 President will notice, Stange is my stock and trade. If the job's too tough for you to handle, you got a job for me, George Valentine. Write full details. Standard of California, on behalf of independent chevron gas stations and standard stations throughout the west, invites you to let George do it. The Dark Chain, another adventure of George Valentine. Dear Mr. Valentine, perhaps if my husband were still alive, I wouldn't need your help. He was the strongest man in the entire county, but he's been dead a long time now. And his brother, who manages the farm, can't see any farther than the cows and horses and the fields and the bright side of everything. But, no, buddy, buddy, please, just play with your toys, dear. Oh, here, I'll open that safety pin for you. Can't you manage? Now you'll be quiet, won't you? There is no bright side, Mr. Valentine, when my only neighbor for miles should be in prison. And unless he's put there soon, heaven knows what will happen. Buddy, you'll tear it. Now that's your nice dog, doll, that Uncle Simon gave you for Christmas, can't you? There, that's better. I'm not begging for sympathy, Mr. Valentine, but I'm a woman who already has all she can bear, all the sorrow and the tragedy and the burden. Buddy, buddy, don't do that to your dog. It's your doll. Buddy, don't. Now, don't. Go outside, dear. Go outside, won't you? Go and see if you can help in the fields. I like my chickens, don't you, Mama? Of course, buddy. I wouldn't hurt my chickens, would you? Dear, please. All right, Mama. Bye. Please help me, Mr. Valentine. Sincerely, Mrs. Purcell. He's 19 now, Mr. Valentine. Well, he's certainly big. His mind isn't. Yeah, yeah, I understand. But he's really quite gentle. But there are things that he can do on the farm to be useful. Those huge log chains he carries, why he can pull stumps out of a field better than a team of horses. Well, Mrs. Purcell, isn't there anything that... No, there's nothing that can be done. Well, that's too bad. No, no, I'm not sorry for myself. He's just a little boy, that's all. And he's my son, Mr. Valentine. He's my... Yeah, your life, sure, of course. Well, Mrs. Purcell, you asked us out here to visit his friends or something. A little quiet investigation of a neighbor. Yes, you weren't very specific. His name is Luke Schroeder. Schroeder? Half a mile down the road. He's always lived there, but he hasn't been around much. He's been in prison. He's on parole now. He can be sent back if he does anything wrong. And the other night, something was stolen. You mean that... No, now please, let me tell it in my own way. A brooch. You know, one of those delicate old-fashioned cameo broches. It was my grandmother's. I hadn't seen it for some time. I never go out anywhere. But it was in the storeroom in a little box. Well, Buddy wanted to look at the jewelry. That's what he calls it. So I took out the box and the brooch was missing. I see. But you say Buddy likes jewelry. Yes. Outside he couldn't take his eyes off this gaudy thing here on my purse. Oh, Buddy wouldn't take it. Oh, Buddy doesn't ever touch anything that isn't his. Besides, I asked him later. I didn't even register. He just said it was bad to take things, especially chickens. What? A weasel killed chickens the other night. Oh. Well, how do you know this brooch was taken just recently if you haven't looked in the box for a long time? But I have. A week or so ago. I know it's been in the last week. Is that all, Mrs. Purcell? Luke Schroeder is a thief. That's what he was in prison for. He stole jewelry before from a store in town. Well, there's nothing you've told us that proves, he stole it. And even if we discovered some proof, all we could do was turn it over to the local police. I've seen the police. I've talked to the sheriff. Yeah, well, what'd he do? He was too busy to bother. Well, look, I'm sorry, but from what you've told me it doesn't seem... Well, excuse me, sis. Simon, won't you please... This is Mr. Valentine. Yes, we met downstairs. Oh, what have you got here in the crate? Oh, George, look at them. Little baby chicks. Cute little rascals. Just fixing the bed for them under the kitchen stove. All right, Simon, but right now we... Weasel got to Buddy's chickens, you know. Thought he'd like some more to play with. What's this? Here's a funny thing. Found it there under the stove. Thought you might like... What? Well, here's a little doll, see. It's a little