 Personal notice, danger's 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. Company of California, on behalf of independent Chevron gas stations and standard stations throughout the West, invites you to let George do it and hope to die. Another adventure of George Valentine. Dear Mr. Valentine, there are certain people in the world who aren't like other people. They live in a place built of quicksilver and we don't always understand the secrets of their hearts and minds. They're in a world of their own, but our world benefits because they are there. That's the kind of a person I work for. I've been her secretary for the past six years. She can't even remember my last name. She's a combination of church music and just plain cat. Mr. Valentine, I'm writing because she needs your help. She's being threatened or blackmailed or something. Though I'm sure she could be murdered before she'd bother to write a letter herself. She's not well. She works too hard. And if she slaps your face, don't quit. Don't slap back. Because underneath, she's nothing but a very small child. And for some reason, very, very frightened. Also, as I'm sure you'll agree, Ms. Flora Stewart is the greatest actress in the world. I never heard of you. What have you done lately? Ms. Stewart's secretary said we should come here to her home. Never mind, never mind. Here, Sonny, grab that light plug. Light plug? Here be downstairs in a minute, her husband. Don't you know what a light plug is? Oh, here, I'll do it. Ask the dark bear for a pill. It'll brighten you up. Real sharp dialogue. Why didn't you say plug in the phonograph? Wouldn't you like a chair, young lady? Shut up, shut up. Listen. It drops as the gentle rays from heaven upon the place. All right, listen. It is twice blessed. It's blessed him that gives and gives and takes. Is that her, George? I guess so. His mightiest in the mightiest. It becomes a thrown-in monarch better than his crime. Ten years ago. I said, shut up. This makes me cry. You understand? Yes. So what do you do? I'm crying. So yattata, yattata, yattata. If you've got no appreciation, shut up. The quality of mercy is not strained. It drops as the gentle rain from heaven upon the place. It is twice blessed. It's blessed him that gives and takes. It's blessed him that gives and takes. His mightiest in the mightiest. Well, somebody's got to answer that thing. It becomes a thrown-in monarch better than his crime. Maybe a call from my own client. For the love of horses, will you all please shut up? Miss Stewart, from New York. She don't know anybody in New York hang up. They got no appreciation anyway. Wait a minute, wait a minute, wait a minute. How dare you? Flora, baby. Jake, you shut up. Give me that telephone. Yeah, here you are, Miss Stewart. Hello. Operator, I'm so sorry. Will you please tell your party in New York that Miss Flora Stewart caught cold in a Turkish bath? There's a dear girl. She's thrown in the towel until Christmas. Well, this looks like the birth of a nation. Miss Stewart, my name is... Never mind. Doctor, what are you doing here? Get out. Well, now, Flora, for heaven's sake, we haven't seen each other since your big tour. An absence makes you so much fonder. Now, go quack at somebody else. I'm busy. But you're not well, either. I noticed last night when we met on the street. I'm sorry, my dear, but your way past a check-up. Now, now, don't push me. I'm fine. I'm perfect. There's nothing wrong at all with me. You're worried, upset. You look awful. Maybe you can talk to your wife like that, but not to me. Go on, darling. Go on, go on. You know that mortician's understudy has the nerve to think I should give up the stage. Me. It's like asking Grant to give up his tomb. Jake. Jake. Where is he? Where'd he go? If you mean that guy who cries and whose face you slapped, I don't think he liked it. He walked into the other room. What is it, a bar? The quality of mercy is not strained. It droppeth as the gentle rain from my hand. He probably could use a drink. Who is Jake? Your husband? My husband's name is Kenneth. Jake is my agent for 25 years. But don't look that up. He's in love with me. He's a fool. So is my husband. I mean in love with me, not a fool. And I love him, my husband. And they all worry about me, but he doesn't mind if I slap his face. Jake doesn't. He just likes my phonograph records. Well, look, Miss George. I know. I know you're George Valentine, and I'm all upset, and you're here to straighten everything out. There's confusion and... You, dear. Oh, excuse me. I'm Claire Brooks. Mr. Valentine and I work together. Oh. Well, what are you looking so serious for? Eat, drink, and be merry. I thought I might go to work on him myself. That's all. Darling, don't worry. I'll slow down, will you? I'm trying to get it straight. You've been threatened. Blackmailed, your secretary said. Yes. A very husky voice, quite a cloak and dagger. He's phoned every night for three nights running. You'll see for yourself maybe later on. Any connection between those