- 17 hours 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. It was created by producer Himan Brown and was based on the imprint given to the mystery novels of Simon & Schuster.
Category
😹
FunTranscript
00:09Good evening friends, this is your host to welcome you through the creaking door into
00:16the inner sanctum.
00:17Come in, come in.
00:19Fell over a word this morning while cleaning the ghosts out of the attic.
00:24Longevity means living on and on without a stop.
00:27Now, just dug in for keys.
00:33A century-old uncle of mine is still around, a regular hearty old perennial, absolutely
00:38wild about outdoor living, spends all his time haunting the garden like a century plant.
00:45Yes, we water him twice a day.
00:50And I have a lad who hasn't grown a day older since her 85th birthday, just as if time had
00:56stopped for her.
00:57Confidentially, it did.
01:00And he died promptly at the stroke of 85.
01:12Tonight's inner sanctum mystery, Murder Comes to Life, was written by John Robert and stars
01:18Charles Irving in the role of John with Santos Ortega as Sorrowful.
01:26And now for our weekly Dizzy Spell.
01:30We're aboard a ship, the SS Monterey, entering San Francisco Harbor.
01:35A lone deckhand leans over the rail, brooding into the fog.
01:40He tenses suddenly, as if keying his ears and mind to a sound in the sea.
01:46John LeBlanc.
01:50John LeBlanc.
01:52The seaman shakes his head as if the name glances off him meaninglessly.
01:56He moves a hand across his face, as if removing mists that cloud his vision.
02:02As if desperately anxious to accept the identity, John LeBlanc has his own.
02:08John LeBlanc.
02:10Is it my name?
02:12A name I forgot long ago when I fell apart?
02:16And if it is my name, why can't I accept it and believe it?
02:20Why do I insist I'm someone else and run?
02:23John LeBlanc.
02:25Everywhere I've gone through the years, the names pursue me.
02:29Demanding that I stand my ground and face it.
02:31Everywhere.
02:32Lisbon, Bombay, Tripoli.
02:35And the last time.
02:37The last time in a bar.
02:39In an island port where forgotten men drift to forget.
02:44Hello.
02:45John LeBlanc.
02:47That name.
02:48Wherever I go, I hear it.
02:50Wherever I go, it whispers at me, shouts at me.
02:52It's driving me crazy.
02:53It's your name, mister.
02:56Running from it will get you nowhere.
02:58You're John LeBlanc.
03:00But I'm Belmar.
03:01My name is Belmar.
03:02You're John LeBlanc, San Francisco, USA.
03:06You've been shuttling from island to island on the bum with a man without a country.
03:10But you're John LeBlanc, San Francisco, USA.
03:14You're as sure as that?
03:16I ought to be.
03:18We've traveled around the world and back together.
03:21You a step ahead, slippery as an eel, and me on your tail.
03:24You've been following me, you say?
03:26Like grim dead.
03:28Why?
03:29Fifty thousand dollars.
03:32That's the price you'll fetch.
03:34Look.
03:35Look where we are.
03:36You've got to stop following me.
03:38Sure, I'll stop, LeBlanc.
03:39When you stop running.
03:41I'll make you stop if I have to kill you.
03:45A gun, huh?
03:47You greased lightning on the draw.
03:50A killer.
03:52You only had what it takes to pull the trigger.
03:55Go on.
03:57Try and pull the trigger.
04:04I can't.
04:05I can't, man.
04:07My fingers are numb.
04:09It's as if they were asleep.
04:11Yeller.
04:13When the chips are down, just as you've always been.
04:17Well, my fingers aren't numb.
04:20Here's proof.
04:22There was an iron bar crashing against my skull.
04:25A hole opened in the earth, and I plunged through it.
04:35I came to with the moon on my face and the wind in my ears.
04:41I was in an open field, in an abandoned quarry under a pile of rocks.
04:48It was like rising from the dead.
04:54A shadowy figure was standing over me.
04:57A sour little guy with a mournful look as if he made a habit of crying.
05:05I watched him remove the rocks covering me.
05:10One by one, tossed them into a pile.
05:15I'll have you out of there on a chippy.
05:18A rat gung you in the choir like you were allowed to chunk.
05:22How do you feel?
05:24Weak in my pins.
05:27As if I was just born.
