[00:00:16] Speaker A: The Mysterious Old Radio Listening Society Podcast welcome to the Mysterious Old Radio Listening Society, a podcast dedicated to suspense and horror stories from from the Golden Age of radio. I'm Eric.
[00:00:33] Speaker B: I'm Tim.
[00:00:34] Speaker C: And I'm Joshua. This week we continue our summer serial with the Thing that Cries in the Night from I Love a Mystery.
[00:00:41] Speaker A: I Love a Mystery was an adventure serial created by legendary radio writer Carlton E. Morse. It ran on NBC from 1939 to 1944 and was revived on the Mutual Broadcasting Network from 1949 to 1952. The thing that Cries in the Night is one of only two serials that exist in its entirety and is from the second run out of New York from 1949 to 19401952 the reason we.
[00:01:05] Speaker C: Have this complete series is because of radio historian Jim Harmon, who in the 60s went to visit Morse and ask him where the recordings were. Harmon became a trusted friend of Morse until his death. All Morse had were these two series on electrical transcription discs that were in his garage. He gave them to Harmon, who took them off the discs and shared them with the world. Morse himself had no idea where any of the show recordings might be. The rest of the fragments we have are from transcription discs discovered in forgotten rooms or basements of radio stations around the country.
[00:01:39] Speaker D: For example, a public radio station had been airing over the Internet radio shows via streaming audio that they had lying around and aired a single episode of I Love a Mystery that was previously not known to exist. Fans and historians freaked out and contacted the station immediately, and it was added to the archive of the remaining episodes. The hope is that someday the motherlode will be discovered that somebody kept all the discs somewhere. There are also crazy rumors of conspiracy like a millionaire is hoarding many of the discs and plays them over and over for himself and a few select friends.
[00:02:11] Speaker C: Or a vice president of a US Oil corporation has many of the discs in his collection of thousands. This person's widow is apparently holding out for some big bucks for this rare collection.
[00:02:21] Speaker A: Or Morris's agent took them and moved to England when he returned there to retire. Meanwhile, fingers are still crossed that this lost treasure someday, somehow will just show up.
[00:02:33] Speaker D: And now episodes 13, 14 and 15 of the Thing that Cries in the Night from Isle of A Mystery originally broadcast November of 1949 forget the petty distractions around you.
[00:02:45] Speaker A: Forget what you think you know. Forget everything but what you hear. Right now 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.
[00:03:06] Speaker E: The Mutual Broadcasting System presents I Love a Mystery Transpiring.
[00:03:54] Speaker F: There'S one thing, Jack, we're sure. Are we not the innocent members of the family? All that's left in the house is Grandma Cherry and Faye here.
[00:04:02] Speaker G: Don't forget them. Cherry's precious they people.
[00:04:05] Speaker B: Yes, and Pauline West.
[00:04:07] Speaker G: Yes, we mustn't forget Pauline West.
[00:04:10] Speaker H: Well, if they are in the house and this Pauline west is here, they've certainly keep in the background.
[00:04:15] Speaker F: Way in the background.
[00:04:16] Speaker B: On the other hand, they're right up in the foreground.
[00:04:18] Speaker F: Well, I ain't seen them.
[00:04:19] Speaker B: That's because you don't know where to look.
[00:04:21] Speaker H: Then perhaps you'll show Doc and me.
[00:04:22] Speaker B: Not yet.
[00:04:23] Speaker F: Yeah. And what about the baby?
[00:04:24] Speaker B: Yes, the baby's very much with us too.
[00:04:26] Speaker F: You've seen him too, I suppose.
[00:04:28] Speaker H: I say you have. But Jack, if. If you know.
[00:04:31] Speaker B: Not yet.
[00:04:32] Speaker H: But Jack.
[00:04:32] Speaker F: Reggie, don't you know Jack well enough by this time to. To know? He ain't gonna tell us nothing until he gets darn good and ready.
[00:04:39] Speaker H: Right. But would you mind telling us why you suddenly decided to have Hope removed to hospital? And why you've given Grandma Martin Cherry free run of the house while you're keeping Fay here practically a prisoner?
[00:04:48] Speaker F: Yeah, how about that, Jack?
[00:04:49] Speaker B: Hope went to the hospital to get her out of the way.
[00:04:51] Speaker F: Out of the way of what?
[00:04:52] Speaker B: She couldn't possibly stay alive in this house. She knew too much.
[00:04:55] Speaker H: How could you know that? She's unconscious.
[00:04:57] Speaker B: She was conscious just long enough for me to ask her one question.
[00:05:00] Speaker F: What was that?
[00:05:01] Speaker B: Where she found the gun with the silencer that killed Job.
[00:05:04] Speaker G: She told you?
[00:05:05] Speaker B: Yes.
[00:05:06] Speaker F: That's the thing that made somebody want to kill her?
[00:05:08] Speaker B: Yes.
[00:05:09] Speaker G: Well, then doesn't that put you in the same danger she was in?
[00:05:12] Speaker B: Exactly.
[00:05:12] Speaker H: Jack, you're in danger of being killed.
[00:05:15] Speaker B: Well, with proper precautions.
[00:05:16] Speaker F: But looky, tell us where you found the gun too. Then there'll be so many of us sitting up.
[00:05:20] Speaker B: I don't want that.
[00:05:21] Speaker F: He don't want what?
[00:05:22] Speaker B: Look, I know who the murderer is. I know how Job's murder was done. But I haven't got a scrap of proof. I can tell my story from now on. Nobody'd believe me.
[00:05:30] Speaker G: The baby. The baby would be proof.
[00:05:34] Speaker B: Yes. I could bring the baby to light. But a crying baby doesn't prove murder.
[00:05:37] Speaker F: Well, so what?
[00:05:38] Speaker B: So I've got to catch the murderer in the act.
[00:05:40] Speaker F: But how does you being in danger?
[00:05:42] Speaker B: We know he wants to kill me. We know he's gonna try to kill me. When he tries, it's up to me to be the smartest.
[00:05:48] Speaker G: You haven't been the smartest so far.
[00:05:50] Speaker B: That's true.
[00:05:50] Speaker H: Jack. You're setting a trap for the killer and using yourself as bait.
[00:05:53] Speaker B: Yes.
[00:05:54] Speaker H: I don't like that. I don't like it a bloody bit.
[00:05:56] Speaker B: And Doc.
[00:05:56] Speaker F: Yeah?
[00:05:57] Speaker B: The outcome's gonna depend a great deal on you.
[00:05:59] Speaker F: Hey, you mean your life?
[00:06:00] Speaker B: I mean, if you let Fay here give you the slip for one minute, I can't predict what will happen.
[00:06:05] Speaker F: Faye. Huh? Faye.
[00:06:06] Speaker G: Oh, my goodness, but you look ferocious, Doc.
[00:06:08] Speaker B: Look, you.
[00:06:09] Speaker F: Faye, I ain't never hit a woman in my life. But just you try one move and, lady, I'm gonna lay you so flat that you could be shoved under the carpet.
[00:06:16] Speaker B: No rough stuff, Doc.
[00:06:17] Speaker F: Well, I ain't fooling, sister.
[00:06:18] Speaker G: What a foul.
[00:06:19] Speaker B: Now then, Doc and Reggie, I want you to listen closely to what I'm going to say in case I'm not as smart as the killer when the time comes.
[00:06:25] Speaker F: Hey, cut it out, will you guys, will you?
[00:06:26] Speaker B: Listen, in case anything happens to me, I want you to give this information to the police. First, find Pauline west, the radio actress. She's in this house. Second, remember that it was Grandma Martin who arranged the chairs in the library so that Job sat in front of the window the night he was killed. But be sure to tell them that she had been arranging the chairs in just that same order ever since the grandchildren were small. You got that?
[00:06:47] Speaker H: That's great.
[00:06:48] Speaker G: I'm.
[00:06:48] Speaker H: I'm making notes.
[00:06:49] Speaker B: Third, tell them the night Cherry was bound and gagged and taken down to the furnace room, that her clothes were strewn from the third floor to the basement, making a trail that would assure us finding her quickly.
[00:06:57] Speaker H: I say, I never thought of that. Did you ask Cherry? Did she drop stuff as. As she was being carried down?
[00:07:02] Speaker B: How could she? She was tied hand and foot before she was taken out of her bedroom. According to her own story.
[00:07:05] Speaker F: Then the fellow who carried her down must have dropped a stuff, Right? But why?
[00:07:09] Speaker B: That's all the police need to know. They can find out the rest from that. Uh huh.
[00:07:13] Speaker F: You know, from the look on Faye's map, I bet she could tell us.
[00:07:16] Speaker G: Maybe I could.
[00:07:17] Speaker B: Fourth, there's about three or four thicknesses of wallpaper on the walls of Cherry's bedroom. Did you know for many for sure? How many, Fay?
[00:07:24] Speaker G: Well, I'd say offhand the room had been papered four times.
[00:07:28] Speaker B: Yes. Well, tell the police to peel off the three top layers of paper in an area about 3ft square. And examine the figures on the paper very carefully.
