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Transcript

Suspense - "Riabouchinska" (Old Time Radio, 1947) · Suspense | Old Time Radio

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: In a theater cellar, Detective Lieutenant Krovich investigates the strangling
• 0:04
  Speaker 1: of a man named Occam. The inquiry leads to ventriloquist
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: John Fabian, Fabian's wife Alice, press agent Bernard Douglas, and
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: Ria Buchinska, Fabian's lifelike female dummy who insists on being heard.
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: From suspense comes Ria Buchinska, Episode 3, first broadcast November 1, 1947.
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: Joseph Kearns plays Fabian, with Lorene Tuttle as Ryabuchinska and
• 0:32
  Speaker 1: Wally Maher as Krovich. The radio play is by Mel Dinelli,
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: from a story by Ray Bradbury. The investigation moves from
• 0:41
  Speaker 1: the theater cellar to Fabian's dressing room. We now take
• 0:45
  Speaker 1: you back to the original broadcast.
• 0:55
  Speaker 2: Suspense!
• 0:57
  Speaker 3: Tonight's suspense brings you an all-star cast of Hollywood's finest
• 1:01
  Speaker 3: radio players in the premiere of a remarkable story by
• 1:04
  Speaker 3: Ray Bradbury called Ryabushinska.
• 1:07
  Speaker 4: But first, we'd like to remind you that in hotels, restaurants,
• 1:11
  Speaker 4: and homes of distinction, wherever hospitality is a gracious art,
• 1:16
  Speaker 4: the knowing host serves C-R-E-S-T-A... B-L-A-N-C-A... Cresta Blanca. Cresta Blanca. Yes,
• 1:30
  Speaker 4: the famous name of Cresta Blanca is a symbol of
• 1:33
  Speaker 4: good taste and good living, wherever discriminating people gather.
• 1:38
  Speaker 5: And when you.
• 1:39
  Speaker 4: Serve proud Cresta Blanca, California wines, you pay guests the
• 1:43
  Speaker 4: highest compliment a host can offer. So, distinguish your table
• 1:48
  Speaker 4: by pouring Cresta Blanca Burgundy or Cresta Blanca Sauternes. Yours
• 1:52
  Speaker 4: to enjoy for gracious dining. Schenley's Cresta Blanca Wine Company, Livermore, California.
• 1:59
  Speaker 6: And now, Schenley brings you radio's outstanding theater of thrills, Suspense.
• 2:08
  Speaker 6: Presented by Roma Wines, that's R-O-M-A, Roma Wines of Fresno, California,
• 2:13
  Speaker 6: for your everyday enjoyment. Tonight, starring Joseph Kearns, Lorene Tuttle,
• 2:18
  Speaker 6: Wally Mayer, and Armina Feige, and Ria Buschinski. A suspense
• 2:23
  Speaker 6: play produced, edited, and directed for Shenley by William Spear.
• 2:33
  Speaker 5: Mr. Arkham had a look about him in death, as
• 2:35
  Speaker 5: he had had in life.
• 2:37
  Speaker 7: A general appearance which might prompt one to say, there's
• 2:40
  Speaker 7: a man who will one day be stabbed, or shot,
• 2:44
  Speaker 7: or booted in the head.
• 2:45
  Speaker 5: And although Mr.
• 2:46
  Speaker 7: Ockham had not met his end in any of the
• 2:48
  Speaker 7: aforementioned ways, he had been strangled.
• 2:52
  Speaker 5: And he was dead. Dead on the floor of a
• 2:55
  Speaker 5: theater cellar. Yes, Mr. Ockham was deceived. And nobody seemed
• 3:06
  Speaker 5: to care.
• 3:07
  Speaker 7: Nobody but Detective Lieutenant Krovich, who'd been sent down to
• 3:10
  Speaker 7: have a look around. On a table he saw a small, polished,
• 3:14
  Speaker 7: bronze box with certain words on the lid which read,
• 3:17
  Speaker 7: Ria Puchinska.
• 3:19
  Speaker 5: Property of John Fabian, world's greatest ventriloquist.
• 3:23
  Speaker 7: Krovich looked from the box to the three figures standing
• 3:26
  Speaker 7: stiffly before him. They were John Fabian, ventriloquist, Alice, his wife,
• 3:31
  Speaker 7: and Bernard Douglas, Fabian's press agent.
• 3:34
  Speaker 5: As Krovich lit his cigar, it happened. Let me out.
• 3:39
  Speaker 8: Oh, please, let me out.
• 3:42
  Speaker 5: The four people looked with startled eyes at the box
• 3:44
  Speaker 5: on the table. Then Fabian, the ventriloquist, stepped forward and
• 3:48
  Speaker 5: spoke earnestly.
• 3:50
  Speaker 4: No, Ria.
• 3:50
  Speaker 9: This is serious business, darling. You stay where you are. Please,
• 3:55
  Speaker 9: let me out.
