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Suspense - "Formula for Death" (Old Time Radio, 1962) · Suspense | Old Time Radio

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: A vital United States defense project rests on an optical
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: formula devised by the reclusive Dr.
• 0:06
  Speaker 2: Hoffman.
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: In suspense, formula for death, Colonel Humboldt and Dr. Fernald
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: must secure that work while respecting Hoffman's deep fears about
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: espionage and security. The assignment leads from Hoffman's isolated country
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: home toward a defense project meeting with psychic phenomena entering
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: the proceedings. Luis Van Rooten plays Dr. Hoffman, with Walter
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: Greza as Colonel Humboldt and Ivor Francis as Dr.
• 0:38
  Speaker 2: Fernald.
• 0:39
  Speaker 1: The script is by Jack Johnstone. This is episode zero
• 0:43
  Speaker 1: of Suspense, dated June 1st, 1962. And now, the original broadcast.
• 0:50
  Speaker 2: And now, a tale well calculated to keep you in....
• 0:56
  Speaker 3: Suspense.
• 0:57
  Speaker 2: Suspense.
• 0:59
  Speaker 4: In a moment, Act One of Formula for Death. Written
• 1:03
  Speaker 4: especially for suspense by Jonathan Bundy.
• 1:05
  Speaker 5: Now, look here, Colonel.
• 1:17
  Speaker 2: You assured us you'd begin grinding the necessary lenses days ago.
• 1:20
  Speaker 4: Weeks ago, in fact. I know, Colonel Humboldt, I know it. Well,
• 1:23
  Speaker 4: then why haven't you? Because, Colonel, I haven't yet received
• 1:26
  Speaker 4: my formula from Dr. Hoffman. Dr. Hoffman? Until he brings
• 1:30
  Speaker 4: it here, there's, well, simply nothing that I can do.
• 1:34
  Speaker 2: You mean Frederick Bernard Hoffman?
• 1:37
  Speaker 4: Yes. Oh, then heaven help us. Why, oh, why couldn't
• 1:42
  Speaker 4: someone beside that old crackpot have been assigned to develop
• 1:44
  Speaker 4: the formula for this land system?
• 1:47
  Speaker 2: Don't you know, Hoffman, his reputation? Oh, very well. Well,
• 1:50
  Speaker 2: then why pick him of all people?
• 1:51
  Speaker 4: Because, sir, he's the only man we can depend on
• 1:53
  Speaker 4: to do it properly. I don't believe it. As a
• 1:56
  Speaker 4: matter of fact, I've been wondering why you haven't just
• 1:59
  Speaker 4: fed the requirements into one of those electronic brains and
• 2:02
  Speaker 4: let it devise the formula for you.
• 2:04
  Speaker 2: In a matter of seconds.
• 2:06
  Speaker 4: Perhaps, well, days, weeks, months. That was tried, Colonel Humboldt.
• 2:13
  Speaker 4: You know it as well as I do. And, sir,
• 2:15
  Speaker 4: with no success whatsoever. But it has been months now
• 2:18
  Speaker 4: for now.
• 2:19
  Speaker 2: Literally months.
• 2:20
  Speaker 4: Since you promised us this optical system.
• 2:22
  Speaker 2: And what has happened? Absolutely nothing.
• 2:26
  Speaker 4: One of the potentially most important factors in celestial observation
• 2:29
  Speaker 4: from a guided satellite must wait on the whims.
• 2:31
  Speaker 2: Of a dattering old crackpot. Crackpot?
• 2:34
  Speaker 4: Well, isn't he? You think I haven't heard of his
• 2:38
  Speaker 4: silly hobby, his preoccupation with the supernatural, his ridiculous belief
• 2:43
  Speaker 4: in psychic phenomena, his conviction that he himself is endowed
• 2:48
  Speaker 4: with supernormal powers?
• 2:50
  Speaker 2: Who knows?
• 2:51
  Speaker 4: When you consider some of the miracles of engineering that
• 2:53
  Speaker 4: Hoffman has made possible, well, perhaps he is.
• 2:58
  Speaker 2: Oh, yes?
• 2:59
  Speaker 4: Well, then why doesn't he send you the formula telepathically
• 3:03
  Speaker 4: instead of holding us up this way?
• 3:05
  Speaker 2: Isn't there anything you can do to hurry him up?
• 3:07
  Speaker 4: Nothing whatsoever. So our entire science program.
