Soils for Victor, starring Mr. Robert Horton.
A tale well calculated to keep you in...
suspense.
To hear from the DA's officer.
So you want some answers, huh?
So you can set the record straight?
Why not?
One guy's dead already, and me next, probably.
Only one thing.
Go easy on Madeline.
Because it really isn't her fault.
None of it.
Okay?
Well, I don't have to tell you about Hollywood.
It's full of guys like me.
Guys with good builds and Greek profiles and...
curly hair.
Guys that look like movie stars and aren't working.
They walk along Hollywood Boulevard where they stand around Schrob's drugstore,
hoping somebody's gonna discover them.
And once a day they check in at their agents.
He's usually got a little hole in the wall off of some place off the strip.
If he's a good guy, he'll let you use the phone.
Barney was a good guy.
Hi, kid. What's new?
You asking me? You're my agent.
Things are a little slow right now, kid.
Yeah. Mind if I use your phone?
Local?
Local.
Okay.
The same?
What else?
Something new?
Yeah. Hello?
Hello, is Madeline there?
Yeah, I guess so.
Victor Rutteger.
Who's calling, some guy says.
She's probably married.
So what?
She gave you the phone number, didn't she?
Hello, Madeline?
Yeah. Remember?
Say, who's the guy that answered the phone?
You got a sense of humor too.
The butler, she says.
Oh, I just call up to say hello.
I don't like to let things get cold, you know.
That's right.
Well, what are you doing with yourself?
Well, now for instance.
Nothing.
I sure would.
Where do you live?
Wait till I write it down.
Here's a pencil.
Uh-huh.
Okay, I'll do that.
Bye now.
So, will you take her, that don't cost no money?
Why take her anyplace?
She's got her own phone, hasn't she?
And I know she isn't living in a phone booth.
Hey, where's a place called Woodford Way?
Woodford Way?
Yeah, you ever hear of it?
Yeah, it's in Bel Air.
Bel Air?
Yeah.
That's pretty big stuff.
Yeah, very big.
Gee, you don't suppose she does have a butler, do you?
Sure, there's a butler all right, and she's the maid.
All right, so we'll hold hands in the servants' quarters.
How'd you meet her, kid?
Oh, I'm just walking along Hollywood Boulevard,
rubbing my last two dimes together,
and she comes out of a place with her arms full of bundles,
and she bangs into me.
She goes one way, the bundles go the other.
I pick her up.
So, you know, one thing leads to another.
I buy her a cup of coffee, and I get her phone.
That's all.
So I give her a ring, come up and see me, she says.
What can I lose, right?
All right, what's her name, not in what?
She didn't tell me, but that guy on the phone, whoever he was,
he said that it was Rollins or Raleigh, something like that.
Rollins?
Mm-hmm.
You don't read the papers much, do you, Vic?
Sure, Daily Variety and the Reporter, every word.
I mean the newspapers.
Is this her?
Yes, is this the same here, the picture?
Is this her?
Yeah, yeah, that's her.
Well, you see what it says?
Madeline Rollins opens Bel Air Home.
Wealthy sugar heiress whose personal fortune
makes her one of the world's richest girls.
Oh, well, that's out.
I can't compete in that league.
You're a guy, and she's a broad.
Yeah, but...
A pretty good-looking guy.
Yeah, but she's too rich for my blood, Barney.
I've got trouble with you, Vic.
You don't think big.
Hmm?
Here's 50 bucks.
What's that for?
In advance.
I want you to make an impression on the young lady.
For what?
Object matrimony.
What?
Funnier things have happened, Vic.
Oh, come on, Barney.
I can't compete with the kind of guy she goes around with.
How do you know until you try?
And even if I did get her to marry me,
I couldn't fit into a setup like that.
I'd be thrown out of my ear in six months.
A lot can happen in six months.
Nothing I can't make happen in six weeks without getting married.
Oh, yes, it could, Victor.
What?
Something could happen to her.
Like what?
Like an accident.
Accidents happen all the time.
And they've got community property laws in this state.
You know what I mean?
Now, you go out and have a good time tonight.
Don't worry about the details.
That's what you got an agent for.
Well, Barney was right.
In the clinches, the richest girl in the world was just a gal.
And I was just a guy.
And I made out pretty well on that first date.
Madeline wasn't hard to take,
and she acted like I wasn't exactly poison to her.
So good old Barney turned out to be the kind of an agent
that an actor dreams about.
I mean, he bought me a car and a new wardrobe
and set me up in a suite of rooms at the Bel Air Hotel,
which is not only the swankiest pad in town,
but it was less than a half a mile from Madeline's house.
After that, I didn't need much coaching from Barney.
I just let nature take its course,
and a couple of months later...
that's right, we were married.
I enjoyed being the husband of one of the richest girls in the world.
And Madeline, she seemed to think that she got a bargain in me.
So, I didn't have a care in the world, except Barney.
He phoned the first of every month like a bill collector.
Well, Kit, how's it going?
Just great, Barney.
Good, that's good.
Only, don't forget.
Forget what?
The accident, Kit.
Yeah, Barney, I'm trying to figure something out.
You do that, boy. I'm counting on you.
I've got a lot of dough tied up in you, Kit.
I know.
So, when's the accident gonna be?
Soon, Barney, soon.
Better be, boy.
You wouldn't want an accident to happen to you, would you?
Don't worry, Barney.
