 Mole, M-O-L-L-E. Mole, the brushless shaving cream with a special protective film that guards your face presents the Mole Mystery Theatre. Tonight, Mole, the brushless shaving cream which puts face protection first, brings you another in the series of programs which puts mystery and excitement first. Each Tuesday night at this time, you hear one of the great mystery stories selected either from the famous classics or from the best of the moderns by Mr. Jeffrey Barnes. Mr. Barnes, having made a lifelong study of mystery fiction, is a connoisseur of fine-detected stories. Mr. Barnes. Good evening ladies and gentlemen and welcome to the Mole Mystery Theatre. Tonight's story is unusual in many ways. First, it is an original mystery written especially for radio. Secondly, it is the work of a young man who has never before written a mystery story. The writer is Corporal Frederick Mato. Corporal Mato walked into my office one morning with a script under his arm. I promised him I would read his story. I did. And I got the shock of my life. Here was a first-time effort and yet, in my opinion, it ranks with the very best in mystery literature. So it is with a great deal of pride that we now present for the first time anywhere a story written by Corporal Frederick Mato and entitled the comic strip murder. Before our Mole Mystery Theatre play begins, listen. Listen to the sound of a weapon fired at our men by the enemy, but aimed by someone here in America who talks too much. Yes, Americans, when someone here at home talks carelessly, it helps the enemy aim his bombs and guns and other weapons at our men. So don't you be that somewhat. If you know any war secret that has not been reported on the radio or in the newspapers, keep it a mystery and help keep our men alive. And now to our play, the comic strip murder. Two people sit on a dimly lighted terrace of a New York penthouse apartment. One is the district attorney. The other a woman who looks tense and frightened. 1130. And my husband is going to murder me at midnight, Mr. Hamlin. Tonight, Mrs. Ditson. You think being married to a comic strip artist has given me an overactive imagination? Well, I thought so too when I first went to see you, but not anymore. Look, Mr. Hamlin, let me tell you the whole story. These past few weeks, Mark has been drawing buzzle keys with blood on his pen. My blood. You follow buzzle keys in the morning telegram, don't you, Mr. Hamlin? Of course, everybody does. You've eaten up his lurid tale one bloody episode after another. Well, I've lived with that comic strip for nine years. It's been buzzle key this and buzzle key that until I could scream at the sight of a drawing board or a newspaper. Mr. Hamlin. No, I'm frightened. Very frightened. You see, Mark's murders are so messy. His fans love blood and pistol shots and poison and spike doors and char bones and and that's it. Gee, I was look, buzzle key's locked in the cellar. Okay, Mr. Say, you read buzzle key today. That guy's really in a jam. I think this one's soon getting tired of that babe's double time. He's going to kill it yet. Today. Yeah, but well, yeah, I read it. Yeah, bell, one lip bait, house and coffee. Yeah, and the telegram. Yeah. Why do you read buzzle key this morning? I think this one's all fellas gonna murder that chick Juliet. He's reading books on flesh eating the acid. If he's going to use that stuff, it's good by Juliet. She ain't going to keep that class as classy long. Yeah. But the state on that is you're gonna have to die. What's the case? What a killer wouldn't pull around like that. I don't want to buy. Mr. Hanley. I am Juliet in the comic strip. The reason Mark's going to kill me is because of John Slater. The mark and John are partners. Meal key strip. Got me. I remember the night buzzle keys was created nine years ago. Mark and John hadn't seen each other since they graduated from college the year before was our first wedding anniversary. And we were a small nightclub up town. It's about time you go down. That's right, John. We thought you'd never get here. You know, you've been promising to come eat for a long time. Took me that long to get over here saying yes to Mark and no to me you're going. Making any progress in the commercial art field, Mark. Well, this free land business is all right in spots, John, but but we do all right, John. I see like that. Mark, why don't you get into a steady line and all about newspapers, political cartoonists do well or say why don't you do a comic strip? Good money and if it catches on, well, I guess they don't like the sense of humor. Think about humor. Comic strips aren't funny anymore. Get up a good bloodshiller and adventure for a leading character. A detective may be a guy who's always getting into tough spots and getting out of them again. Fine, but you're the better. It's an idea. Look, look, do me