Latest / Old Time Sci-Fi Radio | Old Time Radio / Cbs Radio Workshop - "The King of the Cats" (1956)

Transcript

Cbs Radio Workshop - "The King of the Cats" (1956) · Old Time Sci-Fi Radio | Old Time Radio

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Stephen Vincent Benet's short story comes to CBS Radio Workshop
• 0:04
  Speaker 1: in an adaptation by William N. Robson, who also directed
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: and produced. In New York Society, young office worker Tommy Culverin,
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: an avowed cat-hater, looks back on his courtship of the
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: enigmatic Princess Vivranca.
• 0:21
  Speaker 2: Around them move tea.
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: Calls, dinner parties, concert performances, and Thibault, a visiting European
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: conductor whose unusual physical peculiarity has society talking. As Tommy
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: notices feline details amid the social whirl, the story takes
• 0:39
  Speaker 1: an increasingly uncanny course. Byron Kane plays Tommy with Jeanette Nolan,
• 0:45
  Speaker 1: Helen Klebe, Peggy Weber, Joseph Kearns, and Jay Novello. From CBS,
• 0:51
  Speaker 1: this is episode 44, broadcast November 25th, 1956, The King
• 0:57
  Speaker 1: of the Cats. And now, our story begins.
• 1:01
  Speaker 3: From Hollywood, the CBS Radio Workshop.
• 1:06
  Speaker 4: Scat!
• 1:10
  Speaker 5: The world's divided into two kinds of people. Aleurophobes and aleurophiles.
• 1:16
  Speaker 5: Cat haters and cat lovers. There's no in-between. The man
• 1:20
  Speaker 5: is yet to be born who can take cats or
• 1:22
  Speaker 5: leave them alone. Either you love them or you hate them.
• 1:26
  Speaker 5: I hate them. And even if you're a sweet old
• 1:29
  Speaker 5: lady who lives all alone with 13 pussies, I'm sure
• 1:32
  Speaker 5: you won't think too ill of me when you hear
• 1:34
  Speaker 5: what the king of the cats did to me.
• 1:39
  Speaker 2: Scat, you black fiend!
• 1:50
  Speaker 3: The Theater of the Mind presents The King of the
• 1:53
  Speaker 3: Cats by Stephen Vincent Benet, adapted for radio and directed
• 1:57
  Speaker 3: and produced in Hollywood by William N.
• 1:59
  Speaker 5: Robeson. If I hadn't been so young, I suppose I
• 2:16
  Speaker 5: could have taken it in stride. Of course, I didn't
• 2:19
  Speaker 5: think I was young. I was two years out of Yale,
• 2:22
  Speaker 5: and I thought I knew all the answers. Certainly I
• 2:25
  Speaker 5: knew I was in love. They say the most beautiful
• 2:38
  Speaker 5: women in the world are Eurasian, and they're right. Vivranca's
• 2:42
  Speaker 5: skin was like golden velvet, her long straight hair ebony
• 2:46
  Speaker 5: in the moonlight, and her eyes... field of Larkspur, fathomless
• 2:52
  Speaker 5: as the center of heaven. Her mother had been an
• 2:54
  Speaker 5: American missionary, her father Siamese, and undoubtedly a prince, my
• 2:59
  Speaker 5: Aunt Emily insisted. Ordinarily, Aunt Emily wouldn't have approved of Ivranca,
• 3:04
  Speaker 5: but this was the year that the king and I
• 3:06
  Speaker 5: was a sellout at the St. James Theater, so a
• 3:08
  Speaker 5: hostess who could decorate her dinner table with a breathlessly
• 3:11
  Speaker 5: beautiful Siamese princess was definitely a hostess with a mostess.
• 3:15
  Speaker 5: At least Aunt Emily always addressed her as Princess, and
• 3:18
  Speaker 5: Vivranca always replied to the title.
• 3:20
  Speaker 6: My dear, dear Princess, how sweet of you to drop in.
• 3:23
  Speaker 6: And tell me how nice you would get away from
• 3:24
  Speaker 6: the office early.
• 3:26
  Speaker 2: Lemon or cream, Princess?
• 3:28
  Speaker 7: Neither, Mrs.
• 3:29
  Speaker 1: Calverin.
• 3:30
  Speaker 4: And no sugar?
• 3:32
  Speaker 7: Oh, of course, my dear. How stupid of me to forget.
• 3:35
  Speaker 2: Here you are.
• 3:36
  Speaker 1: Thank you.
• 3:37
  Speaker 7: Tommy?
• 3:37
  Speaker 5: I'll get myself a highball, if you don't mind.
• 3:39
  Speaker 2: No, dear, go right ahead.
• 3:41
  Speaker 7: I believe you know everyone, Princess, Mrs.
