 Get this and get it straight crime is a suckers road those who travel it wind up in the gut of the prison of the grave This time a nervous breakdown in a driving rain a cape with a high color and a tiny sliver of glass Let me from the ballet and a beautiful dancer to the edge of a cliff and death It happened like this From the pen of Raymond Chandler outstanding author of crime fiction comes his most famous character in the adventures of Philip Marlowe Now with Gerald Moore starred as Philip Marlowe. We bring you tonight's exciting story the high colored cape Nothing like a drink and a good book on a rainy night And what a nice All right, all right, don't sprain your finger I'm most sorry to intrude on you this time at night, but I may have waited too long already. Yeah, well look miss my office I felt something dreadful was going to happen to him and now now I'm sure of it You must find him for me the poor lady. Wait a minute. Hold it. Well, yeah, who is Andre and that matter who are you? I am Vivian or the way prima ballerina ballet do moan prima ballerina the Emperor sorry of the company my dear dear old friend my my teacher the man who's been like a father to me That is Andre Andre that do we must help him at once. Well, listen miss. All right. Why don't you do? I feel for some time that Andre was on the brink of losing his mind Yeah, I can understand it Frustrations he will never dance he's been crippled But he's consumed with a passion for dancing and drives himself to express his genius to the clumsy feet of water Yeah, well, that's very interesting of no idea, but I don't see why you came to me tonight Miss Ordway What can I do help me to find him yesterday? So something else happened to Andrea I don't know what but it upset him then today at noon when this awful rain started he disappeared and oh Good heavens five past eight. Yeah, what about it? I'll be late for the performance. Here take this ticket in Please come to the theater. Mr. Marlowe. I beg you. I'll pay you anything you ask only only promise me will come well Okay, Miss Ordway, I'll be there as soon as I can Ballerina swept out of my apartment like a frightened whirlwind as I got dressed all over again for an evening in ballet Which I needed like a cute appendicitis. I saw that the ticket she'd left was number 27 jay at the great arts theater Showing ballet of the world Sponsored by one mrs. Imogene Wyatt Now I got to the lobby have soaked near the end of the second act when an icy ushuret shoved the program at me and Hush hushed me inside The audience was a small cluster of arty die-hards down front which left me in 27 jay feeling like Midway Island My client Vivian Oddway was the whole show When I saw the finale coming I slipped down a side aisle into the wings Just in time to catch a beef at the stage door between a long wolf-faced intruder and a pudgy doorman But even if she was you wouldn't get in she left the daughters. You'll finish now get out and stay out Okay, but let me tell you something. I broke my back getting publicity for that Stuttered widow in this outfit and the gene wire is going to be sorry. She fired me I'm gonna see what personal get out of the theater nuts I Mr. Marley, yeah Tell me if you heard from Andre LaDuvia Nothing, but I did remember something that may help Andre once mentioned that he had a friend here in Los Angeles a Mr. Baker who who lived at the wind drop arms the wind drop hotel the wind drop something Come in. Thank you Andre may be there. I'm I'm grasping it straws. I know but if if his mind is gone and then he's lost I'm so afraid for him. Oh, now take it easy honey. Take it easy Is there news of Andre? Oh, no George. Nothing. Mr. Marlow here is going to find him for us. He's a private detective Oh, I see wonderful. I am George Malikoff. I know you Vivian I'll be at the hotel if I can help, please do call on me and oh my dear Beautifully tonight as the full moon We mere stars were hardly visible beside you Fast man with a cup of it. He's very sweet. Yeah, what hotel did he mean the Wilshire Gardens? Most of the ballet stay there. Oh, how about you miss oddway? I have a house a studio and look out mountain 857 I reach you there. No. No, I'm going to wait here in the theater If Andre should remember and come back I Want to be here. He's a very sick man After I left the theater a quick check in a phone book showed a Winthrop arms apartment hotel on Havenhurst Drive It's just below fountain Avenue when I got there. I found the name Baker stuck over the mailbox to apartment 1a Went inside and up to the door Andre Ladoo