The Strange Dr. Weird.
Good evening.
Come in, won't you?
Well, what's the matter?
You seem a bit nervous.
Perhaps the cemetery outside this house has upset you.
But there are things far worse than cemeteries.
For instance, the feeling of being cut off from the world by an insanely jealous man.
As in the story I want to tell you tonight.
The story I call Beauty and the Beast.
My story begins in New England on a lonely desolate cliff overlooking the Atlantic Ocean.
Near the edge of the cliff, which towers 200 feet above the rocks below,
a young man stands, a mere shadow in the darkness of the night.
Time and time again, he impatiently turns to look for the light of the night.
He looks for the light of the night.
A mere shadow in the darkness of the night. Time and time again, he impatiently turns to look at the huge, foreboding old manor house,
which is perched near the cliff's edge.
Suddenly, out of the darkness, a beautiful girl appears and runs to his outstretched arms.
Kathy, darling, why are you so late?
I couldn't sleep out of the house any sooner, Alan. Jason was watching my every move.
Oh, Kathy, he's twice your age.
I know.
He's the ugliest man I've ever known. What ever made you marry him?
I don't know. After my father died, I was all alone. Jason kept after me to marry him.
Something in his eyes forced me to say yes. I was afraid to refuse.
Well, you're not going on living with him. I'm going to take you away.
Oh, Alan, you don't know what you're saying. I can't leave.
Why not?
If I were to run away, Jason would follow you and kill you. He'd kill you the way he killed...
The way he killed whom?
Well, you remember George Davis, don't you?
Of course, he was Jason's secretary.
Well, one evening, two weeks ago, Jason found me talking to George in the library,
a thing he'd forbidden me to do.
The next morning, Jason told me he discharged George and that he'd already left.
But then I discovered that all of George's clothes were still in his room.
His clothes were in his room?
Yes. Surely if he'd been discharged, he'd have taken them with him.
Then you think that...
I'm sure of it. He must have killed George that very night.
He'll kill anyone he thinks is trying to take me away from him.
Oh, darling, I couldn't stand to have anything happen to you.
Darling, nothing's going to happen to me, not to you.
I'm taking you away from here.
What time can you meet me here? Tomorrow night?
I think I can manage to slip away around nine o'clock.
All right, darling, nine o'clock it is.
Now you better return to the house before Jason misses you.
Catherine!
Jason!
Where were you, Catherine?
I was just out getting some fresh air.
You're lying. You slipped out to meet someone.
No, Jason, really. I... Oh, Jason! My arm! You're hurting me!
Who was it? Alan? Wanted Alan? Tell me, or I'll...
Take pardon, sir, but Sheriff Rogers is here to see you.
Very well, Charles. Show him in.
I'll do all the talking, Catherine.
Good evening, Mr. Winthrop, Mrs. Winthrop.
Sorry to intrude, but I must.
What can I do for you, Sheriff?
I understand you have a secretary, George Davis.
I did have. I discharged him two weeks ago.
Why are you so interested, Sheriff?
Because his body was washed ashore this afternoon, 20 miles down the coast.
Well?
There were deep gashes on the body as though it had fallen from a great height onto the rocks in the sea.
It may be suicide, and it may be murder.
You say it may be murder?
Yeah.
Surely you don't suspect I had anything to do with it, do you?
I don't know. There have been some mighty strange things happened around here.
Four months ago, Sam Arnold, your chauffeur, was murdered, and now...
Sam Arnold? Murdered?
You seem surprised, Mrs. Winthrop. Don't you know he was murdered?
I'm afraid she doesn't, Sheriff.
She's been ill for quite some time, so I kept the news from her.
Oh, then she doesn't know that Arnold was stabbed to death less than 100 yards from this house.
Oh, no, no. I thought he'd been discharged.
Who... who did it?
Well, we haven't found Sam's murder yet, Mrs. Winthrop.
Now we have another mystery on our hands, the death of George Davis.
Mr. Winthrop, I want you and your wife to be at the coroner's inquest in the village the day after tomorrow.
Quite a few questions we want to ask you about the deaths of both Sam Arnold and George Davis.
There's a lot more going on around here than meets the eye.
Dr. Weird's story will continue in a little while.
And now I'd like...
Young man, before you go on, remember where you are.
You know what happens on this program to people who aren't careful what they say.
Oh, uh, I'll be careful. I'm always careful.
Careful with my facts whenever I talk about Adam Hats.
You see, Adam Hats are so downright good-looking, I have to be careful about my enthusiasm.
And the makers of Adam Hats are careful, too.
Careful to see that every Adam is well-made.
Look at Emmy, Adam, and you can see for yourself the quality workmanship
that goes into the designing of Adam's smart styling, perfect fit, and correct details.
Care, too, is taken in the choice of material and color.
That's why only genuine all-fur felt in the newest shades is used in Adam Hats.
So if you're a careful dresser and a careful spender, choose an Adam.
Still priced at $345 to $10.
Still America's outstanding hat value.
Now, back to Dr. Weird.
And now I'll finish my story, Beauty and the Beast.
