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Escape - "Figure a Dame" (Old Time Radio, 1949) · The 50 Greatest Old Time Radio Shows | Old Time Radio

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Frank Lovejoy stars in Escape's radio adaptation of Richard Sayles'
• 0:04
  Speaker 1: short story, Figure a Dame. First heard on CBS December 20, 1949,
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: this is episode 90 of Escape, with Joan Banks, Sarah Selby,
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: Ben Wright, Paul Freese, Harry Bartell, and Gary Merrill also
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: in the cast. An American insurance investigator is assigned to
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: guard a wealthy woman and an emerald acquired in India.
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: Aboard a train bound for Calcutta, a fellow passenger draws
• 0:33
  Speaker 1: his suspicions toward the jewel. Morton Fine and David Friedkin
• 0:38
  Speaker 1: prepared the radio adaptation, and William N. Robson produced and directed. Now,
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: back to the golden age of radio.
• 0:48
  Speaker 2: Tired of the everyday routine? Ever dream of a life
• 0:53
  Speaker 2: of romantic adventure? Want to get away from it all?
• 0:58
  Speaker 3: We offer you Escape. Escape, designed to free you from
• 1:07
  Speaker 3: the four walls of today for a half hour of
• 1:09
  Speaker 3: high adventure.
• 1:14
  Speaker 2: Tonight, we escape to a train headed for Calcutta and
• 1:19
  Speaker 2: an exciting tale of the most sought-after emerald in the world.
• 1:25
  Speaker 2: as Richard Sale tells it in his famous story, Figure
• 1:30
  Speaker 2: a Dame.
• 1:41
  Speaker 4: You do it. You figure a dame. Take this Mrs.
• 1:46
  Speaker 4: Arthur Bankner, whose body I'm hired to guard. A widow
• 1:50
  Speaker 4: woman who wanted a piece of green ice so bad
• 1:52
  Speaker 4: she came halfway across the world to this Rajahore, this
• 1:56
  Speaker 4: whistle stop in the middle of India. And then to
• 1:59
  Speaker 4: the winter palace of a character named Samurai Doll. Him
• 2:03
  Speaker 4: and his English jog for his jewel silk turban, his
• 2:06
  Speaker 4: eyes like hard pennies. Him I didn't like.
• 2:10
  Speaker 5: The Star of Kilimanjaro. It has finally brought you to me. What, Mrs. Bankman?
• 2:15
  Speaker 6: Oh, yes, Amari Dahl. Is that how I call you,
• 2:18
  Speaker 6: or is it Mr. Dahl?
• 2:20
  Speaker 7: However you call me, madame, will be satisfactory when you
• 2:23
  Speaker 7: pay me the $ 150, 000 we agreed upon.
• 2:27
  Speaker 5: American dollars.
• 2:29
  Speaker 6: Give him the money, Joe.
• 2:30
  Speaker 4: I can't wait any longer.
• 2:31
  Speaker 8: Oh, I think I've lived my life for this moment.
• 2:34
  Speaker 4: First we look at the emerald, huh, Mrs. B?
• 2:36
  Speaker 9: But Mr. Dahl wouldn't... Joe, it's not done that way.
• 2:41
  Speaker 6: This is India. Different customs, different manners.
• 2:44
  Speaker 5: How true, Mrs.
• 2:45
  Speaker 10: Bankner.
• 2:46
  Speaker 4: First we look at it. An old Brooklyn custom.
• 2:49
  Speaker 2: Huh, Sam?
• 2:51
  Speaker 5: Of course.
• 2:57
  Speaker 6: Summary, doll.
• 2:59
  Speaker 5: The emerald. The star of Kilimanjaro. Fetch it, girl.
• 3:02
  Speaker 6: At once, summary, doll. Hmm.
• 3:07
  Speaker 4: Goes good with you, huh, Sam? Dancing girls with bells
• 3:09
  Speaker 4: on their toes?
• 3:10
  Speaker 5: It's only adequate.
• 3:11
  Speaker 7: I neglected to ask you this, Mrs. Bankner, forgive me,
• 3:15
  Speaker 7: but just who is this creature?
• 3:17
  Speaker 6: Joe? Oh, he's not a creature, Mr.
• 3:20
  Speaker 5: Dahl.
• 3:21
  Speaker 8: He's... Well, for one thing, he's a detective for the
• 3:24
  Speaker 8: Magnum Insurance Company.
• 3:26
  Speaker 5: That explains a great deal.
• 3:28
  Speaker 4: You see, Mr.
• 3:29
  Speaker 6: Dahl, Joe... Mr.
• 3:31
  Speaker 8: Harriman here recovered some jewelry I lost in Paris. I
• 3:34
  Speaker 8: was so impressed with him. I mean with how efficient
• 3:38
  Speaker 8: he was.
• 3:39
  Speaker 4: Yeah, she means she persuaded Magnum to let me come
• 3:41
  Speaker 4: along on this little buying trip for protection. Magnum thought
• 3:44
  Speaker 4: it was a good idea, too. Now you know who
• 3:47
  Speaker 4: the creature is. Now everything's gay, huh, Sam?
• 3:52
  Speaker 6: Sir Murray, darling.
• 3:54
  Speaker 5: Thank you.
• 3:55
  Speaker 7: You may go back, girl, to whatever child's game you
• 3:58
  Speaker 7: are playing. I could weep at having to part with this. Here,
• 4:06
  Speaker 7: the Star of Kilimanjaro.
• 4:09
  Speaker 6: Oh, oh, Joel, Joel, look at it, look.
• 4:12
  Speaker 5: Oh, all my life, many, many, Joel, but oh, none
• 4:17
  Speaker 5: like this.