• 3:11
  Speaker 2: Waits for him. Just waits. The entire world waits, Gertl.
• 3:15
  Speaker 4: Including our enemy. Oh, I tell you, it galls me
• 3:19
  Speaker 4: to twiddle my thumbs while this superstitious old man with
• 3:22
  Speaker 4: a single specific piece of knowledge spends his time communing
• 3:26
  Speaker 4: with the spirits.
• 3:27
  Speaker 2: Including our enemies, Colonel. What, sir? Please don't forget that, sir.
• 3:32
  Speaker 4: Because there isn't a country on earth that wouldn't do
• 3:34
  Speaker 4: almost anything to have this formula or to keep us
• 3:38
  Speaker 4: from having it.
• 3:39
  Speaker 2: If he ever completes it. Oh, of course he will.
• 3:42
  Speaker 2: But in the meantime, sir. Well, then why doesn't he?
• 3:44
  Speaker 4: In the meantime, Colonel, I hope you've done as I asked.
• 3:47
  Speaker 4: You mean the guard about that little place of his
• 3:49
  Speaker 4: up in the country?
• 3:50
  Speaker 2: Yes, sir. Oh, yes, yes, yes.
• 3:52
  Speaker 4: We've had two or three men on duty up there
• 3:54
  Speaker 4: 24 hours a day watching him and his apprentice.
• 3:58
  Speaker 2: Apprentice. Apprentice what?
• 4:01
  Speaker 4: Do they work on his formula? No, all they do
• 4:03
  Speaker 4: is putter about in his flower gardens and feed the birds.
• 4:05
  Speaker 4: But as soon as he is ready, and it should
• 4:08
  Speaker 4: be sometime today. Today, today you say? No, next month,
• 4:12
  Speaker 4: more likely next year, perhaps.
• 4:13
  Speaker 2: Two years from now.
• 4:14
  Speaker 4: Do you realize how long it took to develop the
• 4:17
  Speaker 4: famous Delocar lens that first made an efficient bombsight practical?
• 4:20
  Speaker 4: Do you know how long it took Hoffman to develop that?
• 4:24
  Speaker 2: Over three years.
• 4:27
  Speaker 4: Hoffman provided the formula for that? Yes. Yes.
• 4:32
  Speaker 2: Oh, I see.
• 4:33
  Speaker 4: Well, I... I didn't know. And at that time, too,
• 4:38
  Speaker 4: we closed his work in utmost secrecy. Kept his little
• 4:41
  Speaker 4: country place under guard. And he worked completely alone on it?
• 4:45
  Speaker 4: The way that he supposedly is working on this? Colonel Humboldt,
• 4:49
  Speaker 4: you may be sure that every waking minute that that
• 4:53
  Speaker 4: magnificent mind of his is working.
• 4:56
  Speaker 2: Uh-huh. He is working on it. Well.
• 5:00
  Speaker 4: But what if something were to happen to.
• 5:01
  Speaker 2: Him, eh? Well, that is the risk we take. I see.
• 5:04
  Speaker 4: And now, since we may receive word from Hoffman almost
• 5:07
  Speaker 4: any minute, if he keeps his.
• 5:10
  Speaker 2: Last promise to me... Yes, if, if. I know, I know, Colonel.
• 5:14
  Speaker 4: You are no more impatient than I am, sir. It's
• 5:17
  Speaker 4: only that I understand this.
• 5:18
  Speaker 2: Man, his odd foibles.
• 5:21
  Speaker 4: In any event, I suggest that we discuss the safeguard
• 5:23
  Speaker 4: that must be taken, the escort that will be necessary
• 5:27
  Speaker 4: to ensure his getting here safely.
• 5:29
  Speaker 2: Yes. Yes, yes, by all means.
• 5:32
  Speaker 6: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 5:43
  Speaker 3: Of course, of course. If a tertiary curvature of 16 degrees...
• 5:51
  Speaker 3: from the axis B equals.
• 5:54
  Speaker 2: equals.
• 5:56
  Speaker 3: equals 1 plus A over E to the nth power... Yeah, yeah, yeah. Then,
• 6:03
  Speaker 3: the cube of cosine R will automatically, automatically compensate for
• 6:09
  Speaker 3: any variation in the flexing of the meniscus.
• 6:11
  Speaker 2: Of course, it will.
