 Your place is sure with two great names Frigidaire and General Motors Frigidaire presents Herbert Marshall as a man called X Wherever there is mystery, intrigue, romance in all the strange and dangerous places of the world there you will find the man called X And now Frigidaire presents Herbert Marshall as Ken Thurston the man called X On a cold and gloomy day in LaGuardia Field Ken and the Chiefs stand watching a great transatlantic plane take off Well, there he goes, Ken Yep, off to London Sir Robert Beaumont Chief, I don't know Don't know what, whole thing simple enough Oh sure, the British Air Ministry makes arrangements ahead of time their representative arrives here and presents his credentials the Army Hands in Blueprints of the new supersonic missile and he catches a plane back to England I agree with the Chief, it is simple Then why worry? Well, call it a hunch Anyhow, we can't do anything here Can't Chief, let's grab a taxi If you're looking for a taxi, if this isn't the one, then what is it? Thelchman Pagan, oh no Hello, Mr. Thurston, it's about time you noticed me What are you doing out here? I just told you, driving a taxi Come on, get in, won't even put the flag down I'll bet the old would like to know about that He belongs to Uncle Ahmed and he's in jail for reckless driving Come on, I got special rates for very dear friends Let's work it in, Chief, the only cab around Very surprised at you, Mr. Thurston Saying goodbye to such a no good crook like that Count Heland fellow Heland? Why, Pagan, that was Sir Robert Beaumont Huh? Not, when I knew him in Istanbul, he was a spy Uh-uh Good Lord, can it, can't be Oh, as they can, Chief Pagan, drive to the office of the bureau and make it fast Be it, Ken Here, here, you take it Thanks, Chief Hello, Sir Robert My name's Ken Thurston Huh? You don't know me and I haven't got time to explain In which case, sir, I fail to understand what business you're in Nor can I understand how you're able to pick up some blueprints here in New York Then be back in England to answer your phone Two hours later You're mistaken, sir, I've not been away from Wimbledon What about the supersonic missile designs to be delivered to the British Air Ministry I know nothing of any such designs, Mr. Thurston Then I think I'd better call the Air Ministry No, I ask any such foolish proceeding as to calling the Air Ministry Not as a matter you mentioned, I assure you that everything is quite in order I, uh, good day, sir Well, Ken? Pagan You say you were a friend of that, uh, Helan fella Well, not exactly a friend, Mr. Thurston He's a crook, you understand So, of course, it was a very slight acquaintance Oh, sure, yes Well, uh, starting right now, you're out of the taxi business Come on, we're going to England And, Mr. Thurston, then, where are all these tennis scores? Pardon me, is this, sir, cabin gauge? Oh, I know, sir, you're welcome to each service Thanks, get in, Pagan Do you know where Beaumont Manor is? Oh, yes, sir, it's about three or four miles from here Good, well, that's where we're going Oh, I say, Jenkins, you're already engaged Well, sorry, Mr. Norman, uh, but perhaps these gentlemen wouldn't mind sharing with you They're going to the manor themselves Oh, it would be a great help if you would, you know My name is Winston Norman, down from London, you know My name's Ken Thurston, Mr. Norman And this is Mr. Zeltschmet Oh, how do you do? I'd be glad to have you along Oh, thanks very much If it isn't of you, I was so afraid that I... Oh, Mr. Thurston, look You, uh, you dropped your gun, Mr. Norman, here Thank you, it's clumsy of me I'm not used to getting one, you know All right, driver Uh, so it's not customary at all I mean, I hope you don't think that I was... Something fishy about you, mister Maybe you're going out there to bump off old man Beaumont Sir Robert Oh, I say now, after all, he's practically my father-in-law I'm engaged to his ward, you know His ward? Yes, Lisa, Lisa Thompson So that's why you're going to the manor? No Mr. Thurston, I have reason to believe Something may be wrong up there Yes, I have one or two reasons like that, myself Just what business are you in up in London, anyway? Packin' a ride I'm not business at all, Mr. Selschmidt If you mean the trades As a matter of fact, I'm in the office of the Air Ministry How long do we have to wait here, Mr. Rex? This room gives me the creeps I don't know, Pegon, according to the butler Sir Robert wanted to see Mr. Norman first Oh Hey, somebody's coming Well, Mr. Norman Mr. Thurston Sir Robert would like to see you in the billiard room Alone Fine See you later, Pegon Mr. Thurston, don't leave me here with this assassinator Talk to him Entertain him Tell him about your aunt to Lula Excellent shot, Mr. Thurston You're quite a proficient billiard player, you know Thanks But of course I didn't come here to play billiard, Sir Robert My dear sir, you didn't Perhaps against the far cushion with a slight spin Oh It's too bad It takes pretty steady nerves for a shot like that Quite so Why did you come here, Mr. Thurston? Let's say I didn't want a certain set of blueprints to fall into the wrong hands And what, may I ask, would you consider the wrong hands? For the gadget as deadly as that supersonic missile Any hands might be the wrong ones It's your