Episode 324: The Wages of Sin

[00:00:27] Speaker A: Welcome to the mysterious old Radio Listening Society, a podcast dedicated to suspense, crime and horror stories from the golden age of radio. I'm Eric. I'm Tim. [00:00:36] Speaker B: And I'm Joshua. [00:00:37] Speaker C: We love mysterious old time radio stories, but do they stand the test of time? That's what we're here to find out. [00:00:43] Speaker B: Today, we present an episode of my choosing the Wages of Sin from suspense. [00:00:50] Speaker A: Radio's outstanding Theater of thrills debuted on CBS in 1942 and ran for an astounding 20 years. During that time, suspense featured a cavalcade of stars, including Today's leading lady, Barbara Stanwick. Although Stanwick made multiple appearances in radio programs such as Screen directors Playhouse, the Jack Benny Program, and Luxe Radio Theater, Wages of Sin was her first and only guest spot on suspense. [00:01:16] Speaker C: Barbara Stanwick rose to prominence in the 1930s with her versatile performances across various genres, including drama, comedy and film noir. With the career spanning over five decades, she became known for her portrayals of complex women, earning four Academy Award nominations and numerous accolades, solidifying her legacy as one of Hollywood's iconic leading ladies. Notable roles include the title character in Stella Dallas, Phyllis Dietrichson in Double Indemnity, Sugar Puss O'Shea in Ball of Fire, and, of particular interest to old time radio fans, Mrs. Stevenson in the film adaptation of Lucille Fletcher's classic radio drama Sorry, wrong number. [00:01:49] Speaker B: The Wages of Sin was written by E. Jack Newman and John Michael Hayes. Newman was a prolific radio writer who contributed scripts to yours truly, Johnny Dollar, Richard diamond, private detective, Fort Laramie, have gun, will travel, and more. His experience in radio led him to television, where he wrote for the Untouchables, Dr. Kildare, the Twilight Zone, and Gunsmoke, just to name a few. John Michael Hayes was also a veteran radio writer with credits ranging from the adventures of Sam Spade to my favorite husband. Today he is best remembered for his screenplays, including four collaborations with Alfred Hitchcock, to catch a thief, the trouble with Harry the man who knew too much, and rear window. [00:02:35] Speaker A: And now let's listen to the wages of sin from suspense. First aired October 19, 1950. [00:02:43] Speaker C: It's late at night and a chill has set in. You're alone and the only light you see is coming from an antique radio. Listen to the sounds coming from the speaker. Listen to the music and listen to the voices you. [00:03:00] Speaker D: Autolight and its 96,000 dealers present suspense. Tonight, autolight brings you the wages of sin, a suspense play starring Miss Barbara Stanwick as Ruby Miller. You know her, Dorick? Yeah, Ruby Miller. Pretty good picture of her. This is her apartment. She's had it for two months. What was he doing here? You don't know? He was dating when we got here. Shot within the hour. Hello, captain. We've been working hard. Hello, Frank. Who is he? Driver's license says his name's David Madlock, age 42. This city, it is Madlock. Hard to recognize him with that kind of shooting. Keep going, Frank. Desk clerk Frank Demarco saw Madlock come through lobby about 09:00 alone. He got it here a few minutes later. What was Madlock doing here? Don't know. DeMarco and a day clerk say they never saw him in building before. Who reported it? Janitor heard the shots, called downtown, saw nothing. Madlock's got a wife. I sent some boys out to pick her up. Okay. Doc tells me this is Ruby Miller's apartment. That's right. She rented it two months ago. Haven't located her yet. Now the tabloids are going to make this look juicy. David Madlock slain and beauty's apartment. If I know those tabloids we got in this town, that'll be tame. All right, let's find her and get her story. I want an all points bullet now. Through we, Miller. Right away. She finally got herself messed up in something too big to handle. [00:04:33] Speaker E: In just a moment, Miss Barbara Stanwick in the first act of the wages of sin. [00:04:40] Speaker D: What's going on, Milo? [00:04:41] Speaker E: Why, it's tune up time. [00:04:42] Speaker D: Half for what? [00:04:43] Speaker E: Your car. Get it tuned up before winter weather wages war on your engine. Winterize it by putting in Antifreeze, change of oil and grease. [00:04:51] Speaker F: And check the spark plugs, too. [00:04:54] Speaker E: A realistic reminder, Johnny. Plug Jack. Because spark plugs are the very heart of your car's ignition system. [00:05:00] Speaker D: You mean spark plugs need winterizing, too? [00:05:02] Speaker E: Why, they sure do, hap. And that's why it'll pay you to see your friendly autolight spark plug dealer. He'll replace weary, worn and wilted spark plugs with world famous ignition engineered Autolite spark plugs. They're engineered by the same autolight engineers who design coils, distributors and all the other important parts of the ignition system used as original factory equipment on many leading makes of America's finest cars. That's why Autolite spark plugs operate as a perfect team with your car's ignition system. That's why you can't buy better spark plugs for your car than autolight. [00:05:34] Speaker D: Okay, Harlow, I'll have my car winterized. [00:05:36] Speaker F: And check the spark plugs, too. [00:05:39] Speaker E: Right. So, folks, see your friendly Autolite spark plug dealer. And whether you choose the standard type or the resistor type, you can be sure you're always right with autolight. [00:05:48] Speaker D: And now, with the wages of sin and the performance of Miss Barbara Stanwick as Ruby Miller, Autolight hopes once again to keep you in suspense. I don't care who you are. [00:06:10] Speaker E: Nobody gets in. [00:06:11] Speaker F: This is my apartment, pinhead. [00:06:13] Speaker D: Hey, what's going on out here? Sergeant? Who's this? [00:06:16] Speaker F: Who are you? Hey, what's the idea? All these cops? You're holding crime school in my apartment or something? [00:06:21] Speaker D: You're Ruby Miller. [00:06:22] Speaker F: Yeah, that's right. [00:06:22] Speaker D: Come on in. [00:06:23] Speaker F: Nice of you. [00:06:24] Speaker D: I was just starting out to look for you. [00:06:26] Speaker F: What's going on around here, anyhow? I leave for a couple of hours. My rug. [00:06:32] Speaker D: His name is Frank Madlock. Interested? [00:06:35] Speaker F: What did he bleed all over my rug for? [00:06:37] Speaker D: Come on, sister, the captain wants to see you. [00:06:39] Speaker F: Well, I want to see him. What kind of a police force do we have in this town? A lady can't go out for a drink without coming home to fight. Get your hands off me. When I finish my judo course, I'm going to look you up. [00:06:51] Speaker D: Hello, Ruby. [00:06:52] Speaker F: Oh, I draw all the dreamy ones. I might have known it'd be you, Captain Salvador. [00:06:58] Speaker D: That's all, Frank. [00:06:59] Speaker F: Yeah, that's all, Frank. [00:07:02] Speaker D: Tell me about yourself, Ruby. [00:07:03] Speaker F: You losing your hair. [00:07:04] Speaker D: It's falling out worrying about you. The last time was 47. No visible means of support. [00:07:10] Speaker F: I didn't know we were going to talk about old times or I cracked a bottle. [00:07:13] Speaker D: We aren't going to talk about that guy lying in there in front of your fireplace. [00:07:17] Speaker F: Well, they tell me his name is David Madlock. [00:07:20] Speaker D: You know that's his name. What's he doing? [00:07:21] Speaker F: How should I know? I never saw him my whole life. [00:07:24] Speaker D: How long have you been seeing him? What did you fight about, Ruby? You've had four arrests and one conviction in your time. You know we always get the answers, captain. [00:07:33] Speaker F: Doric Salvador Copperoo. Been in the drugstore since 830. 