dog doll, isn't it? Yeah. Only its neck is all twisted around. No, no, it's been torn. The head's been torn clear off, see. I did that. I was fixing the little doll, that's all. I tore its head off so I could put some more stuffing in it. Oh, well, I guess... Now, Simon, please, we're busy. Can't you take those chicks downstairs? Yeah, they're getting cold. Here, I'll carry them for you, Simon. What? Oh, but Mr. Valentine... Don't worry, Mrs. Purcell, we can talk later. Yeah, I think we'll be staying around here for a while after all. Oh, there's a bright side to Buddy, Mr. Valentine. I mean, because at least he's able to help you here on the farm. Not much. So clumsy he can't even harness up the horses. Then he gets an idea of his own sticks with it. Nothing else matters. You know how little kids do it. No, I was thinking more... He's happy, you know what I mean? He's not bothered by thinking he's smarter than he is. Like most of us are in this world. Simon, I was thinking more about his money. Upset, ain't she? Yeah, that's right. I used to think it'd be less strain on her if we put the boy in one of those homes or something, but she bristles out like a porcupine if you haven't mentioned it. I'm an upset right now about something. Oh, well, I'm glad you're here. Friends are good. She needs friends. I don't know what it is, Mr. Valentine. She is upset bad. I suppose maybe it's only she has trouble seeing the bright side. Uh, what's the matter? What are you looking at? Who's that girl over there? Walking out there by the barn. Oh-ho-ho. Maria. Maria? Luke's daughter's wife down the road. Oh? Something, ain't she? Yeah. Luke's wife, huh? If you'd like to take a little walk around, I can... No, no, thanks. We'll look at the farm later, Simon. I've got a couple of things to do right now. Would George, if you want to talk to Luke's wife? Come on. Where's Uncle Buddy? I don't know. What are you doing? The matter, Cat got your tongue? You go away. Why? It's a free country, isn't it? I don't like you. I said... You do like those chains of yours, don't you? These? I... I can pull stumps right up out of the ground. I can... I bet you can't throw them all the way across the barn. I bet I can. I bet I can. I bet I can. See? Ha-ha-ha. That's better. You're a strong little boy, aren't you? Buddy, not a little boy. Why don't you like me? You got yellow hair. I just washed it, too. And I got a new dress on with a sparkly belt, see? Why don't you like me, Buddy? Maria. Yes, Buddy? Do you belong to Luke like my chickens belong to me? Ha-ha-ha. Stop laughing. I'm sorry, Buddy. I told you it's a free country, isn't it? Stop laughing. It's not funny. They're dead. What? My chickens are dead in the nighttime. They're all dead. And when you're dead, you don't breathe anymore. I hate you. Buddy, what are you talking about? Tell me. Oh, George. He's crazy. Oh, George, that girl's the most awful. All right, all right. Get out of the way. Go on, I said get out of the way, whoever you are. Slow down, Buster. Where is she? Where is she? Luke. Come on, Angel, we're in the town. Yeah, Luke. I was just wondering when you were going to... Get back to the house. Get back home. What? It's just supper's ready, Luke. It's already just waiting, and it's... Hey, who are they? We're friends of buddies, Mr. Shorter. Stay out of this, mister. Go on, Maria Beaters. I will not. You got to find out a nerve in front of people. Hey, yo. Hey, Amy. How do you like that, mister? How do you like... Yeah, he's real tough, isn't he? I said, stay out of it. I cool off, you big mug. I'm going. Bye, mister. Well, so you're the great Luke Shorter. Yeah. I know who you are, too, Mac. No, you bitch. No. Now, don't go away, mister. Don't go away, mister. Don't go away, mister. Shut up. Shut up, you crazy idiot. Leave Luke alone. Oh, mister, just leave me alone with this freak. I'm not going to argue with me now. It's not going to do you any good. Buddy, stop it. Buddy, it's all right. Stop it. We need to be quiet, buddy. It's all right, buddy. Come on. Get out of here. Buddy, stop it. Come on, Luke. Come on. Run, will you? Run. All right, let go. Let go of it. Crazy jailbird. That poor kid back there is five times your size. All right, all right. Look, mister, the other night a weasel killed some chicken buddies. Everybody in the county knows it's a weasel. They've had the same trouble. Only that crazy overgrown bird brain gets an idea