 The FW Fitch Company presents Dick Powell as Private Investigator Richard Rogue in Rogue's gallery. That for a while let us all be your style, you spitch shampoo. Don't despair, use your head, save your hair, you spitch shampoo. The FW Fitch Company, makers of Fitch's dandruff remover shampoo and ideal hair tonic, presents Dick Powell as Private Investigator Richard Rogue in Rogue's gallery. Rogue speaking, this Saturday night I'm going to spellbind you a vow. Caught me while spending a week and the fee for my last case and zestful living at a summer hotel, which was so swanky that the help hardly spoke to the guests. For $25 a day I had one of the 50 bungalows on the hotel grounds. For $30 I could have had one with a window. Well anyway, there was a girl up there, isn't there always? She was named Janice Cole, a sort of social secretary to the hotel. She was about 28, her eyes were so big and blue they made you think of mountain lakes and her hair was as black as a jealous rage. She had a figure that made you think you'd seen her before in a swimsuit. Oh, she was real quality. Much to my high blood pressure she was engaged to a society playboy with a dollar for every suntan in Florida and his name was Clint Hays. There was dancing going on in the ballroom of the hotel and Janice was dancing with Clint, but she was watching me. I thought I saw fear in her eyes. They finished their dance right in front of me. Well, I certainly enjoyed that exhibition, Clint. Glad you liked it, Rogue. Dancing with Janice is a wonderful way to spend an evening. I believe that. Well, how about the next one, Janice? Oh, I can't, Richard. I don't feel very well. Oh, really, darling? Yes, I think I'll go to my cabin, Clint. I have a terrible headache. I'm sorry to hear that, dear. Is there anything I can get for you? I've got some aspirin. Oh, no, I think I'll just lie down for a while. I'll be back as soon as I feel a little more like enjoying the party. After Janice Cole left, I ducked plant and mingled with the crowd, fencing in and out of polite conversation and keeping up a gay front to cover the worry which was stampeding around in my mind. I couldn't forget the lost look in the eyes of Janice Cole, a look that was so full of fear and hopelessness that it haunted me. I decided, after sweating out 30 minutes of wondering why she was so frightened, to drop by her bungalow and have a fatherly chat with her. I casually worked my way along a chain of conversations to the open door and faded unobtrusively out into the night. There was a light in Janice's bungalow. I walked rapidly toward it. The door was ajar. When I knocked on it, it swung open. And I saw Janice lying there, a red pool expanding on the Navajo rug under her head. I took a few steps into the room. Oh! I was on the inside of a giant bell, clinging to the clapper with a strength of desperation. It swung through eternity like a giant pendulum. And at the end of every arc, the universe was shattered by the sound of the tolling. I couldn't stand the noise. I let go on the tremendous upsweep. It was catapulted to space at a terrifying breath of speed. The ringing of the bell grew fainter and fainter. And then... There was quiet. I drifted peacefully for a while and landed as gently as a snowflake on a sparrow's wing. And I rested on cloud eight in the blackness of complete oblivion. Oh, go away, you go. No, I'm sorry. You go, go away. I'm not well. I've been hurt. Oh, Bob, Rocky. I don't care. I'm on my vacation. You're in trouble, Rocky. Yeah. Yeah, I remember. I don't want to talk about it. Let me alone. What once too often, Rocky? Lost your nerve, huh? What do you mean, Midget? No fight left in me. I've got plenty of fight left in me. What's going on down there? Okay, come on. Give me a push, you goer. Oh, you're a fine alter ego. And I'm proud of you. I mean my eyes because I remember that dead girl lying there. But I opened them and last. And what I didn't see made me think I'd lost my mind. Where the body had lain, staining the Navajo rug, there was a Navajo rug, but no stain and no body. I wobbled to my feet. My knees were made of soup. I grabbed the bed for support and threw my massive intellect into high. There were strange things happening here and they were happening to me. I decided to stay mum and get back to the dance to see what I could discover from the behavior of the inmates. I took out my pocket comb, dressed my hair around the bump on my head so I wouldn't look like I had two, wiped the bed and the doorknob clean of my fingerprints and looking much better than I felt, rejoined the party. Clint was talking with Nancy Bowman, another luscious lady on the hotel social staff. Hello, Rog. We've been looking for you. Oh, hi, Clint. Hello, Nancy. Hello, Richard. Where have you been? We'll get you a little fresh air. How about this dance, Nancy? Can't. I promise, Clint. Oh, go ahead. I'll be noble. Janice should be coming back soon anyhow. Well, all right then. Your arm, Mr. Rog. Oh, for you, my dear, both of them. See you later, Clint. You