[00:07:35] Speaker H: Well, what the heck's that for?
[00:07:36] Speaker B: And you be present when they do it. And you'll see.
[00:07:38] Speaker H: Joe, that's the queerest yet.
[00:07:39] Speaker B: Five, give them this gun. It's the one that killed Job. And the one Cherry and Hope fought over when Hope was shot. Be sure to call their attention to this piece of black thread tied to the trigger.
[00:07:48] Speaker F: Yeah, I noticed that it is on the gun when I picked it up after Hope was shot.
[00:07:52] Speaker B: Yes, about a foot long. If they'll examine the end under a microscope, they'll probably find it looks as though it had been burned off. You getting all this down, Reggie? It's quiet, Six. This is going to be in the nature of a demonstration. Take hold of Faizan, Doc.
[00:08:05] Speaker G: Say, what's the idea?
[00:08:06] Speaker F: Jack says to take your arm, so I'm taking your arm.
[00:08:09] Speaker G: Well, take it easy, will you? I don't want to look like I've been manhandled by a girl gorilla.
[00:08:12] Speaker B: You should have hang on to it, huh?
[00:08:13] Speaker F: You bet you.
[00:08:14] Speaker B: Hey.
[00:08:15] Speaker G: Delights. The light, Jack.
[00:08:16] Speaker H: Who turned out the lights?
[00:08:17] Speaker B: I did. Sit still. I'll turn them on again.
[00:08:18] Speaker F: Sit down.
[00:08:19] Speaker G: No, you let go of me.
[00:08:20] Speaker F: I said sit down.
[00:08:21] Speaker G: Let go of me.
[00:08:22] Speaker F: Not you, little cat.
[00:08:24] Speaker G: Sit down.
[00:08:24] Speaker F: Get them lights turned on, Jackie.
[00:08:28] Speaker B: Oh, I say, Doc, what happened?
[00:08:30] Speaker F: Looky, looky at my face.
[00:08:32] Speaker H: Scratches. She did that.
[00:08:33] Speaker F: I say she done it. She tried to get away.
[00:08:35] Speaker B: Hey, what's the matter with you? Why'd you try to get away?
[00:08:37] Speaker G: Why not? It was dark.
[00:08:38] Speaker F: Lady, you don't know how near you come to getting shots.
[00:08:40] Speaker G: So what?
[00:08:41] Speaker H: But the lights, what made them go out?
[00:08:43] Speaker B: I turned them out.
[00:08:44] Speaker H: How could you? You were six or eight feet from the wall.
[00:08:46] Speaker B: Same way they were turned out last night before Job was killed. Look, I've got a piece of heavy black thread. Thread, that's all. I tied it to the switch when you weren't noticing. When I was ready for the blackout, I pulled on the thread pulling the switch down. Lights go out, the thread slips off the switch.
[00:09:00] Speaker F: Then somebody right in this room snapped off the light. That's right, Faye. Faye. Is that why you made such a fuss? Because Jack found out how you switched off a light?
[00:09:09] Speaker G: Oh, don't be absurd. Jack didn't say I did it.
[00:09:11] Speaker H: What about it, Jack?
[00:09:12] Speaker F: Did she?
[00:09:13] Speaker B: I can't prove anyone did it yet, but demonstrate it to the police if I'm not here.
[00:09:16] Speaker F: Right.
[00:09:17] Speaker H: That's five things to tell the police and that's all.
[00:09:20] Speaker B: Now then, Reggie. Yes, I want to talk to Grandmother Martin and Cherry separately. Go find them.
[00:09:24] Speaker H: Have you any idea?
[00:09:25] Speaker B: No, but they're around the house someplace.
[00:09:27] Speaker F: Well, how do you know that? We ain't kept a watch on them for hours. How do you know they ain't slipped out?
[00:09:30] Speaker B: Because the house is completely surrounded by plainclothes detectives.
[00:09:34] Speaker G: What's that?
[00:09:35] Speaker B: That's right, Frey.
[00:09:36] Speaker G: What's that for?
[00:09:36] Speaker B: Because of Hope. Whoever wants her dead might otherwise have slipped away and followed her to the hospital.
[00:09:41] Speaker G: I see.
Think of everything, don't you?
[00:09:45] Speaker B: We do our best. There's murder loose in this house. We're doing what we can to keep it here under quarantine. Well, go on, Reggie. Find Grandma and Cherry.
[00:09:52] Speaker H: Right. Oh, I'll have a look.
[00:09:53] Speaker B: Oh, Reggie.
[00:09:54] Speaker F: Yes?
[00:09:54] Speaker B: One at a time. Bring Cherry first. Cherry, it's.
[00:09:59] Speaker G: We.
We're just going to sit here and wait.
[00:10:02] Speaker B: I am. You can do as you choose.
[00:10:04] Speaker G: I choose to go up to my room.
[00:10:05] Speaker B: Go ahead. Hey, Jack, you go, too. Naturally.
[00:10:07] Speaker F: But leaving you down here alone, fella?
[00:10:09] Speaker B: You stick to Faye. Don't worry about me.
[00:10:11] Speaker G: Well, come on, Shadow.
[00:10:13] Speaker F: Yeah, yeah. Only I still don't like it.
[00:10:16] Speaker G: You've certainly got a lot of faith in your partner.
[00:10:18] Speaker F: What you mean?
[00:10:19] Speaker G: Two girls and one old woman, and you're worrying about leaving him alone here in the library?
[00:10:23] Speaker F: Well, so I'm afraid.
[00:10:24] Speaker G: And all the time you'll be within calling distant of you and Reggie and the house, surrounded by cops. That's what I call real bravery.
[00:10:32] Speaker B: Don't make us all look ridiculous. Doc, go along with her.
[00:10:35] Speaker F: I got a feeling.
[00:10:36] Speaker G: Oh, come on, if you're going to.
[00:10:37] Speaker F: Yeah, okay. Let's go.
[00:10:39] Speaker G: You better lock the door if we go out, Jack.
[00:10:46] Speaker B: 5:30.
I don't quite know where you are. You may be right here in the room with me. You may be watching from some panel I don't know about, or at one of the windows or doors. I don't know.
All I know is that you've been listening to everything that's been said in this room. I knew you were there. That's why I sent Reggie out to find Grandma and Cherry. That's why I let Faye go up to her room with Doc. So we'd be alone. You may be the murderer. I don't know. But whether you are or not, you're a very unhealthy person. You're afraid. You feed on darkness. Your thoughts are lustful and violent. You're the power of evil in this house. You're not only cowardly and violent and evil, but you're much worse because you're a woman. When a woman's bad, she can be so much more wicked than a man. Strange, isn't it, that anything which can be the greatest instrument for good in the world can also be the greatest instrument for wickedness. I feel sorry for you. It wasn't your fault in the beginning. I think, of all the people in this house, you have the greatest potentialities for greatness. You could have been just as great in the realm of goodness as you are superior in the realm of evil. You've worked with such perfect deliberation, coolly, masterfully, with superior knowledge of human nature. You've even used your own weakness to the best advantage. It's been fascinating working against you. And in a way, it seems a pity that you're at the end of your rope. I don't know when that end will come. That'll depend on you. An hour day. Much more than that. And I want to tell you that.
[00:12:13] Speaker F: I. Jack, look at me.
[00:12:15] Speaker H: Doc.
[00:12:15] Speaker B: Doc, where's Faye?
[00:12:16] Speaker F: I. I don't know.
[00:12:17] Speaker B: What's the matter with you?
[00:12:17] Speaker F: I was hit over the head. Head over the head.
[00:12:21] Speaker B: Doc.
[00:12:22] Speaker I: Doc.
[00:12:23] Speaker F: Head over the head.
[00:12:25] Speaker B: Baby. Reggie. Reggie. Reggie. It's the baby. Find Faye. We've gotta find.
[00:12:43] Speaker G: It.
[00:13:09] Speaker E: The further transcribed adventures of Jack, Doc and Reggie will come to you tomorrow at this same hour. I Love A Mystery, written and directed by Carlton E. Morse comes to you Monday through Friday. Featuring Russell Thorson as Jack, Jim Bowles as Doc Long and Tony Randall as Reggie York. Frank McCarthy speaking.
The mutual Broadcasting System presents I Love A misquere trans.
[00:14:25] Speaker B: What is it? Jack?
[00:14:26] Speaker H: Where are you? What's the matter? Jack? Jack, where are you? What? Doc? Doc, what's the matter?
[00:14:31] Speaker F: Hit on the head. Find fan.
[00:14:33] Speaker H: Get on the head. Who did it, Doc? Doc, answer me. Who did it?
[00:14:36] Speaker F: I don't know. Be all right in a minute. Find Faye.
[00:14:38] Speaker B: Find Fay.
[00:14:38] Speaker F: Why?
[00:14:39] Speaker H: Why? What's the matter with Faye?
[00:14:40] Speaker F: Jack's scared. Find Faye.
[00:14:41] Speaker H: You sure you'll be all right?
[00:14:42] Speaker F: Yes. You're.
