WEBVTT 00:00.000 --> 00:04.000 Mystery House. 00:04.000 --> 00:07.000 Mystery House. 00:07.000 --> 00:10.000 Mystery House. 00:28.000 --> 00:33.000 Mystery House. That strange publishing firm owned by Dan and Barbara Glenn, 00:33.000 --> 00:38.000 where each new novel is acted out by the Mystery House staff before it is accepted for publication. 00:38.000 --> 00:41.000 Mystery House. 00:52.000 --> 00:56.000 Hi, Mr. Glenn. Everybody else here for the Mystery House Novel Trial? 00:56.000 --> 01:00.000 Oh, yeah. Here I'm waiting. This, uh, murderful laugh looks like quite a story, too. 01:00.000 --> 01:04.000 Well, it certainly does. We were afraid you weren't going to make it, Art. 01:04.000 --> 01:06.000 Oh, did you rehearse while you were waiting for me? 01:06.000 --> 01:11.000 Well, of course not. We couldn't rehearse without you. All we could do was sit and wait. 01:11.000 --> 01:13.000 Oh, I could have furnished plenty of entertainment, Mrs. Glenn. 01:13.000 --> 01:16.000 But we couldn't rehearse without the whole cast being here, Tom. 01:16.000 --> 01:30.000 Well, sure we could. You forget. You only need one man to rehearse this part of the show. 01:39.000 --> 01:42.000 Okay, places everybody. Get the scene, Tom. 01:42.000 --> 01:47.000 Murder for laughs. 01:47.000 --> 01:52.000 Tonight's story opens in the private office of Captain Corlett, a conscientious police executive. 01:52.000 --> 01:58.000 Clayton Rogers, the police reporter, barges into the office as Corlett looks up from the letter. 01:58.000 --> 02:02.000 Hey, why don't you knock before... Oh, it's you. 02:02.000 --> 02:05.000 Right, Captain Corlett. What's the matter? Out there bothering you again? 02:05.000 --> 02:09.000 Ah, it's a wonder I got any stomach laughs with all the worry that campaign of yours is causing me, Rogers. 02:09.000 --> 02:12.000 The Herald is the champion of community spirit, Corlett. 02:12.000 --> 02:16.000 If the police force doesn't function properly, it's up to the Herald to act as the voice of the people. 02:16.000 --> 02:19.000 You sure think you're a smart guy, don't you, Rogers? 02:19.000 --> 02:21.000 Smarter than most of your cops, Corlett. 02:21.000 --> 02:25.000 Ah, you reporters all feel that way. You've got all the answers on paper. 02:25.000 --> 02:29.000 You can sit at a typewriter and solve every crime that ever went on the books. You can... 02:29.000 --> 02:33.000 Oh, no. Go on, Captain. You interest me. 02:33.000 --> 02:39.000 Yeah, well, I'm just annoying my ulcer. It rolls off you like water off a duck's back. 02:39.000 --> 02:44.000 Listen, the police force has a tough job. Not enough men, not enough money to get the kind of men I want. 02:44.000 --> 02:46.000 Politicians trying to run my department for me. 02:46.000 --> 02:49.000 Which ones, Captain? I'll be delighted to help. You just name them. 02:49.000 --> 02:55.000 Yeah, and lose my job. Yeah, I know. You're altogether too smart for your age and size, Rogers. 02:55.000 --> 02:58.000 Thanks, Captain. I wish the big boss would feel that way about it. 02:58.000 --> 03:01.000 I'm surprised Mary Crews hasn't pounded some sense into your head. 03:01.000 --> 03:04.000 Now, speaking of Mary Crews, there's a subject we agree on. 03:04.000 --> 03:09.000 What she sees in you is beyond me. A guy who makes his living by writing half-truths and distorts you... 03:09.000 --> 03:12.000 Oh, lay off, Corlett. You're just sore because we've got you dead to rights. 03:12.000 --> 03:15.000 You're the one competent cop on the force and you know it. 03:15.000 --> 03:19.000 That's not so. You think it's smart to sound off about incompetent policemen. 03:19.000 --> 03:24.000 Well, let me tell you something. You put yourself in their spot and you wouldn't be doing half the job most of them are doing. 03:24.000 --> 03:28.000 Don't kid yourself, Corlett. I'd be doing a way a lot better job than they're doing. 03:28.000 --> 03:32.000 This is an age of scientific crime detection and you don't have a competent man in a carload. 03:32.000 --> 03:37.000 I'd like to give you a little job and let you see just how good you are, sonny. 