know, Nancy, that Clint's a lucky man getting a girl like Janice. She's what the boys in the back room call a dish. I suppose Janice isn't lucky getting a man with a million. Not my type. Now, I don't have the million. No, then let's just dance. Oh. Now that Janice has her millionaire, I'm not to get mine. You girls old friends? No, I've worked up here with her summers for a couple of years. She's a grand girl. Everybody loves her. She's engaged to this creep with the millions? Yes. They're going to be married in two weeks. Don't you ever read the newspapers? Oh, I guess it wasn't on the sport page. Probably not. Though the way Janice stalked him, it could have been. Kitty, kitty, kitty, kitty. May I cut in? Hi, Frank. I'd love to see you, Richard. Well, I never give out beautiful ladies to strangers. You don't know Frank, the ladies' home companion? That can be taken care of. Introduce me, Nancy. Mr. Rog, this is Frank Pitts, friend of Janice's. Oh, glad to know you, Mr. Pitts. Thank you, Mr. Rog. Where is Janice anyway? She promised me some rumbers tonight. Well, she wasn't feeling very well. She wants her bungalow to get a little rest. Do you insist on cutting in? Unless you have some very fine arguments against it. Well, I guess I haven't. Nancy, I hope I'll see you later. You will. This is a temporary thing, but... What happened to your dance, Rog? A man cut in on me. That's Frank Pitts. He doesn't belong here, Rog. He's all shoulders and no money. I understand that he and Janice are old friends. That's right. Frank Pitts has been in love with Janice for years. They're from the same town back east. Well, he was in love with her, too. Desperately. But I don't feel sorry for him. He's not good enough for a girl like Janice. Now, now, a clan of girls entitled old friends. You seem to be the jealous type. I used to be a little like that about Betty Callahan. I'm not jealous, Rog. You'd hate to see a girl like Janice making a fool of herself over a no good like that Pitts. And since he arrived today, she's been moody and dejected. Oh, that's the way it is. Oh, that's the way it is, huh? You and Janice had a spat over the old flame. We did not. You're being most impolite, Mr. Rogue. Janice and I are happened to be in love. There's a man outside who would like to talk with you for a minute. Why? It's most important, Mr. Rogue. Please come with me. OK, excuse me, Glenn. You look a little upset. What's the matter? Oh, it's horrible. May I ask what you're talking about? No, I can't tell you, Mr. Rogue. But in all my years in hotel management, this is the most terrible thing that's ever happened to me. Here he is, Mr. Mills. Mr. Mills is our district attorney, Mr. Rogue. Oh, oh, well, I'm glad that I'm Mr. Mills. What can I do for you? You know Richard Rogue, the private investigator from Los Angeles? That's right. Why? Well, I'd like to talk with you, Mr. Rogue, about a murder. Oh, yes, why? Sure, sure, Mr. Mills. Always glad to lend my talents to law enforcement. That's nice of you, Mr. Rogue, because you can help a lot on this case. Why did you murder Janice Cole? We'll return to our story in just a moment. First, Dandruff on the shoulders and coat collar of a well-groomed person is as out of place as snow in July. That's why so many persons who want to have a smart, well-groomed appearance use Fitch's Dandruff Remover Shampoo regularly. For Fitch Shampoo has a special solvent action that dissolves unsightly dandruff. When you apply Fitch's to your hair and scalp before adding water, this solvent action goes to work. So it's important to remember not to wet your hair before the shampoo is applied. After massaging your scalp briskly for a few minutes, then apply water. An abundance of cleansing lather will form to carry away the dissolved dandruff. Then the lather rinses out easily and completely, leaves the hair immaculately clean without a trace of dandruff. Yes, Fitch's Dandruff Remover Shampoo is a real aid to good grooming. Use it regularly. You can buy an economical bottle of Fitch's Dandruff Remover Shampoo at your drug or toilet goods counter or have a professional application at your beauty or barber shop. Now back to Dick Powell as private investigator Richard Rogue in Rogue's Gallery. My guilty conscience was calling me names and giving me bad advice as I stole out of the ballroom with the DA. He had accused me of murder. I knew who was murdered. I'd seen her in her bungalow. Dead. Janice Cole. The DA was as quiet as a grave during that walk and not a bit more cheerful. I made a couple of abortive attempts at conversation but I might as well have been talking to a totem pole. I couldn't understand why he was heading for my bungalow until he opened the door and I saw Janice lying there on that blood-stained Navajo rug. Just as I had seen her a half hour before in her own bungalow. I tried to say something but the words couldn't get by the lump in my throat. I just stood there, my mouth hanging open and my stomach frozen and the hangman's not. I could feel the DA's eyes boring into the back of my