Mystery House.
Mystery House. That strange publishing firm owned by Dan and Barbara Glenn, where each new novel is acted out by the Mystery House staff before it is accepted for publication.
Mystery House.
The story for tonight's Mystery House Trial, Barbie, murder is an art. Does it deal with some artistic form of mayhem?
It's the method that's artistic, Dan. It's a story of domestic trouble that ends in unpleasant death. And there's a real puzzle to unravel.
Well, let's start unraveling. I'm ready to go.
Well, so are the rest of the folks.
I'll bet nobody's as enthusiastic as I am.
Yeah, well, how come you're so enthusiastic, Tom? You know, you aren't playing a part tonight in the show. That is, aside from the narrator.
Oh, yes, I am, Mr. Glenn, a mighty important part. Just listen.
Okay, places everybody. Set the scene, will you, Tom?
Murder is an art.
Our story opens in the acid-steeped workroom of Henri Wales, top commercial photographer. Henri's wife, Josephine, is talking to Cal Grayson, a young artist offering him encouragement.
Your work is coming along beautifully, Cal. These new watercolors, they show much improvement.
I don't want to talk about watercolors, Josie.
No, no, you should talk about them, think about them, and dream about them. You must make me proud to have helped you, even so little.
You could help me plenty.
Calvin, remember your promise.
But hang it, Josie. I love you. What difference does it make what I promised?
Please, Cal, you're so young. Love, for you, it is with a young girl, not me.
You're young and beautiful. What difference does ten years make? I'm old enough to...
You need a girl of your own age and not a married woman. Henri and I...
You don't love Henri. You couldn't.
No. You said you would not talk like that. Henri is my husband.
A photographer.
Henri is an artist. His photographs are the finest in all...
You know why they're good, don't you? Because he makes you sit in his filthy, smelly room retouching stuff.
You, a painter who could do great things.
You don't know what I could do. I am Henri's wife and my duty...
Duty? To that louse?
Calvin, I can't have you talking so. You must stop coming here.
I try to encourage you because you have the spark of artistic talent. But romance is for young people. You and Cynthia.
Cynthia? It's you I want, Josie. You.
You stay away from me. How dare you?
I love you, Josie.
You're a boy. A romantic spoiled boy. And you must not... I cannot see you again.
Don't go, please. Stay here. I've got to make you understand.
Calvin, let go of my arm. You... I said to...
Please, Josie, listen to me. Try to understand.
Calvin, you're hurting me. You're a young fool. I'm going to tell Henri about you. About how you...
You... You wouldn't dare.
You leave me no choice when you act like this. Yes, I will tell him.
No. You're not going to wreck everything in the world for me. You're not going to do it, understand? I won't let you.
Calvin, your finger is on my... No.
I can't breathe. Let me go for the love of... You... No.
Josie. Josie, what? You... What is it? What's wrong?
Henri. I... No.
Josie, come on. What's happened? What's wrong with you?
Don't scare me like this. You... Water. I'll get you a glass of water.
You'll be all right. You've got to be all right. I didn't mean to hurt you, Josie.
You know I didn't mean to hurt you. I wouldn't have strangled you. I...
I was just mad and upset. I didn't know what I was doing. Josie. Josie, wake up.
You've got to wake up. Cynthia. What did you...
My, what a touching scene. What happened to her?
I did it. I lost my head. Did what?
Made her faint. With her weak heart, almost anything can make her faint.
Now pull yourself together and get a glass of water. But first, maybe we should put her on the Davenport.
All right. Hey, she's really hot cold.
Well, I read someplace that rubbing the wrist stimulates the circulation.
Cal. You think she's coming, too? No.
There's no pulse. I think she's dead.
I killed her. Murdered her. Cal, stop saying that.
Now pull yourself together. We've got to figure out... What's there to figure?
Call the police. No use my trying to run away. You're not going to run away.
But before I call the police, we've got to figure out what you're going to tell them.
There's nothing to tell them. Except that I killed her.
I knew about her heart. I shouldn't have...
Somebody just came in the studio reception room. What?
I can't do it, Cynthia. Grow up. You stay in here while I see what is.
And don't go to pieces. But the police... The police couldn't know about this.
It'll be a customer. Sit there and keep quiet.
Why, hello, Taffy. Hi, sweetheart.
A little slow getting out here, aren't you? I have to work for a living.
I'll ignore that crack, darling. Where is he? Where's who?
You know who. What? He's on a job.
You wouldn't lie to me, dear. He wouldn't be in the back room, would he?
No, no, you can't. What's getting you in such an uproar?
Oh, Betty! Don't open that door, Taffy. Henry's not there.
I can't open it with you standing in front of it, that's for sure.
You're hiding something. Taffy, please, don't go back there.
You know how Josie feels about you. Oh, so she's in there.
