Episode 357: The House of Horror

[00:00:17] Speaker A: The Mysterious Old Radio Listening Society Podcast welcome to the Mysterious Old Radio Listening Society, a podcast dedicated dedicated to suspense, crime and horror stories from the golden age of radio. I'm Eric. [00:00:36] Speaker B: I'm Tim. [00:00:36] Speaker C: And I'm Joshua. [00:00:38] Speaker B: 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 C: Today I present the final installment in my trilogy of ape related shadow plays, which began with the Gorilla man, continued with the Night Marauders, and concludes now with the House of Horror, starring Bill Johnstone and Marjorie Anderson. [00:01:00] Speaker A: The Shadow made his radio debut in 1930 as Sinister, host of the Detective Story Magazine Hour, a series based on the magazine of the same name. The Shadow's mysterious voice became so popular that Publishers street and Smith hired writer Walter B. Gibson to transform their radio host into the crime fighting star of his own pulp magazine. [00:01:21] Speaker B: In turn, the Pulp magazine's success inspired another Shadow radio series. But this time the Shadow was more than a host. He was the protagonist. Debuting September 26, 1937, this new incarnation of the Shadow Star 2 Rising Radio Stars, Orson Welles and Agnes Moorhead. [00:01:37] Speaker C: When Welles left the role in 1938, he was replaced by veteran radio actor Bill Johnstone. In contrast to Wells brooding intensity, Johnstone brought maturity and authority to the voice of the Shadow, while also revealing a lighter side to Lamont Cranston, particularly in his interactions with Margot. [00:01:57] Speaker A: And now let's listen to the House of Horror from the Shadow. First broadcast on November 17, 1940. [00:02:05] Speaker B: 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. [00:02:36] Speaker D: Who knows what evil lurks in the hearts of men? The Shadow knows. The Shadow, mysterious character who aids the forces of law and order, is in reality Lamont Cranston, wealthy young man about town as the Shadow. Cranston is gifted with hypnotic power to cloud men's minds so that they cannot see him. Cranston's friend and companion, the lovely Margo Lane, is the only person who knows to whom the voice of the invisible shadow belongs. Today's story, the House of Horror. This is the Gorilla House here? [00:03:30] Speaker E: Yeah. [00:03:31] Speaker F: What about the watchmen? [00:03:32] Speaker D: There's only two of them to hold Zoo this time of night. They won't be around here for an hour. [00:03:36] Speaker F: This is the screwiest job we ever done, putting a snatch on a gorilla. [00:03:41] Speaker D: Why does he want the gorilla? [00:03:42] Speaker F: Is he going to terrorize the city or what? [00:03:44] Speaker D: I never Asked no questions on a job. And this is a job. So let's get at it. [00:03:49] Speaker F: There's the cat. [00:03:53] Speaker D: That's him. [00:03:54] Speaker F: That's the gorilla. [00:03:55] Speaker D: Got that chloroform? [00:03:56] Speaker F: Yeah, right here. [00:03:57] Speaker D: Give me it. I will pour some on this rag. Put the rag on a pole and slam it in the gorilla snoot. Keep away, though. This stuff is dynamite. Okay, now take a whiff of this, big boy. [00:04:10] Speaker F: Looks like that'll do the job. [00:04:14] Speaker D: Sounds like he's passing out. All right, open that cage. I'm going in. Hey, wait, Mac. Open it up. This will take about one minute. Hey, hey, take it easy, big boy. Hey, Mac. [00:04:26] Speaker E: Mac, are you all right? [00:04:27] Speaker D: Shut up, you fool. All right, now, come in here in the cage. It's all right. He's passed out now. Come on. Come on, help me move. Okay, if you say so, but I don't like it. Hey, he ain't exactly no baby. No. All right, here, let's try and haul him out. All right, let's go. Oh, heavy. [00:04:51] Speaker F: Is there anybody in here? [00:04:53] Speaker D: Someone's coming. See what you're yelling did. Stay where you are, bud. Get that flashlight out of my eyes. [00:04:58] Speaker F: Hey, what are you doing? The gorilla. You're taking the gorilla out of here. [00:05:02] Speaker D: You figured that one out in a hurry. [00:05:04] Speaker F: Well, you can't do that. [00:05:06] Speaker D: You'll call for nobody. Come on, Eddie, let's get this gorilla in the then. Margo. According to the version I read the men were seen hauling the gorilla to a truck. That's how they made the getaway. [00:05:24] Speaker E: What about the keeper in the zoo that discovered them? Lamar? [00:05:27] Speaker D: Dead when they found him. Two bullet holes through the head. [00:05:30] Speaker E: Oh, no. [00:05:31] Speaker D: Excuse me, but could I protrude myself into the conversation? [00:05:34] Speaker F: Could I hate. [00:05:35] Speaker D: Why, certainly. Shrivy, this is your cab. What's on your mind? Well, about this, you know, case of the missing gorilla. Yeah? Well, just this morning I'm talking it over with my friend and acquaintance of whom you made me talk, Big Charlie Hay. [00:05:47] Speaker E: And what did your friend and acquaintance, Big Charlie Hay, have to say? [00:05:50] Speaker D: Well, he's no more than most of us about what could have happened on account of he knows a fellow who owns a monkey. Oh, that's very interesting. [00:05:57] Speaker E: We're getting warm, Lamont. [00:05:59] Speaker D: Yeah, that's what I was thinking. Them dumb pedestrians. Well, where am I? [00:06:05] Speaker E: Well, Big Charlie is knowing a fellow who owned a monkey correctly. [00:06:08] Speaker D: Now, according to Big Charlie. He says it's according to the fellow. [00:06:12] Speaker F: Who owns the monkey. [00:06:13] Speaker D: This here now gorilla who was just an overgrown monkey after all. Maybe just broke out of the zoo all by himself. Oh, this is Big Charlie's theory. Yeah. He says the monkey fella says that all the Mapes is born wanderers. So Big Charlie figures that this here gorilla got sick of the zoo and opened the cage and scrant. Hey, you