• 3:43
  Speaker 8: Dandridge.
• 3:44
  Speaker 5: Yes, Mrs.
• 3:44
  Speaker 7: Stanford, Professor Fairweather.
• 3:47
  Speaker 2: Indeed.
• 3:48
  Speaker 7: Mrs.
• 3:48
  Speaker 6: Dandridge has been telling us about the most fascinating man,
• 3:52
  Speaker 6: my dear, a symphony conductor with a tail.
• 3:56
  Speaker 4: A tail?
• 3:58
  Speaker 1: How interesting.
• 3:59
  Speaker 7: I still can't believe it. I saw it myself, twice.
• 4:04
  Speaker 7: First in Paris.
• 4:05
  Speaker 8: and then again at the Teatro Royale in Rome. He
• 4:08
  Speaker 8: conducted the Beethoven Pastoral, and, my dear, you've never heard
• 4:11
  Speaker 8: such effects from an orchestra. You see, he conducted with it.
• 4:15
  Speaker 7: With his tail? Oh, no.
• 4:18
  Speaker 5: Oh, yes.
• 4:19
  Speaker 7: And such a charming person. So urbane, so utterly fascinating.
• 4:24
  Speaker 7: I should imagine. I would love to meet him. And
• 4:27
  Speaker 7: you shall, my dear. I'll see to it when he arrives. Oh,
• 4:30
  Speaker 7: he's coming over?
• 4:31
  Speaker 2: Yes.
• 4:32
  Speaker 8: Yes, the new symphony people have invited him to be
• 4:35
  Speaker 8: guest conductor for three concerts. He'll be very busy, of course,
• 4:39
  Speaker 8: but he's promised to give me what time he can spare.
• 4:41
  Speaker 6: Oh, that's sweet of you, dear, but you mustn't wear
• 4:44
  Speaker 6: yourself out.
• 4:45
  Speaker 7: The rest of us must do our part, too. I'll
• 4:47
  Speaker 7: be only too glad to help entertain you. Oh, now,
• 4:51
  Speaker 7: that won't be necessary.
• 4:52
  Speaker 8: I'm just going to give Monsieur Thibault a sweet name,
• 4:55
  Speaker 8: isn't it? Felix Thibault. I'm just going to show him
• 4:59
  Speaker 8: the simplest of times. A little reception for a hundred
• 5:02
  Speaker 8: or so after his first concert. Perhaps he hates large
• 5:06
  Speaker 8: mixed parties. On account of his little idiosyncrasy, it makes
• 5:11
  Speaker 8: him feel a trifle shy of strangers.
• 5:13
  Speaker 5: I should think it would, to say nothing of his
• 5:15
  Speaker 5: friends and acquaintances. Vivranca, my dear, how would you like
• 5:18
  Speaker 5: to go out nightclubbing with a jerk with a tail?
• 5:22
  Speaker 8: It might be interesting.
• 5:23
  Speaker 7: He is not a jerk, Tommy. He is one of
• 5:26
  Speaker 7: the finest conductors in Europe.
• 5:28
  Speaker 5: Sounds to me like he's the smartest showman since P.T. Barnum.
• 5:32
  Speaker 5: What do you think, Professor?
• 5:33
  Speaker 2: Well, I shall be interested to see this, Monsieur Thibault, myself.
• 5:37
  Speaker 2: In the Middle Ages, there was a widespread belief in
• 5:40
  Speaker 2: homo codatus, or men with tails, but I know of
• 5:43
  Speaker 2: no authenticated case. Of course, we all have tails, in
• 5:47
  Speaker 2: a manner of speaking.
• 5:49
  Speaker 7: What?
• 5:49
  Speaker 2: Oh, vestigial, of course. But the last few vertebrae of
• 5:52
  Speaker 2: anyone's spine, the coccyx, is the evidence of a concealed
• 5:56
  Speaker 2: and rudimentary tail. I dare say it might be possible
• 6:00
  Speaker 2: in an extraordinary case that the throwback of a version
• 6:03
  Speaker 2: to type... How fascinating!
• 6:05
  Speaker 7: I never realized that I.
• 6:07
  Speaker 6: Well, I think it would be fun to get together
• 6:10
  Speaker 6: a box for the first concert.
• 6:12
  Speaker 2: All of us.
• 6:12
  Speaker 8: Well, I'm afraid I shall have my own box party. But,
• 6:16
  Speaker 8: of course, you'll come on to the reception later at
• 6:19
  Speaker 8: my place.
• 6:20
  Speaker 7: Why, thank you, my dear. Then there'll be the professor
• 6:23
  Speaker 7: and the princess and Tommy.
• 6:24
  Speaker 5: Count us out, Aunt Emily. When Vivranca and I want
• 6:27
  Speaker 5: to see Freaks, we'll go to the circus.
