 Fed up with the everyday grind Tired out by the dull routine You want to get away from it all we offer you escape Escape transcribe to free you from the four walls of today for a half hour of high adventure You're alone in the jungle with three men you know that one of them is a desperate criminal When you've come to arrest But you don't know which one you have to find him before he can save himself by killing you Today we escape from reality into the depths of a tropical jungle in a tantalizing search for a murder as LG Blockman told it in his famous story red wine Rusty little tram freighter bumped against the rickety wharf and I Dropped from the rail under the planking The first time felt the humid heat roll out of the jungle This was Tanjong Samar Sweltering half-forgotten last outpost in the Rubbercoaster Borneo I Crossed the beach walked up the path of crushed shells leading to a low bungalow at the edge of the jungle Freighter would lie at the wharf for four hours Plenty of time for me to get the thing over with and be back aboard when she sailed I Was expecting trouble of course, but no real danger Had done jobs like this before or at least I thought this would be the same I thought so until I stepped up on the porch and met here Kurt controller of the Tanjong Samar district Yeah, I'm here cat the controller. What is it? I can do for you. My name's Paul vernier Mr. Kurt I have a letter of introduction here from the governor general Mr. Paul vernier from the United States. Yeah, the governor promised me your cooperation So I see cooperation is good, but it does not say cooperation in what I've come here after a killer, mr. Kurt oh Dyax maybe headhunters. No, this one's a civilized killer an American wanted in San Francisco for murdering his wife His name is Jerome steaks. I see. Won't you sit down, mr. Faneo won't him you call you die in Jeff I think That one I'll bring right away. We'll have coffee in a moment. Oh nice of you But I maybe I better pick this guy up first. I'd hate to miss the boat and have to lay over five days You're acquainted with this Steaks mr. Vanir. No, I've never seen him. You have photographs Wait not nor fingerprints. Now this happened two years ago until last month. We had it listed as a double suicide Oh, what are you driving at mr. Kurt simply this there's no one in my district by the name of steaks No, he wouldn't be using his own name, of course There is an American here though Three of them mr. Vanir employed as foreman on the quota Robert plantation here at Panjong summer According to my information steaks came here from Batavia about six months ago They all arrived six months ago on the same boat The quota company is just going back into operation. You understand. I see Well, according to people who have seen him Jerome steaks is a man about 35 years old of medium heights light bill pale complexion with black hair and moustache Amazing any one of these men might fit that description Except that all are clean shaven and heavily tanned from the tropical sun Furthermore, mr. Faneo all three of the men have light blonde hair Hi, Julie. She's a fat one good for two cups one I have one bring your baggage up from the wall for mr. Faneo It appears your business may take a little longer than four hours. I'm certain of the information I got in Batavia I know the man's here. Uh, did the problem resolve itself into a matter of identification? Yeah, and I always talk with the three of them want to do that I doubt that mr. Faneo The swarms here at Tanjong summer are infested with fever Cream It is always hot like now and the jungles back there swarm with crates crates Deadly little snake no longer near forearm. There you are And in the rivers they are crocodiles so men rarely come here Unless they are running away from something trying to lose their past I think you'll find all three men have manufactured stories So I always want to choose Sometimes a man can be identified by his personality. Oh, and the personality of this man steaks is um It's something out of the ordinary. We're a foreman on a rubber plantation. Yes I doubt if all three of these men can be aristocrats and in a sense Well, that's what steaks is a cosmopolitan He's lived all around the world always associating with top society His lover of fine foods and wine speaks french and german fluently. What's wrong? No, he's a gourmet, a born-of-environment of perfect taste and clothes and manners and a murderer Yeah, and a murderer. Yeah, well When just three men returns this evening I should be most happy to introduce you to them Though it's quite probable. They are aware of your identity already. My house boy there told me you were detective Before you stepped off the wharf I see So in other words, the murderer probably knows who I am and what I'm here for but I haven't the slightest idea who he is Exactly. It's quite an interesting thought, isn't it? Uh, more coffee, mr. Vanir? Mr. Vanir, I should like you to meet uh, mr. Doran. I am mr. Vanir. How are you? This is