• 6:13
  Speaker 3: And now, using Napierian logarithms to determine the hyperbolic.
• 6:18
  Speaker 2: Function of the system, with the vector V.
• 6:24
  Speaker 3: Now equal to Y, equal to the secant B plus
• 6:28
  Speaker 3: R squared.
• 6:28
  Speaker 4: Over Y, Of course, of course, of course.
• 6:32
  Speaker 2: Oh, I have it, I have it.
• 6:33
  Speaker 3: Stefan, Stefan, my boy, come in here.
• 6:35
  Speaker 2: Stefan.
• 6:37
  Speaker 1: Yes, Dr.
• 6:38
  Speaker 2: Hoffman. Come here, my boy, come here. Look, look at it.
• 6:42
  Speaker 5: I have it now.
• 6:43
  Speaker 6: It is finished.
• 6:44
  Speaker 2: The formula is completed. Excellent, doctor. My congratulations. Thank you,
• 6:48
  Speaker 2: my boy. And I deserve them.
• 6:51
  Speaker 3: For this formula, Stefan, will forever stand as a monument
• 6:55
  Speaker 3: in the annals of scientific achievement.
• 6:58
  Speaker 2: A monument to me.
• 7:00
  Speaker 3: And Stefan, only I could.
• 7:01
  Speaker 2: Have done it.
• 7:02
  Speaker 3: Because of my gift of communication with those who have
• 7:05
  Speaker 3: gone before me. Because my powers are above those of
• 7:09
  Speaker 3: normal men.
• 7:11
  Speaker 2: Are super normal. So I must memorize it now. The
• 7:16
  Speaker 2: square of the fact of V equal to the C
• 7:19
  Speaker 2: cap B plus R over Y. Excuse me, doctor. Huh?
• 7:23
  Speaker 2: You're a copy of the formula now, so I can
• 7:25
  Speaker 2: give it to Dr. Fernald. Ah, give you the formula? Yes, sir,
• 7:29
  Speaker 2: I'll need it now. No, no, no, my boy, you
• 7:31
  Speaker 2: do not understand.
• 7:32
  Speaker 3: I will take it to him myself as soon as
• 7:36
  Speaker 3: I have finished memorizing it.
• 7:38
  Speaker 2: Memorizing? Of course, my boy, so that only I will
• 7:42
  Speaker 2: know it. I, I see. But, uh, Dr. Hoffman, I... Yeah, yeah, well, well. Well, uh,
• 7:48
  Speaker 2: what if something were to happen to you?
• 7:50
  Speaker 4: Have no fear, my boy. Nothing will happen to me.
• 8:05
  Speaker 3: Yeah, and the tertiary curvature of 16 degrees from the
• 8:08
  Speaker 3: axis B equal to 1 plus A over E.
• 8:11
  Speaker 2: To the 9th. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 8:13
  Speaker 3: I have it now, I have it.
• 8:14
  Speaker 2: Get Mr.
• 8:14
  Speaker 7: Fernando the phone.
• 8:26
  Speaker 2: Yes, yes, hello?
• 8:28
  Speaker 3: Dr.
• 8:28
  Speaker 4: Hoffman?
• 8:30
  Speaker 2: Just one moment, please, doctor.
• 8:32
  Speaker 5: Yes, just a minute.
• 8:33
  Speaker 2: There we are.
• 8:35
  Speaker 3: Now the formula is only in my mind. So now, Stefan,
• 8:39
  Speaker 3: I am ready to talk to Mr.
• 8:40
  Speaker 2: Fernand. The phone, please. Yes, sir. Here, doctor.
• 8:44
  Speaker 1: Bernard?
• 8:46
  Speaker 3: Yes, Dr.
• 8:47
  Speaker 8: Hartman.
• 8:47
  Speaker 4: You're ready now?
• 8:48
  Speaker 2: You finished it? Yes, it is finished.
• 8:50
  Speaker 3: Today, as I promised you, I shall bring you the
• 8:53
  Speaker 3: formula for the new optical system. Oh, splendid. Splendid, sir.
• 8:58
  Speaker 4: Now, we're all set up here to begin work on
• 9:01
  Speaker 4: the lenses immediately. Good. Are you sure you wouldn't prefer
• 9:04
  Speaker 4: to have one of our men drive you in here?
• 9:06
  Speaker 2: Of course not.
• 9:07
  Speaker 3: I'm not a helpless old lady.
