 Box 13, with the Star of Paramount Pictures, Alan Ladd as Dan Holiday. Box 13, Carol Star-Times. Please meet me at two o'clock tomorrow afternoon in front of the Mercantile Building. You can do me a tremendous favor. Perhaps change the whole course of my life. I shall be wearing a brown gabardine suit and I'll be carrying a forest green suede handbag. I'll be carrying a forest green suede handbag. That was all. No name, no initials. Just the letter. Well, it didn't sound like much of an adventure. Brother, but how I could have used a crystal ball in good working order. And now, back to Box 13 and Dan Holiday's newest adventure. Look pleasantly. Holiday doesn't look particularly thrilling, but I guess it's like the old age. Huh? The what? The old age. You know, when somebody says something smart, it means something different from what it says, only it's the same thing. Oh, oh. On your next trip around the office, fix that one up, Susie. What? Never mind. Just save up for your adage. Okay? Okay. Hey, I can just make it to the Mercantile Building by two o'clock. So long, Susie. There were lots of people standing in front of the building, but only one girl in a brown gabardine suit, green hat and handbag. I didn't walk up to her right away because, well, I wanted to take a good look. And what I saw was good. Maybe about 24, slender, lots and lots of brown hair that fell down from that cute hat in a nice way. Her clothes spelled money with two capital M's. Well, I walked over to her. Good afternoon. Oh, oh. I'm the man from Box 13. Oh, thank you. Look, I know this sounds terribly foolish and silly, but I do want your help. Mr... Mr... Holiday. Dan Holiday. Oh, all right, Mr. Holiday. Do you have half an hour to spare? Well, the afternoon's young and I can wear it away to an old age. That answer your question? Yes, it does. Do you photograph well, Mr. Holiday? Huh? Well, my baby picture's always turned out pretty good. Of course, that was a little while ago, and I... Look, I want you to have your photograph taken with me. Oh, is that all? Yes, that's all. Of course, I'll pay you for your time and trouble. Oh, no, no, no. My time's my own, and what trouble I get into is usually my own fault. All right, Mr. Holiday. There's a photographer in this building. He's ready for us. Oh, by the way, what's your name? Jones. A Mary Jones. Oh. You know Miss Jones? A writer often spends hours thinking of the right name for the characters and his stories. But here you come along without batting an eye, think of a very unusual one. Do you have to know my real name? Well, I'll live without it, but I... Will you do it, Mr. Holiday? All right, Miss Jones. Let's go look at the birdie. The photographer was ready, and it didn't take long for him to run off three shots. Miss Jones paid him, and the two of us went back downstairs. Out on the pavement, I turned to her, and I guess she read the look on my face. Please don't ask me why, Mr. Holiday. Goodbye, and thanks very much. Well, before I could move my feet, she was into a cab and gone. If this was it, I'd just chalked up the shortest adventure on record. There's nothing to do but go home and mark it off to experience. Yeah, that's where it should have stopped. The next morning, I walked into my office as usual, and... Hey, hey, hey, what is this, Susie? You could have told me. Told you what? I quit. You didn't trust me. Oh, Susie, will you stop? About what? I'll just answer the phone and find out you. Careful, Susie. Careful. Hello? Oh, Kling. Well, how's the police department? It's bright and early. It's not good to hear your voice. I call for information. Yeah, what kind? What about? Well, shall I wear my organs? What are you talking about? What is the matter with everyone? Well, not all swell with the world. At about 15 million bucks. Yeah, everybody's crazy. Yeah, everybody but you. Oh, nice going holiday. Nice going. Am I invited or don't you want cops? It might make the thing look bad, you know. In two seconds, Kling, I'm going to hang up on you. What goes? Would you ever read the papers? Or don't you know what's going on in your life? Now listen, I... Oh, go arrest somebody. Now look, Susie, what's this all about? Look at the morning paper. All right, I'm looking at... Holy mackerel. She's awful pretty. Be quiet, Susie. Prominent