• 4:18
  Speaker 4: Yeah, yeah, yeah, it's something. It'll do.
• 4:23
  Speaker 5: You are satisfied, Joel? Yeah. And you, Mrs. Bankner, it
• 4:27
  Speaker 5: satisfies you?
• 4:28
  Speaker 6: Oh, yes, yes.
• 4:30
  Speaker 5: Then it remains only for me to be satisfied.
• 4:34
  Speaker 6: Give him the money, Joe. Give it to him. Okay.
• 4:37
  Speaker 4: Okay, here, Sam. You can count it if you want to.
• 4:39
  Speaker 5: I want to. Oh, exquisite, exquisite money.
• 4:46
  Speaker 4: Good.
• 4:47
  Speaker 10: Oh, Mrs.
• 4:48
  Speaker 5: Bankner.
• 4:49
  Speaker 6: Yes?
• 4:49
  Speaker 7: If by some grave misfortune you should lose the Star
• 4:53
  Speaker 7: of Kilimanjaro, or more exactly, it be stolen from you,
• 4:57
  Speaker 7: then please to refer the thief to me. I shall
• 5:01
  Speaker 7: be happy to buy it back from him at a
• 5:03
  Speaker 7: good price. Mrs.
• 5:10
  Speaker 4: B wanted to celebrate, so we went to the town's
• 5:12
  Speaker 4: one hot spot, the Rossa Tower. It was a dive.
• 5:17
  Speaker 4: And the props hadn't changed from Flatbush. Smoke, oriental cigarette type, bartender,
• 5:22
  Speaker 4: oriental type, dames, any type. Complete with Lindley's jazz band,
• 5:27
  Speaker 4: the joint was a shorely paradise with one great big advantage.
• 5:31
  Speaker 4: No local ordinances. You name it, you can have it.
• 5:35
  Speaker 8: Oh, I'll have another swizzle, Joe.
• 5:38
  Speaker 4: Finish the drink you've got and we'll see.
• 5:41
  Speaker 6: Oh, Joe, you don't.
• 5:42
  Speaker 8: Have to be so solicitous. Oh, I've got the star
• 5:47
  Speaker 8: of killing Marshall. I've got it, Joe, and we're celebrating, remember?
• 5:51
  Speaker 6: Come on now, dance with me. Joe. Joe, what are
• 5:57
  Speaker 6: you staring at? Joe.
• 6:00
  Speaker 10: Her.
• 6:01
  Speaker 5: Who, Joe?
• 6:02
  Speaker 4: That girl over there, the one against the bar.
• 6:05
  Speaker 6: She looks like an American, that one.
• 6:07
  Speaker 5: Yeah.
• 6:08
  Speaker 6: She's lovely.
• 6:09
  Speaker 8: I only say that because she is. Now, you've looked
• 6:12
  Speaker 8: at her, Joe. Now look back at me.
• 6:14
  Speaker 4: You know what? I've seen her before.
• 6:16
  Speaker 6: In Flatbush?
• 6:17
  Speaker 4: Uh-uh, here in India. A couple of times before her.
• 6:21
  Speaker 4: I look up and there she is, leaning against a
• 6:23
  Speaker 4: bar or watching the same rope trick or being a
• 6:26
  Speaker 4: part of the same crowd as me.
• 6:28
  Speaker 8: She's following you, Joe, to the ends of the earth.
• 6:31
  Speaker 8: And our better resistance is getting lower from bar to bar.
• 6:34
  Speaker 4: Following me, yeah.
• 6:37
  Speaker 10: I heard you say something about dancing, lady.
• 6:40
  Speaker 1: Well, no.
• 6:41
  Speaker 4: They're avasting you from the poop deck, sailor boy. Beat it.
• 6:45
  Speaker 6: Oh, Joe, at least buy him a drink.
• 6:48
  Speaker 4: Buy him nothing. Go on, sailor, make an exit while
• 6:50
  Speaker 4: the house is still with you.
• 6:51
  Speaker 3: I was saying to you, lady, I was saying I
• 6:54
  Speaker 3: heard you want to dance.
• 6:56
  Speaker 10: This guy with you ain't made a move.
• 6:58
  Speaker 6: Now, what would you have done? Tell me.
• 7:01
  Speaker 4: Me?
• 7:02
  Speaker 6: Me?
• 7:03
  Speaker 10: I'd dance.
• 7:04
  Speaker 4: Yeah, yeah, you would. Get out of here.
• 7:10
  Speaker 10: What has happened here?
• 7:11
  Speaker 4: The Jolly Tar, he happened. Get him out of here.
• 7:13
  Speaker 10: Oh, yes, yes, I... I mean, Johan, this man on
• 7:16
  Speaker 10: the floor.
• 7:16
  Speaker 4: Out!
• 7:20
  Speaker 6: You shouldn't have hit him, but....
• 7:23
  Speaker 9: Joe, I liked watching you do it.
• 7:25
  Speaker 10: And I'm of the same mind. Art was a beautiful thing.
• 7:27
  Speaker 4: Oh, you too, mister? You want to play too?
• 7:30
  Speaker 10: No, McCoy, no. I know an Irish right cross when
• 7:32
  Speaker 10: I see one. So I brought you both drinks. My pleasure.
• 7:36
  Speaker 6: Why, thank you.
• 7:38
  Speaker 4: I am not Irish.
• 7:39
  Speaker 10: You may not know it, son, but you are. You know,
• 7:42
  Speaker 10: someplace on your tree there's an Irishman. Do you mind
• 7:45
  Speaker 10: if I sit down?
• 7:48
  Speaker 4: Who are you? What's the.
• 7:49
  Speaker 10: A man like you, son, I can tell it by
• 7:52
  Speaker 10: the turn of your lips. A seeker, you might say.