• 3:57
  Speaker 5: You should be trying to be now after what's happened.
• 3:59
  Speaker 10: If you don't mind, Fabian, we'll have the dummy act
• 4:02
  Speaker 10: at another time. Now let's get this matter clear. Each
• 4:07
  Speaker 10: of you testify that you don't know.
• 4:08
  Speaker 5: Who this dead Mr.
• 4:09
  Speaker 10: Ockham is, yet he told the stage manager tonight that
• 4:11
  Speaker 10: he knew Mr. Fabian and wanted to see him about
• 4:13
  Speaker 10: something important.
• 4:15
  Speaker 5: Oh, stop it, Fabian.
• 4:19
  Speaker 9: Pay no attention to her, Lieutenant.
• 4:20
  Speaker 3: Her?
• 4:21
  Speaker 5: You mean you.
• 4:22
  Speaker 11: What is this?
• 4:23
  Speaker 5: Get together, you two. We'll never be together again. Never
• 4:27
  Speaker 5: again after tonight. Give me the key to the box, Fabian.
• 4:38
  Speaker 12: Thank you.
• 4:41
  Speaker 7: Krovich stood motionless, just looking down, seeing Ria Bushinska lying
• 4:45
  Speaker 7: in her box and not believing what he saw. He thought,
• 4:52
  Speaker 7: there were nights in life when you dreamed, and this
• 4:55
  Speaker 7: is what you dreamed. There were women you saw in life,
• 4:59
  Speaker 7: far down the street, walking, fragile, far away, unattainable, and
• 5:05
  Speaker 7: this tiny figure was.
• 5:07
  Speaker 5: One of them.
• 5:08
  Speaker 7: There were voices that you heard singing high in a
• 5:10
  Speaker 7: dark church loft. Voices that made the candle flame shudder
• 5:14
  Speaker 7: and dance to every cadence.
• 5:17
  Speaker 5: And this was one of those voices.
• 5:20
  Speaker 7: On a summer afternoon, you watched a spider gracefully spinning
• 5:23
  Speaker 7: its cloudy web. And now, that web was Rehobochinska's evening dress,
• 5:28
  Speaker 7: here and now. You had heard of honesty and intelligence
• 5:33
  Speaker 7: and frankness and unafraidness all your life.
• 5:35
  Speaker 5: And now it looked straight up at you, fearlessly shining
• 5:40
  Speaker 5: from a puppet's eye.
• 5:43
  Speaker 7: She was so beautiful, your throat closed and you were
• 5:47
  Speaker 7: sad because you knew that she was only a puppet.
• 5:53
  Speaker 7: John Fabian tenderly picked up Ryabushinska.
• 5:57
  Speaker 9: Oh, isn't she beautiful?
• 6:00
  Speaker 3: She's carved from the finest wood, Ryabushinska is. She's appeared
• 6:03
  Speaker 3: in London.
• 6:04
  Speaker 5: Paris, Rome, New York.
• 6:06
  Speaker 3: Everyone in the world knows her and loves her. Many
• 6:09
  Speaker 3: people question Ryabushinska's authenticity. They think she's really alive, that
• 6:14
  Speaker 3: she's a midget. People just cannot believe she's constructed of wood.
• 6:21
  Speaker 7: John Fabian's wife, Alice, stood glaring at her husband with
• 6:24
  Speaker 7: a look of pure hatred.
• 6:27
  Speaker 5: But he was aware of no one but the lifelike
• 6:29
  Speaker 5: figure he held in his arms. And speaking to him,
• 6:31
  Speaker 5: it said.
• 6:33
  Speaker 12: Please don't go on about me, John.
• 6:36
  Speaker 11: Alice doesn't like it.
• 6:38
  Speaker 9: Alice has never liked anything about you, Ria.
• 6:40
  Speaker 3: Shh.
• 6:41
  Speaker 5: Don't.
• 6:42
  Speaker 11: Not here and not now, John.
• 6:45
  Speaker 12: Tell me, Lieutenant, how did it all happen?
• 6:48
  Speaker 11: I mean about poor Mr. Ockham.
• 6:51
  Speaker 5: What is this?
• 6:52
  Speaker 9: You'd best return to your box, Ria Bushinska.
• 6:55
  Speaker 5: But I don't want to.
• 6:56
  Speaker 12: I have as much right to listen and talk. I'm
• 7:00
  Speaker 12: as much a part of this murder as Alice.
• 7:04
  Speaker 8: Or.
• 7:05
  Speaker 11: Oh, Mr.
• 7:05
  Speaker 5: Dougherty.
• 7:06
  Speaker 9: Don't drag me into this, you little witch.
• 7:10
  Speaker 7: And the manner in which he replied made it obvious
• 7:12
  Speaker 7: that real Buchinska was more than an allusion to him.
• 7:15
  Speaker 5: For he reacted to her as to a real person.