• 9:09
  Speaker 2: I shall drive in myself. Very well, very well, sir.
• 9:13
  Speaker 4: Nonetheless, although you may not know it, Colonel Humboldt has
• 9:16
  Speaker 4: arranged an armed escort for you. They're waiting in some
• 9:19
  Speaker 4: cars outside your home right now.
• 9:21
  Speaker 2: Of course I know it. I can see them from
• 9:23
  Speaker 2: the window.
• 9:24
  Speaker 3: Then you realize how anxious we are to give you
• 9:26
  Speaker 3: every protection, sir.
• 9:28
  Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah.
• 9:29
  Speaker 3: To protect me or the formula?
• 9:31
  Speaker 2: Oh, well, I... Yeah, I know, I know. But you
• 9:34
  Speaker 2: are no.
• 9:35
  Speaker 3: More anxious than I am, Fernand. For it is I
• 9:38
  Speaker 3: who have spent so many weeks in working it out.
• 9:41
  Speaker 2: Yes. Well, now I suggest you start immediately.
• 9:43
  Speaker 3: As you leave your driveway, the escort will follow you.
• 9:47
  Speaker 2: I shall leave immediately. Splendid, Dr.
• 9:50
  Speaker 3: Splendid.
• 9:51
  Speaker 4: I'll be waiting for you.
• 9:52
  Speaker 3: Goodbye. Yeah, goodbye.
• 9:55
  Speaker 2: Armed escorts, he says he has provided. I know. I
• 9:59
  Speaker 2: can see them now, Doctor. waiting outside. Do you need them?
• 10:02
  Speaker 2: Of course not. He is an idiot. That will only
• 10:05
  Speaker 2: make suspicion.
• 10:06
  Speaker 3: Instead of protecting me, Stefan, that will only endanger me.
• 10:12
  Speaker 2: You think you might be in danger?
• 10:13
  Speaker 3: With this great secret I now hold, of course I am,
• 10:17
  Speaker 3: my boy.
• 10:17
  Speaker 2: A danger from whom, doctor? Does it make any difference?
• 10:21
  Speaker 3: But Stefan, my boy, instead of the guard.
• 10:24
  Speaker 2: He has sent, I have a better plan. Yes? Yeah, yeah,
• 10:28
  Speaker 2: much better.
• 10:29
  Speaker 3: Only one that shall completely outwit anyone who might try
• 10:33
  Speaker 3: to intercept me on this mission.
• 10:35
  Speaker 2: What is it, doctor?
• 10:36
  Speaker 4: You will see.
• 10:37
  Speaker 3: Now, first you fetch my cloak with the hood, the
• 10:39
  Speaker 3: big hood on it.
• 10:41
  Speaker 2: And then? Then you tell Mario, the old gardener, that
• 10:44
  Speaker 2: I wish to speak with him. Do you mind telling
• 10:47
  Speaker 2: me why, Doctor? Just wait, my boy. Wait and see.
• 10:50
  Speaker 3: Now go get him, get old Mario, and bring him
• 10:52
  Speaker 3: in here.
• 10:53
  Speaker 2: Very well, sir.
• 10:53
  Speaker 6: THE END.
• 11:05
  Speaker 2: You sure you wouldn't like me to drive, doctor? No, no, no,
• 11:09
  Speaker 2: thank you. I shall drive.
• 11:11
  Speaker 8: You sound very happy, doctor.
• 11:16
  Speaker 5: Well, why not, my boy?
• 11:17
  Speaker 3: I have the formula now in my memory, and we
• 11:20
  Speaker 3: shall have no trouble getting into Fernald in the optical works.
• 11:25
  Speaker 3: In spite of all that armed escort nonsense.
• 11:28
  Speaker 2: That was rather unexpected, wasn't it?
• 11:30
  Speaker 3: Did you not see the guards about the house all
• 11:33
  Speaker 3: the time for all these weeks?
• 11:35
  Speaker 2: More nonsense. More nonsense.
• 11:38
  Speaker 4: But we fooled them now, haven't we? Yes.
• 11:41
  Speaker 2: Yes, we fooled them.
• 11:42
  Speaker 3: That poor Mario, all dressed up in my cloak.
• 11:45
  Speaker 4: The top of it pulled down over his face. He
• 11:48
  Speaker 4: looks so much like me, it almost fooled myself. and
• 11:51
  Speaker 4: not one of those silly men with.