shot, Mr. Thurston Yeah, let's try for the cannon off the cushion Amazing You're either very skillful or very lucky, Mr. Thurston This kind of a game takes a little of both Where are the blueprints now? Don't you think that's really the concern of the Air Ministry? After all, the man who received the plans in New York carried the proper credentials, didn't he? Yes, yes And he also carried your name I have no explanation, no comment I see It's, um, your shot, Sir Robert What a spooky house Probably haunted I wish Mr. X would come back Or even that Mr. Norman character At least he had a gun Such pictures they got on the walls They had people Give anybody the heebie-jeebies Huh? Somebody's there Coming this way Who, who's there? Get your hands up Don't move Sell, Schmidt Oh, Count Yealand, my old friend Never mind that old friend stuff What are you doing here? Oh, I came here with Mr. Thurston Who's Mr. Thurston? Oh, no, no, no, I can't tell you Not for a thousand bucks Haven't changed, have you? Well, it just happens that I have a thousand bucks Here Oh, I couldn't possibly hear Who is Thurston? No, I couldn't Who is he? He's the man called X So that's it Four hundred, five hundred and six hundred Oh, sure, sure Seven hundred What are you going to do now? Nothing, Pagan Just going to get my thousand dollars back Huh? Oh, no, wait Oh, too bad, Sir Robert, you've jerked the cue Just as it hit the ball Probably nervous reflex It's out of the question, Mr. Thurston I can't discuss it with you What, the bill, sir? You know quite well what I mean Good reasons, but my word, Lisa I simply can't You've dropped your cue, sir, Robert Here What about Lisa? Can't you leave the subject alone? Won't you simply accept the fact that I can't talk to you about it? No Well, the secret is there is that on the loose I won't accept any kind of lying I beg your pardon, sir With all due respect to your name and your age One way or another You're going to talk Very well I'll tell you what it's all about It means relying entirely upon your discretion, Mr. Thurston It's a dangerous business And if anything goes wrong Then heaven help all of us Man called X, starring Herbert Marshall Ken's hard driving questions at last paid off And Sir Robert Beaumont agreed to tell what he knew Of a certain highly secret set of blueprints Delivered by the United States Army To a man posing as Sir Robert himself But according to Pagan That man is really Count Heland A dangerous international crook Just how dangerous Pagan discovered later Much to his own misfortune Pagan Pagan, snap out of it Rather nasty blow someone's giving him, Mr. Thurston Come on, Pagan, wake up Mr. Thurston, I've been... I've been robbed A whole thousand dollars, gone with the wind You're delirious, where'd you get a thousand bucks? Why, for telling him that... Oh, Helander I didn't mean to tell him, Mr. X He beat me, he threatened to kill me Oh, my God Well, Sir Robert He's been here now, and he knows who I am You've got to move, move fast One thing must be clear, Mr. Thurston We can't let anything happen to Lisa I'll go with you on that Pagan, your friend, Heland Is holding Lisa Thompson a prisoner somewhere I told you he was a crook To force me to turn over micro densels From the air ministry He keeps still while he went to New York And picked up those plans With a low life, and then he stole A thousand bucks from me Heland used to keep a flat up in London In the neighborhood of Covent Garden A few doors from the Tavistock Hotel I have the address in my files Well, we've got to start looking somewhere All right, Sir Robert Let's have that address But maybe he's in there, Mr. X Right behind the door But they can't... Stand to one side Good, nobody home Miss Thompson, are you alone? I'm Ken Thurston A friend of your guardian I've come to take you home I can't let you in, you know I have the key And stand back, we'll give it a try Come on, Pagan, sure We're getting out of here, it's been more than a week Well, it's over now, Miss Thompson Is this the only room? No, there are three Just this one door Has Heland been here today? Heland? Yeah, the man who's been holding here Oh, but there couldn't be a... I mean, I didn't see this man's face He disguised his voice, but it couldn't be Heland I know him, he's Sir Robert Schofer Mr. Thurston, somebody's coming You're wrong, Mr. Zell Schmidt I'm already here, pull up your hands When? Mr. Norman, that gun's going to get you into trouble Are you all right, Liz? Am I in town? Darling, Mr. Thurston just broke in To rescue me, of course I'm all right Listen, this man with the disguised voice Could it have been Mr. Norman here? You don't understand When and I are engaged, we're going to be married Yes, perfect and silly idea I guess it was that All right, let's go back to Bourmont Manor No idea how I've suffered during the past week Not knowing where you were and what might have happened to you Thank heaven you're safe now Yes, thanks, Mr. Thurston But I don't understand, he says it was Heland Yes, Liz, I'm afraid it was Mr. Thurston, of what? You don't want to hear about this night You must be terribly nervous after such an ordeal I was, now that I'm back home I'm silly, of course, I'm just hungry Well, we can soon take care of that I'll have Arthur bring you something We're very fortunate