• 7:19
  Speaker 12: It's just that I want the truth to be told.
• 7:22
  Speaker 12: And if I'm locked in my bronze casket, there will
• 7:24
  Speaker 12: be no truth. For John Fabian is a consummate liar.
• 7:29
  Speaker 11: And I must watch him. That's right, isn't it, John?
• 7:34
  Speaker 9: Yes, I imagine it is.
• 7:38
  Speaker 11: John loves me best of all the women in the world.
• 7:42
  Speaker 11: And I love him. And try to understand his wrong
• 7:47
  Speaker 11: way of thinking.
• 7:48
  Speaker 10: We're wasting time. If you think you'll interfere with my investigation,
• 7:52
  Speaker 10: Fabian Lieutenant, I am helpless.
• 7:54
  Speaker 5: But she's in your throat.
• 7:56
  Speaker 3: No. She is in my heart, which is much deeper.
• 8:02
  Speaker 3: Sometimes I'm powerless. Sometimes she is only herself.
• 8:05
  Speaker 5: Nothing of me at all.
• 8:07
  Speaker 9: Sometimes she tells me what to do and I must
• 8:10
  Speaker 9: do it.
• 8:11
  Speaker 3: She watches over me, reprimands me as honest where I
• 8:14
  Speaker 3: am dishonest.
• 8:15
  Speaker 9: Ethical where I am wicked as old sin. She lives
• 8:19
  Speaker 9: her life, I live mine.
• 8:21
  Speaker 3: She's raised a wall in my head between herself and
• 8:23
  Speaker 3: me and she lives there. ignoring me if I try
• 8:26
  Speaker 3: to make her say improper things, but cooperating by suggest
• 8:30
  Speaker 3: the correct words in pantomime. So, if you intend going on,
• 8:35
  Speaker 3: I'm afraid Ria must be present. No, locking her up
• 8:38
  Speaker 3: will do no good.
• 8:41
  Speaker 5: The Tarnkovich sat quietly for a few moments. Then he
• 8:45
  Speaker 5: seemed to make a decision.
• 8:47
  Speaker 9: All right, all right, let her stay.
• 8:49
  Speaker 5: Maybe, maybe before the.
• 8:51
  Speaker 10: Night's over, I'll be tired enough to ask even a
• 8:53
  Speaker 10: ventriloquist dummy questions.
• 9:10
  Speaker 3: For suspense, Roma Wines are bringing you Ryabushinska, Roma Wines'
• 9:15
  Speaker 3: presentation tonight in radio's outstanding theater of thrills, Suspense.
• 9:27
  Speaker 6: Suspense, radio's outstanding theater of thrills, is presented by Roma Wines.
• 9:32
  Speaker 6: That's R-O-M-A, Roma Wines, selected from the world's greatest reserves
• 9:37
  Speaker 6: of fine wines. Some hosts have a way of making
• 9:41
  Speaker 6: you feel completely welcome whenever you drop in for a visit.
• 9:45
  Speaker 6: Theirs is the kind of hospitality that says, come in
• 9:48
  Speaker 6: and make yourself at home. Well, such is the hospitality
• 9:51
  Speaker 6: of millions of Americans who always keep Roma California wines
• 9:55
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• 9:59
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• 10:04
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• 10:09
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• 10:14
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• 10:19
  Speaker 6: to any get-together, brighten those restful stay-at-home evenings with your family. Tomorrow,
• 10:25
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• 10:28
  Speaker 6: in with Roma Wines. That's R-O-M-A, Roma Wines, America's largest
• 10:35
  Speaker 6: selling wines.
• 10:37
  Speaker 3: And now Roma Wines bring back to our Hollywood soundstage
• 10:40
  Speaker 3: Armina Feige as narrator, Joseph Kearns as Fabian the ventriloquist,
• 10:44
  Speaker 3: and Wally Mayer as Detective Krovich. In Ryabushinska, a play
• 10:49
  Speaker 3: well calculated to keep you in suspense.
• 11:06
  Speaker 5: Once more, Mr.
• 11:07
  Speaker 10: Douglas, do you recognize the dead man?
• 11:09
  Speaker 3: No.
• 11:10
  Speaker 5: He looks somewhat familiar. An actor type, I believe.
• 11:13
  Speaker 10: One of you three is lying. From the condition of
• 11:17
  Speaker 10: Occam's shoes, his worn clothing, he needed money. Are you
• 11:24
  Speaker 10: in love with Mrs.
• 11:24
  Speaker 1: Fabian?
• 11:25
  Speaker 6: Why, I.
• 11:26
  Speaker 5: Really, Lieutenant? I've been watching you.
• 11:28
  Speaker 11: Your actions.
• 11:29
  Speaker 5: My actions?
• 11:30
  Speaker 10: Yes, yes. The way you look at Rio Buchinska's box.
• 11:33
  Speaker 10: The way you hold your breath when she appears. The
• 11:34
  Speaker 10: way you knock your fingers when she talks. The way
• 11:38
  Speaker 10: you stare at her.
