WEBVTT 00:00.000 --> 00:07.000 Mystery House 00:07.000 --> 00:14.000 Mystery House 00:29.000 --> 00:34.000 Mystery House, that strange publishing firm owned by Dan and Barbara Glenn, 00:34.000 --> 00:39.000 where each new novel is acted out by the Mystery House staff before it is accepted for publication. 00:39.000 --> 00:41.000 Mystery House 00:50.000 --> 00:54.000 This story we're trying out for Mystery House novel tonight, Barbie, a murder with a punch. 00:54.000 --> 00:55.000 What's the big punch? 00:55.000 --> 01:00.000 It's not that kind of a punch, Dan. The story deals with a punch in Judy's show. 01:00.000 --> 01:03.000 Oh, you mean those little wooden dummies that the performer works with his hands from under the stage? 01:03.000 --> 01:06.000 That's right, hand puppets. I think they're fascinating. 01:06.000 --> 01:09.000 A good punch in Judy operator can make them almost human. 01:09.000 --> 01:13.000 I disagree, Mrs. Glenn. The punch in Judy voices are always too unnatural. 01:13.000 --> 01:18.000 If you're going to say anything, why not say it in a natural voice, like this? Listen. 01:18.000 --> 01:23.000 Mystery House 01:30.000 --> 01:34.000 Okay, places everybody. Set the scene for tonight's story, will you, Tom? 01:34.000 --> 01:37.000 Death with a punch. 01:39.000 --> 01:42.000 The story opens in a dressing room of the Mirador nightclub. 01:42.000 --> 01:47.000 Jeff Rochlin, owner of the club, hands a little envelope to one of the performers. 01:47.000 --> 01:50.000 As you noticed, Gee-Gee, Saturday night. 01:50.000 --> 01:54.000 But look, Mr. Rochlin, you brought me into the Mirador on a contract for six a week. 01:54.000 --> 02:00.000 So I made a mistake. We all make mistakes once in a while, don't we? Your act's no good, Gee-Gee. 02:00.000 --> 02:03.000 No good? The grand, you know, punch in Judy's show no good. 02:03.000 --> 02:09.000 The finest hand-carved puppets in the world. My father and grandfather spent their lives building this act. 02:09.000 --> 02:11.000 I've got testimonial letters from royalty, from presidents, from... 02:11.000 --> 02:15.000 You've got an act that as far as nightclubs are concerned is strictly from hunger, Gee-Gee. 02:15.000 --> 02:21.000 No, that is not so. The Berlin Winter Garden, the Vienna Olympia, the London Palladium, the New York Palace, 02:21.000 --> 02:25.000 all holdovers, top-beering, an international success. 02:25.000 --> 02:29.000 The finest hand puppet show in all the world and you as chief nightclub operator and next gangster. 02:29.000 --> 02:36.000 Got it, Gee-Gee. I don't like that kind of talk. Your act's out after tomorrow night. You're done. Through. 02:36.000 --> 02:39.000 But I turned down engagements to take this. 02:39.000 --> 02:41.000 You know what that act of yours ought to be playing, Gee-Gee? 02:41.000 --> 02:45.000 Little girls birthday parties. That's about its speed. 02:45.000 --> 02:48.000 I bet you'd knock the little kiddies for a loop. 02:48.000 --> 02:50.000 You'll pay me for the balance of my contract? 02:50.000 --> 02:54.000 Are you kidding? You're lucky you're getting paid for the week you've been here, you bum. 02:54.000 --> 02:58.000 I'll report you. You fill that contract or I'll see you get no more act. 02:58.000 --> 03:02.000 No, you won't. Because I'll have a receipt to show I paid off. 03:02.000 --> 03:03.000 You have no such thing. 03:03.000 --> 03:08.000 I said I will have. Here's the receipt. See? All made out. 03:08.000 --> 03:13.000 And I've even got a fountain pen for you to sign it with. Right now. Here. 03:13.000 --> 03:17.000 You think I'm crazy? You think I'd sign a receipt for money I'll never see? 03:17.000 --> 03:19.000 I think you better, Gee-Gee. It'd be good business. 03:19.000 --> 03:21.000 You do not scare me. 03:21.000 --> 03:27.000 Of course not. But you know how it is. A guy does his act, satisfies everybody, going along fine. 03:27.000 --> 03:33.000 Getting paid. And then he has an accident. Away from the club, of course. Away from me, too. 03:33.000 --> 03:36.000 Being dead, he can't fill his contract. 