mean the gorilla drove the truck away, huh? Well, he could have had a confederate. [00:06:34] Speaker E: Well, Shreevi, how does Big Charlie explain the keeper being shot and killed? [00:06:39] Speaker D: Well, to tell you the truth, Ms. Lane, that stumps him. He never heard of a gorilla carrying no gun. No, not without a permit. Oh, not without a permit. Are you kidding me? Well, Shreevi, I'm afraid that your friend Big Charlie's barking up the wrong tree this time. Yeah, he's just a dreamer, I guess. [00:06:57] Speaker E: Oh, Shreve, will you stop here, please? [00:06:58] Speaker D: Sure, sure. Hey, what's the idea, Margot? I thought I was taking you to the country for lunch. [00:07:04] Speaker E: Well, you're taking me to lunch, Lamont, but not to the country. [00:07:06] Speaker D: Oh, now, wait a minute. Not this place. [00:07:09] Speaker E: Why not? [00:07:10] Speaker D: I hate tea rooms, Margot. Especially one that's called Ye Oldie and Quainty Gypsy Tea Room. [00:07:15] Speaker E: Oh, but, Lamont, they tell wonderful fortunes in me. [00:07:17] Speaker D: I don't care, Margot. This is one time I'm going to be firm. I definitely and absolutely am not going into that. [00:07:26] Speaker E: More tea, Lamont? [00:07:27] Speaker D: Huh? Oh, no. No, thanks, Lamont. [00:07:30] Speaker E: You're not paying any attention to what I'm saying. [00:07:32] Speaker D: Sorry, Margo. I've been doing some unconscious eavesdropping. [00:07:36] Speaker E: What do you mean? [00:07:37] Speaker D: There's a very interesting fortune being told. [00:07:39] Speaker E: Of the next fool by the car. That you have lost something. Is this not through me? Yes. Yes, I have a piece of jewel. Of course, it was in the form of. It was a necklace. The fair young lady has lost a necklace. It's cards. Tell me where the necklace can be found. Really? Where? Wait. I must consult the crystal. I see a shop. A tiny shop. In the window of the shop are many animals. They are dead animals. Stuff. Look alive. That's it. Inside that shop, there are many more animals. One of these is a giant stuffed gorilla. In the mouth of that gorilla, in the mouth, your necklace will be found. Where is this place? I will write down the address. Oh, thank you. You'll never know how grateful I am to you for telling me. Why all of that? Well, thank you so much. I'll go there. I'll go there at once. Thank you. Oh, this fair young lady is very generous. Don't forget. In the mouth of the gorilla, you find your. Oh, I won't forget. Goodbye parson. I'll tell you fortune. [00:09:10] Speaker D: That taxidermist shop sounds very interesting. [00:09:13] Speaker E: You mean you like stuffed gorillas? [00:09:15] Speaker D: No, but considering the events of last night at the zoo, it is a coincidence to learn of someone who has such an interest in the beast. [00:09:29] Speaker E: Well, this must be the shop. Just animals in the window. Oh yes, it must be. Hello. Hello. Is. Is there anyone here? Wouldn't. Eerie place, the animals almost look alive. We'll have to try again. Is there, is there anyone in the shop? I don't see any gorilla. Oh, not as well. Oh wait, yes, there it is. There's the gorilla. Oh, you're an ugly. Well, might as well give this thing a try. In the mouth of the gorilla I'll find the necklace. Well, open up Mr. Gorilla and let me. [00:10:27] Speaker F: No need to worry, nothing to fear, the time awaited is almost here. Now, now you must be quiet, you mustn't fret. The time is coming, but not quite yet. [00:10:41] Speaker E: That's appealing. [00:10:43] Speaker F: Yes, yes my dear, what is it? [00:10:45] Speaker E: Shall I give the girl another sleeping drug? [00:10:47] Speaker F: Let's see. Yes, I believe it better. [00:10:51] Speaker E: She looks so white and still lying that strap to that table, is she dead? [00:10:57] Speaker F: Suppose Madam Santor, you leave this case to me. [00:11:00] Speaker E: He leaps out of this cage, he almost grabbed me. [00:11:03] Speaker F: I don't think the gorilla is very fond of you, madam. Did you tell him a bad fortune perhaps? [00:11:10] Speaker E: I hate the beast, I'm afraid of him. I will be glad when the experiment is over and he has gone away. [00:11:16] Speaker F: You shan't have long to wait, Madam Santo. Within 24 hours I shall be ready. Madam Santo? [00:11:23] Speaker E: Yes professor? [00:11:24] Speaker F: You know you still haven't finished or fulfilled your entire bargain. [00:11:30] Speaker E: You mean the other girl? [00:11:32] Speaker F: Yes, yes, I need two young women for this experiment, you know. [00:11:38] Speaker E: Believe me professor, when you are ready the other one will be here. [00:11:43] Speaker F: Good, excellent. Two women I need. If I should succeed, then my experiment with an ape will make all sit and gay. [00:11:56] Speaker E: When you're perform this experiment, will it kill the girls? [00:12:01] Speaker F: You are prying into secrets, my dear, prying into things you should not hear. Enough of my silly jingles. You see this machine, Madam Santo? Yes, its delicate mechanism will assure my experiment success. Of course the young woman will live. I have but to turn the switch so and the work will be done. [00:12:20] Speaker E: But will the young women be normal again? [00:12:24] Speaker F: To all appearances, yes, but appearances are deceiving, my dear. These women will be possessed of a superhuman strength and cunning. At my bidding they will rob, pillage and even murder, all in the guise of sweet innocent womanhood. [00:12:42] Speaker E: Then we'll Be rich. With them working for us, we will have a fortune. [00:12:47] Speaker F: Not only a fortune, Madam Santo. If the experiment turns out as I believe it will perform many hundreds of human transformations. Who knows, Perhaps. Perhaps I say, we might even rule the world. [00:13:11] Speaker E: Miss an exy. [00:13:12] Speaker F: Get your face. [00:13:12] Speaker D: Let me have a paper, son. [00:13:13] Speaker F: Yes, sir. [00:13:14] Speaker D: Hey, honestly. Thank