• 11:39
  Speaker 13: If you think for one moment that I'm jealous of
• 11:40
  Speaker 13: a little piece of wood.
• 11:42
  Speaker 5: Aren't you? No, I'm not jealous of her.
• 11:44
  Speaker 9: You needn't tell him, Alice.
• 11:46
  Speaker 12: Let her.
• 11:48
  Speaker 5: They all stared at the figurine. Even Fabian the ventriloquist.
• 11:51
  Speaker 5: As if her cry had come from an alien throat. Alice,
• 11:55
  Speaker 5: tell them. I.
• 11:58
  Speaker 13: I married John seven years ago. He said he loved me.
• 12:03
  Speaker 13: I loved him and I loved Ryabuchinska too.
• 12:05
  Speaker 5: At first, anyway. But then I.
• 12:08
  Speaker 13: Began to see that he really paid more attention to
• 12:10
  Speaker 13: her than he did to me. I began to feel hatred.
• 12:14
  Speaker 13: Not for Ryabuchinska because it wasn't her fault. But I
• 12:18
  Speaker 13: felt a terrible hatred for John. Because I knew it
• 12:21
  Speaker 13: was all his fault. His cleverness, his sadistic temperament. Each
• 12:25
  Speaker 13: jealousy on my part was a tribute to the perfection
• 12:28
  Speaker 13: of his art. She came out of him like a
• 12:31
  Speaker 13: woman out of a dark god. But I don't hate Ria.
• 12:35
  Speaker 13: She's lovely, sweet and honest. Everything that John isn't.
• 12:39
  Speaker 5: Tell about Mr.
• 12:39
  Speaker 11: Douglas.
• 12:41
  Speaker 5: When I got no understanding, no love from John, I
• 12:45
  Speaker 5: turned to Mr. Douglas.
• 12:46
  Speaker 11: Aha.
• 12:47
  Speaker 10: The dead man was a blackmailer. He came to the
• 12:49
  Speaker 10: theater tonight to see a husband about you.
• 12:51
  Speaker 5: You killed him to prevent that interview. I didn't kill him.
• 12:54
  Speaker 10: Douglas might have and not told you.
• 12:56
  Speaker 5: Why kill a man? John knew all about it.
• 12:59
  Speaker 3: I did indeed.
• 13:00
  Speaker 14: The next day, Lieutenant Krovich was back.
• 13:16
  Speaker 2: Yes, come in.
• 13:19
  Speaker 9: Fabian, I have something here which might interest you.
• 13:25
  Speaker 7: With a tight grin in his face, Lieutenant Krovich held
• 13:28
  Speaker 7: out the photograph of a woman.
• 13:30
  Speaker 5: Fabian stared at the shiny picture before him, and then
• 13:33
  Speaker 5: he fell back in his chair. He shut his eyes
• 13:36
  Speaker 5: as if with a great ache in his head.
• 13:39
  Speaker 7: Krovich turned the picture over carefully and began to read
• 13:42
  Speaker 7: from the typewritten data on the back.
• 13:45
  Speaker 10: Name, Ilya Ryamansky.
• 13:47
  Speaker 5: Weight, 100 pounds. Blue eyes, black hair, oval face.
• 13:50
  Speaker 10: Born 1914, New York City. Disappeared 1934. Believed a victim
• 13:57
  Speaker 10: of amnesia, of Russian-Slav heritage.
• 14:00
  Speaker 5: Oh, no, no.
• 14:01
  Speaker 10: You know, Fabian, it was pretty silly to go through
• 14:04
  Speaker 10: the files for a picture of a ventriloquist's tummy.
• 14:06
  Speaker 5: They all laughed at headquarters. And yet, yet, here she is.
• 14:12
  Speaker 11: Ria Vucinska.
• 14:14
  Speaker 10: Not papier-mâché, not wood, not a puppet. But a woman
• 14:18
  Speaker 10: who once lived and moved about and disappeared.
• 14:24
  Speaker 5: Take it from there, Fabian.
• 14:26
  Speaker 9: Lieutenant, there's nothing to it. I saw her picture long ago.
• 14:31
  Speaker 5: Dr.
• 14:31
  Speaker 9: Luxon copied my puppet after her.
• 14:33
  Speaker 5: Nothing to it, huh?
• 14:35
  Speaker 10: Listen, Fabian, this morning I went through a stack of
• 14:37
  Speaker 10: billboard magazines that high. In the year 1934, I found
• 14:42
  Speaker 10: an interesting article concerning an act playing the smaller circuits
• 14:46
  Speaker 10: known as Fabian and Sweet William.
• 14:49
  Speaker 9: Sweet William was a little male dummy.
• 14:52
  Speaker 10: As usual in such acts, there was a girl assistant,
• 14:56
  Speaker 10: Ilya Ryamansky.
