WEBVTT 00:00.000 --> 00:12.040 Auto Light and its 96,000 dealers bring you Mr. Herbert Marshall in tonight's presentation 00:12.040 --> 00:13.040 of... 00:13.040 --> 00:20.080 South Spence. 00:20.080 --> 00:25.440 Tonight Auto Light presents a spy story, the true story of that series of events known 00:25.440 --> 00:43.160 as the 39 Steps starring Mr. Herbert Marshall. 00:43.160 --> 00:44.160 Oh Harlow. 00:44.160 --> 00:45.160 Yes, Hap. 00:45.160 --> 00:46.160 What was that all about? 00:46.160 --> 00:49.440 I was just demonstrating the Auto Light electrical system, Hap. 00:49.440 --> 00:50.440 You were? 00:50.440 --> 00:54.360 Sure, it goes to work every time you start your car, sound the horn, play the radio or 00:54.360 --> 00:56.000 turn on your lights or heater. 00:56.000 --> 00:58.080 The electrical system does all that? 00:58.080 --> 00:59.080 Sure, Hap. 00:59.080 --> 01:03.800 The Auto Light coil distributor, generator and all the other units and thousands of component 01:03.800 --> 01:04.800 parts. 01:04.800 --> 01:10.000 They're all related by Auto Light engineering design and manufacturing skill and used as 01:10.000 --> 01:14.640 original factory equipment on many leading makes of our finest cars. 01:14.640 --> 01:19.920 So friends, when your Auto Light equipped car needs replacement parts, insist on Auto 01:19.920 --> 01:22.480 Light original factory parts. 01:22.480 --> 01:28.800 Be sure, because from bumper to tail light, you're always right with Auto Light. 01:28.800 --> 01:35.120 And now with the 39 Steps and the performance of Mr. Herbert Marshall, Auto Light hopes 01:35.120 --> 01:39.600 once again to keep you in South Spence. 01:39.600 --> 01:45.200 Of course, I realize these are trying times and all that. 01:45.200 --> 01:49.240 You have your worries about foreign spies and atomic secrets and the usual international 01:49.240 --> 01:50.240 rouse. 01:50.240 --> 01:52.400 But don't get the wind up. 01:52.400 --> 01:53.800 You'll muddle through somehow. 01:53.800 --> 01:55.480 Take my word for it. 01:55.480 --> 01:58.400 And I know where I speak. 01:58.400 --> 02:00.400 We had our troubles too in our day, you know. 02:00.400 --> 02:03.680 Jolly serious, they seem at the time, I can tell you. 02:03.680 --> 02:09.720 For instance, did you ever hear of the 39 Steps? 02:09.720 --> 02:16.640 It was in the spring of 1914. 02:16.640 --> 02:21.720 I'd spent the last 10 years on the African felt in the Bolivayo country, made a modest 02:21.720 --> 02:25.480 little pile and come back home to enjoy it. 02:25.480 --> 02:27.440 The only difficulty was I didn't enjoy it. 02:27.440 --> 02:32.240 There was something wrong about England and about London for me. 02:32.240 --> 02:33.240 And then I realized what it was. 02:33.240 --> 02:34.240 It was dull. 02:34.240 --> 02:39.920 I had nothing to do and I was plain simply bored. 02:39.920 --> 02:44.280 That is, I was until that memorable evening when I returned to my flat near Portland Place. 02:44.280 --> 02:48.200 It was the first floor front and I was in the hall fitting my key in the lock when a 02:48.200 --> 02:52.600 little man with a bowler hat stepped out of the shadows from beyond the door to the next 02:52.600 --> 02:53.600 flat back. 02:53.600 --> 02:56.640 I saw that he was frightened. 02:56.640 --> 02:59.840 He was carrying it off well enough, but he was frightened as I had seen men frightened 02:59.840 --> 03:00.840 before. 03:00.840 --> 03:02.840 Frightened of his very life. 03:02.840 --> 03:04.640 You're Mr. Richard Hennigh, aren't you? 03:04.640 --> 03:05.640 Yes, that's right. 03:05.640 --> 03:06.640 Can I speak to you a minute? 03:06.640 --> 03:07.640 What about? 03:07.640 --> 03:08.640 Inside if you don't mind. 03:08.640 --> 03:09.640 Very well, if you wish. 03:09.640 --> 03:10.640 Come in. 03:10.640 --> 03:11.640 Thanks. 03:11.640 --> 03:12.640 Thanks a lot. 03:12.640 --> 03:13.640 That door locked? 03:13.640 --> 03:14.640 No, but I... 03:14.640 --> 03:15.640 I'll do it myself. 03:15.640 --> 03:16.640 It's all the same to you. 03:16.640 --> 03:24.360 I know you must think I've got a lot of nerve, but there are times when a man just can't 03:24.360 --> 03:25.360 be too careful. 03:25.360 --> 03:26.360 No, I suppose there are. 03:26.360 --> 03:28.360 Well, won't you come in by the fire? 03:28.360 --> 03:29.360 Thanks. 03:29.360 --> 03:30.360 Thanks. 03:30.360 --> 03:32.360 I had a hunch you were the kind of guy I could trust. 03:32.360 --> 03:33.360 Whiskey and soda? 03:33.360 --> 03:36.240 Yes, I could sure use one. 03:36.240 --> 03:38.000 I guess you're wondering who I am. 03:38.000 --> 03:39.000 American, aren't you? 03:39.000 --> 03:40.000 That's right. 03:40.000 --> 03:41.000 Scudder is the name. 03:41.000 --> 03:42.000 Frank P. Scudder. 03:42.000 --> 03:43.800 I have the apartment right over yours. 03:43.800 --> 03:47.040 I've had an eye on you ever since my troubles began. 03:47.040 --> 03:48.040 Really? 03:48.040 --> 03:49.040 Here's your drink. 03:49.040 --> 03:50.040 Good Lord, man, don't drop it. 03:50.040 --> 03:51.040 Yes, I'm a little shaky. 