 Pepsi Cola, P-E-P-S-I, that's your smartest cola buy. Pepsi Cola presents, Counterspies. Bing, Counterspies, calling Washington. Both at home and abroad. The night, the case of the murmured millions. Another Counterspies report to the American people brought to you each Tuesday and Thursday by Pepsi Cola. Pepsi Cola hits a spot, two full glasses, that's a lot. That's right, you heard what they said. Two full glasses of sparkling Pepsi from one big 12 ounce bottle. You're getting an extra glass full. And what a delicious glass full. The most refreshing, delightful cola that ever tickled your taste. You can't top Pepsi's tangy flavor. And that big, big bottle saves you money, goes twice as far. Pepsi is America's big, big favorite. And America's biggest cola value. So why take less when Pepsi's bet? Whenever you reach for a refreshment, remember. Why take less when Pepsi's bet? And now to Counterspies. Hello. Oh, yeah, Tony. We're the same guy. Boy, that little two-timing. Where are you now? Downstairs in the lobby. Is she on her way up? No, no, you don't have to tell her anymore. I got enough for a nice big burn. Okay, ring on. I won't, I'll learn. That's not my one talk to you, boss. Me first, Dad, I got something I want to give you. What about time I've been due for? You've been due for this for a long time? Rocky! No babe makes a jerk out of Rocky Dunn. Rocky Dunn? No time in me for a two-bit con man. Oh, stop it, Rocky, stop it, I tell you. Don't tell me nothing, I know it all. Nobody pulls a roll over Rocky's eyes. He's good this guy, Norman. We're taking a beating for it. He's that good at playing around. You know what I think of that kind of business? Oh, I did it, he wants to meet you and isn't me. That's good, that's really good. He wants to meet me so he plays footsie with my dog. I don't need to come up here, I got an address. Oh no, Rocky, will you listen please, no more. Okay, I got time. Speak your peace once and good, because then I'm gonna kick you a teeth. Oh listen, he wants to see you, he's got a proposition. I was gonna set up a date when you started. Stop the fairy tale, God, I look him up. He's a con man, a lone wolf, what does he want from me? He's got a deal, he needs your syndicate behind, a big one. Yeah. He wants me to bring you to him two o'clock this afternoon, a beach on the south shore of Long Island. A beach? Yeah, he don't want to take no chance on anybody over here. A little sharp cookie, huh? Oh, Rocky, Rocky, you believe me, don't you? Maybe yes, maybe no, but we'll keep that date. Yeah, I like that beach idea, because if this ain't leveled, I'll see that you and a boyfriend go for a long swim. One way. That's him, Rocky, down on the beach. Come on. Yeah, sure. Hello, Mr. Norman. Hello, Dorothy. Rocky, this is Bill Norman. Bill, Rocky down. How are you? How do you do? Well, let's hear your story, Norman, and it better be good. I ain't in a habit of being dragged 50 miles from nowhere just to talk to a guy. All right, Mr. Dunn. Dorothy, would you mind taking a walk? What? Look, fella, that's part of my business. This is level in anything you tell me or tell her anyhow. That's perfectly all right with me. I just don't want her to hear what we say. What kind of sense does that make? Simple. If anything should go wrong and we should be arrested, always a possibility. You could testify only to what you heard, not what Rocky told you I said. Do you think that I would... No, not at all, Dorothy, not at all. I just don't like to take chances. Smart character. I'm getting in a red. Come on, Doc, take a walk. Okay. All right, Norman, start talking. Well, first you'd like to know a little bit about me, wouldn't you? No, I've been doing a little checking. William Norman, alias Walter Nolan, con man, swindler, three to five-year stretch in the Harrisville Pen, year at Cluton Prison, and strictly a lone wolf in operation. Pretty complete. Yeah. Now, what's the pitch? Five to ten million dollars a year in net. Big pitch. You're interested? I've got to catch his mitts start throwing. It's a refinement of the protection racket. Protection? You got out of that in the 30s, it's too risky. The cops and the good citizens get mad fast. This isn't risky. I don't like to take chances. That's why I met you out here on the beach. You can't wire the air and the sea. Cute. What do you want from me? I'm not forgetting you. Got a rep as a lone wolf. And I'd keep it, except that now I need your organization. Why? You've got men in most of the big cities in the country, haven't you? That's right. It takes a big outfit to run a gambling operation, and they're tough enough to run any protection racket ever invented. There'll be no violence at all attached to this. I don't like force. You can make more with brains. What do the boys do then? Rec, about 20 million dollar corporation. 