Yes, and you shouldn't come here, Taffy. Henry promised her he wouldn't see you anymore.
What he promised her is no concern of mine.
But you can tell him for me that if he stands me up on one more date...
You cannot tell him yourself, Taffy. You'll undoubtedly see him before I do.
I just work here. Well, okay.
But goodbye, darling.
Kale!
Who was it? Never mind, it was nothing to worry about.
Nothing to worry about? Was her dead in there? What am I going to tell her, please?
If you'd pipe down a minute, maybe I could think of something. You're in a spot.
If I didn't love you so much... Love? Don't even talk about such a thing.
Not with her back there murdered. Please be quiet.
You choked her, but there'll be marks on her neck.
But the police won't know they're your finger marks. Harry will know. He suspects me anyway.
He's told me to stay away from Josie. He's been out at the biggest take all day, taking pictures.
He won't suspect anything. But he's jealous of me. You flatter yourself.
Now, let's see. We'll say that someone came in.
A mysterious stranger. You can't get away with that.
This character came in while you and I were in the developing room.
You came into the dark room to see me and...
We heard Josie scream. That's it. No!
We heard her scream and both ran out here. Josie was all crumpled up on the floor.
The door to the reception room was open. You ran out there and saw our mysterious character
slamming out the door. He had too much of a start on you.
They won't believe it. They'll have to believe it.
I'll be backing up your story. Can you remember it?
You didn't see enough of the fellow to be able to give a good description of him.
Now, drill the story into your head, Cal, and stick to it. Stick to it.
Unless you do, you're done.
Lieutenant Kamik, I'm Cynthia Bradley.
Cynthia Bradley, huh? You work here?
Yes, and this is my friend Cal Grayson. We were together when we heard Josie scream.
Yeah, and you saw the guy who did it, right?
I... I guess so.
What do you mean you guess so? Did you or didn't you?
Why, yes. Yes, we saw him.
He's upset, Lieutenant. He's an artist. Oh, well, a sensitive person.
And Mrs. Wales was a good friend.
Where's her husband? Why isn't he here?
Well, I called him, Lieutenant. He was on a job taking pictures out of the big estate.
Just you two alone here, huh?
Yes. I called Mr. Wales right after I called you. He'll be here soon.
But to get back to the story, Cal...
Suppose you let Cal tell me what he was doing.
Well, young man, what's the story?
I... I came here to see Cynthia. We used to go to art school together.
What's that got to do with it?
What he's trying to say is that we've been going together, Lieutenant.
Well, let him say it then. Where were you when you heard this scream?
Cynthia was working in the dark room and I'd gone in to talk to her.
And then the scream...
And Cal ran out and there was Josie all crumpled.
I saw someone running through the door. A man.
We'd never seen him before.
He didn't have much of a start on you, Grayson.
I... I know. But I was stunned at seeing Mrs. Wales. I...
Well, I guess I stood there too long, just doing nothing.
When I came to and up to chase him, I was too late. And Josie...
Josie? You two seem pretty familiar with the woman.
Why, of course. She was a painter before she married Henry Wales.
And she did a lot to encourage young painters like Cal.
She'd given up her own work.
He made her do it.
No, Cal. You see, Lieutenant, Henry Wales is a fine photographer
and his wife did expert retouching.
She was too good for that. He had no right to...
Why, Mr. Wales...
Cynthia, this... won't you tell me on the phone it is true?
I got here as fast as I could. Where is she? Quick!
Oh, a minute, Lieutenant.
My wife? What has happened to her?
Your wife's dead, Wales. There's nothing you can do to help her now.
Except help us figure out how it happened.
My Josephine.
How... What is this young man doing here? I've told him...
He was here to see me when it happened, Mr. Wales.
I've told him that...
I'm excited. I do not mean to be nasty, Cal.
There's only this... Josephine.
It's my fault Cal was here. I asked him to drop in.
What's the matter, Wales? Has this fellow done something to make you sore?
No, no, nothing, nothing.
You were about to make a crack about telling him to keep away from here.
What was it?
It was just that once I was a little jealous.
Cal brought his paintings in for Josie to criticize
and she admired his work. That's all.
Yeah? When a man's jealous, he usually has some reason.
Josephine was so much to me.
But when this boy seemed so crazy about her,
of course it was nothing to her.
No, she thought more of me than you, R.E.
Cal!
You! She was a woman and you were a little boy.
I'm old enough to know what love is.
And I loved her a lot more than you ever did, you eel.
You don't say.
He doesn't know what he's saying, Lieutenant. He's all mixed up.
Yeah, he's mixed up all right.
Maybe he don't know what he's saying, but I do.
I'm beginning to see what happens.
Oh no, Lieutenant, you're wrong.
This mysterious stranger, Grayson, what do you look like?