05:30As if I've come back from the dead.
05:33I'm not kidding.
05:35You're about as dead as any guy could get.
05:37Who did it to me?
05:39I let you in on this much.
05:41It was a cop.
05:43A retired cop.
05:44A cop?
05:45Yeah.
05:46He said I was worth $50,000 to him.
05:50What did he mean?
05:51That's how much Jean LeBlanc is worth to a cop.
05:54Look, why don't you stop drifting from port to port and face up to yourself?
05:59Call yourself by your right name.
06:01But I'm Belmar.
06:04I'm known as Belmar.
06:06I ship as Belmar.
06:08Your mind's still in the rut.
06:10Well, it's like that where in the rut.
06:12We?
06:15We go together?
06:17Like ham and eggs.
06:19Maybe you want to know where you picked up the name Belmar?
06:22No.
06:23I'm going to tell you anyhow.
06:25See this tin can?
06:27Yes.
06:28You land out of Frisco on a ship that hauled a cog with these tin cans.
06:32Canned fruit.
06:33This one held apricots.
06:36Read the brand name.
06:39Belmar.
06:39Yeah.
06:40Belmar.
06:42Belmar fruits.
06:44Guy with your class has been trying to cram himself into an empty fruit can.
06:49I could bust right out crying.
06:53I mean so much to you.
06:56I just dug you out of that rock pile, didn't I?
06:59Well, so long for now.
07:01Wait, who are you?
07:03You didn't tell me.
07:04You used to call me Ben in the old days.
07:07When you were the big boss and I was your racket boy.
07:11Ben's a name.
07:13Sorrowful Ben.
07:17What?
07:17He was gone.
07:19I was alone with the wind.
07:23There was a battered tin can beside me.
07:27Wearing a label that read Belmar.
07:35I went back to the club I'd blanked out in.
07:38There were questions I wanted answered.
07:41Want something, mister?
07:43What?
07:44You?
07:45Yes, me.
07:47Surprised?
07:48You were killed in here last night.
07:52Sure.
07:53But here I am, my own ghost.
07:55Air and thin air.
07:58Reach out and feel.
08:00Go on, Popeye.
08:01Feel.
08:03But you were, you were deader than a doornail.
08:06Let's quit horsing around and get down to cases.
08:08Who gave me the business?
08:09Look, I don't want to get mixed up.
08:10I asked who gave me the business.
08:11Uh, Clamp, as far as I know.
08:14Calls himself Sanderson.
08:16Like you, a stranger on the island.
08:17And who pronounced me dead?
08:18Old Bailey.
08:19He says there's a sort of unofficial coroner here on the island.
08:22And how is it I ended up in a stone quarry?
08:24And how come the island police weren't notified of my, my murder?
08:28Nobody goes to the police on this island.
08:30Old Bailey pronounced you dead.
08:32Everybody looked the other way while Sanderson carried you out the back door.
08:35That beats me.
08:37You were stone dead right where you're standing now.
08:40Sorry, pal.
08:42Sorry I had to come back and spoil it.
08:49I went looking for Old Bailey.
08:52The coroner.
08:53I wanted to know why an unconscious man qualified with him as a corpse ready for immediate burial.
09:01I found him along the edge of the beach.
09:04Living in a shack built of packing cases and old strips of cardboard.
09:09When the tide came in, the ocean soaked through the sides and up through the floor.
09:14It was as if Old Bailey wanted the shack to wash out the sea.
09:21The tide was in when I got there.
09:24Well, you're here, son.
09:27What brought you?
09:29You better talk fast.
09:30The way the waves are coming, we'll be washing out the sea.
09:34You want that to happen?
09:36Yes, of course.
09:37Precisely my idea in building here.
09:40What brought you?
09:42You're not surprised to see me?
09:43Why should I be?
09:44You pronounced me dead last night.
09:46A mistake.
09:48From the look-see.
09:49A mistake that almost buried me for Keeks.
09:51I'm ashamed of my incompetence, but I promise you the recall of your death certificate.
09:57The very next time I hear.
09:59Look, Mr. Coroner.
10:01You know a dead man when you see one.
10:03My idea is that somebody hired you to pronounce me dead.
10:07Maybe.
10:09And maybe not.
10:10Quit wriggling.
10:11How much did you get to pronounce me dead?