15 people saw me drinking my malted milk while junior in there. Must have been getting his brains blown out. [00:07:43] Speaker D: Do they all have? [00:07:44] Speaker F: Every one of them. It was a bowling team on their way home, the loafers. [00:07:49] Speaker D: You're telling me that corpse is a man you never saw before in your life? [00:07:51] Speaker F: That's exactly what I am telling you. Your crew will find that out by poking into everything and everybody in town. They'll also find my alibis good and that your guesses are bad. If Madlock, or whatever his name is, staggers into my apartment while I'm out and somebody bumps him off. That's not my fault. And you nor any other single headed cop is going to write it any different. [00:08:12] Speaker D: All right, Ruby, let's go downtown. [00:08:20] Speaker F: Well, Dorick dream. You booked me as a material witness, as expected. After all, you had to take somebody downtown. The newspapers tossed a lot of type around. My picture was in every paper, every edition. But after two days, it died on the vine. I made three inches in the second section after that. Ruby Miller released for lack of evidence the morning I got out. I'll wait while you blush. I wanted a bath more than anything. Right. All right, just a minute. I'm coming. [00:08:57] Speaker D: Hello, Ruby. I missed you before you left the station. [00:09:00] Speaker F: I'm tired of looking at cops. [00:09:02] Speaker D: Captain, this will only take a minute. [00:09:03] Speaker F: I'll time you. [00:09:04] Speaker D: Thanks. I've just been out talking to Marie Madlock, Dave Madlock's widow. The way things happened, she still thinks that you and her husband were real palsy on the side. She hates the memory of him. [00:09:16] Speaker F: Now, don't you ever give up? [00:09:18] Speaker D: I don't like to see a nice woman like Mrs. Madlock running around believing something that isn't true. My boys peeked under every rock in town before you were a sprung, Ruby. They came up with two things that got you out. You were in the drugstore while Madlock was being killed and you never knew the guy. I'm convinced of that. [00:09:34] Speaker F: My bathwater is getting cold. So am I. [00:09:36] Speaker D: Look, Ruby, you moved in that apartment two months ago, paid $400 rent in advance the same day you deposited $1,000 at Freeman's national. You also bought $400 worth of clothes and trinkets. [00:09:45] Speaker F: I hit a horse. [00:09:46] Speaker D: Somebody gave you a dough to play a part in this. Who? [00:09:48] Speaker F: We've gone all through this before. [00:09:50] Speaker E: Who, Ruby? [00:09:52] Speaker D: A key to this apartment was found on Madlock's body. How'd he get that key? [00:09:56] Speaker F: I don't know, captain. I just don't know. I should have my lock changed. [00:10:01] Speaker D: All right, Ruby, I'm leaving. [00:10:03] Speaker F: Sorry you didn't have any luck, captain. [00:10:06] Speaker D: You know, whatever you get out of this, they'll take 20 times as much back from you, right down to your soul. Madlock's killing was top drawer stuff with some big people involved. People who don't care anything about you because you were just background scenery. They might want to change at any time. Aren't you scared, Ruby? [00:10:25] Speaker F: You'll never see the day. [00:10:27] Speaker D: Okay, Grandisamo Boliardo. [00:10:32] Speaker F: What does that mean? [00:10:34] Speaker D: You're a liar, Ruby. [00:10:42] Speaker F: Where did you get off thinking I was scared? [00:10:45] Speaker D: What was it to be scared about? [00:10:47] Speaker F: I held three aces in the deck. And that was enough, at least to make a starting bid. When I looked out my window that night and saw two men in overcoats standing across the street from the apartment, I felt extra brave. I wasn't worried one bit. Hello? [00:11:05] Speaker D: Ruby Miller? [00:11:06] Speaker F: Yes. [00:11:07] Speaker D: What are you still doing in town? [00:11:09] Speaker F: I'm waiting for a phone call. But it's not from you. [00:11:12] Speaker D: You're asking for a doll. I'll be over. [00:11:14] Speaker F: Well, say hello to the two cops standing in front of my apartment house. Salvador's got them on me 24 hours a day. [00:11:21] Speaker D: Play it smart, doll. Get out of town while you got legs to walk on. [00:11:26] Speaker F: Listen, you thick lip creep. I want to talk to him, the big man, right away. And if I don't, I'll talk to the cops. [00:11:31] Speaker D: I just said how you better act. [00:11:40] Speaker F: Sorry to disappoint you again, Dork. But I wasn't scared that time, either. A spook call was always standard operating procedure for those kind of people. It let me down a little low having them think I was so square. I wasn't expecting it. When I went to bed that night, I was dreaming of a new kind of life. And it started the next day with bells. [00:12:04] Speaker D: Hello, Miss Miller. My name is Victor Sheridan. I'm the attorney for the big man. And that's as close as you're going to get. Take it or leave it. My offices are in the equity building, suite 203. I'll expect you anytime today. [00:12:25] Speaker F: That was the music I was waiting for, Doric. I'll expect you anytime. And I made any time. An hour later, Salvador's two shadows followed me when I left my apartment and went downtown. So I wasn't worried that anybody might interrupt my conversation with Sheridan and Carter, attorneys at law. [00:12:44] Speaker D: Call me Sheridan. [00:12:45] Speaker F: Sure. [00:12:46] Speaker D: My client asked me to speak to you. [00:12:49] Speaker F: Speak up. [00:12:49] Speaker D: All right. My client has been disturbed by your attitude. [00:12:53] Speaker F: Good for him. [00:12:54] Speaker D: He wonders why you haven't fulfilled your part of the bargain. After all, you've been well paid. [00:12:58] Speaker F: You call that money? A man I never saw before in my life came to me a couple of months ago and made the deal. One $500.02 months rent on a nice apartment. And on a certain night I was to blow town. Never come back. [00:13:09] Speaker D: You should have done it. [00:13:10] Speaker F: I saw a set up a mile off. How dumb do you think I am? [00:13:14] Speaker D: That is not the question, Miss Miller. How dumb do you think we are? [00:13:18] Speaker F: Dumb enough to know he needed a place to do a killing and someone with a rep like mine to throw the cops off. I know who he is. Where he is, how he did it and why he did it. Tell the client I want a payoff to keep quiet. Lots of payoff. Or I can