03:36.000 --> 03:38.000 You would not dare kill me. 03:38.000 --> 03:42.000 Ah, now what kind of talk is that, Gee-Gee? I never killed anybody. 03:42.000 --> 03:47.000 If I got friends that, well, are kind of rough, can I help it? 03:47.000 --> 03:51.000 Just because they're bad don't make me that way, does it? Come on now, sign. 03:51.000 --> 03:57.000 No. I'll get your license revoked. You will not be able to hire any acts at all. I will ruin you out of business. 03:57.000 --> 04:03.000 I got boys on my payroll who would take care of you without the flicker of an eye light, Gee-Gee. 04:03.000 --> 04:07.000 And that's just about breaking my heart, too. You're going to sign this or not? 04:07.000 --> 04:13.000 No. You think you are very brave and tough. Well, maybe I'm brave and tough, too. 04:13.000 --> 04:17.000 I have a contract. I know my rights. Now, get out of my dressing room. 04:17.000 --> 04:19.000 What? Hey, what is that thing? 04:19.000 --> 04:22.000 The little cop punch you to hit Judy over the head in my puppet show. 04:22.000 --> 04:24.000 Get out before I break it over your head. Get out! 04:24.000 --> 04:43.000 Okay, sucker. Suit yourself. But don't say I didn't give you a chance. 04:43.000 --> 04:49.000 Aw, don't worry about him, Gee-Gee. Rockin's a great A-Hill. As big a bluff as he's a rat. 04:49.000 --> 04:53.000 He tried to pull a fast one on you and it didn't work. You'll pay off your contract. 04:53.000 --> 04:55.000 He has to. The bum. 04:55.000 --> 05:00.000 He says I'm through after tonight. I've already made a report to the Union kind. 05:00.000 --> 05:02.000 You think my act is bad? 05:02.000 --> 05:05.000 I think it's the cutest act I ever saw in my life. 05:05.000 --> 05:09.000 Those little wooden puppets are darn near human the way you handle them. 05:09.000 --> 05:12.000 Well, it sort of makes me feel like a little girl again. 05:12.000 --> 05:14.000 Thank you. 05:14.000 --> 05:17.000 You know the real reason he's firing you, don't you? 05:17.000 --> 05:20.000 No. He said he doesn't like the act. 05:20.000 --> 05:23.000 Ah, you wouldn't know a good act from a flop. 05:23.000 --> 05:27.000 You came in here at top money. A big build-up and all that. 05:27.000 --> 05:29.000 And Rocklin's hard up as a devil. 05:29.000 --> 05:33.000 Hard up? But the club is crowded. The prices are high. 05:33.000 --> 05:34.000 I know. 05:34.000 --> 05:37.000 And the money's going out faster than it's coming in. 05:37.000 --> 05:41.000 There's a payoff somewhere that's got him scared to death. 05:41.000 --> 05:43.000 Scraping up every dime he can get his fingers on. 05:43.000 --> 05:45.000 What? Are you sure? 05:45.000 --> 05:49.000 There's no other answer. The club's rolling in money and Rocklin's broke. 05:49.000 --> 05:51.000 I mean broke. 05:51.000 --> 05:55.000 This payoff, you know who he's making it to? For what? 05:55.000 --> 05:59.000 No. All I know is there's something going on. 05:59.000 --> 06:01.000 Somebody has him right where they want him. 06:01.000 --> 06:04.000 And it's somebody who's really turning on the heat. 06:04.000 --> 06:12.000 Connie, if anything should happen to Rocklin, if he should have an accident... 06:12.000 --> 06:16.000 Not a chance. With all the thugs watching out for him all the time. 06:16.000 --> 06:21.000 But if such a thing should happen, my contract would still be good. 06:21.000 --> 06:23.000 You'd be free. Isn't that true? 06:23.000 --> 06:30.000 Hey, you act sort of excited. You're not thinking of bumping Rocklin off, are you? 06:30.000 --> 06:34.000 Oh, no. But I think Mr. Rocklin has gone too far. 06:34.000 --> 06:38.000 I think he's about due for some trouble. Thanks to you. 06:38.000 --> 06:39.000 Thanks to me? 06:39.000 --> 06:42.000 You have answered the question that has been bothering me, Connie. 06:42.000 --> 06:47.000 With your story about the payoff, I think I'll fill out the period of my contract. 06:47.000 --> 06:51.000 I think everything is going to be all right. 06:51.000 --> 06:53.000 Hey, what was that? 06:53.000 --> 06:57.000 The door. I thought it was closed, but it must have been open a crack. 