• 14:58
  Speaker 5: Look at that picture.
• 15:00
  Speaker 10: The resemblance between the real woman on one hand and
• 15:03
  Speaker 10: Ria Buchinska, the puppet on the other, is startling. She
• 15:08
  Speaker 10: was my assistant, but that was all. I simply used
• 15:11
  Speaker 10: her as a model. It all starts and ends with
• 15:13
  Speaker 10: Ria Buchinska. Why should you love a puppet so intensely?
• 15:19
  Speaker 10: Because you love the original woman intensely.
• 15:21
  Speaker 5: All right, all right.
• 15:24
  Speaker 3: In 1934, I was billed as Fabian in Sweet William's.
• 15:28
  Speaker 3: Sweet William was a small, bulb-nosed little boy dummy I
• 15:31
  Speaker 3: carved years ago.
• 15:32
  Speaker 9: I was playing Los Angeles when this.
• 15:34
  Speaker 3: Girl, Ilya Riemanns, appeared at the stage door one night.
• 15:38
  Speaker 9: She wanted a job.
• 15:40
  Speaker 11: I remember.
• 15:41
  Speaker 5: It was autumn.
• 15:49
  Speaker 7: John Fabian remembered Ilya Riemanns in the half-light at the
• 15:53
  Speaker 7: stage alley.
• 15:54
  Speaker 5: He remembered how startled he was at her fresh beauty...
• 15:58
  Speaker 5: Her eagerness. The way the rain, when it came down
• 16:01
  Speaker 5: through the narrow alley, caught in her dark hair and
• 16:03
  Speaker 5: touched her feverish cheeks. She became his assistant. Worked in
• 16:08
  Speaker 5: the act.
• 16:09
  Speaker 7: And in four short months, he who had always denied
• 16:12
  Speaker 7: and scoffed at love, became hopelessly lost with this woman.
• 16:19
  Speaker 7: Then there were arguments, and things much more than arguments.
• 16:22
  Speaker 7: Things done and said that were violent and unfair.
• 16:25
  Speaker 5: He wanted her to marry him.
• 16:27
  Speaker 7: She never quite accepted. He went into hysterical rages at her.
• 16:31
  Speaker 7: Once he destroyed her wardrobe. That much she had taken.
• 16:34
  Speaker 7: But it was somewhat different on that last night, when
• 16:37
  Speaker 7: he had shouted at her, taken hold of her.
• 16:39
  Speaker 5: And slapped her brutally three times across the face.
• 16:50
  Speaker 9: And Ilya Ryamansk vanished that night.
• 16:54
  Speaker 5: Vanished.
• 16:55
  Speaker 3: The police questioned me. There was talk of murder. But
• 16:59
  Speaker 3: she was gone with no trace. A record of her
• 17:01
  Speaker 3: was sent to all the larger cities.
• 17:03
  Speaker 9: That was the end of it for the police.
• 17:06
  Speaker 11: But not for me.
• 17:07
  Speaker 9: The knowledge of her going was too much.
• 17:10
  Speaker 3: She might be dead or just run away, but wherever
• 17:12
  Speaker 3: she was, I knew I needed her. One night I
• 17:16
  Speaker 3: returned home more depressed than usual. I collapsed on a chair...
• 17:20
  Speaker 3: Before I knew it, I found myself speaking to sweet
• 17:22
  Speaker 3: William in the totally dark room.
• 17:28
  Speaker 5: William, William.
• 17:29
  Speaker 9: Oh, this is all over and done.
• 17:31
  Speaker 5: I can't go on.
• 17:33
  Speaker 7: Coward.
• 17:34
  Speaker 11: You can get her back if you want.
• 17:37
  Speaker 8: No, I can't.
• 17:38
  Speaker 2: No, I can never get her back.
• 17:40
  Speaker 5: Yes, yes, you can. Think. Think of a way to
• 17:44
  Speaker 5: get her back.
• 17:45
  Speaker 11: Think of a way.
• 17:46
  Speaker 5: Come on. You can do it. Put me away. Start
• 17:50
  Speaker 5: all over. Start all over? Yes. Begin carving.
• 17:56
  Speaker 11: Exactly.
• 17:57
  Speaker 5: And slowly and lovingly. Carving. Make the little arching nostrils
• 18:05
  Speaker 5: just so.
• 18:06
  Speaker 7: And cut her black thin eyebrows round and high. And
• 18:11
  Speaker 7: make her cheeks in small duplicate hollows.
• 18:15
  Speaker 3: And.
• 18:15
  Speaker 5: No. It's monstrous.
• 18:17
  Speaker 9: I can never do it.
• 18:18
  Speaker 2: Yes, yes, you could.
• 18:20
  Speaker 11: Yes, you could.
• 18:22
  Speaker 2: You could.
• 18:24
  Speaker 11: You could.
• 18:28
  Speaker 7: And the voice faded away like a water ripple in
• 18:30
  Speaker 7: a dark cave. Blackness rushed over Fabian.