What do you want? Well, you're friends at the theater worried about you my friends. I have no friends George Malikov's worried about you George Malikov my friend So it's Vivian oddway That dear child what will become of her now. What do you mean? What's happened? Who are you miss oddway sent me to find you? She's waiting for you at the theater waiting the theater Why? Why the ballet is finished? What's there? Mrs. Imogen Wyatt withdraws her support completely. There is no more ballet du monde and penniless And all our work has been for nothing. I Try to reason with her, but It was hate Afterward I drove here on the dark street the rain Slashing Clying at me Andre where's your friend mr. Baker this place is packed in moth balls I is in Europe. It is all right that I am here He sent me the keys long ago said I could use his apartment in this car I came here to be alone to think my head Andre what time was it when you left Mrs. Wyatt yesterday? I can't remember Only that it was dark Very dark, and it was such a difficult drive Yeah, tomorrow she will notify her lawyer to alter the papers or that that impulse I wish she were dead You hear me. I wish that image in Wyatt was dead What was that stay where you were What is it? Do you see anything? No Now look Andre about your headache Wouldn't you like to see a doctor doctor? No, no, I'll be all right. I am all right understand. Yes, sure Well, do me a favor for your own sake stay here tonight inside I want to check a couple of things and then I'll be back Where else would I go now? I left I was convinced that if the belly impresario hadn't already slipped his trolley another slight bump would do it But two things bother So first I walked around to the window again, but You need trace of an eavesdropper and washed away by the rain Item number two was the strong imprint that drive home in the rain that made on Andre's troubled mind. I wanted to know why The garage was under the building on the far side The door was unlocked and a small light burned in the back I finally found the car as sleek close to the ground Hudson registered to all in Baker Found it for the first grim discrepancy The left headlight infender was still streaked with rain marks, but the right had been wiped clean When I reached in and switched on the lights that sensed it the glass in the right headlight had been replaced. It was brand new Just testing my friend's car. I may borrow it you the attendant You hear last night thinking around with this your car. No, maybe it was mr. Do we had it out last night? Oh, it wasn't him. That was somebody else I heard a noise see when I come out of my back room that this guy beat it He took off like a scared turkey They had a big black cape on with a high collar flapping in the wind but a watch it old-timer that stops getting your eyesight Looked like a cape to me. Yeah Well, I looked around by the incident arm done so I went back to my room What time was all this? Oh The way past midnight maybe one two o'clock couldn't pay much attention By the way, mr. He's careful of nip. No, thanks. I'd like to use a phone you got one Oh, sure sure sure back in the corner. I'll show you. I'll find it The call is personal. Do you mind me? She'll say not help herself, sonny. I'm too old to even be curious My first call was to a desk sergeant in the police traffic bureau When I identified myself and asked about a hit-and-run accident possibly on fountain some time before midnight yesterday It was a pause while he checked the record and then We identified him by his blue shield medical car all one Lyle crutch hour Apparently stepped out from between parked cars on Fountain Avenue between Orange Drive and Roxbury was struck by an unidentified Vehicle at about 1110 last night Conditions serious now. What do you know about this mr. Marlowe? I get in touch with you later sergeant. Thanks Stepped out from between It's Philip Marlowe. I want to talk to Vivian oddway Okay Yeah for the present but listen Vivian I gotta get talk to Imogene Wyatt. Where does she live? Yeah 21 cameo 21 cameo meet me there right away. Well, yeah, I may have a couple of rough answers for you, baby That doesn't matter Between slick streets invisibility zero it was a solid half-hour drive from the Winther bombs out to the swank cameo terrace When I pulled up at number 21, I wondered what the wealthy widow had spent her money on a House was so small it must have been shingled with $20 bills to meet the zoning restrictions I just started up the soggy gravel path toward the door when it came I started to run for the house a green