• 7:55
  Speaker 10: After what now? A woman's smile? And there's that here
• 7:59
  Speaker 10: in India. Fortune? There's that here, too. Things, that's what.
• 8:04
  Speaker 4: Without the Irish poetry, who are you? Rafferty.
• 8:07
  Speaker 10: John Rafferty.
• 8:08
  Speaker 4: Now we're happy to know you, Mr. Rafferty, even for
• 8:10
  Speaker 4: just this moment. We're leaving now.
• 8:13
  Speaker 6: Oh, really? Goodbye.
• 8:14
  Speaker 4: Let's stay, Joe. Ah, sleep. We'll need it. The train
• 8:17
  Speaker 4: to Calcutta leaves early tomorrow.
• 8:18
  Speaker 10: And so it does. Then this is not goodbye after all,
• 8:21
  Speaker 10: for I'll be on that train myself.
• 8:27
  Speaker 4: Sleep, I'd said. For the widow with the emerald, maybe,
• 8:30
  Speaker 4: but not for me. I sat on the veranda of
• 8:33
  Speaker 4: the Rajahore Ritz just outside Mrs. B's room, and I
• 8:37
  Speaker 4: could hear her making happy moans in her sleep. Once
• 8:41
  Speaker 4: I heard a crawling noise, I got up, investigated, and
• 8:44
  Speaker 4: found it was a noise made by something that crawls.
• 8:48
  Speaker 4: Then came the dawn. I hustled Mrs. B in her
• 8:51
  Speaker 4: bags into a Model T cab that took two hours
• 8:53
  Speaker 4: to get to the railroad station a mile away. That
• 8:57
  Speaker 4: I'd counted on, so we made the train for Calcutta
• 8:59
  Speaker 4: on time.
• 9:01
  Speaker 6: Oh, Joe, just think. In a few days, Calcutta. Then
• 9:05
  Speaker 6: the plane. Then Paris. And then you leave me.
• 9:09
  Speaker 4: Yeah, that's how it was laid out, the itinerary. Go
• 9:13
  Speaker 4: on in. I'll be there in a minute.
• 9:14
  Speaker 6: But aren't you coming with me?
• 9:16
  Speaker 4: No, Mrs. B. You go find your compartment. I'll bring
• 9:19
  Speaker 4: the bags to you.
• 9:20
  Speaker 10: Oh, but.
• 9:22
  Speaker 5: Oh.
• 9:23
  Speaker 6: Oh, I see. The bar girl. That's who it is,
• 9:26
  Speaker 6: isn't it, Joe? Coming this way.
• 9:29
  Speaker 4: That's who it is, Mrs. B. You won't want to
• 9:32
  Speaker 4: be here when I talk to her, huh, Mrs. B?
• 9:35
  Speaker 6: No. No, but don't talk long, Joe. It's me that's
• 9:39
  Speaker 6: paying you, remember?
• 9:41
  Speaker 4: So Mrs. B was on her way to her compartment.
• 9:45
  Speaker 4: The star of Killamon Joe and a little pouch with
• 9:48
  Speaker 4: gold strings around her neck and inside her dress. This
• 9:50
  Speaker 4: was the last lap. If anyone was going to lift
• 9:53
  Speaker 4: the rocket, it had to be done before we got
• 9:55
  Speaker 4: to Calcutta. And then the girl's perfume was inside me.
• 10:00
  Speaker 6: We've met before, haven't we? Where or when, I don't know,
• 10:03
  Speaker 6: but we've met.
• 10:04
  Speaker 4: It's as good a way as any to get to
• 10:05
  Speaker 4: know me. I'm Joe Harriman.
• 10:08
  Speaker 6: Marion Ryder. Seems we're always in the same places. On
• 10:12
  Speaker 6: the train all the way from Bombay, at the cafe
• 10:14
  Speaker 6: last night here. Coincidental, isn't it?
• 10:17
  Speaker 5: Is it?
• 10:18
  Speaker 4: I wouldn't know.
• 10:19
  Speaker 6: Well, of course it is. Wait, do you mean you've
• 10:22
  Speaker 6: been following me?
• 10:24
  Speaker 4: A dream like you that makes you hungry inside? It
• 10:27
  Speaker 4: wouldn't be hard.
• 10:29
  Speaker 6: Like that?
• 10:30
  Speaker 4: Like that. Traveling for your health, Marion?
• 10:33
  Speaker 6: No, business.
• 10:34
  Speaker 4: In this slop hole, something like you, business?
• 10:37
  Speaker 6: Well, I... I'm a kind of buying agent for a
• 10:40
  Speaker 6: New York firm. Trinkets. That's it, trinkets.
• 10:45
  Speaker 4: Emerald trinkets?
• 10:46
  Speaker 6: Emerald would be lovely. I must find my compartment, Mr. Harriman.
• 10:51
  Speaker 6: Maybe I'll see you again later?
• 10:53
  Speaker 4: Count on it, Marion. It's a promise I make to myself.
• 10:56
  Speaker 5: All aboard!
• 10:58
  Speaker 4: All aboard! I didn't see her again until later. I
• 11:13
  Speaker 4: sat in my own compartment next to Mrs. B's and
• 11:16
  Speaker 4: did a lot of thinking. important thinking, and I didn't
• 11:19
  Speaker 4: want it mixed up with her perfume. Maybe she was
• 11:22
  Speaker 4: an out-and-out jewel thief, and that bothered me. She was
• 11:25
  Speaker 4: a cinch to get caught if she tried to lift
• 11:27
  Speaker 4: that stone. And you can't make that good, good time
• 11:31
  Speaker 4: with a girl who's behind bars. I did my thinking
• 11:35
  Speaker 4: like that for a long time. Had a couple of
• 11:37
  Speaker 4: meals in between, and read, and did some more thinking.
