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Suspense - "The Waxwork" (Old Time Radio, 1956) · Suspense | Old Time Radio

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Freelance reporter Raymond Hewson agrees to spend a night alone
• 0:04
  Speaker 1: in a wax museum's murderer's den, hoping to turn the
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: assignment into a saleable newspaper feature. Surrounded by figures of
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: notorious killers, Hewson finds the museum's silence, shadows and one
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: particular exhibit, testing his practical resolve. From CBS on May first,
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: nineteen fifty six, This is Suspense, Episode one the Waxwork.
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: William Conrad voices all the roles in Meldonelli's adaptation of
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: am Burridge's nineteen thirty one short story, produced and directed
• 0:38
  Speaker 1: by Anthony Ellis and now the original broadcast.
• 0:45
  Speaker 2: And now to Night's presentation of radio's outstanding Theater of Frills.
• 0:52
  Speaker 3: Suckspend.
• 0:58
  Speaker 2: This evening Spence brings you what we feel as a
• 1:01
  Speaker 2: particularly unusual and absorbing story. No actors other than mister
• 1:06
  Speaker 2: William Conrad will appear in its presentation. It's a study
• 1:09
  Speaker 2: in terror which has few equals, so now starring mister Conrad.
• 1:14
  Speaker 2: Here is to Night's suspense play by a m Brage
• 1:17
  Speaker 2: the Waxwork.
• 1:27
  Speaker 4: While the uniformed attendants of Mariner's Waxworks were rushering the
• 1:31
  Speaker 4: last stragglers through the great glass panel double Dose. The
• 1:36
  Speaker 4: manager sat in his office inter viewing Raymond Houston.
• 1:40
  Speaker 3: The manager was.
• 1:40
  Speaker 4: Speaking, Oh, there's nothing new in your requests, sir. In fact,
• 1:44
  Speaker 4: we refusing to different people, mostly young bloods, who tried
• 1:48
  Speaker 4: to make bets about three times a week. I should say,
• 1:51
  Speaker 4: we have nothing to gain something to lose by letting
• 1:53
  Speaker 4: people spend the night and our murders. Then if I
• 1:57
  Speaker 4: allowed it and some young idiot lost his sences, what
• 2:00
  Speaker 4: would be my positioner? But you're being a journalist somewhat
• 2:05
  Speaker 4: alters the case.
• 2:06
  Speaker 3: Houston smiled.
• 2:09
  Speaker 5: I suppose you mean the journalists have no senses to lose.
• 2:12
  Speaker 4: No, no, of course not, but one imagines them to
• 2:15
  Speaker 4: be responsible people. Oh besides, we have something to gain heah,
• 2:20
  Speaker 4: publicity and advertisement. Yes exactly, said Houston. And there I
• 2:27
  Speaker 4: thought we might come to terms. The managers smiled. I
• 2:33
  Speaker 4: know what's coming. You want to be paid twice to him?
• 2:37
  Speaker 4: You know it just to be set years ago that
• 2:38
  Speaker 4: Madame Tussau would give a man one hundred pounds for
• 2:41
  Speaker 4: sleeping alone in the chamber of horrors. Well, I hope
• 2:45
  Speaker 4: you don't think that we've made any such offer. Well,
• 2:49
  Speaker 4: what is your paper, mister Houston. Well, I'm freelancing a presence,
• 2:55
  Speaker 4: working on space for several papers. However, I would find
• 2:59
  Speaker 4: no difficult and getting the story printed. I'm sure the
• 3:02
  Speaker 4: Morning Echo would use it like a shot a night
• 3:05
  Speaker 4: with Mariner's murderers. No life paper could turn it down, sir, how.
• 3:11
  Speaker 5: Do you propose to treat it? Well?
• 3:14
  Speaker 4: I shall make it gruesome, of course, gruesome, with just
• 3:17
  Speaker 4: a saving touch of humor. The manager noted Enougher Houston
• 3:22
  Speaker 4: his cigarette case favery. Well, miss Housen, you got your
• 3:26
  Speaker 4: story printed in the Morning Echo, and there'll be a
• 3:28
  Speaker 4: five pound note waiting for you when you care to
• 3:30
  Speaker 4: come and.