errors, announces engagement to... Dan Holliday. Dan Holliday, that's me. That's my picture with her. Sure it is. I've been framed. Oh, but you wouldn't frame a newspaper picture, would you? Marsha Jameson. Beautiful errors to Jameson Lumberfork and announces engagement. You're just a demigod. Don Juan. Oh, one of the two. But you could have told me. I could have told myself. Susie, if that phone rings anymore, don't answer until I get this thing cleared up. One way or another. Goodbye. I got Marsha Jameson's address from the society editor at the Stardt Times, and a half hour later I was ushered into the big library at the Jameson home. Sitting behind a desk was a youngish-looking man. He rose to meet me as I walked into the room. Oh, Mr. Holliday, I'm very happy to know you. Yeah, I wish I could say the same. I beg your pardon? Where's Miss Jameson? I've asked her to come down. Good. I, uh, I suppose I'd better introduce myself. I'm Roger Jameson, Marsha's uncle and guardian. Well, she needs one. I don't understand. Well, that makes two of us. Suppose we pool our facts and get one good twisted story out of them. Mr. Holliday, you're acting very strangely. I must say that my niece's choice of a husband is, well, peculiar. All right, I'm peculiar. At parties I must stand out, but I'd like to... Dan, Dan, darling, how nice of you to come this morning. What did you expect? You, of course. You've met Uncle Roger. Yes, Marsha, we've met. Oh, I want you two to like each other. Oh, fine. I love everybody in the world, but I... Uncle Roger, could I speak to Dan alone, please? Certainly, Marsha. You'll stay for lunch, Mr. Holliday? Oh, thank you. Oh, yes, he will, Uncle Roger. Good. We'll have a long talk. Now, Miss Jameson. Why did you come here? Maybe you haven't seen the morning paper. Mr. Holliday, Dan, help me. I did, and I've got engaged. Look, Miss Jameson, I... Marsha. I don't know you that well. We just became engaged this morning. Dan, it's imperative that you act as my fiance until after the 16th of this month. Oh, what happens then? Oh, Dan, if you'll just do what I ask until the 16th on that day... Yes, come in. Lunch is ready anytime. You are staying, Mr. Holliday. Yes, you'll stay, Uncle Roger. One more lunch like that and I'd have had indigestion for the rest of my life. Uncle Roger was very curious about me. He asked a lot of questions which Marsha answered. Then when I was ready to leave... Of course, Mr. Holliday, this engagement came as a complete surprise to me. I had no idea you and Marsha even knew each other. Well, I get around a lot, Mr. Jameson. You'd better call me Roger, Dan. Yes, it's nothing like being friendly. Well, I'm sure Dan has a lot of things to do this afternoon, Uncle Roger. We'd better let him go. Of course. We'll have plenty of time to talk about things, Dan. Goodbye. Goodbye, Mr. Roger. Oh, thank you, Dan. You were wonderful. It's superb considering I didn't know where the ball was half the time. We'll wait until the 16th, won't you? It's five days from now. Meanwhile, what do I tell my friends? And where do I stack the wedding presents? You can always say we broke up. Uh-huh. And I'll tell you something else, Dan. Can there be anything else? I almost wish the whole thing were true. Goodbye, Dan. And with that, I was left standing on the elegant steps of the Jameson Castle. Well, I could have put the whole thing on the line and cleared up the situation. It'd have been easy. Just deny it. Tell the whole story. Or I could stay in the play and see what the score was. I walked down the stairs, then glanced back and looked up at a window and right into Uncle Roger's eyes. Before I could smile, he let the curtains fall back in place. Okay, that made up my mind. Curiosity killed a cat, they say. All right? Yeah. Well, Danny, welcome to the Star Times. And what brings you into the morgue? Jonesy, I want to do some research. So you came to the right place. Oh, congratulations. Uh, thanks. That's a lot of dough, you're marrying. Yeah. Kind of sudden, wasn't it? Known her a long time? Jonesy, I feel as though it was just yesterday. Now, get me everything you've got on her. Huh? You're going to look up your own fiance? Yep. What's the idea? Kind of silly, isn't it? Well, it's your business. I can put my fingers right on the stuff you want. You got much? All