 RCA Victor, world leader in radio, first in recorded music, first in television, proudly presents... Star, Alan Ladd, production, Chicago Deadline, director, Lewis Allen. Hollywood screen directors present the transcribed journal of a phantom search. Tonight, for the first time on the air, the motion picture drama, Chicago Deadline, starring Alan Ladd in his original role of Ed Adams. In the pale half-light of a hospital room, a man and woman stand beside a bed, watching the bright, restless eyes of Ed Adams and hearing his scattered words. Rosita, didn't have to die. I had to tell him, make them understand. Rosita, everything and the dress book. Rosita, didn't have to die. He's sick, Doctor. So sick. I had to tell him. It is a good hospital, isn't it? You'll take care of him. Make them understand. Miss Purdy, you said Mr. Adams is a reporter. A reporter. Ed says they build him tough in Chicago. Who's this Rosita? Is he in love with her? No way, I guess. He must have fallen in love with her. I don't know when, last night, today. We should find her. I know where she is, Doctor. Where? The city morgue. She died yesterday morning. Leona. Yes, Anna. It's Leona. Why? I wanted to help, right? I wanted to help, Rosita. Ed, you can't help her anymore. Leona. You have to sleep. Tired? Sleep. Rosita, listen, Rosita. You gave me a deadline until you were buried. I had till then to find out your story, to tell them the truth about you. And now they'll, they'll bury you. I tried, Rosita, from the beginning yesterday morning. I run a straight hotel, Ed. Maggie, I told you there's $10 in it if anything happens to your hotel. And you call me at the Chronicle before you call like us. Well, I did, Ed. All right, here's your $10. Now, what's up? Right in this room here is a girl. She's dead. Yeah, what killed her? She's nothing died. Sick Ed, TB. Oh, I paid $10 to find out a girl died from TB in this flea trap? What'd you expect, Ed? Lincoln's assassination? Well, let's have a look at her. Why, is she just a kid? Yeah, pretty kid, too. Great way to check out, isn't it? What's her name, Maggie? Oh, it's French or something. Rosita, Rosita Jean-Dure. Rosita Jean-Dure. Do you have any baggage? Yeah, those few things on the dresser, Ed. The worldly possessions of Rosita Jean-Dure. Lipstick, nail file, a dress book, names, phone numbers. Must be half a hundred. Yeah, you find this uninteresting? It's hard to say, Maggie. You don't go back to the office to make about 50 phone calls and find out. OK, Pig, I fixed it with the city desk. Yeah? You're working with me on the story. What's the deal, Ed? All this fuss about in the dress book. I borrowed it, Pig. A sweet-faced kid named Rosita Jean-Dure. She died this morning. So? So a girl nobody knows conks off in a crummy hotel room. No friends, no relatives. Just an address book full of names. What names? Meridim, Solly Wellman, Gangster, Blackie Franchot, Gangster, John Spingler, Gangster. So she knew people. And that means that people knew her. But every time I ask about Rosita Jean-Dure, they get sudden attacks of galloping amnesia. No kidding. Listen, Ed. Let's try this name, G.G. Temple. Temple? That's a big wheel, Ed. President of the Iroquois Trust. Emma. Mr. Temple? Yes. Ed Adams, Chronicle. How did you get my private number? From Rosita Jean-Dure, just before she died this morning. Oh, funny, she had your private number, isn't she? Mr. Adams, if the Chronicle connects my name with this woman, I'll sue the paper for every cent it has. See, Pig? Just a girl nobody ever heard of. Let's try the next one. Tommy? Yes? This is a friend of Rosita's, Tommy. Oh? She died this morning. Hello? Tommy? I'm a newspaper man, Ed Adams. I was wondering, Tommy, could you identify the body force? Yes. And you may get it at 8 o'clock tonight at the morgue? Tommy? Tommy? Well, at least somebody admits knowing her. Sounds fun. Let's try again, huh? Here's Belle Dorset, listed at the Lander Arms. Arms? Belle Dorset, please. Hello? Hello, Belle? That's a friend of Rosita's. Rosita? She just died, Belle. I don't know her. I never heard of her. Let me alone. Just a girl, Pig. And you bounce the corpse down the street, and suddenly you've got to place all yourself. What