20 million? For that you need an army. Not if you do it with words instead of violence. You still interested? I always like to hear a guy talk in millions. What's the name of this outfit we're going to wreck? We. You know already? Could be. If the setup's as sure as you are of yourself. It is. The name of the outfit is the Double Circle Products Corporation. Oh. You just sit down and be comfortable. I'll tell you how Mr. Blake, the president of Double Circle, is going to help us turn a murmur into millions. All right, Mr. Norman. You've got five minutes of my time. Make it brief and to the point. I'm a busy man. All right, Mr. Blake. I'm here to sell you the services of my organization. Norman Associates, public relations. Five years too late, I already have a public relations agent. All right, Mr. Blake. But they go after the press, radio, mediums of mass communication. I go directly to the people themselves. That's not very clear. Your product's going to practically every American home. Suppose the public should get the idea that Double Circle merchandise is inferior. What? Possibly dangerous. And start talking about it. You could lose a lot of business. Nonsense. There's not a thing wrong with Double Circle products and there never will be. You've got nothing to say, Mr. Norman. And you've wasted enough of my time already. I'm satisfied with my present public relations. I was afraid you'd say that, Mr. Blake. I'm sorry because I offer my services only once. I assure you that's been enough, Mr. Norman. I'd like you to remember that, Mr. Blake. Just in case anything should happen to your concern. Hello, Dorothy. No, no, no, no last name, please. Will you tell our mutual friend to put our planet to operation? Yeah. Just as I outlined. Subways, railroad stations, ferries, wherever people gather. That's right. I'll keep in touch with you. Goodbye. These subways are getting more crowded every day. Are your wife any better, Tony? Worse, Mike. Hands are all burnt and blistered. Doctor says it was that stuff she was using made by the Double Circle Company. Oh, bad, huh? Well, you saw what it did to her hands. We'll never buy Double Circle again. People, did you hear that? Double Circle. I bought some of that junk myself. But, Jeff, where's the wife? Thought she was going to the theater with it. Ah, she can't. She got some kind of metal poison and using that, that Double Circle product. I'm gonna sue that company. Yic, and the stuff was made by Double Circle. I heard it from the man whose wife was poisoned. Don't try to sell me Double Circle. I'm no dope. Jane, take my advice. Don't go near that Double Circle stuff. It's poison. Double Circle? Sure, it's good. If you want to drop dead quick. I wouldn't buy Double Circle, not if they gave me the company. You hear about Double Circle product? They ought to be sued for selling them. It's poison. If you want to drop dead quick. I won't buy Double Circle. They ought to be sued. They're speaking, what is it? More cancellations? From where now? The West Coast. Look, we've simply got to put more pressure on our sales. I know, I know all about the rumors. We're spending every cent we can to combat them. But we can't keep it up in the face of these cancellations. Two more weeks and we'll be forced to sell out. Gold Products Corporation. Stockholders lost enormous. Put it to us for prosecution. That's all. Four months and a twenty million dollar business practically wiped out. We just have to sell with cancellations outnumbering orders by four to one. Well, Mr. Blake, about those rumors about your product. They're not true. They never were true and they're not true today. We know that, Mr. Blake. They couldn't be. The federal trade laws protect consumers against the sale of anything harmful. Well, I wish more people were aware of that, Mr. Peters. Well, nevertheless, Mr. Blake, rumors have to spring from someplace. Now, have you any idea at all how they started? I've been thinking about that. Your competitors? Mr. Peters, free enterprise is a competitive system, but there are rules and ethics. Every one of my competitors offered to help me weather