[00:14:44] Speaker H: The baby. The baby. Doc, I've got to go find Jack.
[00:14:47] Speaker B: Jack.
[00:14:48] Speaker H: Jack. Jack, where are you?
[00:14:49] Speaker B: Reggie. Reggie, where are you?
[00:14:50] Speaker H: I'm in the living room, Jack. In the living room. Stay right there.
[00:14:53] Speaker B: I'm coming.
[00:14:53] Speaker H: Something is loose in this house. Something dangerous. I can feel it.
[00:14:57] Speaker F: Oh.
[00:14:57] Speaker H: Oh, Jack, are you all right?
[00:14:58] Speaker B: Yes, I'm all right. Up and down in the furnace room. Have you seen Faye? No. But the baby. Yes, I heard it. We've got it.
[00:15:03] Speaker H: Jack. Jack.
[00:15:05] Speaker B: Out the hall, quick. Who is it?
[00:15:07] Speaker H: Who fell downstairs?
[00:15:08] Speaker B: Grandma. Grandma Martin. Oh, wait.
[00:15:10] Speaker H: Is she dead?
[00:15:11] Speaker B: No. Unconscious.
[00:15:11] Speaker H: Jack. Jack, look at her leg.
[00:15:13] Speaker B: Yeah. Broken.
[00:15:13] Speaker H: Oh, that's too bad. An old lady like her.
[00:15:16] Speaker B: Jack. Reggie.
[00:15:17] Speaker F: Yeah? What was it?
[00:15:18] Speaker B: Hey.
[00:15:19] Speaker G: Hey.
[00:15:19] Speaker F: What's the matter with Grandma?
[00:15:20] Speaker B: Thrown downstairs, unconscious. Broken leg.
[00:15:22] Speaker F: You mean Faye done that to her own?
[00:15:23] Speaker B: We haven't got time to talk, Doc. How do you feel?
[00:15:25] Speaker F: Better than it did.
[00:15:26] Speaker B: Can you carry Grandma into the library?
[00:15:27] Speaker F: I guess so.
[00:15:28] Speaker B: Then take care of her. Don't leave her for a minute.
[00:15:29] Speaker F: But I want to go.
[00:15:30] Speaker B: You're not in any condition to go anywhere. Do what I tell you. Come on, Reggie.
[00:15:36] Speaker H: Where are we going, Jack?
[00:15:37] Speaker B: Search every room on the second and third floor.
[00:15:40] Speaker H: We're looking for Faye.
[00:15:41] Speaker B: I'll search the rooms. You stand here in the hall. See that no one slips by.
[00:15:44] Speaker H: That's Fay's room.
[00:15:45] Speaker B: Yes, I know it.
[00:15:46] Speaker H: But what about Cherry? Jack?
[00:15:47] Speaker B: We find Faye, Cherry be all right.
[00:15:49] Speaker H: Did you look in the second closet?
[00:15:50] Speaker B: Yeah. No one in there. And across the hall to Job's room.
[00:15:54] Speaker H: We're wasting time.
[00:15:55] Speaker B: I know it. What else can we do?
Watch the hall.
[00:15:59] Speaker H: So why not call in some police from outside? No.
[00:16:01] Speaker B: I'll do it myself and know it's done right.
Nobody in here.
Come on. Hope's room's next, around the corner of the hall.
[00:16:08] Speaker H: If Faye threw her grandmother downstairs, she's got to be up here somewhere.
[00:16:11] Speaker B: She's not in here. She's got to be on the third floor.
[00:16:15] Speaker H: Don't forget to look in that window seat.
[00:16:17] Speaker B: Don't watch me. Keep your eye on the hall.
[00:16:18] Speaker H: You expect her to try to slip by?
[00:16:19] Speaker B: I expect someone to try to slip by. We're closing in.
[00:16:22] Speaker H: Looking for anyone in this house is a bally job.
[00:16:24] Speaker B: Nobody in here. Come on up to the third floor.
[00:16:27] Speaker H: Right o.
[00:16:27] Speaker B: They've got to be. Wait. Hold it a minute.
[00:16:30] Speaker H: What's the matter?
[00:16:30] Speaker B: Here's the linen closet. Don't let's pass up anything.
[00:16:34] Speaker G: No, no.
[00:16:36] Speaker H: Go away. It's Jerry.
[00:16:37] Speaker B: Jerry, what are you doing in this.
[00:16:38] Speaker H: Linen closet crouched on the floor like a bally animal?
[00:16:41] Speaker B: Jerry, answer me. What are you doing here?
[00:16:42] Speaker I: She's after me. She's after me.
[00:16:44] Speaker B: What are you talking about? Who's after you?
[00:16:45] Speaker I: Faye. She mustn't. She mustn't.
[00:16:47] Speaker H: Faye's after you. What for?
[00:16:49] Speaker I: She wants to kill me.
[00:16:50] Speaker B: Where is she now?
[00:16:51] Speaker I: I don't know.
[00:16:52] Speaker B: Here. Get up on your feet. Look here. Go easy now. Then answer me.
[00:16:56] Speaker F: Where's Faye?
[00:16:57] Speaker I: I don't know.
[00:16:57] Speaker B: Answer me, do you hear? Tell me where Faye is or I'll shake it Out.
[00:17:00] Speaker I: Oh, I don't want to see her.
[00:17:01] Speaker G: I don't.
[00:17:03] Speaker H: Jack, this is beastly.
[00:17:04] Speaker B: Don't you think I know it?
[00:17:05] Speaker H: Well, she's so terrified now, she doesn't know what she's saying. You can't get anything out of her like that.
[00:17:09] Speaker C: No.
[00:17:10] Speaker B: I guess you.
[00:17:10] Speaker H: Oh, Jack, look at her hands. Fingers straight out, stiff like claws.
[00:17:14] Speaker I: I can't bend them.
Something's happened to them.
[00:17:19] Speaker B: Here, let me see. Like ugly claws, cold as ice.
[00:17:23] Speaker I: I can't bend them.
[00:17:25] Speaker C: Look.
[00:17:27] Speaker I: I can't bend my own fingers.
[00:17:30] Speaker G: I can't.
[00:17:33] Speaker B: Chuck.
[00:17:33] Speaker I: I can't.
[00:17:34] Speaker H: I can't bear this hysteria.
[00:17:36] Speaker B: It'll wear off when the tension's over. Cherry, do you feel safe here in this closet?
[00:17:40] Speaker I: Yes. Yes. It's dark.
They can't find me in the dark.
[00:17:46] Speaker B: All right, go back in. I'll lock you in. Jack, we can't take her with us. We've got to find Faith.
[00:17:49] Speaker H: She shouldn't be left alone.
[00:17:50] Speaker B: I tell you, we've got to find Faith.
[00:17:52] Speaker I: I'll be all right.
[00:17:53] Speaker B: We'll come back for you in a little while.
[00:17:58] Speaker H: I don't like it, Jack.
[00:17:59] Speaker B: I don't like any of it. I hate women who get themselves into messes like this. Now, come on.
[00:18:03] Speaker H: They certainly aren't the best.
[00:18:05] Speaker B: Come on up the third floor.
[00:18:06] Speaker H: Cherry with her fingers spread out stiff, like clawing to talons. Grandma sprawled grotesquely at the foot of the stairs. I wonder how we'll find Faye.
[00:18:13] Speaker B: That's pleasant.
[00:18:14] Speaker H: I say, we're not rushing about as we were. Isn't it as important to find Faye as it was?
[00:18:18] Speaker B: Just as important, but not as urgent, now that we know where Grandma and Cherry are.
[00:18:21] Speaker H: I see. And she's got to be up here ahead of us somewhere.
[00:18:24] Speaker B: Yes.
[00:18:24] Speaker D: All right.
[00:18:25] Speaker B: Now for Cherry's room.
[00:18:27] Speaker H: I'm to wait out here?
[00:18:28] Speaker B: Yeah. You don't suppose.
[00:18:30] Speaker H: Jack. Jack, come here.
[00:18:33] Speaker B: What's the matter?
[00:18:33] Speaker H: Look around the corner of the hall.
[00:18:36] Speaker B: There.
[00:18:36] Speaker H: Shadow creeping this way.
[00:18:38] Speaker B: That's a man. Light behind him is throwing his shadow ahead.
[00:18:42] Speaker H: There haven't been any men in the house.
[00:18:43] Speaker B: There is now. You want to take him or shall I?
[00:18:46] Speaker H: Let me.
[00:18:46] Speaker B: He's almost at the corner, so get set right out. Move fast. He may have a gun.
[00:18:50] Speaker H: Quiet.
[00:18:51] Speaker B: Hold it.
Get him, Reggie.
Look out for his gun.
[00:18:58] Speaker H: There.
[00:18:59] Speaker B: Good work, Reggie. Hey, let's have a look at the gun.
[00:19:01] Speaker H: Here's his gun. Do you suppose this is the chap who carried Cherry down to the furnace room?
[00:19:05] Speaker B: Hello, Reggie. We made a mistake.