you. [00:13:17] Speaker E: Well, who is this missing social light Lamont? [00:13:19] Speaker D: Oh, probably some publicity seeking. Margo, look. Why, look at this picture. [00:13:26] Speaker E: Why Lamont? It's the girl we saw in the tea room. [00:13:29] Speaker D: Yes, listen to this. Doris Molnar, missing since Monday afternoon. No clues to her appearance or disappearance. Rather found on Monday. [00:13:39] Speaker E: That was the day we saw her. [00:13:41] Speaker D: Yes. [00:13:42] Speaker E: Say that fortune teller, you suppose she would know anything about this thing? [00:13:46] Speaker D: I have an idea she might. Yes, yes. I think it would be very worthwhile paying a call on her as the shadow. [00:14:01] Speaker E: She didn't want. She didn't want some fortune. We shall both have a fortune. To my little bird. The cars will tell us what we wish to know. She'd watch a fortune. I say we will no longer have to work in that tea room or live in these dingy rooms above it. We will be rich. What was that? [00:14:29] Speaker D: I'm sorry to interrupt your fortune telling, Madam Santo. [00:14:33] Speaker E: Who speaks? Who is here? [00:14:35] Speaker D: I am called the Shadow. [00:14:37] Speaker E: Shadow. Shadow. Shadow, where are you? Where are you, Shadow? [00:14:43] Speaker D: I'm standing right here beside you. [00:14:44] Speaker E: But I don't see you. [00:14:46] Speaker D: By my hypnotic power I've made myself invisible to your eyes. [00:14:50] Speaker E: Why are you here? What do you want of me? [00:14:52] Speaker D: I have come to seek information. [00:14:54] Speaker E: What about? [00:14:55] Speaker D: A young lady named Doris Moltar. She disappeared three days ago. She was last seen with you in your tea room. [00:15:03] Speaker E: I don't know. I have never heard of the girl mole. [00:15:07] Speaker D: You do know her, Madam Santo. In fact you sent her to a taxidermist shop. Where is this shop located? [00:15:14] Speaker E: I don't know what you are talking about, Professor Feeling. Professor Feeling. [00:15:17] Speaker D: Who is this Professor Feeling your strange bird mentions? [00:15:20] Speaker E: I don't know him. [00:15:21] Speaker D: Does he have anything to do with the taxidermist shop? [00:15:23] Speaker E: Why? No, no he doesn't. Sit down Professor Feeling. Sit down. You're all quiet. I'll shut you up. You far too much. There. Now you won't talk anymore. You want now? Now see what you made me do. I have killed her. I have killed my sister. [00:15:46] Speaker D: But not before she revealed a very interesting clue. You'll be hearing from me again, Madam Santo. Very. And now we return to the house of horror. Now Margo, you know what you're to do? [00:16:21] Speaker E: Yes, I'll tell the fortune teller that I've lost a ring. And then we'll see if she directs me to the taxi down the shop. Just as she did Doris Mold. [00:16:28] Speaker F: That's it. [00:16:28] Speaker D: And be sure to get the address. Here she comes now. I better finish my tea and get ready to go. [00:16:36] Speaker E: Fortune told me. Why, yes, yes, I would like to have my fortune told. Good. But the gentleman. You want him to listen? [00:16:45] Speaker D: Well, I was just. I was just leaving. See you tomorrow, Margot. Right. [00:16:49] Speaker E: Oh, call me, won't you? [00:16:50] Speaker D: Yes, I will. [00:16:51] Speaker E: Well, here we are. Yes, here we are. This man your fiance, perhaps? Oh, no, no. He's just an acquaintance. Cut the cards, please, and make your wish. All right. There you are. And do try to make the wish come true. Ah, a young lady in love. Oh, no, no. It's not that at all. It. Well, it's something I've lost. I see. Then we shall not need the cards. The crystal is for things that are lost. Now, was it jewelry that is missing? Yes, yes, that's right. It's a ring. I consult the crystal. I see a stream down by the river front. On that street is a tiny little shark. In the window of the shop are many animals. They are dead animals, stuffed to look alive. Yes, yes. Go on. Inside that shop there are many more animals. One of these is a giant stuffed gorilla. Yes. In the mouth of that gorilla, in the mouth, your ring will be found. Oh, are you sure? The crystal never lies. You will go to the shop? Yes, yes, of course. The crystal shows that time is very precious. If you want your ring, you must go for it right away. This very night. It's fog, Lamont. I can scarcely see two feet ahead of me. [00:18:45] Speaker D: Well, we're right on the riverfront, Margo. [00:18:47] Speaker E: It's deserted here at night. We haven't passed a living soul since we left the car. [00:18:52] Speaker D: It's not exactly a pleasant neighborhood. [00:18:55] Speaker E: A foghorn doesn't help any either. Gosh, I hope we don't pass by the shop. I can't see a thing. [00:19:00] Speaker D: I've been watching for it. [00:19:02] Speaker E: You know, everything considered, I'm certainly a smart kid. [00:19:06] Speaker F: What do you mean? [00:19:07] Speaker E: I picked a fine night to go out and put my hand in a gorilla's mouth. That is just in case anyone should ask. [00:19:13] Speaker D: What's the matter? [00:19:14] Speaker E: Something's rushing against my leg. Oh, it's wet and slimy. [00:19:20] Speaker D: It's only a cat. A black cat, I might add. [00:19:23] Speaker E: Oh. Well, it's a good thing I'm not superstitious. Did he cross in front of me? [00:19:30] Speaker D: Not superstitious. Eh? [00:19:31] Speaker E: Well, no. Just be careful. [00:19:33] Speaker D: Oh, wait. I believe this is the place. Yes. See the animals in the window? [00:19:38] Speaker E: Oh, yes. Do you suppose the shop is open, this place? [00:19:41] Speaker D: I'm quite sure it is. Especially for your benefit. We'll try the door. There you are, Imago. If we hear anyone coming, I'll duck behind one of the animals. [00:19:53] Speaker E: All right. Gee, it's a frightening place. Lamont, what's that noise? [00:20:02] Speaker D: Just the clock ticking off the minute. [00:20:04] Speaker