 From Hollywood, the Screen Directors Playhouse. Green Directors Playhouse star Ray Maland, production The Uninvited, director Louis Allen. The Hollywood Screen Directors present a tale for troubled midnights. The motion picture drama The Uninvited, starring Ray Maland and his original role of Rick Fitzgerald. I woke up. Five in the morning. My skin creeping. My scalp crawling. I listened. I heard the dim surge of the ocean at the foot of the Devonshire Cliffs not far from my window. Only five o'clock. And then I was sure now. I hadn't dreamed of the polling crying. Could it be my sister Pamela in the next bedroom? There was no electricity in this old house. I lit a candle. I went to the door leading into the upstairs hallway. Rick! Oh, Pamela. You heard it too, then. What in Heaven's name is it? I don't know. It comes from downstairs. It comes from everywhere and nowhere. I'm going down to search the place. It's no use, Rick. There's never anything there. You mean this has happened before? All the time you were still in London while I was getting the house ready for us to live in. Why didn't you call me or write me about it? It's our home now. It's all we've got to live in. Sounds so terribly heartbroken. But there must be some logical explanation. It'll stop soon now. It always dies away at dawn. No wonder we got the old place with such a low price. They tell me it stood empty for ten years before we... Shut up, will you open? It's the dawn breeze. I must have forgotten the latcher. Listen. I know. The sobbing is gone. Is that all for tonight? Is that all? It's every night, Rick. And if I don't get some sleep, I'll die. No, no, no. Don't do that. It'll be different tomorrow night. You'll see. Oh, hello. Aren't you the gentleman who bought this house for my grandfather? Why, yes. Good evening. Good evening. I'm Stella Meredith. It was my mother's house. Well, come in, Stella Meredith. Thank you. I haven't been in this house since I was three. And I've wanted to come so many times. Then why didn't you? Oh, my grandfather forbids it. He has some silly idea that I'm in danger. Nonsense. You shall see the house, Stella Meredith, and I shall be your guide. And this is my old nursery. Like it? How pretty your sister has made it. That's very pretty perfume you're wearing. It's mimosa. Do you like it? Oh, very much. My mother always used mimosa. She died when I was three years old. No. May I see the studio now where my father painted? Only it's the studio where I'd play the piano now. You may even persuade me to play something for you. Oh, don't stop playing, please. Very flattering. Thank you. My mother's picture in this very room. You don't remember that? No. But mother would sit on this platform wearing her soft white dress. Sometimes, of course, he'd paint the other one. Other one? He had a model, you know, a Spanish girl. She seemed to get awfully hush-hush when I tried to ask about her, though. You played beautifully. It's a serenade to Stella by Starlight. You mean this Stella? Me? And this candlelight. It's the most exciting thing that has ever happened to me. Is it? Yes. What's the matter? All at once, a cold wind. Yes. Suddenly it is cold in this room. And your music's gone so terribly sad. Why? I don't know. It just came out that way. And the candles grew dim. There's a drop. Mother was so young and beautiful and she died so cruelly. Mother! Stella! Stella, come back! I gathered my scattered senses and jumped up and ran after her. I passed Pamela standing amazed at the foot of the stairs. Rick, what's the matter? What's happened? There's something evil in her glasses. Stella! But she was out the front door, her dark hair flying, running wildly in the darkness, heading for the cliffs. Stella! I shouted after her. Stella, come back! I shouted again, pleading with her. No, Stella, no! The cliffs I thought. Stella, the cliffs! The cliffs in the boiling sea beneath. Stella! Whatever sinister force had driven her out of the house was now driving her to destruction on those killing rocks. The brink was only yards away, a few steps. I reached for her and my fingers caught in her belt and I pulled her back. Back from the very edge of that awful precipice. Stella. What's the matter? Matter? You were going over the edge. Was I? Why did you do it, Stella? I drove you toward death. Death? Why nothing? I didn't feel I was in any danger. Look below you. The sea! Yes. This is where my mother fell. Your mother fell here? By this dead tree, she, she... Are you all right? Help me. Stella! Will she be all right, Dr. Scott? She's resting nicely upstairs, Miss Pamela. Well, is Stella entirely safe up there alone? Why not? Well, in the light of what just happened. You're the one who sneers when I say this house is haunted. Well, everybody in the village knows the house is peculiar. Can you tell us anything about it, Doctor? Do you know about Carmel? Carmel? The Spanish model Stella's father painted. Oh, yes! Stella's father was in love with Carmel. It was an open scandal. But didn't