03:37.000 --> 03:41.000 That might not be a bad idea, Corlett, but you wouldn't dare. 03:41.000 --> 03:45.000 No. No. If I solved a case that had you stumped, I'd never let you forget it. 03:45.000 --> 03:49.000 And neither would the Herald. We'd talk about it from now till kingdom come. 03:49.000 --> 03:53.000 Well, maybe I've got a case that I don't think you could solve, wonder boy. 03:53.000 --> 03:55.000 Huh? Are you leveling? 03:55.000 --> 04:01.000 Do I sound like I'm kidding? Listen, mister, you take this baby on and I'll let the opposition newspapers know about it. 04:01.000 --> 04:04.000 And if you flop, you'll get the razzing of the century. 04:04.000 --> 04:07.000 You have to promise you wouldn't let your cops interfere with me. 04:07.000 --> 04:11.000 Oh, I'll even help you any way I can. I'll get you all the help any man on the force could get. 04:11.000 --> 04:15.000 Ah, you don't mean that. If I took it, you'd do anything you could to make me fall down on the job. 04:15.000 --> 04:22.000 No, no. Because it happens, Rogers, that I'd a lot rather catch a murderer than escape a horse laugh from the Herald. 04:22.000 --> 04:26.000 You solve this one and the Herald can laugh at me from now on till I retire. 04:26.000 --> 04:30.000 What is it? That's a bit of a real murder story breaking a couple of weeks. 04:30.000 --> 04:32.000 Say, if you've been holding out on me... 04:32.000 --> 04:35.000 I'm not holding out on you. Well, how about it? 04:35.000 --> 04:38.000 I'll take it. It's a deal. What's the case? 04:38.000 --> 04:40.000 Well, you remember that accident case we got yesterday? 04:40.000 --> 04:42.000 Hmm? Can't say I do. 04:42.000 --> 04:45.000 Yeah, a cab starter standing in front of the Carlton Arms Hotel. 04:45.000 --> 04:48.000 One of those big cement flower pops up on the ledge of the building. 04:48.000 --> 04:52.000 Yeah, I remember now. It fell off and hit him. He died instantly. 04:52.000 --> 04:54.000 You sure it fell off, Roger? 04:54.000 --> 04:56.000 Why, sure. 04:56.000 --> 04:59.000 Now, read this. It came in this morning's mail. 04:59.000 --> 05:01.000 Hmm, an address to you. What is it? 05:01.000 --> 05:03.000 Read it and see. 05:04.000 --> 05:10.000 Dear Captain, you and your comedy cops are going to get a chance to do a lot of laughing. 05:10.000 --> 05:16.000 There's something basically funny about a man being killed by a falling flower pot, isn't there? 05:16.000 --> 05:19.000 That chum was a product of murder for land. 05:19.000 --> 05:23.000 How do you like our work? You'll get a chance to snicker at more of it. 05:23.000 --> 05:26.000 Very truly yours, murder for land. 05:26.000 --> 05:28.000 Hey, is this on a level? 05:28.000 --> 05:30.000 You know as much about it as I do. 05:30.000 --> 05:35.000 But somebody who wanted to get your goat could have read about the accident and written this letter. 05:35.000 --> 05:39.000 That's the first thing I thought of, Rogers. So I went out with a couple of men. 05:39.000 --> 05:44.000 That flower pot had been built right into the ledge and had been broken loose with a chisel. 05:44.000 --> 05:46.000 There had to be some motive. 05:46.000 --> 05:49.000 Sane men don't murder just for laughs. 05:49.000 --> 05:51.000 Sane men? No. 05:51.000 --> 05:55.000 Look, I checked that cab starter from the cradle to that flower pot. 05:55.000 --> 05:58.000 He was a harmless little guy, the kind that nobody even knows. 05:58.000 --> 06:00.000 Oh, there had to be a motive. You can't... 06:00.000 --> 06:04.000 Well, you find me a motive, bright boy, and I'll bow low three times. 06:04.000 --> 06:05.000 You just... 06:05.000 --> 06:06.000 Oh, hi, Mary. 06:06.000 --> 06:07.000 Oh, morning, Mary. 06:07.000 --> 06:08.000 Hi. 06:08.000 --> 06:10.000 I've got a little story for your paper. 06:10.000 --> 06:13.000 Your pal Rogers has just taken over a case for me. 06:13.000 --> 06:14.000 Hey, now wait a minute. 06:14.000 --> 06:18.000 Listen, Coralette, this is no time for horseplay. I've got a case for you. 06:18.000 --> 06:19.000 What are you talking about? 06:19.000 --> 06:24.000 I got a phone call about a half an hour ago from a woman who said she was Mrs. Martin Carver. 