06:57.000 --> 06:59.000 Somebody was listening to us. To what we said. 06:59.000 --> 07:04.000 So what? We said nothing anybody could use against us. Do not be so nervous. 07:04.000 --> 07:09.000 Face to face in a fist fight, I'd almost bet on myself to whip Rocklin. 07:09.000 --> 07:13.000 But he doesn't fight with his fists, and he doesn't fight face to face. 07:13.000 --> 07:18.000 If he were spying on us, I'd admit it. I'm scared. 07:18.000 --> 07:22.000 It is he who should be frightened, Connie. Not us. 07:22.000 --> 07:39.000 Mr. Rocklin is just about through. 07:39.000 --> 07:43.000 Good evening, Mr. KG. 07:43.000 --> 07:44.000 Good evening. 07:44.000 --> 07:47.000 Say, you shouldn't leave your dressing room right on. 07:47.000 --> 07:51.000 Mr. Rocklin would find out you went out without turning it off. He'd be sore. 07:51.000 --> 07:53.000 Kind of mean that way. 07:53.000 --> 07:56.000 But I did not leave the light on. I turned it off, I am sure. 07:56.000 --> 08:02.000 Maybe so, but I walked past a couple of minutes ago and saw the light on and stopped to talk to you. 08:02.000 --> 08:06.000 The room was empty, that's sure. And the light was on. I snapped her off. 08:06.000 --> 08:07.000 Thank you. 08:07.000 --> 08:10.000 Here comes Rocklin now. Good evening, Mr. Rocklin. 08:10.000 --> 08:13.000 Hi, Pop. I want to talk to you alone, KG. 08:13.000 --> 08:15.000 We have nothing to discuss. 08:15.000 --> 08:17.000 I got a call from the Union. 08:17.000 --> 08:22.000 I know. It would be bad for you now if anything should happen to me, Mr. Rocklin. 08:22.000 --> 08:25.000 You see, I told them all about the little threats you made. 08:25.000 --> 08:29.000 Yeah, so they told me. Looks like there's nothing for me to do but pay off, huh? 08:29.000 --> 08:32.000 I hoped you would see it that way. 08:32.000 --> 08:35.000 Pop, didn't you hear me say I wanted to talk to this guy private? 08:35.000 --> 08:39.000 Me? Oh, sure, Mr. Rocklin. I was just standing here. 08:39.000 --> 08:41.000 Well, don't stand there. Get moving. 08:41.000 --> 08:44.000 Guy can't do anything around his joint without somebody rubbernecking. 08:44.000 --> 08:48.000 Oh, I didn't mean anything, Mr. Rocklin. And I didn't hear a thing. 08:48.000 --> 08:51.000 Speaking of rubbernecking, Mr. Rocklin, 08:51.000 --> 08:56.000 somebody was listening outside my door while I was talking to Connie Clare this afternoon. 08:56.000 --> 08:58.000 Yeah? Did it scare you? 08:58.000 --> 09:00.000 No, I just mentioned it. 09:00.000 --> 09:04.000 Yeah, if it was nothing of any importance, you got nothing to worry about. 09:04.000 --> 09:07.000 But if it were something important? 09:07.000 --> 09:10.000 And if I was you, I would worry about it, Gee-Gee. 09:10.000 --> 09:14.000 Look, I've changed my mind about firing you. 09:14.000 --> 09:18.000 Oh, that is very touching. What made you change your mind? 09:18.000 --> 09:21.000 Who cares? The point is you stay. 09:21.000 --> 09:23.000 Maybe I'm getting soft for puppets. 09:23.000 --> 09:26.000 It is quite impossible for me to continue, Mr. Rocklin. 09:26.000 --> 09:33.000 You gave me my notice, but you will pay for the balance of the contract five weeks without my stay. 09:33.000 --> 09:37.000 I take a little vacation at your expense. 09:37.000 --> 09:40.000 Okay, Gee-Gee, suit yourself. 09:40.000 --> 09:45.000 And it would be most embarrassing for you if anything should happen to me. 09:45.000 --> 09:49.000 You mean about the union you're telling them about what I said might happen to you? 09:49.000 --> 09:54.000 That too. But I stumbled onto a very important piece of information. 09:54.000 --> 09:55.000 What are you talking about? 09:55.000 --> 09:58.000 The person you're giving so much money to. The payoff. 09:58.000 --> 09:59.000 What? Listen, you... 09:59.000 --> 10:03.000 Now, do not get excited. I will not hurt you if you behave yourself. 10:03.000 --> 10:06.000 You know something. Something I want to know too. 10:06.000 --> 10:08.000 This is worth dough to you, Gee-Gee. 10:08.000 --> 10:11.000 More dough than those puppets could make you in a thousand years. 