• 11:53
  Speaker 3: The guns could know it wasn't me. And then, when
• 11:56
  Speaker 3: they were gone, by driving away in the open with
• 11:59
  Speaker 3: this old cow of Mario's, you and I, we made
• 12:03
  Speaker 3: no suspicion whatsoever.
• 12:05
  Speaker 2: It was very clever of you, Doctor. But not necessary, Stefan.
• 12:10
  Speaker 3: Because no one knows better than I do that there
• 12:13
  Speaker 3: are certain people who would like to prevent me from
• 12:16
  Speaker 3: delivering this formula.
• 12:18
  Speaker 2: You're quite right, Doctor. I'm so glad you thought of this. Yes.
• 12:22
  Speaker 2: Step up, my boy.
• 12:23
  Speaker 3: There are people who would stop at nothing.
• 12:26
  Speaker 2: At nothing, my boy. You're absolutely right, doctor. As you
• 12:30
  Speaker 2: can see, I hold a pistol here in my hand. Unnecessary,
• 12:34
  Speaker 2: my boy. Unnecessary.
• 12:36
  Speaker 3: Because everyone thinks we are in my car and far ahead.
• 12:40
  Speaker 2: And followed by the guards. No one knows that you
• 12:44
  Speaker 2: and I are here.
• 12:45
  Speaker 3: Comfortable, safe.
• 12:48
  Speaker 2: Step up. Yes, doctor. Oh, I see.
• 12:54
  Speaker 3: Your pistol, Stefan, is not for my protection. My loyal
• 13:01
  Speaker 3: apprentice has been one of them.
• 13:04
  Speaker 2: True, doctor. And in return for your life, you will
• 13:07
  Speaker 2: give me the formula.
• 13:08
  Speaker 5: No, Stefan, of.
• 13:09
  Speaker 2: Course I won't. You know better. Now put down that gun.
• 13:11
  Speaker 2: I'm sorry, Dr. Hoffman, but there is no choice. Either
• 13:15
  Speaker 2: you tell me the formula, slowly, so I can write
• 13:18
  Speaker 2: it down, or I pull this trigger. I suggest you
• 13:21
  Speaker 2: take the next little turn off. We can stop there
• 13:24
  Speaker 2: and be understood.
• 13:24
  Speaker 3: The secrets you must have stolen for them.
• 13:28
  Speaker 2: But this is the important one. Doctor, it's you or
• 13:32
  Speaker 2: the formula.
• 13:33
  Speaker 4: Well? No.
• 13:34
  Speaker 3: Never.
• 13:35
  Speaker 2: I will die before I give it to you. You
• 13:37
  Speaker 2: will die if you don't. Better stop and tell it
• 13:39
  Speaker 2: to me, Doctor. No, I will not do it. Then
• 13:41
  Speaker 2: there is only one thing I can do. keep you
• 13:44
  Speaker 2: from delivering it.
• 13:45
  Speaker 3: Only one thing, eh?
• 13:47
  Speaker 2: Slow down now and pull into that neck.
• 13:49
  Speaker 1: Only one thing, eh?
• 13:50
  Speaker 2: Doctor, slow down!
• 13:52
  Speaker 4: Slower, Hoffman!
• 13:54
  Speaker 7: That curve ahead!
• 13:55
  Speaker 4: Look out!
• 13:56
  Speaker 6: We're going off the road!
• 14:00
  Speaker 4: Help!
• 14:01
  Speaker 2: Help! And you say that you are the what? The gardener? Yes, sir, Mr. Farnell.
• 14:19
  Speaker 2: My name is Mario, sir.
• 14:21
  Speaker 4: But why did he send you in his place? What's
• 14:22
  Speaker 4: the matter with Hoffman? Didn't he see the guard that
• 14:25
  Speaker 4: Colonel Humboldt sent up there for him? Didn't he think
• 14:27
  Speaker 4: that we'd protect him adequately?
• 14:30
  Speaker 2: I'm sure I do not know, sir. But where is he?
• 14:32
  Speaker 2: Where is Hoffman?
• 14:33
  Speaker 3: He said that he and his apprentice, young Stefan, would
• 14:36
  Speaker 3: follow along in.
• 14:37
  Speaker 2: My car, sir. In your car? To avoid any suspicion, Dr.
• 14:43
  Speaker 2: Hoffman said.