I...I don't know. I didn't see enough of him.
You choked her yourself, didn't you?
Well, answer me.
Don't let him bully you, Cal. I was with him, Lieutenant.
Now keep out of this.
You admitted you loved the woman, Grayson.
You told her, didn't you?
And she was still in love with her husband.
She wouldn't have anything to do with you.
She sent you packing.
Oh, you got mad and grabbed her by the throat.
No! No, it wasn't like that at all.
He was with me, Lieutenant. How many times...
Keep still.
But this boy is not a murderer, Officer.
He is an artist, a sensitive, emotional...
Emotional enough to get crazy mad, yeah.
But it is not in an artist to destroy.
An artist creates things, beautiful things.
Save it.
Artists go crazy quicker than anybody.
Come on, genius.
The phone...
Never mind, I'll get it.
Hello?
Yeah, this is Kamik.
Huh?
What?
You're kidding.
You're sure, huh?
And I guess that louses things up good for me, Joe.
I thought I had this one on a platter.
So long.
Anybody who gets on the Homicide Squad should have his head examined, of all...
There is something wrong, Officer?
Wrong?
We just got the medical examiner's report on the body.
What about it?
She wasn't strangled to death.
What?
No sign of choking at all.
Her heart?
Yes, she has...
Yeah, it was her heart, all right.
She died from an overdose of Digitalin.
Enough to kill a healthy horse.
She was poisoned.
Josephine Wales poisoned, but I thought, well, we'll find out who poisoned her and why in the second act.
Meanwhile...
And now the second act of murder is an odd.
Lieutenant Kamek, baffled by the medical examiner's report, is questioning the dead woman's husband.
Now Wales, I want to look over the whole layout here.
You are welcome to look, but I've been trying to tell you, Lieutenant, my wife was taking Digitalin.
It was prescribed...
Not the way she took it, it wasn't prescribed.
The doctor says there wasn't enough in those tablets of hers to...
Her heart was very weak. Perhaps the doctor did not realize...
He realizes the way she was loaded with her stuff.
Is this the room where she worked?
Yes. These are her things, her brushes.
What's this stuff here?
Opaques, paints for retouching my pictures.
Okay. Where do you work?
Here, my cameras, my desk.
Yeah. Look, you think your wife was leading this boy, Cal, on?
But no, he is only a boy.
Well, he says he was in love with her.
He's a little fool. Josephine, she liked to encourage all young painters.
What are you doing? Those are my...
Yeah, I know, I know, your letters.
But they are personal. You have no right to go through my desk. I demand...
Now, don't get excited.
Who's Taffy?
Give me those letters. They have nothing to do with this.
I said, who's Taffy?
Well, only a girl, a model.
Your wife know about her?
Give me those letters. They have no concern to you.
Oh? I'd like to talk to this Taffy. Maybe she knows something about Digitalin.
Digitalin is a medicine, a prescription.
And in this case, a prescription for death.
Spradley, what do you know about Taffy Landon?
Taffy Landon? Who's she?
You are making a mistake, Hermit.
She came here once in a while, Lieutenant, when Josie wasn't here.
She was in love with Henri.
But my protégés...
Yeah, those letters showed that.
The letter... She was a friend.
Yeah, I could tell that. And what a friend.
But that is over. I sent her away. You can ask her.
Don't worry, I will.
But what does all this have to do with Josie?
It is a mistake.
Hi, Taffy.
Well, quite a party. No welcome, Henri?
There's no time for welcome, sister.
What's this between you and Wales?
Why, has Josie tried to make some trouble?
Josie's dead, Taffy. Murdered.
Oh, but I can't believe that.
Oh, well, it's true anyway.
Now, what was the deal between you and Wales?
Why, he promised to marry me as soon as...
No! Taffy, for the love of heaven.
It was only a flirtation, Lieutenant.
Henri, you promised you'd marry me as soon as you could get rid of...
I mean, divorce her. You know you did.
Well, and just about does it.
You had to get rid of your wife so you could marry this girl.
It isn't true. I love my wife.
Taffy was only one of my mothers.
Those letters don't read that way.
But I can't prove...
You'll have plenty of time to prove things, Wales.
I'm taking you into the station right now.
It's awfully nice of you to bring me home, Lieutenant.
Oh, it's a pleasure.
You were pretty crazy about Wales, huh?
Well, he was sweet.
Isn't there any chance that he'll get off?
I can't tell what a jury will do.
Maybe you'll get him back.
Be your age, Lieutenant.
Henri wouldn't ever marry me.
He isn't that kind.
He doesn't take love seriously.
Oh, here's my house.
Just a minute.
You mean, you don't think he'd have married you if he hadn't got caught?
I don't think he'd ever marry anybody again.
He's not the marrying kind.