here. Matter of fact, I was reading about it this morning. But I heard you were marrying her. I did some work. And? Well, on the 16th of this month, she comes into about 15 million. What? Yeah. But she has to be married by then. Oh, how come? Her father's will says so. If she doesn't marry by the 16th of this month, this year, her 15 million goes to, uh, uh, Roger Jamison Uncle. Uh-huh. You didn't know? I don't know a lot of things. What else have you got, Jonesy? She had kind of bad luck before. Yes, what kind? Engaged twice before, and, uh, both her fiancés had accidents. Bad? Yeah. Dead? Well, if they weren't, they had an awful dirty trick played on them. What? They were buried. Now, back to Look Pleasant Pleads, another Box 13 adventure with Ellen Ladd as damn holiday. Well, there I was, all wide-eyed and innocent, engaged to marry a girl whose last two fiancés had lots of bad luck. For myself, I wasn't anxious to inherit any of that. But I had to find out a little more. So I went back to the Jamison place. The butler recognized me and let me in without announcing me. I walked down the hall and heard voices in the library. Ordinarily, Kehoe listening would have been out, but... Well, I heard my name, the door was open, so... I tell you, Dan, we'll go through with it. Oh, Dan, Dan, first name already, eh? Oh, don't be silly, Charles. I've got to convince everyone he is my fiancée. Well, what if he backs out before the 16th? He won't. What makes you so sure? I know. Huh? Oh, don't be stupid, Charles. I'm not stupid, I'm just careful. Darling, darling, you know better. Well, I... All right, Marsha. Now, you'd really better go, Charles. As they say in Alice in Wonderland. Curious, sir, and curious, sir. I was wondering about it when Charles came toward the door. I backed away and tucked into another room. Well, where is Dan now? I don't know, Charles, but you'd better get back to the office, or Garajah will miss you. All right, darling. Bye. I'll tell you when and where we can meet again, sweetheart. You know, I'm fussy about these things. Oh, the devil... The name's Holiday, Charlie. I'm engaged to Marsha. How did you get in? The front door. It works. You ought to be ashamed of yourself, Charles, kissing another man's betrothed. Well, I... Now, look, Dan, I... Oh, you go on, Charles. Dan, I want to explain something. They could stand it. Now, look, Holiday, I... Go on, Charles. Oh, very well. I'll see you. Will you come into the library, Dan? But I've got a book. Oh, please, I owe you an explanation. Okay. All right, go ahead. Well, Charles is... Charles is the man you love. That the line you're hunting for? Yes. All right, that's the first olive out of the bottle. The rest should be easy. But it isn't. You see, Dan, your life's in danger. Yes, I gathered that from the things I read a while ago. You... you read. Yes, the newspaper files. Oh, Dan, if you want to, you can back out. Uh-huh, I know. But maybe I'm more than a little curious. But you... you know about... about my two fiancés. Extinct. Uncle Roger killed them, or had them killed. And Uncle Roger knows nothing about Charles? No. The aforementioned uncle thinks I'm fiancée number three in order of appearance. Uncle tries to put a block on me while Charles goes for a touchdown, right? Well, you make it sound so brutal, heartless. Got any other words for it? You and Charles live happily ever after. I don't. All right, all right, you can do as you please. I was going to... to ask you to go through with it. But I can't... So before I left, I promised Marsh I'd stick it out another day. Okay, I'm a sucker. But if Uncle Roger was going to toss a curve, I'd at least be waiting for him. But before I went any further, I called on Lieutenant Kling, told him I was up. He was very sympathetic. Oh, what a story. Ha, ha, ha, ha. Strikes you funny, huh? Yeah. All I want to know is, was there anything that might have tied the uncle in with the deaths of Marsh's fiancés? No. You're sure? Sure I am. When I read about your engagement, I remembered her name. And? Those deaths were accidents. Uncle? Kling. Look, Kling, maybe he's smart. Yeah, it could be. There are lots of smart people in the world. Oh, but I'm not one of them. Is that it? Look, holiday, I warned you that someday your box 13 routine would land you in a slippery