• 14:45
  Speaker 5: Oh.
• 14:46
  Speaker 2: Oh, fine.
• 14:46
  Speaker 3: He was afraid the two cars full of armed men
• 14:50
  Speaker 3: would only attract attention, would only make it dangerous for him.
• 14:54
  Speaker 2: Oh, he did, eh? But where are they now? Where
• 14:56
  Speaker 2: are they?
• 14:57
  Speaker 3: Maybe if Colonel Humboldt sent out some of his men
• 15:01
  Speaker 3: to look for them.
• 15:02
  Speaker 2: The colonel's men have been backtracking that highway ever since
• 15:05
  Speaker 2: you got here. Oh, my dear, if anything happens to Hoffman...
• 15:08
  Speaker 2: It was very amusing, though, sir.
• 15:11
  Speaker 4: Did you say amusing? What can be amusing about a
• 15:14
  Speaker 4: situation like this?
• 15:16
  Speaker 3: Well, I mean when I got here. And even Colonel
• 15:19
  Speaker 3: Humboldt himself thought.
• 15:21
  Speaker 2: I was Dr.
• 15:22
  Speaker 3: Hoffman.
• 15:22
  Speaker 2: Amusing, eh?
• 15:24
  Speaker 4: Well, let me tell you something, Mario.
• 15:27
  Speaker 5: Humboldt, any luck?
• 15:28
  Speaker 2: Have you men found Hoffman yet?
• 15:30
  Speaker 4: No. No, for now, no, I'm afraid not. All we know,
• 15:34
  Speaker 4: and that was from a phone call to a neighbor,
• 15:36
  Speaker 4: is that Mario here has told us the truth about
• 15:39
  Speaker 4: Hoffman leaving there in Mario's car.
• 15:41
  Speaker 2: How long will it take your men to get to
• 15:42
  Speaker 2: his house out there?
• 15:43
  Speaker 4: Well, as a matter of fact, Fernald, they've already been there.
• 15:46
  Speaker 2: Oh, they've already been... Oh, excuse me.
• 15:49
  Speaker 4: Fernald speaking. Sergeant Granby, Mr.
• 15:51
  Speaker 2: Fernald.
• 15:52
  Speaker 4: Yes, you found him?
• 15:53
  Speaker 2: We found his car.
• 15:54
  Speaker 4: Yes. Completely wrecked, sir. What? It went over a cliff
• 15:58
  Speaker 4: at a curve.
• 15:59
  Speaker 2: Must have gone over at.
• 16:00
  Speaker 4: A very high speed, sir. Complete wrecked. And the doctor?
• 16:04
  Speaker 4: His body was inside of it.
• 16:06
  Speaker 2: He must have been killed instantly.
• 16:09
  Speaker 5: I see. Very well, Sergeant.
• 16:12
  Speaker 4: No sign of the assistant, though. The young scientist who
• 16:15
  Speaker 4: worked with him and left with him.
• 16:16
  Speaker 2: Thank you, Sergeant. Well? Well pronounced? An accident. Hoffman is dead.
• 16:22
  Speaker 4: Dead?
• 16:23
  Speaker 2: Oh, no.
• 16:24
  Speaker 4: And with him, the formula. But I don't understand about
• 16:28
  Speaker 4: his apprentice, Stefan. He's disappeared. What?
• 16:30
  Speaker 2: His apprentice? Yes. Stefan was with him.
• 16:33
  Speaker 4: He left there with him.
• 16:34
  Speaker 2: What are you trying to do? Why isn't he dead?
• 16:36
  Speaker 2: Of course not. You can't go in there. What is that?
• 16:38
  Speaker 5: What is this going on?
• 16:39
  Speaker 2: Don't you understand? I'm Dr.
• 16:42
  Speaker 1: Hoffman.
• 16:42
  Speaker 4: Bernard, what is this?
• 16:43
  Speaker 5: I say you're not Dr.
• 16:44
  Speaker 2: Hoffman. Hoffman. I'm sorry, Mr.
• 16:46
  Speaker 4: Fennell, but this man here insists that he's not.
• 16:49
  Speaker 2: Stefan. Who?
• 16:51
  Speaker 3: Stefan, what happened to you?
• 16:52
  Speaker 2: Why do you call me that, Mario?
• 16:54
  Speaker 4: Don't you know me? Your own employer.
