- 4 months ago
Inner Sanctum Mystery, also known as Inner Sanctum, is a popular old-time radio program that aired from January 7, 1941, to October 5, 1952.
Category
😹
FunTranscript
00:00Good evening, you on the other side of the creaking door.
00:13This is your host to welcome you into the inner tank.
00:19Well, you may as well relax.
00:21Wipe the perspiration off your brow and listen.
00:25As the lads who dumped their victim into his own icebox remarks,
00:28we'll chill you.
00:35Tonight's inner sanctum mystery, Death Rides a Riptide,
00:39was written by Lou Vitus and stars Arlene Blackburn in the role of Carol
00:43with Lawson Zerbe as John.
00:48Tonight, we're featuring a jovial little item about a girl named Carol Thane.
00:54She married a man whose first wife had been drowned.
00:57After a little while, she discovered that she herself was in hot water over her head.
01:04It's the night that John Vane has brought his new bride home,
01:08home to the cliff house above the ocean.
01:12Well, Carol?
01:14The cliff house is very beautiful, John.
01:17Yes, it is. A bit lonely, perhaps.
01:18I could never be lonely with you.
01:21Oh, darling.
01:22Let's go in.
01:23All right, dear.
01:27Hmm. A bit musty.
01:29We'll get the place aired, though, first thing in the morning.
01:31How does it get this way after they've been shut up for a while?
01:33Of course they do.
01:34Oh, the place hasn't been open since...
01:37since...
01:37Since Margaret died, John?
01:41Yes.
01:42John, you mustn't be self-conscious about it.
01:45Well, it wasn't very tactful, my mentioning her.
01:48John, I love you.
01:49Tact doesn't belong.
01:51I'm sorry.
01:53Darling, the hour's late and your husband's...
01:55John!
01:56It's all right.
01:57There's someone with a very bad sense of humor.
01:59Throwing stones.
02:00That wasn't supposed to be funny.
02:03John, you've got the stone.
02:04Yes.
02:04There's something wrapped around it.
02:05Paper.
02:06Let me see it.
02:06No, no, I wouldn't...
02:07Please, John.
02:08Well, I don't imagine I could keep it from you indefinitely.
02:11Keep what from me?
02:13Here's the stone.
02:15Oh, the paper.
02:17It's a note addressed to me, John.
02:19It would be.
02:20It says,
02:21To the new Mrs. Vane.
02:24If you listen carefully,
02:26you can hear the waves beating against the cliff.
02:28The waves in which the first Mrs. Vane died.
02:33Did she fall?
02:35Or was she pushed?
02:38Listen.
02:40It...
02:41It isn't signed, John.
02:43No.
02:45You can hear the waves.
02:48Oh, I'm sorry.
02:50That's silly.
02:51The note was so nasty.
02:53You're not to pay any attention to things like that note.
02:56You're not to pay any attention.
02:57I won't, John.
02:57I won't.
02:59Can we go to sleep now?
03:01Of course.
03:02It's true that Margaret was wrong,
03:04but it was an accident, wasn't it?
03:08Wasn't it, John?
03:17John fell asleep after a while,
03:19and the waves kept pounding against the rocks.
03:23I remembered having heard how badly she'd been bruised by the rocks.
03:28I remembered seeing her and John in the village
03:30and how beautiful she'd been
03:32and how I'd envied her.
03:34And now, now after the waves and the rocks,
03:40she didn't care anymore.
03:42And before I could fall asleep,
03:45I envied her even now.
03:48Well, that was a very fine dinner, darling.
03:56John.
03:57Yes?
03:58Exactly how did...
04:00did Margaret die?
04:01Carol, there's no point...
04:02I want to know.
04:04She was drowned.
04:06She was a good swimmer.
04:07Even good swimmers get drowned.
04:09What happened, John?
04:11I think you'd be wiser if you'd forget about Mark.
04:13All right.
04:16There's a beach below Cliff House.
04:19It's there at low tide only.
04:21A beach and a ledge.
04:24Nice place to swim from, the ledge.
04:26At low tide.
04:28But when the tide comes in,
04:29beach and ledge are covered.
04:31The tide's strong then,
04:32and there are rocks around.
04:35Margaret got caught by high tide.
04:38That's all.
04:39You mean she stayed down below on the ledge
04:41longer than she should have?
04:43That's right.
04:45And...
04:45And that's all, John?