03:51.040 --> 03:58.640 You see, if you'd come along about five minutes later, I'd probably be a dead man. 03:58.640 --> 03:59.640 I see. 03:59.640 --> 04:00.640 Well, child. 04:00.640 --> 04:01.640 Here's to you. 04:01.640 --> 04:02.640 No, child, what's on your mind? 04:02.640 --> 04:05.640 Did you ever hear of a Greek politician named Karylides? 04:05.640 --> 04:06.640 No, I can't say that I have. 04:06.640 --> 04:07.640 Got it in for you, has he? 04:07.640 --> 04:08.640 I don't know. 04:08.640 --> 04:09.640 I don't know. 04:09.640 --> 04:16.280 He hasn't got it in for me. 04:16.280 --> 04:18.760 They've got it in for both of us, Karylides and me. 04:18.760 --> 04:19.760 They who's they? 04:19.760 --> 04:22.760 The Schwarzerstein, the Blackstone. 04:22.760 --> 04:25.320 Schwarzerstein, Blackstone. 04:25.320 --> 04:27.400 Sounds like some sort of German sporting society. 04:27.400 --> 04:32.400 Well, you're not far off at that, but it's not the kind of sport you're thinking about. 04:32.400 --> 04:36.080 Their sport, Mr. Hannai, is war. 04:36.080 --> 04:37.080 Sounds serious. 04:37.080 --> 04:38.080 It is serious. 04:38.080 --> 04:39.080 It's deadly serious. 04:39.080 --> 04:41.080 Let me start from the beginning. 04:41.080 --> 04:45.160 I guess you know that all the countries over here have their spies, including your own. 04:45.160 --> 04:46.840 One hears of that sort of thing naturally. 04:46.840 --> 04:48.400 Well, it's true. 04:48.400 --> 04:49.400 I'm with your people. 04:49.400 --> 04:53.840 The only trouble is I've gotten in a little deeper than I figured out. 04:53.840 --> 04:54.840 Sounds like interesting work. 04:54.840 --> 04:57.200 It is, if you can stay alive. 04:57.200 --> 04:59.280 And right now, that's my big problem. 04:59.280 --> 05:02.480 Because tomorrow morning, it will be announced that this Karylides has been appointed prime 05:02.480 --> 05:05.960 minister of Greece and that he's going to pay an official visit to England. 05:05.960 --> 05:08.200 He'll arrive on the third. 05:08.200 --> 05:09.800 On the fourth, he'll be assassinated. 05:09.800 --> 05:13.240 I'm the only man in the world who can prevent it, and they know that. 05:13.240 --> 05:15.440 By they, you mean the German chaps? 05:15.440 --> 05:16.440 Yes, that's right. 05:16.440 --> 05:17.600 And that's why they're after me. 05:17.600 --> 05:20.000 Well, if you want my advice, I'd say there's nothing to it. 05:20.000 --> 05:21.840 Simply go to the authorities. 05:21.840 --> 05:22.840 No good, no good. 05:22.840 --> 05:25.720 They'd find out about it, and then they'd just change their plans. 05:25.720 --> 05:26.720 You know your business, I suppose. 05:26.720 --> 05:31.680 Still, I hardly see how the murder of an obscure Balkan politician can very well involve anyone 05:31.680 --> 05:32.680 in war. 05:32.680 --> 05:33.680 That will only be the incident. 05:33.680 --> 05:36.640 There's something else, something I can't tell you about yet. 05:36.640 --> 05:41.600 I'm not even sure about it myself, but believe me, Mr. Hannai, unless I am alive until the 05:41.600 --> 05:45.280 fifth, your country will be at war. 05:45.280 --> 05:47.760 This is all pretty hard for you to swallow, isn't it? 05:47.760 --> 05:49.920 Well, you must admit it's rather a tall tale. 05:49.920 --> 05:51.920 Well, let me show you something. 05:51.920 --> 05:54.440 Come over here by the window for a minute. 05:54.440 --> 05:55.440 Now pull the blinds. 05:55.440 --> 05:56.440 Very carefully. 05:56.440 --> 05:58.440 Tell me what you see. 05:58.440 --> 06:02.880 A couple of chaps loafing in a doorway. 06:02.880 --> 06:06.200 Doesn't it strike you as pretty late for people to be loafing in doorways? 06:06.200 --> 06:08.040 Waiting for someone, I suppose. 06:08.040 --> 06:09.040 That's right. 06:09.040 --> 06:10.040 They're waiting for me. 06:10.040 --> 06:11.040 Oh, I see. 06:11.040 --> 06:13.480 I'll even describe them to you. 06:13.480 --> 06:15.560 One is short, heavy set, dark. 06:15.560 --> 06:18.280 The other is tall, young, blonde. 06:18.280 --> 06:19.760 Am I right? 06:19.760 --> 06:21.960 Yes, by Jove you are. 06:21.960 --> 06:24.160 They are the Black Storm, Mr. Hannai. 06:24.160 --> 06:26.520 And there's another one who isn't even with them. 06:26.520 --> 06:27.760 The head man. 06:27.760 --> 06:29.600 He's older than either of these two. 06:29.600 --> 06:32.160 Chubby, thick glasses, like a professor. 06:32.160 --> 06:37.120 One of his eyes looks milky like he was getting a cataract and he's completely bald. 06:37.120 --> 06:40.000 If you ever run across him, Mr. Hannai, watch out. 06:40.000 --> 06:43.760 I don't intend to run across him. 06:43.760 --> 06:45.800 Can I stay here in your place for a few days? 06:45.800 --> 06:48.580 Lie low until I can get my plans figured out again. 06:48.580 --> 06:50.080 Just a few days, that's all I ask. 06:50.080 --> 06:53.680 Well, I can't very well turn you out in the street at this time of night after what you've 06:53.680 --> 06:54.680 told me, can I? 06:54.680 --> 06:55.680 Come along. 