• 18:34
  Speaker 5: His head fell forward. He whimpered. And sweet William sighed.
• 18:40
  Speaker 2: And then.
• 18:45
  Speaker 7: And then they both lay silent and solemnly unconscious. The
• 18:57
  Speaker 7: next morning, John Fabian purchased the best grain piece of
• 19:01
  Speaker 7: wood he could buy.
• 19:03
  Speaker 5: But when he reached home, despair seized him.
• 19:06
  Speaker 7: How could he fashion his warm ilia from this cold wood?
• 19:10
  Speaker 7: How could he shape this dumb block of dead substance
• 19:13
  Speaker 7: into anything faintly.
• 19:15
  Speaker 5: Approximating her glowing life? Go on, go on. It was
• 19:18
  Speaker 5: Sweet William who egged him on. You can do it.
• 19:23
  Speaker 5: And for 20 weeks he worked. He carved her hands
• 19:26
  Speaker 5: into things as natural and beautiful as shells lying in
• 19:29
  Speaker 5: the sun.
• 19:30
  Speaker 7: And Sweet William laid dust cloaked in his box. from
• 19:33
  Speaker 7: time to time feebly quoking some sarcasm, some criticism, some hint,
• 19:39
  Speaker 7: some help.
• 19:41
  Speaker 5: But he was dying, soon to be untouched inanimate wood.
• 19:46
  Speaker 7: As weeks passed and Fabian molded and scraped and polished,
• 19:49
  Speaker 7: the new wood, Sweet William lay longer and longer.
• 19:53
  Speaker 5: In stricken silence. And one day, as Fabian held.
• 19:56
  Speaker 7: The puppet in his hand, Sweet William seemed to look
• 19:59
  Speaker 7: at him a moment with puzzled eyes.
• 20:01
  Speaker 5: And then there was a death rattle in his throat.
• 20:10
  Speaker 5: And sweet William was gone. And now, as Fabian carved,
• 20:27
  Speaker 5: a fluttering, an attempting of speech in his throat.
• 20:29
  Speaker 7: Began echoing, re-echoing the sounds of Ilya Ryaman. At the
• 20:36
  Speaker 7: year's ending, he was thinned and without money. But by
• 20:39
  Speaker 7: then he had searched his stream of consciousness, experimented and
• 20:42
  Speaker 7: given the doll all the gracious mannerisms and shy gestures
• 20:46
  Speaker 7: of the real woman. And then, at last, he held
• 20:49
  Speaker 7: Ilya Ryamansky in his arms again.
• 20:52
  Speaker 2: They were together.
• 20:53
  Speaker 5: He could talk to her and she could reply. And
• 20:55
  Speaker 5: the first thing he made the little creature say was.
• 20:58
  Speaker 7: I.
• 20:59
  Speaker 8: I.
• 21:01
  Speaker 11: I love you, John Fabian.
• 21:05
  Speaker 2: Oh, Ria.
• 21:22
  Speaker 5: I see. And your wife?
• 21:25
  Speaker 11: Alice.
• 21:26
  Speaker 9: She was another of my assistants. She did a work well.
• 21:29
  Speaker 5: She loved me.
• 21:30
  Speaker 9: I don't know why I married her.
• 21:32
  Speaker 11: I see.
• 21:34
  Speaker 10: What about the dead man, Arkham?
• 21:36
  Speaker 3: I'd never seen him before until you showed me his
• 21:38
  Speaker 3: body in the cellar.
• 21:39
  Speaker 11: That's not true. Don't lie, John Fabian.
• 21:43
  Speaker 7: Fabian's cheeks drained white and the bones jotted out tensely.
• 21:47
  Speaker 7: The puppet spoke, looking straight at Krovich.
• 21:50
  Speaker 12: John received the first blackmail letter a month ago. It
• 21:54
  Speaker 12: said simply, Rebushinska, born 1914, died 1934. Born again in 19.
• 22:08
  Speaker 7: Fabian seemed paralyzed, unable to answer. He had a trapped, helpless,
• 22:12
  Speaker 7: insane expression.
• 22:13
  Speaker 5: His lips trembled.
• 22:15
  Speaker 7: He searched the room as if seeking some way out
• 22:17
  Speaker 7: where a frustration.
• 22:18
  Speaker 5: And a proof did not wait to bar his way.
• 22:20
  Speaker 5: How come you threatened to expose me to the world?
• 22:22
  Speaker 7: Go on.
• 22:24
  Speaker 9: I wanted my love where Ilya kept to myself. What
• 22:26
  Speaker 9: sort of a love would it be.
• 22:27
  Speaker 3: In the future if people really guessed the significance of
• 22:29
  Speaker 3: my carving this figurine that talked and moved?
• 22:34
  Speaker 9: People would laugh or be disgusted. Perverted, criminal mind, they'd shout. Ugly, horrible, revolting.