calls? The one you just had from New York? The one you wouldn't answer? What? Oh, no. No, that's different. I started my tour six months ago in New York. That was just somebody I met there. This other voice is from town, I'm sure, and only a man could open the window like that, don't you think? Do what? Make the records. Records? Please, Mr. York, start at the beginning. Well, some of the records I've made of my performances on stage are master records. They're not commercial, just originals, the only ones. And three nights ago, someone broke in the window to my study, ransacked things, and took one out and broke it all over the rug. Go on, darling. Well, uh, blue swan was the first one. That's a play five years ago. It only lasted a couple of weeks. Then it was Alice Adams. I just tried that for the first time on tour. And then last night it was my recording of... Wait a minute. You mean every night a different record is broken and nothing else is touched? No. And then I get a phone call and the voice says, unless you leave $10,000 tonight in the study, I'll break every record you have. And I'll tell everybody what I know about... Well, tell what he knows about what. Well, you don't think I'm going to tell you? Really, darling, I don't know you that well yet. Oh, for the lover. Lady, can't you stop acting for once? But you're here to catch him. You're not here to write my biography. Well, do so for my money. You can either tell or... Stop it! Don't yell at me. You're here now. You'll help. I'm not the detective. I'm just so frightened I can't think straight. You can look around. You'll find some clues. Lady, you're going to stick around and give them to me. Oh, I've got such a headache. I can't even see you. It's my house. I'll do what I like. I want to lie down and forget you all of it. Leave me alone! There's a case, not a case. When you don't know what it is. Now, let's take a look at the study where those records are kept. Do you ever see so many crazy people? Maybe that's how we clear the air, Brooks. He'd be a little crazy ourselves. Doors locked. Locked? Well, listen... There must be another door around through the sun room. Oh, hello, Mr. Valentine. I didn't realize I left the catch on. Are you the secretary who wrote us, Betty Robinson? Yes, it's me. I'm just doing some work in here. Do you, uh... smoke cigars while you work? What? Oh, I guess Miss Stewart wanted you to see the records that were broken. Yeah, yeah, sure. Stuff this prowler brace up. She saved all the pieces. Put them in an envelope. I thought you might get fingerprints or something. I doubt it. Those records look more pulverized than stepped on. Is this the cabinet they were taken out of? Oh, yes, yes, right there. See, how often do you water those zinnias out there? What? Oh, out the window. Uh, there's a gardener every day. The beds are pretty. Yeah, wet right now, all right. Only no marks on the rug. I don't understand. Well, this is a window, isn't it? Mr. Eastman, who comes in from the outside. Easy enough to force, all right? Yes, it's been found open, or it was this morning. Only... he makes no tracks on the rug. And out there, he'd have to stand in the wet floor a bit. And the window could be left open from the inside so that it would only look like somebody. Oh, oh, no. If you think there's anyone inside this house... I don't think anything yet, Miss Robinson, except that maybe you could use some Kleenex. What? Here, honey, not your lipstick, you masquerad. You've been crying, haven't you? No. You're here just to do something for Miss Stewart. Okay. And you're here to say nothing. I've been her secretary for six years. She's the most wonderful person in the world. Why drag that in? Because you've been packing your suitcase? Yes. Yes, I'm leaving for a little vacation. It has absolutely nothing to do with why you're here. You can take care of her now. Hey, Guy, I told you I want to be left alone. Miss Brock, make him. I have a job, so I'm doing it, Miss Stewart. I'm asking, who smokes cigars? What? Nice, fancy cigars from the smell of them. It's Jake, isn't it? That agent of yours? No, it's my husband. Jake's never smoked in his life. Oh, your husband, I'd like to meet him. Oh, he's around someplace. A big shaggy poodle who adores me. Uh-huh. How does he get along with your secretary? Huh? Darling, have you seen her? Nothing but a little fox terrier. Trails me around with such a worshipping look. Why? I'm so tired, I don't think very strict. I'm not going to bother you with why anything, Miss Stewart. Oh, but I'm scared. Someone threatened me. I hired you to come here. Thank you, but we're only trying to understand your household. This is so simple. It's blackmail. Sure, sure. Somebody from the outside. The people in this house have nothing to do with anything. They love me. But it must be a little hard living with a person who's been as famous as you have already a legend. Being married to you, working for you? Already a legend. Huh. Of course, I'm peculiar. I'm selfish. There's