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Quickly, but also gently, colonel's erases stubborn surface stains from teeth, revealing all their glorious natural brilliance. Get colonel's, K-O-L-Y-N-O-S, colonel's toothpaste at your drugstore tonight. Now, Mr. Keen tracer of lost persons, who tonight takes from his files one of his most unusual and most bewildering cases. The case of the girl who flirted. The girl is an art student, gay and beautiful, but just a little too adventurous. It all starts one day in a museum, where Betty March is at work copying a painting and a charming stranger walks up to say. Not bad. Not bad at all. Well, I beg your pardon. I'd almost say you had signs of talent, young woman. Well, I did not happen to ask your opinion. If anyone in this town knows painting, it's I. I ought to be furious with you. Are you? No. Just terribly amused. I like people to be unconventional. Tell me some more, Mr. Whoever you are. Yes, that's how it started. Now, several days later, we find Mr. Keen in his office talking to a very distressed man. Robert Colby, assistant curator of the Manhattan Museum. I tell you, Mr. Keen, nothing's ever happened like this, nor the years since the museum was founded. The girl walked off in the midst of copying a painting. There's been no sign of her since. Well, let's start at the beginning, Mr. Colby, shall we? First, what is the girl's full name? Elizabeth March. According to her application for a museum permit, she's now 22. Go on, Mr. Colby, please. Well, lately, she's been copying that big painting by Whistler in the American Room. Oh, you mean the portrait of Mrs. Farmington and her daughters? Yes, that's right. Now, the last time I saw Betty was four days ago, Monday. Betty, eh? Your unfamiliar terms. She's lovely, Mr. Keen. Charming, spirited. Well, now, under what circumstances did you last see her? I dropped into the American Room where she was copying the Whistler painting to ask her to lunch. She looked up from her easel and said... No, Mr. Robert Colby. No can do. Why not? Too busy, Bob. Oh, that man, Whistler. Has he insulted you, Betty? Why did he always have to sign his paintings with those complicated little butterflies in one corner? I'm having an awful time trying to copy it. Oh, forget the butterflies, Betty, and come to lunch. I have a question to ask you. Oh, yes, I know. Well, will you marry me? No, Mr. Robert Colby, assistant curator of the Manhattan Museum. I will not marry you. Oh, what's wrong with me? Nothing at all. That's the trouble. Don't understand. You're just too darned correct to be alive. Why? The man I'm going to marry will have to be somebody exciting, somebody dashing, somebody dangerous. Oh, now, stop talking like a Greenwich Village Bohemian. See, you are a stuffed chard. Still want to take me to lunch, Mr. Colby? No, I do not, Miss March. Good-bye and good luck. Well, yes, she certainly is a very spirited young woman, isn't she? What happened next? Well, I came back in the afternoon, Mr. Kingdom, make up. Her easel was still there in its usual place, but no sign of Betty. So that night I went to her apartment. Still no luck. Again the next day and the day after. This morning, finally, I talked to the attendant in the American room. Did the attendant have anything to report? Great deal. After our little spat, Betty sat down at her easel to work again on the butterfly signature. A few minutes later, a tall, dark-haired man came by. He stopped by Betty's easel. The next thing the attendant heard, Betty, say something like this. I like people to be unconventional. Tell me some more, Mr. Whoever you are. I've seen you here many times before. And I've noticed you. Oh, have you? First time was in the Egyptian room. We bumped into each other in the tomb of the Pharaoh. I said, I beg your pardon, miss. And I said, I beg your pardon, sir. Yes, and something more. From where my easel stands, I have a very good view of the Italian room next door. And? You have been observed on three different occasions, standing there in front of the Annunciation of Parolini. Your spies have been busy. You admire the Annunciation very much, don't you? There's another work I admire even more. A 20th century masterpiece. You. Wonderful. Who are you anyhow? Just the man who wandered into a museum and saw a very beautiful girl. Seriously. I could tell you better over lunch. Oh, lunch? Please. Well, I don't think I ought to give in so easily. Argue with me five minutes more. And did they finally go off together, Mr. Colby? Yes. After Betty finished up a few more details on the painting. Well, what do you