06:24.000 --> 06:25.000 Claims she had a big story for me. 06:25.000 --> 06:26.000 Ah? 06:26.000 --> 06:27.000 Well, there was something foamy about it. 06:27.000 --> 06:31.000 Somehow it didn't quite sound like a woman's voice, so I decided to check. 06:31.000 --> 06:35.000 Now, there wasn't any Mrs. Martin Carver, and the address was a vacant lot, I'll bet. 06:35.000 --> 06:37.000 The boys are having fun with you again. 06:37.000 --> 06:40.000 There was a Mrs. Martin Carver, and the address was right. 06:40.000 --> 06:44.000 And Mrs. Carver was there with her head bashed in with a rolling pin. 06:44.000 --> 06:45.000 The woman was dead. 06:45.000 --> 06:47.000 Ah, probably a disgruntled husband. 06:47.000 --> 06:48.000 That's order. 06:48.000 --> 06:51.000 The neighbors said her husband's overseas, been there for seven or eight months. 06:51.000 --> 06:52.000 No enemies that they knew of. 06:52.000 --> 06:54.000 Wait a minute, wait a minute. 06:54.000 --> 06:56.000 Hello. 06:56.000 --> 06:58.000 What? 06:58.000 --> 07:00.000 Telegram for me. 07:00.000 --> 07:03.000 What does it say? 07:03.000 --> 07:04.000 What? 07:04.000 --> 07:05.000 Repeat that. 07:05.000 --> 07:07.000 No, never mind, never mind. I heard you. 07:07.000 --> 07:08.000 What's the matter? 07:08.000 --> 07:10.000 There goes my ulcers again. 07:10.000 --> 07:12.000 Just when I think I'm getting my stomach all calmed down. 07:12.000 --> 07:13.000 Oh, put on another mic, what was it? 07:13.000 --> 07:15.000 It was for you, wise guy. 07:15.000 --> 07:17.000 A telegram addressed to me. 07:17.000 --> 07:22.000 And it said, being hit over the head with a rolling pin has always been funny, hasn't it? 07:22.000 --> 07:24.000 Murder for laughs. 07:24.000 --> 07:27.000 But, then the same murder... 07:27.000 --> 07:28.000 Listen, who would... 07:28.000 --> 07:30.000 Don't ask me, Superman. 07:30.000 --> 07:32.000 This one goes right into your department. 07:32.000 --> 07:34.000 Remember? 07:34.000 --> 07:39.000 Well, any luck, Hawk Show? 07:39.000 --> 07:41.000 No, not so far, Mary. 07:41.000 --> 07:44.000 I hope you realize that Captain Corlett's taking you for a ride. 07:44.000 --> 07:45.000 But good. 07:45.000 --> 07:47.000 If he'd have given me an ordinary case... 07:47.000 --> 07:48.000 Alibi-ing already? 07:48.000 --> 07:50.000 No, but hang it, not a clue. 07:50.000 --> 07:52.000 Any connection between the two victims? 07:52.000 --> 07:53.000 None whatsoever. 07:53.000 --> 07:54.000 I'm satisfied of that. 07:54.000 --> 07:56.000 And no motive for either murder. 07:56.000 --> 07:57.000 Oh, there must have been. 07:57.000 --> 07:59.000 I'm almost convinced that Captain Corlett's been killed. 07:59.000 --> 08:01.000 What's the matter, Mary? 08:01.000 --> 08:04.000 I'm not sure. 08:04.000 --> 08:05.000 I'm not sure. 08:05.000 --> 08:08.000 It's almost as if those killings were what the murderers said they were. 08:08.000 --> 08:10.000 Murder for laughs. 08:10.000 --> 08:11.000 Don't be ridiculous. 08:11.000 --> 08:12.000 I'm not, Mary. 08:12.000 --> 08:16.000 It's entirely possible that a maniac could kill for the joy of killing. 08:16.000 --> 08:18.000 And if he happened to have a weird sense of humor... 08:18.000 --> 08:20.000 You're getting desperate. 08:20.000 --> 08:22.000 Does Captain Corlett have any clues? 08:22.000 --> 08:24.000 No, that's one consolation. 08:24.000 --> 08:27.000 His commie cops haven't been able to do any better than I have. 08:27.000 --> 08:28.000 Well, they better not, Hawk Show. 08:28.000 --> 08:32.000 Because if they do, every paper in town is going to give you the full treatment. 08:32.000 --> 08:33.000 I guess I can take it. 08:33.000 --> 08:35.000 You won't get a chance to take it. 08:35.000 --> 08:41.000 Can you imagine compas old Conrad keeping a reporter who's given the opposition a chance to give the Herald a horse laugh? 08:41.000 --> 08:43.000 Hey, I hadn't thought of that. 08:43.000 --> 08:45.000 Well, you better think of it, mister. 08:45.000 --> 08:47.000 Let's go up to Corlett's office and see what's going on. 08:47.000 --> 08:53.000 Okay. 08:53.000 --> 08:54.000 I hope he's... 08:54.000 --> 08:56.000 Hello, Miss Poole. 