nothing in the world as important as my work. And I've been working so hard. I've done nothing but work every minute for the last six months. It was my own tour. I even organized and backed it myself. What's the matter? That's stuff in your lap. What were you doing when we came in? Cleaning a gun. Here, you see. What in the name of... Sister, give me that thing before I... Darling, maybe it's got a bullet in it. How do you know? Now, look, lady... Mr. Valentine, I'm frightened. I want to have a gun. Not the way you handle it, Sister. Now, come on. Also, I'm too much for you, am I? My blackmail is too much for you, so you're afraid of my case. Well, baby, you can just... I said give me that gun. No! Okay, okay, lady, okay. Now, nobody's hurt. You still have your little toy. Of course I have, darling. I still have everything. Call me a legend, will you? Baby, you better be careful. The next time this little toy will spit right in your eye. We'll return to tonight's adventure of George Valentine in just a moment. Listen to the difference. Yes, now you can actually hear authentic scientific proof of the difference between new RPM motor oil and premium-type motor oils as designated by the American Petroleum Institute. Auto engines are equipped with irradiated piston rings, and during operation, my new particles of radioactive metal wear off the rings. Geiger counters are thus able to detect the amount of wear actually taking place. Listen now as the Geiger counters click off the difference. First, the low wear rate of the new RPM. Now, the much faster wear rate of the conventional oil. Now, new RPM again. You have just heard authentic scientific proof that new RPM motor oil cuts in half the wear rate of critical engine parts, doubles the life of the average auto engines between major overhauls due to lubrication. Proved in the laboratory and checked out in severe road service, new RPM motor oil is sold with a money-back guarantee of satisfaction. Ask for it at standard stations and independent chevron gas stations where they say and mean, we take better care of your car. Back to tonight's adventure of George Valentine, the greatest actress in the world, Laura Stewart. But she's scared to death of a mysterious stranger, a black nailer who has been breaking the master records of her famous performances and threatens to continue until she pays him $10,000. Well, if your name is George Valentine, you're convinced that there's a lot going on in Ms. Stewart's strange household besides just black nail, particularly when she pulls a gun on you. Look at the great detective. Okay, okay, ladies. So you win round one. Round one, throw in the ammonia, folks. Oh, go on, get out of here. You're not big enough to help me. All you can do is try to pad your part with guesses about things that don't matter. Well, darling, ta-ta. Oh, turn it off, Deuce. Maybe I don't slap back, but I got bad news for you. I'm staying. Oh, thank you, Mr. Valentine. And it's not true what you think. People do love me like I've loved them. Oh, sure, sure, lady. I love you too. Don't you listen to the critics. I think you're still the greatest actress in the world. You act all the time. Yes, yes, full of cobwebs, isn't it? All house full of cobwebs. Look, Mr. Stewart, I wanted to meet you because... Mr. Stewart. Oh, listen to me. Laughing is no joke by this time. I'm Kenneth, yes, but Kenneth McLaughlin. Yeah, have a drink. Oh, thanks. Do you expect her to take my name? Well, ever hear of Aphrodite's husband, Sarah Bernhardt's? Go on, drink this stuff, it's important. How much of it do you drink every day? Enough to remember the name McLaughlin. Don't think anything of that. Been married 18 years and I adore her. Everybody does, can't help themselves. Sure, sure, keep telling it to yourself. What do I say now? I beg your pardon? No, you tell me what you do for a living. Oh, foolish boy. Okay, so she's the moneymaker. She give you an allowance? No. No, I can't be in sell- Oh, stop smiling. I'll be goaded into saying anything. You ask about my wife, Mr. Valentine. What's there to say? She's been on tour for six months. I'm crazy idea of doing every part she's ever done and for good measure the one she's left out. A galloping ingenue. I've barely seen her. Why are you here today? I don't know that. Why won't she see me today? Why anything? Who cares? Have a drink. Of course she's insufferable, selfish. But so what? Have a drink. That's right, Buster. Tell me how it is to be tied to the great lady, how she never thinks of you the way Betty does. What? You know Betty, nice little secretary who says she loves the great actress too, only she's leaving. Excuse me, Mr. Valentine. Don't tell me you didn't know she was going, not after that little scene you must have had in the study when you ducked out just before we came in. I'll get out of my way. She's gone, I tell you. You hate your wife, don't you? Shut up, you fool. She lives for herself and her career and nobody else. And all the time, right under her nose, you and