in his head. It sticks there like concrete. Oh, what do you mean? I'm over here in the back of my car. Something I just found on the road. Something I had longer than Maria. Something never killed a chicken in its life. A dog. Yeah, my dog. At least it used to be. Before it was beat to death with log chains. We'll return to tonight's adventure of George Valentine in just a moment. No one likes to get up and get going on a chilly fall morning, and your car is no exception. For the gasoline in your car is sensitive to the weather, too. But it's no problem when you use Chevron Supreme gasoline. It's climate tailored. Based on year round weather reports, it's tailored to each different season and to the different altitude and temperature zones throughout the West. That's why you can count on it for faster starts every time, for faster, smoother pickup and traffic, and for extra ping-free power on hills. Tritank full of Chevron Supreme tomorrow. Right away you'll notice how much better your car responds to this premium quality gasoline. You can't buy a better gasoline for today's high compression engines. Ask for Chevron Supreme at standard stations and at independent Chevron gas stations, where they say, and mean, we take better care of your car. Now back to tonight's adventure of George Valentine. You meet Buddy Purcell, who is both an enormous man and a small child at the same time. His mother first called you to try to locate a cameo brooch that she says has been stolen. She's even sure who stole it, Luke Schroeder, who lives down the road. But if you're anything like George Valentine, you're much more interested in something else besides missing trinkets. Like dogs, for instance. First a toy doll dog that had been torn and mutilated. And now Luke's dog, a real live dog. Only not anymore. Well, there it is, Angel. Those log chains he lugs around at dark in a couple of places. Dry it, bud. Well, look now. How about it, Buddy? Come on, kid. How about it? I don't think he even understands this, Mr. Valentine. Well, look, kid, you're a big boy now. You don't need to cry. Did you get mad at the dog? Look, Buddy, did you kill the dog? Let me go. Let me go. Oh, George, we ought to wait until his mother gets back from town. Yeah, Mr. Valentine, I've never seen a boy like this. Now, listen, hey, both of you. I get rid of that guy, Luke, all right, but it wasn't easy. And the kind of trouble he's liable to cause isn't exactly legal. What do you mean? He's headed for town to buy himself a drink or two, and he still says he's gonna kill Buddy. I'm not afraid of anybody named Schroeder. Buddy going outside? Well, now, look, wait a minute, kid. We're friends of yours. You know that? You did? Well, all right, kid. I took my chains, and I swung, and I swung, and I swung, and it killed him. It was Luke's dog. It killed my chickens, didn't it, Uncle Simon? Oh, Buddy, we've talked to other farmers on the phone. They saw your chickens. It wasn't a dog. He gets an idea. He never lets go. I hate Luke. I hate Luke. He stole Mama's jewelry. Did he? Mama told you. I heard her. She told you. Let go of me. Please let go of me. Buddy, Buddy, is there any way to act now, Buddy? Mr. Valentine, what's this he was talking about a brooch? Oh, well, it's cameo thing. Mrs. Purcell said it was stolen. She thought Luke Schroeder took it. Cameo? I did. I saw Cameo just yesterday. A girl wearing it. What? It was Luke's wife. That Maria. Say, ain't she something, though? Yeah. Something is something, all right. Sorry, we've been waiting for you, Mrs. Purcell. Have you? Yes, I think it's time we had a little talk about Buddy. I'm so late getting back. I'm so late serving supper. You hadn't had a thing to eat. Oh, we don't mind. Sit down, won't you, Mrs. Purcell? No, not now. Excuse me. I'm sorry, Mrs. Purcell. You got us out here with a story about a brooch being stolen. Maybe you buy Luke Schroeder, and maybe Luke did take it. I don't know. Of course, Mr. Valentine. That's right. The only reason you pointed a finger at him is because you want to get rid of him. Get him out of the neighborhood. Is that right? He's a troublemaker. You mean for Buddy, he is. He doesn't seem like a bully. Yeah, yeah, I know. And his wife, Maria, is no better. She could get anybody in trouble, even Luke. But the person you're really afraid of is Buddy himself. What? You're afraid of his violence. No. No, he's always been so kind, so calm. It's