At the first sign of a cold, take Rexol antihistamine, bottle of 15 tablets only 39 cents at Rexol
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Good health to all from Rexol.
Now your Rexol family drugist brings you a transcribed half hour with Richard Diamond private detective starring Dick Powell.
Mr. Diamond?
Yeah, what's the matter?
You got to do something for me.
Hey, you're hurt.
Yeah, yeah.
Now take it easy.
Sit down.
You got to listen to me.
You're bleeding all over the place.
I'll call a doctor.
No, please, please wait.
But look.
I've been knifed.
I've been knifed bad.
I don't think I've got much time.
Here, take this.
They're right behind me.
I'm going to call a doctor.
No, no, listen.
Listen.
Key or less to get envelope to.
Oh.
Hey.
Hey, you.
Oh, no.
The man, whoever he was, had toppled over on his face and was very dead.
He handed me a plain white envelope sealed with no address on it.
I went over to my desk to put in a called homicide when I heard someone moving around in the hall.
I turned and saw the shadow of a man silhouetted against the glass section of my office door.
I grabbed a pen and hurriedly scribbled the address of Lieutenant Walter Levinson, 5th Precinct Homicide, on the envelope,
stuck a stamp on it, then headed for the hallway.
I was about to open the door when the shadow was joined by another one.
They opened it for me.
Excuse me, gentlemen.
Wait a minute.
We want to ask you something.
Later, later.
I got to mail a letter.
Hey, stop him.
Don't let him mail that thing.
They were both big men and could run.
I beat them to the mail chute by a split second and dropped the envelope.
They made a dive for it, and when they missed, they forgot it and started concentrating on me.
Mr. Diamond.
Mr. Diamond, please try and sit up.
What happened to you?
Where are your wings, honey?
You look as though someone had beaten you up.
No, don't be silly. It's the latest thing.
Hey, I'm back in my office.
I found you lying here. You want me to call a doctor?
No, no. Call homicide.
Someone dead?
Certainly. That guy right over...
What guy?
Oh, Dandy.
Well, honey, there was a guy. In fact, he was lying just about where I'm lying, and he was dead.
Look, you can see the blood.
I thought that was your blood.
Ah.
Rather than try and convince you, maybe you'd like to tell me why you came up to see me.
Well, my name's Nancy Lang. I want to hire you.
To do what?
I'm giving a big party tonight. Some very wealthy guests.
I just want someone around to keep an eye on things.
Well, I'd like to help you, but I've got a bit of a problem with a missing body.
Oh, that's too bad.
I was prepared to pay you $500 for the evening.
Uh, $500?
Well, so a body gets lost.
Who wants to hunt a corpse when he can tend a perfectly good party?
Well, good afternoon, Sergeant Otis.
Oh, how are you, Diamond?
Still breathing. Why don't you try it sometime?
Oh, go jump in the lake.
Only if you'll lend me one of your shoes to paddle around in.
No.
Hello, Walt.
Hi, Rick.
Oh, no. What happened here?
Well, two charming gorillas used me for a fast game of squash.
Who were they?
Never saw them before.
But I got a hunch they killed a guy.
Let's have a look at your mug file.
I gave Walt the story and told him about the mysterious envelope
he would be getting in the mail.
But after two hours of checking the rogues gallery,
we came up with nothing.
So I went home, shaved and changed,
and went out to my client's house,
where she met me in a well-appointed library.
Her appointments were, uh...
Mr. Diamond, right on time.
You look much better.
Well, I tried to wear something that wouldn't clash with my bruises.
I'd like you to meet Senor Guiardo.
Guiardo?
An old friend, a very wealthy politician from South America.
This is Mr. Diamond, Mr. Guiardo.
How do you do, sir?
How are you, Mr. Guiardo?
Mr. Diamond is a private detective.
He's here to guard the wealth.
How very interesting.
Kind of an official watchdog, Mr. Guiardo.
Well, there will certainly be enough to guard.
Miss Lang's guest list is made up of some very wealthy
and prominent personalities.
