would tell me someday.
Jerry, I promise you that.
Someday, someday I will tell you.
Frank, darling, I know the delay must be torture to you.
But you must understand how careful I've got to be.
Supposing...I know I can't be wrong.
But just supposing he weren't the man.
That's why I've got to have the positive, living truth on that detective phone.
I haven't been able to get him up there yet, but we've still got ten days.
And I have a feeling it's going to be soon.
Very soon. So please don't worry, darling.
And I miss you very much.
Who is it?
Jerry Gordon.
Wait a minute.
Jerry.
Oh, baby. I had to honestly. I couldn't help.
Oh, how did you find this place, Jerry?
Why do you think I didn't tell you where it was if I didn't have reason?
Can I come in? Please, I've got to talk to you.
All right, come in.
Baby.
Baby Ed Thornton arrived in town last night.
He came to see me.
Oh.
He's never heard of you, baby.
He doesn't know anybody by the name of Evelyn Jarvis or anybody that even looks like you.
Is that what you came up here to tell me?
Oh, baby, baby. I don't care what it is. Only please, please.
Jerry.
Oh, baby.
Oh, I want you so much.
Oh, Jerry, darling.
I want you to go away with me, baby.
Tonight.
I want you to marry me.
You what?
I want you to marry me.
But first.
Oh, darling. Oh, Jerry, I've waited so long.
There's something I've got to tell you.
No, don't, don't, Jerry.
I've got to.
No.
And then you can tell me whatever it is and we can stop even if if you still want to.
Jerry, do either of us have to tell anything? Does that matter now?
I've got to, Evelyn. I can't keep it any longer.
Not the way I feel about you.
Jerry, please, don't.
I've I've killed someone.
I'm a murderer.
Oh, Lord, no more.
And another man is going to die for it.
Jerry.
Jerry, listen to me. It doesn't matter.
I don't care what you've done, Jerry.
I love you.
Don't you know that?
I love you.
Can you still?
I've loved you from the beginning.
It didn't matter then and it doesn't matter now.
I could only believe that.
You've got to believe it.
Listen, I can prove it to you.
Baby.
What do you mean it didn't matter then?
Did you know?
Yes, I knew.
Do you know who I am?
Who?
I'm Eve Jeremy, the wife of the man who's going to die for it.
His wife?
Yes, now you know.
And you're willing to let him die?
Jerry, he deserves to die for the things he's done.
He'd have probably killed her anyway.
I knew he was seeing her.
He was a beast.
I knew from the beginning it was a mistake.
He beat me.
He did.
He tortured me.
I can't even tell you some of the things he did.
When?
When does it happen?
At the 16th.
Tomorrow night.
Tomorrow night?
Does that matter to you?
Oh, I'd let 50 men die to get you, baby.
That's why I haven't seen you.
I was waiting until...
We could be in Argentina tomorrow night.
Yes, yes.
I'll palpate.
I can get plane tickets tonight from a friend.
I don't have to change.
Oh, no, you look lovely, baby.
I'll just throw a couple of things in a bag.
Nobody knows about Richard Gray.
Make it quick, though.
And it's perfectly logical time for me to go away for a while.
But hurry, baby, hurry.
Yes, yes.
I'm already...
Now, how do I look?
Oh, you look great, baby.
Wait a minute.
A what?
I ought to write a note to him.
Your husband?
Yes, no.
Just to keep both of us in the clear.
He won't get it before he...
What are you going to say?
You can read it.
You can read it if you want to.
Oh, now, here.
Here, I'll mail it for you.
No, I'll just stick it here in my handbag.
I'll mail it at the airport.
All right.
Are you ready?
Yes, come on.
Now, that's a good one.
I'll just put it in my bag.
There's the elevator now.
Well, good evening, Mrs. Jeremy.
Oh, hello.
You, uh, taking a little trip?
Well, wouldn't you if you were me?
Sure, I know how you feel.
You, uh, you in a hurry?
Sort of.
My friend here was going to run me down to the airport.
Lieutenant Trout, Mr. Jordan.
How do you do?
Well, I won't keep you but a minute.
And I'll give you a fast trip down there in a squad car.
Let's just step in here.
No, no, not your apartment, Mrs. Jeremy.
Next door.
Next door?
Really, Lieutenant, we're in an awful hurry.
What do we want to go in here for?
Oh, we took over this apartment a couple of weeks ago,
Mrs. Jeremy, when you started going with Mr. Jordan here.
Oh, by the way, Brennan, I hear we had some luck
with our little gadget.
Yeah.
What, uh, what little gadget?
What little gadget?
Oh!
You forgot, Mrs. Jeremy?
A detectograph.
Lieutenant Trout thought that...
You thought, Mrs. Jeremy?
All right.
I thought.
Mind if I turn it on?
Why, go ahead, there's nothing.
Because I forgot to turn it on.
Oh, uh, Brennan does that in here.
Don't you, Brennan?
Yeah, very interesting.
I've got to, everyone.
Oh!
Hmm.
I can't keep it any longer.
Not the way I feel now about you.
Jeremy, don't.
I killed someone.
I'm a murderer.
Oh.
One more.
And another man is going to die for it.
Ha ha.
Well, I guess that's about all we need to know, isn't it?
Yes, I guess it is.
Well, I told you I'd get him, didn't I?
Yeah.
You can wrap him up and take him away, Lieutenant.
And don't forget to send me back my husband
the first thing in the morning.
Come on, Jordan.
Eve.