spot. Okay, it's up to you to keep your footing. Kling, suppose... just suppose I lead with my chin, and Uncle Roger takes a poke at it. Would that open up the other two cases? Sure. All right, maybe I'll do it. Holiday. What? I, uh, well, look, take it easy. Why, Lieutenant, you sound concerned for me. I'd miss having to hold your hand every once in a while. Uh, what are you gonna do now? Call on Uncle Roger and make like a sucker. Well, Dan, sit down, won't you? Thanks, Roger. You know, it's going to be quite a treat seeing Marsha married. Yes, after two unhappy beginnings before. Oh, you know about those? Marsha told you, I suppose. In a way, yes. You, um, you wanted to see me about something, Dan? Oh, just a social call if you're busy. Oh, no, no, not at all. I was about to leave anyway. You know, Roger, it's very strange. Strange? What is? You haven't asked me anything about myself. I don't have to, Dan. I've been very busy since this morning. You see, I have quite a bit of influence. Connection, so to speak. And, uh, they told you what? Who you are, where you live, what you do for a living. Dan, how much do you love Marsha? I'm going to marry her. You have quite a good income, so it's not the money you're after. Obviously. Dan, I'd give anything in the world to see Marsha happy. We, well, we practically grew up together. There's only 10 years difference in our ages. You see, my brother was 20 when I was born. I see. Marsha is my only living relative. Oh, then I understand you're concerned for her. I'm glad you do. I want to show you something. Miss Clareg, bring him the Jameson estate papers, will you? Thank you. What's that for? Dan, you write mysteries, among other things. Consequently, I think you have a suspicious mind. What do you mean by that? Well, I'm Marsha's uncle. Trustee of her fortune until she gets married, which must be by the 16th of this month. Now, surely in one of your stories, you must have written about a guardian who misappropriates funds, embezzles. No, I never have. Well, it doesn't really matter. You see, I... Uh, the estate papers, Mr. Jameson. I thought I asked Miss Clareg to bring them in. Oh, well, she was busy, and I was on my way past anyway. All right, Charles. Thank you. Oh, um, Charles, this is Dan Holliday, Marsha's fiance. Dan, this is Charles Crane. How are you? Fine. Uh, congratulations. Thanks. Is that all, Mr. Jameson? Yes, that's all. Thank you. All right. Here are the papers. I think you'll find every penny accounted for. Everything in order, Dan? It looks like it. We're going to get along, Dan. Get along beautifully. I wonder for how long. If Uncle Roger was planning on making me number three on his head parade, he was playing it smart. Oh, he was smooth. So smooth that I stayed at a hotel that night. If Uncle Roger knew where I lived, I might have visitors. Of course, I didn't sleep much. It was a lot of thinking to do, and it added up to something funny. The next day was Saturday, and it came in handy because Uncle Roger's office was closed, and I wanted to see something there. I called on Marsha and told her. Maybe she was a little surprised. Why do you want to go through the files, Dan? I've got a hunch, Marsha. Maybe Uncle Roger didn't show me the right papers. For the estate? Yeah, that's it. Have you got a key to the office? I can get one, and one to the files. Get them for me, will you? Say, where's Uncle Roger today? Oh, on the yacht, anchored outside the harbor. You're to go there tomorrow night. Why? He's arranged an engagement party. Dan, if you don't want to go, if you want to back out now... Nothing doing, I'm beginning to like this. All right, Marsha, give me the keys. Getting into the office was easy. I went to the files, Mark Jameson. Yeah, the papers were there all right. But not the set Uncle Roger had shown me. These were different, but little I knew about finance showed me some fancy juggling had been going on. I was checking them carefully. A neat round hole appeared in the file case alongside my head. I dug behind the cases and peeked around just in time to see the outer door to the office close. Somebody with a silenced gun played play pigeon with me. So Uncle Roger was on the yacht, was he? When I got back out on the street, a storm had kicked up. I took a cab back to my apartment and phoned