tell a whole lot of cops something that will keep them absolutely spellbound. [00:13:38] Speaker D: I see. Well, will this be enough to start with, Miss Miller? [00:13:44] Speaker F: A sonny, this is the major leagues. I want ten to start with. [00:13:51] Speaker D: I haven't had much money in the office. [00:13:52] Speaker F: You can get it. There's a bank downstairs. [00:13:55] Speaker D: You're playing a very dangerous game, Miss Miller. [00:13:58] Speaker F: I've got built in police protection at all times. All you have to worry about is coming through. [00:14:04] Speaker D: That protection may not last forever. [00:14:07] Speaker F: Let me worry about that, Miss Miller. [00:14:09] Speaker D: It's not up to me to decide the outcome of this affair. But somewhere, someplace, sometime you'll be alone on a dark street. And I wouldn't want to say what might happen to you. [00:14:19] Speaker F: Well, don't you worry, buster. I'm going to be burning money to keep all those dark streets bright. Now, call the bank. [00:14:39] Speaker D: Autolite is bringing you miss Barbara Stanwick in the wages of sin. Tonight's production in radio's outstanding theater of thrills. Suspend. [00:14:59] Speaker F: The spark plugs, too. [00:15:01] Speaker D: Hey, that Johnny Plug check's persistent, isn't he? [00:15:04] Speaker E: Sure, haps. Johnny knows it's necessary now to get your car made ready for dependable motoring during the cold days ahead. [00:15:10] Speaker F: Check the spark plugs, too. [00:15:12] Speaker E: You see, spark plugs are the very heart of the car's ignition system. When they're right, your chances of starting, even in the coldest weather are better than ever. So it'll pay you to replace worn out spark plugs with Autolight spark plugs. The spark plugs that are world famous for quality and dependability. [00:15:27] Speaker D: Autolight spark plugs. [00:15:29] Speaker E: Nothing finer happen when you replace worn out spark plugs with ignition engineered Autolight spark plugs, you get smoother performance, quick starts and gas savings. [00:15:39] Speaker D: You've sold me, Harlow. [00:15:41] Speaker E: Well, folks, see your friendly Autolite spark plug dealer and have him replace worn out spark plugs with world famous ignition engineered autolite spark plugs. And whether you choose the resistor type or the standard type, you can be sure money can't buy better spark plugs. You're always right with Autolite. [00:15:58] Speaker D: And now, Autolight brings back to our Hollywood Soundstage Miss Barbara Stanwick in Elliot Lewis's production of the wages of sin, a tale well calculated to keep you in suspense. [00:16:21] Speaker F: Don't think those next few months weren't great, Captain Salvador. They were the last days of Pompeii, with Christmas and a polish wedding thrown in I picked up my checks regularly from Victor Sheridan and I spent them regularly on Ruby Miller. I never could understand why the two men you always had shadowing me didn't pick up Victor Sheridan. But why look a gift horse in the mouth? I was busy enough being the bell of the boulevard, the girl most likely to succeed, clothes all over the place, money, any place that were in clothes, nightclubs. I was a bigger attraction than the chorus girl. Men like flies in a sugar bowl. And don't think I ever got tired of it. Why, I even got tapped by the 400. Of course, I was sort of a late starter, but so were brokers, tip and the Yankees. Let's see, there was Douglas Elward Tisdale, who had the mink ranches. Clayton Dashel, who made governors. Hamilton Moore, who was in shipping, and polo and Talbot G. Cooper, whose taste ran to women. [00:17:23] Speaker D: Ruby, I've known girls from Bombay to Hunter. [00:17:27] Speaker F: Well, don't tell me about them. I hear Kinsey's in town. [00:17:30] Speaker D: No, what I was going to say was that you're the most exciting of them all. [00:17:34] Speaker F: Oh, coop, squash head. I don't come from Bombay or Hunter, so I don't have to follow the rules. Go get yourself some new material. [00:17:42] Speaker D: No, I mean it. If I were cunning you, I'd do it in another place, not here. [00:17:47] Speaker F: Oh, cut it off. I came here for. Say, uh, who are those two people over by the window? Don't you know really look stupid? Didn't you ever read anything but Noel coward? If I knew who they were, I wouldn't have asked. [00:18:01] Speaker D: Well, come on, I'll introduce you. The distinguished looking man lives on an inheritance. And the distinguished looking woman lives on. Well, memories, I guess. Hello, Coop. Nice to see you. Hello, Clint. Marie, may I present Miss Ruby Miller? Mr. Clinton Fisher. [00:18:17] Speaker F: How do you do? [00:18:18] Speaker D: Mr. Fisher and Mrs. David Madlock talk about your drama. [00:18:24] Speaker F: That moment could have run 36 straight weeks at the Barrymore theater. As you know, captain, it was my first performance at trying to carry on idle chitchat with a widow of a man found dead in my apartment. Must have been her first, too, because she excused herself and walked quickly away. The guy who staged the scene, Cooper the coward, also took a powder by natural selection. [00:18:48] Speaker D: I guess we're left alone, Miss Miller. [00:18:50] Speaker F: What's she complaining about? I wasn't found dead in his apartment. [00:18:54] Speaker D: Well, you couldn't exactly expect her to carry on tea time conversation with you. [00:18:58] Speaker F: Look, is she a friend of yours? [00:19:00] Speaker D: I know her. [00:19:01] Speaker F: Well, tell her the next husband she gets, keep him home. That means keeping him happy. If she isn't too chilled to find time. Now, if you'll excuse me, Mr. Fisher, I'll go have a drink. [00:19:10] Speaker D: Allow me to join you, Miss Miller. [00:19:12] Speaker F: Why? [00:19:13] Speaker D: Frankly, I like you. [00:19:20] Speaker F: If anybody tells you men over 50 don't have charm, put salt in her coffee. Clint Fisher was as charming as they made them. And the thought came to me that this was my chance to move from the phony money to the real stuff. And he was said to have more connections than the plumbing at the Waldorf. I intended someday to use them and my chance came sooner than I thought. [00:19:43] Speaker D: Yes, ma'am. [00:19:44] Speaker F: Captain Dorax, Salvador wants to see me. [00:19:47] Speaker D: You mean lieutenant Salvador? He got a bust. [00:19:49] Speaker F: Good. He was too arrogant. [00:19:51] Speaker D: Third door on the left, lady. [00:19:52] Speaker F: Don't look so mad, sergeant. Maybe if you work hard, you'll be busted too someday. Hello, lieutenant. [00:20:01] Speaker D: Yeah. Sit down. [00:20:03] Speaker F: What did you do, kick the mayor's mother? [00:20:06] Speaker D: No, the commissioner got a little mad because I didn't bring anybody in for David Madlock. [00:20:11] Speaker F: What did you call me down here for? Awake. [00:20:13] Speaker D: The commissioner's dropping the case. What do you mean, he called us off? Madlock will be under m in the file. I'll be on another case. Yeah, but that means that starting tomorrow, where you go, you go alone. [00:20:25] Speaker F: What is this? You're pulling off my protection? [00:20:27] Speaker D: Ruby, we had those men on you to see if anybody