• 3:30
  Speaker 5: Call for it.
• 3:31
  Speaker 4: But first of all, you realize it's no small ordeal
• 3:37
  Speaker 4: that you're proposing to want to take. I'd like to
• 3:40
  Speaker 4: be quite sure about you. I'd like you to be
• 3:42
  Speaker 4: quite sure about yourself. I own I shouldn't care to
• 3:45
  Speaker 4: take it on. I should hate having to sleep down
• 3:48
  Speaker 4: there the roon among them, why, asked Cuson.
• 3:56
  Speaker 5: Oh, I don't know.
• 3:58
  Speaker 4: Isn't any reason I suppose I don't believe in ghosts.
• 4:03
  Speaker 4: If I did, I should expect them to haunt the
• 4:04
  Speaker 4: scene of their crimes. Or the spots where their bodies
• 4:07
  Speaker 4: were laid instead of a cellar which happens to contain
• 4:10
  Speaker 4: their waxwork iverages. Well, it's just that I couldn't sit
• 4:13
  Speaker 4: alone among them all night with her seeming to stare
• 4:16
  Speaker 4: at me in the way they do. After all, they
• 4:20
  Speaker 4: represent the lords and the most appalling types of humanity.
• 4:25
  Speaker 4: The whole atmosphere the place is unpleasant, and if you're
• 4:28
  Speaker 4: susceptible the atmosphere's own, I warn you that you're in
• 4:32
  Speaker 4: for a very uncomfortable night. Houston had known that from
• 4:36
  Speaker 4: the moment when the idea first occurred to him. His
• 4:39
  Speaker 4: soul sickened at the prospect. But he had a wife
• 4:43
  Speaker 4: and a family to keep. So here was a chance
• 4:46
  Speaker 4: not to be missed the price of a special story
• 4:48
  Speaker 4: in the Morning Echo, with a five pound note to
• 4:51
  Speaker 4: add to it. Besides, if he wrote the story well,
• 4:54
  Speaker 4: it might lead to an offer of regular employment. The
• 4:58
  Speaker 4: manager smiled at him, rose, Oh, I think the last
• 5:04
  Speaker 4: of the people must have gone. But now, oh, there
• 5:07
  Speaker 4: is one condition I'm afraid I must impose upon you, sir.
• 5:11
  Speaker 5: I must ask you not smoke. We had a fire
• 5:14
  Speaker 5: skirt out in the middles Den. This evening.
• 5:16
  Speaker 4: I don't know who gave the alarm, but whoever it was,
• 5:19
  Speaker 4: it was a falseman. Fortunately, there were very few people
• 5:22
  Speaker 4: down there at the time, and there might have been
• 5:24
  Speaker 4: a panic.
• 5:26
  Speaker 5: Ah, now, if you're ready, we'll make a move. He
• 5:36
  Speaker 5: led the way through.
• 5:37
  Speaker 4: An open barrier and down ill lit stone stairs, which
• 5:41
  Speaker 4: conveyed a sinister impression of giving access to a dungeon,
• 5:46
  Speaker 4: and a passage.
• 5:47
  Speaker 5: At the bottom. Were a few preliminary.
• 5:49
  Speaker 4: Horrors, such as relics of the inquisition, a rack taken
• 5:53
  Speaker 4: from a medieval castle, branding irons, thumbscrews, and other mentos
• 6:00
  Speaker 4: of man's cruelty.
• 6:03
  Speaker 3: The men.
• 6:05
  Speaker 4: Beyond the passage it was the murderer's din. It was
• 6:18
  Speaker 4: a room of irregular shape, with a vaulted roof and
• 6:21
  Speaker 4: dimly lit by electric lights burning behind inverted bowls of
• 6:25
  Speaker 4: frosted glass. It was by design an airy and uncomfortable chamber,
• 6:31
  Speaker 4: a chamber whose atmosphere invited its visitors to speak in quispers.