Mrs. Meredith know about it? I suppose she just accepted the situation. Where's this Carmel now? She died in this very house a week after Mary Meredith fell to her death from the cliff out there. Oh, she did fall then. Ironically, she fell trying to save her rival from committing suicide. Or so they say. Rick, Dr. Scott, don't you notice a scent in the room? No. I do. Yes. It's Heliotrope. No, it's Mimosa. Stella's mother was fond of it. Stella tells me that Pamela's come back. What, Rick? Upstairs. Stella's not alone anymore. Come on. Stella. Stella, are you all right? She's gone. I'm here. Stella, darling. At the window. Oh, don't be frightened. I'm not. Don't you know who it is in your house? It's my mother. Your mother? Did you see her? No. But when I woke up, I felt her in the room. Her scent, the Mimosa, it was all around. I could feel her warm presence everywhere. And I felt something else. Something I've never known in my whole life. The knowledge that someone loved me very dearly. You'd better take her home, Rick. No. No. Mother is here. She wants me with her. Your mother is dead, Stella. I know. But your grandfather will miss you. He'll be furious if he finds you here. I know, but I love it here. I'll always come back. Another time, Stella. Another time. Three, four, five. There it was again. Her grandfather was right. There was danger in this house for Stella. In the studio when we'd first felt its presence, I'd not smelled the Mimosa. But in that moment before dawn, with that awful sorrow in the house, I suddenly knew. I knew that there was a cold, cruel spirit which hated Stella. And a warm, scented spirit that loved her. There was not one ghost. You are listening to the screen director's play house presentation of The Uninvited, starring Ray Milland and his original role of Rick Fitzgerald. Pamela, I know this. Stella Meredith is in danger in this house. She mustn't come here anymore. But she loves it, Rick. How can we possibly keep her away? By holding a seance. A seance? Only this seance will be rigged. We've got to fix it so that the ghost of Mary Meredith appears to say in effect, Stella, I'm your mother. Forget Windward House, and I shall find peace and happiness. P.S., there is a tall, excruciatingly handsome man named Rick Fitzgerald who wants to marry you. It's wrong, Rick. I won't agree to deceiving Stella. We've got to break Stella this attachment to the dead. We'll rig the sails. That very night, we held the sails. We all sat around a table. Stella, Pam, Dr. Scott, and I. A single candle was burning. On the table, I chalked the alphabet in a big circle, and the words yes and no opposite each other. An inverted wine glass stood in the center of the table. My stage was set. I think the room is dark enough to begin. The important thing is that we should all believe. Yes, yes, so I understand. What now? Everybody puts a finger on the glass. Now, ask a question, Stella. Is there anybody here? The glass is moving. Yes, the glass is on. Yes. Go on, Stella. My mother. Yes. You don't want me to go away from Wynwood House, do you, mother? They want me to stay away. Do you? Rick, let go. You're keeping the glass from moving. I'm not. Let go, I say. Better let matters take their course, Mr. Gerald. No. You see? She said no. She doesn't want me to stay away. Look, look, the glass is moving. I, G, U, A, God. I, God. God me from what, Father? What? C, A, R, M, Camel. That's enough. Who smashed the glass against the wall? You, Pamela? No one, Rick. No one was touching it. Stella. Stella's in a trance. Stella. Don't touch her. It may be dangerous. May I ask a question? You might help to try to reach her mind and just try it. Whoever you are, are you Mary Meredith, Stella's mother? No, you see, I don't believe anything. I don't have a case. I'm lying. Oh, this is awful. I won't ask her anything else. It's the thief, the thief of my love. Is that Spanish, Scott? I, I don't know. The thief of my love. Stella. Stella. She's fainted. I'm afraid this has all been a dreadful mistake. But she'll never be cured until this house is cured. Until then, Stella must never come here again. I won't answer it. I'll answer it. I'll go. It was Stella's grandfather and a cold bitter fury over her presence there and her condition. An outrage, you hear? An outrage. I'm very sorry, sir. It won't happen again. I warrant you it won't. My granddaughter will never enter this house again if I have to lock her up somewhere. Come, Stella. Stella was gone. But my work had just begun. I had to avert a tragedy. I had to solve the mystery of Windward House, but, but where to start? I went to see Dr. Scott. Any luck, Fitzgerald? You find anyone with a clue to what really happened here 17 years ago? No. Everyone who was here with the Meredith then seems to be dead. The trained nurse, isn't it? Trained nurse? I've been looking through the old casebook of my predecessor, Dr. Rudd. Well, at the time of the tragedy, the Meredith's employed a nurse for their child, a certain Miss Holloway. Holloway? Very, very