• 6:29
  Speaker 8: I shall be very pleased to attend the concert, Mrs.
• 6:33
  Speaker 4: Culverin.
• 6:34
  Speaker 7: Splendid, my dear.
• 6:36
  Speaker 5: But, Vivranca.
• 6:37
  Speaker 7: Is there anyone you'd like me to ask to replace Tommy?
• 6:39
  Speaker 5: But, Aunt Emily.
• 6:40
  Speaker 7: It doesn't make any difference.
• 6:43
  Speaker 8: I'm only interested in meeting this wonderful Monsieur Felix Thibault.
• 6:49
  Speaker 2: But, Vivranca.
• 6:50
  Speaker 5: I went to the concert. What else could I do?
• 6:58
  Speaker 5: We took our seats in the box as the orchestra
• 7:00
  Speaker 5: took theirs on stage and began their aimless squeakings and tootings,
• 7:04
  Speaker 5: those caterwaulings which, I must confess, make about as much
• 7:07
  Speaker 5: sense to me as the music that follows. Aunt Emily
• 7:10
  Speaker 5: was in a dither of fluttery expectation. Professor Fairweather had
• 7:14
  Speaker 5: lost much of his scientific detachment, and Vivranca, gorgeous Vivranca,
• 7:19
  Speaker 5: sat beside me silent, but so tense I could almost
• 7:23
  Speaker 5: feel her breathless expectation, and I didn't like it at all.
• 7:29
  Speaker 5: And then Monsieur Thibault walked on stage, a lithe, dark-haired
• 7:33
  Speaker 5: man with piercing eyes like a black panther, his head
• 7:36
  Speaker 5: weaving the way the big cats do when they're behind bars.
• 7:42
  Speaker 5: It was true. They hadn't lied. From beneath the tails
• 7:46
  Speaker 5: of his dress coat curled a third, a living tail,
• 7:50
  Speaker 5: which he carried nonchalantly draped over his wrist. He acknowledged
• 7:55
  Speaker 5: the presence of the audience with a regal bow. and
• 7:58
  Speaker 5: then that incredible tail twined with dainty carelessness around a
• 8:01
  Speaker 5: black baton on the podium. While he remained facing the audience,
• 8:05
  Speaker 5: the tail rapped three times upon the podium for the
• 8:08
  Speaker 5: orchestra's attention, and then raised for the downbeat. At this
• 8:12
  Speaker 5: horrible moment, I glanced at Vivranca. Her whole body was
• 8:15
  Speaker 5: rigid as steel, and the blue flowers of her eyes
• 8:18
  Speaker 5: were bent upon Monsieur Thibault in terrible concentration. She took
• 8:23
  Speaker 5: my hand in hers, and her long red fingernails felt
• 8:27
  Speaker 5: like a claw as the hideous tale of that monster
• 8:30
  Speaker 5: on stage lashed into the downbeat of Night on Bald Mountain.
• 8:51
  Speaker 5: Never before had a new symphony orchestra played so superbly.
• 8:55
  Speaker 5: and certainly never had it been led with such a genius. Freak, showman, poseur,
• 8:59
  Speaker 5: whatever else Monsieur Thibault might have been, he was certainly
• 9:02
  Speaker 5: a great conductor. No man's hands and arms, no matter
• 9:06
  Speaker 5: how dexterous or eloquent, ever equaled the delicate elan and
• 9:09
  Speaker 5: powerful grace of Monsieur Thibault's tale. A sable staff, it
• 9:14
  Speaker 5: dominated the brasses like a flicker of black lightning. An
• 9:18
  Speaker 5: ebon and use of wit, it drew the last exquisite
• 9:21
  Speaker 5: breath of melody from the woodwinds and ruled the stormy
• 9:24
  Speaker 5: springs like a magician's wand. The End.
• 9:41
  Speaker 6: That's the way it went through the Bach Passacaglia, through
• 9:44
  Speaker 6: the afternoon of a.
• 9:46
  Speaker 2: Fawn, through the Beethoven Ninth.
• 9:54
  Speaker 5: That's the way it went through the Bach Passacaglia, through
• 9:57
  Speaker 5: the afternoon of a fawn, through the Beethoven Ninth. New
• 10:00
  Speaker 5: York music lovers had never heard anything like it before.
• 10:03
  Speaker 5: And New York music lovers never behaved quite like this before.
• 10:07
  Speaker 5: As Monsieur Thibault finally glided from the stage after his
• 10:10
  Speaker 5: 15th bar, the president of the Wednesday Sonata Club had
• 10:14
  Speaker 5: to be forcibly restrained by her husband from flinging her $ 90, 000
• 10:17
  Speaker 5: string of pearls after the maestro in an excess of
• 10:20
  Speaker 5: aesthetic appreciation. And as we shouldered our way through the
• 10:24
  Speaker 5: hysterical mob toward the waiting limousines, I distinctly heard Ludwig Willems,
• 10:28
  Speaker 5: conductor of the mid-century Philharmonic, say to Dr. Friedrich Laskar,
• 10:32
  Speaker 5: the great plastic surgeon... But it must be possible, doctor.