10:11.000 --> 10:14.000 You do not need to try to impress me, Mr. Rocklin. 10:14.000 --> 10:15.000 You fool, I'm leveling. 10:15.000 --> 10:20.000 Leveling? That means being honest, doesn't it? 10:20.000 --> 10:21.000 Sure. 10:21.000 --> 10:23.000 Interesting, if true. 10:23.000 --> 10:25.000 We're going to make a deal, Gee-Gee. 10:25.000 --> 10:28.000 Later. They are moving my puncture duty stage onto the floor. 10:28.000 --> 10:29.000 Gee-Gee, you're on. 10:29.000 --> 10:30.000 They're coming. 10:30.000 --> 10:34.000 Now, the Club Mirador presents the most unusual novelty of the year, 10:34.000 --> 10:38.000 Gee-Gee and his grand guinole Punch and Judy show. 10:38.000 --> 10:43.000 Hooray! Hooray! That's what I like. Puppets. 10:43.000 --> 10:48.000 Ladies and gentlemen, my little puppets are not operated by strings. 10:48.000 --> 10:51.000 The oldest and classic form of puppetry, 10:51.000 --> 10:55.000 they are controlled by the human hand from beneath the stage. 10:55.000 --> 10:57.000 At several times during the process, 10:57.000 --> 11:00.000 there will be three puppets active upon the stage 11:00.000 --> 11:04.000 and only one person, myself, operating them. 11:04.000 --> 11:06.000 Try to figure it out. 11:06.000 --> 11:07.000 I thank you. 11:07.000 --> 11:11.000 And now, in just a moment, the grand guinole Punch and Judy. 11:15.000 --> 11:18.000 Hello, folks. I'm Mr. Punch. 11:18.000 --> 11:19.000 And you know something? 11:19.000 --> 11:21.000 I'm a bad, bad boy. 11:21.000 --> 11:23.000 I kill people. 11:23.000 --> 11:27.000 Just a regular killer-diller. Would you like to meet my wife? 11:27.000 --> 11:29.000 Judy! Oh, Judy! 11:29.000 --> 11:30.000 What is it, Punchy? 11:30.000 --> 11:31.000 Come on up and meet the folks. 11:31.000 --> 11:32.000 I don't want to. 11:32.000 --> 11:33.000 Oh, yes you do. 11:33.000 --> 11:34.000 No, I don't. 11:34.000 --> 11:35.000 Yes, you do. 11:35.000 --> 11:37.000 I won't do it, Punch. 11:37.000 --> 11:39.000 If you don't, I'll come after you with this revolver. 11:39.000 --> 11:41.000 I'll fix you good. 11:41.000 --> 11:44.000 Remember, I'm a bad boy. 11:44.000 --> 11:46.000 I'm not afraid of you. Come right ahead. 11:46.000 --> 11:48.000 Okay, I will. 11:48.000 --> 11:50.000 Excuse me, folks. 11:50.000 --> 11:53.000 Oh, Rodland! Rodland! Jeff Rodland! 11:53.000 --> 11:56.000 Gigi! Somebody quick, it's Jenny Graham! 11:56.000 --> 11:57.000 She's been shot! 11:57.000 --> 11:58.000 Hey, quiet. Not so loud. 11:58.000 --> 11:59.000 What are you trying to do anyway? 11:59.000 --> 12:01.000 Listen, listen, she's been murdered. 12:01.000 --> 12:03.000 She was standing in the wings watching Gigi's actions. 12:03.000 --> 12:04.000 She was shot. 12:04.000 --> 12:06.000 Gigi, huh? I knew that guy was poisoned. 12:06.000 --> 12:08.000 The gun! The punch gun! 12:08.000 --> 12:10.000 Somebody put real bullets in it. 12:10.000 --> 12:13.000 I fired the blanks toward the floor, and real bullets come out. 12:13.000 --> 12:14.000 Who do you think you're fooling, Gigi? 12:14.000 --> 12:15.000 I'm not fooling you. 12:15.000 --> 12:16.000 I'm not fooling you. 12:16.000 --> 12:17.000 I'm not fooling you. 12:17.000 --> 12:20.000 I'm not fooling you. 12:20.000 --> 12:21.000 Oh, I see. 12:21.000 --> 12:22.000 Jenny Graham. 12:22.000 --> 12:26.000 So, you kill her, and you think you'll pin it on me? 12:26.000 --> 12:28.000 Well, Mr. Rockland, you will not. 12:28.000 --> 12:29.000 Shut up, Gigi. 12:29.000 --> 12:31.000 I'm calling the cops. 12:31.000 --> 12:50.000 And it looks like you're canceling your own act for good. 12:50.000 --> 13:02.000 Who is Jenny Graham, the singer? 13:02.000 --> 13:04.000 And why should she be killed? 13:04.000 --> 13:07.000 If that's not enough to puzzle yourself about, 13:07.000 --> 13:10.000 was she killed by a bullet from the gun the little punch puppet was holding? 13:10.000 --> 13:27.000 We'll find out on the second act of tonight's story. 13:27.000 --> 13:32.000 And now, act two of Death with a Punch. 