[00:19:07] Speaker H: What's that?
[00:19:08] Speaker B: Hey, look at this badge. On his vest badge. Yes. Police department. Oh, but I say, plain clothes man from the detective bureau. You've had the doubtful honor of knocking out the policeman.
[00:19:16] Speaker H: What's he doing here? Naturally, I wouldn't have tackled him at all.
[00:19:18] Speaker B: That's what I want to know. What's he doing here? I wonder if they planted any more in this house.
[00:19:22] Speaker H: But I thought you said they weren't going to.
[00:19:24] Speaker B: They weren't. They said they'd keep all their men out supply. What's that?
[00:19:27] Speaker H: I don't hear anything.
[00:19:28] Speaker B: I do. From Grandmother Martin's suite of rooms. Come on.
Here. This is it.
Here, this way.
[00:19:41] Speaker H: Jack, what's that smell?
[00:19:42] Speaker B: Chloroform.
Here.
[00:19:44] Speaker F: Here.
[00:19:45] Speaker B: She's locked in this closet. Faye. Faye, do you hear me?
[00:19:47] Speaker I: Put me over. Hurry. Get me out of here.
[00:19:50] Speaker B: Listen, get hold of yourself. Save your breath. We'll get you out.
[00:19:52] Speaker H: But, Hal, the door is locked and there's no key.
[00:19:54] Speaker B: We'll break it in.
[00:19:55] Speaker H: Right. Oh, but can we do it?
[00:19:56] Speaker B: Wait. Faye. Faye, can you hear me?
[00:19:58] Speaker G: Yes.
[00:19:59] Speaker B: Lie down on the floor. We're going to break in the door. Do you hear? All right. Come on, Reggie. Together now.
Solid. Once more.
[00:20:08] Speaker H: Now.
It's coming. Do it again. Now.
[00:20:14] Speaker B: That did it. Here, help me with it.
[00:20:18] Speaker G: Get me out. Get me out.
[00:20:20] Speaker H: Easy.
[00:20:20] Speaker B: Easy. All right. You're all right. There you are. Now throw open the window. Quiet.
Now, get all those saturated towels and throw them out. Out the window? Yes. Don't try to talk for a minute. Just breathe deep.
[00:20:33] Speaker G: What?
Why would she do it?
[00:20:35] Speaker B: Don't talk. Don't talk. Just breathe.
[00:20:37] Speaker H: Evanescent towels soaked with chloroform. Enough to kill an elephant. I don't think.
[00:20:41] Speaker G: Oh, I could talk. Let me sit up. Please.
[00:20:45] Speaker B: Take it easy.
[00:20:47] Speaker G: And fresh air is all I needed.
[00:20:49] Speaker H: Who locked you in that closet?
[00:20:50] Speaker G: Grandma.
[00:20:51] Speaker H: Grandmother Martin tried to kill you.
[00:20:52] Speaker B: How did she get you in the closet in the first place?
[00:20:54] Speaker I: Yeah.
[00:20:55] Speaker G: You remember Doc was bringing me upstairs?
[00:20:58] Speaker B: Yes.
[00:20:59] Speaker G: Somebody hit him on the head. I. I didn't see who it was. I. I just ran. I was so scared.
[00:21:05] Speaker H: You didn't do it?
[00:21:06] Speaker I: No.
[00:21:07] Speaker G: I ran up here to Grandma's room. She. She wasn't here. But she came in in just a minute.
[00:21:12] Speaker B: Where'd she been?
[00:21:13] Speaker G: I didn't get a chance to ask her.
[00:21:15] Speaker B: She.
[00:21:16] Speaker G: She was out of breath. She said, quick, Faye, get my slippers out of the closet. I didn't sink. Just went in the closet and she slammed the door on me and locked me in.
[00:21:25] Speaker H: And the chloroform towels were already in there.
[00:21:27] Speaker G: Oh, no, she said, you'll be safe in there, my girl. Then I heard the door to her room open and close, and I found it on the door to be let out. And in a couple of minutes she came back in.
[00:21:37] Speaker B: What did she say then?
[00:21:38] Speaker G: Nothing. I think she didn't. She didn't say a thing. But pretty soon she began pushing towels soaked in chloroform under the door.
[00:21:45] Speaker H: Jove, Grandma Martin.
[00:21:46] Speaker G: I was all wrong. I thought I knew who the murderer was. I thought I knew from the way you talked, Jack. But I was wrong. It was Grandma all the time.
[00:21:54] Speaker B: Grandma Martin.
[00:21:55] Speaker H: I thought it was you.
[00:21:56] Speaker G: You thought it was me?
[00:21:58] Speaker H: Yes. We found Cherry hiding from you. I say, are you sure it wasn't you?
[00:22:01] Speaker G: It was Grandma, I tell you.
[00:22:03] Speaker H: But Cherry said you were trying to kill her, Jerry.
[00:22:06] Speaker G: Jerry said I was trying to kill her.
[00:22:08] Speaker B: That's what she said.
[00:22:09] Speaker H: And see here, you might have locked yourself in there with those towels, you know.
[00:22:12] Speaker I: But I didn't.
[00:22:13] Speaker B: I didn't, Jack.
[00:22:15] Speaker G: I. I thought you said you know for sure who the murderer is.
[00:22:17] Speaker B: I do, Faye. I know. Just as sure as I'm sitting here looking at.
[00:23:00] Speaker E: The further transcribed adventures of Jack, Doc and Reggie will come to you tomorrow at this same hour. I Love a Mystery written in direct, directed by Carlton E. Morris comes to you Monday through Friday. Featuring Russell Forson as Jack, Jim Bowles as Doc Long and Tony Randall as Reggie York. Mike McCarthy speaking.
[00:23:24] Speaker B: On Christmas Eve, the star of Bethlehem shines bright as a symbol of mankind's efforts to make the world a better one in which to live despite ravages of war and hunger and disease. So from the writer and producer of this series, Countenie Morse, a further message about the plight of children overseas.
These millions of unfortunate youngsters have never.
[00:23:43] Speaker F: Known what the star of Bethlehem symbolizes. They have never known a Christmas.
[00:23:48] Speaker B: Who are they, Mr. Thorsen? They are 4 year old Christian Ocelle of France, 14 year old Panotto Gavril of Greece, 14 year old Shai Kuichen of China, 7 year old Claude Grand Jam of Belgium. They are legion wherever war has struck. Those children who have never known Christmas, why don't you do right now what many in your community have already done? Gather discarded toys and children's clothing, pack them with care, tie them securely, address them to Foster Parents Plan for war children 5304 Seventh Ave, Long Island City, New York. That's foster parents plan for war children, 5304 Seventh Ave, Long island city, New York. Do it now. Your Christmas will be happier in the Knowledge of what you have done and that you too can be a Santa Claus.
[00:24:35] Speaker E: The Mutual Broadcasting System presents I Love A Mystery Transpond.
[00:24:57] Speaker D: It.
[00:25:24] Speaker G: It's just as true as I'm standing here. Grandma tried to kill me.
[00:25:27] Speaker B: Would you go on the witness stand and swear to that, Faye?
[00:25:30] Speaker G: Certainly not. This is a family affair. Nevertheless, it's true.
[00:25:34] Speaker B: You're mistaken, Faye.
[00:25:35] Speaker G: I'm not.
[00:25:35] Speaker B: Yes, you are. Because at the time you say Grandma was shoving towels saturated with chloroform under the door of the closet you were locked in, she was lying unconscious at the foot of the stairs on the first floor.
[00:25:44] Speaker G: No. I tell you.
[00:25:45] Speaker B: That's right, Faye.
[00:25:46] Speaker H: I was there when she fell.
[00:25:47] Speaker B: I'll grant you, your grandmother may have locked you in the closet, but she wasn't the one who tried to chloroform you.
[00:25:50] Speaker I: Then who did?
[00:25:52] Speaker G: She was the only one who knew I was in there.
[00:25:53] Speaker B: No. The murderer knew.
[00:25:54] Speaker H: But how?
[00:25:55] Speaker G: How could he possibly have known?
[00:25:56] Speaker B: Have you forgotten? You pounded on the door and yelled to get out. It drew the killer's attention to you. What a perfect setup your grandmother locks you in. So naturally, if you die there, everyone would suspect your grandma.
[00:26:05] Speaker G: Then. Then that's why he wouldn't answer. He wanted me to think it was Grandma.
[00:26:10] Speaker B: Certainly. The killer was roaming around the house. Grandma Martin locked you in the closet to protect you and started downstairs to find me. She was thrown or pushed down the stairs by the killer, who then came on up to the third floor. Here you were, yelling and pounding. Saw the perfect opportunity to finish you and nearly succeed.
[00:26:25] Speaker H: Dr. Jack, what about Cherry? Down on the second floor? When we found her crouching in the linen closet, she was in a fit of terror. She said Fay was after her, trying to kill her.
[00:26:32] Speaker B: She was mistaken.
[00:26:33] Speaker H: You mean she mistook the killer for Fay? But. But in that case, who is the killer?