made a move towards you. Not for protection. [00:20:30] Speaker F: I got a right to protect you. [00:20:31] Speaker D: You forfeited every right you had when you threw in with the wrong people. In my opinion, Ruby, you sold your soul for a firm muffin, a filet mignon. [00:20:38] Speaker F: Don't talk to me like that, you lousy failure. [00:20:40] Speaker D: Shut up. I played your game long enough. This is the end. You don't even know what I'm talking about. You'll never know. All dames like you got is your sex. You wouldn't know a good piece of music if you heard it. You've never read anything longer than a menu in your life. You couldn't tell me two intelligent things about the history of the people you came from or the name of the man who wrote the Declaration of Independence. All you got is a 75 word vocabulary and 112 pounds of flesh that could have been put to better use in uncanny. [00:21:09] Speaker F: You listen to me, flathead. Where do you get off telling me how worthless I am just because I went out and made myself a few bucks the hard way? Well, I took nerve and I've got it. It didn't take any to sit behind that desk and get demoted from captain to lieutenant, you picked your way of life yourself. And because everybody isn't like you, you can't stomach them. Your kind doesn't send your sons to college so they'll know a good piece of music when they hear it. You send them to learn how to make money. And you don't dress your daughters in the best clothes you can buy because they know who wrote the constitution. You do it so they'll marry into money. You're cheaper on your level than I am on mine because you lie about what you really want and I don't. I'm honest. I say what I want right out and I get it. [00:21:50] Speaker D: Are you through? [00:21:51] Speaker F: No. Why did the commissioner call off the case? [00:21:55] Speaker D: It was costing too much. [00:21:57] Speaker F: I can smell a fixed 20 miles off. You're going to set me up for a kill. [00:22:01] Speaker D: I'm not setting you up for anything. They called me off the case. That's all I know. [00:22:04] Speaker F: Yeah, well, if the commission has been fixed, it can be unfixed. I know some pretty big people now. [00:22:09] Speaker D: I hope they can help you. [00:22:10] Speaker F: They will. They will. Don't worry. I'll have my protection back. And while I'm at it, I think I'll have you busted down to sergeant. And I couldn't wait to do it to you. Clint Fisher was my boy by then. I had him wrapped around my little finger. He knew the skeleton in everybody's closet and I was going to make him rattle a few. I pulled out all the stops and he had my hero printed all over him when he said he'd see what he could do. You cops who thought you had a corner on everything fracture me. I slipped on a neglige and cracked a bottle of champagne while I waited for my team to go into action. Hello. [00:22:56] Speaker D: Clint Fisher. Ruby. [00:22:57] Speaker F: Oh, Clint, darling. Oh, it's so nice to hear your voice. [00:23:01] Speaker D: It's nice to hear yours. Ruby, are you all right? [00:23:03] Speaker F: Oh, yes, of course. Don't worry about me. Well, Ruby? Everything's going to be fixed. Clint. [00:23:09] Speaker D: Not exactly. That's why I called you. I've tried everybody in town and I hate to say this, but there's nothing I can do for you. Absolutely nothing. [00:23:18] Speaker F: Clint, you don't mean that. [00:23:20] Speaker D: I'm afraid, honey, you're on your own. [00:23:29] Speaker F: Don't tell me about men. I know more ways they can be cheap and lying, two faced and vicious than you can count in a year. Clint Fisher wasn't the only man in the world who could fix things. So I tried the rest of them up and down the social register and threw the moneymen and tycoons. And every one of them chickened out. Every one of them. No, Ruby. Sorry, Ruby. Try someone else. Ruby. That's all I got. Don't tell me about men. Then I began to get scared. Scared right down through the little veins. I locked the door and pulled the shades and told the desk to let no one visit me. And I sat there all night. I didn't dare sleep in half the next day. I was scared. But then I remembered I still had an ace to play. Sheridan. [00:24:22] Speaker D: Yes. Yes. [00:24:23] Speaker F: Ruby, what's the matter with you? [00:24:26] Speaker D: Nothing. [00:24:27] Speaker F: I came to make a deal. A deal, do you hear me? Too late. I won't spill. I'll never say a word. Not a single word to anyone. I'll even get out of town. What are you laughing about? [00:24:37] Speaker D: You trying to make a deal? [00:24:40] Speaker F: I got the greatest deal in the world. The greatest. You never heard anything like this. Listen, I don't even know who the client is. I don't know. I never knew. Never. All I know is some creep I never saw before gave me a couple of use the apartment for a killing. I don't even know his name. He came and he was gone. That's all I know, believe me. Shot me. [00:25:04] Speaker D: Shot me in the stomach. [00:25:06] Speaker F: Who? The client. [00:25:08] Speaker D: He killed Madlock because he wanted Mrs. Madlock. She found out last night, committed suicide. He went crazy. [00:25:15] Speaker F: Thought I told her. [00:25:17] Speaker D: But after shooting, I said it was. [00:25:20] Speaker F: You and you don't even know him. Who is the client, Sheridan? He'll kill me. I've got to tell the police. Tell me, who is he? Oh, don't die. Don't die. Tell me. I ran out of that office as fast as I could make it. I didn't know where to go, what to do. I couldn't end up like Sheridan. I couldn't. I couldn't. Then I decided to go to my apartment, get my money and try to get out of town. I ran up the stairs, locked the door and stood there trying to pull myself together. And I got an idea. [00:25:56] Speaker D: Salvadori. [00:25:57] Speaker F: Captain, listen to me. Listen carefully. [00:25:59] Speaker D: Who is it? [00:26:00] Speaker F: Ruby. Ruby Miller. Now, listen to me. The client's after me. I know he is. [00:26:04] Speaker D: The client. [00:26:05] Speaker F: The man who killed David Madlock. It's just the way you said. I take everything back I ever said to you. I'm sorry. Really, truly sorry. [00:26:11] Speaker D: I suppose you want. [00:26:13] Speaker F: Yes, yes, please send somebody. Come yourself. Take care of me. I'm in my apartment. I'm afraid to leave it. [00:26:18] Speaker D: Ruby, you're a great girl for deals. We had two men following you and three men following Sheridan. We didn't find out a thing. Tell me who this client is. We'll go out and pick him up. [00:26:27] Speaker F: That's just it. I don't know. I don't know. I really don't. It was all above. They thought I knew, but I didn't. I don't know a thing. I played it for what I could. Get him at work. [00:26:37] Speaker D: Now, you don't expect me to believe that. [00:26:38] Speaker F: Got to believe it. You've got to. I don't know who he is or where he's coming from, but I know I'll be killed. [00:26:44] Speaker D: You're lying. Ruby. When you're ready, tell me the truth. I'll give you what you want. Goodbye. [00:26:48] Speaker F: Don't hang out. Don't, please. I'll be killed. I tried to get you back, but they said you'd left me office. I wanted to tell you about Vic