E: You don't think it's a bomb? [00:20:08] Speaker D: No, no, I'm sure it didn't. I don't think, though, we should attempt to find the lights. It's better that we remain in the darkness. Margot, you look on that side of the room and I'll take this side. [00:20:19] Speaker E: All right. And if I find it, I'll shout, but loud. [00:20:23] Speaker D: All right. [00:20:26] Speaker E: Clemont. [00:20:27] Speaker D: Yes? [00:20:28] Speaker E: I found a stuffed goat. Will you settle for that? [00:20:30] Speaker D: Uh, I won't be the butt of that joke. [00:20:33] Speaker E: Well, no harm in trying. The mob. What was that? [00:20:37] Speaker D: Sounded like a live gorilla. [00:20:38] Speaker E: Oh, but why should the moss. Yes, I found it. The stuffed gorilla. The mouth is closed. [00:20:44] Speaker D: Well, wait a minute. Let me help you. [00:20:45] Speaker E: Wait, I'll open. [00:20:57] Speaker F: You must be quiet, young lady. The time is now at hand when we shall all travel to the promised land. Ah, so you're becoming impatient too, eh, big boy? Soon, oh, so soon you'll know the supreme joy. The machine is almost ready. But we must be steady. I must. [00:21:20] Speaker E: Yes, my dear, the other young lady has arrived. [00:21:23] Speaker F: Good. Bring her in. Madam Santor. Now, now we are all set. The finest. We are about to. Yes, yes, I know, big fellow, I know. Your waiting has ended. Both the young women are ready. And here my hour of triumph is very near. [00:21:42] Speaker E: Get in here, you. Where. Where am I? She's still days from the fort with the trap door. [00:21:48] Speaker F: I see. Mmm. She's an excellent specimen. Put her on the table next to the other young woman. Madame Santos, wait. [00:21:57] Speaker E: Take your hands off me. [00:21:58] Speaker F: Ah, she has a temper. That's very good. Very good. [00:22:02] Speaker E: That girl on the table. Why, it's Doroth Molnar. The girl had disappeared. [00:22:07] Speaker F: You know her? [00:22:08] Speaker E: Well, I know who she is, yes. What are all these strange looking machines? What do you intend to do? [00:22:15] Speaker F: Put it on the table, Madame Santor. [00:22:16] Speaker E: No, no, you won't. [00:22:17] Speaker F: Close the door. [00:22:17] Speaker D: Quickly. [00:22:18] Speaker E: No. Stop. [00:22:19] Speaker F: It is very foolish of you to try to escape. [00:22:20] Speaker E: Let me out. Let me out of here. A gorilla. [00:22:23] Speaker F: That's right, young lady. A gorilla seems to like you. That's very good, considering that you and he shall soon be one. [00:22:31] Speaker E: What do you mean? [00:22:32] Speaker F: I intend to combine your brain with portions of the brain of the gorilla. [00:22:35] Speaker E: No, no. [00:22:36] Speaker F: When it is finished, you and the other young lady shall retain your brain. But the strength of this beast. [00:22:42] Speaker E: Oh no, no, you can't, you can't. [00:22:43] Speaker F: But I can fasten the scapter on her body. [00:22:45] Speaker E: No, let me go I said. [00:22:47] Speaker F: Now I will put the machine in. [00:22:49] Speaker E: Place here and the office table. [00:22:51] Speaker F: We attach the electrodes. There we are. [00:22:54] Speaker E: Stop. Stop at your machine. [00:22:55] Speaker F: Now we pry out the machine. In a moment the current will be passing through your body, young lady. [00:23:00] Speaker E: Don't let me up, let me. [00:23:06] Speaker F: What happened? My machine. The current has failed. What was that? [00:23:11] Speaker D: Have I spoiled your plans, Professor Fielding? [00:23:14] Speaker E: Shadow. [00:23:15] Speaker D: Yes, Madame Santo, I warned you that you'd hear from me again. [00:23:18] Speaker F: Who is this talking? I see no one. [00:23:20] Speaker E: It is the shadow, he is invisible. Professor, you cannot see him. [00:23:24] Speaker D: Why is he here? I have come to learn of your experiment and it appears that I arrived just in time. [00:23:30] Speaker F: Did you tell this voice where we were, Madam Santo? And how did you know him? [00:23:33] Speaker E: He came to my quarters last night. [00:23:35] Speaker D: I trusted you. [00:23:36] Speaker F: Now you pricked me, trying to ruin my experiment. [00:23:38] Speaker E: That is not true, I swear it. [00:23:40] Speaker D: Now Madam Santo, you know you told me to come here. No, don't you remember that you promised that we would learn the secret and profit by it ourselves? [00:23:47] Speaker E: No, that is a lie. Don't you believe him. Professor, please, no. [00:23:49] Speaker F: You are going to reap the harvest of my years of labor, steal my secret and then dispose of me. [00:23:54] Speaker E: That is not so. He lies. [00:23:56] Speaker F: I have a way of dealing with those who betrayed Professor. [00:24:00] Speaker E: Professor, put down that knife. [00:24:02] Speaker F: This is to be the survival of the city. I'm going to be the one who survived. [00:24:07] Speaker E: Help me. Help. Keep me away from me. [00:24:10] Speaker F: I do not fear him. He's only a voice. You are flesh and blood, I can deal with you. [00:24:14] Speaker D: Leave her alone. Professor feeling. [00:24:16] Speaker F: Keep out of this. [00:24:16] Speaker E: I will open the cage if you don't keep away. I will open the cage. I will free the gorilla. [00:24:20] Speaker F: You wouldn't dare. You are more afraid of him than you are of me. [00:24:23] Speaker E: I'm warning you, get away or I will open it. [00:24:25] Speaker F: Don't open the killing, you fool. [00:24:26] Speaker E: I told you I would do it. I told you. [00:24:28] Speaker D: Look out for that beast, both of you. [00:24:30] Speaker E: Professor, he's coming at you. Keep away, keep away. [00:24:33] Speaker C: No, no, stay. [00:24:34] Speaker E: Okay. [00:24:35] Speaker D: Don't try to save him Madam Santo, the beast will get you too. [00:24:38] Speaker E: Help him. [00:24:38] Speaker D: Look out, Madame Santo. [00:24:42] Speaker E: Lamont. Come on, he'll turn on Us, Nick? [00:24:44] Speaker D: Yes, fortunately, I'm prepared. [00:24:45] Speaker E: Oh, he's coming toward me. [00:24:47] Speaker D: Don't move. Bag on. No, you don't. Big wife. [00:24:59] Speaker E: Lamont, I just spoke to Doris Mona on the phone. She's feeling much better. Fortunately, she doesn't remember any of the gory details of the gorilla killing Madame Santo and Professor Fielding. That drug that they'd given her saved her that unpleasant memory. [00:25:11] Speaker D: Good. Well, I went to the shop with the police this morning. You'll be happy to learn that Commissioner Weston ordered that infernal machine of Fielding's destroyed. [00:25:20] Speaker E: Oh, I hope they destroy the whole shop. I don't want to see any more animals for the next few weeks. In fact, right now, I'd even hesitate to look at a stuffed chicken. [00:25:40] Speaker D: Don't miss next week's Shadow story. The Green Man. Here, Lamont Cranston, solved the mystery of the murderer who glowed with a ghostly green light. This green light, Margot, can you describe it more clearly? [00:25:50] Speaker E: It was a ghostly light. Lamont. His whole body seemed to glow. Its radiance almost filled the room. It was almost like a. Like a ghost. [00:25:57] Speaker D: Yes, Margo. If we don't act quickly, you'll be a ghost, too. Now, tell me, have you any idea who the other two victims might be? The card and the tiny coffin the murderer sent to you warned that you were only one of three. Today's program is based on a story copyrighted by the Shadow Magazine. The characters, names, places and plots are fictitious. Any similarity to persons living or dead is purely coincidental. [00:26:29] Speaker A: That was the house of Horror from the Shadow, here on the mysterious old Radio Listening Society podcast. Once again. I'm Eric. [00:26:37] Speaker B: I'm Tim. [00:26:38] Speaker C: And I'm Joshua. [00:26:39] Speaker A: That is part three and the final segment. Final installment of the conclusion of the epic trilogy of ape related shadow stories. Are there any more? [00:26:53] Speaker C: I'm sure there are, but this is where I stop. [00:26:57] Speaker A: That's just too bad. [00:26:58] Speaker C: Oh, no. If listeners want to hear more, they can recommend other great Ape related Shadow episodes that I have missed. But these are three that I am familiar with and adore to varying degrees. [00:27:11] Speaker A: So I'll take that a step further. [00:27:13] Speaker C: Present them all here. [00:27:14] Speaker A: Any ape related old time radio show. Bring it to our attention. We'll eventually find one that works. [00:27:21] Speaker C: I know there is a Monkey Woman episode of the Shadow. But, you know, I wasn't sure if I was going to make that clear distinction between apes and monkeys. [00:27:30] Speaker A: Does she transform into a monkey? [00:27:32] Speaker C: It's been so long since I heard it. I remember it being a little disappointing. It's hard to live up to the title Monkey Woman, let's be honest. [00:27:41] Speaker A: You know, last week I poked some holes in our lights out episode that we were doing. The. The Old lady that Turned into a Cat or whatever it was called. [00:27:52] Speaker B: You didn't even do the yodeling reference of little old lady who. We got to go back. [00:27:58] Speaker A: Okay. Little old lady who. So, you know, in poking holes in the plot, and I find it interesting how stuff bugs me and I have a hard time staying focused on the story because I get thrown by that kind of stuff. And yet the shadow is probably the biggest abuser of that kind of stuff. And I just let it go. There are a lot of things that I'll bring up in here that didn't make me mad. They made me laugh. These giant holes in the story or these leaps of logic and all of these things. But for some reason, because it's the shadow, I go, yeah, it's just fun. Let it go. But why can't I do that with other shows? You know, like, why can't I? [00:28:43] Speaker C: Something to take up with your therapist. [00:28:46] Speaker B: It's the bargain. The series of the story mixed with you at the outset of this is going to be fantastical but grounded, or this is going to be bizarre and absurd. And if you don't buy into that at all, then I'm not going to enjoy this at all. Not because it's bad, because I'm not on the same page as this story. [00:29:08] Speaker C: You have to be pretty churlish to be like, mmm, you aren't giving me enough shadow. When you are getting gorillas, tea rooms, fortune tellers, parrots, mad scientists, ape women, hybrids. I mean, this thing gives you every bit of ridiculous over the top. [00:29:30] Speaker B: The leaps in logic I love. I love just soaking in and splashing around in the ridiculousness of scientists who like, okay, I need two women. I need two women to put their brains and, like, sew it together with the gorilla brain inside the gorilla to give both. [00:29:49] Speaker C: No, they're going to retain their brains. I took it as an act of conservation. He just wants to use every bit of that ape brain. And because women's brains are so small compared to an ape's brain, I don't know. I don't know what the logic is that he needed two women to use up all of the one ape brain. This is all the backfilling I did. [00:30:09] Speaker B: Ape brains going in their bodies that become super strong or their brains both going into one. [00:30:13] Speaker C: No, he says specifically, you will retain your own brain. [00:30:19] Speaker B: Right. [00:30:19] Speaker C: But have the strength and cunning of a gorilla. [00:30:22] Speaker B: But is it going to be your brain in its body? [00:30:25] Speaker C: No, it's going to be gorilla brain strength in your own brain in your own body. So, like, basically, what I'm saying here is there is no downside to this. And I don't know why Margot didn't just go for it, because the shadow could have had this most excellent sidekick of gorilla lady. Right. Or Margila. I don't know what her name is. [00:30:48] Speaker A: It's strangely parallel to the Captain America origin