think of it, Mr. Keen? Well, frankly, I don't like the sound of it. It wouldn't be the first time a girl was lured into something very unpleasant by a charming stranger. Then please, Mr. Keen, try to find her. I most certainly will, Colby. And as the first step, tell me, is Betty's easel still standing there in the American room? Exactly as it was the last time she used it. Then take me there at once. There you are, Mr. Keen. Judging from this painting, Betty's a very talented girl. Oh, yes, yes, indeed. Did she usually place her stool in just this spot? Yes, it gave the best light. One moment. What is it, Mr. Keen? Why are you staring so hard at Betty's copy? I wonder if there's a magnifying glass handy. I'll have the attendant get one. Oh, Billings. Yes, Mr. Colby. Look into Mr. Vanderhoff's office, please, and ask him if I could have a magnifying glass for a moment. I'll be right back, sir. Mr. Keen, you've got me up a tree. First, you were talking about the position of the stool. Oh, yes. In fact, I am going to sit down on it right now and make a little investigation. Well? Observe one thing. From this position, Betty at all times had a view through that open door into the next room. The Italian room. Oh, there comes the attendant now with that magnifying glass. Here you are, sir. Thanks. Let me have it at once. Right. Oh, what are you looking for, Mr. Keen? I'm... I'm looking for a... By Jove, I found it. But what is it? Colby, I was impressed by one thing. You told me how Betty went off with the stranger, that she stopped first to finish a few details. Asked for five more minutes to paint. Yes, yes. Now take this glass. Yes, I have it. Turn it on the butterfly signature in the corner. Concentrate on those very fine strokes in the wings. The wings? Yes, I see it now. Dear Bob, Studio T-Room. She had a feeling she might be in danger. That message was just in case she didn't come back. Well, of course, but why? What danger? You know that restaurant? Yes, it's a hangout for artists in Greenwich Village. Let's go. Let's go as fast as we can. Can I take it, Miss Groody, that you are the owner of this restaurant? Yeah, that's right. Do you happen to know Miss Betty March? Of course. She ate here often. I wonder if you remember her coming here last Monday for lunch. Well, I... Don't mind me, please. This isn't a case of a jealous lover. Well, in that case, yes, she came in with a tall, handsome man and took a table near the cash register here. The reason I remember so well is... Yes, Miss Groody? Well, after an hour or so, the place was clearing out and... I heard Betty say... Well, thanks for a very good lunch and some grand conversation. You're not going already? I've got to. Back to the museum. Back to work. That's a silly idea. Why don't you come along to my place instead? I'll show you some of my own work. Well, it's very kind of you, but I couldn't, really. Would that be too unconventional? Well, I... Just a while ago, you were talking about how you loved adventure. Well, I'm going to hold you to that. Please, let go of my arm. Oh, no. You're coming along with me. Even if I have to kidnap you, darling. Let go of me. I'll scream. If you do, I'll put my hand over your mouth and gag you did. Help! You see, darling, it doesn't help. Better come along quietly now. That's a good girl. That's a good girl. And then what happened, Miss Grootie? Well, there was a car at the curb, and he took her inside and drove off. Great, Scott. Why didn't you stop him? Oh, well, you know these artists. I thought it was all in fun. Miss Grootie, did you get the license number by any chance? No. There didn't seem to be any reason. Well, thank you anyhow. Well, not at all. I... Well, I hope the poor girl hasn't come to any harm. Gone. Vanished completely. I'm afraid so, Colby. What do we do now, Mr. Keener? Now? Now we play another hudge. What do you mean? Tell me something, Colby. What is the most valuable painting your museum owns? Oh, one that I mentioned before, the Nunciation Byron Naldo Parolini. Well, if you want my advice, remove it from the wall at once. What? Have it examined by the best technical expert on your staff. Do that, and I think I can still find Betty March. Mr. van der Hoff, how's it coming? Do not disturb me. I will be finished in a moment. He's experts, Mr. Keene. He's been at it all morning. Calm yourself. How can I, when Betty may be in danger of her life? This seems a very roundabout way of finding her, Mr. Keene, if you'll pardon my saying so. But it's the only way I know. Look, here's van der Hoff. Now he's finished. Come in, gentlemen. Thank you. There's