08:56.000 --> 08:57.000 Oh, hello, Annie. 08:57.000 --> 09:00.000 Sorry, I can't use any paper flowers today. 09:00.000 --> 09:04.000 I'm not selling any paper flowers to you, Miss Cruz. 09:04.000 --> 09:06.000 Have the cops been picking on you again? 09:06.000 --> 09:09.000 Oh, they never quit, Miss Cruz. 09:09.000 --> 09:17.000 Chasing me out of office buildings, bringing me into the jail, and I ain't hurting nobody, Miss Cruz. 09:17.000 --> 09:18.000 Oh, the big bullies. 09:18.000 --> 09:20.000 I'll speak to Corlett about it. 09:20.000 --> 09:22.000 Oh, don't do no good, Miss Cruz. 09:22.000 --> 09:27.000 He told me there'd been too many complaints about me making a pest of myself. 09:27.000 --> 09:32.000 And the next time I was brought in, he was gonna send me to an institution. 09:32.000 --> 09:36.000 I ain't crazy, Miss Cruz. You know that. 09:36.000 --> 09:37.000 Of course you aren't, Annie. 09:37.000 --> 09:41.000 But it does irritate some people when you try to sell them your flowers. 09:41.000 --> 09:43.000 When they say no, if you just leave quietly. 09:43.000 --> 09:47.000 But everybody always says no, Miss Cruz. 09:47.000 --> 09:51.000 Nobody'd ever buy if I didn't use the whammy. 09:51.000 --> 09:57.000 Say, did anybody ever have bad luck, Annie, when you cast your evil spell on them? 09:57.000 --> 09:58.000 The whammy? 09:58.000 --> 09:59.000 Mm-hmm. 09:59.000 --> 10:02.000 Oh, you bet, Mr. Rogers. 10:02.000 --> 10:09.000 Terrible things happen to people when Annie puts the whammy on them. 10:09.000 --> 10:10.000 Like what, Annie? 10:10.000 --> 10:16.000 Oh, I wouldn't dare to tell you, Mr. Rogers. 10:16.000 --> 10:19.000 Oh, come on. I wouldn't tell anybody. 10:19.000 --> 10:24.000 Well, like the starter over at the Carlton Arms. 10:24.000 --> 10:29.000 He didn't do very well after he got the whammy, did he? 10:29.000 --> 10:32.000 You mean the one who was tipped over the head with a flower pot? 10:32.000 --> 10:38.000 Sure. I bet he wished he hadn't laughed about the whammy. 10:38.000 --> 10:44.000 Annie, Annie, did you ever put the whammy on a Mrs. Martin Carver? 10:44.000 --> 10:49.000 Oh, I don't know. The name ain't familiar. 10:49.000 --> 10:53.000 But I sure put a good one on that uppity actress in the Carlton Arms. 10:53.000 --> 10:55.000 Only this morning. 10:55.000 --> 10:56.000 Who? 10:56.000 --> 10:57.000 That actress. 10:57.000 --> 11:01.000 Thinks she's so high and mighty, sneering at me. 11:01.000 --> 11:05.000 How horrible she says when I show her my flower. 11:05.000 --> 11:06.000 What's her name? 11:06.000 --> 11:11.000 Oh, let's see. Adriana something or other. 11:11.000 --> 11:12.000 Adriana Bird? 11:12.000 --> 11:14.000 Yeah, that's her. 11:14.000 --> 11:17.000 Oh, my flower's horrible, will she? 11:17.000 --> 11:23.000 Say, Mr. Rogers, couldn't you use a nice lapel flower? 11:23.000 --> 11:25.000 Only a quarter. 11:25.000 --> 11:27.000 Sure, Annie, sure. Here. Come on, Mary. 11:27.000 --> 11:29.000 Where? Up at the Captain Corlette? 11:29.000 --> 11:31.000 No, don't you remember? 11:31.000 --> 11:34.000 We have an appointment to see Adriana Bird. 11:34.000 --> 11:36.000 Glad you mentioned it, Annie. 11:36.000 --> 11:38.000 Oh, yes. Goodbye, Annie. 11:38.000 --> 11:40.000 I'll go along with you. 11:40.000 --> 11:44.000 Maybe she's ready to take back the family by now. 11:44.000 --> 11:46.000 Maybe I can sell her some flowers. 11:46.000 --> 11:49.000 Why, uh, okay, Annie. 11:49.000 --> 11:52.000 That might not be a bad idea. 11:52.000 --> 11:53.000 Come along. 12:05.000 --> 12:06.000 I don't like this, Mary. 12:06.000 --> 12:08.000 They said she wasn't answering her phone. 12:08.000 --> 12:10.000 Well, there's nothing unusual about that. 12:10.000 --> 12:11.000 If you were working in a show every night, 12:11.000 --> 12:13.000 you wouldn't get up in the morning either. 12:13.000 --> 12:14.000 We've got to talk to her. 12:14.000 --> 12:17.000 You suppose she'll buy us some flowers? 12:17.000 --> 12:20.000 I don't know, Annie. I hope so. 12:22.000 --> 12:26.000 I can't believe it. What you're thinking is right. 