mr. Whedon-Matting Hi, Mr. Vanir. My name is prayer glad to meet you. Same here, mr. Prail might as well drop the mr. We don't use them much around here. I'm Prail. That's Doran It's Wilmer thing you have in there if it's all the same deal. I sure have, Prail. Why not? I, if you gentlemen will excuse me, I have a number of things to do Uh, will you bring mr. Vanir to my bungalow for dinner? Uh, we'll celebrate having a guest in Tanjong Samar. Yes, I'll see you in a minute. Uh, Herr Kurt tells me all three of you are Americans I don't know whether I'm still one or not. I've been to the States in seven years Oh, seven years, huh? You're an old timer here, Doran. No, I'm not here Australia. Don't get him started, Vanir. He'll spend two hours telling you how he lost his shirt trying to raise sheep now, man If I had either money or sense, I wouldn't have come to this stinking hole I wouldn't say you fellas had it too rough I uh, I'm noticing those empty bottles there on the shelf. What do you mean, Vanir? Hmm, Paul, my son 1936 That's a good champagne. You boys are living like connoisseurs. Oh, no, no, you're overwriting us, Vanir Those, uh, empty bottles were already here when we came. Oh, just never got around to throwing them out Prairie is the only connoisseur in the bunch You can tell you anything you want to know about wines. Yeah, or about anything Uh, dry up just because a guy happens to know a little more than somebody else There's no reason to keep riding them all the time I wish you knew some way to make ice Getting plenty fed up with warm beer day in and day out Here that would get pretty tiresome I think I'd switch to shambitane or shambli or something Uh, come again? Well, I didn't necessarily mean those in particular, but There are quite a number of wines that are even better warm than the odd children Now you're in the wrong place, Jim We wouldn't know what to do with them if we had them This is strictly a beer and gin crowd Well, there'd be no kick on that if we had some ice to go with it Boy, what I wouldn't give for a cold, frosty bottle Oh, relax. Well, you want more dang, you're making me thirsty How about some music? Music? Does one of you play some instruments? Sure, prayer He's terrific on that phonograph over there in the corner Only trouble is he thinks three o'clock in the morning is the greatest song of a written Well, I can see that that would lead to quite an argument or an Particularly if you're a lover of the classics I don't know. I don't go for that long, Hashtag But I would like to hear a fast number once in a while. It's less than 10 years old Yeah, you ought to see this collection, Praille, dragged up here from Batavia, strictly from the gay 90s Praille, you don't by any chance have a number called Il y a me routier d'un set maison Ah, some Italian opera Oh, no, no, it's French Well, come on, Braille, translate it for us You claim to be an expert on the French language Oh, it's worded kind of funny, like poetry Ah, sure, sure Yeah, the last word though, uh, maison, that means house, I know that That's too bad. I thought maybe Jerome Stieck's might translate it. It refers to him, of course What are you talking about? The sentence reads there is a murderer in this house Huh? Yeah So you're finally coming out in the open, huh? Yeah We heard you were a detective, Bernier You're after some killer you've never seen named Stieck's, you figure one of us is it That's right, Praille And the guy you're after is Womba Ding You're crazy Who ever heard of anybody with a name like Womba Ding unless they made it up Made up nothing, I got a passport to prove it What are you trying to do, Praille? Turn a tension away from yourself? If I got nothing to hide, it's either you or Doran You can leave me out of this right now There's plenty of people in Australia who can tell you who I am Unfortunately though, there's nobody in Tanjiang, Samar who can tell me for certain who any of you are One of you is a murderer and by the time the boat gets back here, I'll know which one Either I'm going to take Jerome Stieck's back to San Francisco Or I'm going to kill him trying to, you can count on it Well, what do you say we go on over to Kurt's bungalow and have dinner? That's Wilma Ding's room there Doran sleeps here and Praille on down at the end And this is the guest room At least the only guest room that's usable at present Looks all right Well, it's yours for the time you're here, Mr. Vanilla Or do all of these rooms open out under the porch? Yes, the veranda as we call it here And there's no way to lock this door Unfortunately, no. Anyway, the windows are covered only by mosquito netting It makes another interesting situation, does it not? Yeah, I suppose interesting is the word for it Most likely all these gentlemen are acting to a greater or lesser extent Which of course makes your problem exceedingly difficult Yeah, that's right Mr. Kurt, you were, did say a man rarely came here unless he wanted to lose his past Yet you're here Yeah, don't think it's true But