• 6:39
  Speaker 4: The waxwork murderers stood on low pedestals with numbered tickets
• 6:45
  Speaker 4: at their feet. Recent notorieties rubbed dusty shoulders were the
• 6:50
  Speaker 4: old favorites. Thetel the murderer of Weir stood as the
• 6:54
  Speaker 4: frozen in the act of making a sharp window gesture
• 6:57
  Speaker 4: the young bywaters.
• 6:58
  Speaker 5: And there was Lafroix, the poor, half baked.
• 7:01
  Speaker 4: Little snob who killed for gain so that he might
• 7:04
  Speaker 4: ape the gentleman within five yards of him, said Missus Thompson,
• 7:09
  Speaker 4: that erotic romanticist hanged to propitiate British middle class matronhood.
• 7:16
  Speaker 4: Charles Peace, the only member of the vile company who
• 7:19
  Speaker 4: looked uncompromisingly and entirely evil, sneered across a gangway at
• 7:26
  Speaker 4: Hammon Thorne, Brown and Kennedy, the two most recent editions,
• 7:30
  Speaker 4: stood between Missus Dyer and Patrick Mayer. The manager walking
• 7:34
  Speaker 4: around with Houston pointed out several of the more interesting
• 7:37
  Speaker 4: of these unholy notabilities. Is that's Cripplin. I expect you
• 7:41
  Speaker 4: recognize him in significant little beast who looks as if he.
• 7:44
  Speaker 5: Couldn't tread on a worm. Oh, and that's Armstrong.
• 7:49
  Speaker 4: That looks like a decent, harmless country gentleman in the
• 7:53
  Speaker 4: there's Olvakier. You can't miss him, of course because of
• 7:56
  Speaker 4: his beard. And this this one, who's that?
• 8:02
  Speaker 3: Houston asked him, whisper.
• 8:05
  Speaker 4: Yeah, come here, I have a good look at him.
• 8:06
  Speaker 4: Now this is our star turn. He's the only one
• 8:09
  Speaker 4: of the bunch that hasn't been hanged. The figure which
• 8:13
  Speaker 4: Houston had indicated was that of a small, slight man,
• 8:17
  Speaker 4: not much more than five feet in height. It wore
• 8:20
  Speaker 4: little waxed mustaches, large spectacles, and a caped coat. There
• 8:25
  Speaker 4: was something so exaggeratedly French in its appearance that it
• 8:28
  Speaker 4: reminded Hewson of a stage caricature. He could not have
• 8:32
  Speaker 4: said precisely why the mild looking face seemed to him
• 8:36
  Speaker 4: so repellent, But he had already recoiled a step, and
• 8:40
  Speaker 4: even in the manager's company, had cost him an effort
• 8:42
  Speaker 4: to look again.
• 8:44
  Speaker 3: But who is he? He asked, that said, the manager.
• 8:48
  Speaker 5: Is doctor Burdette.
• 8:52
  Speaker 3: Houston shook his head doubtfully.
• 8:54
  Speaker 4: I think I've heard the name, but I forget in
• 8:56
  Speaker 4: connection with what the manager smiled.
• 9:00
  Speaker 5: You'd remember better if you were a Frenchman. You know.
• 9:03
  Speaker 4: For some long while that man was the terror of Paris.
• 9:07
  Speaker 4: He carried on his work of healing by day and
• 9:10
  Speaker 4: of road cutting by night. Why he killed for the sheer,
• 9:16
  Speaker 4: devilish pleasure it gave him to kill, and always in
• 9:19
  Speaker 4: the same way with the razor. After his last crime,
• 9:23
  Speaker 4: he left a clue behind him, which set the police
• 9:25
  Speaker 4: upon his track, but he was much too clever for them.
• 9:29
  Speaker 4: When he realized that the coils were closing about him,
• 9:31
  Speaker 4: he mysteriously disappeared, and ever since the police of every civilized.
• 9:35
  Speaker 5: Country have been looking for him.
• 9:38
  Speaker 4: There's no doubt that he managed to make away with
• 9:40
  Speaker 4: himself and by some means which has prevented his body
• 9:43
  Speaker 4: coming light of. One or two crimes of a similar
• 9:48
  Speaker 4: nature have taken place since his disappearance, but he has
• 9:51
  Speaker 4: believed almost for certain to be dead, and the experts
• 9:54
  Speaker 4: believed these recruit dossences to be the work of an imitator. Square,
• 10:01
  Speaker 4: isn't it, Miss Houston, however, a notorious murderer. As imitators,
• 10:10
  Speaker 4: Houston shuddered and fidgeted with his feet.