this. But it was no use. Well, then what were you thinking, Mr. Blake? Oh, what's the use? You can't arrest a rumor. If it's criminal slander and you can prove who started it, you can. Prove? I can't prove anything. But you suspect something, Mr. Blake. I do. Well, then we'd like to know those suspicions. All right, Mr. Harding. I'll give you my suspicions in one name. William Norman. Norman? Yes, he runs an outfit called Norman Associates, Public Relations. He predicted this might happen when he tried to sell me his services. Oh, a profit, huh? Very pointed profit because he underscored his predictions. When the rumors started, did you try to get in touch with him? Well, not at first, Mr. Peters, but later on, I did. In fact, I offered to retain his services to see if that would stop the rumors. But he wasn't for hire, then, was he? How did you know, Mr. Harding? Well, he'd have been stupid if he had been. It's easy enough to start gossip, but almost impossible to stop it. But suppose this Norman did start those rumors, it'll be just as impossible to prove it, won't it? Perhaps, perhaps not. But before we jump to any conclusions, I want to know more about William Norman. Well, my secretary has his address and phone number, Mr. Harding. I get it, Peters, and put Norman's name through the works. I want to know everything about him. From the day he was born until the day you hand me your report. Back to counter-spy in a moment. But first? Capsicola, hits of pots, two full glasses, that's a lot. Lots more value, lots more debt. 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And say Pepsi at the fountain. Say Pepsi at the stand. Say Pepsi. Whenever you reach for refreshments, remember. Why take less when Pepsi's best? Now back to Counter-Spy. Bill Norman, the immaculate racketeer, has just put his proposition to another important businessman. Mr. Norman, it's simply no use. This company is satisfied with its present public relations setup. Funny. That's the same thing Mr. Blake said to me. Blake? Hmm. The Double Circle Corporation. You read about their failure and forced sale, I imagine? Yes, I did. He might have forestalled all those nasty rumors if he'd employed the services of an alert public relations agency like mine. I'm not sure I like what you're saying. Well, I'm not saying anything. I'm just trying to sell you. Make your sales point a little clearer. I don't like talking business in offices. Suppose we go for a drive. I have my car downstairs. Suppose I don't? Well, it's a free country. Do as you choose. Blake did? Yes. I hope you don't have the same difficulties. Good day. Wait a minute. I think I will go for that drive. Why is the decision? I want to see all your cards. I'd be glad to show them to you. As long as there are no kibbutzes around. Let's go, Mr. Sanford. Mr. Norman, let's have your proposition. Not here, Mr. Sanford. I even suspect my own car. Someone may have wired it. We just go for a little walk in this field by the road and then talk. Whatever you say. What are you doing? Just making sure you're not concealing anything. What do you mean? I once made a record unwittingly. Concealed microphone. They played it in court. Like my voice so much, they gave me a year's engagement in a penitentiary. I don't want a return date. Now you're becoming candid. I'll do even better. I'll become blunt. The rumor is that caused the failure of the Double Circle Corporation. I started them and spread them. That's quite an admission, isn't it? I suppose I repeated it to the authorities. We have no witnesses. I'd simply deny it and then sue you for slander and defamation of character, on top of which rumors about your products would start. And with what your company sells, think of the pleasant tales I could invent. Just a dressed-up version of the protection record, huh? Well, part, Mr. Sanford. Only you protect yourself against words instead of violence. And how much would this cost the corporation? One percent of your gross business. Are you crazy? We do nearly fifty million dollars a year. I know. That's what makes one percent so reasonable for my kind of public relation. Half a million dollars? I can't say yes or no just like that. You can't say no. But I'll give you time to figure out a way to say yes. Call me the first of the week. We'll go for another drive and complete our business. Report on William Norman. He was born on December 12, 1911, up to and including yesterday, when he called on Colton Sanford of the