Sheridan's death. That would have been proof. That's why I'm writing you this letter. You'll have to believe. I'm packed and I'm leaving town and I don't ever want to come back. I'm mailing it from the airport. So long, Doric. I hope you have better luck finding the client than I did. Hello? [00:27:29] Speaker D: Are you all right, Mrs. Salvador? [00:27:31] Speaker F: Oh, yes. [00:27:31] Speaker D: We just found Vic Sheraton. I'm sorry, Ruby. Sometimes my personal opinion of people gets in the way of my badge. We'll be over there in a couple of minutes. [00:27:38] Speaker F: Oh, thank. Thanks. Oh. Who is it? [00:27:47] Speaker D: Vince Fisher. Let me. [00:27:51] Speaker F: Clint Oakland. I'm so glad you came. Nobody cared. Nobody would do anything. Ruby, you'll be all, somebody's after me, Clint. They'll get me. They will. Clint. What's that gun for? [00:28:07] Speaker D: For you, baby. [00:28:09] Speaker F: Oh, Clint, don't do anything. I'll scream. [00:28:13] Speaker D: That won't help. You can't outrun a bullet. You've had a free ride on me. I was perfectly willing to give you money when it meant something, to avoid trouble. But now you're going to pay it all back. [00:28:23] Speaker F: I'll do anything. Anything in the world. [00:28:26] Speaker D: Close your eyes because it's going to hurt. [00:28:28] Speaker F: They'll get you, Clint. The police will get you. [00:28:31] Speaker D: I know, but I'll get it quick. You'll get it the hard way, Clint. [00:28:34] Speaker F: Please, doctor, hold me. Hold me up. [00:28:43] Speaker D: How does it feel, Ruby? That's what you get for telling Mary Medlock I killed her husband. Mary was the one thing I wanted. I killed to get her. Made it as sorted as possible. Girl's apartment and all so she'd forget even his memory. And after all the dough I paid, you had to tell her. [00:29:02] Speaker F: I didn't tell her. I didn't even know who. [00:29:14] Speaker E: All right, you stand where you are with your hands in the air. [00:29:16] Speaker D: Come and get. Hey, will you look at that? They're lying on the same spot where Madlock was killed. Yeah. The wages of sin suspense presented by autolight tonight, star Miss Barbara Stanwick. The north wind doth blow, and we shall have snow. And then what will old Wilcox do? [00:30:03] Speaker E: He'll sit in his car and drive near and far in winter long comfort. [00:30:07] Speaker D: Will you? [00:30:07] Speaker E: You will if you have your car tuned up and winterized by your neighborhood. Autolite spark plug dealer. And remember, Autolite makes more than 400 products for cars, trucks, planes and boats in 28 plants coast to coast. These include complete electrical systems used as original equipment on many of America's finest cars, generators, coils, distributors, voltage regulators, wire and cable starting motors, and electric windshield wipers. All engineered to work together perfectly as part of the Autolight team. All engineered to give you unexcelled Autolight service. Don't accept electrical parts supposed to be as good. Ask for and insist on autolight original factory parts at your neighborhood service station, car dealer, garage or repair shop. Remember, you're always right with Autolight. [00:30:51] Speaker D: Next week on suspense, Mr. Richard Woodmark, a star of too hot to live. And in weeks to come, you will hear such famous stars as Herbert Marshall and William Holden appearing in tales well calculated to keep you in suspense. [00:31:07] Speaker E: Tonight's suspense play was produced and directed by Elliot Lewis with music composed by Lucian Morroweck and conducted by Lud Gluskin. The wages of sin was written for suspense by E. Jack Newman and John Michael Hayes. Ms. Stanwick may currently be seen in the MGM picture. [00:31:20] Speaker D: To please a lady and remember, next week on suspense, Mr. Richard Whitmark. In too hot to live. [00:31:31] Speaker F: You can buy world famous autolite resistor or standard spark plugs, Autolite staple batteries, autolight, electrical parts at your neighborhood. Autolite dealers switch to Autolite. Good night, motorists. [00:31:44] Speaker E: Be prepared to stop in time to save a child's life. When driving through school zones, watch out for youngsters at play. Save a life by expecting the unexpected. From children. This is CBS, the Columbia Broadcasting System. [00:32:04] Speaker A: That was the wages of sin from suspense, here on the mysterious old radio Listening Society podcast. Once again, I'm Aaron. [00:32:12] Speaker D: I'm Tim. [00:32:13] Speaker B: And I'm Joshua. [00:32:14] Speaker A: That was your pick, right? It was Joshua. I am a huge Barbara Stanwick fan. [00:32:21] Speaker B: Me, too. [00:32:21] Speaker A: I love her. In our opening, you were remiss I. [00:32:27] Speaker B: Didn'T mention Christmas in Connecticut. [00:32:28] Speaker A: Correct, sir. [00:32:29] Speaker B: I didn't want to step on your toes because I wanted to give you the five to ten minutes you're now going to use to talk about Christmas in Connecticut. [00:32:38] Speaker A: I am astounded by how many people who are Christmas heads like I am that have never seen that movie. It's so good. [00:32:45] Speaker C: If you love Connecticut, this is the film. [00:32:47] Speaker A: Correct. All right. Anyway, Stanwick does not fail us here at all. She is just wonderful. Another thing I didn't know from our opening that I just want to delve into before we delve into this. I feel a little stupid that I didn't know that Barbara Stanwick was in. Sorry, wrong number. [00:33:08] Speaker C: I was kind of. Oh, I don't know if there's any resentment for her stepping on their classic radio toes and then throwing up here and there's like their angry glances happening while she's recording. [00:33:20] Speaker D: It seems fine. [00:33:22] Speaker B: This is a full confession here. I knew Barbara Stanwick was in it, but I have never seen the film. [00:33:26] Speaker A: I haven't either at all. [00:33:27] Speaker F: I've seen it. [00:33:28] Speaker A: Oh, is she good? Oh, yeah. Well, she's Stanwick. Yeah, but you're giving it. [00:33:33] Speaker F: Yeah. [00:33:34] Speaker A: Not. [00:33:34] Speaker B: It's whether or not they can expand that 30 minutes of suspense into a feature length film is my question. [00:33:40] Speaker C: They put a little more focus on the other people in the story. [00:33:43] Speaker A: Right. [00:33:44] Speaker C: And then, as you might imagine, it's much more about her physicality and face. [00:33:50] Speaker A: There's 20 more minutes of her dialogue, a lot of face, lot of phone calls. Yeah. So anyway, Stanwick. Lovely, beautiful. We can delve into way. [00:34:02] Speaker B: She can rattle off that hard boiled. Oh, I know, tough dame dialogue just dripping with this stain. I'm going to lose some friends here. [00:34:12] Speaker A: Oh, no, you won't, because I do have a caveat to all of this. [00:34:16] Speaker C: I couldn't put my finger on it. Like, do I just not like her in this? Do I not like the character? Do I not like the dialogue? But the snappy pattern just seemed like, yeah, that's patter. [00:34:26] Speaker A: Like it was contrived a little bit. [00:34:28] Speaker B: It did. [00:34:29] Speaker C: There's other parts of the story I like, but just like, I