something to show around about a week strips the balance of the story and outline. I'll tell it for you, Mark. What do you say? Well, why not? I think a detective would suit me best. Oh, should have an Irish name. Let me see. Brian of Keith. Okay, that's good. How about calling him by, you know, sort of a busy sounding name. Yeah, I don't key. Yes, I don't keep it as well. Waiter. Yes, sir. Bring us another round. We're going to drink to buzz. Oh, Keith, never mind. You'll know him soon enough. How about our kids were born with the family? John Slater and my husband Mark became partners. John is a promotion man and business manager. Perfect success story. Not quite. There are lots of things we didn't figure on. Mark worked hard and late to meet me. He paid the deadlines. He never went anywhere. I worked hard with him, I guess. I modeled, read to him, did research work and crime. We thought that the strip would let us lead a normal life after we got it going. Well, it didn't work out. Then John Slater began taking me off. Oh, it was my idea. He brought it up that afternoon. John dropped into the studio above. About two years ago. Hello, brother. What's buzzing today? Lodge is right. I'm in a mess here. Another O'Keefe. He's on the top of the building holding on to a high pension wire and concrete head Joe is cutting the wires and I'm rooting for concrete head Joe. Hi, John. Just dropped in to tell you about the new five-year contract I've got for us. How about celebrating? Oh, I can't, John. Too much to do. But say Julie's tired of working. Do her a good step out. Why don't you two celebrate? Good hunch. How about it, Julian? Well, the idea is pretty appealing. If you really don't mind, Mark. No, no, not at all. Run along and have fun. That should never have happened, Mr. Hammond. You see, I thought John Slater was over his crush army, but I guess he wasn't. And I guess I, I realized too that I was sick of his old peace and what he had done to nine years of my life. And that I was sick of Mark too. Well, one night about four months ago, while we were at a cocktail party, Mark came out into the garden and he found me in John Slater's army. There was no peace. Well, not then. We didn't talk at all until later in the car on the way home. I knew Mark's been drinking heavily, but he seemed sober to me. Finally, I couldn't stand that silence and I said something I've been meaning to say for a long time. Mark. Mark, I want you to divorce me. Out of the question, Julie darling, I need you near me for a while. It's more convenient. You see, I may want to kill you. Yes, Julie, kill you. What kind of a fool you take me for? Don't you think I know that that leech slater is taking away from me? I do all the work. He gets the same role as I do. And now it's you he's taking or has taken. Mark, aren't you drunk? Not that drunk, darling. Not that. I didn't close my eyes that night. I wanted to wake Mark to hear him say something that would assure me that he hadn't said what I knew he said. Well, the next morning, Mark came down the street on his robe as he always did. He seemed quite normal. Morning. Good morning. One of a day and all that. Good night, please. How about my morning top of coffee, darling? Mark. Mark, last night. Last night. Oh, last night. Yeah. Quite a bore we had, wasn't it? I remember part of it like selling the Manhattan all over Mrs. Drew or Trooper, whatever her name was. And then there was and then there was a drive home. Drive home? What about it? Oh, now, don't tell me I was feeding you great, Scott, won't I ever learn? Yes. Nothing. Here's your coffee. Thanks. Now you run along. Let me work. Oh, before you go. There's something you can tell me that will help. If you were a beautiful model named Juliet, you were going to be my dad. What would be the most horrible fate you could come? I'm beginning, Mr. Handley. First, I thought he was really planning a murder for his cartoon detective to solve. And then, well, one night, he went to a reception a publisher gave to Jim Tell the mystery novelist. While I was dancing, Mark and Tell sat down and began to talk. When I came back, they were sitting in an alcove and they were deep in conversation. They didn't notice me as I stood close enough to hear them. Can we tell me you haven't yet figured out a way to murder your character Juliet yet, Mark? Well, I have some ideas, but none of them quite satisfy me, Jim. You see, there's so many ways to kill a beautiful woman. And the man who's going to do it hates her so. I thought you might have a suggestion. Why murder her, then? She's so proud of her beauty, so arrogant. Well, wouldn't it be a more fitting revenge for your murder of me? Just figure her. I've considered that. And it is a test, but for my purpose, she must be killed. Maybe I can do both. Why not? You've created a shallow, treacherous