convertible I hadn't noticed before raw of the life suddenly and disappeared on a side street. I didn't have time to worry about it Inside I I found Mrs. Wyatt on a dining room floor Fighting a losing battle with the distance to the telephone She was dead I Looked through the rest of the small and now silent house in a hurry But found nothing more constructed in the rear door wide open I got back to the living room just in time to see my client Vivian Audway bizarre and a short frothy ballet skirt and long white hose standing in the front door Something's wrong Isn't it it's one way to put it How'd you get here Vivian in the cab? What do you know that drives a green convertible green? Scully has killer publicity man, but why the guy I saw on a beef at the theater tonight. What's happened? Magine Wyatt was just shot to death And that puts two items of business up on deck first the check called Andre LaDue Andre why Andre on the off chance that he can drive faster than I can after that a personal call on mr. Haskell you can fill that one in yourself Mario Andre couldn't have he couldn't have we'll see I Hang on tight baby. Let's get it over with In just a moment the second act of Philip Marlowe But first the great international comedian Beatrice Lily will be Bing Crosby's guest on CBS this Wednesday night The CBS Bing Crosby show always guarantees enjoyment So be listening when be Lily joins Bing on most of these same CBS stations this Wednesday night And now with our star Gerald Moore the second act of Philip Marlowe and tonight's story the high colored cape It made a cock-eyed picture A beautiful ballerina miles away from the stage yet in full color drenched costume and gaping through tears streak grease paint sudden death It's a good time for me to start checking up Andre LaDue the high strong impresario was first He was still at the apartment. I could cross him off as having done it personally Sorry wrong number Marlowe he was home wasn't he Andre? I mean you couldn't suspect him Marlowe Andre is the sweetest man in the world Take it easy honey. I didn't say LaDue did it and his being home doesn't say he didn't People sometimes pay other people to do that dirty work for him, you know Just what are you trying to say? You hired me to find LaDue and I did But also I found he was suffering from shock and has been since last night when mrs. Wyatt told him She was gonna fold the show Fold the show. Yeah. Yeah, and that Vivian would ruin him and half a dozen more I could name it so right so you've all got plenty of motive But what about Haskell? We know he hated mrs. Wyatt isn't revenge motive Revenge and the fact that you saw his car. Why do you insist on defending him? I don't Only there's another angle It's called hit and run and I know that it ties in tight with LaDue mrs. Wyatt and the actual killer It didn't run. I don't understand. Well, neither do I yet Now look, do you know where scully haskell lives? No, where does he hang out? Sometimes at the bar at will shall gardens hotel. Okay, I'll try it You go back to your place up in the hills. I'll find it when I got some answers now Hurry up and get out of here. Will you somebody might have heard the shot and called it? Somebody did hear the shot go on get up No butts go on Vivian get in the cabin go straight home. Do you're crying there? Go ahead and try it. Hey, hey, Vivian. You forgot your car Vivian you Oh no, baby You forgot your cape For a long second, I just held it tight instead Hi, Elizabeth and color enough gathered clothed origo lion sides It could have been what the garage attendant thought he had seen running away from the car LaDue used But the garage attendant could have been mistaken too I told myself that leaping hide at conclusions was strictly for ballet dancers I jammed the cape into a small bundle and left via the service entrance just as the police sirens up I took the great circle route back to my car tossed the cape on the seat next to me and drove fast For the bar at the willshire gardens hotel It was a kind of flattering pink mirrored place where the odd derv had long ago replaced the pretzel But haskell wasn't in sight And the only person around who could possibly be of any help to me was the delicate george millicarp Mr. Margo, have you seen vivian? I am beside myself with worry. She's all right, millicarp. She's not I know It is monsieur le Duh that she still worries about him. Yeah him and a little bit more george Now tell me you know where I can find scully haskell. Well, yes, I do He was just here for a drink. Where'd he go? You're being very