06:55.680 --> 06:57.640 I have an extra room, fortunately. 06:57.640 --> 06:59.320 Nothing posh, but comfortable enough. 06:59.320 --> 07:00.320 Thank you. 07:00.320 --> 07:01.320 Thank you. 07:01.320 --> 07:02.320 There you are. 07:02.320 --> 07:03.320 Still to you? 07:03.320 --> 07:04.960 Oh, it looks like heaven to me. 07:04.960 --> 07:05.960 Righto. 07:05.960 --> 07:08.000 Ready to turn in then, are you? 07:08.000 --> 07:09.000 Yes. 07:09.000 --> 07:10.960 Listen, I'm very sorry to trouble you. 07:10.960 --> 07:12.920 That's quite all right. 07:12.920 --> 07:14.800 You don't mind if I lock the door, do you? 07:14.800 --> 07:16.720 From my side. 07:16.720 --> 07:19.040 You still think maybe I'm crazy, huh? 07:19.040 --> 07:20.560 Maybe those two guys outside are my keepers. 07:20.560 --> 07:21.560 Oh, I wouldn't say that. 07:21.560 --> 07:22.920 Now go ahead, lock the door. 07:22.920 --> 07:24.640 In fact, it'll make me feel better. 07:24.640 --> 07:25.760 Right you are. 07:25.760 --> 07:26.760 And Mr. Hannai. 07:26.760 --> 07:27.760 Yeah? 07:27.760 --> 07:31.160 I'll be grateful to you until the day I die. 07:31.160 --> 07:37.720 It was a queer sort of yarn. 07:37.720 --> 07:39.680 I didn't quite know what to make of it. 07:39.680 --> 07:43.040 As a matter of fact, I was more than half inclined to think the poor fellow was a bit 07:43.040 --> 07:44.040 balmy. 07:44.040 --> 07:48.760 But I wasn't so sure after I got my London Times at the front door next morning, I had 07:48.760 --> 07:50.160 a look at the foreign page. 07:50.160 --> 07:56.000 Because there was a story about this Greek chap, Karolides, just as he told me. 07:56.000 --> 07:59.960 New prime minister planning a trip to England and all the rest. 07:59.960 --> 08:02.200 I went to Scudder's door and knocked. 08:02.200 --> 08:06.840 There was no answer, so I ventured to unlock the door and poke my head in. 08:06.840 --> 08:10.280 The shade was flapping at a wide open window, which was natural enough for Americans or 08:10.280 --> 08:11.280 fiends for fresh air. 08:11.280 --> 08:16.120 But there was something else that was not at all natural. 08:16.120 --> 08:21.200 Poor Scudder lay sprawled on his side across the bed, his face white as a sheet, his mouth 08:21.200 --> 08:23.800 working as he tried to speak to me. 08:23.800 --> 08:26.800 Am I... the steps? 08:26.800 --> 08:28.440 Scudder, what's the matter? 08:28.440 --> 08:37.720 The steps, low tide, the fifth, the thirty-nine steps. 08:37.720 --> 08:44.080 And then he rolled over in his face, quite dead, and I saw the knife was buried in his 08:44.080 --> 08:47.080 back to the hilt. 08:47.080 --> 08:52.680 When I got myself in hand, I began to think. 08:52.680 --> 08:54.640 It wasn't very pleasant thinking. 08:54.640 --> 08:58.560 Here I had hold of some sort of information that a man had just been killed for. 08:58.560 --> 09:03.680 And if I went to the police, the odds were good they'd hang me for his murder. 09:03.680 --> 09:06.760 Got to make a run for it, I thought, until I can think things through. 09:06.760 --> 09:07.760 Head for open country. 09:07.760 --> 09:09.920 Scotland would be best. 09:09.920 --> 09:12.200 And then I thought of something else. 09:12.200 --> 09:16.120 I crossed the room and looked carefully out of the window to the street below. 09:16.120 --> 09:20.020 There they were, sure enough, the same two lads. 09:20.020 --> 09:24.360 Not waiting for Scudder now, waiting for me. 09:24.360 --> 09:26.520 And this Scotland seemed a very long way off. 09:26.520 --> 09:31.200 And all at once I heard the sound that was my inspiration, the milkman rattling his cans 09:31.200 --> 09:33.280 on the stairs outside my flat. 09:33.280 --> 09:36.560 I ran to the door and opened it. 09:36.560 --> 09:37.560 I see my good man. 09:37.560 --> 09:38.560 Hey, morning, Governor. 09:38.560 --> 09:39.560 What's up? 09:39.560 --> 09:40.560 I'd like to have a word with you. 09:40.560 --> 09:41.560 What about? 09:41.560 --> 09:42.640 I'm late enough as it is. 09:42.640 --> 09:44.800 About making a sovereign for yourself. 09:44.800 --> 09:45.800 Step inside, will you? 09:45.800 --> 09:48.880 Oh, well, I'm not one to turn down good coin in the room. 09:48.880 --> 09:49.880 What's the game? 09:49.880 --> 09:53.680 I want the loan of your cap and jacket and your milk cans for just five minutes. 09:53.680 --> 09:54.680 It's for a bet. 09:54.680 --> 09:55.680 Well, I don't know. 09:55.680 --> 09:58.360 I'll tell you what, if you could make it two quid. 09:58.360 --> 09:59.360 Here you are. 09:59.360 --> 10:00.360 Righto. 10:00.360 --> 10:02.320 I never saw him a man to spoil a bit of sport. 10:02.320 --> 10:03.320 Thanks. 10:03.320 --> 10:05.480 Now, all you have to do is to stay here until I get back. 10:05.480 --> 10:06.480 Right you are. 10:06.480 --> 10:08.360 Governor, pull the cap down a bit more. 10:08.360 --> 10:09.360 There you are. 10:09.360 --> 10:10.920 As proper a milkman as ever, I see. 10:10.920 --> 10:11.920 Fine. 10:11.920 --> 10:13.720 Now give me the cans. 10:13.720 --> 10:15.720 And just wait here, understand? 