10:12Barely enough to free myself of death.
10:15I asked how much.
10:17Forty-fifty dollars.
10:18Who from?
10:19Who wanted my death certificate and why?
10:21Ah, now you're asking an old sinner to play informer.
10:25I'm not asking, Bailey.
10:29You're demanding.
10:31On pain of death.
10:33You overestimate the price I put on my life.
10:37We'll see.
10:38We'll see if we can push the price.
10:41Oh, you'll lose.
10:42Oh, but the death certificate from you.
10:45The heart of you.
10:46Please.
10:47The Lord.
10:49The price.
10:50Oh.
10:51You're losing your life.
10:54It's so silly.
11:01The sea tore us with a paper hunt and overran us.
11:05I felt it pull at me.
11:07I was being tucked into the middle of a whirlpool.
11:24I came to, flying face up on the beach.
11:30The storm was over.
11:32The tide was out.
11:34Old Bailey was gone.
11:36And then his paper hunt, too.
11:39I could see the wreckage way in the distance, riding the ocean swell.
11:44I was half dead, but alive.
11:48A miracle.
11:50I gotta keep you alive and going, boss.
11:53Well, you'd happen to not blame for the condition you're in.
11:56You?
11:56You're to blame?
11:58How?
11:59It was me who beat you over the head and sent your mind wandering.
12:03You really want to know about it?
12:05Yes.
12:06It was your last day in Frisco.
12:09The cops were around our hideout, setting up machine guns, tossing kick-ass bombs, all
12:14ready to close in for the pinch.
12:15The only way out was to shoot our way out.
12:18And?
12:20You can't remember anything by yourself, huh?
12:24No.
12:25Oh, I try, but something gets in my way.
12:29It's all a jumble in my mind.
12:31I was the only one doing any shooting on our side.
12:34You were blowing your top, screaming like a crazy man.
12:36Gunfight.
12:38Guns always gave you the willies.
12:40I slugged you to shut you up.
12:41Later, I got you out and smuggled the two of us aboard a ship.
12:44It was a freighter carrying fruit cans with the name Belmar on them.
12:48And?
12:49Then, blank.
12:52Strictly a getaway.
12:53I'd call it quits.
12:55Just get away and lay low.
12:57But you, blanked out.
13:00Sorrowful.
13:01Yeah?
13:02Tell me, what was your John the Blank like
13:07before he began to scream that last day in Frisco?
13:12Oh, top man of the world.
13:15You had the world in your best pocket, boy.
13:18You were the Jesse James I read about as a kid.
13:21Only better.
13:22The stuff you pulled that Frisco on its ear.
13:25What sort of stuff?
13:28Banks, museums, mail trucks.
13:30Just theft?
13:33No murder?
13:34Murder was the rub.
13:35Like I said, guns gave you the willies.
13:38That last day in Frisco,
13:41police had our hideout surrounded, you said.
13:45How did they get that close?
13:47That's a question I was waiting for you to get around it.
13:50They were tipped off by a stoop pigeon named Queenie Simpson.
13:55The job you mucked on Queenie still needs to be done
13:58if you ever want to go home.
14:00Oh, it's a lot to remember all at once.
14:04A lot to remember.
14:06I mean, it's a lot to believe.
14:08You think maybe I'm working a gag.
14:10That I'm trying to swindle you into calling yourself Jean LeBlanc
14:12and wake you for a fall guy.
14:15Okay.
14:17Go find things out your own way.
14:20I'll be around.
14:22When you need me.
14:29So, I...
14:30I went about finding things out my own way.
14:35I went looking for Sanderson
14:36to double-check on why he broke my head
14:39so that a phony death certificate could be issued
14:42in the name of Jean LeBlanc.
14:44I found him camped in a hobo jungle
14:4750 yards away from a railroad embankment.
14:51LeBlanc.
14:53Back from the dead.
14:54Can it?
14:54You never killed me.
14:56I didn't.
14:57No, he just thought you did.
14:59I only passed out and you buried me alive.
15:03Disappointed?
15:04Not too much, maybe.
15:07You're worth $50,000 in reward money.
15:10Dead or alive.
15:13Here.
15:14This will restore your memory.
15:17It was a police notice
15:19offering a $50,000 reward
15:22for the capture of Jean LeBlanc
15:24dead or alive.