12:26.000 --> 12:27.000 Why not? 12:27.000 --> 12:29.000 It was a couldn't be. 12:29.000 --> 12:32.000 Nonsense. I think we've gotten a break, Mary. 12:32.000 --> 12:35.000 A crazy break. It all ties together. 12:35.000 --> 12:38.000 Eh, no answer. 12:38.000 --> 12:40.000 I wonder if we should break in. 12:40.000 --> 12:42.000 Well, if nothing's wrong, you'll be in trouble. 12:42.000 --> 12:44.000 I'm afraid there's not much danger of that. 12:44.000 --> 12:45.000 Stand back. 12:50.000 --> 12:53.000 Oh, oh, oh, terrible. 12:53.000 --> 12:56.000 She's dead, isn't she? 12:56.000 --> 12:58.000 Yeah, not much question about it. 12:58.000 --> 13:00.000 Smothered. 13:00.000 --> 13:01.000 Something stuffed with cotton and then 13:01.000 --> 13:03.000 lays tight around her head. 13:03.000 --> 13:05.000 It's a girdle. 13:05.000 --> 13:07.000 Let me see. 13:07.000 --> 13:09.000 A girdle? 13:09.000 --> 13:11.000 What an odd instrument for murder. 13:11.000 --> 13:13.000 Hey, just a minute. 13:13.000 --> 13:15.000 What? The note in the hand you mean? 13:15.000 --> 13:16.000 Yeah. 13:16.000 --> 13:17.000 What does it say? 13:17.000 --> 13:19.000 It's tight. It says, 13:19.000 --> 13:21.000 Comedians seem to get a lot of lats 13:21.000 --> 13:23.000 with references to girdles. 13:23.000 --> 13:25.000 Funny, huh? 13:25.000 --> 13:33.000 Murder for lats. 13:51.000 --> 13:54.000 Is the mysterious murder for lats a person 13:54.000 --> 13:56.000 or more than one person? 13:56.000 --> 13:59.000 And what's the reason behind these killings? 13:59.000 --> 14:01.000 We'll find out in the second act of tonight's story. 14:01.000 --> 14:27.000 Meanwhile, here's a brief message from our sponsor. 14:27.000 --> 14:32.000 And now, act two of Murder for Lats. 14:32.000 --> 14:34.000 The scene is kept in Corlette's office, 14:34.000 --> 14:37.000 and both Rogers and Mary Crews are there. 14:37.000 --> 14:39.000 A stranger is being questioned by Corlette, 14:39.000 --> 14:42.000 as Annie whimper in the background. 14:42.000 --> 14:44.000 Oh, please, Captain, I didn't mean to... 14:44.000 --> 14:46.000 Ah, quiet, Annie, quiet. 14:46.000 --> 14:49.000 So Adriana Burr had no enemies that you knew about, 14:49.000 --> 14:50.000 Mr. Mace? 14:50.000 --> 14:51.000 None whatsoever. 14:51.000 --> 14:54.000 She was one of the most popular women in the theater. 14:54.000 --> 14:55.000 Generous, gracious... 14:55.000 --> 14:57.000 She was the whammy. 14:57.000 --> 14:59.000 I put the whammy on her. 14:59.000 --> 15:01.000 What are you going to do with this woman, Captain? 15:01.000 --> 15:02.000 I don't know, poor devil. 15:02.000 --> 15:05.000 Pretty safe bet that we never will get the whole story from her. 15:05.000 --> 15:07.000 Yeah, I don't suppose. 15:07.000 --> 15:09.000 We put her away at cost. 15:09.000 --> 15:12.000 Yeah, but I'm wondering about something, Mace. 15:12.000 --> 15:15.000 I wonder if somebody didn't put her up to killing Miss Burr. 15:15.000 --> 15:16.000 Nobody could. 15:16.000 --> 15:18.000 Adriana had no enemies. 15:18.000 --> 15:21.000 How long have you and Miss Burr been married, Mr. Mace? 15:21.000 --> 15:23.000 By seven years. 15:23.000 --> 15:25.000 See, here, you don't think... 15:25.000 --> 15:27.000 No, no, I don't think you had anything to do with it. 15:27.000 --> 15:29.000 But Annie here didn't have the... 15:29.000 --> 15:32.000 Well, the mentality to figure out such goofy murders. 15:32.000 --> 15:34.000 She's been saw at the police for a long time, Corlette. 15:34.000 --> 15:37.000 You just hate to admit that I found your killer for you, don't you? 15:37.000 --> 15:40.000 Look, Rogers, if I really thought you had the murderer... 15:40.000 --> 15:42.000 Wait, Scott Corlette, what do you want? 15:42.000 --> 15:45.000 Annie admits that she put the whammy, or whatever she calls her crazy curse, 15:45.000 --> 15:46.000 on two of them. 15:46.000 --> 15:49.000 She told Mary and me how the police had been shelling her around. 15:49.000 --> 15:51.000 And she wanders all over town. 15:51.000 --> 15:52.000 Nobody pays much attention to her. 15:52.000 --> 15:55.000 She had plenty of opportunities to commit all three of the murders. 