Sanford Beauty Corporation. Sanford? Any of our agents seen Sanford yet? No, not yet. Well, then we will. I want to find out what Norman said to him. Well, now, what about Norman's background? Well, he served time in two state penitentiaries. It would have been more except he's had good lawyers. He's been a confidence man from the age of twenty-two. And suddenly he blossoms out into a public relations expert. Blake had a good foundation for his suspicions. Yes, Dave, but he was right about proof. It's not a thing to connect Norman with the rumors that ruined Double Circle unless we tried to trace them back. How impossible. We'd be licked before we started. Besides, even if through some miracle, we did trace them to Norman. It wouldn't prove a thing. He'd just say he heard them somewhere else. Now, our best bet is to start at the source. Interview Sanford. Find out what Norman told him. Okay, Chief, but Norman would hardly admit to Sanford that he was the cause of Blake's bankruptcy. No wrong, Peters. If what we suspect is true, Norman had to admit it. What do you mean? Well, that's the flaw in any protection racket. The crook has to reveal himself to his victim in order to extort money. Nobody'd pay off otherwise. Now, our job is to get Norman to reveal himself in the presence of a witness or a microphone well hidden. And Mr. Sanford is going to help us do just that. That's right, Mr. Harding. You and Mr. Peters have reconstructed the whole picture. Norman definitely admitted he did the Blake job. Admitted he boasted about it. But if you've got any idea about my testifying in court, forget it. It'd be my word against his, and you couldn't convict him without supporting evidence. Well, if we got that supporting evidence, you'd testify wouldn't you, Mr. Sanford? With pleasure. But how are you going to get it? I told you Norman won't talk with a third party around. I told you about his searching me. Norman sounds even smarter than his record indicates. Perhaps too smart, Peters. Mr. Sanford, did you say Norman didn't start talking until you were well away from his car? That's right. He wasn't taking any chances on eavesdroppers. When you meet him again, it's supposed to be the same setup. Yes. Same place? Well, I don't know. The last time we drove around, he just seemed to stop at the first convenient country field. That gives us no chance at all to stake out microphones and recorders. Maybe we can do it another way. Well, how, Mr. Harding? You want proof that we'll stand up in court. The only way you'll get it is from Norman's own lip. Right, Mr. Sanford. That's just where I intend to get it. When are you supposed to meet him? The next two or three days. I call him to set the time. Okay. Make sure it's daylight. And that's for the date. Peter, call the Meteorological Bureau in Washington. Tell them to give you as positive a forecast as they can on the weather for the next three days. Now, Mr. Sanford. Yes, sir. You'll meet Norman on the nicest day of the three. Well, what are you going to do, Mr. Harding? Just what you suggested. Convict Norman from his own lips. You certainly picked peculiar places to meet, Mr. Norman. What's wrong with the beach? Pleasant breeze, nice surroundings. You think of a better place to do business? You've got a point. If we do business, do we? Look, how do I know you're not just cashing in on Blake's bad luck? Maybe you had nothing to do with the rumors that ruined him. After all, a rumor campaign like that would take a lot of men and money, a big organization. You're right, Mr. Sanford. And I've got an organization behind me. One of the biggest syndicates in the country. A syndicate of Rocky Dunn. Rocky Dunn? Rocky Dunn. I see you read the papers. Well, I give the word and in two hours his men will be spreading rumors across the country about every product you make. Now, you pay off or do I give the word? I'd still like more proof. Okay. No, wait a minute. Don't go. I don't like to waste my time. I know how rumors can spread. Every now and then from nowhere comes the rumor that some famous person is dead. So? Let's pick a name. Say, Bert Clancy, the baseball player. He's in good health. If I hear he's dead from some public source, then we can do business. That's not bad, Mr. Sanford. In fact, it's good enough for me to file for future use. Then it's a deal? Yeah. And when you hear Clancy's dead, call me. I'll come around to collect my first quarterly retainer. Mr. Norman? Yes? This is Colton Sanford. I