her secretary about... Mr. Valentine, I'm warning you that... Mr. Valentine, Mr. Valentine, come here. Oh, now what? All right, what is it, Betty? Another photograph, I can... I was just on my way out. I was walking through here. Yeah, well, you're not leaving now. Here, let me see. It was all in pieces, on the rug, the same places as the others. That person's been here again. And the window drapes shoved aside again. Only this time the windows closed. What? Yeah, you heard me, so you're not leaving. Nobody's leaving. Mr. Valentine. I shoved matches in the frame. The last time I was in here, the window can't be opened. But somebody tried awful hard. Here, you see? Handprints all over the top of the glass. Inside. Yeah, sure, of course. I thought so before, now I know it. So we're going to find out whose prints those are. Which one of the people inside this house has been trying to frighten Flora Stewart out of $10,000? You ever swindled blood out of a Turner Valentine? I'm business manager to a bunch of back taxes, that's all. And that Betty, if she had half her brain, would have quit long ago. She hasn't been paid in four months. Clear it up, will you, Jake? Okay. Okay, I'll clear it up. This star client of mine has flat broke. Flora Stewart? Oh, no, wait a minute. She used to make a fortune. And that tourist, you hear? Financing herself in all the parts she wanted to do. Playing the city she thought liked her. Whether the houses were good or not. Promoting herself with producers, I tell you, friend, it's cleaned out everything she had left. You're a great business manager, you must be. What? Montague. It is not hand or foot. So you still don't understand anything? No arm, no face, nor any other part belonging to a man. Yes, soft hearted, Jake. But it's there. Can't you hear it? In that old record? She makes me cry. Sure, I love her. She tears people apart. She's, she's often that world of her own. She can't help it. You think she gets two pins for what happens to her? But am I supposed to be a watchdog forever? I can't order her around. Nobody can. Nobody ever could. Oh, why don't you get smart and go home? Bruxy, I'm just beginning to realize what this is all about. Wait a minute. George, that was a shot. Oh, George, no. It's flour. Yeah, dead Bruxy. She's dead. Oh, brother, see it all backwards until it's too late. Get a client you can't understand and then let her be killed. It must have been her own gun that was used. It's gone. She was scared to death. She really was frightened. Bruxy's sick and upset. Oh, George, stop it. She wanted protection. She would have said... Hey, wait a minute. Hey, what happened? You hear that? Yeah. Yeah, I hear it, Jake. Car starting. A car starting. Get out of the way. Well, thanks. She didn't run over me. All right, Betty, get out. Stay where you are. Come on, come on. I know you have. Miss Stewart's. Get away from me. Don't touch me. I killed her. Betty. Yes, I killed her. Now what are you going to do, Betty? Suppose you just take it easy. She wouldn't let him go and I killed her. He loved her and hated her for 18 years and I killed her. I loved her, too. You know, I'm getting a little sick of all the emotions being spilled in this house. Just because you lived with an actress doesn't mean you have to wait to take her. I killed her. Don't you understand? You come one step closer. I'll kill myself. Yeah. Yeah, look who's coming, Betty. The boyfriend himself. I'm totally excitement. I was on the sleep. Betty says she killed your wife. What? Flora? Yeah, yeah, that's right. Little Betty here managed to wrestle her gun away. Can you imagine? And then with one shot, see, all right, sister, give me that gun. That's better. You don't have to pretend. You don't have to cover for him. Betty. Betty, what in heaven is that? All right, now, Jay, tell me something. Did Flora carry life insurance? Huh? Yes. Yes, as a matter of fact, quite a bit. Took it out just recently. It was the only way I could get it to save. Why? Because after we heard the shot, Betty, it took us a little time to find out where it came from. But you were upstairs already. What did you do? Run in there, see the body, see a gun, and think Kenneth had actually killed her? Yes. With me in the house and Jake, didn't you notice the cotton wadding, the cleaning fluid, the gun oil? That's right, George. Yeah. If I found a setup like that, I'd be more inclined to think her death was an accident. All right, now, come on inside. We're going to phone back to New York. Okay, thanks, operator. Keep on trying to locate that party in New York, will you? All right, I know it's awful sudden. I know you all loved her a lot, no matter how you talk. She really tore people apart, didn't she? But an accident right in the middle of all that blackmail business? Oh, George, no, it's too convenient. Yes, Valentina, if you don't explain what... I'm just guessing, Jake, adding two and two. In the first place, that blackmail thing, she put that up herself. Well, she must have. Look at the records