04:48What else should there be?
04:50I don't know.
04:52It's low tide now, isn't it?
04:55Yes.
04:56I'd like to look at that ledge.
04:59Why?
05:00Oh, because I'm silly.
05:02Because I'm a fool, but...
05:04John, I want to look at that ledge.
05:11There are steps bleeding down, aren't there?
05:15Yes, I had them built some years ago.
05:17Carol, we should go back to the house.
05:19This business is idiotic, morbid.
05:20But we're at the ledge now.
05:22The tide down, the ledge is broad and safe, isn't it?
05:26It is.
05:27At high tide, I suppose it would be covered.
05:29Yes.
05:31Cracks in the ledge.
05:32Seaweed caught in the cracks.
05:34From the time the ledge is covered by the water, I guess.
05:37And...
05:39And...
05:40What is it?
05:42This...
05:43Was wedged in one of the cracks.
05:45This?
05:46Oh.
05:48Yes, John.
05:49It's part of a heel.
05:51A woman's high heel.
05:53So it is.
05:55Oh, the...
05:56The tide's rising.
05:57Let's go up.
05:59All right.
06:01Part of a woman's high heel.
06:04Caught in one of the cracks.
06:06John.
06:07Yes?
06:08Could it be from Marvichu?
06:10I couldn't tell.
06:11Throw it away, or...
06:12Or better yet, give it to me.
06:14Yes, of course.
06:14Here.
06:17John.
06:19A woman was going swimming.
06:22She...
06:22She wouldn't have been wearing high heels.
06:30We didn't speak on the way back from the ledge.
06:33And once back at the house, John sounded stuffy or something, I suppose.
06:38He muttered at me and went out into the night.
06:41The night that had become so suddenly...
06:44Of so intense a darkness.
06:45I...
06:46I...
06:46I...
06:47I...
06:47John?
06:51Oh, wait.
06:52Wait, I'm coming.
06:53Who...
06:54Who is he?
06:56You...
06:57You startled me, my dear.
06:59Sitting there in the doorway.
07:00You know, for a moment I thought you were my niece.
07:03Your niece?
07:04Yes.
07:05You're not, of course.
07:06My niece is dead.
07:08Who are you?
07:09Jeremy Mangan, my dear.
07:12Mangan?
07:13Mangan?
07:14Your predecessor, my dear, was named Margaret Mangan.
07:18Her...
07:18Her father?
07:20Uncle.
07:21May I come in?
07:23You're an elderly gentleman like myself.
07:24The night is cold.
07:26It's cold for me, too.
07:29Come in.
07:34Where is dear John?
07:36He's out.
07:37Oh, it's too bad.
07:40I did want to see him.
07:41What about?
07:43Money.
07:44I hope I don't shock you by my frankness.
07:47He owes you money?
07:49No, but...
07:50I think he'll give me some.
07:52Why?
07:54You're a prying little creature, aren't you?
07:57Why do you think John will give you money?
07:59My dear, I intend to sell John a letter.
08:03Sell him a letter?
08:04A letter written to me by my dearly beloved niece.
08:08And Margaret.
08:09But why should John want to buy it?
08:11Let me read you a bit of it.
08:12Shall I?
08:14All right.
08:15She says in the letter, among other things...
08:19Ah, yes.
08:21Uncle.
08:23Come for me.
08:24At once.
08:25I must get away from Clef House.
08:28Because if I don't, I'm going to die.
08:30I'm afraid.
08:32Please don't think I'm making this up, but...
08:35I'm going to die.
08:37I'm going to be killed.
08:41Well, I rather think that's enough, don't you?
08:43Why didn't you come in answer to a letter?
08:46She sent the letter out two months ago.
08:48Two months ago, I happened to be detained elsewhere.
08:51To be precise, I was momentarily in jail.
08:55I didn't get the letter which had been sent to my lodgings until this week.
09:00Tragic, hmm?
09:02John has nothing to be afraid of, whatever the letter says.
09:05My dear, I never suggested the ad.
09:08But I still feel he'll buy my letter from me.
09:12For old time's sake.
09:14How much?
09:16A couple of thousand will be enough.
09:18I'm not a grasping man.
09:21If you saw John, spoke to him as you've spoken to me, he'd kill you.
09:27A habit of his?
09:29I'll get you the two thousand.
09:31Give me the letter.
09:32I'd be, my dear.