just that Luke is... Oh, well, Luke, he's on parole. I can see the sheriff about him. I don't like guys who pull knives on people anyway. But what I mean is you'd better be thinking of doing something about Buddy. No, I... What's that? Well, it's just the wind outside, that's all. Hey, I guess you've lived in fear, haven't you? In fear of the things your own son might do and nobody's big enough to stop him from... Oh, please, please, not now. Please, Mr. Valentine, please. I don't like what I'm saying, but it seems... George, wait a minute. Mrs. Purcell, where have you been? What? Oh, I know you've been in town shopping. But I heard your car drive up quite a little while before you came inside. Leave me alone. And you've been so frightened just now that you've hardly heard it. Where were you? What's happened? Nothing. Leave me alone. Both of you... Mrs. Purcell, you've also kept your hand in your pocket. Why? No. No, leave me alone. I'm sorry. I have to... George. A cameo brooch. So that's why you had your hand in your pocket. Where did you get this, Mrs. Purcell? Come on, now. Where did you get it? Buddy. Buddy? Well, where did he get it? I don't know. He just gave it to me outside and ran. Outside? But George, Buddy was in his own room a little while ago. Come on. Well, he's not back here yet. Still outside? George, what's that? Wait a minute. Another doll. A little girl doll. And, Brooksy, it's head. Look, it's head's all twisted. The brooch. Brooch. And the doll. Maria. Maria's dead. Brooksy, that's an understatement. With a chain? Yeah, yeah. Bruises. Even scratches on the floor. Chains, all right. George, look. Look at her blouse here. To a little tiny hole. Yes, a what? That's where the brooch was pinned. See the mark of the clasp? This is where Buddy got it. Before he took it outside to give to his mother. Mrs. Purcell must have guessed where it came from. I guess there's nothing to do. But to keep looking, Angel. What? Something I noticed outside a second ago. What? Her husband Luke went into town, didn't he? What, yeah? Well, I saw something in the lawn. There were the bushes. Here we are. A hat, see. Oh. Oh, it's the one he had on earlier. Well, George, Luke's been here. Well, it could have been at supper and he could have left his hat. On a windy night like tonight? Oh, no, Angel. He went into town all right. I just think he got back. That's all. Yeah, sure. There's his car on the side of the house. And he left the car door open. George, he was in a hurry running maybe and lost his hat. What? Maybe it wasn't Buddy. Maybe it was Luke who came back here. That's a man's voice. Come on this way. Luke. Oh, no. It's the chain. Luke, can you hear me? Luke, listen, can you hear me? It's the chain. It was waiting for me. I'd seen him earlier on the road with the chain. He chased me. Hit me. Chain. Oh. Oh, George, can't we get him back to the house? It's too late. What are you going to do? Look, this just happened, Bruxy. It just happened. Don't you get it? We interrupted it. You mean then someplace right around? Shh. Yeah. It's the chains. Hear them? There's crazy wind. You can't tell which direction. That's the road, Angel. That little patch of woods. Come on. Oh, George, you're not going. I said come on. We can see him if he runs forward across the fields in the moonlight. Yeah. Yeah. Come on in here someplace. Oh, there you are. Well, hello, Simon. I have been chasing after you as fast as I could. I saw what had happened back there. And Luke, too. Oh, you did, huh? Yes, I wanted to. What's that? It's chains. George. Yeah. Still in there. The woods. Come on now. A little more to the left, I think. Mr. Valentine, you're not going after Buddy when he's like this. Why not? George. But we can get the sheriff here in half an hour. Buddy wouldn't have time to leave the property. He wouldn't even know enough to. Right now, we only have to search a tiny patch of woods. But George, there's no one else he can hurt except us. We're crazy. Five times as strong as an arts, Mr. Valentine. You're seeing it yourself. We can't handle him. He's clumsy. What difference does that make? Well, George, please don't. He's moving. Listen. No, he's not. He's back to the right again through here. I still say he's clumsy. He's got hands like baseball gloves. So clumsy, he can't even harness up the horses. He's closer to you. You know how bad Buddy can't even open a safety pin. What? Can you imagine