• 10:14
  Speaker 3: I don't like him at all. What eyes he's.
• 10:17
  Speaker 4: Got, Yes, this figure is a little masterpiece. You'll find
• 10:22
  Speaker 4: the eyes bite into you. That's excellent realism. Then for
• 10:26
  Speaker 4: debt practice mesmerism. And I was supposed to mesmerize his
• 10:29
  Speaker 4: victims before dispatching them.
• 10:31
  Speaker 5: Indeed, had he not done so, it's.
• 10:33
  Speaker 4: Impossible to see how so small a man could have
• 10:35
  Speaker 4: done his ghastly work.
• 10:37
  Speaker 5: There were never any signs of struggle.
• 10:40
  Speaker 4: I I thought I saw him move, said Houston, with
• 10:45
  Speaker 4: a catch in his voice.
• 10:47
  Speaker 3: The manager smiled.
• 10:50
  Speaker 4: You'll have more than one optical illusion before the night's
• 10:53
  Speaker 4: how to expect, sir, Well, I'm sorry, I can't give
• 10:57
  Speaker 4: you any more light because all the lights are on
• 10:59
  Speaker 4: for obvious reasons. We keep this place as gloomy as possible,
• 11:02
  Speaker 4: and ollus good night. Yosen wheeled a swivel chair, a
• 11:25
  Speaker 4: heavy one, uphosted and plush a little weight down the
• 11:28
  Speaker 4: central gangway, and deliberately turned it so that its back
• 11:32
  Speaker 4: was toward the effigy of doctor Buddette. For some undefined reason,
• 11:37
  Speaker 4: he liked doctor Buddett a great deal less than his companions.
• 11:42
  Speaker 4: Busying himself with arranging the chair, he was almost lighthearted.
• 11:47
  Speaker 3: But when the manager's footfalls had died away and a deep.
• 11:52
  Speaker 4: Hush stole over the chamber, he realized that he had
• 11:56
  Speaker 4: no slight ordeal before him. The dim, unwavering light fell
• 12:04
  Speaker 4: on the rows of figures, which were so uncannily like
• 12:07
  Speaker 4: human beings that the silence and the stillness seemed unnatural
• 12:12
  Speaker 4: and even ghastly. He missed the sound of breathing, the
• 12:16
  Speaker 4: rustling of clothes, the one hundred and one minute noises
• 12:20
  Speaker 4: one hears when even the deepest silence has fallen upon
• 12:24
  Speaker 4: a crowd, and the air was as stagnant as water
• 12:31
  Speaker 4: at the bottom of a standing pond. It must be
• 12:36
  Speaker 4: like this at the bottom of the sea, he thought.
• 12:41
  Speaker 4: He faced the sinister figures boldly enough. There were only waxworks.
• 12:46
  Speaker 4: So long as he let that thought dominate all others,
• 12:49
  Speaker 4: he promised himself that all would be woe. It did not, however,
• 12:54
  Speaker 4: save him long from the discomfort occasion by the waxen
• 12:59
  Speaker 4: stare abductive. But that which he knew was directed upon
• 13:02
  Speaker 4: him from behind the eyes of the little Frenchman hearted
• 13:07
  Speaker 4: and fomented him. And he itched with a desire to
• 13:10
  Speaker 4: turn and look. My nerves have started already, he thought.
• 13:16
  Speaker 4: And then another voice in his brain spoke to him,
• 13:20
  Speaker 4: it's because you're afraid that you won't turn to look
• 13:23
  Speaker 4: at him. The two voices quarreled silently for a moment
• 13:27
  Speaker 4: or two, and at last Euston slewed his chair around
• 13:30
  Speaker 4: a little hoom and looked behind him. Among the many
• 13:43
  Speaker 4: figures standing against the unnatural poses, the effigy of the
• 13:47
  Speaker 4: dreadful little doctor stood out with a queer prominence, perhaps
• 13:52
  Speaker 4: because of a steady beam of light beat straight down
• 13:54
  Speaker 4: upon it.