So long, sucker.
Eve.
They sure gave you the right name, baby.
Yes?
Only you wouldn't have needed the apple.
Or the snake.
Oh, Frank, darling, it just doesn't seem possible.
Back here in our own home, out here on our own terrace again.
And everything just the way it was.
Yeah.
Frank, do you remember when we first took this place,
how happy we were, and how the agent took us out on this terrace
and asked us if we'd be too high up if we were afraid of high places?
Mm-hmm.
Frank, is something bothering you?
Well, Eve.
Oh, tell me, darling.
I know you've been through so much.
When I think that today you may...
Look, sweetheart, I haven't any kick coming.
You saved my life.
Oh, darling.
And I know what the answer is anyway,
but it would only prey on my mind if I didn't talk to you about it.
And there shouldn't be anything like that between us ever, should there?
Of course not, darling.
What is it?
I've got a record here.
What record?
That the police took off your detectograph.
Oh, Frank.
I want to play it back for you, sweetheart.
I'll put it on the phonograph here on the terrace.
Oh, Frank, please.
It's all right, sweetheart.
But Frank...
I know, dear.
Now, Jerry, Jerry, listen to me.
It doesn't matter.
I don't care what you've done, Jerry.
I love you.
Don't you know that?
I love you.
Can't you still?
I've loved you from the beginning.
It didn't matter then, and it doesn't matter now.
Oh, if I could only believe that.
You've got to believe it now, listen.
I can prove it to you.
Baby, what do you mean, it didn't matter then?
Did you know?
Yes, I knew.
Do you know who I am?
Who?
I'm Eve Jerry.
The wife of the man who's going to die for him.
His wife?
Yes, now you know.
And your?
Is that all?
That was the end of the record.
That was all that was recorded.
Oh, it's all right.
Sweet, it's all right.
I know.
Please, darling.
Oh, Frank, Frank, don't you see?
I had to play it that way.
Oh, you surely did.
Don't you see, I had to make him think that so, so,
so I could say it to you.
I know, sweet, I know.
I just wanted you to, I just wanted you to say it, I guess.
Please, sweet, now I understand.
Oh, Frank, do you, do you really?
Well, of course I do.
Oh, I'm a heel, sweet.
Oh, Frank.
Listen, darling, it's all over now, it's over.
I'll tell you, let's celebrate.
I'll go down and get some wine, champagne or something, huh?
Oh, Frank, honestly, that'd be wonderful.
Okay, I'll go right now.
Only I...
What, darling?
Well, just getting out of the clink,
I don't have any money.
Do you?
Oh, of course not, of course.
Right there in my handbag, darling.
Where? Oh, oh, sure.
There, you've got plenty.
Say, here's a letter.
A letter?
It's addressed to me.
A letter.
Frank, Frank, don't, don't.
Well, you must have written...
Frank, Frank, no.
No, Frank, Frank, listen, I didn't...
Frank, I, I can explain just how...
No, Frank, no, no.
Lieutenant Trout, homicide.
Trout?
Hmm?
It's Frank Jeremy.
Terrible things just happened.
What?
My wife, suicide.
Nerves, I guess.
She jumped off the terrace before I could stop her.
It's 14 stories.
It was.
Suicide, was it?
She gave me a note in her own handwriting.
Just before.
Oh.
Well, of course the note says so.
I'll read it to you.
It says, Frank, my darling,
I've been wrong all the time.
Oh, so terribly wrong.
You know what I mean.
I failed you utterly.
Now I can't even bear the thought of facing you.
When you read this, I will be gone.
This is farewell forever.
Signed, Eve.
So ends the story of Eve.
But Frank Jeremy's story didn't end there.
He was a good guy and he didn't want it to.
Frank's story ended a little later,
after another long trial and another jury verdict of
guilty of murder in the first degree.
And this time the verdict, in all its implications, was carried out.
Our thanks to Miss June Havoc for a superb performance as Eve.
Do you know what hate is, really?
Have you ever actually hated someone?
The word hate is often used and misused.
Very few of us really experience hate, the emotion.
But next week we'll tell you a story of hate,
the violent loathing of two men for each other,
in a hate so desperate that it will tax our normal imaginations.
A hate so genuine and honest it inspires a despicable pact,
where one man sets a price on another's life.
A bet that he can successfully kill the other
within a specified length of time.
A hate so mutual that the wager is accepted.
That's the incredible premise of Bet With Death,
a story by John Dixon Carr, next week's study in suspense.
This is Robert Montgomery inviting you to be with us next week.
June Havoc is currently being seen in the Daryl F. Zanuck production,
Gentlemen's Agreement.
Mr. Montgomery may currently be seen in the Universal International
production, Ride the Pink Horse.
Tonight's play, Eve, was written by Bob Richard and Sebastian Moriarty,
and was based on the novel The Black Angel by Cornell Woolrich.
Lud Gluskin is our musical director and conductor.
Lucian Morrowek composes the original scores.
Mr. Johnstone appeared as Frank Jeremy,
Wally Mayer as Jerry Jordan,
Jack Moyles as Lieutenant Trout.
Mike Romanoff was played by Prince Michael Romanoff.
Others in the cast were Lorraine Tuttle, Jack Crouchon,
Dick Ryan, Jerry Hausner, Frank Albertson, and Alan Reed.
Next week, hear the John Dixon Carr story, Bet With Death,
on radio's outstanding theater of thrills,
one hour of Suspense.
This is CBS, the Columbia Broadcasting System.
.