never got the same sort of joy or little bit of spice that you get from Candy Matson. Candy Matson, Lucille ball, when she's in these sorts of just, I mean, she's not a likable character at all, which most these sort of hard boiled characters are not likable. But there's usually some sort of ride humor that you can take from them. That just didn't hit for me. [00:34:54] Speaker B: I love the humor. Like when she comes in swinging at all the police and then gasps, presumably at the body, and just says, my rug. [00:35:02] Speaker A: Right. [00:35:03] Speaker B: I was on board after that. But, yeah, humor is subjective. [00:35:06] Speaker A: I will give a different caveat than that. I enjoy the dialogue. I enjoy the acting and the production. I think this entire episode is saved because of Stanwick. My caveat is the actual plot itself is just okay. When she picks the guy up in the bar, I went, yeah, that's the chief. That's Mr. Big. Again, you only have someone at half an hour and can only introduce so many characters. So it whittles it, but. And it's suspense. And you're looking for that twist, of course. So I didn't think it was terrible. I just thought it was pretty run of the mill, pretty easy. [00:35:43] Speaker C: That beat. I was still on board with that beat because I still believed that she knew who Mr. Big was, so she would recognize him if she saw him. It wasn't until it was revealed. Like, I don't actually know who he. [00:35:53] Speaker A: Right, right. [00:35:54] Speaker C: It all fell into place. [00:35:55] Speaker A: I just was riveted by everybody's performance, including Stanwick. But I do understand derivative or commonplace kind of dialogue of, look, we're doing hard boiled, see? [00:36:07] Speaker D: Yeah. [00:36:07] Speaker C: And I don't want to. At first, I was like, I don't know that I like Barbara Stanwick in this. But then thinking about it, like, her choices were right on for the character. She made the right choices, I think. And it just might be like that. I don't want to hear this character's story. [00:36:21] Speaker A: She's so unlikable, the character. [00:36:23] Speaker B: I have such a different response than you guys. And I almost didn't bring it for that reason because I was like, do I feel like arguing? [00:36:31] Speaker C: No, but I agree, if you hear it and it's funny, you're not wrong. [00:36:36] Speaker B: And the funny is just a little extra bonus. And again, it's that subjective thing of how you interpret Stanwick and that I can't argue someone into enjoying her performance. But I can describe my response. [00:36:49] Speaker A: Could you try? I'd like to hear the process of arguing. [00:36:53] Speaker D: You're wrong. Oh, I see. [00:36:57] Speaker A: Wow. I'm going to try that at home. No. [00:37:01] Speaker B: One of the things I do like about Barbara Stanwick is she is able to make an unscrupulous, selfish character like Ruby Miller appealing insomuch as you admire her tenacity, her strength, those are admirable traits. But what I love about the script is it won't let you forget that she just took money to let this place be used for a murder just to get a guy out of the way. She didn't even know the reason. She was like, sure, she wanted to. [00:37:34] Speaker C: Be an accomplice in the way of doing nothing. [00:37:37] Speaker B: And where I think the script is elevated for me and I think is the subversive element for mainstream CBS 1950 radio is her blistering attack on Captain Salvador when he finally gets tired of her abuse and comes back at her. And that exchange there she is, wrong as a person, but her words are absolutely right. I think the author is saying, yeah, the cops are hypocrites. The law is largely hypocrites. And it is rare, I think, in this era of radio to have a femme fatale, a hard boiled female character, explain why this was her. Well, she felt, we can argue morally whether it really was her only option, but because she had so few options and she's going to always get away with less than the selfish, unscrupulous men around her and that she just wanted a piece of it. And I thought the points she makes about why these middle class cop characters send their kid to school and why they make sure they know the names of good pieces of music and why they dress their daughters so nicely so they can marry into money, this is her way of doing the same thing. And she doesn't see why her attempt to get a piece of the good life should be so much worse than the cops. [00:39:10] Speaker A: That monologue that you're referring to I thought was just gorgeous. I ended up agreeing with her, like, yeah, where do you get off? Because literally, what is your motivation? I loved that piece of writing. [00:39:26] Speaker C: Yeah, it's like, I'm not morally above you, but you are not as morally above me as you claim to be. [00:39:32] Speaker A: Right. [00:39:32] Speaker B: And I think there's something stinging in her words that actually, I think you're cheaper than me because you lie to yourself. I'm honest about what I'm willing to do to get the good life. You tell yourself what you're willing to do to get the good life is all good. And I think the script's complicated because her anger and rage is legitimate, her actions are illegitimate. And that complexity and that tension makes it more than just a standard suspense script. And I agree with you, though, that as a series of twists, as a white knuckle suspense ride, you know where it's going. It's called the wages of sin. And she's the one sitting. [00:40:14] Speaker C: She's going to have to fill out some tax forms. [00:40:16] Speaker B: But when the gentleman playing captain Salvador at the end, when he's looking down at the two dead bodies and the way he says the wages of sin, the weight he has in his voice, you can tell that that monologue is going to stick with him. So that was her dying blow. It's going to linger with him. And now he's demoted. Some of his aspirations for the good life have been diminished. And so I think in that moment, I feel like suspense, as a 1950s radio show is saying, the bad guys got what they deserved. But uncharacteristically, the protagonist is left in a slightly more contemplative place. [00:41:00] Speaker A: I didn't know that if you don't solve the crime, you get demoted. That's a pressure filled job, man. Yeah, I didn't solve it. Wow. You had about 1000. [00:41:14] Speaker C: The explanation of the. I think it looked like some sort of guy that is across the room right now. [00:41:21] Speaker D: Yes. You. [00:41:22] Speaker B: You're the guy, right? [00:41:24] Speaker A: What do you guys think of the ending where he comes in, confronts her, pulls a gun, says, yours is going to hurt. Mine's going to go quick, knows he's going to get killed by the police. So it's suicidal, right? This is death by cop. [00:41:38] Speaker C: This was the twist that I'll say I liked because I'm still chewing on it, of the idea that he decided to finally attack her and kill her, not because she tried to shake him down for money, but because without realizing it at all, she's the one who ruined the love of his life and his aspirations of a loving relationship, which is then you see that nowhere coming. [00:42:08] Speaker A: I found it extreme that we weren't story