• 22:40
  Speaker 3: And how could I play my love scenes with Rhea
• 22:42
  Speaker 3: anymore when they knew?
• 22:44
  Speaker 5: Not when with every.
• 22:45
  Speaker 3: Word I uttered someone in the audience would nudge someone.
• 22:48
  Speaker 9: Else and whisper, she lived once, you know, but disappeared.
• 22:52
  Speaker 5: They say he killed her.
• 22:54
  Speaker 9: They say he loved her.
• 22:55
  Speaker 5: How much did Arkham want?
• 22:58
  Speaker 9: A thousand dollars to start with.
• 23:00
  Speaker 11: And more later.
• 23:01
  Speaker 5: And so you killed him.
• 23:01
  Speaker 9: No, I didn't kill Arkham, Lieutenant. I paid him one
• 23:05
  Speaker 9: thousand dollars.
• 23:06
  Speaker 10: We found no money on him. Nevertheless, I paid him.
• 23:09
  Speaker 3: Alice and Douglas must have heard our conversation.
• 23:10
  Speaker 9: They've wanted to be rid of me for years now.
• 23:12
  Speaker 13: I'm not blind.
• 23:13
  Speaker 9: Alice saw a way of ridding herself of me and
• 23:15
  Speaker 9: getting some money, too.
• 23:16
  Speaker 10: Why, she's nothing but a.
• 23:17
  Speaker 12: Just a moment.
• 23:19
  Speaker 11: There's something I wish to say.
• 23:23
  Speaker 12: And yet I can't say it.
• 23:27
  Speaker 5: Krovich turned.
• 23:28
  Speaker 7: He saw John Fabian's eyes widen in his head, as
• 23:31
  Speaker 7: if a terrible conflict were raging, fighting within. His throat
• 23:35
  Speaker 7: convulsed again and again, and lines cut deep in his cheeks,
• 23:39
  Speaker 7: and the hollows of his face sank in. I.
• 23:43
  Speaker 12: I was in the room when Mr.
• 23:44
  Speaker 5: Arkham came.
• 23:45
  Speaker 1: No, no, Ria.
• 23:47
  Speaker 5: I lay in my box, and I listened, and I heard.
• 23:53
  Speaker 12: And I know.
• 23:53
  Speaker 11: No, no.
• 23:56
  Speaker 14: Mr.
• 23:56
  Speaker 12: Ockham threatened to destroy me. Tear me up.
• 23:59
  Speaker 15: Burn me into ashes. If John didn't pay him a
• 24:02
  Speaker 15: thousand dollars.
• 24:03
  Speaker 4: Lurse.
• 24:06
  Speaker 5: Then suddenly... There came a falling sound.
• 24:12
  Speaker 2: Mr.
• 24:12
  Speaker 5: Ockham's head must have struck the floor. I heard Mr.
• 24:16
  Speaker 1: Fabian cry out.
• 24:18
  Speaker 5: Swearing and sobbing all in one.
• 24:21
  Speaker 15: I heard a hissing, gasping, choking, horrible sound.
• 24:24
  Speaker 5: You heard nothing.
• 24:25
  Speaker 9: You're deaf and dumb and blind and lifeless.
• 24:27
  Speaker 5: You heard nothing.
• 24:28
  Speaker 9: Your ears are calm.
• 24:30
  Speaker 12: But they hear.
• 24:31
  Speaker 15: And then the hissing, the hissing, choking sound stopped. I
• 24:37
  Speaker 15: heard John drag Mr. Arkham to the door, open it,
• 24:41
  Speaker 15: and take Mr. Arkham down the stairs, under the face,
• 24:45
  Speaker 15: toward the old dressing room that hadn't been used in years.
• 24:47
  Speaker 7: Go!
• 24:49
  Speaker 13: Go!
• 24:55
  Speaker 7: It was a scene so incongruous, so impossible, so completely
• 24:59
  Speaker 7: beyond the veil of sanity and reason that Krovich recoiled
• 25:02
  Speaker 7: even as he watched. If ever in the time of
• 25:05
  Speaker 7: the world the forces that manipulate man struggled one side
• 25:08
  Speaker 7: against the other, this was the time. The shocked, pallid
• 25:12
  Speaker 7: face of John Fabian wrenching, the horrible protrusion of the eyes,
• 25:17
  Speaker 7: the clenching of the teeth as a censer, Then relaxing again,
• 25:20
  Speaker 7: the subtle move of the throat and the high, sad
• 25:23
  Speaker 7: and accusative voice of Rehobochinska leaping from her tiny, shining lips.
• 25:29
  Speaker 5: Fabian must have known what was happening, and yet he
• 25:33
  Speaker 5: did not know. I'm not made to live this way.