then I'm only a servant of the government and have little choice where I am, sir No? Well, good night, Mr. Vanilla Hey, good night, Mr. Kurt I trust you'll have a very comfortable night Thank you I sat there for a long time after Kurt left Trying to figure things out, getting nowhere This was Borneo Though the common lantern on the table of my elbow Throw a blaze of white light into every corner of the room Outside that light lay the dark veranda and beyond that the jungle Gradually, the night breeze brought the smell of the jungle into the room As rich and as exotic as the scent of taboo Fragrant as midnight orchid As disturbing as the scent of danger Or maybe, maybe it was danger itself I was smelling The heavy knife missed my throat by two inches Thotted into the bamboo partition and stuck there, quivering I doused the lantern one sweet drop down on the floor and slipped my 38 out of its holster I could hear nothing but the rustle of palm thatch along the eaves Low creeks from the pylings underneath the bungalow The soft night sounds from the jungle Finally, I slipped my shoes off, pulled the knife out of the wall and dropped it in my pocket Moved to the door and stepped quietly out under the veranda It was empty Across the railing, the fringe of undergrowth was dappled in silver moonlight Nothing moved I paused quickly at the three doors and from each heard the sound of snoring One of the men was faking, but which one? I'd reached the end of the porch when my eye caught a slight movement in the banana clump A few yards from the steps, someone was hiding there I moved swiftly, holding the gun ready Came within a few feet before I could make out a shape in a red and white saran Complete with dark-tumbled curls and a flower behind one ear It was a girl Please, Twan, the gun You are going to shoot me? I know, relax honey I was looking for somebody else And now you have found Nelana, so you are disappointed? Well, I... look, did you see anybody moving around up there on the veranda while I go? Only you, Twan I became frightened and ran to hide Frightened? Why? I should not be here, at night I mean Let us talk of something else, huh? All right, Nelana Twan, do you like Nelana, perhaps? Definitely Why do we not go somewhere else along the beach, perhaps? You would like that? Mr. Nelana is too serious minded for such things, Nelana Mr. Kurt, join us, won't you? Thank you Nelana, go to the bungalow at once Yes, Nelana, yes, I go, I go immediately She has no business being out alone at night But, but Stephanie, there is something wrong with your room, it's not comfortable It was until this flew in through the window A knife? Yeah, a throwing knife, have you seen it before? Oh, yeah, yeah, it's one of the collection terms of bungalow The three Americans saw the metal that's every evening and waged on the results I believe Mr. Doran taught the other two What about you, Mr. Kurt? Do you ever bet with them? It would be too easy Watch I learned to throw a knife in Java many years ago And Nelana, I suppose she's an expert at it too Nelana knows nothing of knives, so her greatest accomplishment is that of making friends too easily I see Just who is she anyway? Does she live here? Yeah, she lives here She is my wife Your wife? Exactly, my wife Good night, Mr. Vanilla In just a moment, we will return to escape But first, coming to you in succession, Spike Jones, Jack Benny, and Amos and Andy bring you 90 non-stop minutes of superlative joy every Sunday night when you hear them among CBS's 10 great Sunday night shows The Spike Jones show and Amos and Andy are heard over most of these same CBS stations and Jack Benny comes to you over them all And now with our star, Jeff Chandler, we return to the second act of escape and red wine When I finally turned in that night, I didn't make the mistake of lighting the lantern again Being a target once in an evening was enough And dressed in the dark, pushed the bed up to block the door, propped a chair against the window sill and lay down on the floor I kept trying to fit some theory together to account for the things that had happened When I drifted off to sleep, I was no nearer any answer than before I woke up with the first light of dawn for a full minute was ready to predict a peaceful day Then I turned my head slightly and saw it On the floor, against the wall, 18 inches from my left hand, its eyes open and unmoving lay a crite, first cousin to the cobra, the deadliest snake in Borneo Cold sweat broke out of my forehead, ran into the corners of my eyes Not daring to make any sudden move, I slid my right hand slowly up behind me and found my gun under the pillow The snake moved slightly I froze for one long minute Carefully, I brought the gun over until I had the ugly head centered above the foresight Then... I did, Kurt, in here Hey, Kurt, what are you shooting about? Find out now, Duran To Borneo, I'm all right Oh, sure, Kurt. Come on in. I had an early morning visit there on the floor Oh, God, a crite! Did he bite you? No, no, he didn't