• 10:35
  Speaker 2: Think of the miracles they have accomplished in Denmark. There's $ 10, 000
• 10:39
  Speaker 2: in it for you, doctor, if only you can find
• 10:42
  Speaker 2: a way to graft the tale onto me.
• 10:44
  Speaker 5: But through all the hysteria, Vivranca remained silent. self-possessed, her
• 10:54
  Speaker 5: azure eyes fathomless as the center of heaven. She was
• 10:59
  Speaker 5: silent as we drove to Mrs. Dandridge's party in Aunt
• 11:01
  Speaker 5: Emily's limousine. But this was not too remarkable, because Aunt
• 11:04
  Speaker 5: Emily never stopped raving about Monsieur Thibault.
• 11:06
  Speaker 6: But aside from the heavenly music, my dear, the man himself,
• 11:10
  Speaker 6: such elegance.
• 11:11
  Speaker 7: Such poise, such....
• 11:14
  Speaker 6: I tell you, Tommy, if your Uncle Henry weren't still around,
• 11:18
  Speaker 6: and I was a few years younger.
• 11:21
  Speaker 7: Well, tale and all.
• 11:27
  Speaker 5: Our hostess, Mrs. Dandridge, looked like the cat who had
• 11:30
  Speaker 5: swallowed the canary, having trapped the social lion of the season,
• 11:33
  Speaker 5: if I may be permitted to scramble a metaphor. Let
• 11:36
  Speaker 5: Aunt Emily have her Siamese princess. Dolly Dandridge had the
• 11:40
  Speaker 5: world's greatest conductor, complete with tail. And this dear.
• 11:44
  Speaker 7: Monsieur Thibault is my dearest friend. Emily, may I present
• 11:47
  Speaker 7: Monsieur Thibault.
• 11:48
  Speaker 2: Monsieur Thibault, Mrs.
• 11:50
  Speaker 7: Henry Colberin.
• 11:52
  Speaker 5: Enchanté, Madame Colberin.
• 11:55
  Speaker 7: Oh, Monsieur Thibault, it is an honor to meet you.
• 12:00
  Speaker 3: I am overcome.
• 12:02
  Speaker 4: Yes, yes, thank you much, madame.
• 12:05
  Speaker 7: I feel I should be on bended knee.
• 12:08
  Speaker 4: It is not necessary.
• 12:10
  Speaker 5: Oh, I should kiss your hand.
• 12:12
  Speaker 4: You are too kind, no?
• 12:14
  Speaker 2: Oh, I must.
• 12:15
  Speaker 5: No, no, please, madame. He stopped trying to stop Aunt
• 12:18
  Speaker 5: Emily from making a fool of herself. He had seen Vivranca.
• 12:22
  Speaker 5: The end of his tale, just the very end, twitched turgidly,
• 12:25
  Speaker 5: and he seemed to be at her side in a
• 12:27
  Speaker 5: bound rather than a step. It was foolish and superfluous
• 12:30
  Speaker 5: for Mrs. Dandridge to do the honors.
• 12:32
  Speaker 7: Princess, may I present Monsieur Thibault. Monsieur, Princess Vivranca.
• 12:39
  Speaker 4: Maestro. Princess.
• 12:43
  Speaker 5: They exchanged no more words. Monsieur Thibault presented his arm
• 12:50
  Speaker 5: to the princess. She linked hers and his, and his
• 12:53
  Speaker 5: infernal tail switched from his right arm to his left
• 12:56
  Speaker 5: to come to rest across Vivranca's wrist. Thus, like royalty,
• 13:01
  Speaker 5: they made their way across the room, the guests parting
• 13:04
  Speaker 5: to make a path for their regal progress.
• 13:07
  Speaker 7: Now tell me you mustn't take it so hard.
• 13:10
  Speaker 6: After all, the princess is an awfully sweet child, but
• 13:12
  Speaker 6: she isn't exactly our kind.
• 13:14
  Speaker 5: And I suppose she's his.
• 13:16
  Speaker 7: She seems to be. Look at them. So darlingly foreign,
• 13:21
  Speaker 7: both of them.
• 13:21
  Speaker 5: Yeah, aren't they? Out of this world. And they were.
• 13:28
  Speaker 5: I didn't realize it until I'd said it. They were
• 13:31
  Speaker 5: somehow out of this world. They didn't walk across the room.