• 16:58
  Speaker 2: But you are Stefan. Of course you are. But good heavens, man,
• 17:02
  Speaker 2: you're hurt and badly hurt. Now, what happened?
• 17:04
  Speaker 4: What happened to you? I had to crash the car
• 17:06
  Speaker 4: to save the formula.
• 17:07
  Speaker 2: Must be suffering from shock. He needs a doctor, I think. Wait, Colonel. Here,
• 17:11
  Speaker 2: my boy. Sit down.
• 17:12
  Speaker 4: Here, let me have my desk.
• 17:14
  Speaker 2: Badly bruised and bleeding. Now, now, there.
• 17:19
  Speaker 3: Now, Stefan, tell me.
• 17:20
  Speaker 2: Will you call me that, too?
• 17:22
  Speaker 4: What?
• 17:23
  Speaker 2: What is the matter with you? Don't you know me?
• 17:25
  Speaker 2: I am Hoffman. The doctor. There's no time to lose.
• 17:30
  Speaker 4: Yes.
• 17:31
  Speaker 2: Yes, there is no time. I must give you the
• 17:33
  Speaker 2: formula while I can. You? Paper. Pencil. Quickly while I'm
• 17:39
  Speaker 2: still able. Well, please, of course. Yes.
• 17:41
  Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah.
• 17:43
  Speaker 2: But how do you know it, Stefan? I tell you,
• 17:45
  Speaker 2: I am Hoffman speaking to you. Now, quiet, please. Well,
• 17:50
  Speaker 2: I still have strength to give the formula.
• 17:53
  Speaker 8: Well, if a giant is put before a tertiary curvature
• 18:01
  Speaker 8: of 18 degrees from the axis B, which is equal
• 18:08
  Speaker 8: to 1 plus A over E to the nth power.
• 18:15
  Speaker 2: Yes.
• 18:15
  Speaker 4: Yes. This man is out of his mind. That must
• 18:17
  Speaker 4: be gibberish. He thinks he's Hoffman.
• 18:19
  Speaker 2: Don't you see, Humboldt? Don't you see what he's writing?
• 18:23
  Speaker 2: The formula. The Hoffman secret. What?
• 18:26
  Speaker 4: You see how the various factors in it fit together
• 18:28
  Speaker 4: almost miraculously.
• 18:30
  Speaker 2: Look, look.
• 18:31
  Speaker 4: It's as only Hoffman himself could put it down. But
• 18:35
  Speaker 4: it's almost as though Stefan were possessed of... Possessed of
• 18:39
  Speaker 4: Hoffman's spirits.
• 18:41
  Speaker 2: Good heavens, Fernald, you... I mean, you really think that
• 18:44
  Speaker 2: such a thing is possible?
• 18:45
  Speaker 4: Well, I know that Hoffman talked about the supernatural, but this.
• 18:51
  Speaker 2: There, there, gentlemen. It's finished. I promised I would bring
• 18:57
  Speaker 2: it to you, and I have. Now look, my boy, look.
• 19:01
  Speaker 2: Now I must lie down.
• 19:02
  Speaker 4: Here.
• 19:05
  Speaker 2: He's fainted. No wonder with those injuries.
• 19:08
  Speaker 4: Mario, open that window and fetch some water.
• 19:10
  Speaker 2: No, no, wait, wait, wait, wait. For now, yes. Look,
• 19:14
  Speaker 2: he seems to be trying to say something more. It
• 19:17
  Speaker 2: might be important. I am sworn never to reveal. Yes, Dr. Hoffman,
• 19:28
  Speaker 2: I will tell.
• 19:29
  Speaker 4: I am Stephan Heron, American educated since 16.
• 19:35
  Speaker 2: But my prior rigorous training was as a spy. I've
• 19:41
  Speaker 2: scrupulously avoided contact with my government. Waiting for the right time.
• 19:48
  Speaker 2: The formula for the lens system... Unbelievable. You think so, eh?
• 20:02
  Speaker 2: Wait a minute.
• 20:03
  Speaker 4: Here.
• 20:05
  Speaker 2: Look at this. The empty holster on his hip.
• 20:09
  Speaker 4: And here... Here's a smaller gun, right here inside his belt.
• 20:13
  Speaker 4: And how about he's coming too? Fernand, if Hoffman is dead,
• 20:18
  Speaker 4: it's because this man killed him. Oh, not with his gun, perhaps.