15:55.000 --> 15:57.000 Yes, the whammy did it. 15:59.000 --> 16:02.000 I ought to be able to sell flowers really good now. 16:02.000 --> 16:04.000 What do you need, Corlette? 16:04.000 --> 16:06.000 You have to see her kill somebody? 16:06.000 --> 16:08.000 It seems to me you're making it tougher than you need to. 16:08.000 --> 16:09.000 Poor Annie. 16:09.000 --> 16:10.000 Yeah, poor Annie. 16:10.000 --> 16:11.000 That's just the point. 16:11.000 --> 16:13.000 She didn't commit any of these murders. 16:13.000 --> 16:14.000 Not a blessed one. 16:14.000 --> 16:16.000 I've given you some facts to back up my theory, Corlette. 16:16.000 --> 16:19.000 Yeah, I can give you some facts to back up mine. 16:19.000 --> 16:21.000 I don't know what they'd be. 16:21.000 --> 16:23.000 Well, now Annie isn't what I'd call a comedian. 16:23.000 --> 16:25.000 That's beside the point. 16:25.000 --> 16:28.000 She didn't commit those murders because she didn't write those notes. 16:28.000 --> 16:29.000 Did you, Annie? 16:29.000 --> 16:32.000 I put the whammy on him, and it worked. 16:32.000 --> 16:35.000 I guess maybe you'll be afraid of me now. 16:35.000 --> 16:38.000 You won't shove me around anymore, will you? 16:38.000 --> 16:40.000 I'm not shoving anybody around, Annie. 16:40.000 --> 16:41.000 Now don't you worry. 16:41.000 --> 16:42.000 Listen, Corlette. 16:42.000 --> 16:44.000 I'm demanding that you put her under arrest. 16:44.000 --> 16:45.000 Well, I'm not doing it. 16:45.000 --> 16:47.000 If you don't, I'll smear you all over the herald. 16:47.000 --> 16:49.000 I'll take my facts to the public. 16:49.000 --> 16:50.000 I'll run you right off the police force. 16:50.000 --> 16:52.000 I wouldn't try it, Rogers. 16:52.000 --> 16:55.000 You've gotten into my hair plenty and I've stood still for it. 16:55.000 --> 16:58.000 But you go breaking that kind of a story and you'll wash yourself up. 16:58.000 --> 17:00.000 Are you threatening me? 17:00.000 --> 17:03.000 I'm not so sure these murders weren't your work, Rogers. 17:03.000 --> 17:04.000 What? 17:04.000 --> 17:05.000 What are you talking about? 17:05.000 --> 17:07.000 All right, it makes sense. 17:07.000 --> 17:09.000 Just as much sense as what he's been saying about Annie. 17:09.000 --> 17:12.000 He's been on an assignment to smear the police force with a flock of stories. 17:12.000 --> 17:16.000 So first he makes us look bad with a series of comic opera murders. 17:16.000 --> 17:18.000 And then he makes himself the big hero by finding a killer. 17:18.000 --> 17:20.000 Isn't that a bit far-fetched, Captain? 17:20.000 --> 17:22.000 No more than what he's been yipping about Annie. 17:22.000 --> 17:24.000 Let me get this straight. 17:24.000 --> 17:28.000 You're accusing me of having murdered these people just to make the police force look bad, huh? 17:28.000 --> 17:29.000 That's right. 17:29.000 --> 17:33.000 But you couldn't make an idiotic thing like that stick, not in a million years. 17:33.000 --> 17:35.000 Go ahead and try it if you want to. 17:35.000 --> 17:37.000 I'm going back to the office and write my story. 17:37.000 --> 17:39.000 You're forgetting something, Rogers. 17:39.000 --> 17:41.000 Maybe I can't make my story stick. 17:41.000 --> 17:43.000 But I can keep you from making a fool of yourself. 17:43.000 --> 17:44.000 Of you, you mean? 17:44.000 --> 17:47.000 I'm putting you under arrest for these murders, Rogers. 17:47.000 --> 17:49.000 You're joking. 17:49.000 --> 17:50.000 No, I'm not. 17:50.000 --> 17:52.000 Well, you can't arrest me. I've done nothing and you... 17:52.000 --> 17:55.000 I wouldn't get any closer to that door if I were you, Rogers. 17:55.000 --> 17:56.000 You're under arrest. 17:56.000 --> 17:58.000 One move and I shoot. 18:10.000 --> 18:14.000 Did you get any more information out of that woman that Annie kept? 18:14.000 --> 18:17.000 No. What kind of information do you expect me to get from her? 18:17.000 --> 18:18.000 She's people-minded. 