brusque, mr. Margo being very what you're brusque Yeah, well now look george Without grand jetting out of your satin loafers get this There's been a murder and vivians ended up to a pretty fluff skirt How is vivian concerned? Come on boy. Let's get out of here. Where are we going, mr. Margo? Out to my car where we can talk a rain stop. Come on Over here You uh, you said somebody was murdered Who was that mrs. Wyatt? She was shot and might have been haskell because she discharged him. Maybe Oh, maybe something more complicated like a hit-and-run accident that belongs to ladoo, but somebody wants to cover It'll make any sense to you. Here's a car. No Should it? No What's more it shouldn't the vivian are there? What are you getting at? There isn't time to explain call it thinking out loud thinking about this cape for example that belongs to vivian And about the testimony of a whiskey garage attendant All of which makes me hope real hard that haskell's the boy more thinking out loud Yeah, maybe Now look, where can I find haskell the paradise court motel on vine? He has a bungalow there number three. Oh, thanks Well, if you're really worried about vivian george go on over to a place on a lookout mountain road She's not in good shape Here take this cape with you. Do you What why you cut yourself your fingers bleeding? Yeah You're on a sliver of glass george Glass that could have come from a broken headlight, huh from a broken what? What are you talking about mr. Marlowe? The benefit of the dark george Keeps getting harder to give it away Bring this back to vivian. Will you tell her she left it at mrs. Wyatt's and then i'm positive haskell's our man So long george Not quite the name's marlowe. I want to talk to you haskell Always your breath skip chaser and broken i'm gonna stay broken till the first of next month After that you can get in line Oh, you're funny for the finance company Imagine why it's dead haskell What did you say it? What's the gun for your lousy temper get back? Hey, wait a minute. I saw you with the theater tonight And I heard you which pushed me out in front. Now. Do we talk haskell or what mrs. Wyatt's murder? You were sloppy and you're off your nut. I didn't shoot her. I didn't even slip son kid So I know she was shot doesn't prove I did it come on. Why'd you kill mrs. Wyatt? I did how'd you know she was shot because it happened just I got out of my car and started Taught her place. I was going up there to read her off the shot scared me away Use your head marlowe. I was sore, but I didn't kill her now, but interference on that hit and run You were covering was plenty of reason. What are you talking about hit and run hit and run? Don't move haskell I said don't move Congratulations hansom. That's just what I had in mind close the door and stand still Now what? The name's nancy connor occupation ex-friend of the unconscious Don't look so worried hansom. I'm on your side. I had something in mind exactly like that left cross you just threw South coast, huh? Yeah What's your beef? I took this louse to a party with me last night and he got so stinking drunk that i'm still apologizing to people He was with you last night? Me and a couple of fifths of bourbon from 8 30 to 5 a.m Down on malibu he never left Not for a second The loud mouth was positive. Nobody could get along without him Um, what's that got to do with you so much tell haskell. I'll be in touch. Will you I gotta run? What are you looking at? It's just a program from the ballet, isn't it? Yeah Haskell has them all over the place after all. Yeah, sure sure So Oh, so like I said nancy. I gotta run It was 15 stop and go minutes from haskell's place at the hollywood hills And another five screeching up the paved snake that was lookout mountain road But finally I was there out of my car and running toward number 857 Which was a collection of windows and a rustic log frame half jutting out into space And around in the back there was a wooden sundae below it on either side huge rocks that lie on the edge of the cliff directly below Only the dark bottomless canyon on the end of the porch near me. There was a long flight of stairs I started up one careful noiseless step at a time My hand tight around the 38 Suddenly in the weak light of the thin slice of moon. I saw vivian oddway A back to the flimsy porch rail her face an ugly knot of terror No lee inches away from her and brandishing the gun reviews to kill mrs. Wyatt Was the half crazed answer to everything The delicate joe's melly cuff It's too late. Vivian marlowe knows this cape was what the garage attendant saw