the painting. Look at it, gentlemen. A magnificent work of art, as far as the eye can tell. Tell us, Mr. van der Hoff, what did you find? First, Mr. Colby, in accordance with my usual routine, I subjected the painting to an x-ray examination. Yes. I followed this with a spectroscopic analysis. Yes, yes. Finally, I tested minute portions of the pigmentation for chemical content. Well, gentlemen, I am compelled to report that this masterpiece is a fake. What? Very skillful, but a fake. Impossible. It is a fake entirely so. The original has been stolen, this copy substituted in its place. Exactly what I thought and feared. The man who did this is one of the most skillful copyists alive. What type of paint did he use? What tempera, of course. The same as the original. Oil paint did not come into use until several centuries after Perolini. I must report this to the director at once, of course. One moment, please, Mr. van der Hoff. Yes, Mr. Keen. You may also tell the director that I'll do everything in my power to recover the stolen original. Good, good. And that I strongly advise against any publicity at the moment. I will tell you. Mr. Keen, two things aren't really connected. Of course they are. Betty's disappearance and the theft of the painting are one and the same case. But how, how? Well, here's my theory, Colby. The men who stole the Perolini are cautious, methodical people. They must have worked for months to prepare their fake painting. After that, it was only a question of finding the right moment to snatch the original from its frame and substitute the copy. Yes. They decided, of course, to do it on a Monday when there are few visitors and museums. Yes, that's the day we charge admission. Usually only students are present. But that still left one obstacle, Betty. You remember I told you that from where she sat she had a good view of the Italian room at all times, a perfect view of the painting to be stolen? Yes. Well, that's where the charming stranger came in. He was assigned to lure Betty away and keep her away. But why are they still holding her? It's my guess that she'd seen the man admiring the enunciation just a little too often. She knew something was up. And at lunch with the charming gentleman, she probably gave herself away. Poor kid. So then she had to be held prisoner until the painting was safely disposed of, sent out of the country, perhaps. But what do we do now? Yes. What do we do now? Mr. Keen, you're supposed to be an investigator, not an echo. My dear fellow, I assure you I'll do everything possible. Oh, I'm sorry. Give me a moment. Let me... Colby, your expert just said that this fake painting was very skillful, but like the original, it was painted in tempera. It fooled me. Correct me if I'm wrong. But there must be very few painters alive today who could do work like that in tempera. A few dozen, that's all, Mr. Keen. All right. I have an assignment for you, because it takes an art expert. Yes. And if you don't come through, and if this doesn't find Betty, I don't know what will. Well, fire away, Mr. Keen. What's my assignment? Dig up all the catalogs of recent art exhibitions that you can find. Go back 10 years if necessary. Yes, yes. But get me the name of every outstanding artist in this country who paints in tempera. I will. Somewhere in that list will be the man who did that fake Parolini. We'll check over the entire list. And by process of the elimination, we'll find the forger and the gang that abducted Betty March. Right. Get to work at once. Now a brief intermission in Mr. Keen, Tracer of Lost Persons, brought to you by Colonel's Toothpaste. Next time you meet the most successful man you know, or the most popular girl, take a good look at their teeth. Chances are they'll be sparkling and beautiful, with all the magnetism your own smile should have. Examine your own teeth critically. If they're not every bit as brilliant and gleaming as they should be, if they show signs of being discolored by surface film, just do as thousands do. Try the new colonos, a high polishing toothpaste. Safely, speedily, colonos helps brush away masking surface film, revealing the natural luster and brightness of your teeth. Your drugist has an ample supply of colonos on hand, so get a tube tonight, and see what wonders it may do in helping you to add to the charm and appeal of your smile. Remember the name colonos. K-O-L-Y-N-O-S. Colonos, a high polishing toothpaste. Now as the clock strikes midnight, we find Mr. Keene with his assistant, Mike Clancy. Well, Mr. Keene, I do hate to be breaking into your house at such a late hour, but here are some