• 25:37
  Speaker 12: There is nothing for us now, anyway. Because the world
• 25:44
  Speaker 12: will know of us. Even when you killed him and
• 25:48
  Speaker 12: I lay in my bronze box last night, I realized,
• 25:52
  Speaker 12: we both realized that these were our last hours. Because
• 25:59
  Speaker 12: while I've accepted your weaknesses and lies, I can't exist
• 26:06
  Speaker 12: in murder.
• 26:09
  Speaker 11: It couldn't have gone on. No one can live side
• 26:14
  Speaker 11: by side with such.
• 26:16
  Speaker 7: Knowledge Fabian took her in his arms and held her
• 26:28
  Speaker 7: high into the warm sunlight. She looked down at him
• 26:31
  Speaker 7: with her clear, honest way of seeing him. There were angry,
• 26:34
  Speaker 7: helpless tears in his eyes. His hands shook and in
• 26:38
  Speaker 7: shaking made her tremble too. Her mouth closed and open, silent,
• 26:43
  Speaker 7: gaping and shutting again and again with no words.
• 26:47
  Speaker 5: Fabian began to sob.
• 26:48
  Speaker 7: He closed his fingers unbelievingly around his own throat.
• 26:52
  Speaker 5: His eyes numbed. He looked like a man trying to
• 26:54
  Speaker 5: remember something beautiful.
• 26:57
  Speaker 2: Her voice.
• 26:58
  Speaker 5: How it sounded. How to make it sound again. How
• 27:02
  Speaker 5: to make her take back all she said that was
• 27:04
  Speaker 5: the truth.
• 27:05
  Speaker 3: No.
• 27:07
  Speaker 11: She's gone.
• 27:09
  Speaker 5: She's gone.
• 27:10
  Speaker 3: And I can't find her. I try, but I can't
• 27:15
  Speaker 3: find her. She's run off behind the dark wall. And
• 27:20
  Speaker 3: so deep down and far away in the night, I'll
• 27:24
  Speaker 3: never be able to.
• 27:25
  Speaker 5: Find her again. Yes, she's gone.
• 27:33
  Speaker 7: Ryabushinska slipped bonelessly from his limp hand, folded over and
• 27:38
  Speaker 7: glided noiselessly down to lie upon the cold, dirty floor.
• 27:43
  Speaker 5: Her eyes closed, her mouth gently sealed. Fabian didn't even
• 27:48
  Speaker 5: look at her as Krovich led him away.
• 27:50
  Speaker 8: Suspense!
• 28:09
  Speaker 6: And so closes Real Bishinska, starring Armana Fage as narrator...
• 28:15
  Speaker 6: Joseph Kearns as Fabian, Wally Mayer as Krovich, and Lorene
• 28:18
  Speaker 6: Tuttle as Ria. Tonight's study in suspense. Presented by Roma Wines.
• 28:24
  Speaker 5: That's R-O-M-A.
• 28:26
  Speaker 6: Roma Wines, America's largest selling wines. Yes, more Americans do
• 28:31
  Speaker 6: enjoy Roma Wines than any other wines. And this is
• 28:35
  Speaker 6: Truman Bradley to tell you why. It's because Roma Wines
• 28:39
  Speaker 6: taste better. You see, Roma selects and presses only the
• 28:44
  Speaker 6: choicest California grapes. Then, with ancient skills and unmatched winemaking resources,
• 28:50
  Speaker 6: Roma master vintners guide this luscious grape treasure unhurriedly to
• 28:55
  Speaker 6: tempting perfection. These finer Roma wines are placed with other
• 29:00
  Speaker 6: mellow Roma wines to await later selection for your enjoyment
• 29:03
  Speaker 6: from the world's greatest reserves.
• 29:05
  Speaker 5: Of fine wines.
• 29:07
  Speaker 6: This weekend, give your family and friends a surprise. Serve
• 29:11
  Speaker 6: delicious Roma California Sherry. Roma Sherry is a glorious gold
• 29:15
  Speaker 6: and amber wine, soft and mellow on the tongue, with
• 29:19
  Speaker 6: a delightful nut-like taste that's a perfect invitation to dining pleasure.
• 29:24
  Speaker 6: And remember to insist on Roma. That's R-O-M-A, Roma Sherry,
• 29:29
  Speaker 6: because more Americans enjoy Roma wines than any other wines.
• 29:34
  Speaker 3: Tonight's suspense radio play was by Mel Donnelly from a
• 29:37
  Speaker 3: short story by Ray Bradbury. Be sure to listen next Thursday,
• 29:41
  Speaker 3: same time, to Suspense. Produced and directed by William Speer
• 29:47
  Speaker 3: for the Roma Wine Company of Fresno, California. This is CBS,
• 30:02
  Speaker 3: the Columbia Broadcasting System.
• 30:06
  Speaker 9: KNX, Columbia Square, Los Angeles.
• 30:10
  Speaker 1: Suspense and Ryabuchinska now leave the radio stage for the evening.
• 30:15
  Speaker 1: Follow Suspense for more classic broadcasts.