In fact, I am very flattered to be among them.
I, uh... I've seen you before.
Very possibly.
Have you ever been to South America?
A couple of times, but that's not it.
My home is in Bogota.
No.
Oh, it doesn't matter. I'll think of it.
If you'll excuse us, Mr. Guiardo,
I want to show Mr. Diamond around the house and grounds.
Certainly, certainly. A pleasure meeting you, Mr. Diamond.
The house was my father's.
He died several years ago.
He used to love this garden.
It's beautiful.
Smell the jasmine?
Yes.
What made you become a private detective?
Oh, I don't know. I...
I make a pretty good living.
My own boss.
I was a cop for a long time.
I like to work.
And that's, uh, quite a fountain.
Trying to give Rockefeller Center competition.
It looks beautiful with the lights on.
There.
Yes, it certainly does.
You're not the type to be a private detective.
Oh, I'm definitely the type.
Sure, like everything else, it gets dull sometimes,
but when things start popping, it can get pretty interesting.
Like this afternoon? Getting beaten up?
The man you said was killed in your office?
Well, he wasn't killed there. He just died there.
Besides, how many guys can wake up lying on their office floor
and have a beautiful girl offer them $500 to come to a party?
I see what you mean.
Don't you think you'd better get back?
Your guests are probably arriving.
Yes, I'll switch off the fountain lights.
Why don't you leave them on?
Your guests would love it.
My father used to sit and watch it for hours.
I don't like to show it to everyone.
Hmm. Kind of like a part of the garden died.
You certainly are a strange man.
Never noticed myself.
Well, I have.
I like you.
Uh, where did you meet Mr. Guiardo?
In South America. He was a good friend of my father's.
Wealthy politician.
That's right.
Mr. Diamond.
It's Rick.
Rick?
Yeah.
Oh.
I, uh, I think we'd better go back to the party.
I'm a fairly normal guy.
Nancy was a very exciting girl.
And the kiss in the garden was as nice as anybody could ask for.
But there's one thing I do pride myself in.
And that's a certain lack of stupidity.
There was something wrong.
Nothing I could put my finger on, but I sensed it.
Like being lost in a dark room with a loose high-tension wire.
I circulated around and nothing out of the ordinary happened.
By three o'clock the party broke up and
Senor Guiardo and Nancy were the only ones left.
The most enjoyable party, Miss Lang.
Thank you. It was nice of you to come, Senor Guiardo.
Well, I must say good night.
Have you remembered where you have seen me before, Mr. Diamond?
Well, not yet, Mr. Guiardo.
Oh, that's too bad.
Thank you again for a charming evening, Miss Lang.
Good night, Mr. Diamond.
Good night.
Oh, I'm exhausted.
A little beat myself.
You want some coffee?
Love it.
We had some coffee and Nancy drove me home.
I kissed her good night and left with a promise to call.
As I reached my floor I could hear my phone ringing.
I opened the door and stumbled into the biggest mess I'd seen in a long time.
My room was a wreck.
Someone had torn it to pieces.
Yeah?
Diamond?
It's a quarter to four in the morning.
What do you want, fatty?
We fished a body out of the river about an hour ago.
Died from a knife wound in the back.
Did he fit the description of the guy who died in my office?
This one didn't fit any description.
Someone was very careful to fix his face so we couldn't identify him.
Check his fingerprints?
You're playing around with some pretty gory individuals.
They amputated his fingers.
Oh.
Somebody's given my room a good going over.
Really took it apart.
It's an odds on bet they were after that envelope.
When you get it tomorrow morning, give me a call.
It might tell us everything we want to know.
Okay.
Walt, you ever heard of a man named Guiardo?
South American, supposed to be mixed up in politics?
No. Why?
Nothing.
I met him at the party tonight.
Hey, what's the racket?
You met this guy at a party and what?
Rick.
Rick, what's the matter?
Rick!
Who is this?
This is Lieutenant Levinson. Who is this?
Mr. Diamond is unconscious.