13:32.000 --> 13:36.000 The customers have been unceremoniously ushered from the Club Mirador, 13:36.000 --> 13:41.000 and Jerry James, ex-song and dance man turned police detective, has taken over. 13:41.000 --> 13:42.000 All right, all right. 13:42.000 --> 13:44.000 Sit down, all of you. 13:44.000 --> 13:47.000 I never saw a guy working with puppets yet that wasn't screwy. 13:47.000 --> 13:51.000 Sir, this is the finest hand puppet act in the world. 13:51.000 --> 13:52.000 I know, I know. 13:52.000 --> 13:55.000 And you sure brought the house down tonight, chum. 13:55.000 --> 13:56.000 Punching Judy. 13:56.000 --> 13:59.000 I didn't know there was a punch act still on the road. 13:59.000 --> 14:00.000 Where'd you come from? 14:00.000 --> 14:01.000 Out of the woodwork? 14:01.000 --> 14:03.000 My act has headlined at the gr... 14:03.000 --> 14:05.000 Skip it, skip it. 14:05.000 --> 14:08.000 Sure, you're big time. 14:08.000 --> 14:11.000 Now, why'd you kill this dame, huh? 14:11.000 --> 14:13.000 Well, I did not kill her. 14:13.000 --> 14:14.000 I scarcely knew her. 14:14.000 --> 14:16.000 That's right, Mr. James. 14:16.000 --> 14:20.000 Only woman in the place to ever see him do any visiting with was Connie here. 14:20.000 --> 14:23.000 Oh, you want to get into the act too, huh? 14:23.000 --> 14:26.000 What are you, a juggler or an acrobat? 14:26.000 --> 14:27.000 Pop's a stage carpenter. 14:27.000 --> 14:29.000 Takes care of everything backstage. 14:29.000 --> 14:30.000 Oh. 14:30.000 --> 14:32.000 Now, don't tell me. 14:32.000 --> 14:34.000 Let me guess. 14:34.000 --> 14:35.000 You're Jeff Rockland. 14:35.000 --> 14:36.000 Yeah. 14:36.000 --> 14:38.000 This is a real pleasure, Rockland. 14:38.000 --> 14:42.000 The boy's thinking awful out of you down at headquarters. 14:42.000 --> 14:44.000 You know what the chief says about you, huh? 14:44.000 --> 14:45.000 No. 14:45.000 --> 14:48.000 He says you're the slickest little hoodlum in town. 14:48.000 --> 14:52.000 Yes, sir, the slickest little hoodlum in town. 14:52.000 --> 14:54.000 Save your cheap wisecracks for somebody who goes from. 14:54.000 --> 14:58.000 Hurry up and get this screwball puppet guy out of here before he kills somebody else. 14:58.000 --> 15:01.000 But that's the point, Rockland. 15:01.000 --> 15:03.000 He says he didn't kill the girl. 15:03.000 --> 15:04.000 Yeah, you fool. 15:04.000 --> 15:07.000 He was holding a revolver in his hand with that punch doll. 15:07.000 --> 15:09.000 He pulled the doll down out of sight of the audience. 15:09.000 --> 15:13.000 There was three shots, and Jenny Graham screamed and toppled over. 15:13.000 --> 15:14.000 Blanks. 15:14.000 --> 15:16.000 I never use anything but blanks in the gun. 15:16.000 --> 15:18.000 How about this time? 15:18.000 --> 15:20.000 Somebody had tampered with the prop gun. 15:20.000 --> 15:22.000 There were real bullets in it. 15:22.000 --> 15:27.000 And you're going to claim you shot her by accident, not knowing the gun had real slugs in it, huh? 15:27.000 --> 15:28.000 I did not kill her. 15:28.000 --> 15:30.000 I could not kill her. 15:30.000 --> 15:32.000 I fired three times at the floor. 15:32.000 --> 15:34.000 You will find three bullet holes in the floor. 15:34.000 --> 15:36.000 I already found them. 15:36.000 --> 15:40.000 Somebody could have gone into his dressing room while he was out for a fact. 15:40.000 --> 15:42.000 There was a light on while he was gone. 15:42.000 --> 15:43.000 I saw it. 15:43.000 --> 15:44.000 You remember my telling you? 15:44.000 --> 15:47.000 Somebody was awfully interested in Gee-Gee's dressing room. 15:47.000 --> 15:52.000 He and I were having a little conversation and nearly caught somebody eavesdropping. 15:52.000 --> 15:54.000 What's your racket, sister? 15:54.000 --> 15:58.000 I direct the dancers and do the solo dance routines. 15:58.000 --> 16:01.000 I'm in charge of the line of dancing girls, the chorus. 16:01.000 --> 16:03.000 If you can call six girls the chorus. 16:03.000 --> 16:04.000 Hooper, huh? 16:04.000 --> 16:07.000 You and me will have to cut a few touches before this is over. 16:07.000 --> 16:09.000 I used to be a hooper myself. 