18:18.000 --> 18:21.000 People-minded or not, she ought to be put away. 18:21.000 --> 18:22.000 You've done that, haven't you? 18:22.000 --> 18:23.000 No, I haven't even done that. 18:23.000 --> 18:27.000 He let her go and kept Clayton Rogers in jail. 18:27.000 --> 18:30.000 It's none of my business, Corlett, but it looks to me like you're... 18:30.000 --> 18:32.000 Oh, hello, Annie. 18:32.000 --> 18:34.000 Folks here are pretty worried about you. 18:34.000 --> 18:37.000 Oh, I'll get along all right. 18:37.000 --> 18:40.000 Now I know how well the whammy works. 18:40.000 --> 18:43.000 The funny thing about the whammy, Captain, I wasn't ever... 18:43.000 --> 18:45.000 Oh, stop it for heaven's sake. 18:47.000 --> 18:49.000 Annie, what's that on your hands? 18:49.000 --> 18:53.000 My blood in these clothes. 18:53.000 --> 18:54.000 Blood? 18:54.000 --> 19:00.000 Sure. I tried the whammy on a guy right after I left here to see if it really worked. 19:00.000 --> 19:06.000 He got real nasty with me about buying flowers, so I put it on him good. 19:06.000 --> 19:08.000 It runs the park and locks downstairs, you see. 19:08.000 --> 19:09.000 But that blood? 19:09.000 --> 19:13.000 I'm coming to it. I come back like you told me, Captain, 19:13.000 --> 19:18.000 but I decide to see how the whammy's working, if it's started yet. 19:18.000 --> 19:24.000 There's nobody around the parking lot, so I go into the little shaft, and there he is. 19:24.000 --> 19:26.000 He was dead. 19:26.000 --> 19:29.000 Dead? How had he been killed? 19:29.000 --> 19:32.000 That was kind of peculiar. 19:32.000 --> 19:38.000 Half pin jammed through his heart with this piece of paper stuck right on the half pin. 19:38.000 --> 19:41.000 I tore it off. Oh, bloody. 19:41.000 --> 19:43.000 Here, give it here. 19:43.000 --> 19:47.000 You read jokes about people getting jabbed with half pins. 19:47.000 --> 19:50.000 Pretty funny, yes? 19:50.000 --> 19:52.000 Murder for laughs. 20:02.000 --> 20:05.000 I guess that convinces you, doesn't it, Corlant? 20:05.000 --> 20:06.000 Convinces me of what? 20:06.000 --> 20:08.000 That Annie's the killer. 20:08.000 --> 20:10.000 It doesn't convince me of anything of the kind. 20:10.000 --> 20:15.000 But you surely don't think I killed this parking lot attendant, not while I was in jail. 20:15.000 --> 20:17.000 I never thought you killed anybody, Rogers. 20:17.000 --> 20:19.000 Put that woman under arrest and get it over with, Captain. 20:19.000 --> 20:22.000 You just keep away from me. You've picked on me enough. 20:22.000 --> 20:28.000 Look, Annie, did anybody ever tell you to try to sell flowers to that cab starter at the Carleton Arms? 20:28.000 --> 20:32.000 No. I got a right to sell flowers wherever I want to. 20:32.000 --> 20:37.000 I know. Did anybody ever tell you to try to sell your flowers to any of these other people? 20:37.000 --> 20:41.000 No. Nobody but that upper theatrist. 20:41.000 --> 20:42.000 What? 20:42.000 --> 20:44.000 She was the only one. 20:44.000 --> 20:47.000 Oh, and somebody told you to try and sell her some flowers? 20:47.000 --> 20:54.000 Sure. This man right here. He said she liked flowers and she'd buy lots of them. And she didn't. 20:54.000 --> 20:58.000 How about that, Mace? You tell Annie to pester your wife? 20:58.000 --> 21:01.000 Of course not. Adriana hated that sort of thing. 21:01.000 --> 21:05.000 She did so, you told me. You said she'd buy lots of flowers. 21:05.000 --> 21:08.000 For the love of heaven, Corlette, what difference does it make? 21:08.000 --> 21:10.000 Put her in jail before she kills someone else. 21:10.000 --> 21:12.000 You didn't tell Annie to talk to your wife, Mace? 21:12.000 --> 21:16.000 Why, certainly not. You surely won't take the word of a crazy... 21:16.000 --> 21:21.000 I don't know what I'll take, Mace. You loved your wife, did you? 21:21.000 --> 21:23.000 Yes. Yes, of course I loved her. 21:23.000 --> 21:25.000 Did you ever have any fights with her? 21:25.000 --> 21:30.000 No. No. We got along beautifully. She was beautiful, talented, successful woman. 21:30.000 --> 21:32.000 I think I'll do a little checking there, Mace. 21:32.000 --> 21:36.000 But there's nothing to check. You have the murderer, you have the motive, you have everything. 