24 hours have passed, each one of which has been an eternity to Cathy.
Try as she would, she couldn't forget the deaths of Sam Arnold and George Davis.
One thing seemed perfectly clear to her.
Jason had murdered the two men in a jealous rage.
Mew would stop at nothing in his madness.
Her mind in a turmoil, Cathy waited tensely for nine o'clock and her meeting with Alan.
Catherine, why do you keep looking at the clock every other minute?
I'm not aware that I am.
Is it because you have some secret rendezvous with someone?
No, no, I haven't.
You're lying. Who are you going to meet? Tell me!
Oh, Jason, I...
Kill me! No one, no one!
You're lying. I ought to kill you.
Yes, kill me, get rid of me, so I can't testify tomorrow at the coroner's inquest.
What are you talking about?
You want to kill me because you're afraid of what I might tell them.
I know you killed Sam Arnold and George Davis.
Is that what you intend to tell them tomorrow?
Yes, you're nothing but a murderer!
Jason, Jason, don't look at me that way, Jason.
I'm not going to let you kill me.
Stay away from me, Jason. I won't let you kill me.
Put down that poker, Catherine. Put it down, I said.
No, if you come any closer, Jason, I'll use it.
Jason, don't, I'll use it!
I warned you, Jason. I warned you.
Oh, Cathy, Cathy, you mustn't cry.
You struck Jason in self-defense.
Oh, what are we going to do?
We're going through with the plans I've made.
I have two tickets and a plane for Mexico, and we're going tonight.
Catherine! Jason!
There you are.
You're not dead. I didn't kill you.
No, the blow you struck me only.
Ellen, what are you doing here?
I've come to take Cathy away, Jason.
Ellen, you don't know what you're saying.
I'm warning you, Jason. Don't try to stop me.
You don't understand, Ellen. She's a murderess. She killed two men.
What are you saying? I never killed anyone.
Ellen, I'm telling you the truth. She killed Sam Arland and George A. Davis.
You're lying! You're lying! I didn't!
How could she possibly kill two men and not know it?
Because she's insane.
Insane?
A homicidal maniac. There are times when she loses control of her mind,
and when she does, she kills.
And then she comes to, and has no memory of it, I suppose.
Yes, yes, that's it exactly.
Just a minute before she pushed George Davis off this very cliff we're standing on,
I heard her talking to him. Her voice was low, excited.
The voice of a homicidal maniac.
Before they could reach them, she'd pushed him off this cliff.
And then she fainted. And when she regained consciousness,
she had no memory of what had happened.
No, no, it isn't true, Alan. He's trying to blame me for murders.
He's committed.
Yes, I know, I know, dear. Your story's very clever, Jason.
It'd account rather nicely for the deaths of those two men, wouldn't it?
I'm telling you the truth, dear, here.
And I'm going to tell it to the coroner's jury tomorrow.
I've protected her as long as I can.
You're not going to tell the coroner's jury anything tomorrow.
Ellen, she's insane.
No.
She has to be exposed for both our sakes.
Ellen, let go of me!
You don't deserve to live trying to make Kathy pay for your crimes.
No, no, Alan, don't. You must listen to me.
Ellen, don't!
There was no other way out, Kathy.
It was insane, utterly insane, trying to make it appear that you murdered
Sam Arnold and George Davis when he did it himself.
What?
Alan, what is it? What's wrong?
I just remembered something.
When Sam Arnold was murdered four months ago,
Jason and I were on a hunting trip in Canada.
Why, we heard the news together over Jason's portable radio.
You mean Jason didn't kill Sam Arnold?
I know he couldn't have.
But if Jason didn't murder him, who?
Kathy.
Alan, why are you looking at me like that?
You don't think that I did it, do you?
Kathy, if Jason didn't do it, then what he said about you might have been true.
You believe that it is true, don't you?
I can see it in your eyes.
You do believe I murdered Sam Arnold and George Davis, don't you?
Kathy, your voice, it's different.
You do believe I murdered them, don't you?
Your voice is just the way Jason said it was before you pushed George Davis off the cliff.
It's true. You did kill him, didn't you?
Yes, yes, I did.
At times like this, I can remember.
I killed Sam Arnold with a knife.
And I pushed George Davis over the cliff.
Would you like to know how I did it, Alan?
Kathy, your voice, your eyes.
Kathy, what are you up to?
I pushed him off the cliff like this, Alan, like this.
Kathy, look out!
Alan, I'm slipping!
She's gone.
She was trying to kill me.
And she fell over herself.
She was the murderer.
And nobody dreamed of suspecting her because she was so beautiful.
Alan was right.
Nobody dreamed of suspecting Kathy because she was so beautiful.
But her husband, who was ugly, well, he was suspected right away.
You see how handy a pretty face can be?
Sometimes.
But there's an old saying, beauty is only skin deep.
So be careful about walking on cliff tops with lovely young women.
One of them might be another Kathy.
Oh, you have to go now.
Well, perhaps you'll drop in on me again soon.
Just look for the house on the other side of the cemetery.
The house of Dr. Weird.