story. [00:30:57] Speaker B: This was Dr. Erskine. [00:30:58] Speaker A: Now, Tim started this. Can I finish something? Your. Because you started it, and I really wanted to do this. A little play of how this came about. And it's the idea that you just started. Okay. Now, I need. I have this idea. And put some monkey juice or whatever inside these women, and they'll become strong. Right. I don't know if it's going to work, but I'm going to need test patients. For some reason, they need to be two women. That's not explained. Okay. [00:31:28] Speaker B: And then for the grant. [00:31:33] Speaker A: The ridiculously convoluted plot of. Okay, I'm going to go to this fortune teller, and this fortune teller is going to lure them here, find two. [00:31:46] Speaker B: Women, have lost jewelry. Because all women lose jewelry. [00:31:49] Speaker A: Jewelry. Right. Because 90% when you do what? [00:31:51] Speaker C: How would you find it? But going to a fortune teller and. [00:31:54] Speaker A: Right. And we're going to make the assumption that they're not going to say, what do you mean? It's in a gorilla's mouth in a taxidermy office. Thank you. Oh, my God. I'm going right over there. I'm not going to bring anybody with me. [00:32:07] Speaker C: Oh, it's on the docks in the bad side of town. I'll be right over. [00:32:12] Speaker A: You literally could have been in cahoots with this woman to the point of, when someone comes in, I'm just gonna take her. You know, like, why do we have to send them over there when you could do it there? And then on top of that, once they get into the taxidermy office. Can't you just. Now, this can sound horrible. Jump and grab them, drug them, and then start the experiment. No, you have to go up to an actual taxidermy gorilla. I have to build this thing where it's rigged that when you pull the jaw down, a trap door will go again, as I said at the top, I wasn't mad. I wasn't going, oh, come on. This is so. I was like, oh, this is gleefully ridiculous. And I get mad at myself for not cutting that slack to others. But I do want to hear the prequel to this where he comes up with this idea. [00:33:07] Speaker B: Oh, I know. I was like three years ago, I was a grad student thinking like, can I take little bits of animal brains and just sort of graft on it? I could save like so many trauma, like brain traumas. I could, I could better the world. And then a few experiments later, like, I got a better idea. [00:33:25] Speaker C: An army of women with the strength of apes will take over the world. [00:33:31] Speaker A: Now how do I get them? [00:33:33] Speaker B: Well, I've got a mechanical gorilla and. [00:33:36] Speaker A: I'm buddies with madam. What's her name? [00:33:38] Speaker B: Yes. And on my laboratory underneath the taxidermy. [00:33:41] Speaker A: Shop and I got this hinge that looks like a jaw. Like it's just, it's never ending. Convoluted. But you really could have had a simpler path to this. [00:33:55] Speaker B: Yes. And all this is not making fun of it. It is like, this is the fun. Right. [00:33:59] Speaker A: That's what I'm getting at. [00:34:00] Speaker C: It's making fun of itself. It's very intentional. There's a lot of satire in here. The socialites who go to the fortune telling tea rooms, which were a real thing in the 30s, I think I read somewhere that there were actual laws passed that you could not pay fortune tellers. And this was the way around. You would have a tea room and you're just buying tea and then they'd come to the table and they would read the tea leaves at the bottom of your cup as a way of getting around these weird anti fortune telling laws. [00:34:33] Speaker A: That's, you know, it's the same thing as you can't have a kegger in your house in college and charge money to people because that would be selling alcohol. So you charge them for cups. You sell them cups. And you also, as we found out in college, if you ask every single person if they're a cop, if you don't know them, if they are, they have to say yes. And I'll be damned if at least six times in my college life a guy went, yep, I am, and walked away. That's crazy. [00:35:08] Speaker B: I always thought that was a lie. [00:35:09] Speaker A: Yeah, we got a few of them. [00:35:11] Speaker B: I was supposed to tell them I was a cop. [00:35:13] Speaker F: Oh, no. [00:35:15] Speaker A: Are you a cop? Yep. Oh, weird. It worked. [00:35:18] Speaker B: I figured because of the uniform. [00:35:20] Speaker C: This also demonstrates very clearly why villains should not own parrots. I love that scene where the parents just like, oh, and here's another thing, Shadow. [00:35:34] Speaker B: Well, that scene was so realistic to me as far as like your pet that you love and adore in a Moment of crisis will freak out and do the exact wrong thing and tell on you. Like my cats would learn to speak in the moment. [00:35:49] Speaker C: Just to. [00:35:50] Speaker A: There is no doubt that is the greatest performance of dying parrot in the history. Was it Paul Fries? [00:36:00] Speaker B: Tell Polly I love her. I want a cracker. [00:36:06] Speaker A: Either these curtains go or I do. [00:36:15] Speaker C: The Shadow also gets some really good dad jokes in here in the taxidermy shop. And Margot says, lamont, would you settle for a stuffed goat? No, I won't be the butt of that joke. These guys are just so much fun. [00:36:29] Speaker A: Didn't they call themselves out on that joke? [00:36:31] Speaker F: Yeah, yeah. [00:36:32] Speaker B: Didn't think to the very top of what I was. My comments. I was so overjoyed to finally, in a Shadow episode, encounter someone who had never heard of the Shadow before. [00:36:45] Speaker A: Shadow, huh? I heard of you like that. Oh, yeah. [00:36:49] Speaker B: Invisible. Doesn't sound right. [00:36:54] Speaker A: Right. [00:36:56] Speaker C: Like a lot of these shadows. I think it's interesting that it opens with something that is a little more visceral, more violent than the rest of the episode. [00:37:06] Speaker