10:15.720 --> 10:16.720 Right. 10:16.720 --> 10:17.720 Only five minutes now. 10:17.720 --> 10:18.720 Yeah, yeah, yeah. 10:18.720 --> 10:19.720 I'll be right back. 10:19.720 --> 10:20.720 And mind you, don't jostle that milk about. 10:20.720 --> 10:21.720 Oh, stop worrying and shut up. 10:21.720 --> 10:22.720 Well, all right. 10:22.720 --> 10:23.720 There's no need to get shirty. 10:23.720 --> 10:30.240 I opened the door and stepped out briskly onto the street. 10:30.240 --> 10:32.720 The two lads across the way looked at me sharply. 10:32.720 --> 10:35.320 But I kept on until I'd rounded the corner. 10:35.320 --> 10:38.560 It was only then I heard them coming after me. 10:38.560 --> 10:41.620 I tossed the milk cans over a wall and began to run. 10:41.620 --> 10:59.080 But I ran as I've never run before or since. 10:59.080 --> 11:02.600 I had caught the Northern Express from St. Pancras Station by a matter of inches. 11:02.600 --> 11:07.840 And for the moment I felt safe, I had a third class compartment of myself except for an 11:07.840 --> 11:10.800 old codger who dozed most of the time. 11:10.800 --> 11:14.920 And during the rest of this sleepless, sleepless night, I tried to get my thoughts together 11:14.920 --> 11:17.560 and hit them on some plan of action. 11:17.560 --> 11:20.880 As it happened, the matter was taken quite out of my hands. 11:20.880 --> 11:25.400 For at Newcastle, my traveling companion had bought a morning paper. 11:25.400 --> 11:33.920 You see here in the paper that our foreign office is meeting with the French, making 11:33.920 --> 11:35.800 an agreement in case of war. 11:35.800 --> 11:36.800 Really? 11:36.800 --> 11:42.680 And mapping out a plan of mutual defense, a disposition of our fleet, all that sort 11:42.680 --> 11:43.680 of thing. 11:43.680 --> 11:45.680 Very wise, I should say. 11:45.680 --> 11:49.120 Here's a jolly bit. 11:49.120 --> 11:50.120 Another murder. 11:50.120 --> 11:51.120 Murder? 11:51.120 --> 11:57.040 Some fellow named Hannai did in another chap with a knife. 11:57.040 --> 11:58.400 They found him? 11:58.400 --> 11:59.400 Not yet. 11:59.400 --> 12:02.560 A Portland-based murderer, they call him. 12:02.560 --> 12:12.280 Give the description, tall, fair, about 30, small mustache. 12:12.280 --> 12:13.280 Silly business. 12:13.280 --> 12:17.080 Could be most anybody. 12:17.080 --> 12:19.360 Could be you for that matter. 12:19.360 --> 12:21.360 You answer fairly well to that. 12:21.360 --> 12:23.680 Yes, I suppose I do. 12:23.680 --> 12:26.240 Thought to be traveling north, it says. 12:26.240 --> 12:30.480 You see, that could be you too. 12:30.480 --> 12:34.600 These must be stupid fellows to think that they can nab him with that sort of flimsy 12:34.600 --> 12:35.600 stuff. 12:35.600 --> 12:36.600 Yes. 12:36.600 --> 12:39.600 Could be notoriously stupid, of course. 12:39.600 --> 12:40.600 Hello. 12:40.600 --> 12:42.800 Wonder what they're stopping for. 12:42.800 --> 12:47.440 Oh, let a train go by, a goods train, possibly. 12:47.440 --> 12:49.520 Shade rules all hashed up lately. 12:49.520 --> 12:52.520 Don't run things the way they used to. 12:52.520 --> 12:53.520 I say guard. 12:53.520 --> 12:54.520 Yes, sir? 12:54.520 --> 12:55.520 Step in here a moment, will you? 12:55.520 --> 12:56.520 What's the delay? 12:56.520 --> 12:57.520 A lot of constabulary getting on, sir. 12:57.520 --> 13:00.720 Looking for the murderer. 13:00.720 --> 13:03.720 The Portland police, will you? 13:03.720 --> 13:04.720 That's right. 13:04.720 --> 13:06.720 They got a tippies on this train. 13:06.720 --> 13:07.720 Have they really? 13:07.720 --> 13:08.720 I say, what a luck. 13:08.720 --> 13:09.720 Well, I think I'll step down for a bit of air. 13:09.720 --> 13:10.720 You can't leave the train now, sir. 13:10.720 --> 13:11.720 Why not? 13:11.720 --> 13:12.720 Police orders, sir. 13:12.720 --> 13:13.720 Sorry. 13:13.720 --> 13:14.720 Here, hold on. 13:14.720 --> 13:15.720 Take your hands off me. 13:15.720 --> 13:16.720 Here, help me. 13:16.720 --> 13:17.720 Hold him. 13:17.720 --> 13:18.720 The Portland police murderer. 13:18.720 --> 13:19.720 The Portland police murderer. 13:19.720 --> 13:36.160 When I topped the rise of the moor, I saw they had men fanning out in every direction. 13:36.160 --> 13:38.720 You would soon have me hopelessly surrounded. 13:38.720 --> 13:40.680 There was only one chance. 13:40.680 --> 13:42.720 A country house a few hundred yards away. 13:42.720 --> 13:46.720 Nothing for it but to throw myself on the mercy of the owner. 13:46.720 --> 13:47.720 Yes? 13:47.720 --> 13:52.160 I'm sorry to bother you, but I'm in a bit of trouble. 13:52.160 --> 13:53.160 Could I come in? 13:53.160 --> 13:55.720 Well, I'm just leaving, going out for a walk. 13:55.720 --> 13:57.480 Are those police after you? 13:57.480 --> 13:59.200 Yes, I was on the London train. 13:59.200 --> 14:00.520 They stopped it down there. 