beauty. Your rate is a relish thing of beauty destroyed before she dies. Jim, I think you've got something there. That's what I'll do. Oh, a straw, rather. I think I can do both by using a bath of flesh-eating acid. I can just see the murder. Julie! Julie, darling, are you all right? What happened? It was the next day that I first came to see Miss Hamlet. After I left her that day, I came back to the apartment to find Mark working feverishly at his table. I stood behind him as his wrong, slender fingers brushed in. Mark? Mark, why did you model your Julius apartment and her terrace after hours? Well, I could draw one from imagination when I have a perfectly good one coming here. It makes it easier, that's all. You were even putting in our fishpong. Very observant of you, my dear. Yep, I've got good news for that little item. Oh? Have you noticed the size and shape of our fishpong? Well, I... No, I measured it the other day. It's five and a half feet long, two feet wide, and 18 inches deep. Mark, you can't mean... Ah, but I do. It's a perfect cough. And by the way, Junior, in tomorrow's episode, we'll see a gallon drum of acid. Paper down and eat your breakfast. Yeah, yeah, yeah, sure. Gosh, looks as though Bozo Keep is going to have a murder to solve soon. I'm so surprised by the acid today. Ah! Okay, okay, I'm eating eight eyes. Sam, with thanks and glasses to the ceiling, you're sitting reading the newspaper. Oh, Mark, I thought you'd got a finish with Bozo Keep. The acid vessel was fine today. And for my tailor yet, just like to me was coming. Reading Bozo Keep? Ain't it something? Old Juliet's boyfriend's a murder movie. And yes, it's, well, isn't it just too horrible? Just an incident. That reminds me of a friend of mine who was always blaming things on coincidence. For instance, he'd always nick and irritate his face while shaving. Then he changed to Molle and started getting swell shades. He'd said, oh, that's just a lucky coincidence. But I noticed that he kept on using Molle and he kept on getting smooth, comfortable shades. And gentlemen, this is why. Molle Brushless Shaving Cream contains a special protective film. This special film helps guard your skin against tiny, almost invisible nicks and scrapes that make your shades uncomfortable. As a result, you get a really pleasant, comfortable shave every morning. So why not try it tomorrow? Remember to ask for Molle. The brushless shaving cream that puts face protection first. And now back to Jeffrey Barnes and act two of the comic strip murder. Julius Stetson sits in her penthouse apartment telling the district attorneys about her husband's plan to kill her. Kill her precisely as he plans to kill his comic strip character, Julius. Kill her by submerging her in a large fish pond filled with deadly acid. As you say, Mr. Hanley, Mark isn't well mentally. But that hasn't been for you out of runaway long ago. Well, after Van Thule, the comic strip character, bought the acid, Mark did the same thing. When I asked him about it, he only laughed at me. He showed me the labels and said it was dry cleaning for the way he bought from a tailor. He was going to clean the upholstery of the car himself. Mr. Hanley is the condenser in the fish pond right now. Look, today, this morning, I had an attack of hasty before I came down to the studio later than you. Mark seems very elated. Well, this is the day, Julia. The comic strip murder's finished. I've got the act to a murder taking place in three days' time. I've had him down for some time, but I've hidden him from you. Hidden him? Yes, but since I've turned him in this noon, I think it's only fair for you to see the fate of Thule, too. So here, take him. But, Mark, this man... That's right, Julia. See, it wasn't Thule who sent the acid-filled wine bottle. He looks a little like me, doesn't he? You've been watching her. I'm hating her. See how horrified Julia is. Look at the wonderful expression I've got on her face in this panel. When her husband takes the hypodermic needle out of his pocket, it's good, isn't it? And look at the action in these panels. See, he grabs her arm here and she stops the screen, but he gags her with his hand and plunges the needle into her neck. See, it's horrible. Needle in her neck. And here, by no touch, her husband kisses her gently on the forehead before putting on his rubber gloves. See? Here. And then he lowers her gently into the fish farm and she can't move a finger to stop it. You're trembling. I've never seen you so interested. So affected. Oh, should I take these away? Maybe you'd rather not see them. No, no, I... I mean, yes, I want to see them. Good. But that panel's the best. We show Juliet's husband calmly smoking a cigarette as he looks through the big smile on his lips. What's going on in the fish farm? Of course, we can't show that. But you can imagine. Can't