• 11:42
  Speaker 4: When I got finished with it, I was looking out
• 11:44
  Speaker 4: of a window and seeing it was a night without moon.
• 11:47
  Speaker 4: A night for company. I walked down to the club
• 11:51
  Speaker 4: car and found what I was looking for. Hello. Hello, Miss... Oh,
• 11:56
  Speaker 4: don't be frightened. It's me. That kind of night out
• 12:01
  Speaker 4: there get you down?
• 12:03
  Speaker 6: No. I was just toying with my memory. Sit down, Joe.
• 12:08
  Speaker 4: Oh, thank you. Toy with your memory some more. It
• 12:11
  Speaker 4: wears wonderful on you. Oh. And then tell me about it.
• 12:15
  Speaker 4: All right.
• 12:19
  Speaker 6: Now shall I tell you about it?
• 12:20
  Speaker 2: Uh-huh.
• 12:22
  Speaker 6: Out there, Joe, the night, the black hills, those strange
• 12:25
  Speaker 6: little lights that flicker and swirl past you. It's like... Well,
• 12:30
  Speaker 6: like I wasn't on this train at all, but out
• 12:31
  Speaker 6: there and part of it. Like something I've known and
• 12:36
  Speaker 6: remembered for a long, long time.
• 12:38
  Speaker 4: Is that all?
• 12:40
  Speaker 6: That, Joe.
• 12:42
  Speaker 5: This....
• 12:45
  Speaker 9: Oh, Joe, Joe.
• 12:47
  Speaker 4: Don't say we shouldn't have done it because we should have.
• 12:49
  Speaker 6: I know, but what must you think of me? What?
• 12:51
  Speaker 4: I'll tell you. Because I level with women who level
• 12:54
  Speaker 4: with me. I think you're interested in me.
• 12:58
  Speaker 3: And?
• 12:58
  Speaker 4: And trinkets. Expensive trinkets. Like the star of Kilimanjaro.
• 13:05
  Speaker 6: I don't understand you. Mr.
• 13:08
  Speaker 2: Harriman.
• 13:08
  Speaker 9: Please, come, hurry.
• 13:09
  Speaker 5: Mrs.
• 13:10
  Speaker 10: Bankner.
• 13:10
  Speaker 4: What's the matter with her?
• 13:11
  Speaker 9: She is very upset. I think something is wrong. She
• 13:14
  Speaker 9: says you come right away. She's crying.
• 13:16
  Speaker 4: Excuse me, Marion. I got to go to work. Come on, you.
• 13:19
  Speaker 5: Yes.
• 13:25
  Speaker 4: Mrs. B. Mrs. B, something wrong? Oh, Joe.
• 13:30
  Speaker 8: Oh, Joe, I had a nightmare and I woke up.
• 13:33
  Speaker 4: I was so run.
• 13:34
  Speaker 3: No.
• 13:34
  Speaker 4: All right, conductor. Thank you. You can go now. Yes, sir.
• 13:38
  Speaker 6: I called for you when I woke up, but you
• 13:40
  Speaker 6: weren't there. Oh, Joe. Sit here and put your arms
• 13:46
  Speaker 6: around me. Oh, Joe, hold me tight.
• 13:50
  Speaker 4: Yeah.
• 13:52
  Speaker 6: Oh, it's better like this. You close to me like this.
• 13:57
  Speaker 2: Uh-huh.
• 13:59
  Speaker 4: Oh, look at me, Joe.
• 14:02
  Speaker 6: What do you see?
• 14:04
  Speaker 4: You're so helpless, I could kiss you.
• 14:07
  Speaker 10: Try me, Joe.
• 14:07
  Speaker 5: Oh.
• 14:09
  Speaker 4: Yeah. Joe.
• 14:12
  Speaker 6: Joe, you're hurting me. Joe. Joe.
• 14:18
  Speaker 4: Her throat was soft against my hands. Her arms waved
• 14:23
  Speaker 4: around for a little while. The look in her eyes
• 14:26
  Speaker 4: was something I had never seen before. She didn't struggle much.
• 14:30
  Speaker 4: She didn't do anything much. Except not believe it was
• 14:34
  Speaker 4: happening to her. That she was being murdered. Then she
• 14:39
  Speaker 4: quit believing anything. She was dead.
• 14:53
  Speaker 3: In just a moment, we will continue with Escape. But first,
• 14:57
  Speaker 3: every Wednesday night, Groucho Marx, Bing Crosby and Burns and
• 15:01
  Speaker 3: Allen in one, two, three order on most of these
• 15:04
  Speaker 3: same CBS stations. Hear them all tomorrow night on CBS.
• 15:09
  Speaker 3: And now we return you to the second act of Escape.
• 15:14
  Speaker 4: There wasn't much trouble falling asleep after that. After I
• 15:24
  Speaker 4: was sure Mrs. B was dead. After I'd stashed the
• 15:27
  Speaker 4: emerald where it couldn't be found. Wasn't much trouble falling
• 15:32
  Speaker 4: asleep at all. Like being out with a beautiful dame.
• 15:36
  Speaker 4: And she liked you. And you went home and put
• 15:39
  Speaker 4: your arms behind your head and smiled to yourself. And
• 15:43
  Speaker 4: you slept the best kind of sleep of all. It
• 15:47
  Speaker 4: got to be 8 o'clock in the morning, and that
• 15:49
  Speaker 4: was all right, too. Because there I was having breakfast
• 15:52
  Speaker 4: in the diner with another promise I'd made to myself.