B: Or forming a gorilla. [00:37:08] Speaker C: Well, there's. Well, there's that. The chloroform on a stick. I'm gonna sell that at the state fair next year. But just the ruthless murdering of the night watchmen, right? Oh, yeah, they said. And later, Lamont says he got two bullets in the head. But I went back because it's just what I do. And there were three shots. And so I tried to figure out, you know, some poor slow lemur, couldn't move in time, got it between the eyes with the third shot. I don't know what animal was an innocent bystander, but, yeah, chicken just winged him. [00:37:43] Speaker A: It's crossing a road. See, it's unbelievable how fortuitous a detective team Margot and Lamont are just go into a tea room against his will and happens to overhear the conversation. That solves the big crime of the day. Just out of anywhere he could have been. He's always ends up in the right place at the right time. Unbelievable luck. [00:38:14] Speaker C: And he even doesn't make a big connection there. He just says, well, that's quite a coincidence. And it takes another disappearance before he even follows up on it. [00:38:25] Speaker A: Meanwhile, we're all going, that's the gorilla person. [00:38:27] Speaker B: Whose turn is it to shoot the gorilla now? Margo, you up? [00:38:32] Speaker C: Well, this one really points out that the Shadow literally carries a gun just to shoot gorillas. [00:38:38] Speaker A: Right? [00:38:39] Speaker C: Because it begs. [00:38:39] Speaker B: I was curious if he picked up the doctor's gun. [00:38:42] Speaker C: If he had a gun, he could have just shot the Mad scientist when he pulls the knife on the fortune teller before she opens the cage and saved the big boy and Madam Santo. [00:38:56] Speaker A: Right. [00:38:57] Speaker B: In the eyes of the law, it would be self defense defending her life. [00:39:01] Speaker A: Right. [00:39:02] Speaker C: But instead he's like, well, I'll just stand here while the fortune teller fights. [00:39:08] Speaker D: Don't do that. [00:39:09] Speaker C: They are once again hoisted by their own petard. Their guerrilla petard. Ouch. Right. The one thing I didn't prepare you guys for as we get to the end of this discussion is I do expect not just a final verdict on this particular guerilla related shadow episode, but I want to know what your favorite of the trilogy is as well. [00:39:36] Speaker A: Were there two more? [00:39:41] Speaker C: Well, before we go to a final vote, I do want to say that there's one very strange moment in here when they are outside the taxidermy shop and something wet and slimy rubs up against Margot's legs and then they say it's a cat. [00:39:57] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:39:58] Speaker C: Did you confuse a cat with an eel? [00:40:01] Speaker B: It's one of those hairless cats with Vaseline on it. Yes, they're everywhere in the city these days. [00:40:07] Speaker C: Yeah, they had passed laws in the 1930s and that was a way to get around it. You just let them loose in the. [00:40:14] Speaker A: That way you could never grab them. Yeah, yeah, that was a weird. A weird moment. [00:40:20] Speaker C: I assume it was just fog and river mist or I don't know what made the cat wet and slimy. [00:40:29] Speaker A: The writer may have never seen a cat before and was guessing. [00:40:34] Speaker C: Yeah. [00:40:36] Speaker A: Well, do you want to vote? [00:40:38] Speaker C: Last comment is Treevey has a great mispronunciation of predestrians that seems to me like there's a whole like Ray Bradbury story about pedestrians who are destined to cross at certain intersections and you talk about unnecessary dialogue. [00:41:01] Speaker A: The entire conversation with Srivi is absolutely inconsequential to anything. [00:41:08] Speaker C: Yes. And they don't even attempt Margot and Lamont to hide how ridiculously stupid they think he is. [00:41:14] Speaker A: Yeah, right. But I kept thinking something Shrivey said is going to have a shred of some kind of. It's. It's going to come into play later somehow. And it just doesn't, you know. Why am I about to vote? Well, it was great fun. Again, you know, that's. Was it a masterclass in anything? No, no, it wasn't anything. But again, I think you're right. When you walk into it, the bargain that is made is. That's what you're in for. You're in for this. Especially when we move beyond the Orson Welles years of the Shadow, this is what you're in for. And consequently, I don't have a expectation of. I know what I'm expecting. I know that there's going to be ridiculous plot holes and things that don't matter because as you said, Joshua, this is a list on a bulletin board. Mad scientist, guerrilla trapdoor, fake gorilla, fortune teller. You stole it all in a pot. Mix it up. Who cares how it goes? [00:42:23] Speaker C: But that's the thing. It's this condensed version of it. It hasn't been thrown in the pot. It's like just eating a bouillon cube. It's like all of it just smashed together. And that's part of what I love about it. [00:42:37] Speaker A: Didn't you have that analysis once on an episode of ours that the plot was like eating a bullion cube? [00:42:43] Speaker B: Did for this episode. The thing reminds me of especially what you're just saying. There's a story that I have every reason to believe that in the 1950s for Superman comic books, they would just go to a kid and say, like, what do you want to see on the COVID Right? And be like, I want to see Superman dressed as an Indian chief fighting a dinosaur. [00:43:02] Speaker C: Great. [00:43:03] Speaker B: That's the COVID All right, let's write that comic book. Let's figure out what that story is. [00:43:07] Speaker C: This is definitely that type of story. [00:43:10] Speaker A: It ranks up there with writing shows with just a really clever title before you have any idea what the show's about. [00:43:18] Speaker C: And you've already sent out all the publicity and you've taken photos and cast it, and you still have to