[00:26:37] Speaker B: You don't know now?
[00:26:38] Speaker H: No, I don't.
[00:26:39] Speaker B: Oh, look here.
[00:26:41] Speaker H: There's only one person. Except it could be Pauline West. The radio actress?
[00:26:46] Speaker G: Yes. Pauline West.
[00:26:48] Speaker H: Yes, it would have to be. She's the only other person connected with this house. The only other name mentioned.
[00:26:52] Speaker B: Yes, Reggie, Pauline west is the murderer.
[00:26:54] Speaker H: But where is she now? Why haven't we seen her? Is she in the house now?
[00:26:57] Speaker B: Yes. And you're going to see her very shortly now. In fact, in the next few minutes, I'm going to turn Pauline west over to the police.
[00:27:02] Speaker G: No. No, you can't do that. No matter what happens, you can't do that.
[00:27:05] Speaker B: She's guilty of murder. She killed your brother. Joe, she was responsible for Cherry accidentally shooting Hope. Although it wasn't an accident. She tried to kill your grandmother by pushing her downstairs. She tried to chloroform you. And she was responsible for Cherry being pushed downstairs and being slashed over and over again.
[00:27:20] Speaker G: I know. I know it. Oh, don't you understand? We'd all rather be dead. We'd all want to be dead if she was taken into court and made a public exhibit. Something for the newspapers to gloat over, for the appetites of the scandal mongers to feed on. I'd rather see all of us dead than to see that happen.
[00:27:34] Speaker B: I'm afraid I haven't got much choice in the matter. I warned your grandmother when she brought us in that if the murder was in this house and I could prove it, nothing could prevent me from turning it over to the police.
[00:27:43] Speaker G: Then if I get the opportunity, I will kill her with my own hands.
[00:27:46] Speaker H: Oh, but you mustn't.
[00:27:47] Speaker B: That'd be terribly foolish because then you would have to be the public sensation instead of her.
[00:27:51] Speaker G: No, because you'd never take me alive.
[00:27:53] Speaker B: Reggie, under these circumstances, Faye's a very dangerous young woman. It's going to be necessary for you to stay by her and prevent her from doing what she said she'll do.
[00:28:00] Speaker H: How much longer is this going to keep up?
[00:28:02] Speaker B: Only a few minutes. Only until I have Pauline west in safe custody.
[00:28:05] Speaker G: No. No, you can't do it.
[00:28:06] Speaker B: Reggie. Stop her, Jack.
[00:28:10] Speaker H: She's locked us in.
[00:28:10] Speaker B: Now, now, we are in a fine mess. We've got to break down that door.
[00:28:13] Speaker H: Right, Earl, let's go. Wait.
[00:28:15] Speaker B: Listen. The baby.
[00:28:17] Speaker H: Oh, look here.
[00:28:17] Speaker B: Come on, we gotta get out of here together. Now.
[00:28:20] Speaker H: Once more should do it.
[00:28:21] Speaker B: Hurry, hurry.
[00:28:24] Speaker H: More solid than I thought.
[00:28:25] Speaker B: We've got to keep trying. We've got to get out of here. It's murder. We've got to get out of here quick.
[00:28:30] Speaker G: Cherry. Cherry, is that you?
[00:28:33] Speaker I: Faye? Don't come near me.
[00:28:34] Speaker G: Cherry, listen, we haven't got much time. Give me your hand. Now, come on.
[00:28:38] Speaker I: No, no.
[00:28:39] Speaker G: I tell you, we haven't got much time. Now, hurry. Faster.
[00:28:41] Speaker I: Fay, where are we going? I don't want to go.
[00:28:44] Speaker G: Now, man. Up these stairs to the attic.
[00:28:46] Speaker I: The attic.
[00:28:50] Speaker G: Faster, faster.
Wait.
[00:28:57] Speaker I: But why, Fay, why?
[00:29:00] Speaker G: Come on.
Now then, up this ladder to the roof.
[00:29:08] Speaker I: I'm afraid. I'm afraid.
[00:29:10] Speaker G: Come on, come on. Hurry. I'm right behind you.
[00:29:12] Speaker I: Please, babe, please.
[00:29:14] Speaker G: Push that trap door up. No, no, Push that trap door up.
All right, up on the roof.
[00:29:24] Speaker I: It's so high up here. It's so high.
[00:29:27] Speaker G: It's all right, Cherry. It's all right. I'm going with you.
[00:29:31] Speaker I: Going with me?
[00:29:32] Speaker G: Here. Come over to the edge of the roof. I want to show you something.
[00:29:36] Speaker I: Hey, someone's turned the search light on. They can see us up here.
[00:29:40] Speaker G: It doesn't matter, darling. It doesn't matter in the least.
[00:29:43] Speaker I: May, I'm so scared.
[00:29:45] Speaker G: Don't worry. I'll be with you. I'll be with you all the time. Now, look. Look over the edge. You see the glass roof of the sun room Right down below us.
[00:29:53] Speaker I: But. But it's so far.
[00:29:56] Speaker G: The glass roof of the sunroom. You loved the sun room when you were a little girl. It was your favorite room.
[00:30:01] Speaker I: Fay Faye, why did you bring me up here?
[00:30:04] Speaker G: Darling, you couldn't help it. It wasn't ever your fault. So you mustn't suffer any more for it. Just close your eyes. Do you remember how? Do you remember how you used to close your eyes when I told you fairy stories? Fairy stories about the good little fairies who always came to the rescue of little girls.
[00:30:17] Speaker H: And I think we're getting it.
[00:30:19] Speaker B: Once more. We'll do it.
[00:30:22] Speaker H: That did it. That did it.
[00:30:23] Speaker B: Downstairs, Reggie. Downstairs.
[00:30:24] Speaker G: I know.
[00:30:25] Speaker H: I'm coming.
Which way, Jack? Which way?
[00:30:29] Speaker B: Come on, come on. Downstairs to the first floor.
[00:30:31] Speaker H: How do you know which way she went?
[00:30:32] Speaker B: I don't know which way she went. We've got to find her.
Wait. I'm going into the library. You take the dining room, conservatory and the sunroom. Sprinto, yell if you see anything. All right.
[00:30:40] Speaker H: You do the same.
[00:30:40] Speaker B: You're fine, Miss. Hey, Jack.
[00:30:42] Speaker F: What's the matter, Doc?
[00:30:43] Speaker B: Has Faye been in here, Fay?
[00:30:44] Speaker F: No, nobody's been in here, Jack. We ought to get a doctor. Jack.
[00:30:47] Speaker B: Jack, Come here.
[00:30:48] Speaker G: Come here.
[00:30:49] Speaker B: That's Reggie. Come on, Doc. He's found her. Jack.
[00:30:51] Speaker H: Jack.
[00:30:52] Speaker B: Coming, Reggie.
[00:30:53] Speaker H: In the sunroom. In the sunroom.
[00:30:54] Speaker B: Hurry. Hurry. Did you find her, Reggie? Reggie. Where is she? What's the matter? Look.
[00:30:57] Speaker H: Look, Jack, up through the glass.
[00:30:58] Speaker C: Look.
[00:30:59] Speaker H: Up on the roof. What's that?
[00:31:00] Speaker B: Hey.
[00:31:00] Speaker F: Hey. It's Fay and Cherry. It's Fay and Cherry.
[00:31:02] Speaker B: They're fighting. Don't stand there. What's the matter with you? Get up on the roof. Look out. Look out.
No. No.
[00:31:11] Speaker F: It shouldn't have happened that way.
[00:31:23] Speaker H: Oh, boy.
[00:31:24] Speaker F: 4:00 in the morning, Reggie. When this mess is cleaned up, I'm going to bed and sleep straight through a week.
[00:31:30] Speaker H: Probably a little sleep I'd get if I did go to bed tonight.
[00:31:32] Speaker F: Wonder why they don't put some sleeping chairs In a hospital waiting room. Where'd Jack say he is going?
[00:31:37] Speaker H: Doctor called him out. Something about Faye.
[00:31:38] Speaker F: Yeah. Chauffeur dead, job dead, Cherry dead. Poor little old chair.
[00:31:43] Speaker B: That isn't all, huh?
[00:31:44] Speaker H: Hope in the hospital with a bullet wound, Grandma here with a broken leg, and Faye here with a fractured skull.
[00:31:49] Speaker B: Man, when.
[00:31:50] Speaker F: When Cherry and Faye High dived off that roof and down through that skyline.
[00:31:53] Speaker H: Would you mind not talking about it?
[00:31:55] Speaker F: Yeah, sure would like to know who was pushing who up there, though.
[00:31:58] Speaker H: Cherry was pushing Fay.
[00:32:00] Speaker F: Yeah, it sure looked like it all right. Oh, you. You back, Jack?
[00:32:03] Speaker B: Yes.
[00:32:04] Speaker H: Anything?
[00:32:04] Speaker B: No. Everything's just the same.
[00:32:05] Speaker F: Looky, Jack, I don't. I still don't know who is doing what to who over yonder at the marriage.
