 And now for the radio program that has rated tops in popularity for a longer period of time than any other West Coast program The mystery program that's unique among all mystery programs And I'll tell you why It's because you know who's guilty. You see his every move, you know his complete plans even his innermost thoughts Yet the final curtain always brings a startling surprise in the signal oil program The whistler whistle is your signal for the signal oil program The whistler am the whistler and I know many things for I walk by night I know many strange tales hidden in the hearts of men and women who have stepped into the shadows Yes, I know the nameless terrors of which they dare not speak Yes friends, it's the whistler for the tops in entertainment and for the tops in gasoline quality it's signal It takes extra quality, you know to give you extra mileage and signal is the famous go farther gasoline So look for the signal circle sign in yellow and black that identifies friendly independent signal stations from Canada to Mexico And now the whistler strange story Lady from the sea For 15 years Myra Cartwright had lived in a shadow the shadow of a knife and a note a note that could destroy everything She'd built up in 15 years of hard work Yes, the shadow that even the glittering lights of Hollywood could not dispel Myra had now reached the peak of her fame the light of her stardom was burning brightly Her houses in Bel Air and Palm Springs were show places and her face was on the cover of four magazines this month then Something in the morning paper struck terror to her heart and at the same instant a cloud crossed before the Sun Myra shivered the newspaper slipped from her fingers to the bedroom floor Ella Ella You look like you've seen a ghost I Have I have what's that miss myra the newspaper look look at it There on the front page The picture what? Oh, it's a picture of paradise pier and the The old cafe built like a ship the lady from the sea that herring down the pier They're going to destroy the lady from the sea Memory haunted landmarks of early film colony dies fast disappearing The furnishings of the famous old lady from the sea cafe a favorite night in place of the silent film era Will go on the auction block die according to an enabler call the studio tell them I won't be there today What lie tell them anything. I'm sick anything. I don't care I've got to go to that auction Yes, the dismantling of an old cafe built like a ship at a strange significance in the life of myra Cartwright To her the lady from the sea cafe meant more than memories of plushy Hollywood parties and prohibition Jim It stood for Craig Douglas the one-time Hollywood director who once owned it stood for Craig's beautiful wife Norma Douglas star of the silent film and Above all it brought back memories of that evening 15 years ago when myra then a farm girl from Montana Radiant after her first important screen role in Marie Dressler's latest picture Had stood beside Craig on the upper deck of the lady from the sea cafe Overlooking the churning waters that moved under paradise pier Craig yes, darling Craig did you talk to Norma? Yes, the answer is still the same. She won't consent to a divorce Craig I've been thinking you could force her into a divorce. I mean if it were known about us She'd have no no I won't have that myra. She'd drag your name through the mud and take pleasure doing it But darling, I know myra Now you're young on the threshold of a great career bad publicity would ruin you. I don't care about my career I don't care about anything But you oh Craig what are we going to do? Very little. I'm afraid Mara Yes, you remember the Ibsen play we read together The one you named the cafe for the lady from the sea. Uh-huh He took from his pocket a key ring and Drew a ring that he always wore from his finger And he took a small ring that I had These two he put on the key ring and he said We should wet ourselves to the sea What? Yes, so he said and with that he threw the key ring and our rings with all his might as far as he could Into the deep Myra give me your ring Here and now mine Yours and mine on the key ring there Craig darling Do you remember the rest of the lines? for for she is mine and Mine she will remain and she shall follow me if I should come back and fetch her as a drowned man from the dark sea oh Oh Craig here. We are my darling You got your key. Uh-huh. Who'd you come in for a few minutes great? No, I better not it's past midnight And you've got to be on the set early in the morning. All right. I Well, what's the matter that strange the lights are I'm sure I turned them out when I left the apartment tonight Norma your landlady told me would be quite all right if I waited for you here Mara Told her I was a friend You don't mind do you know what are you doing here? Oh, I just wanted to drop around and have a little talk with your Protégé. What do you want? I don't want anything Craig. I Understood you wanted to divorce. This is hardly the place to discuss that again. There won't be any discussion Craig I've made up my mind to give you a divorce what one. Oh Norma why not? There's nothing left between us. I was a fool to think otherwise, so Well, you too can make your