What?
And if you ever want to see him alive again, listen carefully.
Okay. Go ahead.
From Mr. Diamond's conversation, I understand you are to receive the envelope.
When you do, go directly to the Staten Island ferry.
Ride on it. All day, if necessary.
A man will meet you and pick up the envelope.
Be alone. Do not notify the police or Mr. Diamond will surely die.
And now, back to tonight's adventure with Richard Diamond, Private Detective starring Dick Powell.
Someone had sapped the
someone had sapped me good. I had a dull throbbing headache and when I began to find myself
in a coma, I was in a coma.
I was in a coma.
I began to feel a dull throbbing headache and when I began to find my way back to consciousness,
I felt that my coat pulled off and my shirt sleeve rolled up.
There was a sharp pain in my upper arm and several seconds later, my headache disappeared
and a surge of heat spread out over my back and shoulders.
I tried to fight it, but it was like being on a sinking ship,
swallowed up in the black water.
The next thing I remembered was a blinding circle of light
overhead like the sun if you were looking at it through a sheet of wrinkled cellophane.
I shut my eyes and I could hear voices.
Far off, hollow, not making much sense.
The light hurt my eyes but I couldn't seem to shut it out.
So I tried to relax and wait, give the drug time to wear off.
After what seemed like hours, the voices began to make sense.
The light was easier to look at.
It was just a plain ceiling lamp.
As the feeling in my fingers began to return, I realized I was lying on a bed.
In the restaurant on the corner, I won't be more than ten minutes.
The other man had promised to be back in ten minutes, so I had to do something in a hurry.
I kept tightening my muscles trying to get the circulation back.
I had to make a try. I wasn't sure of my strength but I had to try.
I rolled off the bed.
Hey, hey, coming out of it, huh?
Trying to break your neck?
He leaned down to pick me up and I hit him just below the Adam's apple with the side of my open hand.
The man choked and turned blue.
He grabbed for his shoulder holster and I kicked out with both feet.
He doubled over and fell on his face.
The effort had put him out of commission but I was exhausted.
I grabbed his gun and staggered for the door.
But getting out of that room was like wading through an acre of glue.
I made the halls somehow and started down the steps.
I met the other man coming up.
His arms were filled with beer and sandwiches.
I shot him right through his dinner.
Feel better?
Yeah, yeah, Walt. A little more coffee.
You really had a rough time.
They pumped you full of this stuff.
Yeah, I'm amazed.
I was out nearly 14 hours, huh?
Yeah, you lost a whole day.
How you managed to get down here, I don't know.
I guess I'll never know.
Drink your coffee.
Yeah.
And you gave them the envelope, huh?
Yeah, about an hour before you staggered into the station.
I rode that ferry all day.
Five o'clock a man came up to me and I gave him the envelope.
Oh, I was smart.
I had three men on the ferry and three men at each landing to tail him.
He was a little smarter.
He took the envelope, stuck it in a waterproof case and jumped overboard.
Fast speedboat picked him up.
No identification on the guy I shot?
No record, nothing on him by the time we got there.
What did the other guy look like?
He was so punchy I couldn't tell much.
He'd have a sore throat for a long time.
But they were the ones who beat you up yesterday at your office.
They were.
When you feel like it, I want you to take a look at that guy we dragged out of the river.
See if you recognize his clothes or anything.
He just might be the one who died in your office.
All right. Now, what was in that envelope?
Well, I had a photo stat made before I took it to the ferry.
Looks like part of a map. Here.
So this is what's caused all the trouble.
Boy, it must be worth a lot.
Did you make anything out of it?
Water, section of land and here's a longitude reading, but no latitude reading.
Probably on the other half.
I wouldn't doubt it. Well, I've got a hunch about this.
I want you to send Otis over to pick up Nancy Lang,
then take me over to the newspaper office and help me look at the files
for something on a man named Guiardo.
You know what you're looking for?
Yeah, this guy Guiardo, Senor Guiardo.