15:29I get your death certificate,
15:31Angles, Sanderson.
15:32With me dead,
15:33it would have been easier for you.
15:34No carding me back.
15:36Just show that death certificate
15:37old Bailey issued and collect.
15:39I'll collect anyhow.
15:40If you live.
15:42That wouldn't be a threat, would it?
15:44A death notice.
15:47Who's going to die now?
15:49You.
15:51Of strangulation.
15:55I don't worry you, huh?
15:57Not a bit.
15:59I told you last night
16:00you weren't the killer type.
16:02You threaten,
16:03then you run.
16:04Yeah, but I've changed, Sanderson.
16:06I stopped running,
16:07thanks to you.
16:09Thanks to me.
16:09Hey, you opened my head last night
16:11and the fears ran out.
16:13The Blanc is crazy.
16:13I face up to myself now.
16:15I don't cry baby anymore.
16:16I'm not the killer type,
16:17but I...
16:18I'm going to kill you
16:19and laugh until I blow a few.
16:22Let go.
16:23I had the strength
16:24of a hundred men in my hands.
16:26My fingers were steel-closed.
16:27I can't.
16:28I'm sorry to say
16:29I didn't have a chance.
16:32In a struggle,
16:33the black patchy war
16:34over one eye slipped.
16:35I was staring
16:36into an empty eye socket,
16:37looking for the last glimpse
16:39of myself
16:40that would finally
16:41stitch broken fragments
16:42together into a single piece.
16:44Who was I really
16:45and what was I all about?
16:49I saw nothing
16:50in that empty eye socket.
16:59I sat around
17:00with Sanderson,
17:03fascinated
17:03by the face
17:05of death,
17:07waiting
17:08for
17:08sorrowful's approval.
17:10A nice night's worked for us.
17:12What did you kill him with?
17:14My bare hands.
17:16I strangled him
17:17with my bare hands.
17:19He's dead all right.
17:21That takes care
17:22of job number one.
17:24Job
17:25number two
17:26is
17:27Queenie Simpson?
17:29Nobody else.
17:31And this time
17:32with a gun.
17:34Sure.
17:35With a gun.
17:37This time.
17:39Where do I find
17:41Queenie Simpson?
17:43Where she's always been.
17:44The Wonderland Arcade.
17:46She works
17:46a shooting gallery there.
17:47The way she always has.
17:49Kill her
17:49and you've got the cops
17:50up the tree.
17:51She's her only witness
17:52against you.
17:53Kill her
17:53and you're the racket
17:54king of Frisco again
17:55with the town
17:56eaten out of your hand.
17:58San Francisco.
18:01It's been a long way around.
18:04Getting home
18:05sorrowful.
18:16I've come back
18:18to a forgotten world.
18:20Halfway around the globe
18:23to murder
18:24a forgotten woman.
18:30The Wonderland Arcade
18:32is a honky-tonk strip.
18:34It has a flea circus,
18:35a waxworks,
18:36a piano somewhere
18:38beating out ragtime,
18:39and Queenie Simpson's
18:41shooting gallery.
18:42I'm waiting,
18:44keeping out of sight,
18:45watching until
18:46Queenie Simpson
18:47is between customers.
18:52What's the tab
18:53for a rifle load,
18:55sister?
18:56Two L's shots
18:57for a quarter.
18:59That's cheap enough.
19:01Watch me shoot.
19:06Gold's eye.
19:07You're pretty good.
19:09Thanks.
19:12I'm even better
19:14for the revolver.
19:17What would it take
19:19to coax you
19:20to get up
19:21against that target?
19:24I'd say
19:25you got the coaxer
19:28right in your hand.
19:29Jean.
19:31Jean.
19:33Jean who?
19:35Jean LeBlanc.
19:38I've been expecting
19:40you to call
19:41sometime.
19:42You're sure
19:43I'm Jean LeBlanc?
19:44Must be
19:45Jean LeBlanc.
19:46Only Jean LeBlanc
19:48would come to kill me.
19:49Why?
19:49I tipped off the cops.
19:51Tell them all about you.
19:51Why?
19:52What game are we playing now?
19:54I double-crossed you
19:55and you're here to kill me.
19:56Now let's get it over with.