nice names, Mr. Colby's dug up. That's quite all right, Mike, and thank you. And you should have seen the pilot catalogs he's gone through. Surely he was still at his desk when I left the museum working like a beaver. Oh, Colby is still at the museum? That's right, sir. Mike, I suddenly feel another of my hunches coming over me. Well, out with it, boss. Something tells me that that stolen painting is still within the walls of the Manhattan Museum. No. It's easy enough to get a bundle into a museum, but taking one out... Oh, you mean that once they copped the painting they couldn't get it past the door? Yes, and for days now they may have been keeping it in a place that they prepared for just such an emergency. But where? In the other part of the museum that this charming stranger used to hang around in. The Egyptian room. The Tomb of the Pharaoh. In a tomb? That's where we're going, right now. Oh, no, boss. Among the mummies at midnight. Oh, no, sir. Well, here it is, Mr. Keen. The Tomb of King Men Top the Fourth. Well, thank you, Colby. This switch turns on all the lights inside. That's right. All right. You stand by at the door. Mike and I will have a look inside. Okay, Mr. Keen. Come on, Mike. Good luck. Oh, boss, there's a hundred other places I'd rather be than an old cemetery like this. Don't worry. There's plenty of light in here. Put all these narrow, winding alleys. Plenty of spaces for spooks to be hidden. Here, Mike, to the left. This should lead to the central chamber and the sarcophagus of the King. The what, sir? A stone casket where the mummy lies. I'd like to move the lid and have a look inside. Well, I wouldn't. Relax, Mike. Here's the central chamber now and the sarcophagus. Saint's preserves. Come now. Let's try the lid. Stand back. Don't move. Glory be. The mummies are talking. No, Mike. Mummies don't talk English. Stand back. Hands over your heads. It's coming from that doorway on the other side. Quick. Let's get after him. Boss, the lights are gone out. Quick. Turn on your flashlight, Mike. Help. He's trying to strangle. I fix him. Come away, you. Here. I got him, boss. No, no, he's broken away, Saint. Your flashlight. Turn it on. Oh, I dropped it somewhere. Here it is. That's better. Boss, he's pretty near. Slash the coat off your back. Look what he left behind on the floor, Mike. A 10-inch knife. Now we know we're up against killers. But don't let's waste time. Help me move the lid of that sarcophagus. Okay, sir. You ready now? He-ho. He-ho. All right, Mike. Now flash the light inside. Why, boss? It's there, Mike. The painting. But we've still got to find the girl. And she's in the hands of killers. Here you are, Mr. Keene. I've narrowed the list of temperate painters down to a half-dozen possibilities. These are all experienced artists, all over 40? That's right. I wish I could have stopped that fellow when he came tearing out of the tomb last night. Would have been a quicker way of finding Betty. If ever we're going to find her. Oh, never mind such talk. The next step, let's find out everything we can about the six men on this list. Anything that indicates shady activities in the past. Right. And let's hurry, because now that gang is desperate. Good morning, Betty. Tyler is the name. Well, whatever you call yourself, why are you keeping me in this house? When are you going to let me go? You have the painting. What more do you want? Correction, my dear. A certain busybody got it away from me last night at the museum. A Mr. Keene. Well, good for him. No. Bad for you, my dear. Why? Why? You see, I have two careers at once. Sometimes I borrow, shall we say, valuable paintings from museums with the help of my colleague Mr. Bruno Carson, who paints excellent substitutes. Most of the time I run a very respectable gallery on 57th Street. You're afraid that now I'll give you away? Mr. Carson is also worried. He's not always a forger, you know. Let me go, and I'll never mention this to anybody. The museum has its painting back, and that's all it cares about. Correction again. The police and that man Keene will move heaven and earth to track us down. He's a very smart old billy goat. I don't care. This is gone far enough. You can't keep me a prisoner here forever. That's right, my dear. See you later. Let me out. Let me out. Please, I beg you, let me out. It's no use. No one will hear you. Tyler. Tyler. Okay, Carson, I'm coming. Look, Tyler, we can't keep her here much longer. Some people are coming tomorrow to look at my paintings. All right, Carson. She goes tonight. And don't leave any traces. There won't be, Carson. Not for the East River