The Strange Dr. Weird
Good evening. Come in, won't you?
Why, what's the matter? Surely you're not nervous. You are?
Then perhaps a story might help calm you.
I think I know just the one. It's about a cat, among other things.
That's why I call the story, The Tiger Cat.
My story, The Tiger Cat, begins in a little homemade laboratory in a great, gloomy old house in the suburbs.
Young Professor Carl Emory is bending over a cage containing a huge rabbit when the laboratory door opens.
Carl, have you seen Ronna, Madam Elk's cat? She's disappeared and Madam Elk is worried.
Oh, it's you, Laura. No, I haven't seen Ronna.
Carl, how are your experiments coming? I get so little chance to see you to ask you about that.
I'm getting close, Laura. Look in this cage. That's a rabbit.
Why, it's as big as a dog.
It weighs 40 pounds and it's still growing. My vitamin injections have done that.
Then your growth serum is a success.
No, not quite. But I will succeed yet. If I can keep my experiments a secret from Madam Elsa,
if she knew what I was doing, she'd throw me out of the house.
Oh, that crazy idea of hers. When people die, their cells go into animals. It's insane.
It's the old gauge old theory of reincarnation, but she believes it absolutely.
Then she mustn't find out, that's all. Because once your growth serum is perfected...
...you'll revolutionize farming. Rabbits as big as horses, chickens as big as ostriches.
Why, think how the world's food supply will be increased and I'll be famous, rich.
Then we can admit we're married.
Oh, Carl, it's so hard pretending to Madam Elsa that I'm just a maid.
That I have no interest in you, her brilliant protege.
I know, darling. And it may take months, even years, before my experiments are finished.
I know she's left me this house and some money and her will.
All our problems would be solved if she'd only die.
So that's how you repay my generosity, is it, Carl? By wishing me dead.
Madam Elsa?
Yes, Carl. I came in looking for Anna.
So you've been deceiving me all these months.
Madam Elsa, listen.
Get out of this house at once, do you hear? Both of you. Leave this instant.
But my animals, my experiments...
Get out! You disobeyed me.
Nothing here is yours. I paid for it all. So get out! Get out! Get out!
Stop your laugh.
My medicine...
He's having a heart attack. Carl, get her medicine. Get her to her room.
No, I won't do it.
But Carl, she'll die unless you do.
Yes, she must die.
To solve our problems is the perfect answer.
But let it out gently.
All right, Carl. My medicine.
You're trying to kill me. Your murderers. Both of you.
Another few seconds and it'll be all over.
Yes, yes, but you won't escape. You hear? I'll return. I'll return.
And...
Carl, she's dead.
And all our problems are solved.
What's that?
That's Rana, her cat. She's been hiding in the cupboard there.
She knows we killed Madam Elsa.
Nonsense. She's nothing.
Oh, so that's it.
What, Carl?
Why, the stalker just visited Rana. She's just given birth to a kitten.
That's a peculiar coincidence, isn't it? Madam Elsa dies just as Rana's kitten is born.
Our story will continue in a moment.
At this part of the program, I generally have a little talk with Dr. Weird.
But tonight, I'd like to speak with you men.
1944 is over.
45 is here.
Even though the sixth war loan drive has ended, your first New Year's resolution should be to keep buying bonds.
After that, one of the best resolutions for any man is to decide to improve his personal appearance.
Many men are keeping that resolution by getting a new Adam hat.
An Adam just naturally does something for a man, because its style is as up to the minute as one minute after New Year's.
And quality. Mister, there's no beating the quality of an Adam with its genuine, all-fur-felt and careful workmanship.
Step into one of the thousands of Adam hat stores all over the nation and ask to see the famous Adam V, handsomely styled in the smartest shades,
expertly shaped to fit your head, and priced at only $5, the Adam V is truly a great hat value.
Others priced from $3.45 to $10.
But remember, no matter what the price, every Adam is right. This year for any year.
Now, Dr. Weir.
And now to complete my story, the Tiger Cat.
Carl and Laura were completely exonerated of responsibility for Madam Elsa's death.
And so he was able to continue his strange experiment, sun hampered, with Laura, his wife, assisting him.
Oh, Carl, every serum so far has been a failure.
The rabbits, the guinea pigs, they grow tremendously big and we think we've won.
Then...
Then suddenly they shrink back to their former size, as if to mock us.