I know I've read about him or seen his pictures.
I... Hey, Walt.
You find something?
Yeah, here he is.
But his real name isn't Guiardo, it's Otis.
Yeah, look at those headlines.
Julio Otis assassinated.
Rebel leader killed after plot to take over government failed.
Yeah, listen to this.
Otis was expecting a large amount of American dollars to finance his army.
Although the rumor is not true.
It was reported that Otis shipped a million dollars in gold bullion
to someone in the United States.
The plane was supposed to have crashed,
and it is interesting to note that the recent plane crash
in which two American pilots escaped, John Bishop and Bernard Combs,
were found floating off Key West.
Key West?
Holy smoke, that was the guy in my office tried to tell me.
He said Key West before he died.
Walt, don't you know that?
I don't know.
Maybe those two pilots crossed him, he hit the gold.
That's what the map is all about.
Out of eight to five, the man you have in the morgue is one of those pilots.
John Bishop or Bernard Combs.
I'll have the FBI send us the files on both of those guys.
If one of them is John Bishop or Bernard Combs,
we won't need fingerprints or a face.
We'll check their dental records, birthmarks.
Let's get back and see if Otis has got the lovely Nancy Lang.
That's right, Lieutenant Shane in town.
She's gone on a vacation, a butler said.
Did he say where?
No, he said he didn't know.
He said this Miss Lang left town about four o'clock this afternoon.
And I'll bet she's with Ortiz.
Walt, when you talk to the FBI about those two pilots,
have them check the map.
I'll have the FBI send me the files.
Walt, when you talk to the FBI about those two pilots,
have them check Nancy Lang too.
I'm going to Key West.
Send any information to the chief of police there.
Well, I'm glad to know you, Diamond.
We just got a telepathy from the lieutenant identifying the body.
It was Bernard Combs, one of the pilots.
Well, here's the half of the map.
Does that look like any section of coastline around here?
That's hard to say. I'll have it checked.
You ever heard of a man named John Bishop?
He's the other pilot.
Oh, sure.
When them two boys was found floating around,
they brought him into Key West.
They was in the hospital here a couple of days.
Bishop still lives in Key West.
Well, I hope so.
He may have died here very recently.
And you think this year Ortiz is in Key West too?
I'll bet on it.
He wants the other half of that map and may have it by now.
He's got to go after that gold.
You'll need a boat and some diving equipment.
What makes you think the gold's in the water?
This map's got a shoreline too.
Well, those two pilots couldn't carry a million dollars in gold bullion.
It either went down with the plane or they dumped it
and then bailed out and let the plane crash.
Well, I'll get Bishop's address.
Go over there and have a talk with him.
He's on the next floor.
I hope you're right.
Well, that's where he's been living.
Right down here.
Bishop?
Hey, Bishop.
The door's locked.
You got a passkey?
Yeah.
Bishop, you...
Lord have mercy.
Yeah.
Is that Bishop?
Yeah, that's him.
Boy, he sure is dead.
Well, that accounted for the two pilots.
So now all we had to do was find Julio Ortiz.
It figured he now had both sections of the map
and his next move would be to hire a boat and diving equipment.
There weren't many places in Key West where a man could rent a boat and diving equipment.
So the chief rounded up his men and we all started checking.
It didn't take long.
No, Captain.
The party hired my ship ain't come back yet.
We ain't do the sale for now.
What did the party look like?
Pretty girl.
Can't figure what she wants to go diving for,
but I just rent them and keep my mouth shut.
Probably Nancy Lang.
Ortiz is staying undercover until the last minute.
Well, I'll spread my boys around and we'll keep out of sight.
And when they show up, Skipper, you don't say nothing about us.
Sure, sure.
I just rent them and keep my mouth shut.
About ready for that boat to sail.
They'll wait till the last minute.
Just imagine a million dollars in gold, just like a pirate story.
Well, enough killings mixed up with it to be one.
Hey, hold it.
That them?
That's Nancy Lang.
But Ortiz isn't with her.
Who are them two fellas?