But his motive for murder, you're it.
Don't be silly, Lieutenant.
He didn't need to kill his wife to see me whenever he wanted to.
And he was tired of me anyway.
He'd been standing me up on dates.
But if that's so, I've got the wrong guy.
I wouldn't know.
I'm just a gal trying to get along in the world.
Well, good night.
Where's Wales, Miss Bradley?
How should I know?
In jail, I suppose.
They've let him out on bail.
You haven't seen him, have you?
Of course not. Why?
Somebody just took a wild shot at Haffey Landon.
She's killed?
No, just scared.
Why would he do that?
He saw that the girl's story about him promising to marry her
wasn't going to do him any good.
But why would he shoot at her?
To scare her so she couldn't testify in court.
But I can't believe that, Lieutenant.
I'll bet...
Yeah, what?
I'll bet she fired a shot herself and then called the police.
Don't you see? To throw suspicion away from her.
Suspicion? Who's suspecting her?
Why, look, Henry Wales told Taffy he'd marry her
if he could get his wife out of the way.
Is Taffy a motive for the murder?
Yeah, maybe it does, at that.
She had the only motive that makes sense.
Maybe you're right.
It's worth talking to her anyway.
So long.
Goodbye, Lieutenant. Good luck.
Why, Kell?
You in the dark room?
What were you doing there?
Hiding.
What for?
To hear what was going on.
Then you know that Taffy pulled a fake shooting
to throw suspicion on somebody else.
Lieutenant Kamik has just...
You fired that shot, Cynthia.
I?
Kell, don't be silly.
I'm not being silly.
I'm just getting smart, Cynthia.
I spilled a bottle of Josie's Opaque
when I was snooping around here, too.
What's that got to do with...
Plenty.
There was something funny about that paint.
I could smell it.
Your imagination's getting the best of you.
That paint had Digitalin mixed with it.
A lot of it. Every bottle.
Oh, you must be mistaken. Where's...
No! You won't get to destroy it, Cynthia.
I've hidden it.
But I don't see...
Josie always moistened the ends of her paint brushes
with her lips and tongue.
Henri talked to her about it, not being sanitary.
So had I.
She just laughed at us.
We all talked about it.
And the paint on those brushes was loaded with Digitalin.
Every time she licked a paintbrush,
she got more Digitalin.
The poison was cumulated.
Where are those bottles of Opaque?
Cynthia, put down that gun.
Where are they? Tell me before...
So you did kill Josie.
Yes. And I'll get away with it too.
Once you're out of the way,
you might get them suspecting me with your story.
They don't even consider me now.
But you could have let me take the blame in the first place.
I thought I had killed her. I often...
Oh, you poor dope.
I knew I could handle you any way I wanted.
But I needed to pose as your girlfriend, the loyal standby,
so they wouldn't suspect me.
And Taffy was to be the real fall guy.
It's working out that way too.
Get her out of the way.
Taffy? Out of the way of what?
You were so crazy about Josie, you couldn't see anything.
Henri and I have been in love for months.
But Taffy, she...
Sure. That's why everybody will think Taffy's guilty.
She's just a gold digger.
Henri doesn't really give two hoots for her.
But he'll marry me.
He knows I'm serious.
So that's why you killed Josie.
From the way she talked to you, I knew she'd never divorce him.
And I started poisoning her months ago,
when the doctor began giving her digitalin.
Medicine, a little of it.
But too much of it was death.
All she needed was a little shock to make her heart...
When I tried, when I got mad at her, I was...
Sure. It was too much for a heart.
You see, Cal, you really did kill her.
No.
I could even tell them I killed you.
I'll tell them it's self-defense.
Doesn't get Taffy out of the picture, but I can take care of her.
You couldn't get away with it.
I'll tell them I found out about the digitalin in the pink bottles.
That I accused you, and you tried to kill me.
You killed her because she wouldn't have anything to do with you.
Oh, I'll make the story stick. Don't worry.
And then I'll have Henri just as I planned.
Cynthia.
Stand back. No Superman stuff. I'm a good shot.
Cal, I'm warning you.
Quit scratching.
I'm going to get that gun if...
No, no. Get your fingers out of my eyes.
I... I...
So, you thought you would get the gun if you could knock it out of my hand with that chair, did you?
Well, you're not good enough. And this time...
Cynthia.
Drop the gun, Miss Bradley.
No, I've caught your murder before you'll attend it.
I figured it all out and he...
Save it, Miss Bradley. I heard the whole thing.
You... You what?
People don't think of a cop being an artist, but my sneaking a dictograph in here...
Well, that was kind of a work of art, if I do say so.
Give me the gun, Miss Bradley.
Well, I...
All right.
Yeah, you may have been all right at retouching photographs.
But when you start trying to change human lives,
you ain't that much of an artist.