09:34Not to try to trust you.
09:36Well, then.
09:37I'll be at the hotel in the village.
09:40Shall we say tomorrow afternoon?
09:43Tomorrow afternoon.
09:45Good night, my dear.
09:46Oh, it, uh, it occurs to me, am I likely to run into John?
09:53I don't know where he is.
09:55Hmm.
09:56Oh, well.
09:57Tonight is dark.
09:59Oh, dear, sir, man.
10:00I did mention cash, didn't I?
10:04But, uh...
10:06This is my soul.
10:19You've stuck with me.
10:20Standing there at the edge of the cliff, I...
10:23Here, be careful.
10:24I'm on that.
10:26Please, Tim, I won't go over the cliff.
10:29No.
10:30No.
10:31No.
10:31No.
10:31No.
10:32No.
10:32No.
10:32No.
10:32No.
10:32No.
10:32No.
10:32No.
10:32No.
10:32No.
10:32No.
10:32No.
10:32No.
10:32No.
10:33No.
10:34No.
10:34No.
10:35No.
10:35No.
10:36Well, here we are, back again with Carol Fane, who married John Fane after his first
10:50wife had been drowned.
10:52Officially, it was an accident, but a lot of people feel that John believed in the old saying,
10:57cast your dead upon the water.
10:59At any rate, late one night, the drowned woman's uncle, a man named Mangan, visited Carol.
11:07He had a letter from the first Mrs. Fane, in which she wrote of her impending murder.
11:13Carol agreed to meet Mr. Mangan the next afternoon with some money.
11:17But long before then, somebody heaved Mr. Mangan over the edge of a cliff.
11:21Maybe for exercise?
11:22At any rate, it's the next morning, at breakfast.
11:27Carol?
11:28Carol?
11:28Carol?
11:28Carol?
11:28Carol?
11:28Carol?
11:28Yes, John?
11:29You're upset about something.
11:31No, I'm not.
11:32Not really.
11:33John, when you went out last night, where did you go?
11:39For a walk.
11:40Why?
11:40Nothing.
11:41What's in the paper this morning?
11:44Oh, same old stuff.
11:45International crises.
11:47Hmm.
11:49John?
11:51Look at something else.
11:53Mangan, Margaret's uncle, Carol.
11:55Yes?
11:56What about him?
11:57It seems he fell off a cliff last night.
11:58Oh, John.
11:59He was wandering about in the dark.
12:01Was it near here?
12:03Oddly enough, yes.
12:05And they found his body this morning.
12:07John, did you...
12:09Did you see him last night?
12:10No, I haven't seen him for months.
12:12Why do you suppose he came here?
12:13I have no idea.
12:14But...
12:15Where is he now?
12:16Probably at the morgue.
12:17What they call the morgue.
12:19Penny's drugstore in the village.
12:20I...
12:20I think we should go down there.
12:22Why?
12:23Because you knew him.
12:24He was your wife's uncle.
12:25I never liked him.
12:26Still, it would look better.
12:28Carol, what are you thinking?
12:30How his death...
12:32His...
12:33Accidental death...
12:35Fits.
12:40He was lying on a table in the back of Penny's drugstore.
12:43The fall hadn't marked him much.
12:46Nobody had gone through his things yet.
12:47So while Penny and John and I stayed at the dead body, I...
12:50I danced.
12:51Carol.
12:52Oh, I feel faint.
12:53Huh?
12:54Mr. Penny.
12:55Could you get me something?
12:56Of course, Mom.
12:57Be back in a minute.
13:00Oh.
13:01Oh, John.
13:02Oh, I just remembered.
13:03Tell Mr. Penny not to get ammonia.
13:05I...
13:05I can't take it.
13:07But...
13:07Well, all right.
13:08Mr. Penny, can you please be sure to get something?
13:10I love my husband.
13:12So I went over to where the dead body lay.
13:14And put my hands in his pocket.
13:15And I found the letter.
13:18Carol, he fixed something.
13:20Here.
13:21Oh.
13:22Thanks, John.
13:24Your wife.
13:26Shaking.
13:27Maybe this stuff will help.
13:30Feel any better?
13:31A little.
13:33If we can leave now.
13:34Of course.
13:37Carol.
13:39Yes?
13:39What did you take from Mangan's dead body?
13:46I told him nothing.
13:49I lied.
13:50Later that evening, he went upstairs.