it all ended as happily as this I think you're forgetting something, sir Robert As long as those plans are on the loose The thing hasn't ended So, I'm going to sit up and wait for Heland to appear But I don't follow you, sir Why do you expect Heland to come back here? Well, there might be several reasons Revenge, maybe Or when he finds Miss Thompson's escaped He might try to get her back And of course it could be that he finds this place attractive I do Billiards, Mr. Thurston Yeah, I am, yeah Seldom got a chance to play, though Nice shot Don't you wear the champagne can, I poured it for you 10 minutes ago Oh, yeah, I forgot all about it Thanks It's quiet here with everybody in bed At least a family ghost in the house I've never heard of one You think he'll really come here tonight? Oh, Heland? Oh, I'm pretty sure of it I suppose I ought to be scared And I'm not with you here I'm with Mr. Norman, of course He's a nice boy Would you like some more champagne, Ken? No, thanks, there's another one here Fish, I feel a little, um... Dizzy, as a matter of fact Dizzy? Something wrong? I don't know, I... Oh, it's strange I feel like... Good, the billiards all At the stelle At Thurston is unbeknownst Yeah, well In the good fellowship You That's right, Lisa It's a gun You're not unconscious No, probably would have been if I hadn't dumped that champagne behind the table All right, you're more clever than I thought How did you find out? Oh, Lisa One look at that flat in London I knew you had to be him on it Two street-level windows with a bobby walking his beat in front of them And you claimed to be a prisoner We didn't count on anyone coming there Not even possible customers He even turned the plans For that supersonic missile over to you, didn't he? I don't remember Did you get a search, me, Ken? I might later, after I get your partner What makes you so sure you'll come here? For one thing, I heard you call him on the phone, remember? So, what are you going to do? Wait here for him, that's all It won't be a very long wait first And now drop the gun Well, Heland You made a quick trip I didn't have far to come I suppose that's an interhouse phone you were already here Yes, at the gatehouse What happened, Lisa? You said he was unconscious He was only pretending in you all the time Kill him now Well, that's an interesting suggestion You all right if I try a shot or two here While you make up your mind? Go ahead If your nerve is steady enough Better kill him now, I tell you he's clever But my dear Lisa, so am I Nice shot, Thurston Steady nerves and a little luck For what it takes Maybe, only your luck Is all run out In the language of your game, Thurston You're right behind the eight ball You must be thinking of another game, Heland There isn't any eight ball in this one Now I suppose the idea is to sell the plans To the highest bidders, is that it? Oh, it's a much better idea I'm going to sell them to all the bidders Any reason for the question? No, just speaking conversation It helps things Oh, sorry Drop the cue Maybe you're not so calm after all No, leave it, Lyon Use another one out of the rack This one ought to do justice Well, no No, no, Lisa, I'll take that gun Thanks, I'll get back What are you going to do? You won't shoot me, you can't turn me in No, can't I? Mr. Thurston, we're right Well, I got it all taken care of We've got the joints surrounded Scotland yard is all over the place We'll catch this double crossing Hey, what's happened? I'll give it over a billiard game It's Count Healand, huh? Out like a wet blanket Mr. X, did you find the blueprints? Oh, I'm pretty certain Lisa's carrying them Well, then that's that And old's well that ends well Guess what Lisa said End the good, all is good Well, it hasn't ended yet, Pagan Because here and there All over the world There are people like these two Always ready to sell out to the highest bidder As long as fair-minded humans Are being put behind the eight ball Then we can't expect very many things In this old world to end well Our fidget-air star, Herbert Marshall Thanks, Wen Tonight's something of occasion Because it marks the beginning Of the second year with us Our two people who've meant a great deal To our fidget-air program One is Johnny Green Who's fine composing and conducting Such outstanding music week after week And the other is our director Jack Johnstone, whose able Guidance is seldom fully appreciated Outside the studio We owe a great deal to them We think a great deal out of them And we'd like you to know it Next week our story is called Spirit of the Snow And I think it's a honey As usual, of course, Leon Balasco Will be along as Pagan Zeltschmidt So join us, won't you, when next I return Good night Produced by Jack Johnstone With music composed and conducted by Johnny Green Tonight's story was written by Les Crutchfield And so until next week Same time, same station This is Wendell Niles speaking for Frigidaire Made only by General Motors All characters and incidents Used on this program are fictitious Any resemblance to actual persons Or incidents is purely coincidental Remember, every Sunday night Brings you two popular dramatic shows On CBS The man called X in the Adventures of Sam Spade Yes, for the best in entertainment Tune in and stay tuned in To CBS The Biggest Show in Time