you, darling? To me, we're... I'll be back late, darling, around midnight sometime. You'll be here, won't you? That's a story in every detail I can remember. I see. Mr. Hartley-Mark's going to be here any minute now, I know he's going to try to kill me because... Oh, tonight, tonight, Juliet, the girl in the comic strip, is going to be killed. I'm frightened, Mr. Hartley. I'm frightened something will go wrong with our plan. Mr. Hartley, you won't let him. I mean, he won't have time to... No, no, no, no, Mrs. Stetson. He won't have time to murder you. I'll be behind the screen every second. At any rate, if something does go wrong and he reaches you before I have time to interfere, use this revolver and use it quick. All right. And understand that the far end of the terror... Yes, as far away from the fish pond as you can. It's 12. You better... No, no, no, don't worry about a thing, Mrs. Stetson. I'll be behind the screen. Then I've got a real surprise for you. Where is that? Really, Juliet, dear, after all, this can't be news to you. We've gone over it before. You should be past being frightened by now. No, no, Mark, no. Stop screaming, you won't hurt. That's why I'm doing it. No, no, no, you're trying to kill me. They were blank cartridges. Mrs. Stetson, I arrest you for the attempted murder of your husband. What did you say? You can drop it now, Mrs. Stetson. It's curtain time. You don't know what you're talking about, but you saw him try to use that needle on me. What did you put into it this afternoon? Poison you put into your own hypodermic needle. All we know your husband has been giving you injections by APB. What about the acid? You and John Slater bought that acid, not your husband, Mrs. Stetson. You and Slater had motors for killing Mark, so he wouldn't give you a divorce to marry Slater, so with Mark dead, Slater would get your husband's royalties from the Fuzzle Keep Strip. And the plot for the entire Juliet Secret, that's why she gave me that. She gave me that story. I thought it was such a good story, too. But she was leading to this crime, but she, you listen. The most ingenious part of the whole thing was calling me in on the case. If I believed the story, she had just got through weaving for me, and if she had shot you, it would have been a clear case of self-defense with the district attorney as her star witness. But they always slip up somewhere. What do you mean, how? You'll forget that today was your wedding anniversary. No! So I was lucky enough to find that out. Mrs. Stetson, a man who was going to murder his wife, doesn't arrange a surprise party for her at midnight. Hey, Mrs. Stetson! Come back here! Stay away from that parapet! Juliet, don't climb over. You'll fall. Come back! Stop her. She's trying to walk along the legs of the pirate cave. Awkward Lord, it's 50 stories down. She's mad. Don't you look out! Don't you everybody look out! The bell. They had a presentation of... It's called The Little Shaver. Well, her shaving every day. That's the bell. Someone tell him about Moley. What? Shaving problems. Moley helps guard your face from irritating little... Because you see, Moley's special film has more real body and substance and light fluffy cream. It gives your razor something to ride on. And then also, Moley's special film contains a blend of beard softening ingredients and non-irritating oils that are actually of medical purity. Moley is made of official United States pharmacopoeia ingredients. Same as used to fill doctors' prescriptions. Yes, in every way, face protection comes first when you use Moley. So your first Moley shave is really pleasant. And day after day, as that special film helps guard your skin, your shave gets better, better and better. When you shave with M-O-L-L-E. The brushless shaving cream that puts face protection first. And now once again, Jeffrey Barnes to tell you about the Moley Mystery Theatre play for next week. For next week, ladies and gentlemen, I have chosen a classic short story of suspense and murder by the imminent W.W. Jacobs. It is entitled The Interruption. So, mystery fans, we invite you to be with us next week for an ingenious tale when you will learn the secret behind The Interruption. Original music for the Moley Mystery Theatre is composed and conducted by Jack Miller. The comic strip murder was written by Corporal Frederick Mayfield. Until next Tuesday, this is Dan Seymour saying good night and good shaving with Moley. The brushless shaving cream that puts face protection first. Every day, thousands of men and women supplement their diet with IY, ironized yeast tablets. Is your diet deficient in iron? Do you need more vitamin B1? IY tablets give you extra iron to help build rich red blood. Extra vitamin B1 to help keep nerve steady, help you maintain pep and strength. 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