• 13:56
  Speaker 5: Your son flinched before the parody of.
• 13:59
  Speaker 4: Mildness which some fiendishly skilled craftsman had managed to convey
• 14:03
  Speaker 4: in wax met the eyes for one agonized second, and
• 14:07
  Speaker 4: then turned again to face the other direction. He's only
• 14:13
  Speaker 4: a wax work like the rest of you, Hutson muttered, defiantly.
• 14:18
  Speaker 4: You're all only waxworks. They were only waxworks, yes, but
• 14:28
  Speaker 4: waxworks don't move, or not that he had seen the
• 14:32
  Speaker 4: least movement anywhere, but it struck him that in the
• 14:35
  Speaker 4: moment of two, while he'd looked behind him, there had
• 14:37
  Speaker 4: been the least subtle change in the grouping of the
• 14:41
  Speaker 4: figures in front. Crippen, for instance, seemed to have turned
• 14:44
  Speaker 4: at least one degree to the left, or thought Hewston.
• 14:48
  Speaker 4: Perhaps the illusion was due to the fact that he
• 14:49
  Speaker 4: had not slewed his chair back into its exact original position.
• 14:55
  Speaker 5: But they were brown and Kennedy too. Surely one of
• 14:59
  Speaker 5: them had moved his hand.
• 15:01
  Speaker 4: Ylsen held his breath for a moment, and then drew
• 15:06
  Speaker 4: his courage back to him as a man lifts a weight.
• 15:12
  Speaker 4: He took a notebook from his pocket and wrote quickly memo.
• 15:17
  Speaker 4: Deathly silence and unearthly stillness of figures like being at
• 15:22
  Speaker 4: bottom of cea hypnotic eyes, Doctor Budette. Figures seemed to
• 15:30
  Speaker 4: move when not being watched. He closed the book suddenly
• 15:34
  Speaker 4: over his fingers and looked around quickly and awfully over
• 15:37
  Speaker 4: his right shoulder. He had neither seen nor heard a movement,
• 15:41
  Speaker 4: but it was as if some sixth sense had made
• 15:44
  Speaker 4: him aware of one. He looked straight into the vapid
• 15:47
  Speaker 4: countenance of Lefroy, which smiled vacantly back, as if to say,
• 15:53
  Speaker 4: it wasn't I.
• 15:56
  Speaker 3: No, of course, it wasn't he or.
• 15:58
  Speaker 5: Any of them.
• 16:00
  Speaker 3: It was his own nerves. Oh was it?
• 16:08
  Speaker 5: Then? Why?
• 16:08
  Speaker 4: All that silent unrest about him was subtle? Something in
• 16:12
  Speaker 4: the air which did not quite break the silence, and
• 16:16
  Speaker 4: happened whichever way he looked. Just beyond the boundaries of
• 16:19
  Speaker 4: his vision. He swung round quickly to encounter the mile
• 16:23
  Speaker 4: but baleful stare of doctor Burdett, and then without warning,
• 16:26
  Speaker 4: he jerked his head back the stairs, straight at Crippen.
• 16:30
  Speaker 5: He'd nearly caught Crepin that time.
• 16:32
  Speaker 4: You'd better be careful, Crippen and all the rest of you.
• 16:36
  Speaker 4: If I do see one of you, mobile, smash you
• 16:38
  Speaker 4: to pieces.
• 16:40
  Speaker 5: For your help.
• 16:44
  Speaker 3: He ought to go, he told himself.
• 16:48
  Speaker 4: Already he'd experienced enough to write his story, or ten
• 16:52
  Speaker 4: stories for the matter of that. Well, then why not go?
• 16:55
  Speaker 4: The morning echo would be none the wiser as to
• 16:57
  Speaker 4: how long he'd stayed. Nobody cares, so long as his
• 17:00
  Speaker 4: story was a good one. Yes, but the manager one
• 17:04
  Speaker 4: never knew. Perhaps the manager would quibble over that five
• 17:07
  Speaker 4: pound note, which he needed so badly. He wondered if
• 17:15
  Speaker 4: his wife were asleep, or if she were lying awake
• 17:19
  Speaker 4: and thinking of him, that she'd laugh when he told
• 17:24
  Speaker 4: her that he'd imagine that he didn't imagine.