• 13:35
  Speaker 5: They glided. The tail-coated maestro with his third tail so
• 13:39
  Speaker 5: insidiously ubiquitous, and the princess's hips swaying in the golden-threaded
• 13:44
  Speaker 5: silken sheath of her skirt. A bas-relief from Anchor Bat,
• 13:47
  Speaker 5: suddenly breathing life. The End She never left his side
• 13:57
  Speaker 5: for the rest of the evening. I didn't like it.
• 14:00
  Speaker 5: I didn't like it a bit. But there was nothing
• 14:02
  Speaker 5: I could do about it. After all, one can't very
• 14:04
  Speaker 5: well make a scene, especially with a guest of honor.
• 14:08
  Speaker 5: But Professor Fairweather, detached man of science, was bound by
• 14:11
  Speaker 5: no such restrictive codes.
• 14:15
  Speaker 2: Extraordinary. Simply extraordinary.
• 14:18
  Speaker 5: I think it stinks. What?
• 14:19
  Speaker 2: How's that, Tommy? What stinks?
• 14:20
  Speaker 5: The way that Veronica's acting.
• 14:22
  Speaker 2: Oh, nothing extraordinary about that. Her behavior's quite normal, I
• 14:26
  Speaker 2: should say. It's the tail that's extraordinary.
• 14:30
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 14:31
  Speaker 5: Where'd he be without it?
• 14:32
  Speaker 2: Where indeed, and what?
• 14:34
  Speaker 5: Just another foreigner with a kiss-your-hand-madame accent. They're a dime
• 14:38
  Speaker 5: a dozen.
• 14:38
  Speaker 2: Yes, the tailless ones. Uh-oh, the princess has joined the
• 14:43
  Speaker 2: other ladies for a moment. It's my opportunity.
• 14:46
  Speaker 5: For what?
• 14:47
  Speaker 2: A word with Monsieur Thibault.
• 14:49
  Speaker 5: I'd like several words with him.
• 14:51
  Speaker 2: Monsieur Thibault. Monsieur Thibault.
• 14:53
  Speaker 4: Ah, Professor Fairweather.
• 14:55
  Speaker 5: Yes, yes, yes.
• 14:55
  Speaker 2: May I speak to you a moment?
• 14:57
  Speaker 5: But of course.
• 14:58
  Speaker 2: You know Tommy Calvary, and I believe.
• 15:00
  Speaker 4: I don't think I've had the pleasure.
• 15:02
  Speaker 5: You are the lovely Mrs.
• 15:03
  Speaker 4: Calvary's son?
• 15:05
  Speaker 5: No, her nephew. How interesting. And Princess Vivranca's friend. We're
• 15:11
  Speaker 5: practically engaged. Congratulations. I thought you ought to know. Indeed, yes.
• 15:18
  Speaker 4: I am honored by your confidence.
• 15:21
  Speaker 5: Now, Professor.
• 15:23
  Speaker 2: Yes, Monsieur Thibault, I speak to you as a man
• 15:25
  Speaker 2: of science.
• 15:26
  Speaker 5: Yes?
• 15:27
  Speaker 2: A true specimen of Homo Codatus has been unknown to
• 15:31
  Speaker 2: modern science until now.
• 15:33
  Speaker 4: Homo Codatus?
• 15:34
  Speaker 2: Yes, a man with a tail.
• 15:37
  Speaker 3: What?
• 15:38
  Speaker 5: What?
• 15:38
  Speaker 2: Come now, Professor, it's nothing to be sensitive about. My
• 15:41
  Speaker 2: interest is purely impersonal.
• 15:43
  Speaker 5: Your interest?
• 15:44
  Speaker 2: Yes, purely scientific. It wouldn't take much of your time,
• 15:47
  Speaker 2: a morning or an afternoon, perhaps.
• 15:49
  Speaker 5: No more.
• 15:49
  Speaker 4: What would not take much time?
• 15:51
  Speaker 2: An examination, and measurements, x-rays, and.
• 15:53
  Speaker 5: An examination? Measurements of what?
• 15:56
  Speaker 4: Your tail. Dumb, or for the block of gun, may I?
• 16:01
  Speaker 2: Not, Monsieur Tignan, you ought to.
• 16:03
  Speaker 5: M. Thiebaud's tail lashed stingingly across the professor's face, cutting
• 16:07
  Speaker 5: off his last words. Then the conductor turned and stalked
• 16:10
  Speaker 5: out of the room, growling and spitting in his anger.
• 16:13
  Speaker 5: Without even bothering to retrieve his hat and coat, he
• 16:16
  Speaker 5: kept right on through the foyer and on out into
• 16:18
  Speaker 5: the chilly night.
• 16:20
  Speaker 2: Oh, dear.
• 16:22
  Speaker 5: Wonderful, professor.