plans Norma I don't know what to say and don't say anything darling. Well, it's awfully decent of him I only want you to be happy. I I want you to know no I'm grateful to you for giving Craig up. I'm sure you'll be quite happy together even with what you'll have left What do you mean? Oh, that's right. We haven't discussed the terms of the divorce yet We don't have we don't the financial settlement Norma we can talk about that later. No, I want to discuss it right now I want my to know what she's costing you Craig No, I I Don't understand. I don't have his divorce Myra provided. He gives me the Malibu house the ranch the cafe cars and Everything else he owns. Well, you can't be serious, but I am and another thing I'm afraid you'll have to leave the studio the place is cluttered with second-rate directors as it is second rate All you ever were Craig and you're not even that anymore mirror has been You'd have been out of a job long ago if it hadn't been for me And if you go through with this I'll see to it that you're finished in Hollywood. I think I'm big enough to do it Yes, I expect you are Norma. You can't ask Craig to do this. I I won't let him I won't have it this way. You mean you won't have Craig this way Money really is important isn't it Myra without it Craig is lost his appeal hasn't he darling? It was just a trick wasn't it Norma You never intended the divorce Craig I'm grateful to you for giving Craig up Never let you have him do you understand never you for a stupid little fool Stop it. Myra put down that night. No, Maya. Don't It's all over in an instant isn't it Myra the paper knife in your hand the sudden blind Raging lunge at Norma and now she lies on the floor at your feet Then you feel Craig's arm around you Myra. Give me the knife Give me the knife She's dead I've killed her because she left darling get hold of yourself. Do you hear I didn't mean to I know I know Now listen to me. I've got to get her out of here I want you to go downstairs Drive my car around to the back of the building and leave it there. Oh, no, Craig I got to I'll take Norma down the back stairs. No one will see me Give me about five minutes, but I want you to come back here and stay here and I'll phone you later And don't worry leave everything to me Yes, Myra leave everything to Craig. He'll know what to do Quickly you go downstairs drive the car around to the rear of the building in a few minutes later You're back in your apartment Craig is gone with Myra and he's taken the murder weapon with him a paper knife With your name engraved on the blade part of a desk set a gift of the studio workers Yes, Craig will have to get rid of the knife to woody Myra The hours drag by slowly and you paste the floor of your apartment waiting waiting But Craig doesn't call you're almost at the breaking point when finally just before dawn Craig Yes, who is this Frank Collins I'm Craig's lawyer. He asked me to call you. Where's Craig? No, he didn't do it. I tell you they can't hold him. They can miss Cartwright You see half an hour ago Craig signed a full confession. Hey, Mr. Kendall. Thank you your honor Now mr. Douglas You have told the court that during a quarrel with your wife at the lady from the sea cafe That in a blind rage you struck her several times with a knife. Yes. Yes What became of the murder weapon? What did you do with the knife? I told you I didn't know what I was doing I don't remember you don't remember. Oh Now really you're on our eye object the defendant has already testified that in a moment of uncontrolled rage or a sudden Emotional murder weapon is a vital importance objection sustained Mr. Douglas just what do you remember you struck your wife several times with the knife and then Then she fell to the floor Somehow I must have wandered outside And after that I remember standing to the rail and how long were you out there? I don't know Then I came back in and call the police That's all I remember here. We are miss Five minutes and keep your hands off the screen. Yes. Yes, of course Hello, Myra Craig oh Great now Myra, it's all right. The trial's over and that's the worst part My lawyer hadn't managed to have the charge reduced a manslaughter. It might have been much worse great. Why? Why did you do it? Why did you confess? because Because I love you my remember Because you have a career before you Not like Norma's based on a pretty face and a few cheap tricks But something really great and what if you're wrong if I'm a failure You'll have given up your freedom for nothing. No, no, I would have done it anyway Craig The knife they never found the night. I don't worry. There's no safer place in the world than where I put it I've got to get it sometime. Tell me where it is. No, no if I told you you'd go back and they might be watching But Craig don't worry darling. It's safe where it is quite safe With the prologue of lady from the sea the signal oil company brings you another strange story by the whistler You know friends in addition to being summer This is also the time of year when more and more drivers switch to signal the famous go farther gasoline Of course, you can't blame vacation-minded folks for being interested in signals good mileage But mileage is only half