[00:32:10] Speaker B: Well, it's time I told you.
[00:32:11] Speaker H: Yes, I think it is. You said Pauline west was the killer.
[00:32:14] Speaker B: She was. But what I didn't say was that Pauline West.
[00:32:17] Speaker F: Well, who?
[00:32:18] Speaker B: Jerry Martin.
[00:32:19] Speaker F: Hey, you mean Cherry done all that dirty work?
[00:32:22] Speaker B: Yes.
[00:32:22] Speaker H: But the slashing thrown downstairs, she did that herself.
[00:32:25] Speaker F: She did.
[00:32:26] Speaker H: And them, the they people she was always talking about.
[00:32:29] Speaker B: Figments of her own imagination. She really believed in them some of the time. Huh?
[00:32:32] Speaker F: Hey, things don't fit together.
[00:32:34] Speaker B: Yes, they do. Let's start at the beginning. Way back when Cherry was a little girl, she was a nervous, excitable child. Her grandmother had little patience with her. She used to lock her in her bedroom. On the walls of the bedroom were all the old Mother Goose figures. Man in the moon, the old witch. And one of the characters was a figure with a black hood, a face shadowed from view, and he wore a blood red smock.
[00:32:53] Speaker H: The man who tied her up and carried her to the furnace room.
[00:32:56] Speaker B: Hey. Yes. The characters from her childhood wallpaper transferred from the walls to her mind. Those were the they people who were after. Locked in the room with these figures, she feared and hated her child mind absorbed them to the point where she could never get rid of them.
[00:33:08] Speaker H: Oh, how horrible.
[00:33:09] Speaker F: But no Mother Goose character carried her downstairs?
[00:33:12] Speaker B: No, of course not. She did that herself. But somehow in her mind, she blamed him for it.
[00:33:16] Speaker H: But she was bound and gagged.
[00:33:18] Speaker B: She did that herself.
[00:33:19] Speaker F: Was this why Grandmother Martin called us in on the case? On account of charity?
[00:33:22] Speaker B: No. Hope and Job were involved with the chauffeur. He was trying to make Job ask his grandmother for money to pay blackmail. When Job refused, he found Hope an easy target. So he threatened to bring the family name to shame through Hope unless Job got the money.
[00:33:34] Speaker H: Grandma knew this.
[00:33:35] Speaker B: No. Only that Job and Hope were in trouble.
[00:33:37] Speaker F: Which we were supposed to get him out of?
[00:33:38] Speaker B: Yes. But the night we arrived, Job took things into his own hands and killed the chauffeur.
[00:33:42] Speaker F: Job really did do that then?
[00:33:44] Speaker B: Yes. Cherry actually saw him. And that's what set Cherry off. She was shocked and afraid, but she saw how easily people could be killed. She was right on the verge, mentally. Anyway, that finished, she killed Job. Yes. She was impelled to kill Job because she knew he was going to be found out.
[00:33:57] Speaker F: But how?
[00:33:58] Speaker B: Well, she watched where Job hid the gun and got. She took it out on the porch, that big urn that sits right in front of the library window. She fastened it in place, pointing right to the chair Job would sit in.
[00:34:07] Speaker H: I say she knew he'd sit in it because Grandma Martin always made each one sit in his own chair.
[00:34:11] Speaker B: Yes. Then she fastened a heavy black thread to the trigger, ran it over the muzzle of the gun and through a crack in the window to her chair.
[00:34:17] Speaker F: So that's how it is done.
[00:34:18] Speaker B: Yes. When the gun went off, the bullet cut the thread that was holding it in place and it fell into the urn out of sight. I say only a mind in that condition would have conceived such a. But it worked. And it made Cherry look innocent.
[00:34:29] Speaker H: And then Hope found the gun.
[00:34:30] Speaker B: Yes. Before Cherry could get it and hide it. Hope suspected Cherry because she had said they would get Joe before the police did. So she came up to Cherry's room while you were with her, Doc? Yeah.
[00:34:39] Speaker F: Yeah, that's right.
[00:34:40] Speaker B: The minute Cherry saw the gun, she knew that she had to do something desperate. But Hope knew too much. So she pretended to struggle with her, but deliberately turned the gun on Hope and shot her boy.
[00:34:49] Speaker F: Murder. And me. You standing right there.
[00:34:51] Speaker B: Then I discovered Pauline west. And when I mentioned the name to Faye, then Fay knew that Cherry was giving.
[00:34:56] Speaker F: Well, I don't get that.
[00:34:57] Speaker B: Why? Because Faye knew that two or three years ago, Cherry had tried to be a radio actress to keep the rest of the family from knowing Cherry had taken the name of Pauline West. She wasn't a good actress, but they discovered she could cry like a baby.
[00:35:09] Speaker H: What's that exactly?
[00:35:10] Speaker B: Cherry was the baby. She'd done baby imitations on the radio.
[00:35:13] Speaker F: Dog gone.
[00:35:14] Speaker B: Faye had forgotten all about that. It happened so long ago. But the minute I mentioned Pauline west, she knew.
[00:35:19] Speaker H: So now she had to kill Faye to keep a secret.
[00:35:22] Speaker B: Yes. That's why I insisted Faye be guarded so closely.
[00:35:24] Speaker F: Well, who bought me on the head when I was taking Faye upstairs?
[00:35:27] Speaker B: Jerry, she wanted you out of the way so she could get at Faye. But Fay didn't wait. She ran up to her grandmother's room. By this time, Grandma knew. She knew Fay was in danger, so she locked her in the closet so Cherry couldn't get at her.
[00:35:37] Speaker F: But Cherry did get at her. Chloroform.
[00:35:39] Speaker B: Yes, it was also Cherry who tried to chloroform Hope boy.
[00:35:42] Speaker F: And such a purty little thing.
[00:35:44] Speaker H: But why push her grandmother down?
[00:35:46] Speaker B: Well, this time, Cherry was so unsettled in her mind, she didn't know what she was doing.
[00:35:49] Speaker F: But that roof business. How'd Cherry ever get Faye up on the roof?
[00:35:53] Speaker B: What happened up there is best left alone. You ain't a talking case is finished. House of Martin has fallen.
[00:36:00] Speaker F: They.
[00:36:00] Speaker B: Those little people have succeeded, just as Job said they would. Now let's forget it. I'm dead time, right?
[00:36:06] Speaker F: Yeah. Poor little fe.
[00:36:17] Speaker B: SA.
[00:36:48] Speaker E: The further transcribed adventures of Jack, Duck and Reggie will come to you tomorrow at this same hour. I Love a Mystery, written and directed by Carlton E. Morse, comes to you Monday through Friday. Featuring Russell Forson as Jack, Jim Bowles as Doc Lawn, and Tony Randall as Reggie York. Mike McCarthy speaking.
[00:37:11] Speaker A: That was episode 13, 14, and 15 of the Thing that Cries in the Night from the adventure serial I Love a Mystery, written by Carlton E. Morse. Wrapping up our summer serial special here on the mysterious old Radio Listening Society podcast, once again, I'm Eric.
[00:37:28] Speaker D: I'm Tim.
[00:37:29] Speaker C: And I'm Joshua.
[00:37:30] Speaker A: All right, we now know we have our answer.
[00:37:35] Speaker C: And what was amazing is in three episodes, how quickly Morse kept pointing the finger at every surviving character that was still in the house. Just one after just sort of dizzying effect. They're just running around the house, doors are opening and closing, babies crying. And it's. Oh, it's the grandmother. Oh, it's got to be Fay. Oh, it's. And finally, we settle on cherry.
[00:37:58] Speaker A: Episode 15 is nothing but our solution. Episode 14. Did you guys notice what's different about episode 14 from all the other episodes?
[00:38:07] Speaker C: It has the solution in it.
[00:38:09] Speaker D: Well, there's not really gonna wrap up.
[00:38:10] Speaker A: I suppose, is that there's no recap.
[00:38:12] Speaker C: Oh, I didn't.
[00:38:14] Speaker A: There's no top of the show recap. We come in right where we left off, and we just go, go, go, go, go, go, go. And it's my favorite episode of I Love a Mystery ever. It's terrifying. You're on the edge of your seat, you're getting answers. I mean, my God, there's a suicide. You know, it's just. It doesn't. Well, or is it right?
[00:38:37] Speaker C: We' A lot.
[00:38:39] Speaker A: There's a lot going on in this. And we talked at the top about that first episode and developing character and how important it is and how it could come into play so that you're expecting what characters will do, or if they don't do what you expect them to do, how that can create tension or put you on the edge of your seat. Reggie freaks out in 14. I mean, he loses it to the point of I started to actually hear Tony Randall. I started to hear Felix Unger a little bit. You know what I mean? Like, he is just so, you know, in all of the Isle of Mysteries, the toughest of the three is Reggie. He loves to fight. He fights and fights and fights and fights.
To hear him Jack, what is going on? And he is. He's losing his mind. It creates a tension that is terrifying. The pace of 14 is through the Roof.
[00:39:37] Speaker C: Oh, yeah. But what I would like to do is step back to 13 again to pick up some threads of things we've discussed.