21:36.000 --> 21:37.000 Well, I'll check anyway. 21:37.000 --> 21:39.000 Well, suit yourself, but I don't see why... 21:39.000 --> 21:43.000 Because I think you killed your wife, Mace. 21:43.000 --> 21:47.000 What? Why, that's as idiotic as... 21:47.000 --> 21:52.000 As the rest of these murders? No, no. I don't think so, Mace. 21:52.000 --> 21:55.000 You and your wife are living at the Crofton Arms. Annie hung around there a lot. 21:55.000 --> 21:59.000 Sure, she hung around there. And all the murders have been right in that facility. 21:59.000 --> 22:00.000 Doesn't that prove... 22:00.000 --> 22:03.000 Where were you yesterday morning when your wife was murdered, Mr. Mace? 22:03.000 --> 22:06.000 Why, over at the theater, I suppose. 22:06.000 --> 22:07.000 For how long? 22:07.000 --> 22:11.000 I don't know. But this murder was one of a group. 22:11.000 --> 22:13.000 Anybody see you at the theater? 22:13.000 --> 22:17.000 Why, I don't know. Listen, I won't stand for this. 22:17.000 --> 22:21.000 Sit down. I don't have to check on you and your wife, Mace. 22:21.000 --> 22:24.000 I've already checked right after the murder. 22:24.000 --> 22:26.000 Just wanted to see if you'd deny you were having trouble with her. 22:26.000 --> 22:28.000 But I don't see what difference that makes. This was one of a... 22:28.000 --> 22:32.000 I know. One of the murders for laughs. 22:32.000 --> 22:35.000 Only this one wasn't for laughs. Your wife had been to a lawyer, Mace. 22:35.000 --> 22:38.000 She was suing for divorce and demanding an accounting of $200,000. 22:38.000 --> 22:40.000 She claimed you'd stolen. 22:40.000 --> 22:41.000 There was nothing to it. 22:41.000 --> 22:46.000 Adriana, well, she had the temperament of a true artist. Very excitable. 22:46.000 --> 22:49.000 It isn't bad enough for you to try to pin murder onto a helpless, demented old woman. 22:49.000 --> 22:53.000 You had to kill three innocent people just to establish your alibi. 22:53.000 --> 22:57.000 No reason in the world for those other three murders. Just done for laughs. 22:57.000 --> 22:59.000 You must be mistaken. 22:59.000 --> 23:03.000 Oh, I'm not mistaken. When I turned Annie loose, I had her followed. 23:03.000 --> 23:05.000 But somebody else followed her, too. 23:05.000 --> 23:09.000 Followed her until she put her whammy, as she calls it, on the parking lot guy. 23:09.000 --> 23:10.000 No, no, that's a lie. 23:10.000 --> 23:13.000 The cop who followed Annie ain't much on imagination, Mr. Mace. 23:13.000 --> 23:17.000 He couldn't make a description to fit you that well, not if he deliberately tried. 23:17.000 --> 23:19.000 You're under arrest, Mace. 23:19.000 --> 23:21.000 No, you can't do such a thing. I have some rights. 23:21.000 --> 23:23.000 Once we had a suspect, we could do a lot. 23:23.000 --> 23:26.000 That rolling pin came from a store near the Carlton Arms. 23:26.000 --> 23:28.000 The clerk remembered selling it to a man. 23:28.000 --> 23:32.000 A man who didn't look like the kind of a guy who baked very much bread. 23:32.000 --> 23:34.000 We found a chisel in your suitcase. 23:34.000 --> 23:39.000 And I imagine we'll find the half pin originally belonged to Adriana Burr. 23:39.000 --> 23:42.000 I think you've thought too much already, Captain. 23:42.000 --> 23:43.000 Colette, look out, he has a gun. 23:43.000 --> 23:47.000 Yes, you bet I have a gun. And this murder won't be for laughs. 23:47.000 --> 23:51.000 If you'd had any imagination, you'd never in the world have suspected me 23:51.000 --> 23:54.000 to put that crazy flower woman in jail. 23:54.000 --> 23:58.000 Well, thanks to your stupidity, you found me out. 23:58.000 --> 24:01.000 And thanks to your stupidity, you're going to die for it. 24:01.000 --> 24:03.000 Look out, Colette. 24:04.000 --> 24:08.000 My ulcer will bother me a lot more than that kind of shooting, Mace. 24:08.000 --> 24:11.000 My wrist. You've shot my wrist? 24:11.000 --> 24:13.000 Yeah. I could have killed you. 24:13.000 --> 24:17.000 But a murderer like you doesn't deserve that easy an out. 24:17.000 --> 24:24.000 I want to see if you'll laugh in the electric chair.