much attached to Mary Meredith. Well, is she alive? How can we find her? She runs a place on Bodwin Moore called the Mary Meredith Retreat in honor of her long dead mistress. Hospital? No, no, mental institution. Strange woman. Strange place. Bodwin Moore. I think I'd better have a serious talk with Miss Holloway. I shall be happy, Mr. Fitzgerald, to assist in any way I can concerning these manifestations at Windward House. To begin with, Miss Holloway, I know about the Meredith, Mary Meredith Carmel Triangle 17 years ago. Yes, it was the delight of the local gossips. What were Mary and Carmel like? Extraordinary women, both of them. But Mary Meredith. She was a goddess. Even her talk was lovely and sparkling. All the night we sat before her fireplace, planning our lives. Yes. She met her humiliation and her fate magnificently. About Carmel. A Spanish gypsy. Beautiful and crafty and cruel. Why did Mrs. Meredith stand for the situation? She felt the decision to end it must come from her husband. Did it? Finally. To make it easier for Carmel, they took her to Paris. Found a position for her and left her there. Then they came back here with their infant daughter. For a while they were almost happy together. Then? Carmel came back. She still wanted Mary's husband. Then one stormy night, Carmel had been told that she must leave. This time for good. Or there was a ghastly scene and finally Carmel in a rage for revenge ran to the child's room and snatched her up and ran toward the cliff. Mary raced after her. In the struggle, Mary fell to the rocks below. The baby was unharmed. What happened to Carmel? She escaped in the storm. Next morning she crawled back in the early stages of pneumonia. I had to nurse her. I see. And now please. I must be alone. Please. Would you tell me about Miss Holloway is very interesting with Gerald. A fanatical and dedicated woman doctor. Dr. Rudd before me, disliked her intensely. Professionally? Personally? How? Listen to this entry from Dr. Rudd's casebook for December 10th, 1932. Called to Windward House. Meredith's model, Carmel Quesada, double pneumonia. That tell is what Miss Holloway told me. December 12th, Carmel Quesada much worse. No attempt to warm her room. Found traces of snow in her bedroom. Snow? Spoke severely to nurse Holloway. Absolutely criminal negligence. Isn't that a pretty serious charge, doctor? When a man of Dr. Rudd's generation used it, it was very apt to mean murder. Miss Holloway murdered Carmel? And she was very fond of Mary Meredith. That's why Stella's grandfather sent her to Miss Holloway's for safekeeping this afternoon. You mean... you mean Stella's there now? In that genteel madhouse? Well, I venture she's safe with her mother's dearest friend. Who was also guilty of criminal negligence? Oh no. Dr. Scott, I must hurry. Be good enough to call my sister Pamela at Windward House. Say I'll pick her up in 15 minutes and call Miss Holloway, will you? Tell her to expect us. I'm on my way. Miss Holloway, when I was here before, why didn't you tell me that Stella was here too? The presence of our guests is confidential. Please take us to her at once. She's no longer here. I sent her away when Dr. Scott called to say you'd be here. But why? She was the happiest person in the world when I told her she might return to Windward House. Windward House? But her grandfather sent her here to keep her away from Windward House. She loves it so. You knew we'd be away and you sent her there? Mary will be there. Oh, you hate Stella. You sent her to her death. Mary is waiting for Stella. You're insane. Hurry, Pam. It may be too late even now. We drove headlong through the rain, racing to train the Windward House. We arrived in the early hours of the morning. The house was dark. We were on time. Stella hadn't arrived yet. And then, from the inside of the house... It's Stella. The front door flew open and Stella ran out screaming, fearfully, running for the cliffs. Stella! Come back! Something she'd seen or heard or felt in that horribly sick house of ours was sending her screaming in the darkness toward the Windy Cliffs. I ran after her, but she was very young and lithe and driven by fear and drawn by demons. And I overtook her slowly. Oh, so very slowly. As in a terrible nightmare. And at the very brink of the cliffs I dove for her and flung her to the ground. The very brink of death. The very edge of darkness. But a few bruises, Stella. You'll be fine. Doctor Scott, Rick, why would my own mother want to drive me to my death? Darling, whatever drove you from this house couldn't have been your mother. But it was. I saw her. It was a kind of a mist that glowed softly in the dark coming toward me. Just as my father painted her. Why did you run away? I don't know. Something terrified me, drew me to the cliff. Could the company endure one more excerpt from the casebook of Dr. Rudd? It's rather worthwhile. You've the air of a man with knowledge, Scott. This entry is dated a little more than three years before the final tragedy on the