[00:39:43] Speaker A: Yes.
[00:39:43] Speaker C: A someone just needs a popjack when he gives them the list of clues to give to the police, because, again, he's not gonna just tell them what's going on, even the police. So he's saying, if I die, I still want to be a jerk from the grave.
Please give these just jerky clues to the police.
[00:40:06] Speaker A: The clues are, find Pauline West. She's in the house. The chairs, clothes strewn in a certain way by Cherry, wallpaper and Cherry's room. Dig until you get to the third layer, fourth layer, and the end of the rope or end of the string is burned off. Okay, what's going on? Not telling you.
[00:40:25] Speaker C: And then he stands alone. This is back to that stuff I was saying about Jack. It just has issue with women. And he just gives the speech to the room about how much more wicked a woman is when she's wicked. And that's what makes me think of things from, like, the original Ian Fleming, James Bond, who has this just hatred of women.
[00:40:43] Speaker A: Right.
[00:40:44] Speaker D: That speech, now, in this context makes me sound horrible, but that speech is what made this episode my favorite of the series.
[00:40:51] Speaker A: I couldn't agree more.
[00:40:52] Speaker C: I mean, it is. It is his character to a T. And it is a great scene.
[00:40:56] Speaker A: I know you're watching me. I know where you are. I know what you're doing. You're a terrible human being. And then.
[00:41:02] Speaker D: And it's a meta speech. He's talking to us.
[00:41:04] Speaker A: Yes. Yes, he is. Here's the deal. I don't think Cherry was actually in the room listening to him. At that point, she wasn't. She was hitting Doc in the head, right?
[00:41:15] Speaker D: Yep.
[00:41:15] Speaker A: So he was wrong. She wasn't in that room.
[00:41:19] Speaker C: Or did he just want to do a little self aggrandizing?
And another thing that's great about me, Jack Papka.
[00:41:28] Speaker A: Yeah. Grandma thrown down the stairs and leg is broken. This is a passing throwaway. There's Grandma, legs broken, move.
[00:41:35] Speaker D: Again, not good medical attention paid to.
[00:41:38] Speaker B: People who are falling down stairs.
[00:41:40] Speaker D: A couple weeks back I mentioned that stretcher out was their advice when Cherry fell down the stairs. Grandma's leg is broken walking off.
[00:41:47] Speaker A: Yeah, there's a lot of people going down the stairs in this.
[00:41:52] Speaker C: And now, despite the fact that Jack could have just solved this two episodes ago, he's still going around fuming and saying things like, I hate women who get themselves into messes like this.
[00:42:01] Speaker A: What's the point of the undercover cop being in the house? Is it because Reggie hasn't punched a guy in 14 episodes and that's his MO?
[00:42:09] Speaker C: I think it's just indulging in a red herring because I think by this point I'm convinced, and most listeners are convinced, there's nobody else in this house. The only person who could have done this is one of the family. It's one of these women. And for that moment when they describe a man's shadow and a man coming around the corner, you suddenly go, I was totally wrong.
[00:42:28] Speaker A: Right.
[00:42:29] Speaker C: It's indulgent. Given where it is so close to.
[00:42:31] Speaker A: The end, I think that it would be easy to. What was the name of the radio star that ended up being Cherry?
[00:42:36] Speaker D: Pauline West.
[00:42:38] Speaker A: Yeah. I think it's easy to go, well, there's a woman in the house named Pauline west hiding, killing everybody. And I was kind of expecting that.
[00:42:46] Speaker D: That does get to be the ghost baby sort of argument that we've had before of like, that does seem like the logical conclusion until you think about there's a woman who is hiding in.
[00:42:56] Speaker C: Their house forever, who's also a radio actor.
[00:43:02] Speaker A: Well, that's how they are, radioactors, poor things.
[00:43:07] Speaker C: There's a great moment that made me think of another classic old radio show, only I think this was written long before it. But when they find Cherry in the closet and she's hysterical and her hands are frozen out like claws. Totally made me think of House in Cypress Canyon when he finds his wife in the closet.
[00:43:26] Speaker A: Me too.
[00:43:27] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:43:27] Speaker A: And it's a great, terrifying moment, especially Mercedes McCambridge performance of I Can't Bend My Fingers is just the line. But she makes so Much more out of that. And it's just. And it's heart wrenching and terrible to listen to.
[00:43:41] Speaker C: It's her performance in these little things that just keep you not thinking it's Cherry. It should be pretty obvious that it's Cherry. But there, right in episode 14, is a moment where you go, she's just so hysterical and broken. There's no way she could be masterminding the murder of all these people.
[00:43:57] Speaker A: And then Faye bringing her up on the roof. There is a moment of, oh, Faye is the murderer. But then you start to realize she's just protecting because she says, we can't have her go to jail. That's going to look terrible on us. But then there's that line. Well, it looked like Cherry pushed Faye, but we're led to believe it's Don't Fear the Reaper. Right.
That's what she'd be playing while Don't Fear the Reaper. Come on, baby. Right. Am I wrong?
[00:44:25] Speaker C: The estimation is they're going to jump.
[00:44:26] Speaker A: Together, that she's gonna talk her into committing suicide and jump together and then they go through the thing and then they die. And you're like, oh, she did it. But then there's that line, I think Cherry pushed Faye. And then the other weird thing. And this is the big question for this wrap up. I think Jack doesn't want to talk about what happened on that roof because why not tell him what happened on the roof? What are your thoughts? Why?
[00:44:50] Speaker C: I think there's multiple interpretations. One, that Jack knows that it was a suicide murder. And we get the idea that even with a fractured skull, Faye's probably going to live. Yeah. And so I think to a certain degree we're going back to his promise that maybe he'll hush some of these things up.
[00:45:09] Speaker A: Right.
[00:45:10] Speaker C: Cause it sounds a lot better for Faye if she was just a victim. If she's the survivor. And it turns out she was just a victim of Cherry, not that she actually dragged Cherry up there and threw her off. That's how I interpret it. And just because it's. I love a mystery. Have a little bit of a question mark at the end.
[00:45:24] Speaker A: That makes sense. Any other?
[00:45:26] Speaker D: No, I have no. Yeah, that sounds really good.
You. You have talked throughout our discussion here about dreading that baby sound.
[00:45:34] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:45:35] Speaker D: For me, when that glass crashed, that was what that sound was like.
[00:45:41] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:45:41] Speaker D: Just my heart sank.
[00:45:43] Speaker C: That is my favorite thing from the entire serial is how Morse takes the time to paint that scenario. So without over descriptive language, you picture what happens because we first see it from Faye and Cherry's point of view takes her up to the roof, points down. There's the glass ceiling in the sun room. She's soothing Cherry and it.
[00:46:06] Speaker A: And there's a spotlight on him.
[00:46:08] Speaker C: Yep. You talk about spotlights. It's something that's really visual. And then we go down to the perspective of Jack and Doc and Reggie and now because we've already had it described, all they have to do is step into the sunroom and go look up on the roof. And suddenly I visualize them looking through the glass. I see that fall as if I'm underneath them and the glass shattering. It is one of the most visual with very little setup, language, radio scene that I can think of and it is horrifying.
[00:46:37] Speaker A: I also really love the scene with Faye and Cherry on the roof. Her talking her into the jumping. There's something very beautiful about that scene about a sister. She's trying to. I think she's just trying to protect her and this is their only way out. And also explains in the previous episodes when I said there's these breaks in phase veneer when Cherry says certain things and she has this frightening. She knew the whole time what Cherry was doing. She's burning the casting sheets, she's protecting Cherry. She's completely aware when Cherry would say certain things. She don't say that her fear wasn't of the little people or they or anything. Her fear was Cherry, stop or you're going to get in trouble.
[00:47:20] Speaker C: She knew it, but she was in denial. She kind of knew it and didn't know it, I don't think.
[00:47:24] Speaker D: Well, in the story up to a certain point, Cherry's illusions aren't destructive self cutting, but they make a point. It's not until she sees Job shoot Bob that it goes to the next level for Cherry.
[00:47:38] Speaker C: But it also points out how these guys really didn't do a lot of good work.
I mean, because they even wrap up, it's like Hope's shot, Grandma's legs busted face, heads fractured. Job's dead. Cherry's dead. Another job well done, guys. Let's go.
[00:47:55] Speaker D: Let's go spend that money.
[00:47:58] Speaker A: Well, I'm thinking she hasn't had time to check in with the lawyer. They could probably still go get that 10 grand too.
I think Faye knew the entire time and the whole 15 episodes was fake. Just trying to cover up and protect Sherry. And then at the end when it was all over, she's gonna protect her.
[00:48:18] Speaker C: So do you mean she knew that Cherry was capable of murder the whole time or it's clear from the story that she was a protector of Cherry. She helped her with the radio.
[00:48:28] Speaker A: I think that she knew that Sherry killed Job. I think that she knew Cherry was cutting herself. I think she also thought the reason she was burning in the furnace in the first place is that she thought that Cherry had killed the chauffeur. And I think she knew that she was the baby crying.