16:09.000 --> 16:11.000 Look, Copper, it ain't old home week. 16:11.000 --> 16:12.000 What are you going to do with this guy? 16:12.000 --> 16:13.000 Who hired him, Rockman? 16:13.000 --> 16:14.000 Why, I did. 16:14.000 --> 16:15.000 Of course. 16:15.000 --> 16:17.000 I hire all the acts. 16:17.000 --> 16:22.000 A punch in Judy's act seems like an awful funny thing for a swanky nightclub. 16:22.000 --> 16:25.000 You couldn't have hired him with any idea in mind, could you? 16:25.000 --> 16:27.000 No. No idea, except I was bats. 16:27.000 --> 16:29.000 I was letting him go after tonight. 16:29.000 --> 16:30.000 His act smelled. 16:30.000 --> 16:33.000 You cannot talk to me like that. 16:33.000 --> 16:34.000 The finest... 16:34.000 --> 16:35.000 Skip it, Gee Gee. 16:35.000 --> 16:36.000 Is that right? 16:36.000 --> 16:39.000 Rockman was going to let you go after the night? 16:39.000 --> 16:41.000 Well, yes. 16:41.000 --> 16:44.000 Until he changed his mind just before I went on. 16:44.000 --> 16:47.000 The union was putting a heat on me on account of a contract. 16:47.000 --> 16:50.000 He said I had to pay off, so I figured I might as well use the guy. 16:50.000 --> 16:55.000 You hired him for Big Doe and you were going to let him go after the night. 16:55.000 --> 16:58.000 That's very interesting. 16:58.000 --> 17:03.000 He planned this. All he wanted me for was to pin a murder on to me. 17:03.000 --> 17:07.000 That ain't bad reasoning for a puppet guy, Gee Gee. 17:07.000 --> 17:10.000 Well, don't anybody else agree? 17:10.000 --> 17:13.000 Don't ask me. I just work here. 17:13.000 --> 17:16.000 And I'd like to keep on working, if you'll get what I mean. 17:16.000 --> 17:17.000 Smart girl. 17:17.000 --> 17:21.000 There's only three bullets fired from the punch doll's gun. 17:21.000 --> 17:24.000 And there's three bullets in the floor. 17:24.000 --> 17:27.000 So that means there's another gun around here somewhere. 17:27.000 --> 17:30.000 Of course there are guns around here and permits for them too. 17:30.000 --> 17:34.000 All right, wise guy. I ain't interested in permits at the moment. 17:34.000 --> 17:38.000 I'm interested in seeing if there's any slugs missing from any of these guns you're talking about. 17:38.000 --> 17:41.000 Suppose you let me see them. 17:41.000 --> 17:44.000 I can let you see mine. It's in my office. 17:44.000 --> 17:47.000 Come on, all of you. I ain't leaving anybody alone. 17:47.000 --> 17:49.000 You want me to come to the office too? 17:49.000 --> 17:50.000 Sure. 17:50.000 --> 17:53.000 This way. I didn't have to rot with me at the time of the murder. 17:53.000 --> 17:57.000 Hardly seems like there's any use looking after you telling me that. 17:57.000 --> 18:00.000 But I guess I'm just the suspicious type. 18:00.000 --> 18:03.000 Okay. Where do I unlock the door? 18:06.000 --> 18:09.000 Quite a fancy spot for a retired gangster. 18:09.000 --> 18:12.000 Well, let's see the gun. 18:13.000 --> 18:15.000 There you are. 18:15.000 --> 18:16.000 You satisfied? 18:16.000 --> 18:19.000 I'll let you know. Don't worry. 18:19.000 --> 18:22.000 Yeah, I'm pretty well satisfied. 18:22.000 --> 18:25.000 There's a bullet missing and the gun's still warm. 18:25.000 --> 18:28.000 That's a frame up. I didn't have to rot with me. I didn't shoot it. 18:28.000 --> 18:30.000 You don't get away with this, copper C. 18:30.000 --> 18:32.000 Ripe down, tough guy. 18:32.000 --> 18:34.000 You hired the Punch Act. 18:34.000 --> 18:37.000 The girls murdered. There's a bullet missing from your gun. 18:37.000 --> 18:39.000 You can't frame me like that. 18:39.000 --> 18:40.000 Just a minute. 18:40.000 --> 18:42.000 This is as far as I go, Rockland. 18:42.000 --> 18:43.000 What? 18:43.000 --> 18:46.000 He was making payoffs, officer. Big payoffs to somebody. 18:46.000 --> 18:47.000 We didn't know who, but... 18:47.000 --> 18:49.000 Connie, for the love of heaven, what are you... 18:49.000 --> 18:53.000 He was doing a big business raking in money, and yet he was broke, flat. 18:53.000 --> 18:56.000 That money was going someplace to somebody who was shaking him down. 18:56.000 --> 18:58.000 How about that, Rockland? 