• 16:23
  Speaker 2: Wonderful.
• 16:24
  Speaker 5: I can't thank you enough.
• 16:25
  Speaker 2: Oh, for what, Tommy?
• 16:26
  Speaker 5: For getting rid of him.
• 16:27
  Speaker 2: But I wasn't trying to get rid of him.
• 16:29
  Speaker 5: I know, but you did, and that's all that counts.
• 16:34
  Speaker 5: Only he didn't. Aunt Emily realized at once that Mrs.
• 16:38
  Speaker 5: Dandridge had lost her catch, for certainly Monsieur Thiebaud would
• 16:41
  Speaker 5: never again enter the house where he had been insulted.
• 16:44
  Speaker 5: And Aunt Emily moved with the speed of an aggressor nation.
• 16:47
  Speaker 5: Within three days, Monsieur Thiebaud had accepted her invitation to
• 16:50
  Speaker 5: be a house guest and had moved in bag and baggage.
• 16:54
  Speaker 2: The End.
• 17:00
  Speaker 5: Now there was no escaping my tailed nemesis, and now
• 17:03
  Speaker 5: it took no urging upon Vivranca to visit Aunt Emily.
• 17:07
  Speaker 5: She wanted to be there. She preferred being there to
• 17:10
  Speaker 5: any entertainment I could offer her. But there was one
• 17:13
  Speaker 5: ray of hope. Thiebaud was committed to a long concert
• 17:16
  Speaker 5: tour all the way to the coast, and with him
• 17:18
  Speaker 5: out of the way, I felt sure I could mend
• 17:20
  Speaker 5: the fences he had torn down. The day before the
• 17:23
  Speaker 5: farewell dinner Aunt Emily was giving him, I drop by
• 17:25
  Speaker 5: after work to find my aunt in more than her
• 17:28
  Speaker 5: usual dither.
• 17:29
  Speaker 7: Oh, Tommy, isn't it just too, too exciting?
• 17:32
  Speaker 5: I don't know, Aunt Emily, until I find out what
• 17:34
  Speaker 5: it is.
• 17:35
  Speaker 7: Why, Monsieur Thibault and the princess, of course.
• 17:37
  Speaker 5: What about them?
• 17:38
  Speaker 2: They're in love.
• 17:39
  Speaker 5: This scarcely strikes me as news.
• 17:41
  Speaker 7: And they're going to be married.
• 17:44
  Speaker 5: Oh, no.
• 17:44
  Speaker 6: Yes, I'm going to make the announcement at the dinner
• 17:47
  Speaker 6: party tomorrow night.
• 17:48
  Speaker 5: Aunt Emily, how can you do this to me?
• 17:51
  Speaker 7: I didn't do it to you. Anyway, you must face
• 17:55
  Speaker 7: this like a man. You know, you must find some
• 17:57
  Speaker 7: nice homey girl like that Gretchen Woolwine from Chicago. You
• 18:00
  Speaker 7: used to like her.
• 18:01
  Speaker 5: I was younger than Aunt Emily. That was before I
• 18:04
  Speaker 5: knew Vivranca.
• 18:05
  Speaker 7: Well, my dear, I'm afraid you've lost your princess. C'est
• 18:08
  Speaker 7: la vie, c'est l'amour, as I always say.
• 18:11
  Speaker 5: Where is Vivranca? Is she here?
• 18:12
  Speaker 7: Oh, my, yes, she's in the library with Monsieur Thibault.
• 18:15
  Speaker 5: Naturally.
• 18:16
  Speaker 7: Now, don't disturb them, dear. I'm sure they want to
• 18:19
  Speaker 7: be alone.
• 18:20
  Speaker 5: Naturally. The hard knot in the pit of my stomach
• 18:25
  Speaker 5: grew and grew. Finally, when Aunt Emily chattered off to
• 18:29
  Speaker 5: change for dinner, I slipped down the hall toward the library...
• 18:33
  Speaker 5: I couldn't hear voices, and the room was dark. I
• 18:36
  Speaker 5: was about to flick on the light switch when I
• 18:38
  Speaker 5: heard a strange sound. And then I saw them silhouetted
• 18:42
  Speaker 5: in the dying light of a fire. Tebow was seated
• 18:46
  Speaker 5: in a chair, and Vivranca crouched on a stool at
• 18:49
  Speaker 5: his side, while his hand softly, smoothly stroked her dark hair.
• 18:54
  Speaker 5: And all I could think of was Black Cat and
• 18:57
  Speaker 5: Siamese Kitten. And then I realized what the sound was.
• 19:03
  Speaker 5: They weren't talking to each other. No, they were purring
• 19:07
  Speaker 5: to each other. But, Professor Fairweather, what am I going
• 19:11
  Speaker 5: to do?