next, strongheart? Next. First, I want to call back the operator at the landowner and offer a fin to find out where Belle Dorset goes if she leaves the apartment house. Gotcha. And I'm going hunting with Rosita's address book until I find out why and how. I'm getting sore, Pig. So you're the guy the newspaper phoned about. That's right. What about Belle Dorset? Did she leave after that phone call? Bag and baggage, son. No forwarding address. Next in the book, Mr. John Spingler. You hear about Rosita? What about her? She's dead, Spingler. TB. I don't know her. But I'll stick her to a funeral if you keep it quiet. Let's try the next name in your address book. Let's try Leona Purdy. Hi. Leona Purdy? Yeah. This is where the party is. Come on in. Thanks. Well, who's friend of a friend of you? I'm a friend of Rosita's. Who are you? I'm a reporter, Ed Adams. Want to tell me about it, Ed? Want to tell me about Rosita? Why? She's dead. Oh. Talk, Leona? Not now. When? Later. Don't look at me like that. I promise I won't make a pass at you. My mother will be glad to know. Now, if you'll pardon me, baby, I'm going to go and cool off. Where? The city morgue. Yes, that's her. That's Rosita. Who was she? My sister. Tell me about her, Tony. She ran away when she was only 17. Married a fellow named Paul Gendure. Where is he now? He was killed in an automobile accident four years ago, but she wasn't happy with him. She was terribly hurt by something that happened to their marriage. And after he died? Rosita came here to Chicago. She moved around a lot. But every year on my birthday, we had dinner. Yeah? Pig's on the phone at the office, holding a call for you on the board. OK. Hello? Ed, I got Blackie Brancho on the board. He called in. You remember him? Yeah, sure. He's in a Rosita's book. Big shot monster about a year or so ago. I'll put him on, Pig. Hello, Blackie, this is Adams. Yeah, I want to tell you about Rosita. Well, I'll be right over. Hurry it up, Adams. I won't. Blackie, who was it? Who shot you? But who was that guy? How do I know? We just had a direct line of Blackie Brancho's murder. Why do you have to go and get himself killed off now? Why? Because a girl died this morning. A girl nobody ever heard of. A girl named Rosita. Directed Playhouse production of Chicago Deadline, starring Alan Ladd and presented by RCA Victor. If you're a typical American anywhere between the ages of 3 and 93, you will have the time of your life, the day you install your RCA Victor television set. When you go see the latest RCA Victor models, you're bound to be impressed by such imperial instruments as the TA-169. It brings you RCA Victor's supreme achievement in every field of electronic entertainment all in one beautiful cabinet. AM and FM radio, a phonograph to play all three record speeds, plus 16-inch eyewitness television from every angle of finest television in the world. There are two record changers. The amazing RCA Victor 45 RPM 7-inch records have their own changer with all its added advantages and conveniences, and a second changer plays 78 and 33 and a third RPM records. See the TA-169 at your RCA Victor dealers. It's 16-inch. It's an RCA Victor. It's every inch a king. And now back to the Screen Directors Playhouse production of Chicago Deadline, starring Alan Ladd in his original role of Ed Adams. You see, I tried Rosita. I found a few scraps of your life, bits and pieces, and the people who wouldn't talk and those who did. I found out that Blackie Frencho loved you. He told me as he died. I left the morgue Rosita and started for his apartment. I just stepped out of the cab, and then I found another piece of your life. Ed Adams. Solly Wellman. I've been wondering when you would turn up. Get in the car. We can talk. Won't that be nice? Now, why would I turn up, Ed Adams? You left your calling card in Rosita's genre's address book. Too bad about Rosita. Too bad about Blackie Frencho. What happened to him? An hilarious attack of murder. Solly, what did Rosita have to do with this? Nothing. I'll find out something. Look, Adams. Nobody likes to hurt reporters, but sometimes a wise guy brings it on himself. That's the end of our talk. Here's where you get out. Maybe next time we talk, Wellman, I can make it more