cliff. Meredith consultation, my office. Mrs. Meredith afraid she is going to have a child. Assured her she was not. A strange, cold, loveless woman, refusing motherhood. But... Meredith, poor man, wanting a child so desperately. But they're Stella. And listen. An extraordinary household. Carmel, the Spanish girl, worships Meredith. Lovely, pitiful creature, all love and womanhood. Pitiful? What does it all mean? I don't understand. Stella, where were you born? In Paris. Where they took Carmel. They came back with their baby, or at any rate, someone's baby. Rick. The Meredith stayed in Paris for a baby to be born, yes. But I think to Carmel, not Mary. They took the baby as their own to avoid a scandal. That's why Carmel came back, to be near her baby, near Stella. Then it was Mary Meredith who hated Stella, her rival's child. Mary Meredith, who tried to throw the baby from the cliff and fell to her death. And that's what Carmel waited here to tell me all these years. That she was my mother, not Mary Meredith. I'm Carmel's daughter, the mimosa. She's here. Oh, mother, mother, never weep again. Because now I know, never cry again in this house where father loved you. Carmel, mother. She's happy. Mother's happy. She's at peace at last. Rick, Rick, look, that's the mist I saw. Mary Meredith, Dr. Scott, Pamela, get Stella out of here. I was alone. I was alone with the thing that drifted and floated in menacing, gesturing filaments in the open French doors. A luminous mist becoming a face that undulated horribly. A face filled with hatred and malevolence. And I lifted the candle labrum with its flickering, guttering candles. Come on, you icy fraud. If it's Stella you want, you're too late, Mary Meredith. You've tried enough to destroy Carmel's child. So much for the legend of your saintness. And you can go along with it. Here, darling. Are you all right? All right. I am magnificent. It's so dark, darling. Never brighter. Mary Meredith. Gone forever. And I always thought she was my mother. What? Good saints preserve me from ghosties and ghoulies and long-legged beasties and a future mother-in-law like that. Raymelland will return in just a moment. Next week, as always, another great star recreates one of her most memorable roles on Screen Director's Playhouse. Our story is the spiral staircase. And our star, Dorothy McGuire, with Screen Director Robert C. Audnack. Now, here again is tonight's star, Raymelland. Thank you. The film version of The Uninvited was distinguished by ghosts, gasps, moans, groans, and a very brilliant gent named Louis Allen. Lou directed the picture, furnishing the assorted horrors out of his bag of tricks. Since then, we've done three other films together, and his amazing know-how still has me fascinated. Now, ladies and gentlemen, I'd like you to meet him, my director, Louis Allen. But I hardly think I deserve those compliments. Why not? Well, The Uninvited was the first picture I ever directed. But, Lou, you'd been directing stage plays for years. But when I sat behind those cameras for the first time, I was as scared as the audiences who saw the picture. Well, how do you feel about cameras after all the pictures you've made since then? They still scare me. You know what? What? They scare me, too. Well, at least we weren't scared of the ghosts in The Uninvited. Well, you know, Lou, you've made everything so real for a while I almost believed in them myself. But, Ray, there's no such thing as ghosts. Lou? Yes, Ray? What did you just say about ghosts? I'd rather not talk about it. Good night, Ray. Good night, Lou. Good night, everyone. And good night to you, Ray Milland and Louis Allen. Remember next week Dorothy McGuire and Robert Siadnak. The Uninvited was presented through the courtesy of Paramount Pictures, whose current release is the William Weiler production, The Heiress, starring Olivia de Havilland, Montgomery Clift, and Ralph Richardson. Ray Milland will soon be seen in the Paramount Picture, Copper Canyon. Louis Allen's current production for Paramount is Chicago Deadline. Included in tonight's cast were Alma Lotton as Stella, Norman Field, Mary Ship, John Daener, Georgia Bacchus, June Foray, and Dan Ritz. The Uninvited was adapted for radio by Milton Geiger. That original music was composed and conducted by Henry Russell. Screen Directors Playhouse is produced by Howard Wiley, with dramatic direction by Bill Karn. Portions of the program were transcribed. This is Jimmy Wallington speaking, inviting you to listen again at the same time next week. When we present... Screen Directors Playhouse, star Dorothy McGuire, production Spiral Staircase, director Robert Siadnak. Sunday on Hollywood Calling, you may be called by motion picture stars, Maureen O'Hara and Dan Daley to win a wonderful prize and crack the film The Fortune Jackpot. Make a note to stick close to your radio and your telephone Sunday for Hollywood Calling. It might be your lucky day. Listen to Hollywood Calling Sunday on NBC. Stay tuned for Bill Stern on the sports newsreel on NBC.