• 17:34
  Speaker 3: This was a little too much.
• 17:36
  Speaker 4: It was bad enough that the wax work effagies of
• 17:38
  Speaker 4: murderers should move when they went being watched, But it
• 17:41
  Speaker 4: was intolerable that they should Breathe somebody was breathing, or
• 17:51
  Speaker 4: was it his own breath, which sounded to him as
• 17:53
  Speaker 4: if it came from a distance. He sat Richard, straining
• 18:06
  Speaker 4: until he exhaled with a long sigh, his own breath.
• 18:14
  Speaker 4: After all, if not, something had divined that he was listening,
• 18:24
  Speaker 4: and had ceased breathing simultaneously. Hewston turned his head swiftly around.
• 18:31
  Speaker 4: It looked all about him, out of haggard and hunted
• 18:33
  Speaker 4: eyes everywhere. His gaze encountered the vacant, waxen faces, and everywhere.
• 18:38
  Speaker 3: He felt that by just.
• 18:39
  Speaker 4: Some least fraction of a second, he had missed seeing
• 18:42
  Speaker 4: a movement at hand or foot, as siglent opening, a
• 18:45
  Speaker 4: compression of lips, a flicker of eyelids, a look of
• 18:48
  Speaker 4: human intelligence now smoothed out. They were like naughty children
• 18:55
  Speaker 4: in a classroom, whispering, fidgeting and laughing behind their teacher's back,
• 18:59
  Speaker 4: but innocent when his gaze was turned upon them. No, no,
• 19:07
  Speaker 4: this would not do. This distinctly would not do. He
• 19:11
  Speaker 4: must clutch at something, grip with his mind upon something
• 19:15
  Speaker 4: which belonged essentially to the workaday world, to the.
• 19:19
  Speaker 5: Daylight London streets.
• 19:21
  Speaker 4: He was Raymond Houston, an unsuccessful journalist, a living and
• 19:25
  Speaker 4: breathing man, and these figures grouped around him were only dummies,
• 19:29
  Speaker 4: so they could neither move nor whisper. Well, what did
• 19:32
  Speaker 4: it matter if they were supposed to be lifelike anthagies
• 19:34
  Speaker 4: of murderers. They were only made of wax and sawdust,
• 19:37
  Speaker 4: and stood there for the entertainment of morbid sightseers and
• 19:40
  Speaker 4: doing sucking trippers.
• 19:46
  Speaker 3: Ah, that was better.
• 19:51
  Speaker 5: Now.
• 19:53
  Speaker 4: What was that funny story which somebody had told him
• 19:55
  Speaker 4: in the False Step pub yesterday?
• 19:59
  Speaker 3: Oh?
• 19:59
  Speaker 6: Yeah, he recalled part of it, but not all. For
• 20:14
  Speaker 6: the gaze of doctor Buddette urged, challenged, and.
• 20:20
  Speaker 4: Finally compelled him to turn uson half turned, and then
• 20:25
  Speaker 4: swung his chair so as to bring him face to
• 20:27
  Speaker 4: face with a wearer of those dreadful hypnotic eyes. His
• 20:30
  Speaker 4: own eyes were dilated, and his mouth at first sat
• 20:33
  Speaker 4: in a grin of terror, lifted at the corners and
• 20:36
  Speaker 4: a snarl. And then Hewson spoke and woke our hundred
• 20:39
  Speaker 4: sinister records. You move, Yes, you did you move?
• 20:46
  Speaker 1: I saw you Mond.
• 20:56
  Speaker 4: Then he sat quite still, staring straight before for him,
• 21:01
  Speaker 4: like a man found frozen in the Arctic snows. Doctor
• 21:07
  Speaker 4: Bodette's movements well leisurely. He stepped off his pedestal with
• 21:14
  Speaker 4: them mencing care of a lady alighting from a bus.
• 21:19
  Speaker 4: The platform stood about two feet from the ground. About
• 21:23
  Speaker 4: the edge of it a plush covered rope hung an
• 21:25
  Speaker 4: arc like curves.