exciting. I said get out. Yeah. Thanks for the ride. Well, the man did come back. On business. At this time, and I get out of my apartment. Blackie Frencho was shot tonight. Oh, Ed. That means something, huh? Ed, forget Rosita. You'll get into trouble. I'm already in trouble. What does Blackie fit in? How does it happen that a guy who loved her gets knocked off after she's dead? I don't know, Ed. Rosita and I were roommates. Blackie Frencho was in the rackets, but a nice guy. He made her play for Rosita. But first she didn't want any part of him. Then she began to trust him and like him and love him. What happened? Party one night. A lot of big shots were there. Yeah, who? Gildedge Gunman named Solly Wellman. We've met. And a dollar happy financier named Gigi Temple. Of the Iroquois Trust. He's another guy who made Rosita's edition of Who's Who. And Rosita was at the party with Blackie. They were dancing together. Then John came over and tapped Blackie on the shoulder. John? John who? John Spingler. He works for Solly Wellman. Big-hearted Spingler. He wants to stake Rosita to her funeral. He told Blackie that Solly Wellman wanted to see him. Who is Solly with? It's girl, Belle Dorset. Belle Dorset, sure. There must have been some party. Why? Because all those names turned up in Rosita's address book. They must have given her something to remember. I guess they did. Because as soon as Blackie left her to talk to Solly, another man asked her to dance. It was Gigi Temple. How big a play did he make? Very big. What about Blackie Franchot? He was still number one with Rosita. Then she visited him one evening. She found him beaten to a pulp. Rosita took him out of town. He recovered. But his nerve was gone. He ran away. And Rosita? We lost each other. But I heard she was doing all right. With Gigi Temple? That's right. With Gigi Temple. Strange, kid. How does it all fit together, Leon? She was tied in with Blackie and Blackie's dead. She was tied in with Temple and he's scared green. So was Solly Wellman. So was John Spingler. What's the connection? Spingler worked for Wellman. That's all I know. I wonder what Rosita was really like. Leon, I can't get her face out of my mind. She was all right, Ed. Like a fine locomotive that hits the wrong switch and rides onto the wrong track. Yeah. Who pulled the switch? Who let her die? She was sick. So that makes it all right, huh? No, Ed. No. Somebody was responsible. Somebody in that little address book of hers. Where are you going? Oh, I don't know. War, think, pull names out of the head. It'll be morning soon. Maybe by then. Maybe we'll be able to do something for Rosita. Good night, baby. I think it isn't working. None of it tanks together. Boy, this Rosita was some doll. We had a barrier right here in the city room. Now don't be cute, not now. OK, OK. I'm still trying to track down Belle Dorset. Stick with it, pig. And check on John Spingler, the heart of gold who offered to bury Rosita. Somebody else did too, Ed. The Moore got an envelope with $500 bucks in it. Pig, I want you to arrange a funeral for me tomorrow morning, small and quiet and no circusing. Right. Where are you going now? I'm going to crash the private office of G.G. Temple. I told you once, Adam, stay out of my hair. All I want to do is thank you, Mr. Temple. For what? The $500 for Rosita's funeral. I don't know what you're talking about. You knew Blackie Francho didn't you, Temple? And Solly Wellman and Belle Dorset and John Spingler. You were with them at the party where you met Rosita. Now see here, Adam. She paid me for a big financial man like you, Temple. Do you want to hear more? I do not. You went crazy over Rosita. But she wouldn't have any part of you until Blackie Francho was mugged and run off. A guy named Solly Wellman did it. You work well together, don't you, Temple? You and Solly Wellman. Get out of this office. Sure. Kind of warm in here, isn't it? It'll get warmer, pal. Just for example, let's look at Rosita's address book. I think I'll pay a call on Mr. Hotspur Schaener, and a woman named Hazel. Mean anything, Mr. Temple? Mr. Adams, I can't believe that Rosita is dead. She was the finest young woman I've ever met. How did you meet her? My nephew brought her to