[00:48:43] Speaker C: And if she suspected that the entire time, and she's capable of doing something as drastic as taking Cherry up to the top of the house and committing suicide, I think she would have done it sooner. I think she had a inkling. She didn't want it to be true. She wanted to dismiss certain things. She wanted to be protective. And then when the scales are lifted from her eyes, she has this horrified moment, and that's what is the impetus for her to go. I was wrong. All this time, I was trying to protect her. She's really the killer, the monster. I have to end this.
[00:49:13] Speaker D: So that is the explanation of why Jack wanted Doc to be with her and why he was calling her dangerous.
[00:49:19] Speaker A: Yes.
[00:49:20] Speaker D: Was not that she was the killer, but that once she. Or once it was revealed who the killer was, that she was likely to do what she did.
[00:49:28] Speaker B: Yes.
[00:49:29] Speaker C: So I have to ask, how well do we think, from a modern audience point of view, the actress who does baby cries stands up? That was the thing that stuck out to me when I was, like a 20 year old. I thought that was hilarious.
[00:49:44] Speaker A: I have two friends that do a baby cry. That is unbelievable. Shocking. Are they the same friend? Do we?
[00:49:53] Speaker C: Well, or maybe we all have a baby crying friend, but they.
[00:49:57] Speaker D: Is it a baby?
[00:49:58] Speaker A: It is. So it's very. What I love about that is it's very plausible. Just fine for me that it was Cherry making the baby crying noise, because I know for a fact that can be done to that extent. Are you talking about how it sounded in the episode? I think it sounded exactly like a baby crying.
[00:50:15] Speaker C: No, I think it sounded great throughout the episode. I'm just curious. Without the historical context, probably anyone who listens to our podcast has enough historical context to know that there were actors and actresses who had specialities like that. Right, right. The dog barking, the baby crying. And for example, when I was younger, I thought it was just absurd because I lacked that historical context. Right. Oh, a baby crying actress. And it just made me laugh. But I was in college where, you know, I thought everything was ironically hilarious.
[00:50:41] Speaker A: Like the first time you find out there's such a thing as a hand model.
[00:50:44] Speaker C: Yeah, exactly.
[00:50:47] Speaker A: My Hands are fine. Use anybody.
[00:50:49] Speaker C: There's a little bit of humor to me in how deadpan and serious Jack is when he's explaining the solution at the end, though. Yeah, she did a great baby crying and that's what she. There's just something. There's something a little funny in there. I don't think it in any way ruins it.
[00:51:03] Speaker B: No.
[00:51:04] Speaker C: But I think that's the one moment where, to me, as a listener goes. That might be a bump for people or might make them giggle a little.
[00:51:12] Speaker D: It is a slightly ridiculous concept of this person who. I'm gonna throw myself down the stairs and I'm gonna cry like a baby. Because, you know, in my twisted logic, that's the way it happens. But that it's also so heartbreakingly tragic of her messed up childhood thematically.
[00:51:27] Speaker C: You go back and you think about it and it all fits. As in, like, these were kids who are never gonna leave this house. They were never gonna have families. There's references throughout.
[00:51:35] Speaker A: It's Gray Gardens, isn't it?
[00:51:39] Speaker C: It has that stunted, depressing aspect to it, for sure.
[00:51:43] Speaker D: And for Cherry, that eternal infant.
[00:51:45] Speaker A: Yes.
[00:51:46] Speaker C: I just think a line or two of that might have helped to sell that part of the solution.
[00:51:50] Speaker A: Right.
[00:51:51] Speaker C: Like, I would have maybe brought some of those themes outward. Although Jack doesn't seem the guy.
[00:51:54] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:51:55] Speaker D: It's the wrong character to do that.
[00:51:56] Speaker C: Let about some deep thematic issues here.
[00:52:00] Speaker A: Because why did she do it?
[00:52:01] Speaker C: She's nuts, just like all women.
[00:52:04] Speaker A: All right.
[00:52:05] Speaker C: That would be Jack's point of view.
[00:52:07] Speaker A: Overall, 15 episodes of that. Joshua, what's your take on the Thing that Cries in the Night? And I love a mystery.
[00:52:14] Speaker C: I love it. I still love it after a 20 year gap in hearing it again.
[00:52:19] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:52:19] Speaker C: I do think it stands the test of time for the most part. It has some things that are peculiar to its time, for sure. Like I said, I think it's got a little of that weird fantasy pulp obsession with sex and violence in it.
[00:52:33] Speaker D: Because we're past that now.
[00:52:37] Speaker A: Right.
[00:52:38] Speaker C: It's a specific style of it from that era, but I think so much of it does the opposite that is just so ahead of its time and feels really modern. The character driven. Even the serialized storytelling feels very modern. And it is still just ridiculously entertaining to listen to.
[00:52:56] Speaker A: Tim.
[00:52:57] Speaker D: It's good throughout, but the last five episodes just on fire.
[00:53:02] Speaker A: Think it could have been just five.
[00:53:06] Speaker D: It's a radio version of Paige Turner, I would say.
[00:53:08] Speaker A: Yeah. Yeah.
[00:53:09] Speaker D: I'm just gonna listen to episode 10 before I go to bed. I'm Gonna listen to the rest of this series before I go to bed.
[00:53:15] Speaker B: Right, right.
[00:53:16] Speaker A: This is the one that really hooked me into old time radio, you know, and I have a lot of favorites now and a lot of things that I love, but this was the one that made me realize how it could be and how exciting. And it's influenced my writing. It's an influenced everything about almost my entire creative being. Everything about how he writes, how he does mysteries, how they perform this, the pace of it, the format of it. It is hard to listen to because, you know, it's been five years. I listened again. I'm going to go listen to Bury your dead Arizona again, the other one that's complete. And then I'm done again. And it's so frustrating because I want to hear all of them and it's why I created Shades Brigade, because I can't have them. So I'm gonna create my own. It's just saddens me that I can't just one more. Just find one more complete series. Right. Just so you know, quick aside about Carlton E. Morse, his first job in a San Francisco newspaper back in 19, I don't know, 18 or something like that, he realized after a couple of weeks sitting at this desk, he put two and two together, ask some questions, realized, oh, oh, this is that newspaper that Mark Twain worked at. Oh, this is his desk. Oh, this is the same typewriter.
He was actually on the same desk and typewriter that he had worked at.
[00:54:40] Speaker H: Wow.
[00:54:40] Speaker A: Yeah, right. How about that for a little.
[00:54:42] Speaker C: There's an office supply I'd like to steal.
[00:54:46] Speaker A: All right, well, thank you so much, so much for listening to our summer cereal. I hope everybody enjoyed this. Please let us know by going to.
[00:54:54] Speaker D: Ghoulishdelights.Com we have other episodes of the podcast there. You can always leave comments on our posts there. Please do. Let us know if you like this sort of breakout from our normal format because if you do, we'll do more and if you don't, we might do more. Anyway.
There's Also
[email protected] about our live shows. Because we do live shows. You can see us at the Fringe Festival this year. Minnesota Fringe Festival. Don't just go to any Fringe Festival and hook. Expect to see us. Minnesota Fringe Festival fringefestival.org We'll be doing live radio shows in August.
[00:55:27] Speaker C: Yay. And then also go to itunes and write a little review for us. We'd love to hear from you. We're desperate for attention.
[00:55:35] Speaker A: Does anybody have any idea what the next One is not a clue.
[00:55:38] Speaker C: No. But I will tell you this. We are going to spend the rest of our summer going through some of our many audience requests. So we're gonna do a series of those. So if you've sent a request and you've been like, hey, jerks, why are you ignoring me to talk about Carlton E. Morris over and over again, we're gonna get to you starting next week.
[00:55:57] Speaker A: Yep, a lot of requests. So thanks for listening. And until then, look out.
[00:56:02] Speaker I: It's so high up here. It's so high.
[00:56:06] Speaker G: It's all right, Cherry. It's all right. I'm going with you.
[00:56:10] Speaker I: Going with me?
[00:56:11] Speaker G: Here. Come over to the edge of the roof. I want to show you something.
[00:56:14] Speaker I: Hey, someone's turned the search light on. They can see us up here.
[00:56:19] Speaker G: It doesn't matter, darling. It doesn't matter in the least.
[00:56:22] Speaker I: Hey, I'm so scared.
[00:56:24] Speaker G: Don't worry. I'll be with you. I'll be with you all the time. Now, look. Look over the edge. See the glass roof of the sun room right down below us. What?
[00:56:33] Speaker I: But it's so far.
[00:56:35] Speaker G: The glass roof of the sunroom. You loved the sun room when you were a little girl. It was your favorite room.
[00:56:41] Speaker I: Hey, why did you bring me up here?
[00:56:43] Speaker G: Darling, you couldn't help it. It wasn't ever your fault. So you mustn't suffer anymore for it. Just close your eyes. Do you remember how? Do you remember how you used to close your eyes when I told you fairy stories? Fairy stories about the good little fairies who killed.