of signal story If you talk with signal customers, you'll find they're equally enthusiastic about the thing which makes signals good mileage possible. I Mean the extra efficiency that today's signal gasoline coaxes from your motor which means smoother quieter more responsive power for your car After all mileage is just one of the tangible measurable benefits You'll enjoy from a superior quality gasoline that delivers more driving pleasure for you That's why signal says your speedometer is the best yardstick of gasoline quality But for the simple way to always be sure you're choosing the gasoline that stops in quality You need only remember these two points One it takes extra quality to go farther and two signal is the famous go farther gasoline And now back to the whistler and so Myra a shadow entered your life the shadow of a knife The shadow that has been with you now for ten years Ten years since Craig Douglas went to prison Ten years since his lady of the sea cafe passed into other hand The murder of Norma Douglas his wife is almost forgotten But you've never forgotten it. Have you even when success followed success as your fame and power grew in the motion picture world You have remembered For you love Craig Douglas Yeah, and he knows where the knife is hidden Even now as you stand on the set between takes the whole horrible nightmare comes back to you And you struggle to keep it out of your mind as you turn to light a cigarette. You see your maid walking towards you What is it Ella look Mara? What's the matter easier in your bundler? Who is? Mr. Douglas so upset Mara It'll take a little time to get used to me, but how did you I mean time off for good behavior. I'm on parole I see I'm so glad Craig You don't seem to be Mara, but of course I am born Why shouldn't I be glad after all? well Chains so Craig you look so different. Yes. Yes ten years in prison can do a lot to a man But Inside I haven't changed Still love you Mara how darling I thought so often how it would be to see you again to put my arms around please But Mara did just that someone might come on someone has Me the man who went to prison for a murder you committed Craig, what are you going to do do? Mara, don't you understand? I'm back. I'm free Darling, we're free. Don't don't touch me So that's it You're not in love with me anymore. I was when you went away. Yes Yes, you were in love with me then when I had money influence when I could help you when I could give you ten years of my life to save you That's pretty funny now, isn't it? What's happened to all our plans great please? I'm a star My whole life belongs to my public. You're a phony just like I've got to think of my public I can't tie myself down to To an old man Why don't you say it man? Please so you're going to let me walk out of here You're going to thank me for ten years pat my hand and let me walk out see that you're taking care of you'll have everything you need Everything I need paying me off What's the matter Myra your conscience bothering you or is it the knife you Have it no no it's still hidden With a note Myra a note that tells all about how Norma was killed a note Where Craig we're it will look at you out of blind eyes, Myra Like the girl in the Ibsen play a land creature who can no longer find her way back again to the sea tell me tell me I Think I better go no wait, please Craig There's no point in going after him is there Myra Craig will never tell you where he's hidden a knife and now There's the little matter of a note to a note that will brand you as a murderous a Quarter of an hour later. You walk back out on the set seemingly calm But inside you the cold hand of fear clutches at your heart the cameras roll again There are takes and retakes scene after scene you keep fumbling your lines. You can't concentrate You can't get Craig off your mind Finally late that evening you drive home spend a sleepless night thinking about Craig wondering what you'll do Then the following morning while you're having breakfast a visitor arrived What is it Ella? There's a gentleman to see you a lieutenant Perez police department police Haven't come in Ella this way sir Morning, miss Cartwright. I did disturb you, but this is rather important. It's quite all right lieutenant I'd like to ask you a few questions about Craig Douglas What? What about him? We found a code identified as his at the end of Paradise Pier this morning Up at that old cafe. He used to own built like a ship What? We believe miss Cartwright. You may have committed suicide The years have rolled by since that morning when lieutenant Perez of the Los Angeles police made his call Five more years Myra, but the shadow has remained Craig's body was never found and there was no proof that he was really dead Of course as the lieutenant had explained the tides under the old pier was swift and treacherous Yes, Myra as treacherous is the knife Craig had hidden the knife and the note But no one found unless someone should find them today For now it's 1948 five years have passed since Craig's coat was found on the pier You've had a long time to think about it, haven't you my But your thoughts have brought you nothing until this morning When the newspaper told you of the auction at the