right outside the door. The river? Too bad. She's so nice-looking. Yes. Too bad. Well, Mr. Keene, that reduces the possibilities to two. There's this fellow, Heverford Jones. What trouble was he in, Colvin? He once tried to swindle an estate out of a very valuable Van Gogh. Also, there was once talk of some forgery. Very promising lead. Now the other fellow. He got into a different sort of trouble. Bad checks. And his name is... Bruno Carson. I see he lives over by the East River. Yes, but Heverford Jones seems more likely. The forgery angle. All right. We'll try him first. Let's go. There's no time to lose. No. Something tells me to try Carson first. I don't think Carson would... I would a successful painter like he is live in a dismal place like the East River waterfront. Perhaps he likes to do river scenes. That's just the point. These catalogs show he's never done anything but portraits. But, Mr. Keene, the other... Pick up that phone, Colby. Get me the Harbor police right away. All clear, Carson? All clear, Tyler. The cop on the beach just walked up the block. Here. Help me carry her out on the pier. She's not going to start screening. No chance. That gag is on good and tight. She's bound, hand and foot. Okay. Let's go. Straight ahead now. Onto the pier. Maybe this isn't such a good idea. We could just beat it somewhere. Run away from the cops the rest of our lives. No, sir. Okay. Okay. All right. Here we are. Get ready to swing. Stop where you are. Hands up. It's that fellow, Keene. Robert, Tyler. Let's run for it. Stop where you are. I'm warning you. Mr. Keene. What is it, Colby? Look, Betty's rolling off the pier. She's fallen into the water. I'm going in after her. I hope he makes it in time. The Harbor police. They've got those men. But not for murder, I hope. Oh, Mr. Keene. Wasn't Bob wonderful the way he went in after me? You certainly owe your life to him, Betty. Yes, to a stuffed shirt. Bob, whoever called you that. You did when I asked you to marry me. Darling, will you ever ask me again? Well, Betty, will you marry me? You bet I will. Betty, Mr. Keene, I don't think we've properly thanked you. Oh, be my dear fellow. This is no time to stop to thank anybody. Lesson next week at the same time when Mr. Keene brings us his next missing persons case. The case of the boy who used big words. Every girl and woman knows that in order to be popular today, one of the most important things she needs is an attractive smile. A smile that reveals clean and sparkling teeth. And to the man and business, teeth that make a good impression are just as important, too. If you're not certain that your own teeth are as attractive as they should be, here's something you will want to know. The new colonos' high polishing toothpaste does wonders in helping to remove those dingy surface stains. Helps reveal the natural brilliance of your teeth that adds so much to the charm and personality of your smile. I'll tell you why it does this. Its action on teeth is like that of a jeweler's polish on tarnished silver. So start using colonos, a high polishing toothpaste yourself right away. You can get colonos, K-O-L-Y-N-O-S, colonos toothpaste at any drugstore tonight. This is Larry Elliott saying goodnight for the makers of colonos toothpaste and Mr. Keene. And this is Mr. Keene with one last word. I've been asked to bring to your attention the important fact that our country is still faced by a critical shortage of tires for civilian use. The tires you have now must last you indefinitely. Do not be misled by announcements that huge quantities of synthetic rubber are being made. They are, but they are required for military use. So do everything you can to make your tires last as long as possible. Drive only when necessary, at under 35 miles an hour. Keep your tires properly inflated and inspected. Recap your tires as soon as they need it and share your car with others. Good night and thank you all. Mr. Keene, tracer of lost persons will be on the air next Thursday night at 7.30 Eastern wartime. Tomorrow night listen to the big new musical Friday on Broadway. All the song leaders of the day direct to you from the gay white way at 7.30 tomorrow night over most of these stations. There is now a wonderfully inexpensive, easy way to wax wood floors and linovium to a high sparkling finish in only six to nine minutes. Use aero wax, the self-polishing wax that goes on in a jiffy, dries without rubbing to a marvelous high luster, adds beauty to your rooms, saves countless scrubbing, yet costs only 25 cents a pint. Get aero wax A-E-R-O-W-A-X tomorrow. This is the Columbia Broadcasting System.