• 15:54
  Speaker 4: Her name was Marion Ryder. And she poured my coffee
• 15:59
  Speaker 4: for me.
• 16:00
  Speaker 6: I've been thinking, Joe.
• 16:02
  Speaker 5: Uh-huh.
• 16:03
  Speaker 6: I've been thinking it was wrong what we did last night.
• 16:06
  Speaker 4: I'll tell you why it wasn't, Marion. You want to hear?
• 16:08
  Speaker 10: Just.
• 16:09
  Speaker 6: Just don't lie to me.
• 16:12
  Speaker 4: I'm crazy about you. See, I don't even have to
• 16:15
  Speaker 4: look down into my coffee cup when I say it,
• 16:18
  Speaker 4: like you're doing.
• 16:18
  Speaker 6: I'm sorry. It's just that.
• 16:22
  Speaker 4: Wait a minute, honey. Conductor. Hey, come here a minute, you.
• 16:26
  Speaker 1: Yes?
• 16:28
  Speaker 9: What is it you wish, sir?
• 16:29
  Speaker 4: I wish this. I wish that you would go down
• 16:32
  Speaker 4: to Mrs. Bankner's compartment and wake her up. Tell her
• 16:34
  Speaker 4: this mush you waiters serve for breakfast is lousy, but
• 16:37
  Speaker 4: tell her she's got to get some food in her.
• 16:39
  Speaker 9: Yes, sir.
• 16:40
  Speaker 4: Well, don't just stand there. I wish it, so do it.
• 16:42
  Speaker 9: Yes, sir. Right away, sir.
• 16:44
  Speaker 6: Joe.
• 16:44
  Speaker 4: What were you saying, honey?
• 16:45
  Speaker 6: Don't call me honey.
• 16:46
  Speaker 4: Why not?
• 16:47
  Speaker 6: It's a word I don't care for. Just don't do it.
• 16:49
  Speaker 4: Yeah. No class, huh? Sure, wait till we get to Calcutta.
• 16:54
  Speaker 4: I'll find the words that'll fit. Joe.
• 16:57
  Speaker 6: Leave me alone now.
• 16:58
  Speaker 4: But.
• 16:59
  Speaker 6: Calcutta is only a few hours away, Joe.
• 17:02
  Speaker 4: Sure. I know about Danes, Marianne. They need thinking time
• 17:06
  Speaker 4: to make everything right with themselves.
• 17:09
  Speaker 6: Sure.
• 17:11
  Speaker 4: I'll see you later.
• 17:16
  Speaker 3: Morning, my boy.
• 17:17
  Speaker 10: Morning to you.
• 17:18
  Speaker 9: Morning.
• 17:18
  Speaker 4: Oh, hello, Mr. Rafferty.
• 17:20
  Speaker 10: Have you had your breakfast yet?
• 17:21
  Speaker 4: Yes, don't remind me of it.
• 17:23
  Speaker 10: You come along and have a coffee with me, then.
• 17:25
  Speaker 4: Thank you, but no.
• 17:26
  Speaker 10: Oh, by the way, my boy, Mrs.
• 17:28
  Speaker 4: Bankner.
• 17:29
  Speaker 10: What about her? Well, nothing about her, but I'm in
• 17:32
  Speaker 10: the next compartment of hers, and I heard the conductor
• 17:34
  Speaker 10: knocking on a compartment door just now, and she doesn't
• 17:37
  Speaker 10: seem to answer.
• 17:38
  Speaker 4: She sleeps heavy.
• 17:40
  Speaker 10: She's lucky. Well, I'll see you later. Yeah.
• 17:44
  Speaker 6: Mrs.
• 17:45
  Speaker 10: Bankman? Breakfast, Mrs. Bankman?
• 17:48
  Speaker 4: What's the matter, conductor?
• 17:49
  Speaker 9: She doesn't answer. I've been knocking.
• 17:51
  Speaker 4: Oh, yeah, sometimes she does that. Have you got a
• 17:53
  Speaker 4: key to the door?
• 17:53
  Speaker 9: Yes, but.
• 17:54
  Speaker 4: Open it.
• 17:56
  Speaker 9: Very well.
• 18:01
  Speaker 6: Holy.
• 18:02
  Speaker 9: Something is.
• 18:03
  Speaker 4: Yes, something is, all right. Come on in, close that door.
• 18:07
  Speaker 4: Look at her, will you?
• 18:08
  Speaker 9: Something is.
• 18:09
  Speaker 4: You said that... She's dead. I'll tell you something else.
• 18:13
  Speaker 4: The lady's been murdered.
• 18:14
  Speaker 1: You said.
• 18:15
  Speaker 4: I said murdered. Look at the marks on her throat, strangled.
• 18:18
  Speaker 9: Sir, sir, her hand. Please, she is holding something in
• 18:21
  Speaker 9: her hand.
• 18:22
  Speaker 6: Oh, yeah.
• 18:25
  Speaker 4: Yeah, she is at that, a button.
• 18:26
  Speaker 9: Perhaps the man who did this thing to her. His button.
• 18:29
  Speaker 4: That's a real good, perhaps... Come on. Not a word
• 18:33
  Speaker 4: about Mrs. Bankner to anybody, you understand?
• 18:35
  Speaker 5: Yes, but.
• 18:35
  Speaker 4: I'm a detective. I know about these things. Not a word.
• 18:38
  Speaker 4: Come on. When do we get to Calcutta?
• 18:42
  Speaker 11: In three hours, noon. First stops are for water. A
• 18:46
  Speaker 11: five-minute stop at a village, Mipirai, then Calcutta.
• 18:48
  Speaker 4: As soon as we get there, telegraph to Calcutta to
• 18:50
  Speaker 4: the police. Tell them what's happened. And that's all. You understand? Yes. Well,
• 18:54
  Speaker 4: now we go in here. In here.