wise, led down the path to believe that he was distraught enough to end it all. Do you know what I mean? It caught me by surprise that we needed more information to believe that he was that destroyed over this. To say, I don't care what the cops do when they get in here, as long as that's the caught me off guard. [00:42:30] Speaker C: That's the reason it didn't throw me like that, is because I was just thrown by, like, I don't know this. [00:42:35] Speaker A: Guy at all, right? [00:42:37] Speaker C: His motivations are completely not what I thought. [00:42:40] Speaker A: And I felt we needed to know more about him in order for us to understand this ending. That makes sense. It seems like he had other options, but then again, people can get pretty sad. [00:42:53] Speaker B: I think, to a certain degree, thematically, this is a lot about the limits of knowledge, and I will back up this argument. [00:43:02] Speaker C: Here comes the epistemology. [00:43:05] Speaker B: But not only does the situation involving Clint, the murderer really isn't given to us ahead of time. But I think that's intentional, because the whole idea is everyone's trying to find out who he is. She doesn't know who he is. I think those are some of her final words. [00:43:22] Speaker C: She was pretending to know who he is. [00:43:25] Speaker B: And there are things that are intentionally. And I think these are too good of writers to not make this intentional, that we never find out. I've listened to it three times to see if I was missing this. But how did Mrs. Matlock find out the guy was killed? I don't think it's ever answered. [00:43:43] Speaker A: No, it is. [00:43:43] Speaker B: I assume maybe the skeezy lawyer really did tell her, but I don't. [00:43:48] Speaker C: I mean, I thought it was when she went up and apologized for your husband dying. My apartment. [00:43:52] Speaker A: Yeah, but that doesn't explain all the right. [00:43:55] Speaker B: Doesn't explain how she knew that it was Clint and he arranged it and why he arranged it, which is why. [00:44:02] Speaker A: She committed suicide, because someone gave her the truth, and it wasn't Stanwick's character. And I'm glad you brought that up, because I didn't know if that was intentional or stupid over here. Just didn't catch. [00:44:16] Speaker B: I couldn't find it. So if a smart listener. So I assumed it was part of the theme, that knowledge and where you have too much background whisper. [00:44:24] Speaker D: Okay, so that guy. [00:44:30] Speaker B: Ruby has self knowledge, as demonstrated by that scathing speech she gives to salvador. Self knowledge that he does not have, and it makes her overconfident in the face of danger. Salvador is thwarted by his lack of self knowledge, and he is ultimately unable to save Ruby or his career. Knowledge of who killed her husband is what leads Mrs. Matlock to committing suicide. False knowledge of who told Mrs. Matlock who killed her husband leads to Clint murdering Ruby and then dying at the hands of police custody. So it's almost in a slightly different spin. This is like the premise of a farce, right? Take the murder out, add some more french people and some doors and some. [00:45:14] Speaker A: Doors slamming, you got some farce. Lend me your wages of sin tenor. [00:45:25] Speaker C: It's a high quality reference. [00:45:27] Speaker A: I got no more in me tonight. [00:45:28] Speaker B: We should have saved that for a Patreon podcast. Yeah. I just found it to be sly, subversive material packaged as a conventional suspense plot. [00:45:45] Speaker A: Yep. [00:45:45] Speaker B: So this goes opposite of what you guys are tells it tells you how much of a big Barbara Stanwick fan I am. The first time I heard it, I was really angry that they killed Ruby Miller, and I was lame. And then I had to go back. [00:45:59] Speaker A: She's awful. [00:46:01] Speaker B: She just took money to provide a spot for this murder. And I had to kind of go back both to listen better, but to also sort of check my own weird obsession with Barbara Stanley. And then some of the complexity started to come out to me. [00:46:19] Speaker A: It was pointed out to me this year, watching Christmas in Connecticut. It's a comedy of errors and lying. And if you really look at it with a certain eye, Stanwick's character, who's so lovable and likable in that, really, if you think about it, if this was real life, wow, you are a horrible human being for what she's doing in that movie, because it's a comedy. So it's interesting. She gets away with it. It's hard for her to be an unlikable character, period. Just even in this, you root for word. [00:46:52] Speaker B: I kept saying I like her, but I don't because of the bad stuff she does. What I have a hard time is not admiring her, which is very different. [00:46:59] Speaker A: From, like, it's the speech that, the monologue we just talked about. That's what turns you and goes, well, wait a minute. Is she really that bad of a person for getting what she wants out of life? [00:47:10] Speaker B: Just ballsiness in the face of the cop. Her whole line about, I was in the drugstore having my malted while junior here was getting shot, right. A bowling team saw me called the loafers. And it was just this sort of. She exaggerated how pat of a story it was. That was how overconfident she was. And I totally get it that that's a turn off to some people. [00:47:32] Speaker A: What? Bowling. [00:47:33] Speaker B: Bowling? Yeah. [00:47:35] Speaker A: I've never figured out bowling. [00:47:37] Speaker D: No. [00:47:37] Speaker C: People are like, hey, you want to bowl? [00:47:39] Speaker B: No. [00:47:40] Speaker C: I will sit here, I'll drink this beer, I'll eat this frozen pizza, but I will not put those shoes on. I will not get up there and ruin everybody in this building's night with the way I bowl. [00:47:50] Speaker B: I was about to ask, why do you hate bowling? So hate yourself. [00:47:54] Speaker A: The real answer, wait a minute. If you bowl weird, that would make my night. I would laugh. [00:48:00] Speaker B: I'm sensing that we're going to have. [00:48:02] Speaker A: A mysterious old bowling night that's going. [00:48:04] Speaker B: To come out of this because I actually really enjoy bowling. Bowling is one of those sports that's really fun when you're doing well and super fun when you stink. [00:48:13] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:48:14] Speaker C: No, not so fun. [00:48:15] Speaker A: No. [00:48:16] Speaker B: It might be the quantity I drink while bowling. [00:48:18] Speaker D: Yeah. [00:48:18] Speaker A: Has something to do with it. Should we vote or do you have more layers to this onion? [00:48:23] Speaker C: More bowling, talking. [00:48:27] Speaker B: There were just some little touches that I'm just going to admire. And then we can vote. Well, first of all, narratively, I thought it was really interesting that it went for the first, like six or seven minutes with no narration, and then over to the Ruby Miller character narrating it. And then we find out it's a letter. And so it's a nice trick because she's narrating it in the past tense. So it might have been in my first listen. Why I was upset that she died because it filled me. [00:48:56] Speaker C: Was like one