13:53There was a fire burning in the fireplace.
13:54And I threw the letter in.
13:56Carol, I...
13:57What's that?
13:58What?
13:58In the fireplace.
13:59That paper.
14:00It's nothing.
14:00Just wait.
14:01I think I'll take a look at it before it turns.
14:02John, please don't.
14:03Carol, let's go.
14:04No.
14:04John, I love you.
14:05I don't care.
14:05Carol, I want to get that paper.
14:06I don't want to hurt you.
14:07I want to get it.
14:08What?
14:09Doctor.
14:10What?
14:10It didn't all burn, John.
14:12All but a tiny piece.
14:14A tiny piece of paper.
14:16The end of a letter.
14:19Signed, Margaret.
14:21A letter from my wife.
14:22My dead wife.
14:23I...
14:24I didn't want you to see it.
14:25Why?
14:26Because...
14:27Because in it, she wrote silly things.
14:29What kind of silly things?
14:30I...
14:30I don't remember, John.
14:31You got the letter from Mangan after he was dead.
14:34How did you know he had the letter to her?
14:36I...
14:37I didn't know.
14:38You got rid of Fennie and me so you could get at Mangan.
14:42Carol, how did you know Mangan had a letter from my...
14:47From Margaret?
14:48He told me.
14:50Then he was here before he fell.
14:52Yes, John.
14:53Did he tell you what was in the letter?
14:55No.
14:55Did you read the letter before you burned?
14:56No.
14:57Then why did you burn it?
14:57Because...
14:58Oh, because I was jealous.
15:00I still am.
15:01I have everything to do with Margaret.
15:02You loved her before you loved me.
15:04You're telling me the truth, Carol.
15:05Why should I lie about it, John?
15:06Why?
15:12It wasn't very good after that.
15:16John took to staying away from home.
15:18I saw very little of him.
15:21We avoided each other.
15:23Each of us for reasons we didn't dare speak of.
15:26It wasn't very good there in the cliff house above the ocean.
15:31The ocean where Margaret Vane had died.
15:34And where Mangan had fallen to his death.
15:38I might have gone away.
15:40That would have been the safest thing of all for me, but...
15:43But I loved John.
15:45I hoped.
15:47And in hoping, I was betrayed.
15:51John?
15:52Yes, my beloved John.
15:53Oh, I'm glad you're home, even though...
15:55Even though the hour is too late to be respectable?
15:57Oh, I don't care.
15:59There's a lot you don't care about, isn't there?
16:01I don't know what...
16:02You put on quite an act, don't you?
16:04About not knowing.
16:06But you do know, don't you?
16:08I do know what?
16:09That my wife, excuse me, my first wife, was murdered.
16:14John.
16:14Yes, it's out now.
16:16It's been said now.
16:18Margaret was murdered.
16:19They don't have to whisper about it in the village anymore.
16:21I'll shout it out.
16:21I won't listen.
16:22You think that'll make it right, huh?
16:24It won't, my love.
16:25Because you see the fishing boat Evangeline is back.
16:28Fishing boat?
16:29It's been away for three months.
16:31The men on board didn't know about Margaret's death.
16:34They know now.
16:35And a couple of them remember something.
16:37What do they remember?
16:38Seeing Margaret on the ledge just before the tide turned.
16:41But it's...
16:42The trouble is, they're prepared to swear that Margaret wasn't alone.
16:46John, that doesn't have to mean anything.
16:50Look at me, John.
16:52It doesn't mean anything.
16:53Carol, what was in that letter you burned?
16:55I didn't read it.
16:56John, you're hurting me.
16:57What was in that letter you burned?
16:59Oh, let me go.
17:00I'll tell you.
17:02Margaret was afraid...
17:04Was afraid she was going to be murdered.
17:06Yes.
17:06I rather thought so.
17:09That was why Mangan had to die.
17:11John, I'm leaving.
17:11No, you're staying.
17:12Here, with me.
17:14You're the only wife I have left now.
17:16You're insane.
17:16Am I?
17:17That's a thought.
17:17Hadn't occurred to me before.
17:18I'll think about it.
17:19I won't stay.
17:19Why not?
17:20I...
17:20I'm afraid.
17:22Are you?
17:23Stay away from my death.
17:23No.
17:24You keep a gun here.
17:26Yes, I have it now.
17:27You wouldn't shoot me.