• 18:57
  Speaker 9: But this is Mr. Rafferty's compartment.
• 18:59
  Speaker 4: Yes, the guy who did it. Close the door. I
• 19:03
  Speaker 4: think he got what he was after from Mrs. Bankner.
• 19:05
  Speaker 4: Maybe we'll find it.
• 19:07
  Speaker 9: There will be trouble. You are searching his things.
• 19:09
  Speaker 4: I told you I'm a detective. I know how to operate.
• 19:11
  Speaker 4: Let's try this closet. Let me see. Oh, nothing here.
• 19:21
  Speaker 9: But the button.
• 19:22
  Speaker 4: I'll give it to you. I'll turn it over to
• 19:25
  Speaker 4: the British police when we get to Calcutta. Here, take it.
• 19:29
  Speaker 10: Yes, sir.
• 19:31
  Speaker 9: But the button in Mrs. Bunkner's hand was brown.
• 19:34
  Speaker 4: Gray. Can't you see the button is gray? Take it.
• 19:43
  Speaker 4: We stood there staring at each other for maybe a minute,
• 19:46
  Speaker 4: and then his eyes eased off mine. He made a
• 19:48
  Speaker 4: kind of sloppy salute. He turned, went down the train
• 19:52
  Speaker 4: corridor to wherever it is conductors hold their heads in
• 19:55
  Speaker 4: their hands. It had been awful close, awful tight. Tearing
• 20:00
  Speaker 4: a gray button off Rafferty's coat while I searched it
• 20:02
  Speaker 4: and palming the button off on the conductor, that was
• 20:04
  Speaker 4: a little task that took delicacy and timing. So I'm
• 20:07
  Speaker 4: delicate with my fingers and my sense of timing is
• 20:10
  Speaker 4: perfect and I'm sure of myself. And that adds up
• 20:13
  Speaker 4: to a win. When we hit the water stop, I
• 20:17
  Speaker 4: got off to stretch my legs to let myself breathe
• 20:19
  Speaker 4: the fresh air so it would cool me off inside.
• 20:23
  Speaker 4: The little guy running like a monkey on top of
• 20:25
  Speaker 4: the water tank looked neat and clean in his white
• 20:27
  Speaker 4: diaper and green turban. The hills covered with snow looked good,
• 20:32
  Speaker 4: far away, but good. And then an Irish mosquito buzzed
• 20:36
  Speaker 4: in my ear.
• 20:37
  Speaker 10: That's a lovely panorama, those hills.
• 20:39
  Speaker 5: Lovely.
• 20:40
  Speaker 10: It's like music. Floats and bells and the flight of birds.
• 20:43
  Speaker 4: Yeah, yeah, they're like that. I don't know the words
• 20:47
  Speaker 4: to the music, but they're like that.
• 20:48
  Speaker 10: It's a pity Mrs. Bankner isn't here to enjoy them
• 20:51
  Speaker 10: with you.
• 20:52
  Speaker 4: What about Mrs. Bankner?
• 20:53
  Speaker 10: What about Mrs. Bankner? Well, why, she's dead.
• 20:56
  Speaker 6: Mordred.
• 20:57
  Speaker 10: Surely you knew that, my boy.
• 20:59
  Speaker 4: How did you find out about it?
• 21:00
  Speaker 10: Oh, you know how it is on a train. Things
• 21:02
  Speaker 10: get themselves whispered about.
• 21:03
  Speaker 4: How did you find out? Easy, boy, easy.
• 21:06
  Speaker 10: You're a fiery one, are you not? It's only that
• 21:09
  Speaker 10: I saw the conductor looking sadder, and me being a
• 21:11
  Speaker 10: kind of friendly, friendly human being, and smart enough to
• 21:14
  Speaker 10: know conductors know things, I asked him why he was sad.
• 21:18
  Speaker 10: Asked him in a way that made it easy for
• 21:20
  Speaker 10: him to answer.
• 21:20
  Speaker 4: Quicker, Rafferty, get to it quicker.
• 21:21
  Speaker 10: Well, he told me that you told him not to
• 21:23
  Speaker 10: say a word about the murder. And I said, who's murdered?
• 21:26
  Speaker 10: And then he says, Mrs. Bankness. And I said, oh.
• 21:29
  Speaker 10: And he said he'd be disgraced because it happened on
• 21:31
  Speaker 10: his train.
• 21:31
  Speaker 4: What else, Ravity?
• 21:33
  Speaker 10: And the matter of the button was deeply puzzling to him.
• 21:36
  Speaker 4: Button?
• 21:37
  Speaker 10: Yes, the button. Now, isn't that a queer thing to
• 21:40
  Speaker 10: be puzzling to him? Him with a murder on his hands.
• 21:44
  Speaker 4: The train got going after that. Me too, my brain,
• 21:54
  Speaker 4: that is. Things going around in my brain. Everything I've
• 21:58
  Speaker 4: mixed up with that crummy little button and that crummy
• 22:00
  Speaker 4: little conductor. Imagine a guy so scared he had to
• 22:03
  Speaker 4: shoot his mouth off like that, and shoot it off
• 22:05
  Speaker 4: to Rafferty, of all people. Conductor needed a little talking to,
• 22:09
  Speaker 4: a finger waved under his nose. The way it happened,
• 22:14
  Speaker 4: I was standing on the observation platform by myself, and
• 22:17
  Speaker 4: he came right up to me. Mr. Harriman.
• 22:20
  Speaker 9: I beg your pardon, Mr.
• 22:21
  Speaker 10: Harriman.
• 22:22
  Speaker 5: Yeah.