of those dirty tricks. [00:48:57] Speaker B: Yeah, this false sense of security. Well, she's telling the story from the past. Maybe she ends up in jail. Maybe she's managed to get away somehow or anything like that. And then the letter gets wrapped up and then she's killed. So I thought that was a nice bit of writing that seemed very aware of radio conventions and how to manipulate them. I also love the whole segue where it starts with some sloshing water that we find out is bathwater. Because she says, the morning I got out, I'll wait for you to blush. Yeah, I wanted a bath more than anything else. [00:49:28] Speaker A: That wait for you to blush line was a very candy Matson esque line. [00:49:34] Speaker B: And again, it's just that level of confidence the way Stanwick, there's no flirtatiousness in that. No, it's like, seriously, blush or I'll punch you. And this might just be my own age. And it's not the cleverness of the dialogue. I was just happy to hear a woman say it out loud. If anybody ever tells you men over 50 don't have charm. [00:49:58] Speaker A: Yeah, right. [00:49:58] Speaker B: Put salt in their coffee. [00:50:00] Speaker A: When I heard that, I went, yeah. [00:50:06] Speaker B: I was so excited. I stood up from my chair, punched the air, and then made an old man sound as I sat back down. [00:50:13] Speaker A: And threw my back out. Just hope that people still find me not annoying. [00:50:20] Speaker C: You don't have to be orphan to be annoying. [00:50:22] Speaker A: Thanks. [00:50:23] Speaker B: This is my last favorite line from this. This is what happens when I bring one of my favorites. Just time for me to monologue. [00:50:30] Speaker D: This is awesome. [00:50:30] Speaker C: And then this part. Awesome. [00:50:32] Speaker B: I love what would have been a fairly contemporary reference to Kinsey. [00:50:38] Speaker C: I was surprised. [00:50:39] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:50:39] Speaker D: So saucy. [00:50:40] Speaker B: Little racy. Because the John Daner character he just has a small part is talking about. I've known women from Bangladesh to somewhere else. Or don't tell me about them. I hear Kinsey's in, uh, he was an early sex ecologist. That's really what they're called. He did a bunch of interviews. Kinsey report statistical reports about american sex life. [00:51:08] Speaker A: Wow. [00:51:08] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:51:08] Speaker A: Can you get a subscription to that? [00:51:11] Speaker C: I mean, all the terms are very childish. Often a wife will take their husband's bedoinkle and. [00:51:21] Speaker F: Ah. [00:51:25] Speaker A: What? [00:51:25] Speaker C: And yet I find bowling embarrassing. [00:51:30] Speaker A: Oh my God. [00:51:32] Speaker B: Kinsey. I just looked this up. Who in 1947 founded the Institute for Sex Research at Indiana University. He was well known for performing hundreds of interviews to compile the Kinsey reports. Sexual behavior in the human male, published in 1947, and sexual Behavior in the Human Female, published in 1953. [00:51:53] Speaker A: Kinsey. Kinsey would be a great name for a strip club. [00:51:59] Speaker B: The Kinsey report. [00:52:00] Speaker A: Nobody would get it. [00:52:01] Speaker C: Can I do a table interview? [00:52:07] Speaker A: Each interview is $150. Bottle of champagne. [00:52:13] Speaker B: I'd like to take a poll. [00:52:19] Speaker A: Well, voting or do you have more things? I thought it was great. It's not a classic of suspense, meaning it's up against itself that way. Right. It's great. It's really well done. I will stand by what I said at the top. Sometimes when we have these discussions, I end up changing my mind listening to you guys. But I feel very strong in that. I believe that this is all held together really well by Stanwick's performance direction, production values, the story itself. Not unique or groundbreaking, but it's very good. It's very good. And it's fun to hear Stanwick and suspense. [00:52:56] Speaker C: Yes, there's so many high quality things to praise, a lot of objective, technical things. Oh, I didn't even talk about. The music was so good. [00:53:04] Speaker A: Yes, it was just jumped out of. [00:53:06] Speaker C: Me like, this is major motion picture music going on in here. And my one complaint was that the patter, for the whatever reason, just was not fun for me. This is like, that's patter but stands test of time. [00:53:23] Speaker A: Yes, for sure that I feel like. [00:53:25] Speaker B: I have revealed all my biases in rating this. But for me, this is definitely a classic of suspense. It's just a really deceptively complex, twisty little morality play disguised as a farce, an unfunny death farce. And as Tim noted, the music, but also the direction. This is when Elliot Lewis is the producer and director of suspense, and you can really hear it. And personally, I think it was a cinema worthy performance from Barbara Stanwick. [00:54:03] Speaker A: Sometimes I agree. [00:54:03] Speaker B: You get the celebrities in and you feel a little like, hey, I'm on radio. I can take it easy. I feel like she just tore into this role. I think it's an unsung classic. [00:54:15] Speaker A: Tim, tell him stuff. [00:54:16] Speaker C: Hey, please go visit ghoulishlifes.com if you want to find other episodes of this podcast, you can vote in polls or leave comments. Let us know what you think of these episodes. You can also send us messages if you want to say something to us. I don't know all you do want to say hi, that's fine. That's a good thing to say. You can also link to our store. It's a threadless store right now, but it's switching pretty soon, so stay tuned and you can link to our Patreon page. [00:54:45] Speaker B: Yes, go to patreon.com, slash them and become a supporter of the mysterious old radio don't even become a supporter by giving us money. You become a member of the mysterious old radio listening society with all the benefits that that implies. [00:55:01] Speaker A: If you're in town, each one of us has a spare yes, yes. [00:55:07] Speaker B: We are conducting an old time radio sex service, so be warned. [00:55:16] Speaker A: Become a Patreon if you'd like to see the mysterious old radio listening society theater company performing live. We perform monthly, sometimes more than that, on stage somewhere every month. And you can find out what audio drama we are performing each month by going to ghoulishdelights.com. We do classic recreations of classic old time radio shows and a lot of our own original work on stage. Ghoulishdelites.com. Find out where we are, come see us, and if you're a Patreon, we film them and you get to see it that way. That's part of your perks. What are we doing next? [00:55:51] Speaker B: Next is Tim's choice. [00:55:52] Speaker C: Up next, we're listening to an episode called Showgirl murdered from a series we haven't listened to in quite some time. [00:55:59] Speaker A: The key until then, hey, at this new store, are we going to be able to get a ghoulish delights backpack? I'm looking at your ghoulish delights backpack, wondering why Joshua and I don't have ghoulish delights backpack. [00:56:12] Speaker B: Don't want to get beat up on. [00:56:14] Speaker A: Our way to the recording.