the house, John Spingler. Spingler? Rosita left me about four months ago. Suddenly, I think she and my nephew had a spat of some kind. So die, Schaener, I'll get it. Hello? Mr. Schaener? Who's this? The police homicide. You got a nephew by the name of John Spingler. What about him? He was found shot to death in a ditch one hour ago. Hazel, you say you were Rosita's main. She was a nice person, Mr. Adams. Then why did you leave her? I didn't exactly leave. She came home one night with Mr. Temple. They were quarreling. I heard her scream in a kind of a thud. Then Mr. Temple came in, and he told me that Miss Rosita was going away, that she wouldn't need me no more. Is that all you know, Hazel? That's all I know. What's up, Pig? We just got a police report. G.G. Temple has committed suicide. Blew his brains out. Sure. Sure he would. All right, Pig, that clears up most of it. Have you got a line on Belle Dorsey's jet? Well, I meant to tell you about that. She's staying at her mother's. Here's the address 674 West Hartford. How did you find me? What do you want? Some talk about Rosita. I don't know anything. I do. I know Sally killed Blackie Frencho. Blackie hated Sally like death because of that beating, and I know Temple was financing Sally in the rackets. I don't want to hear anymore. I don't want to listen. Blackie was afraid to move in on Sally Wellman because he thought they had Rosita. When he heard Rosita was dead, well, Sally knew it was either him or Blackie, and Sally got there first. Go on, Adams. Keep talking. Right into the gun. Sally Wellman. Tough Sally Wellman. Break a girl apart for a buck. How do you figure it? G.G. Temple. When he had that fight with Rosita, he knocked her down. She was unconscious. But he was sap enough to think he had killed her. And he called you, Sally, the only one who could get rid of the body for him. You're making lots of noise. But you found out Rosita was alive. You wanted her dead out of the way so you could shake down G.G. Temple. And you made a mistake, Sally. You gave it to John Spingler. So? Spingler didn't kill her. He liked her. So he took her to his uncle's place to hide on. Everything was fine until Spingler began getting amorous. He forced Rosita to run away. She was alone again now. Alone and beaten and ashamed. And she just gave up. She gave up and died. Sally, you kill Blacky out of fear, and you kill Spingler for double-crossing you. And you scared G.G. Temple into suicide. A triple play, Sally. Congratulations. Not a triple play, Adams. Four-part harmony. And because you're so smart, you're the fourth part. What about Belle here? Going to kill your girl, too, Sally? She knows now. Sally, I... Sure, maybe we can rig up something. Maybe the two of you together. You know, double-shooting. Sally! You rotten gun heavy! You asked for it, Adams. Sally, turn around. You killed him. He was going to kill me, operator. Mr. Adams has been shot. Call an ambulance. Now they'll know, Rosita. They'll know all of it. You'll be buried tomorrow, and maybe... maybe there'll be somebody to care. I'm sorry, Rosita. Truly sorry. But you were important. Everybody's important. Now they'll know, Rosita. They'll know all of your story. And you should be sleeping. Hello, Leon. Hello, Ed. You were restless, talking. What about? Rosita, her story. What was it, Ed? Just a story. Read it in the papers. This is Jimmy Wallington speaking. You have just heard the last act of Chicago Deadline. Our star, Alan Ladd, and our guest screen director, Lewis Allen, will be with us in just a moment. Next Friday, the screen director's playhouse is proud to present a performance by one of Hollywood's greatest actresses, the winner of this year's Academy Award. Our story is the dark mirror, and recreating her original role will be Olivia DeHavilland, with screen director Robert C. Odbeck. Now here to get us tonight's star, Alan Ladd. I really make it tough for you in some of your screen roles. What do you mean, Jimmy? Well, first you meet the girl, then you lose the girl. I'd say that's really tough luck for charming guys like you and me, of course. It certainly is, Jimmy. But you know, in real life, I got the girl. You certainly did, Alan, and lived happily ever after on that