• 19:12
  Speaker 2: Now, Tommy, you must get hold of yourself. This whole
• 19:15
  Speaker 2: thing has disturbed you to the point of hallucination.
• 19:18
  Speaker 5: Nonsense, Professor. I heard them. I tell you, I heard
• 19:20
  Speaker 5: them purring.
• 19:21
  Speaker 2: Fantasy, sure, fantasy. Just because the man does have a tail,
• 19:25
  Speaker 2: you're imagining.
• 19:26
  Speaker 5: I'm positive he's a cat.
• 19:27
  Speaker 2: And you cannot stand the thought of Vivanka marrying.
• 19:31
  Speaker 5: I can't stand the thought of her marrying anyone. But
• 19:33
  Speaker 5: a cat? It's monstrous. What am I going to do, Professor?
• 19:37
  Speaker 2: You might have the SPCA pick him up.
• 19:40
  Speaker 5: Oh, please, Professor.
• 19:41
  Speaker 2: Oh, I'm sorry, Tommy. I know you're serious. Wait a minute.
• 19:48
  Speaker 2: I just thought of something. Oh, no, it's too ridiculous. What?
• 19:53
  Speaker 5: Tell me, what?
• 19:53
  Speaker 2: Oh, Tommy, you're a bad influence. You're leading my reason
• 19:56
  Speaker 2: from the narrow path of scientific method to the doubtful
• 19:58
  Speaker 2: fields of the supernatural.
• 20:00
  Speaker 5: What are you talking about? Well.
• 20:03
  Speaker 2: I was thinking of a story I read once. Oh,
• 20:06
  Speaker 2: it's turned up in one form or another in the
• 20:08
  Speaker 2: folklore of every land on earth, I suppose. It has
• 20:12
  Speaker 2: to do with a traveler who saw within a ruined
• 20:15
  Speaker 2: abbey a procession of cats lowering into a grave a
• 20:18
  Speaker 2: little coffin with a tiny crown on it. Filled with horror,
• 20:22
  Speaker 2: the traveler hastened away from the place, and when he
• 20:25
  Speaker 2: reached his destination, he couldn't help telling his host of
• 20:28
  Speaker 2: the strange ritual he'd seen. Scarcely had he finished when
• 20:32
  Speaker 2: the host's cat, who'd been lying in front of the fire,
• 20:34
  Speaker 2: leapt to its feet and cried out, Then I am
• 20:37
  Speaker 2: king of the cats, and disappeared in a flash up
• 20:40
  Speaker 2: the chimney.
• 20:41
  Speaker 5: So?
• 20:42
  Speaker 2: Proceeding upon your premise that Monsieur Thibault is a cat,
• 20:46
  Speaker 2: you will grant that he's a very extraordinary cat, a
• 20:49
  Speaker 2: cat who could presumably one day be king of the cats?
• 20:55
  Speaker 4: Of course.
• 20:57
  Speaker 5: Of course. Yes, it might work. I'll pull it on
• 21:01
  Speaker 5: him tomorrow night at Aunt Emily's dinner party. Only.
• 21:04
  Speaker 2: Only what?
• 21:05
  Speaker 5: Well, he won't buy that ruined Abbey part.
• 21:08
  Speaker 2: Well, then use your imagination. Make it Central Park. Sure.
• 21:12
  Speaker 5: Sure, why not? Bring the story up to date. A
• 21:15
  Speaker 5: funny thing happened today on my way up from the office.
• 21:23
  Speaker 5: Aunt Emily outdid herself. Her dinner table was a poem
• 21:27
  Speaker 5: of spring flowers, gold plate, the purest white linen, the
• 21:30
  Speaker 5: candles fluttering ever so little in the warm night breeze
• 21:34
  Speaker 5: that came through the open French doors. Time and again
• 21:37
  Speaker 5: through the first three courses I tried to get into
• 21:39
  Speaker 5: the stream of conversation, but when Aunt Emily's on, this
• 21:42
  Speaker 5: is practically impossible. Thiebaud and Vivranca, seated on either side
• 21:46
  Speaker 5: of her, were oblivious of everything. They ate little and
• 21:49
  Speaker 5: never took their eyes off each other. Finally, the plates
• 21:52
  Speaker 5: were being taken away, and I knew Aunt Emily was
• 21:54
  Speaker 5: going to make her announcement during the dessert course. I
• 21:57
  Speaker 5: just had to get my two cents worth in first.
• 21:59
  Speaker 7: Oh, you'll never forget that summer.
• 22:01
  Speaker 6: Eden Rock was never gayer.
• 22:03
  Speaker 7: And after the Duke and the Duchess arrived, well.
• 22:06
  Speaker 2: A.
• 22:06
  Speaker 5: Funny thing happened on my way up from the office
• 22:08
  Speaker 5: this evening.