• 20:22
  Speaker 4: It hasn't been fired.
• 20:24
  Speaker 2: Oh, no. Do not shoot me, please.
• 20:26
  Speaker 4: Shooting would be far too good for you, Stefan Heron.
• 20:29
  Speaker 2: It is Heron, isn't it? Yes. I am Heron. All right. Now,
• 20:36
  Speaker 2: how did you do it?
• 20:37
  Speaker 4: How did you kill him?
• 20:39
  Speaker 2: No, I did not. He tried to kill me.
• 20:42
  Speaker 4: To get the formula. That's why you killed him.
• 20:44
  Speaker 2: I tried. Tried to force him, but he wouldn't tell me. What?
• 20:49
  Speaker 2: He wouldn't tell me. He made the car go faster
• 20:52
  Speaker 2: and faster. And then the curve, and the car went over.
• 20:55
  Speaker 3: No, no, no.
• 20:56
  Speaker 4: Wait, wait.
• 20:57
  Speaker 2: Wait, Stefan.
• 20:59
  Speaker 4: You say he.
• 20:59
  Speaker 2: Didn't give you the formula? No. But I am content.
• 21:06
  Speaker 2: You hear me?
• 21:08
  Speaker 4: I am content because you and your country, you don't
• 21:13
  Speaker 4: have it either.
• 21:14
  Speaker 5: He wrecked the car.
• 21:17
  Speaker 2: He's dead. He can't give it to you. Nobody knows it. Wrong, Stefan. What?
• 21:25
  Speaker 2: Because Hoffman has given it to me. He has? Yes.
• 21:33
  Speaker 2: Through you. I still can't believe it, Renaud. I know, Colonel.
• 21:48
  Speaker 2: I know exactly how you feel.
• 21:49
  Speaker 4: And that is the reason I talked with the psychic investigator,
• 21:53
  Speaker 4: a man who's an expert about the so-called supernatural.
• 21:57
  Speaker 2: Oh, you did? Well, what did he say?
• 22:02
  Speaker 4: Only that there are many cases on record in which
• 22:04
  Speaker 4: an injury, especially one to the head... has resulted in
• 22:08
  Speaker 4: temporary personality control of the sort that we witnessed. Of
• 22:13
  Speaker 4: Stefan taking on Hoffman's personality. I understand such cases are
• 22:20
  Speaker 4: well recognized by the psychologists.
• 22:22
  Speaker 2: Yes, but what.
• 22:23
  Speaker 4: Of Stefan's temporary knowledge of the formula, Fernald? The formula
• 22:28
  Speaker 4: that existed only in the mind of Dr. Hoffman while
• 22:33
  Speaker 4: he was alive. Possibly, this psychic investigator told me.
• 22:38
  Speaker 2: Possibly, Colonel.
• 22:39
  Speaker 4: It was a case of thought transference.
• 22:43
  Speaker 2: Yes.
• 22:44
  Speaker 4: Thought transference occurring as a result of Hoffman's tremendous concentration
• 22:50
  Speaker 4: on his.
• 22:50
  Speaker 2: Formula at the moment of his death. But who knows?
• 22:59
  Speaker 2: What do you think? Suspense.
• 23:11
  Speaker 4: You've been listening to Formula for Death, written especially for
• 23:14
  Speaker 4: suspense by Jonathan Bundy. Suspense is produced and directed by
• 23:30
  Speaker 4: Fred Hendrickson. Music supervision by Ethel Huber. Heard in tonight's
• 23:34
  Speaker 4: story were Walter Grise as Colonel Humboldt, Ivor Francis as Pernald,
• 23:40
  Speaker 4: Herb Duncan as Stephan, Louis Van Rooten as Dr.
• 23:43
  Speaker 2: Hoffman, Guy Repp as the gardener.
• 23:47
  Speaker 4: Also David Kerman and Bob Reddick.
• 23:50
  Speaker 2: This is Stuart Metz speaking.
• 23:52
  Speaker 4: Listen again next week when we return with The Lunatic Hour,
• 23:55
  Speaker 4: written by John Robert. Another tale well calculated to keep
• 23:59
  Speaker 4: you in.
• 24:00
  Speaker 2: Suspense.
• 24:04
  Speaker 1: Our presentation of suspense, Formula for Death, has reached its conclusion.
• 24:08
  Speaker 1: Follow suspense for more classic broadcasts.