ranch of yours, with four handsome children. And don't forget all the horses. And a ranch house equipped with the world's finest automatic phonograph at RCA Victor 45. And a stable. And a large library of the 45 records, which I'll bet includes everything on four feet. From Dennis Dayes, the horse told me to Alan Jones' donkey serenade. Well, you're right there, Jimmy, and some of my best friends are people, too. I've got 45 mutual tickets on thoroughbreds like Tuscanini, Heifetz, Horowitz, the whole field. They pay off big when it comes to musical entertainment, and they don't take up much room in my stall. Yes, Alan, as you well know, the 45-table phonograph itself is less than a foot square. A compact little beauty in dark maroon, with gold and trimming. And so lightweight, you can carry it under one arm. And you can line up 150 of the 45 records on one foot of ordinary bookshelf. 150 to one, Jimmy. Even kids will go for those odds. Say, Alan, one of your boys is only three, isn't he? Yes, little David. He's still too small to lick his weight in lollipops, though. Well, can he operate your 45 phonograph? Like a breeze, Jimmy. That ease of operation is one reason why the 45 is the fastest selling of all recorded music systems. And of course, another reason is the price. The 45 phonograph, the one which all the lads are crazy about, cost as little as $29.95. The 45 automatic record changer can be had for $12.95. And prices on the record start as low as $0.46 plus tax. So see your RCA Victor dealer soon and set your home life to the music of the 45. Ladies and gentlemen, you might think that the appropriate director for Chicago Deadline would be a former newspaper man born in Chicago. You'd be wrong. He's a former merchant seaman born in England. And if you ask why he's appropriate, it's because the guy can do anything. Now I'd like you to meet him, the versatile director of such other pictures as the uninvited, the perfect marriage, and so even my love. Louis Allen. Thank you, Allen. You know, with Chicago Deadline, I'm convinced I made motion picture history. How, Lou? I directed a film in which Alan Ladd didn't get the girl. Well, you have to admit, Rosita was a hard girl to strike up a conversation with. On the other hand, Allen, as I listened to the show tonight, I thought she made the ideal leading lady. Are you speaking as an actor or a director? Oh, definitely as a director. In the first place, she showed absolutely no temperament. An angel to work with? Exactly. In the second place, we didn't have to pay her. Financially sound. And in the third place? In the third place, it was a pleasure to have no love scenes to direct. Lou, you were speaking as a director. Now speak as an actor. As an actor, I despise a director who gave me a leading lady like that. Good night, Allen. Good night, Lou, and no hard feelings. Good night, everyone. And good night to you, Allen Ladd and Lewis Allen. Remember, next Friday, the two-time Academy Award winner, Olivia DeHavilland, in The Dark Mirror, with screen director Robert C. Audmack, brought to you by RCA Victor, world leader in radio, first in recorded music, first in television. Part of $67 million is yours, not to receive but to give. Your donation to the Red Cross will bring new health and hope to the sick, the disaster stricken, the defenseless. All of us, every single person, can help through the American Red Cross. Chicago Deadline was presented through the courtesy of Paramount Pictures, whose latest release is Riding High, starring Bing Crosby. Allen Ladd will soon be seen in the Paramount Picture, Captain Carrie, USA. Lewis Allen's latest production for Paramount is United States Mail, also starring Allen Ladd. Chicago Deadline, from the novel by Tiffany Thayer, was adapted for radio by Richard Allen Simmons. An original music was composed and conducted by William Lava. Screen director's Playhouse is produced by Howard Wiley, with dramatic direction by Bill Karn. Portions of this program were transcribed. You are invited to listen again next Friday when RCA Victor presents. Screen director's Playhouse star, Olivia DeHavilland, production, The Dark Mirror, director Robert C. Audmack. Now here, Jimmy, the great Rupert Serrati, next on NBC.