But we will succeed. We must.
Oh, of course, Carl. I guess I'm just a little tired.
Oh, that kitten again. Why can't we get rid of it, Carl?
It's always behind me, always yowling like that, as if it's trying to startle me.
And now Laura.
Carl.
Madam Elsa believed that when she died, her soul would go into the body of some animal just being born.
And that kitten was born at the exact instant Madam Elsa died.
Suppose... suppose her soul is reincarnated.
Well, Laura, you mustn't be silly.
Look at her eyes. They're the same peculiar green Madam Elsa's were.
And her fur is the exact reddish-brown color of Madam Elsa's hair.
It can't be a coincidence.
Laura, you're being ridiculous.
If we didn't have to take good care of Rana the second by the terms of Madam Elsa's will,
I'd use her in one of my experiments.
But as we can't touch her, I'm going to get hold of another kitten, the same age to experiment on.
Then by comparing Rana's weight with the other kittens,
I'll know how much faster than normal my serum is making the other one grow.
No!
We must get rid of her. I have a feeling...
Laura, my decision is final.
Rana the second must not be harmed.
Laura, look.
It's only a month since I injected my serum into this kitten, and she's already twice as big as Rana.
I'm going to call it Tigress.
At the rate she's growing, she'll soon be one.
It's wonderful, Carl, but can't we get rid of Rana now? Please?
For heaven's sake, Laura, are you still harping on Rana?
Why, she's just a kitten, perfectly harmless.
I tell you, she sits and watches me as if she hated me.
As if she were just waiting for the right moment to be revenge on both of us.
See? She knows we're talking about her.
Laura, if your nerves don't improve soon, I'll have to send you to Bermuda for a rest.
Oh, I'm sorry, Carl. I'll try not to be upset.
That's better.
I'm going to give Tigress here another injection,
and I predict that in one more month Tigress will be bigger than any house cat ever seen before on this earth.
Carl finally had to do as he had threatened and send Laura to Bermuda to get over her nervousness.
Well, in her absence, he carried on his experiments alone
and was overjoyed to see the kitten he had named Tigress
gain in size at an astounding rate.
In fact, when Laura returned at the end of three months,
Carl had an astonishing sight to show off.
Now, Laura, now be prepared for a surprise when I turn on the light.
And you really succeeded at last, Carl.
Succeeded? Look, look there.
Carl, but that can't be Tigress.
Oh, you're playing a joke on me.
No, I'm not, Laura.
In that special cage is the kitten we named Tigress only four months ago.
Now she weighs 200 pounds and looks and sounds just as fierce as any wild tiger in the jungles of India.
I can't believe it.
Look, you see how small Rana looks standing there beside Tigress' cage?
Oh, she's trying to get out.
No, she's not. She's just playing with Rana.
She and Rana have become great friends.
Rana spends most of the time beside that cage.
I believe that they really talk together.
They are talking to each other.
And Carl, look.
Rana is pawing at the bolt that keeps the cage shut.
So she's trying to open it.
Oh, now Laura, Rana's just playing the way a cat will.
Why, I've seen her pawing at that bolt dozens of times.
But suppose she did slide it back and the cage came open.
Tigress could kill us both.
I tell you, Rana's just playing.
Carl, no.
Rana is trying to slide that bolt back.
Laura, am I going to have to send you away?
Carl, look. She's done it.
Rana's pushed the bolt back. Tigress' cage is unlocked.
Tigress is coming out.
Quick, grab a revolver in the library. Come on.
An instant later, Carl and Laura had slammed and locked the heavy door of the library
and outside it Tigress roared in baffled rage.
She's trying to get in. She's going to kill us.
Laura deliberately opened that cage so Tigress could kill us.
And her law.
I'll shoot her through the door. That'll drive her away.
Oh, you just made her more angry.
Oh, she's getting in. She's going to kill us.
Go.
No.
When Carl and Laura were found some hours later, they were quite dead.
Ripped to pieces by the strange tiger-like animal the police found in the room
killed by revolver bullets.
In fact, the only living creature anywhere about was a reddish brown kitten
with green eyes like Madam Elsa's.
She was calmly sitting beside Carl's body and purring to herself.
Have you been unkind to some cat lately?
You better be careful. There's no telling.
Oh, you're leaving?
Drop in again soon.
Just look for the house on the other side of the cemetery.
The house of Dr. Weir.