The devil told the racket about... Ah, snake. That's funny What's funny, Duran? A crite, Wilmer Ding. Just killed one here in my room Well, there's plenty of them around, but I never heard of one crawling into a room before I'm not sure it did crawl in What do you mean? I've got an idea. It may have been dropped in through the mosquito netting there at the window Eh? By whom? By a guy named Jerome Steaks Have you heard of him, Duran? Why don't you pick up Wilmer Ding? He's your man Oh, sure, sure. I always carry a couple of snakes around in my pocket just for luck What I want to know is who carries this around in their pocket for luck That's one of our nice in a living room. We throw him at a target Yeah, I know. Only last night I was the target And Prail's your boy. He's an expert. Wins every time we play Try up, Duran Or unless you're a man Oh, can't relax, all of you So nobody knows anything about these accidents. They just happen But here's a warning to whichever one of you is Steaks The next time you better cover yourself. I'm through being a clay pigeon From now on, it's going to be a lot tougher. A whole lot tougher That day passed. The next I got exactly nowhere. Things didn't fit. Didn't add up I saw Nelana several times but had no chance to speak to her When Herg Kurt was with me, she'd pass without a glance But if I was alone, she'd manage a quick provocative smile that sent shivers down my spine By the fourth day, the tension among us had grown almost unbearable The steamer was due the next evening on its return trip to Batavia I needed a break of some kind. Had to have one Well, it came at dusk when I dropped into my room to change for dinner Twan, it is I, Nelana Nelana, what the devil are you doing here? To see you, Twan. Does that make you unhappy? No, but I doubt if Herg Kurt would think much of the idea Oh, no, he must not find out That is why I hide here and wait for you Nobody may walk in here any moment That is true, Twan. It is why I cannot stay now But I wish something to ask you All right, honey, shoot It is true that you look for a man who has killed a woman in your United States Yeah, that's right A man who now names himself by another name Yes, Nelana, do you know It is perhaps the same one who one night threw the knife at you Yeah, I think so. Do you know who it is? I saw the knife thrown, Twan. I was outside Oh, be quiet It is someone It's Herg Kurt He's going into the living room But he will come here when he does not find you I am very frightened, Twan. I must go Oh, no, wait. I've got to go No, no, there's no time now Tonight, when everyone sleeps Yeah Wait by the tall palm at the edge of the clearing I will come All right, I'll be there Nelana has done foolish things, Twan But tonight she will fix it all good You come I waited for a long time in the shadow by the palm tree Watch the moonlight sift down through the shaggy fronds But two hours passed, she didn't come Waiting there, though, in the jungle night Her plan began to form in my mind A long shot true enough, but one with possibilities It needed luck to work But I'd come to the point where I had to count on a little luck At any rate, I decided to start the ball rolling the next morning After breakfast Now, wait a minute, Vernier Let's get this straight And I thought I'd put it straight enough, Torana I said the hunt's off I'm pulling out on that boat tonight You can all relax Yeah, but, uh, five days ago you were so cock-eyed Sure it was one of us I'll come to switch Five days ago, Wilmer Ding, I didn't know you guys I was certain of the information I'd picked up in Batavia And I'm not so certain of it now But change your mind, a sweet disposition No, exactly the opposite, frail No, I doubt very much if any of you guys is who he claims to be I wouldn't be surprised if Doran, Wilmer Ding, and Prail Are all phony names, but that's not my business I came here after Stieks I've decided now I made a mistake, and that's that Uh, wait a minute, uh, aren't you forgetting the fact That somebody tried to knock you off a couple of times? Well, let's just say the reason for that was a side issue Had nothing to do with Stieks Come in here, push us around for a week, and then decide it was all a mistake I'm sorry, Prail Look, I'm gonna try to make up for it this evening I'm throwing a dinner party at Hercurt's bungalow Before the boat leaves tonight You're all invited Yeah, now that's pretty decent, have you ever been here? I'll get some food and drinks from the captain as soon as he docks If you're as fed up with rice stuff and warm beer as I am You'll be ready for a change Yeah, sure as all right with me Well, good, good, and it's all settled And I can promise you at least two surprise dishes Maybe three if you care for it A bigger pot in general Oh, Hercurt, come on in I was wondering if any of you had seen Nelana this morning Well, what's wrong, Hercurt? I'm rather concerned about her, Mr. Venier She has not been home since early last night I had a couple of ideas about that myself