lady of the sea cafe then it hit you That's where Craig hid the knife and a note Somewhere in his beloved lady of the sea cafe as you hurry up the gang plank to the auction You're quite certain that Craig is hitting them somewhere on board ship Carefully ma'am These old boys ain't as smooth as they used to be no sir. I remember in the old days What do you know about the old days plenty man used to run a sightseeing boat right off this pier in the late 20s Yep The lady's taken quite a puffin in since those days face crack white open now What are you talking about the lady? That's what I call a figurehead the carved woman up there on the power of the ship Used to set the sights on her in the old days. Oh the figurehead. Yes, you were going to the auction Yes, well over there the dining sorrow that way Ain't much interested in what's going on himself. I'm just waiting till they get round to her The lady up there gonna get her to What you figure on bidding for man, I Don't know Perhaps for my life The whistler will return in just a moment with a strange ending to tonight's story Meantime here's an important announcement for you folks who play contract bridge and those of you who would like to learn the game A complete course of instruction in contract bridge Divided into six easy lessons is now yours for the asking at all signal service stations These bridge lessons were prepared especially for signal oil company by that famous bridge expert Robert Lee Johnson Of whom E. Lee culbertson says no one is better qualified to prepare a series of lessons on contract bridge Than my good friend and associate Robert Lee Johnson I am glad to recommend these signal bridge lessons to all who are interested in learning bridge or in improving their game You see friends mr. Johnson style is so simple and understandable that even beginners can learn the game in these six easy lessons and Advanced players will especially enjoy the challenging quiz at the end of each lesson The first lesson is at your signal dealers now and there'll be a new lesson each week for the next six weeks So drive into your signal service station tonight or tomorrow and ask for your free copy of contract bridge in six easy lessons And now back to the whistler Yes, Myra as you sit in the dining salon of the old ship like cafe Listening to the drone of the auctioneer's voice You realize that you're about to bid for your life, aren't you you stare at the jumble of furnishings from the cafe? But there's nothing nothing that would hide a knife for 15 years as each item goes under the block You watch carefully train your memory for some clue The auction is almost over isn't it Myra frantically you glance around the room at the remaining articles And as you do you catch sight of the old man you met on deck the old sailor Who is going to fit on the car figurehead and then suddenly Craig's words come back to you it? Will look at you out of blind eyes Yes, blind eyes That's it isn't it Myra the lady carved out of wood on the prowl of the ship Quickly you hurry out to the deserted deck up to the figurehead you slip around the narrow passageway Stand for a moment looking up at the car figure the cracked face Quickly you climb on the rickety wooden railing pull yourself up until you reach the car face Lady lady, what are you doing up there? It's got to be here. It must be it must be in here If I could just get my hand inside You say you saw it happen old hammer, that's right officer I was standing right here and the rail gave way and she fell down there You find her body yet? No, we won't for a while anyway. Have you any idea what the woman was up to? Nope Seem to be trying to get her arm through a crack in the figurehead then the rail gave way About this note you say it was inside the figurehead must have been When the lady fell part of the figurehead went down there in the water willer I was standing here when this piece of paper fell to the deck Dear Myra, I think you should know that I threw the knife into the sea on the night Norma died I Think you should know too that she was still alive when I carried her out of your apartment. I had to finish the job Clear ended over sir now that other right in there the bottom of the page Can't figure that out either Sounds like it's from her play or something. You mean this yeah right there For you are mine and Mine you shall remain and you shall follow me If I should come back and fetch you as a drowned man from the dark sea Let that whistle be your signal for the signal oil program the whistler each Wednesday night at this same time brought to you by the signal oil company marketers of signal gasoline and motor oil and fine quality automotive accessories Signal has asked me to remind you to get the most driving pleasure drive at sensible speeds be courteous and obey traffic regulation It may save a life Possibly your own Featured in tonight's story were Joan Banks and William Conrad the whistler story was written by Esther McCoy With music by Wilbur hatch and was transmitted to our troops overseas by the armed forces radio service Remember at this same time next Wednesday another strange tale By the whistler This is Marvin Miller speaking This is CBS for Columbia broadcasting system