head. Well, Rogue, why'd you do it? Well, I didn't. I didn't kill her. Had he explained the fact that she was killed here in your cabin? She wasn't. Now look, Rogue, you better organize yourself, huh? You're supposed to be a smart investigator. Give me a gun. I haven't got it on me. It's in that drawer there. Yeah, we found that one. This girl was shot to death with a 25 automatic. Any prints on it? We're gonna take yours for comparison. Am I under suspicion for this murder? At the moment, that's all you're under. I finally hope you'll be under arrest for it the next half hour. Oh, you know, Mills, in a homicide you usually have to have a motive. What's that? Why are you waving those newspaper clippings in my face? What are they? The motive. You were blackmailing Miss Cole, Rogue. We found these clippings in your briefcase. What do you mean I was blackmailing her? Now look, Rogue, you're smarter than that. Here's a whole envelope full of clippings covering Miss Cole's trial for the murder of her first husband, back in Passaic, New Jersey. Her name was Jane Sherman then, and she was released for lack of evidence. Remember the trial? Of course I do. Poisoning. So you found out that this Jane Sherman, now known as Janice Cole, was all set to marry a million dollars. And you've been blackmailing her. Oh, I don't know anything about it, I tell you. I don't know how those clippings got into my briefcase. They must have been planted there when I was knocked out in Janice's bungalow. It's a switch, Rogue. You were knocked out in her bungalow, eh? When? Uh, look, Mills, I, uh... I know this whole thing's gonna sound fantastic, but I want to tell you the whole story. I came up here on my vacation. I never saw Janice Cole or whatever her name was before tonight. Disbelief walked across the DA's face as I unspunned the web of circumstances which tied me into this murder. As I listened to my own story, I knew I wouldn't believe it myself if I hadn't been there. I showed him the bump on my noggin. He just nodded. I talked on, and as I talked, I realized that I was acting like every murderer I'd ever questioned. I know my face was red. My eyes were shifting as I browbeat my brain and trying to think of some circumstance which would at least give me the benefit of a reasonable doubt. Finally, I stopped talking. He took my fingerprints, and we went to Janice Cole's bungalow. There, I got my first break. All right, Rogue. Now, where was the body lying when you first saw it? Right here. Right here. Come here. Look at this rug. Blood on the floor where it seeped through the rug that's now in my bungalow. Do you see it? Yeah. Blood all right. Well, Rogue, that's the first thing that's made sense since we got together. I suppose there is an outside chance of trying to frame you. Enough of a chance or a conviction would be hard to get, Mr. D.A. Look, you know me. I've got a little standing in my profession, a little substance. Give me 24 hours to get this thing hung around the right man's neck. All right. If I don't have you locked up tonight, will you try and have the right man for me in the morning? I'll have him. Now, tell me, who knows about the murder? Well, the maid who went into your cottage to turn your bed down for the night, and the manager. I guess you know about it yet, except the killer. That's right. As far as I know. Okay, Mel, okay now. You keep it that way until morning and I'll come up with a guilty man for you. Big talk. I had been framed with loving care, like a sweetheart's picture. The D.A. shoved off to take care of the grisly details of moving the body from its temporary resting place on my bungalow floor, and I started shaking Janice Cole's bungalow down. There were particles of curved glass on the floor near where the body had been lying. I picked them up carefully and fitted the larger pieces together. They could only have been the crystal of a small square wristwatch. It might be the clue to the killer. I went back to the main hotel building. The Saturday night party was still going strong. I rejoined the merry throng and looked for Frank. He seemed to me to be the logical suspect. He was from Janice Cole's hometown. He would have known about her trial for murder. I found him talking with Nancy in a corner and he had on a large round wristwatch. Nancy's watch was a dainty diamond and ruby affair, small and oblong. I have not. I just was mildly curious about where he disappeared to. I wanted to get rid of Frank and finish that dance with you. Wow, this is as good a time as any. May I have the next one? You may have all the rest of them if you like. What's the matter, Richard? You have a pencil, look. Well, I was just trying to figure something out. I was supposed to have a dance with you at 9 o'clock. Where were you? I was here. I got here just at 9. Didn't I, Frank? Don't try to prove anything by me, baby. I don't know. At 9 o'clock, I was having a drink with Clint Hayes in my bungalow. Well, there goes your alibi, Nancy. You weren't here. Alibi? Why would I need an alibi? I was here, you weren't. I