18:58.000 --> 19:01.000 Okay, sure. I might as well admit I was being taken for dough. 19:01.000 --> 19:04.000 Plenty of dough. I was being kept strapped. 19:04.000 --> 19:05.000 By this Jenny Graham, the singer? 19:05.000 --> 19:08.000 I don't know, but that's what makes it so crazy. 19:08.000 --> 19:10.000 I ain't got the slightest idea who was shaking me down. 19:10.000 --> 19:12.000 What? I'm laughing. 19:12.000 --> 19:14.000 Okay, laugh, wise guy, but it's the truth. 19:14.000 --> 19:17.000 I get letters telling me to leave money. 19:17.000 --> 19:18.000 Leave money where? 19:18.000 --> 19:20.000 Well, never the same place twice. 19:20.000 --> 19:24.000 Those letters must have given you a pretty good reason for coughing up. 19:24.000 --> 19:25.000 What was it? 19:25.000 --> 19:26.000 That's none of your business. 19:26.000 --> 19:28.000 Guess again, Rockland. Where are those letters? 19:28.000 --> 19:30.000 I destroyed them. 19:30.000 --> 19:32.000 What did they say? How could they threaten you? 19:32.000 --> 19:34.000 I'm not saying, and you can't make me say. 19:34.000 --> 19:38.000 You found out this girl, Jenny Graham, was the one getting your dough, so... 19:38.000 --> 19:40.000 No, you fool, I didn't know who was getting it. 19:40.000 --> 19:45.000 Geegee, didn't I offer to make a deal if you'd tell me just before you started your act? 19:45.000 --> 19:46.000 Huh? Didn't I? 19:46.000 --> 19:49.000 I? But how should I know who was shaking you down? 19:49.000 --> 19:51.000 I didn't even know such a thing was going on. 19:51.000 --> 19:53.000 You lie, I heard you and Connie talking. 19:53.000 --> 19:55.000 Oh, so you were the little eavesdropper, huh? 19:55.000 --> 19:58.000 Whatever it. I've been suspicious of everybody, 19:58.000 --> 20:00.000 thinking maybe anybody might be the one who was gouging me. 20:00.000 --> 20:03.000 And you think the punch guy knew who it was, huh? 20:03.000 --> 20:04.000 Well, he practically said he knew. 20:04.000 --> 20:07.000 I... That is quite true. 20:07.000 --> 20:10.000 When Connie told me Rocklin was being blackmailed, 20:10.000 --> 20:12.000 I remembered something I had seen. 20:12.000 --> 20:13.000 What? 20:13.000 --> 20:17.000 I saw Mr. Rocklin very carelessly drop a tube of grease paint 20:17.000 --> 20:19.000 in a dark corner backstage. 20:19.000 --> 20:22.000 A little later, somebody came along and picked it up. 20:22.000 --> 20:23.000 Whatever. 20:23.000 --> 20:27.000 Oh, don't you see? It was not grease paint in that tube. 20:27.000 --> 20:32.000 The empty grease paint tube had not been used to conceal anything but money. 20:32.000 --> 20:33.000 Builds rolled into it. 20:33.000 --> 20:36.000 And this Jenny Graham picked it up, huh? 20:36.000 --> 20:38.000 No, that is what puzzles me. 20:38.000 --> 20:40.000 It was the stagehand, Pop. 20:40.000 --> 20:41.000 What? 20:41.000 --> 20:43.000 Ah, look here, Mr. Geegee, you can't do this to me. 20:43.000 --> 20:45.000 That ain't so and you know it. 20:45.000 --> 20:46.000 That won't work, Geegee. 20:46.000 --> 20:47.000 What? 20:47.000 --> 20:49.000 You can't pin it onto him. 20:49.000 --> 20:51.000 But he was the one. I saw him. 20:51.000 --> 20:54.000 No, no. I'm betting it was the singer, Jenny Graham. 20:54.000 --> 20:56.000 No. I am telling you the truth. 20:56.000 --> 20:57.000 Why, you... 20:57.000 --> 21:01.000 Trying to frame yourself was a cute little racket, Geegee. 21:01.000 --> 21:02.000 It almost worked. 21:02.000 --> 21:03.000 What? 21:03.000 --> 21:05.000 You swiped Rocklin's gun some way. 21:05.000 --> 21:10.000 It wouldn't be too hard for a guy like you who's done mechanical stuff like making puppets. 21:10.000 --> 21:12.000 You'd know locks and that kind of stuff easy. 21:12.000 --> 21:16.000 But his gun, what good would that do to me? My gun would... 21:16.000 --> 21:17.000 I know. 21:17.000 --> 21:21.000 Everybody heard three shots fired and there were three slugs in the floor. 