Marsha. She didn't answer. The butler said she had gone and Uncle Roger was on the yacht. Late in the evening, I received a note from Marsha. Uncle Roger insisted that I come to the yacht tonight. I'm writing this note from my cabin now. I know something dreadful will happen, so please, if you can, come at once. There are speed boats at the dock to take you out. But be careful, Dan. Be careful. It could have been a trap, but I compared the writing on this note with her first letter to box 13. Oh, it was hers, all right. Careful, neat, precise. Okay, if this was a showdown, might as well get it over with. When I got there, the yacht was pitching and rolling like a bad bronc with a bur under his saddle. That all-day storm hadn't let up a bit. Then I was on board, but nobody was in sight. There was one cabin with a light inside. I went to it, opened the door. Holiday, what are you doing here? Visiting. I don't understand. Didn't Marsha tell you the party was tomorrow night? I like to be early for appointments. Where is Marsha? What's the matter with you? She's not here. Oh, yes, she is. Have you gone crazy? Not yet. Sit down, Uncle Roger. All right. You know, Uncle Roger, I... I don't like being shot at. I don't know what you're talking about. Where is Marsha? Cut it out. I... I... Yes? What were you going to say? Well, what's the matter? Have you got a gun? A gun? Yes, but... Get it. Aren't you... Get it fast. What's not here? It's always in this desk drawer. Is this what you're looking for, Uncle Roger? Charles, what are you doing here? And you might ask him what he's doing with your gun. It is yours, isn't it? Looks like it. You don't think I kill you with my own gun, do you, holiday? Very neat, Charlie. Very neat. But the crew... Just two crewmen aboard. The rest won't be here until the morrow. And that storm is convenient. Lots of noise. Something funny, holiday? Yeah. Yeah, you are. You think you're going to get by with this, don't you? Is there anything to stop me? What is this all about? This is a prank. Oh, no, Roger. Not a joke. Definitely not. Charles and Marsha had it all planned very neatly. The accidents to her other fiancé's gave these two beauties the idea. Charles fakes another set of papers to look as though you were embezzling, and... What? Yeah. Yeah. They make it look as though you can't afford to have her married by the 16th, because if she doesn't marry, then the estate goes to you. And you're killed with my gun. That's it. And you're killed the same way. Charles muscles up this cabin to make it look as though there were a struggle. All right, Holiday. Second guessing. Oh, no, Charlie. I'm not so dumb. You see, I called the police before I came aboard. You see, I guess... You're a liar. You couldn't know. Oh, but I could. Marsha's note gave it away. Marsha's note? Uh-huh. The note she was supposed to have written aboard this yacht. You see, her handwriting was neat, precise, careful. Charlie, um... Ever tried to write a neat hand on a pitching-rolling yacht? Can't be done. So I knew she wasn't aboard. And there was only one reason she'd want to get me here. To work this frame. Oh, hello, Lieutenant Klink. Lieutenant Klink! Oh! Got that gun. Is he...? Yeah, Charlie's gone bye-bye for a little while. Call the police in here, Dan. Where are they? Are you kidding? Lieutenant Klink is probably saving his betty-bye. May I? I gotta sit down. You see, Susie, they weren't satisfied with 15 million. They wanted Uncle Raj's money, too. Which they would have had if that frame had worked. Uh-huh. Hey, what are you doing? What do you got there? A new camera. It's got a wonderful gadget on it that lets me get in the picture. All I do is press this button. Oh, here, I'll show you. Both down the line. See, like this. Oh, no. Not again. Good night, Susie. Next week, same time, Alan Ladd stars as Dan Holiday in Box 13. Alan Ladd appears through the courtesy of Paramount Pictures. Watch form in his latest picture, Saigon. Box 13 is directed by Richard Sanville with an original story by Russell Hughes, an original music composed and conducted by Rudy Schrager. The part of Susie is played by Sylvia Picker and that of Lieutenant Kling by Edmund MacDonald. John Beale played Roger Jamison. Production is supervised by Byrne Carstensen. This is a Mayfair production from Hollywood.