• 21:27
  Speaker 5: Doctor Burdette lifted up the rope until it formed an
• 21:29
  Speaker 5: arch for him.
• 21:29
  Speaker 4: To pass under, stepped off the platform and sat down on.
• 21:33
  Speaker 3: The edge, facing Houston.
• 21:36
  Speaker 5: They nodded and smiled and said, good evening.
• 21:42
  Speaker 7: I need only tell you that, not until I over
• 21:45
  Speaker 7: the conversation between you and the worthy manager of this establishment,
• 21:50
  Speaker 7: did I suspected I should have the pleasure of a
• 21:52
  Speaker 7: companion here for finnight.
• 21:56
  Speaker 5: Or you cannot move or speak?
• 21:58
  Speaker 4: Who is out my bidding but you can hear me
• 22:03
  Speaker 4: perfectly well?
• 22:06
  Speaker 7: Or something tells me that you are shall I say nervous?
• 22:11
  Speaker 7: My dear sir, I have no illusions. I am not
• 22:13
  Speaker 7: one of these contemptible efforties miraculously come to life.
• 22:17
  Speaker 5: I am doctor Boodnett himself.
• 22:22
  Speaker 4: He paused, coughed, and shifted his legs.
• 22:26
  Speaker 5: A pard of me.
• 22:27
  Speaker 7: But I am a little stiff. Please let me explain
• 22:32
  Speaker 7: circumstances with which I need not futtig. You have made
• 22:36
  Speaker 7: it desirable that I should live in England. I was
• 22:40
  Speaker 7: close to this building this evening when I saw a
• 22:43
  Speaker 7: policeman regarding me. I thought a little too curiously. I
• 22:48
  Speaker 7: guess that he intended to follow and perhaps ask me
• 22:50
  Speaker 7: embarrassing questions. So I mingled with the crowd and came
• 22:54
  Speaker 7: in here. I coin brought my admission to the chamber
• 22:58
  Speaker 7: in which we not meet, and and inspiration showed me
• 23:02
  Speaker 7: a certain means of escape.
• 23:04
  Speaker 8: I raised a cry of fire, and when all the
• 23:08
  Speaker 8: fools had rushed to the stairs, I stripped my effigy
• 23:11
  Speaker 8: of the caped coat, which should behold me wearing don't it?
• 23:15
  Speaker 8: Hid my effigy under the platform at the back, and
• 23:17
  Speaker 8: took its place on the pedestal.
• 23:22
  Speaker 5: The manager's description of.
• 23:24
  Speaker 4: Me, which I had the embarrassment at being compelled to
• 23:26
  Speaker 4: over here, was biased, but not altogether inaccurate. Clearly, I
• 23:31
  Speaker 4: am not dead, although it is as well that they
• 23:35
  Speaker 4: will think, oh they were.
• 23:36
  Speaker 5: Is no.
• 23:37
  Speaker 7: Is account of my abbey, which I have in touched
• 23:41
  Speaker 7: for years, although through necessity less frequently.
• 23:44
  Speaker 5: Apply it was in the main two.
• 23:46
  Speaker 7: For you see, the world is divided between collectors and
• 23:50
  Speaker 7: non collectors.
• 23:52
  Speaker 5: With the non collectors we are not concerned.
• 23:54
  Speaker 7: The collectors collect anything according to the individual tastes, from
• 23:59
  Speaker 7: money to cigarette cards, from months to match boxes.
• 24:05
  Speaker 5: I collect throats.
• 24:12
  Speaker 4: He paused again and regarded Houston's throat with interest. Mingled
• 24:16
  Speaker 4: with disfavor.
• 24:19
  Speaker 7: I am obliged to the chance which brought us together tonight,
• 24:22
  Speaker 7: and perhaps it would seem ungrateful to complain from motives
• 24:26
  Speaker 7: of personal safety. My activities have been somewhat curtailed of
• 24:29
  Speaker 7: late years, and I am glad of this opportunity of
• 24:32
  Speaker 7: gratifying my somewhat unusual whim.