14:00.520 --> 14:01.520 I'm suspected of something. 14:01.520 --> 14:03.520 I can assure you I didn't do. 14:03.520 --> 14:04.520 London train. 14:04.520 --> 14:05.520 Come in quickly. 14:05.520 --> 14:06.520 Thank you. 14:06.520 --> 14:07.520 They're coming up to the door. 14:07.520 --> 14:08.520 Just nip into this wardrobe closet until they're gone. 14:08.520 --> 14:09.520 Thank you. 14:09.520 --> 14:10.520 Thank you very much. 14:10.520 --> 14:11.520 I'll just close the door after you. 14:11.520 --> 14:12.520 You'll be all right. 14:12.520 --> 14:13.520 I'll be all right. 14:13.520 --> 14:14.520 Thank you. 14:14.520 --> 14:21.520 I'll just close the door after you. 14:21.520 --> 14:30.520 You'll be all right there for a bit. 14:30.520 --> 14:33.520 Sorry to intrude, Professor, but we're looking for a fugitive from justice. 14:33.520 --> 14:34.520 You haven't seen any strange men about, have you? 14:34.520 --> 14:35.520 Oh, I can't say that I have. 14:35.520 --> 14:36.520 Don't like to be alarming, sir, but the man's a murderer and he's dangerous. 14:36.520 --> 14:37.520 Sure you'll find no murderers here. 14:37.520 --> 14:38.520 You're welcome to search the ground. 14:38.520 --> 14:39.520 Very good, sir. 14:39.520 --> 14:44.520 You may come out now. 14:44.520 --> 14:47.520 Oh, thank you. 14:47.520 --> 14:50.960 I must say you did that beautifully and I can't tell you how grateful I am. 14:50.960 --> 14:56.480 And I'm grateful to you, Mr. Hunnigh. 14:56.480 --> 14:57.480 You know who I am? 14:57.480 --> 14:58.480 Indeed I do. 14:58.480 --> 15:01.800 And I would have turned you away if you hadn't been so persistent. 15:01.800 --> 15:06.480 Stute of me not to guess immediately, but in my wildest dreams I wouldn't have hoped 15:06.480 --> 15:09.040 to catch you on my own doorstep. 15:09.040 --> 15:10.040 Who are you? 15:10.040 --> 15:11.040 You don't know? 15:11.040 --> 15:15.960 I suppose that's because in your wildest nightmares you wouldn't dream of walking right into my 15:15.960 --> 15:16.960 house. 15:16.960 --> 15:21.720 Or maybe it's this hat I'm wearing and the light's not too bright. 15:21.720 --> 15:24.720 One moment. 15:24.720 --> 15:29.520 There now, Mr. Hunnigh. 15:29.520 --> 15:32.520 Can you guess? 15:32.520 --> 15:38.800 I've never seen him before, but Scudder had described him to a T. 15:38.800 --> 15:45.040 The head man of the Blackstone, chubby, thick, thick glasses, like a professor, completely 15:45.040 --> 15:48.840 bald, one of his eyes milky. 15:48.840 --> 15:55.160 And I remembered Scudder saying, if you run across him, Mr. Hunnigh, watch out. 15:55.160 --> 15:58.040 Well, here I'd run across him sure enough. 15:58.040 --> 16:01.240 And while I was gathering my wits, I sensed something. 16:01.240 --> 16:04.040 There was someone behind me. 16:04.040 --> 16:06.300 I moved, but not in time. 16:06.300 --> 16:09.720 Something came down with a sickening crash on the back of my head and I felt myself falling 16:09.720 --> 16:28.200 through black and bottomless infinity. 16:28.200 --> 16:35.280 Auto Light is bringing you Mr. Herbert Marshall in The 39 Steps, tonight's production in radio's 16:35.280 --> 16:49.920 outstanding theater of thrills, South Spence. 16:49.920 --> 16:51.440 Well, Hap, how's the team? 16:51.440 --> 16:53.800 You mean our basketball team, Harlan? 16:53.800 --> 16:54.800 No, no, no. 16:54.800 --> 16:57.800 I mean the Auto Light team in your Auto Light equipped car. 16:57.800 --> 17:02.800 That team of Auto Light electrical system units, including the coil, distributor, generator, 17:02.800 --> 17:06.400 motor, and all their thousands of component parts. 17:06.400 --> 17:11.280 Why they're all related by Auto Light engineering design and manufacturing skill to give your 17:11.280 --> 17:14.440 car the smoothest performance money can buy. 17:14.440 --> 17:17.680 That Auto Light electrical system does a big job, eh, Harlan? 17:17.680 --> 17:21.880 You said it, Hap, and it's vitally important to the smooth and efficient operation of your 17:21.880 --> 17:23.720 Auto Light equipped car. 17:23.720 --> 17:28.000 Then I'm off to treat my car to a checkup at an Auto Light service station. 17:28.000 --> 17:29.000 Right, Hap. 17:29.000 --> 17:33.800 In the meantime, visit your car dealer or nearest authorized Auto Light service station. 17:33.800 --> 17:38.100 You'll find the authorized Auto Light service station nearest you listed in the classified 17:38.100 --> 17:40.440 section of your telephone directory. 17:40.440 --> 17:45.420 Or call Western Union by number and ask for operator 25. 17:45.420 --> 17:51.800 And remember, from bumper to tail light, you're always right with Auto Light. 17:51.800 --> 17:57.800 And now, Auto Light brings back to our Hollywood sound stage Mr. Herbert Marshall in Elliot 17:57.800 --> 18:17.240 Lewis's production of The 39 Steps, a tale well calculated to keep you in suspense. 18:17.240 --> 18:22.160 I came to my senses with a raging headache and found that I was locked in a sort of storage 18:22.160 --> 18:26.480 room with a heavy bolted door and barred windows. 