• 22:22
  Speaker 11: I beg your pardon, Mr. Harriman, but lunch is being
• 22:24
  Speaker 11: served in the diner. An early lunch. We shall be
• 22:27
  Speaker 11: in Calcutta in an hour.
• 22:29
  Speaker 4: Come here, you.
• 22:30
  Speaker 9: I beg your pardon.
• 22:30
  Speaker 4: I said come here.
• 22:31
  Speaker 9: You wish it?
• 22:32
  Speaker 5: Uh-huh.
• 22:35
  Speaker 4: You know something? You look worried.
• 22:37
  Speaker 9: Because I am.
• 22:38
  Speaker 4: Why?
• 22:39
  Speaker 9: This whole affair. The murder and the.
• 22:42
  Speaker 4: Button.
• 22:43
  Speaker 9: That, sir. And the other thing... You say Mr. Rafferty
• 22:48
  Speaker 9: is the murderer?
• 22:49
  Speaker 4: I told you not to talk to him.
• 22:50
  Speaker 9: I told him hardly anything. I didn't tell him he
• 22:53
  Speaker 9: was suspect.
• 22:53
  Speaker 4: Oh, it's good you didn't. Real good for you, you didn't.
• 22:58
  Speaker 4: Just let Rafferty coast, you understand? Then when we get
• 23:01
  Speaker 4: to Calcutta, the police will arrest him because you've got
• 23:04
  Speaker 4: the evidence. The button.
• 23:07
  Speaker 9: I've got it, only.
• 23:08
  Speaker 4: Only what?
• 23:10
  Speaker 9: Only I thought it was Brown.
• 23:13
  Speaker 4: You did, huh?
• 23:14
  Speaker 9: It was Brown.
• 23:16
  Speaker 4: You're sure of it?
• 23:17
  Speaker 9: It was brown.
• 23:17
  Speaker 11: When it was in Mrs. Bankner's hand, it was brown.
• 23:20
  Speaker 11: When you gave it to me in Mr. Rafferty's compartment,
• 23:23
  Speaker 11: it was gray. See, I have it here.
• 23:26
  Speaker 9: It is gray.
• 23:26
  Speaker 4: Yeah, I'll take it.
• 23:27
  Speaker 11: Sir?
• 23:27
  Speaker 4: Give it to me. Thank you. Now, you know what?
• 23:33
  Speaker 9: It was brown.
• 23:34
  Speaker 4: Yeah, it was. But I'm saying something. I'm saying, you
• 23:37
  Speaker 4: know what?
• 23:38
  Speaker 10: Sir?
• 23:38
  Speaker 4: I'm saying you've got to go. You really got to go.
• 23:41
  Speaker 9: Sir, what are you doing?
• 23:42
  Speaker 4: Right now, you got to go.
• 23:42
  Speaker 10: Sir, it was gray.
• 23:43
  Speaker 4: No, no, no! Now everything was right. Everything in place.
• 23:58
  Speaker 4: The button I had had proved Rafferty the murderer of Mrs. B.
• 24:01
  Speaker 4: The conductor? Everybody would say the poor guy had a
• 24:04
  Speaker 4: bad accident. Now all it needed was the payoff to
• 24:08
  Speaker 4: a dream. And that would be something named Marion Ryder.
• 24:13
  Speaker 6: Who is it?
• 24:14
  Speaker 4: It's Joe. I'm bringing you pretty flowers. Let me in.
• 24:19
  Speaker 6: I don't see any flowers.
• 24:20
  Speaker 4: You will. Shut the door, Marion.
• 24:23
  Speaker 6: All right.
• 24:26
  Speaker 4: Keeps twisting around inside me. I love you.
• 24:29
  Speaker 6: You can't say things like that.
• 24:30
  Speaker 4: Stop me.
• 24:31
  Speaker 6: Like this, Joe. Like that.
• 24:39
  Speaker 4: One of those things. I meet you and bang. Electricity,
• 24:43
  Speaker 4: just like that.
• 24:44
  Speaker 6: Joe, Joe.
• 24:45
  Speaker 4: I love you. I'd do anything for you. I never
• 24:47
  Speaker 4: said that to a woman before. Joe, wait.
• 24:49
  Speaker 6: I've got to tell you something first.
• 24:50
  Speaker 4: What's to tell me? That you're a crook? that you
• 24:53
  Speaker 4: followed me and Mrs. B so you could lay your
• 24:55
  Speaker 4: hands on the star of Kilimanjaro.
• 24:57
  Speaker 6: No, no, Joe, wait.
• 24:58
  Speaker 4: You're too late, kid. Mrs. B is dead, murdered, the
• 25:00
  Speaker 4: emerald's gone. Something wrong, kid.
• 25:04
  Speaker 6: Oh, so much.
• 25:06
  Speaker 4: So much. Oh, nothing is wrong. Rafferty, the Irish poet,
• 25:09
  Speaker 4: is going to take the rap for it. He was
• 25:11
  Speaker 4: after the emerald, too, but he's not getting it. Just
• 25:13
  Speaker 4: the gallows. That's all Rafferty gets.
• 25:15
  Speaker 6: Joe, listen to me. Stop talking and listen.
• 25:17
  Speaker 4: No, kid, you listen to me. I get 50 grand
• 25:19
  Speaker 4: for it. We'll take it back to Samarit Dahl and
• 25:22
  Speaker 4: sell it to him again. Fifty grand, you and me.
• 25:26
  Speaker 4: We can die from so much joy. I killed her
• 25:29
  Speaker 4: for you.
• 25:32
  Speaker 6: You? You killed Mrs.
• 25:36
  Speaker 5: Beckner?
• 25:38
  Speaker 6: You murdered her?