• 22:09
  Speaker 7: I was about to tell.
• 22:10
  Speaker 5: A funny thing happened on my way up from the
• 22:12
  Speaker 5: office this evening. I was taking a shortcut across Central
• 22:14
  Speaker 5: Park when I came upon the darndest thing. In a
• 22:17
  Speaker 5: little clump of bushes I saw a procession of cats, oh,
• 22:20
  Speaker 5: six or eight of them, and they were carrying a
• 22:22
  Speaker 5: little coffin toward a tiny open grave, and on the
• 22:25
  Speaker 5: coffin was an exquisite little golden crown. Now, isn't that
• 22:30
  Speaker 5: the strangest thing? Silence. The guests looked at me as
• 22:36
  Speaker 5: though I were quite mad. That is, all except Thiebaud
• 22:39
  Speaker 5: and Vivranca. Thiebaud looked at me, the end of his
• 22:43
  Speaker 5: tail flicking above the edge of the table. and Vivranca
• 22:46
  Speaker 5: looked at Thibault the way she had that night at
• 22:48
  Speaker 5: the concert, tense, breathless, her eyes blue flame. At last
• 22:54
  Speaker 5: Aunt Emily spoke.
• 22:55
  Speaker 7: Well, Tommy, are you quite finished?
• 23:00
  Speaker 5: Yes, Aunt Emily, that's all I had to say.
• 23:02
  Speaker 7: I should hope so. Well, that summer, when the Duke and.
• 23:06
  Speaker 2: Duchess came down.
• 23:06
  Speaker 4: Excuse me, Mrs. Calverin.
• 23:08
  Speaker 7: Oh, of course, maestro.
• 23:11
  Speaker 4: Tommy, you are quite positive of what you saw this evening?
• 23:16
  Speaker 5: Oh, yes. Yes, you don't go around making up things
• 23:19
  Speaker 5: like that.
• 23:20
  Speaker 4: No, of course not. Yet one must be sure of
• 23:24
  Speaker 4: the details. Now, there was a crown on the coffin,
• 23:28
  Speaker 4: you say?
• 23:29
  Speaker 5: That's right.
• 23:30
  Speaker 4: A golden crown?
• 23:32
  Speaker 5: Yes.
• 23:33
  Speaker 4: With tiny pearls on it?
• 23:36
  Speaker 5: That's right.
• 23:37
  Speaker 4: You're absolutely sure?
• 23:38
  Speaker 5: Absolutely.
• 23:40
  Speaker 2: Then I am king of the cat!
• 23:47
  Speaker 5: He leapt to his feet from his chair to the
• 23:49
  Speaker 5: table and in one bound disappeared through the open French window.
• 23:53
  Speaker 5: And an instant later, Pivanka followed. As she disappeared from
• 23:56
  Speaker 5: the balcony to the alley below, I caught just a
• 23:59
  Speaker 5: glimpse of something protruding beneath her silken sheath skirt. It
• 24:03
  Speaker 5: was a black, tipped, golden tail. And that's why I
• 24:14
  Speaker 5: have become an ailerophobe. A cat-hater. So was my wife, Gretchen.
• 24:20
  Speaker 5: We were married shortly afterwards. But then Gretchen never did
• 24:24
  Speaker 5: like cats in the first place. Especially Siamese cats. From Hollywood.
• 24:44
  Speaker 3: The CBS Radio Workshop is presented The King of the
• 24:47
  Speaker 3: Cats by Stephen Vincent Binet with Byron Kane as Tommy.
• 24:52
  Speaker 3: Music arranged and conducted by Amerigo Marino. Included in the
• 24:55
  Speaker 3: cast were Jeanette Nolan, Helen Cleed, Peggy Weber, Joe Kearns,
• 24:59
  Speaker 3: and Jay Novello. Next week from New York, the workshop
• 25:05
  Speaker 3: will present a psychological study of the do-it-yourself movement The
• 25:08
  Speaker 3: Day the Roof Fell In by Charles S.
• 25:10
  Speaker 2: Munro.
• 25:13
  Speaker 3: Suspense, radio's outstanding theater of thrills, follows over most of
• 25:17
  Speaker 3: these stations with the chilling story of the man who
• 25:19
  Speaker 3: stole the Bible. For a half hour of breathless terror,
• 25:22
  Speaker 3: stay tuned to this frequency. You won't regret it.
• 25:28
  Speaker 2: Thank you.
• 25:29
  Speaker 1: Thank you. We close with CBS Radio Workshop, episode 44,
• 25:55
  Speaker 1: The King of the Cats. Good evening, and thank you
• 25:58
  Speaker 1: for sharing this visit to Classic Radio. Follow old-time sci-fi
• 26:03
  Speaker 1: radio for more classic science fiction broadcasts.