18:26.480 --> 18:31.200 Coming to the window, I saw that it was nearly dusk and that there was a powerful touring 18:31.200 --> 18:33.920 car sitting in the drive. 18:33.920 --> 18:37.120 I surmised that they were only waiting for doubt to dispose of me permanently. 18:37.120 --> 18:42.240 But while I was taking mournful stock of my seemingly hopeless surroundings, I heard 18:42.240 --> 18:44.640 something that made my heart leap. 18:44.640 --> 18:45.640 Someone at the door. 18:45.640 --> 18:57.520 I hit him on the back of the neck as hard as I could. 18:57.520 --> 19:02.320 Seconds later, I was at the wheel of the touring car and speeding out into open country. 19:02.320 --> 19:09.320 I drove... 19:09.320 --> 19:13.080 All night I drove on the white roads of Ribbon-le-Maur, circling, doubling, climbing. 19:13.080 --> 19:18.360 At dawn I drove off the road into a narrow veil among tall, fair trees and I stayed there, 19:18.360 --> 19:28.360 hidden among the trees, till nearly dusk. 19:28.360 --> 19:31.880 I drove all the next night until I reached a fishing village called Rough. 19:31.880 --> 19:39.200 There I came to a kind of pass where the chimney of a solitary house sent up a plume of smoke. 19:39.200 --> 19:41.360 In the distance the sea. 19:41.360 --> 19:46.160 The road swung over a bridge and leaning on the parapet was a young man. 19:46.160 --> 19:48.600 I grew up beside him. 19:48.600 --> 19:50.360 Good evening, is that place an inn? 19:50.360 --> 19:52.080 At your service, sir. 19:52.080 --> 19:53.080 I'm the landlord. 19:53.080 --> 19:55.000 You are the young to be an innkeeper? 19:55.000 --> 19:57.840 Well, it wasn't my choice of a profession. 19:57.840 --> 19:59.400 You see, I wanted to write books. 19:59.400 --> 20:02.200 Well, an innkeeper should make a good storyteller. 20:02.200 --> 20:06.840 Aye, maybe in the old days when you had pilgrims and ballad singers and highwaymen. 20:06.840 --> 20:10.400 But there's even more adventure out on these roads today. 20:10.400 --> 20:12.680 If you have eyes to see it. 20:12.680 --> 20:15.200 Maybe you're rubbing shoulders with it right now. 20:15.200 --> 20:16.200 You think so? 20:16.200 --> 20:17.600 Put me up for the night. 20:17.600 --> 20:20.400 Give me a hot supper and I'll tell you a true tale. 20:20.400 --> 20:29.800 And a month from now you can make it into a novel. 20:29.800 --> 20:31.800 Well I pitched him a lovely yarn. 20:31.800 --> 20:34.880 I altered details but I put in some of the truth. 20:34.880 --> 20:39.760 Told him I was a mining magnate from Kimberley who had crossed a gang of cutthroats. 20:39.760 --> 20:44.440 I told him they chased me across the ocean, killed my best friend in Portland Place and 20:44.440 --> 20:46.200 now they were on my tracks. 20:46.200 --> 20:50.800 And on top of that, the police thought I had done the killing. 20:50.800 --> 20:52.720 He believed every word. 20:52.720 --> 20:54.520 He was young but he was the man I needed. 20:54.520 --> 20:58.360 He told me I could stay as long as I liked and nobody would know. 20:58.360 --> 21:03.000 And the only pay he wanted was more stories about my adventures. 21:03.000 --> 21:05.880 So two present days went by. 21:05.880 --> 21:11.080 I stayed in my room, ate in my room and I began to breathe easier. 21:11.080 --> 21:15.920 No sign of the black stone and no more alarming news in the papers about the Portland Place 21:15.920 --> 21:16.920 murder. 21:16.920 --> 21:19.920 Then one night. 21:19.920 --> 21:23.680 Twenty three pages of newsprint and not a story in all of it. 21:23.680 --> 21:24.680 Oh? 21:24.680 --> 21:26.560 Politics is all assassins. 21:26.560 --> 21:30.080 Shot some Greek chap in London, Carol Idyes. 21:30.080 --> 21:31.080 Carol Idyes? 21:31.080 --> 21:33.520 Just as Cutter said. 21:33.520 --> 21:34.520 You know him? 21:34.520 --> 21:37.000 Oh no, I've heard about him. 21:37.000 --> 21:39.200 Look here, defense packs. 21:39.200 --> 21:41.720 Meetings between us and the French. 21:41.720 --> 21:43.960 Just gives those silly Frenchmen an excuse for a trip. 21:43.960 --> 21:46.920 Did you see their picture in the London paper I brought back this afternoon? 21:46.920 --> 21:48.360 I didn't notice it, no. 21:48.360 --> 21:51.960 Oh, I have it over here on the desk. 21:51.960 --> 21:54.160 The picture of them going into the final meeting. 21:54.160 --> 21:57.920 I never saw such an idiotic looking crew in my life. 21:57.920 --> 21:58.920 Here. 21:58.920 --> 22:03.640 That one with his little mustache looking like he smells something bad. 22:03.640 --> 22:07.800 And that young slim one there rolling his eyes for the ladies, I'll bet. 22:07.800 --> 22:10.640 And look at that chubby chap with the thick glasses. 22:10.640 --> 22:12.640 He looks blind in one eye. 22:12.640 --> 22:13.640 What? 22:13.640 --> 22:16.800 Whatever's the matter, sir? 22:16.800 --> 22:24.800 You looked like you'd just caught sight of Beelzebub. 22:24.800 --> 22:25.800 I had. 22:25.800 --> 22:28.200 I'd seen Satan himself. 