just heard a rumor that Bert Clancy died. Isn't it? Incidentally, we've decided to retain your firm for public relations. Oh, I'm glad to hear that. If you'll drop around our conference room in about an hour, our vice president in charge of personnel will outline the company policies. And, of course, give you your first quarterly retainer. Very interested in learning the... One hour, then. Good night. Right in here, Mr. Norman. I'm sorry, Mr. Sanford was called away. He left a note about the retainer. Oh, naturally. We'll pick it up in accounting. After you've seen the orientation film, we like to show all new executives. Well, let's get to it then. Of course. Oh, this is Mr. Thurman. He'll run the projector and interpret. Hello? How do you do? Or shall we start? Well, I'm expecting to... Oh, that must be the excuse. Come in. After you, Rocky. Listen, I don't want to... Norman, what? Mr. Dunn. You know each other? Well, yes, yes. But I wasn't aware that Mr. Dunn was connected with your company. I thought he was connected with your firm. What is this double talk? Don't you know who this guy is, Norman? I don't think I got the name. I didn't give it, but it's Harding, David Harding. But the counter-spies, Norman. There's some kind of a pinch. Keep quiet, Mr. Dunn. I'm sure Mr. Harding will explain the meaning of this himself. With pleasure. The first I'd like you to look at some moving pictures, Mr. Norman. Peters, will you turn out the lights and stay with Rocky? Right. Thurman, start the projector. Yes, sir. Recognize yourself, Mr. Norman? Yes. Let's say I photograph better than Mr. Santner. Hey, look, I don't have to... Hi, Rocky. I thought silent pictures were passing. Not always. Notice this next shot, the way the camera zooms in for a close-up. Telephoto lens. This is all very interesting. Is there any point? Definitely, Mr. Norman. I'm arresting you for extortion, criminal slander, and whatever other counts we can dig up against you. On the basis of this film? Yes. It's silent, Mr. Harding. I was discussing legitimate business with Mr. Sanford when you took them. And if he says different, he's a liar. The pictures say different. You'll notice how Mr. Sanford kept moving around to keep your face toward one of our cameras. That had a purpose. I don't bluff easy, Mr. Harding. You don't have to. I told you, Mr. Thurman was the interpreter. What's Norman saying on the screen now, Thurman? I've got an organization behind me. One of the biggest syndicates in the country. The syndicate of Rocky Dunn. What? That's how we picked Rocky up. Smart guy, huh, Norman? You blabberin' a little. I'll cut it, Rocky. I'll show you. Don't you see it's a trick? Rocky always had a reputation for a quick trigger temper. Now look here, Mr. Harding. Why don't you give it up, Norman? Mr. Thurman is a lip-reader. Lip-reader? Yes, and he'll appear in court, together with a dozen other expert lip-readers, to testify to every word you said. On top of which, we've got Rocky in as a pickup order out for his girlfriend dot to round out a kiss. Lip-reader? That's right, Norman. Come on, Peters, let's get him to headquarters. Looks like that's the only way we'll convince him this arrest is not a rumor. But a fact. When your friends drop in, be generous. But be thrifty, too. Serve plenty of delicious Pepsi Cola. Pepsi's big 12-ounce bottle gives you not just one sparkling glass full, but two. Get a carton of six and serve 12 delicious drinks. Yes, Pepsi is America's biggest cola value. You get twice the tangy taste, twice the refreshment, twice the Pepsi. So why take less when Pepsi's best? Whenever you reach for refreshment, remember... Pepsi Cola hits the spot, two full glasses, that's a lot. Lots more value, lots more zest. Why take less when Pepsi's best? Tune in every Tuesday and Thursday, same time, same station, two counterspies. Listen next Tuesday for the exciting counterspy case of the Statue of Death. The silky-coated carrier that outsmarted an electric eye. The gift of appreciation that caused the death of an innocent woman. And the clicking guardian that halted two international agents who carried molecules of murder. Be sure to be tuned in next Tuesday to the case of the Statue of Death on counterspy. The nice counterspy program originated in New York, was directed by William M. Sweets and featured Don McLaughlin and Mandel Kramer with music by Rosa Rio. Counterspy is a Philip Sates Lord production for Pepsi Cola. Enjoy some Pepsi, ice cold tonight.