looked all over for you. Oh, now let's not argue about it. Let's have the next one, huh? I'll be right back. Okay, no tricks now. Hi, Clint. What? I'll cut me sitting this one out. Oh, I am. Hello, Reg. Well, I'm sorry I started you. I was just in a deep fog. Nancy, come back yet? No. Nancy, I just changed her name there if you don't mind. I'm kind of worried about her. Well, she's subject to headaches like this, poor kid. Maybe you'd better run over and have a talk with her, huh? Oh, I hate to bother when she's feeling bad. Look, Clint, just to settle a little argument. Are you and Frank Pitts having a drink in his bungalow at nine o'clock? Oh, yes. As a matter of fact, we were. How'd you know that? He just told me. That's to settle a little argument. I wish Janice would hurry back in time for the last dance, at least. Clint Hayes had on a large, square wristwatch. And he and Frank had unbreakable alibis. Nancy had none. They were my three prime suspects, and it looked to me like Nancy was about to be elected. I was sitting there looking for Nancy and carrying on a pointless discussion on headaches, their cause and cure with Clint when Nancy came running over. Come on, Clint, you too, Richard. We're all going down to the pool for a moonlight dip. No, I don't think I want to, Nancy. Oh, come on. Just because Janice is feeling rocky tonight is no reason for you to be grumpy. Come on, Richard, get your swim trunks and give the girls a treat. All right, all right, I'm in. Come on, Clint. A little dip or do you got it? No, I don't think I... Oh, come on, Clint. Oh, might as well. Clint sounds like a good idea, doesn't he? Well, Nancy, here we got it all organized. Yes, Richard and Clint are crazy about the idea, aren't you? Oh, OK, I'll join you for a while. Nice man, Clint. Hurry up now. See you at the pool. We'll continue our story in just a moment. First, a word to the ladies. Are you planning to have a new permanent to help you achieve that cool, crisp look this summer? If you are, here's a good point to remember. Shampooing with Fitch's dandruff remover shampoo will put your hair into grand condition for that cold wave or permanent. That's because Fitch's dandruff remover shampoo is such a thorough cleansing agent. It gets the hair immaculately clean and dandruff free. Then, since it's completely soluble in water, it rinses out easily, leaving no dull, soapy film. Your hair is left radiant with no dirt, dandruff, or soapy film clinging to the hair strands to obstruct the work of the waving solution. Yes, permanent wave equipment manufacturers, such as the realistic permanent wave machine company, Eve Frederick, Incorporated, and Dewart Manufacturing Company all agree that really clean hair is the first requisite to a successful permanent wave. For a soft, natural-looking wave, prepare your hair first with Fitch, F-I-T-C-H. Fitch's dandruff remover shampoo. Then use Fitch's regularly to keep your wave looking lovely. Now, back to Dick Powell as private investigator Richard Rogue. In Rogue's gallery. My performance in the pool that night made Nero's fiddle solo in the light of a burning roam seemed like the height of propriety. Here was Richard, the fall guy rogue, swimming and laughing with Frank, Clint, and Nancy, a bunch of murder suspects. A matter of hours before the law put a pair of stylishly plain bracelets on me and claimed me for its own if I hadn't solved the murder of Janice Cole. But there was method in my madness. That swim gave me the information I wanted. In fact, it gave me the murderer. I left before the swimming party broke up and went to one of the guest bungalows. An open window made the job of getting in as easy as falling in love. I found what I was looking for in a chest of drawers. Then I sat down and waited for my victim to come in and turn on the lights. Rogue, what are you doing here? Waiting to talk with you about a murder, Clint. Shut the door. Come in and sit down, Clint. I want to know all about what happened to Janice. Janice? Something's happened to Janice? Yes, Janice, and don't act so innocent. What do you know about her murder? If I didn't kill her, what makes you think I killed her? I didn't say you killed her, but I'm sure you know something about it. You know, you shouldn't get involved in murder, Clint. It's too complicated. You're just talking, Rogue. You killed her. You were blackmailing her and you killed her. No, no, no, Clint. You weren't supposed to know anything about that. In fact, you couldn't have known anything about it unless you were the guy who framed me so nicely. I'm a little mad at you for that, you know. I'm going to get a confession of that murder out of you some way or other. Now, do you feel like talking or do I have to beat it out of you? That makes you think I did it, Rogue. Take off your wristwatch. Now, now, look at your wrist. What? You see that small square of white skin where you used to wear your small square wristwatch? That was the giveaway, Clint. You see this watch here, the one I found hidden under the shirts and that chest of