what he'd look like trying to unfasten the pin on a delicate cameo brooch? Huh? How about that, Simon? You should have torn it off, Maria's blouse. It would have looked more like Buddy did it that way. George. That's the way you wanted everything to look, isn't it? But you made that one little mistake. What did you do after you killed her and took the brooch? Just give it to Buddy knowing no one would believe where he got it? I don't understand. Mr. Valentine, the chains. He's right in here with the chains. Oh, yeah, sure. Busted the chains to the weapon, all right. That's why I'm going after them right now instead of later. In a little tiny patch of woods, a man couldn't run away without being seen. But he could come out of the woods and pretend he came from someplace else like you did. No, no, no, I didn't. Buddy's right there. Look out here. And I search those woods and don't find Buddy, and instead I find... Sure. Sure, there they are. The chains, Simon. Right where you left them. Hanging on a branch, swaying in the wind. No, no, no, you don't bust them. I guess you don't mind if I use the chains to tie you up. Yeah, some of it was a guess, Mrs. Besson. George seemed to think he should have a little of the kind of faith you have in your boy. How could you, after the dog and those dolls? Well, the second doll Simon planted himself and the first one, well, Buddy gets an idea and sticks with it. But that doesn't say where he got the idea. It's Simon who's been making him so upset. He gave him that stubborn idea that Luke's dog had killed his chicken. Luke's dog? He did kill the dog, Miss Brooks. Yeah, well, he threw a chain at it, like he said. But I think you'll find Simon was the one who... Well, added the finishing touch. It was an awfully easy way for Simon to get out of a nasty spot. They set up a crime that would be blamed on an abnormal kid. And the spot was Maria. Yeah, the little trouble girl Simon unthinkingly gave your brooch to. Oh, she was something all right. And Simon must have lived in terror of that tough husband finding out. Luke gave us another clue, you know, Mrs. Purcell. Yeah, he was attacked because he'd seen someone with chains on the road. He didn't say who, but certainly Buddy wouldn't think in terms of trying to kill a suspicious witness. Oh, no. And Buddy is really kind when you know him. He's really... Oh, no. You were right, Mr. Valentine. I'll find a place where they'll take good care of Buddy. Of course you will. But I'll always be near him. I'll always be near my son. Oh, but I wish there were a happier ending for a George. Oh, I don't know, Brooksy. Remember what Simon said? At least Buddy's not bothered by thinking he's smarter than he is, like most of us are. Well, yes, but George... Mr. Valentine! Mr. Valentine! Oh, Mr. Valentine. Goodbye. Goodbye. Hope you have a nice time. Hope you be happy. Thanks, Buddy. Same to you. What's the one biggest cause of wear in your car's engine? Automotive engineers have proved that internal corrosive rust is responsible for 80% of all engine wear. It starts the moment the ignition is turned off. The result of acid-laden moisture attacking cylinder walls and other vital parts. But when you rely on RPM motor oil, you stop this 80% of wear completely. That's because RPM is specially compounded to keep a moisture-proof film on internal metal at all times. With RPM on those vital parts, rust can't harm the engine, even though your car stands idle for days or weeks. No wonder this premium quality motor oil is first choice in the West. It's the oil that stops 80% of engine wear. Why not try it tomorrow? Ask for RPM motor oil at independent Chevron gas stations and at standard stations where they say and mean, we take better care of your car. Tonight's adventure of George Valentine is brought to you by Standard of California, on behalf of independent Chevron gas stations and standard stations throughout the West. Robert Bailey is starred as George with Francis Robinson as Bruxy. Let George do it is written by David Victor and Jackson Gillis and directed by Don Clark. Also heard in the cast were George Abacus as Mrs. Purcell, William Boucher as Buddy, Louise Arthur as Maria, Herbert Butterfield as Simon, and Tony Barrett as Luke. The music is composed and presented by Eddie Dunstetter, John Easton. Listen again next week, same time, same station too. Let George do it. This is the Mutual Don Lee Broadcasting System.