22:28.200 --> 22:32.000 The head man of the German black stone was looking placidly out at me from that newspaper 22:32.000 --> 22:33.920 picture. 22:33.920 --> 22:35.840 He'd been there with the French delegation. 22:35.840 --> 22:37.520 He'd attended those secret meetings. 22:37.520 --> 22:41.040 And now the plans for the defense of England and France, for the disposition of the British 22:41.040 --> 22:45.520 fleet were in his hands on their way to Germany. 22:45.520 --> 22:48.440 That was what Scuddle hadn't been able to tell me. 22:48.440 --> 22:51.480 But he'd said something just before he died. 22:51.480 --> 22:54.560 Low tide, the fifth. 22:54.560 --> 22:57.040 Did he mean they were sailing at low tide on the fifth? 22:57.040 --> 22:59.120 But from what point? 22:59.120 --> 23:00.120 Sailing in what? 23:00.120 --> 23:03.040 I excused myself and went into the bar at the inn. 23:03.040 --> 23:07.720 It was crowded with fishermen playing darts, drinking, arguing about the day's catch. 23:07.720 --> 23:09.400 Here you are, sir. 23:09.400 --> 23:10.720 A pint of half and half. 23:10.720 --> 23:11.720 Oh, thank you. 23:11.720 --> 23:12.720 Oh, here. 23:12.720 --> 23:13.720 Give me another drink. 23:13.720 --> 23:15.920 Are you not taking a wee bit too much there, Ralph? 23:15.920 --> 23:17.520 Oh, had a rotten day. 23:17.520 --> 23:18.520 Rotten luck. 23:18.520 --> 23:19.520 Eight blessed hours. 23:19.520 --> 23:22.680 I was anchored off the 39 steps. 23:22.680 --> 23:25.880 Didn't haul in more than two dozen for the whole day. 23:25.880 --> 23:26.880 39 steps. 23:26.880 --> 23:27.880 39 steps. 23:27.880 --> 23:28.880 That's the way. 23:28.880 --> 23:31.880 That was what Scuddle said. 23:31.880 --> 23:34.840 The steps at low tide. 23:34.840 --> 23:35.840 Boutender. 23:35.840 --> 23:36.840 Aye, sir. 23:36.840 --> 23:37.840 Will I fill her up again? 23:37.840 --> 23:38.840 If you don't mind. 23:38.840 --> 23:41.400 I thought I'd do some fishing tomorrow. 23:41.400 --> 23:44.160 How do I get to the 39 steps? 23:44.160 --> 23:47.600 Oh, you'll find a sort of a track out over the headland. 23:47.600 --> 23:48.600 That takes you there. 23:48.600 --> 23:51.000 Are there really 39 of them? 23:51.000 --> 23:53.240 Well, you know, sir, I've never counted them. 23:53.240 --> 23:56.480 I've been down them two or three times, too, going to the cave. 23:56.480 --> 23:58.040 Just have a look around, you can. 23:58.040 --> 24:00.000 Oh, that cave gives me the creeps. 24:00.000 --> 24:01.880 Here, sir, where are you going? 24:01.880 --> 24:03.880 You owe me three and five. 24:03.880 --> 24:06.880 Oh, sorry. 24:06.880 --> 24:15.320 What's your big hurry, my boy? 24:15.320 --> 24:16.320 Sorry, officer. 24:16.320 --> 24:18.320 Haven't seen you around rough before. 24:18.320 --> 24:20.200 Here, let me take a look. 24:20.200 --> 24:21.200 Some other time. 24:21.200 --> 24:23.160 You look a lot like that fellow there after. 24:23.160 --> 24:25.400 Portland place murderer, they call him. 24:25.400 --> 24:27.400 You just come along with me. 24:27.400 --> 24:30.400 Wait, you won't get away. 24:30.400 --> 24:31.400 It's the murderer. 24:31.400 --> 24:32.400 It's the murderer. 24:32.400 --> 24:39.600 It was old when heavier than I, so I out distanced him easily enough. 24:39.600 --> 24:41.600 But it was only a question of time. 24:41.600 --> 24:45.960 I had to work fast, find the steps, find where they led. 24:45.960 --> 24:49.440 I ran all the way to the edge of the headland overlooking the sea. 24:49.440 --> 24:52.560 The sky was overcast and it was dark as my pocket. 24:52.560 --> 24:57.000 I stumbled along, barking my shins on rock and scratching my face and hands in the gorse. 24:57.000 --> 25:03.440 Then I found them, narrow steps carved in the face of the cliff, leading down. 25:03.440 --> 25:07.360 I felt my way along the rock wall going down step by step. 25:07.360 --> 25:10.320 They led into the cliff itself. 25:10.320 --> 25:12.440 I counted them as I went. 25:12.440 --> 25:13.440 Thirty-five. 25:13.440 --> 25:14.440 Thirty-six. 25:14.440 --> 25:15.440 Thirty-seven. 25:15.440 --> 25:16.440 Thirty-eight. 25:16.440 --> 25:17.440 Thirty-nine. 25:17.440 --> 25:18.440 Thirty-nine. 25:18.440 --> 25:19.440 Thirty-nine. 25:19.440 --> 25:20.440 Thirty-nine. 25:20.440 --> 25:21.440 Thirty-nine. 25:21.440 --> 25:22.440 Thirty-nine. 25:22.440 --> 25:23.440 Thirty-nine. 25:23.440 --> 25:24.440 Thirty-nine. 25:24.440 --> 25:25.440 Thirty-nine. 25:25.440 --> 25:26.440 Thirty-nine. 25:26.440 --> 25:27.440 Thirty-nine. 25:27.440 --> 25:28.440 Thirty-nine. 25:28.440 --> 25:29.440 Thirty-nine. 25:29.440 --> 25:30.440 Thirty-nine. 25:30.440 --> 25:31.440 Thirty-nine. 25:31.440 --> 25:32.440 Thirty-nine. 25:32.440 --> 25:35.360 The steps ended on what seemed to be a wide shelf of rock. 25:35.360 --> 25:39.720 I strained my eyes in the blackness of the cave and gradually made out the dull sheen 25:39.720 --> 25:40.900 of water. 