• 24:36
  Speaker 5: But you, sir, you have such a skinny neck.
• 24:43
  Speaker 4: If you will overlook a personal remark, I should never
• 24:46
  Speaker 4: have selected you from choice.
• 24:48
  Speaker 5: I like men with thick necks, thick red necks.
• 24:58
  Speaker 4: He far more than an inside pocket, and took out
• 25:00
  Speaker 4: something which he tested against the wet forefinger, and then
• 25:04
  Speaker 4: proceeded the past gently to and fro acrossed the palm
• 25:07
  Speaker 4: of his left hand. This is a little French razor.
• 25:12
  Speaker 4: The blade you will observe is very narrow. They do
• 25:15
  Speaker 4: not cut very deep, but deep enough. In just one
• 25:18
  Speaker 4: little moment, you shall see for yourself.
• 25:21
  Speaker 7: Now I shall ask you the little civil question of
• 25:25
  Speaker 7: all the polite bubbles, does the rasor suit you?
• 25:31
  Speaker 5: Sir?
• 25:33
  Speaker 4: He rose up a diminutive but menacing figure of evil,
• 25:38
  Speaker 4: and approached Houston with a silent, furtive step of a
• 25:40
  Speaker 4: hunting panther.
• 25:42
  Speaker 7: You will have the goodness to raise your chin a
• 25:44
  Speaker 7: little then, oh, thank you, and a little more, just
• 25:49
  Speaker 7: a little more, ah, thank.
• 25:52
  Speaker 5: You, messy monsieur, messy mercy ah me.
• 26:19
  Speaker 4: Over one end of the chamber was a thick skylight
• 26:21
  Speaker 4: of frosted glass, which by day let in a few
• 26:25
  Speaker 4: sickly unfiltered rays from the floor above. After sunrise, these
• 26:29
  Speaker 4: began to mingle with a subdued light from the electric bubes,
• 26:32
  Speaker 4: and this mingled illumination added a certain gastliness to a scene.
• 26:37
  Speaker 3: Which needed no additional touch of horror.
• 26:42
  Speaker 4: The waxwork figures stood epathetically in their places, waiting to
• 26:46
  Speaker 4: be admired or execrated by the crowds, who would presently
• 26:51
  Speaker 4: wander fearfully among them. In their midst in the center gangway,
• 26:57
  Speaker 4: Hewson sat still, leaning far back in his swivel chair.
• 27:03
  Speaker 5: His chin was up tilted, as if he were waiting
• 27:05
  Speaker 5: to receive attention from a berber.
• 27:08
  Speaker 4: And although there was not a scratch upon his throat
• 27:12
  Speaker 4: nor anywhere upon his body, he was cold.
• 27:17
  Speaker 5: And dead.
• 27:22
  Speaker 4: Doctor Buddett, on his pedestal, watched the dead man unemotionally.
• 27:31
  Speaker 4: He did not move, nor was he capable of motion.
• 27:38
  Speaker 4: But then after all He was Only a wax.
• 27:42
  Speaker 2: Work suspense in which William Conrad starting tonight's presentation of
• 28:00
  Speaker 2: the Waxwork. The music for tonight's program was composed by
• 28:04
  Speaker 2: Lucian Morrowack. Next week we bring you a story based
• 28:07
  Speaker 2: on fact a man's last hours in a death cell
• 28:10
  Speaker 2: awaiting execution. We call it The Phones Die First. That's
• 28:15
  Speaker 2: Next Week on Suspence. Suspense is produced and directed in
• 28:34
  Speaker 2: Hollywood by Anthony Ellis.
• 28:36
  Speaker 5: The night's story was written by A. M.
• 28:38
  Speaker 3: Burrays.
• 28:39
  Speaker 5: The orchestra was conducted by Wilbur Hatch.
• 28:49
  Speaker 4: Stay tuned for five minutes of CBS News to be
• 28:52
  Speaker 4: followed on most of these same stations by my son Jean.
• 29:00
  Speaker 5: America listens both to the CBS Radio Network.
• 29:28
  Speaker 1: That was Suspense and the wax Work. Thank you for
• 29:30
  Speaker 1: joining us for this nineteen fifty six CBS broadcast