• 25:40
  Speaker 4: Sure. Kid, it wasn't hard. You mean that much to me,
• 25:43
  Speaker 4: so it wasn't hard. It was almost a pleasure.
• 25:45
  Speaker 5: Sure.
• 25:46
  Speaker 4: Down payment on our happiness, you might call it.
• 25:48
  Speaker 6: Oh, you've spoiled everything, everything. Oh, Joe, you poor fool.
• 25:55
  Speaker 10: Marion, is that right, Joe? You're such a fool.
• 25:58
  Speaker 4: Get out of here, Rafferty.
• 25:59
  Speaker 10: No tricks, lad. This gun I hold makes holes in people.
• 26:03
  Speaker 10: You're people, aren't you, Joe? Or are you?
• 26:06
  Speaker 4: What do you want here? Tell me before I go
• 26:09
  Speaker 4: for my gun. I do foolish things like that.
• 26:11
  Speaker 10: I don't doubt it. But first, I'll tell you, lad.
• 26:14
  Speaker 10: I know how you planted a murder on me with
• 26:16
  Speaker 10: a button from my coat. And I know where the
• 26:18
  Speaker 10: star of Kilimanjaro is.
• 26:19
  Speaker 4: So you're nothing but a filthy, stinking jewel thief, just
• 26:21
  Speaker 4: like I figured.
• 26:22
  Speaker 10: Not quite, Joe. Marion, tell him how I know these things.
• 26:27
  Speaker 10: Tell him who I am.
• 26:30
  Speaker 6: He's the chief of the Magnum Insurance Company agents in Bombay.
• 26:34
  Speaker 4: Rafferty, you're crazy.
• 26:35
  Speaker 6: No. Magnum cabled him to follow you and Mrs. Bankner
• 26:39
  Speaker 6: to make sure the Emerald got back safely. Magnum didn't
• 26:43
  Speaker 6: trust you with a stone like that. They put another
• 26:45
  Speaker 6: man on to make sure you wouldn't steal it. And
• 26:49
  Speaker 6: you had to kill her.
• 26:50
  Speaker 4: They can't prove it. I'll pin it on Rafferty, sir.
• 26:52
  Speaker 4: Help me.
• 26:52
  Speaker 6: But you killed her. You just admitted... Only to you.
• 26:56
  Speaker 4: Your word isn't worth dust. You're a crook yourself. No.
• 26:59
  Speaker 10: Not quite.
• 27:01
  Speaker 1: Marion?
• 27:02
  Speaker 6: All right, I'll tell him. Joe? I happen to be
• 27:11
  Speaker 6: Rafferty's wife.
• 27:16
  Speaker 4: She said it. It only took her a couple of seconds,
• 27:19
  Speaker 4: but that's what she said. But it took a long
• 27:23
  Speaker 4: time for the words and the sound to get to me.
• 27:27
  Speaker 4: And you know something? Looking at her then, and watching
• 27:32
  Speaker 4: her mouth move, she looked real sad, and suddenly real lonely.
• 27:39
  Speaker 5: You do it.
• 27:40
  Speaker 4: You'll figure it, Amy.
• 27:53
  Speaker 3: Escape is produced and directed by William N. Robeson. Tonight
• 27:57
  Speaker 3: we have presented Figure a Dame by Richard Sale, adapted
• 28:00
  Speaker 3: for radio by Morton Fine and David Friedkin. Featured in
• 28:04
  Speaker 3: the cast were Frank Lovejoy as Joe, Joan Banks as Marion,
• 28:08
  Speaker 3: Sarah Selby as Mrs. Bankner, and Ben Wright as Rafferty.
• 28:13
  Speaker 3: Also heard were Paul Freese, Harry Bartell, and Gary Merrill.
• 28:17
  Speaker 3: Special music was arranged and conducted by Del Castillo.
• 28:22
  Speaker 10: Next week....
• 28:25
  Speaker 2: You are on a small ship off the coast of Borneo.
• 28:30
  Speaker 2: In the waters beneath you lies a fortune in pearls.
• 28:35
  Speaker 2: And at your side stands a man from whose murderous
• 28:39
  Speaker 2: greed there is no escape.
• 28:48
  Speaker 3: Next week, we escape with Floyd A. Nelson's exciting tale
• 28:51
  Speaker 3: of reckless men and their lust for treasure, Seeds of Greed. Goodbye, then,
• 28:56
  Speaker 3: until the same time next week, when once again we
• 28:59
  Speaker 3: offer you Escape. It's Christmas time. Lots of mistletoe, lots
• 29:18
  Speaker 3: of packages, lots of carols being sung. And never a
• 29:21
  Speaker 3: man to overlook a chance to celebrate, George Burns gets
• 29:24
  Speaker 3: into the act with a special program of what he
• 29:27
  Speaker 3: claims are Christmas carols. George's sponsor had certain ideas about
• 29:31
  Speaker 3: George's voice a few weeks ago and fired him from
• 29:34
  Speaker 3: the show. And tomorrow night, you'll learn how George's fellow
• 29:37
  Speaker 3: singers and Christmas shoppers in general react. For one of
• 29:40
  Speaker 3: the merriest of holiday shows, don't miss George's and Gracie's
• 29:44
  Speaker 3: program on most of these same CBS stations this Wednesday night.
• 29:49
  Speaker 3: Now stay tuned for Hit the Jackpot, which follows immediately
• 29:53
  Speaker 3: over most of these same CBS stations. This is CBS,
• 29:58
  Speaker 3: the Columbia Broadcasting System.
• 30:17
  Speaker 1: That was Escape's December 20th, 1949, broadcast of Figure a Dame.
• 30:22
  Speaker 1: Follow the 50 greatest old-time radio shows for more classic broadcasts.