17:29You love me.
17:32I do, John.
17:33But it's no good anymore.
17:36I'm going away.
17:37You're mistaken.
17:38Don't come any closer to me.
17:39You're not going away.
17:41You're never going away, Carol.
17:43John, if you take another step, I'll...
17:46I'll...
17:47You're what, my precious?
17:50Oh!
17:52Oh!
17:53You...
17:54You did shoot after all.
17:58Somehow.
17:59I didn't think you would.
18:01I...
18:02I told you not to come any closer to me.
18:05I underestimated you.
18:07I've always underestimated you.
18:10But, Carol...
18:12When I die...
18:14And I am going to die...
18:16What will you tell the police?
18:20What I have to tell them...
18:22That I shot you in self-defense.
18:24Yes.
18:25Yes, of course.
18:26That would be your line.
18:29Not a bad one.
18:31It might have worked...
18:32It's the truth.
18:33Of course it is.
18:34But, Carol...
18:35Defending yourself against a murder judge...
18:37Isn't considered good motive for acquittal.
18:40What do you mean?
18:41I would have brought Mangan off...
18:43Because I was in love with you.
18:45Even though I knew...
18:46But Mangan was murdered anyway.
18:49By you.
18:50Very consistent story.
18:52But, Carol...
18:54You remember that shoe heel?
18:56Yes.
18:58High heel.
19:00Woman shoe.
19:02You know where it is now?
19:04No.
19:06On...
19:06On the leg.
19:08Down below.
19:09Down below.
19:09In the crack where it was before.
19:12And the police are going to examine that leg once again.
19:16Now they've heard the story of the fishing boat people.
19:19It has nothing to do with me.
19:20Carol.
19:22Margaret never wore high heels.
19:26Never.
19:27Something wrong with her feet.
19:29So the heel has to be...
19:33To be yours.
19:34To be yours.
19:36What?
19:37My beloved.
19:40Murdering.
19:41Oh.
19:42Oh.
19:42Oh.
19:43John.
19:45John.
19:46Dead.
19:48Dead.
19:50Dead as Mangan.
19:52Dead as Margaret.
19:54And I...
19:56I...
19:57There was the ledge and the broken heel in the crack.
20:01A little item of unfinished business that I had to finish.
20:04Mangan was dead and the letter burned.
20:06I was safe there.
20:08John was dead and his knowledge dead with him.
20:10I was safe there.
20:12The men on the fishing boat hadn't seen the second figure on the ledge
20:15keenly enough to identify how it was safe there.
20:18There remained only the heel broken off one of my shoes when I hit Margaret.
20:22And I'd get it before the police did.
20:24And I'd be safe there.
20:26The tide's coming in.
20:28The ledge is still above water.
20:30The ledge where my heel had been.
20:32But the heel...
20:33The heel wasn't there.
20:35Maybe I mistook the place.
20:36The ledge's broad.
20:38I began to hunt over it.
20:40There isn't too much time.
20:42The tide's coming in.
20:43The red tide that had bedded Margaret against the rocks.
20:46The heel was down there from the place and I had to find it.
20:49To find it, my goodness.
20:52And the waves began flinging over the ledge.
20:55The waves began flinging over the surface.
20:57And the shoe heel that would hang me.
20:59That would hang me wasn't there.
21:02But now they're lying.
21:04Son of life.
21:06The heel was mornin' at all.
21:08Then the fun.
21:09The case.
21:10Run.
21:11The way is behind.
21:13The way is covered with water.
21:15I can't do it.
21:16The heel.
21:17The heel.
21:18The heel.
21:19The heel.
21:20Well, there went Carol Vane.
21:37Fundamentally a nice girl with a slight character defect.
21:42She killed people.
21:44Of course, her reasons were the finest.
21:45She only wanted to get married.
21:47Unfortunately, she'd never learned the old proverb.
21:51As you make your dead, so you must lie about it.
21:56She tried, but she was tripped by a heel.
22:03Incidentally, if you happen to be out fishing one of these fine evenings,
22:07and the tide's going out, say hello to Carol.
22:17We invite you to join us again next week at this time for Inner Sanctum.
22:26This is the United States Armed Forces Radio Service,
22:29the voice of information and education.
22:31The United States Armed Forces Radio Service,
23:01The United States Armed Forces Radio Service,
23:31The United States Armed Forces Radio Service,
Be the first to comment