21:21.000 --> 21:24.000 It was simple and good. Almost good enough. 21:24.000 --> 21:25.000 I don't get it. 21:25.000 --> 21:28.000 Sometime last night when nobody was around, 21:28.000 --> 21:33.000 Geegee fired a shot into the floor right about where they'd set up his puppet stage. 21:33.000 --> 21:34.000 Nobody noticed it. 21:34.000 --> 21:39.000 Then tonight he loads two slugs into his own gun before time for his act. 21:39.000 --> 21:42.000 Oh, no. You do not know what you are saying. That would be impossible. 21:42.000 --> 21:45.000 Oh, no. You're handy with both hands. 21:45.000 --> 21:46.000 Ambidextrous. 21:46.000 --> 21:52.000 You fire two slugs out of the punch gun into the floor right next to the one you already planted. 21:52.000 --> 21:53.000 No. 21:53.000 --> 21:57.000 And then with the other hand you let Jenny Graham have a slug from Rocklin's gun. 21:57.000 --> 22:00.000 You were behind the curtains at that punch stage so nobody could see you. 22:00.000 --> 22:05.000 I bet it's the first time anybody ever pulled a trick like that in front of a whole audience. 22:05.000 --> 22:07.000 No. Rocklin's gun was in his desk. 22:07.000 --> 22:11.000 So that's why you run back here to make a phone call in such a hurry after the murder, huh? 22:11.000 --> 22:12.000 I did not. 22:12.000 --> 22:15.000 Yes, you did. I remember. And why deny it? 22:15.000 --> 22:18.000 But why should I kill this girl? I did not even know her. 22:18.000 --> 22:21.000 There could have been a couple of reasons, Punchy. 22:21.000 --> 22:23.000 She'd been shaking Rocklin down for money. 22:23.000 --> 22:27.000 We've been looking so hard for a murderer we haven't even thought about money. 22:27.000 --> 22:29.000 She got it. But where is it now? 22:29.000 --> 22:31.000 I do not know. I know nothing. 22:31.000 --> 22:36.000 You figured you were really getting fired on account of her shaking Rocklin down so he couldn't pay off. 22:36.000 --> 22:40.000 You wanted your money and didn't want the humiliation to get in canned. 22:40.000 --> 22:45.000 You were sore at Rocklin and figured you could get even by planting murder evidence against him. 22:45.000 --> 22:48.000 You were trying to kill an awful lot of birds with one stone. 22:48.000 --> 22:54.000 But no. How could anybody fire a gun with a doll in his hand, fire it accurately enough to kill, 22:54.000 --> 22:57.000 holding the gun through the clothes of the doll? 22:57.000 --> 23:01.000 Shucks aside from the head and hands and feet, those dolls are just cloth. 23:01.000 --> 23:03.000 I bet I could do it. I'll get one of them. 23:03.000 --> 23:06.000 No, no, no. You stay away from there. You fool. No. 23:06.000 --> 23:09.000 I do not let anyone rule those dolls. You cannot jump in whiskers. 23:09.000 --> 23:10.000 What? 23:10.000 --> 23:15.000 This doll here. I can't work my hand up into it. All clogged up. 23:15.000 --> 23:18.000 Hey, money. Look. 23:18.000 --> 23:21.000 Hundred dollar bill and a thousand dollar bill. 23:21.000 --> 23:24.000 All right. You are so clever. 23:24.000 --> 23:27.000 I will tell you how she was getting the money from Rocklin. 23:27.000 --> 23:31.000 I am not the only murderer. Rocklin, he is. 23:31.000 --> 23:33.000 She had all the proof. I found it. I... 23:33.000 --> 23:34.000 James. James, look out. 23:34.000 --> 23:35.000 Rocklin. 23:37.000 --> 23:41.000 I... I... I still win, Rocklin. 23:41.000 --> 23:48.000 Proof. I stole from a girl in my dressing room, in a trunk. 23:48.000 --> 23:57.000 All about murder you committed. And now you kill me. 23:58.000 --> 24:02.000 You did just fine, Rocklin. You took care of one murderer for us. 24:02.000 --> 24:06.000 And now, even if the proof he claimed the girl had isn't any good, 24:06.000 --> 24:10.000 we've still got you on at least one murder charge. Gee-gees. 24:10.000 --> 24:13.000 Well, the proof's good enough, I guess. 24:13.000 --> 24:17.000 If I didn't think it was, I wouldn't have been paying off that kind of dough, would I? 24:17.000 --> 24:22.000 And they don't treat you any rougher for two murders than they do for one.