that were so carefully broken. Alice Adams, the part of an adolescent girl, just recorded this year on tour. She might have been able to play that part well 30 years ago. And then Blue Swan, a flop that lasted two weeks. And then this last one, a turkey you said, don't you see? All her recent performances, all her bad performances, she broke the records herself to get rid of them. But why would she call you? Well, she wanted me here because it was all phony, it was all an act. And she made a big point of having me see her cleaning a gun, handling it clumsily. She wanted us for witnesses, wanted us to testify she died accidentally. That's right, Bruxy. And I don't think I need to kick myself. She would have done it anyway. Yeah, the big selfish actress, so self-centered. But she knew she wrecked lives. And the rest of it wasn't an act. She was frightened all right. But she had to keep on being a star. She was sick. The doctor said she'd have to give up the stage. It was her whole life. She had to keep working. Feeble flat gesture, wasn't it? But maybe she figured it was the least she could do for all of you. Yeah, that's right. Make a death look like it was an accident. So the insurance companies wouldn't refuse to pay off on suicide. Oh, look. She went on tour to play all the parts she used to like, burning the candle at both ends for the last big try, financing herself, the great actress. But I noticed her biggest successes were in the past. She still was great, Sonny. You sure about that? Hello? Hello, Miss Stewart there? Uh, who is this, please? I know all about Miss Stewart, at least I think I do. Well, tell her it's James Sharon. James Sharon? The producer? Give me that phone. Hold a check, okay. Wait a minute. How about you taking a message? Maybe it'll be easier that way. Well, nothing is easy, friend, but go ahead. Well, she's been haunting me for years to put in something big, but I can't anymore. I wrote her I could get her a small part and would phone her for an answer. For a slap in the face. She knows the truth as well as I do. What does she want to make me suffer for? I love her, but... Why don't you say it straight, Mr. Sharon? Candles all burned out, my friend. The anginews. She had to quit the stage. Maybe she could have even done that. The stage had already quit her. She didn't have any life outside the theater. That's right, Brooks. She'd been slipping for years and she must have known it too. That last disastrous tour was the payoff. They all knew it. You could never admit it to anyone. Yeah, particularly Jake in there. Wagon hitched to a burned-out star. Flora wasn't all selfish, George. Trying to pour a third act curtain like that. It hadn't been for Betty interfering. The accidental death stunt might have gone through. That insurance idea to help the people she'd hurt clumsy as it was might have worked. George, it doesn't make any difference. They don't care about the money. Don't blame yourself for having to expose them. Yeah, I know. Jake's still in there beating himself. She really had these people tied up in knots, didn't she? Helen Keats was not her heart. Leo Patrick's majesty. Atlanta's better heart. Sad duperity of mothers. How do you explain a woman like that, George? I don't understand. Maybe you don't. Listen. Heaven would and die curse slave. Listen to the difference. In a few seconds you will hear Geiger counters measuring automobile engine wear. The engines are equipped with irradiated piston rings, which make it possible for the Geiger counters to detect wear as it occurs. You will hear authentic scientific proof that new RPM motor oil cuts in half the wear rate of critical engine parts, doubles the life of the average auto engine between major overhauls due to lubrication. First, let's listen to the Geiger counter slowly click off the low wear rate of new RPM. Now, the much faster wear rate of a premium type oil is designated by the American Petroleum Institute. Now, new RPM again. You have just heard Geiger counters clicking off the scientific proof that new RPM motor oil is years ahead. Yes, years ahead. New RPM doubles engine life between major overhauls due to lubrication. Try it. Sold with a money-back guarantee of satisfaction at independent Chevron gas stations and standard stations, where they say and mean, we take better care of your car. Tonight's adventure of George Valentine has been brought to you by Standard Oil Company of California on behalf of independent Chevron gas stations and standard stations throughout the West. Robert Daley has starred as George with Virginia Greg as Brooksy. Let George do it is written by David Victor and Jackson Gillis and directed by Don Clark. Jeanette Nolan was heard as Flora, Charlotte Lawrence as Betty, Sydney Miller as Jake, Larry Dobkin as Kenneth, Stanley Farrar as Sharon. The music is composed and presented by Eddie Dunstetter, your announcer, John Heaston. Listen again next week, same time, same station, to let George do it. This is the Mutual Don Lee Broadcasting System.