and do you know? How because of a stupid little thing a sliver of glass that was caught in it Which came from the broken headlight that the wearer of the cape replaced A wearer who was covering up andre ledoux's hit and run accident so that he could have the pig where he wanted You're wrong george marlowe's after haskell. He thinks haskell kill mrs. Wyatt He only hopes that and he'll find out one way or another that the beautiful ballerina is guilty Then he'll be forced to come back here after you George I'm not guilty of course you're not vivian I am the cape is mine not yours. You only used it tonight That's the only thing he doesn't know and never will Because you will have killed yourself after confessing to me. No. No, it's the only way vivian You or me But it's always been that way hasn't it even in the ballet where one or the other of us had to be star Too bad. It wasn't I yeah crying shame melaka Get away from that rail vivian Melaka no It's a greater leap Even for a ballet dancer Let's get out of here a long time in police headquarters, but finally all concerned had made their statement The law was more or less satisfied and Andre ledoux never knew he'd hit anyone was cleared of hit and run That left me in the ballerina driving to a friend's house But she was going to spend the night feel I I know you must have had enough of questions and answers, but but Yes The reason George killed mrs. Wyatt. Well, you see vivian It started last night when george went to see andre ledoux because he was so bitter about his partner's show being cut down And that was when he saw andre returning from mrs. Wyatt shaken up in half days And with a broken headlight and and other signs of having hit someone Yeah, and from there george thought fast covered it all up found out exactly what had happened from this morning's paper Probably and waited when you hired me tonight He must have followed me to ledoux and overheard andre tell me that mrs. Wyatt was going to pull out Oh, so he went to her tried to stop her and couldn't Yeah Anything else? Oh, yes. Oh one thing. Oh, that's a house there feel a little white. Oh, okay What made you hurry back to my place from huskles motel went when time meant so much A hunch, honey As I was leaving scully huskles. I saw a stack of ballet programs on a table in his living room Cover on it was very interesting Features you and the picture of george majestic in his high-colored cape So that was it Yeah That was it Good night, please Oh, will you call me tomorrow sometime, please? I'll call you tomorrow It's a nice night feel It's so good to be alive Well, good night And I drove straight home in the quiet empty aisle through the quiet empty streets thinking all the way about ballet Which to me it always been something very delicate, you know for the long hair strictly the haughty side I thought about the people I'd met who connected with it Ballerina with a lot of courage when courage counted the high-strung andre ladoo askel the muscle man and george Vicious as anything I'd ever met on skid row And I was still thinking about them when I got out of my car But then for the first time I noticed a little white envelope on the seat next to me Had my name on it And inside was a Ticket for tomorrow's matinee Same seat I had before Yeah, well, I figured I'd go, you know those those leaps they do they're pretty good We call them, um, entre entre No, that's too much Yeah, they're pretty good The adventures of Philip Marlowe bringing you Raymond Chandler's most famous characters star Gerald Moore are produced and directed by Norman McDonald and are written for radio by Robert Mitchell and Jean Leavitt Featured in our cast were Georgia Ellis, Edgar Berrier, Elliott Reed, Luke Ruegman, Wilms Herbert and Michael Ann Barrett The special music is composed and conducted by Richard Arant Be sure and be with us again next week when Philip Marlowe said This time it was a fishy horseplay from a red-headed beauty wild about ponies past a blackbearded sailor Who bled the death on a racing form to a neck and neck finish over a wandering seahorse worth 50 000 bucks And you know what? I was the jockey Remember every Wednesday night CBS brings you groucho marks with his wonderful quiz. You bet your life It's one of the brightest most spontaneous most genuinely funny shows on the air. So be listening this Wednesday night on CBS This is Roy Rowan speaking Now stay tuned for pursuit which follows immediately on most of these same CBS stations This is CBS where Burns and Allen are heard every Wednesday night the columbia broadcasting system