I've never seen them before.
Some of Ortiz's men.
They're probably checking to see if everything's clear before Ortiz comes aboard.
We got as close to the schooner as we could and waited.
The two men walked over and checked the diving equipment while Nancy Lang went below.
We kept waiting and still Julio Ortiz didn't show.
Hey, they started engine.
I don't see Ortiz anywhere.
They're casting off.
We better take them.
We're gonna have to jump.
Look out for that one, he's got a gun.
I got him jumped.
The other guy's running forward.
Stop, you!
He's going over.
Well, my men will pick him up.
Yeah, I'm going below.
Hello, Nancy.
How did you find me?
Where's Ortiz?
I don't know who you're talking about.
Is this the girl?
Nancy Lang, me key West chief of police.
How do you do?
Where's Ortiz?
She says she doesn't know who he is.
Okay, young lady, I'm gonna hold you for the New York authorities.
Hold me for what?
Murder, John Bishop and Bernard Combs, so we can make it stick.
It might go easier on you if you tell us where Ortiz is at.
I still don't know any Ortiz.
Guillardo, the man I met at your party.
That's ridiculous.
Now look, we know all about the gold.
If you don't have a chance of raising it,
then eventually we'll get Ortiz.
We're back at the door.
If you don't help us, Nancy,
it's pretty sure you'll get life for complicity.
And if I do help?
I can't promise a thing,
but it will make a difference with the court.
Julio's waiting 10 miles down the coast.
We would pick him up, then go out and raise the gold.
He has the map?
Yes.
I'll tell the skipper to shove off again.
We'll sail that 10 miles and grab Ortiz.
What's your connection with Ortiz, Nancy?
He's my husband.
A dozen police officers came aboard and hid below decks.
The skipper put out to sea and sailed parallel to the coast.
Nancy told me all about her husband
and his history as a rebel leader in South America.
I was stranded in South America with a show that folded.
I married Ortiz.
After the gold was lost,
he faked assassination and came to the United States.
We located the two pilots.
My husband was suspicious,
so I played up to the one who came to your office.
I got him drunk one night,
and he told me about the gold and his half of the map.
We've gone to 10 miles.
I'm glad it's over with.
I see a man standing on the beach.
Mr. Diamond.
Yes?
I was supposed to lure you into that garden.
Figured.
What I said at the fountain.
I really...
I'll forget it.
Yeah.
No sense in making it any tougher.
We pulled into a cove and got as close to shore as possible.
Then we swung a dinghy over the side.
The chief and I climbed in behind Nancy.
We kept our hats down over our faces
and hoped Ortiz wouldn't notice until it was too late.
We both rode and kept our backs to him.
Nancy sat in the stern facing us.
Rick.
Yeah?
We headed right. I don't want to turn around.
You headed all right.
Rick, my husband, has always been good to me.
I'm glad he was good to somebody.
He sure made a mess out of a couple of guys I can think of.
But he was good to me.
We're nearly there.
Hello, darling.
Hello.
Julio.
Yes?
The police are with me.
Why, you stupid little...
He's running for it.
Save the girl.
Let him go. My men will pick him up.
I got a score to settle.
Ortiz, stop.
Okay.
Well, that... that makes the assassination permanent.
The
Again, here's your Rexall family druggist.
Good health to all from Rexall.
Richard Diamond, private detective, stars Dick Powell
in the title role and was written by Blake Edwards
with music by Frank Wirth.
Dick Powell may currently be seen in the Metro Golden
Mayor production, Right Cross, in which he co-stars
with June Allison and Ricardo Montalbun.
Featured in tonight's cast were Barton Yarborough,
Barney Phillips, Virginia Gregg, Wilms Herbert,
Arthur Q. Bryan, and Luke Krugman.
Richard Diamond, private detective, is transcribed
in Hollywood by Jaime Del Valle.
This is Bill Foreman inviting you to join us next week
at this time when we will again bring you Dick Powell
as Richard Diamond, private detective.
Thank you.