Ideas I wished I didn't have Anyway, as soon as the rest of the bunch went about their business I began my own search for Nelana I didn't know the country and it was nearly dusk before I found her Then I said nothing about it to anyone But sitting at the table that night while the dinner party moved along I was seeing everything through a haze of red The same color as the red and the sarong Wrapped around the slim figure of a beautiful girl I kept thinking how she'd never smile anymore How she'd never walk in the moonlight again Because somebody had cut her throat I know a story along the same lines I never heard that one before What a dinner Oh, after six months of rice stuff I like to go crazy about that Yeah, when you throw one, Venier, you really throw it This is only the beginning Beginning? Where can you go from here? Well, right now, for instance, roast pheasant All right, Juan, bring it over Sure, Juan, right the way I bring You like for me to put here for you to carve, Juan? No, no, I wonder if you'd mind carving it here, Kurt Not at all, Mr. Venier I should be happy to place it here, Juan Boy, I haven't had roast pheasants since Australia You used to shoot them all the time Even a smell's enough to drive you crazy You said it, pray out Oh, you haven't seen anything yet The pheasant is the main dish So the two surprises go right along with it Juan, bring it out Sir Twan, I bring right away now Careful, don't drop it Here we are, thanks Well, there you are It's chambertan vintage 1911 Unquestionably the finest red wine that exists in the world today Holy smoke, where'd you get it? I found out on the trip in the captain of the steam I had a few bottles Took a lot of talking to get one out of him But I'll open it, Juan Have you got the glasses? Here, Twan Good Well, boys, you may go back to warm beer tomorrow But you've got the best tonight How long, show them a second surprise One big bucket of ice Ice, real honest, I gosh, cracked ice Oh, I haven't seen a chunk of ice for six months Oh, I thought you'd go for that one All right, Juan, serve the wine, will you? Here, Twan You know, it was pretty amazing to find 1911 chambertan on a little tramp freighter down here in the South Pacific The stuff's so rare, it's hard to get it at any price anymore It may be so, but that ice is what gets me Yeah Man, that's it, Juan, dump plenty in mine Oh, Juan, stop that, what the devil are you... What's the matter, Wilmerding? Why, well, what I mean is... You mean you're well aware of the fact that ice kills the bouquet of chambertan Isn't that it, steaks? Steaks, you mean Wilmerding? Yes, yes, once a gourmet, always a gourmet A crook with enough sense to keep his hair dyed black for years so he could become a natural blonde if he ever had to make a getaway But not enough sense to keep still and let me ruin a bottle of wine Hey, be easy with those hands, don't try reaching for a gun Let him reach for it, Mr. Vanilla Kurt, no, put down that knife Look out, Vanilla, it's going for a scum too late Good Lord Kurt, you've killed him I'm sorry, you do not have a prisoner to take back with you, Mr. Vanilla But I, too, found her body I knew you had been there, I saw your footprints I'm sorry, Kurt And she was... She had been seeing Wilmerding I had guessed it was one of them And apparently she found out he was Steaks Yeah, I know, that's what she was going to tell me and he didn't give her a chance She was young, Mr. Vanilla Foolish, perhaps, but I loved her very much Hey, look, he knocked over the bottle of wine It's pouring out all over the place Yeah, rather what a mess Yeah, Darryl, it's quite a mess Only one thing, though, not all of it is red wine Escape is produced and directed by Norman MacDonald Today we have presented transcribed Red Wine by L.G. Blockman Adapted for radio by Morton Lewis and Les Crutchfield With editorial supervision by John Dunkel Starred as Paul Vernier was Jeff Chandler with Barry Kroger as Herr Kurt Featured players were David Ellis, Luke Ruegman, Jack Krushen, and Lorette Philbrand The special music was arranged and played by Ivan Dittmarz Next week You were flying over the lonely wastes of the Pacific Lost, torn by the fury of a typhoon Your gasoline running out And the head of you is an adventure so strange So terrifying that your mind cannot accept it Next week we escape with Nelson Bond's gripping story Of a fantastic conqueror's isle Goodbye then until the same time next week When once again CBS offers you Escape Broadway is my beat Says Danny Clover and he's proud of it Tomorrow afternoon over most of these same CBS stations You'll hear the first of Danny's adventures You'll hear how a real cop with a real purpose for running down a murderer Goes about his business back by the world's largest police department Listen in as Danny declares Broadway is my beat Now stay tuned for five minutes of the latest news To be followed by Let's Pretend Over most of these same CBS stations This is Roy Rohan speaking for CBS The Columbia Broadcasting System