write it. Yes. [00:43:25] Speaker B: Yeah. This was super fun. I can in no controversial way say this is a classical radio show. But I think it holds up because it is the madcap absurdity and joy and horror. It all still palpable today. It does its job still. [00:43:42] Speaker C: Yeah. And it's aware of itself even at the top. The gorilla Napper, one of them is theorizing, like, what does he want a gorilla for? Is he going to terrorize the city? You know, like, they're aware of all these tropes. Even the guys stealing the gorillas are aware of the limited options they have for utilizing a gorilla in some sort of fantastical way. So it's very self aware and it is very much just this outlandish, campy, lurid, violent fun. And I think fun is the through line for me. And I know that varies. And I thank all listeners who are like, is this seriously going to be the third ape episode we have to listen to? But I hope you enjoyed it. But, yeah, I love all these crazy, heightened pulp elements. And it's just the competition to grab eyeballs off the newsstand. I mean, it's back to that comic book cover idea. You're talking about it. So it's just this competition to be as sensational as possible. And the end result, from I think our perspective, when we're used to entertainment, being a little more grounded even when it's fantastical, just seems like just a drug induced hallucination, practically. [00:44:54] Speaker A: What you're saying is it's the origins of clickbait. [00:44:57] Speaker C: Yeah, it's cover bait. [00:44:59] Speaker B: To answer your other question about which of the three I enjoyed the best, it was super fun, but it peaked at number one, Gorilla Man. I thought with the. [00:45:07] Speaker A: Can we remind me? [00:45:08] Speaker B: I'll tell you what I love about Gorilla man and then if Joshua wants to give you the options, I'll let him do that. But it was the one with the carnival where each individual animal had a handler that was kind of like the animal. So there was this panther lady who had a panther. There was the gorilla guy who thought he was turning into a gorilla, who had a gorilla, and the snake guy who was kind of shady. And the panther lady was a wife or girlfriend of the one guy, but just always assumed like, yeah, he's going to be killed by a gorilla. [00:45:36] Speaker A: Right. [00:45:37] Speaker B: The whole ridiculous world of it is beautiful. I love it. [00:45:40] Speaker A: What was the second one? [00:45:42] Speaker C: The second one was pumpkin pie. That's all I have to do to trigger it for you. [00:45:46] Speaker A: Is that the one where he shoots the ape in a deserted building of some sort? [00:45:51] Speaker C: Well, at the park zoo. Yes. At the end, the shadow shoots the gorilla. [00:45:55] Speaker B: Yeah, she shoots him in the first one. [00:45:57] Speaker A: I don't know. [00:45:58] Speaker C: You don't have to have a favor. [00:46:01] Speaker A: I'm going to go with Tim's. [00:46:02] Speaker C: Okay, good, because it's my favorite too. [00:46:06] Speaker A: Well, we agreed on something. [00:46:08] Speaker C: I'm going to make the case that the gorilla man is the high art. [00:46:12] Speaker B: It's the Susan Kane of Shadow Ape episodes. [00:46:15] Speaker C: It really is. I do love the expressionistic elements of every zookeeper somehow resembling their own animals. And the narration by the antagonist is an outlier for the shadow. And it also has a great moment where the shadow has to acknowledge that a mentally ill bad guy is, like, outside his Manichean view of good and evil. And he has that almost like, does not compute moment that I think is a really fun shadow moment. But all of these are fun because how can you not have fun with a giant ape? [00:46:53] Speaker A: You don't want to be in the gym shower with the guy that runs the baboon cage. [00:47:01] Speaker C: I'm just gonna take that statement out of context. [00:47:05] Speaker B: That's the ringtone for you from now on. [00:47:09] Speaker A: Tim, tell him stuff. [00:47:10] Speaker B: Please go visit ghoulishdelights.com it's the home of this podcast. You'll find other episodes there. Not only will you find those episodes, you can vote in polls, you can leave comments. Let us know what you think. What was your favorite Shadow Ape episode? You'll also find links to to our store if you want to get like a T shirt or a coffee mug with some branded logo on there. And you'll find a link to our Patreon page. [00:47:33] Speaker C: Yes, go to patreon.com themorals and become a member of the Mysterious Old Radio Listening Society. As a member, depending on what level you contribute at, you could give us enough money to decree that we never again feature a Shadow related or Ape related episode of the Shadow. [00:47:52] Speaker A: Well, you can give us enough money that we'll say and do whatever you tell us. [00:47:57] Speaker C: We will be your army of ape hybrids. So please support the podcast. It does take a lot of time and effort to make this podcast, despite what it sounds like. [00:48:11] Speaker A: If you'd like to see us performing live, the Mysterious Old Radio Listening Society Theater Company performs monthly, sometimes more than once a month somewhere for a very, very long time. So if you want to see each month where we're performing, what we're performing, and how to get tickets, just go to ghoulish delights.com and there you'll see all that information. We'd love to see you come and watch us and we'd love to meet you and have a great dinner. But if you can't make it, being a Patreon gets you access to audio and or video of those live performances. So be a Patreon too. What's coming up next? [00:48:49] Speaker C: Next is your choice, Eric. [00:48:51] Speaker A: Oh, right. We're going back to Escape with an episode called the Target. [00:48:59] Speaker C: Until then, they're Gorilla Petard. [00:49:03] Speaker A: That's what Petard used to say. Make it so. [00:49:09] Speaker E: Wow. [00:49:12] Speaker B: Is anyone still listening?