19:58You've got
19:58eleven shots left,
20:01mister.
20:04She's up against
20:05the target.
20:07indifferent
20:07to her fate.
20:10I stare at her
20:11and then
20:14I lose
20:15my gun
20:16drops to my side.
20:18I can't shoot.
20:19My fears are back.
20:20I'm choked up
20:21with fear.
20:22The fear that drove me
20:23across the world.
20:25Pull the trigger
20:25LeBlanc.
20:26Sorrowful.
20:27Yeah, me.
20:28Still Johnny
20:29on the spot.
20:30Go ahead.
20:31Pull that trigger.
20:32Kill double-crosses.
20:34I...
20:35I...
20:37I can't pull
20:38the trigger, Sorrow.
20:39Don't turn yellow now.
20:41You've come back
20:41a long way.
20:43Pull that trigger
20:44and you're the big boss
20:45again.
20:45I...
20:46I can't.
20:47I can't.
20:48My fingers are numb.
20:49My hands feel dead.
20:51I've stuck along with you.
20:52Crawled after you
20:53from Ireland Island.
20:54I watched over you.
20:55Worried about you.
20:56Waiting for you to come
20:56out of a brainstorm.
20:57But now it's over.
21:00once and for all.
21:01Are you going to make
21:02like Jean LeBlanc
21:03and pull that trigger?
21:04I...
21:05I...
21:05I can't.
21:06I...
21:06I'm Jean LeBlanc
21:08but I can't measure up
21:10to what you expect.
21:12I...
21:12I'm afraid.
21:14Give me that gun.
21:19Sorrowful shot Queenie
21:21as surely as I couldn't.
21:24I watch her stiffen
21:26while a red stain
21:28on her dress
21:29over her heart
21:30spins and spins
21:32into a wider
21:33and wider circle.
21:36You...
21:38You were somebody
21:39in my book
21:40once LeBlanc.
21:42Don't blame me,
21:43Sorrowful.
21:44you build
21:45a statue
21:46in your mind.
21:48And now
21:49it turns out
21:50it's only
21:51a clay statue.
21:53Huh?
21:54Police cars.
21:55Hear the sirens?
21:57Take one more
21:58shot Sorrowful
21:58at me.
22:00Shoot your statue
22:01down before
22:01the police come.
22:02I...
22:03I can't.
22:03You must.
22:04Either way
22:05I'd die
22:06but I'd rather
22:06it was you.
22:07This way
22:08I...
22:08I won't die
22:09screaming.
22:11Shoot Sorrowful
22:12please.
22:20I'm on the ground
22:22staring up
22:23at Sorrowful
22:25staring at the
22:27uniformed police
22:28around him.
22:31I see a tear
22:32in the corner
22:34of his eye
22:36as if he's
22:38going on up
22:39crying tag.
22:40like he'll never
22:41come out
22:42of...
22:45poor Sorrowful.
22:47He's shaking
22:49his head
22:49and bewildered.
22:52He still
22:53can't get it
22:54through his head
22:55that the statue
22:57he built
22:58of Jean LeBlanc
22:59never resembled
23:02the man
23:02even
23:04a little
23:06bit.
23:16Oh,
23:18poor LeBlanc.
23:19Even now
23:21with his worries
23:21over
23:22he's having
23:22himself a fit.
23:24Size 4x6
23:26the cat
23:26could make
23:27a tough sleep.
23:28That old
23:29Bailey
23:3050 bucks
23:31and he'll
23:31pronounce you
23:31dead
23:32any old time.
23:33Even if it
23:34kills you.
23:38I hear he's
23:39doing shady
23:39business as usual.
23:41His shingles
23:42hung
23:42on Davy Jones'
23:44locker.
23:45His engraved
23:46invitations
23:47to please
23:47call Reed
23:48drop in
23:50any old
23:51crime.
24:03Inner Sanctum
24:04is heard
24:04each week
24:05in the United
24:05States
24:06over CBS,
24:07the Columbia
24:07Broadcasting System
24:08and has been
24:09rebroadcast
24:10for servicemen
24:11and women
24:11overseas
24:12through the
24:12facilities
24:13of the
24:13United States
24:14Armed Forces
24:15Radio Service,
24:16the voice
24:16of information
24:17and education.
24:49THE END
25:18THE END
Comments