drawers there? The crystal's broken, Clint. And it was broken in the struggle with Janice tonight just before you shot her. The broken glass was found on the floor of the cabin right where the body was before you moved it to mine. Now, do you feel any more like talking, Clint? Why did you kill her? I didn't kill her. I didn't kill her. I got until morning for you to start talking and I've got more socks and a 10-story laundry. Let me know when you want to start singing. You know what happened in that room and you're going to tell me. I didn't kill her. I didn't, I swear. I didn't, Rogue. I was there. Sure, I was there, but I... You didn't kill her. Who did? I can't tell you. Come on, Clint. You're not smart enough to work out that frame on me. Who was in this with you? I wouldn't answer that if I were you, Clint. Drop the gun, Rogue. Oh. Oh, hello, Frank. You're mixed up in this too, huh? Well, maybe we can arrange a double execution. I didn't tell him anything, Frank. I didn't tell him a thing. I know it. I was listening. Sit down, Rogue. Sure, sure. Glad to. Glad to. You were the brains of this deal, weren't you, Frank? It's pretty obvious that quivering mess over there wasn't, isn't it? It's a good thing I was keeping my eye on him tonight. You see, Rogue, when he opened the door and turned on the lights, I saw you sitting there and that's why I came in the back way. I was afraid that Clint would talk too much. You think of everything, don't you? I try. What are we going to do now, Frank? This Rogue, he knows I was there when Janice was murdered. Knows you were there? Well, you might just as well know that you shot her then, huh? You did, you know. Well, it was an accident. Was it? I'll decide that. Aren't you forgetting me, fellas? Oh, no. No, we're not forgetting you, Mr. Rogue. It really doesn't make any difference who killed Janice as long as you disappear with all the evidence pointing to the fact that you did the job. No, no, no, Frank. I don't want any more killing. Shut up. I'm handling this affair. I'm going to keep you out of the gas chamber, Clint, if you'll just shut up and do as I tell you. Take Rogue's necktie off and tie his hands. We're going to knock him off and throw him over a canyon where he'll never be found. There you are. Well, I might as well take a crack at it. Give me that gun. Grab him, Clint. Grab him. Well, hey, well, well, thanks, Clint. You were very handy with that chair. How come you hit him? I couldn't let him kill you. I just couldn't. All right, all right. Take his necktie off and tie his hands with it. We're going to take him for a ride down to see the district attorney. I killed her, Rogue. I killed Janice, but it was an accident. I swear it was an accident. You'll have a dandy chance to explain that to the jury, Clint. Now, come here. I've, uh... I've got something for you. That's for helping to frame me. Oh, brother, is that D.A. going to love me? Well, that was the end of the case. Frank had been blackmailing Janice Cole ever since her engagement to wealthy playboy Clint Hayes was announced. And that night when Frank went to Janice's cabin, Clint followed him. When Clint arrived on the scene, jealousy took over, Frank drew a gun and Clint jumped him. In the struggle which followed, Janice was shot while the gun was in Clint's hand. Helpful Frank, the queues scared Clint of the murder and talked me and talked him into framing me. Frank saw lovely visions of many happy years of blackmailing a millionaire. That broken watch crystal was the only thing that kept the frame from working. So I get my brains beat out. I put the arm on a killer and blackmailer. My vacation is broken up like a drop light bulb, and I didn't make a dime. Oh, well, let's face it, if I hadn't been so clever, I'd be doing a life sentence instead of Clint and Frank. I would like that, no. I've heard that stone walls do not a prison make, nor iron bars a cage. But it's hard to illustrate the truth of that old saw to a guy who's behind the former looking through the latter. You know what I mean? This is Dick Mushmouth Powell again, ladies and gentlemen. Hope you enjoyed our story tonight. Ray Buffham wrote it. Leith Stevens composed and conducted the music in the Engelbach produced and directed. Be with us again next Sunday, will you? We have a story for you about a doctor, a dentist, and a miserly old lady who comes up dead. We call it, where there's a will, there's a murder. Thanks for listening and now here's James with a hair-doyle. Listen again next week at the same time to hear Dick Powell as private investigator Richard Rogue in Rogue's gallery. By the way, Dick will soon be seen in his newest Columbia picture, Johnny O'Clock. Laugh a while, let a song be your style, you pitch shampoos. Don't despair, use your head, save your hair, use pitch shampoos. After and between pitch shampoos, you can keep your hair shining and manageable by using a few drops of Fitch's Ideal Hair Tonic every day. Fitch's Ideal Hair Tonic is not sticky or greasy, yet it gives your hair that well-groomed look.