25:40.900 --> 25:45.360 Below me was an underground lake that seemed to rise and fall with the movement of the 25:45.360 --> 25:46.860 sea. 25:46.860 --> 25:50.560 I was too intent on seeing if there was a boat of any kind in that strange underground 25:50.560 --> 25:55.120 harbor so I didn't hear footsteps behind me until I was pinned in the beam of a torchlight. 25:55.120 --> 25:56.120 Is that the water? 25:56.120 --> 25:57.120 Mr. Tanai. 25:57.120 --> 25:58.120 Who? 25:58.120 --> 25:59.120 What have you found? 25:59.120 --> 26:00.120 I heard the excitement. 26:00.120 --> 26:01.120 They're looking for you. 26:01.120 --> 26:03.120 I brought you a gun. 26:03.120 --> 26:06.120 Tell me, can boats sail into this lake? 26:06.120 --> 26:07.120 Boats? 26:07.120 --> 26:09.120 Aye, a rowboat maybe. 26:09.120 --> 26:12.120 The water is deep, but there's no headroom. 26:12.120 --> 26:14.120 It's nearly low tide now, isn't it? 26:14.120 --> 26:16.120 Almost to the minute. 26:16.120 --> 26:17.120 Submarine! 26:17.120 --> 26:19.120 A submarine doesn't need headroom. 26:19.120 --> 26:20.120 Give me your light. 26:20.120 --> 26:22.120 Now, look, look. 26:22.120 --> 26:25.120 Isn't that an underground stream coming in from the left? 26:25.120 --> 26:26.120 What's that? 26:26.120 --> 26:29.120 Something coming down the stream. 26:29.120 --> 26:31.120 A dory, three men in it. 26:31.120 --> 26:32.120 There they are. 26:32.120 --> 26:34.120 The spy is going to be done. 26:34.120 --> 26:35.120 Now run and get help. 26:35.120 --> 26:36.120 Quickly. 26:36.120 --> 26:37.120 Right you are, sir. 26:39.120 --> 26:40.120 Who's there? 26:43.120 --> 26:44.120 Who is that? 26:46.120 --> 26:48.120 I have a gun this time, Professor. 26:48.120 --> 26:50.120 Mr. Tanai, quickly. 26:50.120 --> 26:51.120 No, keep rowing. 26:51.120 --> 26:55.120 Surrender, Professor, or I shoot. 27:11.120 --> 27:16.120 Seven weeks later, as all the world knows, we were at war. 27:16.120 --> 27:20.120 But German had been so certain of success that his plans were by then 27:20.120 --> 27:22.120 too far in motion to be halted. 27:22.120 --> 27:27.120 For myself, I served as an officer of infantry throughout the show. 27:27.120 --> 27:30.120 But I like to think I did my best bit, 27:30.120 --> 27:50.120 for ever I went into uniform. 27:50.120 --> 27:52.120 Southspence. 27:52.120 --> 27:54.120 Presented by Auto Light. 27:54.120 --> 27:57.120 Tonight's star, Mr. Herbert Marshall. 27:57.120 --> 28:00.120 This is Harlow Wilcox speaking for Auto Light, 28:00.120 --> 28:04.120 world's largest independent manufacturer of automotive electrical equipment. 28:04.120 --> 28:08.120 Auto Light is proud to serve the greatest names in the industry. 28:08.120 --> 28:11.120 That's why during the early months of 52, 28:11.120 --> 28:16.120 the Auto Light family will join in saluting the leading car manufacturers 28:16.120 --> 28:19.120 who install Auto Light products as original equipment. 28:19.120 --> 28:23.120 Our Auto Light family is made up of the nearly 30,000 men and women 28:23.120 --> 28:27.120 in 28 great Auto Light plants from coast to coast 28:27.120 --> 28:30.120 and in still other Auto Light plants in many foreign countries. 28:30.120 --> 28:33.120 Our family also includes more than 18,000 people 28:33.120 --> 28:36.120 who have invested a portion of their savings in Auto Light, 28:36.120 --> 28:41.120 as well as 96,000 Auto Light distributors and dealers in the United States 28:41.120 --> 28:45.120 and thousands more in Canada and throughout the world. 28:45.120 --> 28:48.120 Our Auto Light family will salute Crosley Motors 28:48.120 --> 28:50.120 on the next Auto Light Suspense television program. 28:50.120 --> 28:55.120 If you live in a television area, check the day and time of Suspense on television 28:55.120 --> 28:57.120 so that you'll be sure to see this program. 28:57.120 --> 28:59.120 And remember, be with us next week 28:59.120 --> 29:03.120 for another thrilling Auto Light Suspense program on radio. 29:03.120 --> 29:09.120 The Next Day 29:09.120 --> 29:13.120 Next week on Suspense, our star will be Mr. Joseph Carton 29:13.120 --> 29:16.120 in a story about three people adrift in mid-Atlantic, 29:16.120 --> 29:18.120 each wanting the other dead. 29:18.120 --> 29:21.120 A tale we call A Watery Grave. 29:21.120 --> 29:25.120 In weeks to come, we shall also present Frank Lovejoy and Robert Young, 29:25.120 --> 29:30.120 all on Suspense. 29:30.120 --> 29:33.120 Suspense is produced and directed by Elliot Lewis 29:33.120 --> 29:37.120 with music composed by Lucian Morawick and conducted by Lud Gluskin. 29:37.120 --> 29:41.120 The 39 Steps was adapted for Suspense by Sylvia Richards 29:41.120 --> 29:43.120 from the book by John Buchan, 29:43.120 --> 29:46.120 featured in the cast were Tudor Owen, Joseph Kearns, Ben Wright, 29:46.120 --> 29:50.120 William Johnstone, Charles Davis, Byron Cain, and Raymond Lawrence. 29:50.120 --> 29:53.120 Herbert Marshall may be heard each week in his own radio program, 29:53.120 --> 29:56.120 The Man Called X. 29:56.120 --> 30:16.120 This is the CBS Radio Network.