I won't, but you'd better.
Sure, sure.
Darling, where are you?
I gotta hang up now.
Who's on the phone?
My agent.
Oh, Vic, you're not going back to work.
No, but I told him I wasn't interested.
I got my work cut out for me right here.
That you have.
And you don't want to fall behind, do you?
No, ma'am. What's my assignment today?
Come on out to the pool.
I've been practicing my back jackknife.
I want you to tell me if it's any good.
She was quite a piece of work as she stood poised on the diving board.
I couldn't help thinking I was the luckiest guy in the world.
She held herself rigid, her back to the pool, hands outstretched.
Then she flipped herself up and outward.
Her body jackknife in the air, her fingers touched her toes, she straightened out.
But not enough.
Her head cracked the edge of the diving board, and she fell into the water and sank to the bottom like a stone.
She lay there in nine feet of water, the blood from the cut in her head was slowly floating upward.
Here was the accident.
Ready made, all I needed to do was just walk away and come back a few minutes later and find my wife drowned in her own swimming pool.
But I didn't.
I had her out of that pool and on the deck and I was giving her artificial respiration in less time than it takes to tell Madeline, baby, come on, baby.
Snap out of it. You're going to be all right, baby. You've got to be.
Please, baby, please, Madeline, please.
Madeline, are you all right?
Yes, but my head...
Why, sick.
You're crying.
Me? You're crazy.
Oh, baby, baby.
So there it was.
So now I knew.
I couldn't let the accident happen for all the money in the world.
I couldn't let her die because I was in love with her.
I guess I'd been in love with her all along but didn't know it.
I guess I thought that if I didn't face up to my deal with Barney, he'd forget about it.
But not Barney. My six months were nearly up.
So I tried to talk him out of it.
Poor kid. You ready for the action?
Listen, Barney, I got a better idea.
A better idea for what?
How to get dough out of the setup.
How much dough?
Say, 50, 100,000 dollars.
Are you kidding?
No, I can manage it.
I'll tell Madeline I've got a sure fire thing in an oil well or something like that, you know.
Look, Vic, I'm your agent, remember?
I set you in this part.
I expect my commission.
Nothing more, nothing less.
Ten percent.
One million dollars.
But Barney, don't you...
You're not trying to chicken out are you?
Barney, I don't like murder.
Who's talking about murder?
It'll be an accident.
It's murder. I don't want any part of it.
I'll take the hundred grand and let's forget it.
Kid, it is becoming clear to me that you have gone off the deep end for this broad.
So I'll ask you this.
Who do you love more?
Her or yourself?
What do you mean?
That's what it comes down to.
Somebody's going to have to have an accident.
If it's her, you and me live happily ever after.
If it's you, I lose my investment and you lose your life.
Well?
You see, kid, I've got connections.
I wasn't always a Hollywood agent.
I used to have a lot of interests back East,
which I bring up in case you're thinking of packing a bag.
Well, what about it?
All right.
That's better.
You got it figured out?
The accident? Sure.
A burglary.
I break into the house, you and your wife hear the noise.
You come downstairs and find me at the wall safe.
You got one, haven't you?
Yeah, in the library.
Yeah, so you catch me and you shoot.
Only you hit her.
I?
Why not you?
No, no, no, no.
If it's an outside job, they'll keep looking for the guy.
And they might find him.
But if you do it, it's an accident, open and shut, no more trouble.
You see, kid, I think of everything.
Yeah.
You want to set a time?
The sooner the better, Friday night.
Friday night it is.
Oh, and Vic.
Yeah?
When you shoot, don't miss.
I had to go along with him.
I had to know what his plan was,
and then maybe I could think of something.
And I did.
There was this girl Helen that I used to know before Madeline,
and she was the kind of a gal a guy could count on.
I hoped.
Hello?
Hello, Helen?
Yes?
This is Vic.
Vic?
You old so-and-so.
Well, I never thought I'd ever hear from you again.
Look, Helen, I want you to help me.
Oh, sure.
What is it, Vic?
I wouldn't ask you, but I'm on a spot.
I was on a spot once, too, remember?
What do you want?
You're a good kid, Helen, thanks.
Listen, I can't tell you over the phone,
and don't talk to anybody, not to anybody.
But what are you doing Friday night?
Whatever you say.
All right, I'll be in touch with you.
And remember, keep Friday night open for me.
The next thing was to get Madeline safely out of town.
On Friday morning, we drove up to her place at Lake Arrowhead.
After we unpacked and changed,
I moped around a couple of hours stalling
until I knew I couldn't stall any longer.
She was down on the dock sunbathing,
and I went up to the house to get her a drink.
When I came back, I acted like I never acted before.
Madeline, I don't know what to do.
About what?
Well, while I was up at the house, I got a phone call,
and I've got to go back into town tonight.
Why?
The deal I'm working on.
Won't it wait until Monday?
No.
This guy, he's leaving town in the morning.
Madeline, don't look at me that way.
Vic, I don't believe you.
You've got to, please.
All right.
But remember this, Vic.
I love you.
And I'd do something dreadful
if anything ever came between you and me.
Anything or anyone.
I know, Madeline.
Make sure you do.
The deal will be settled tonight.
I'll be back the first thing in the morning.
You understand how it is, don't you?
Yes, Vic.
I think I do.
I drove down to L.A. feeling like the world's worst heel.
I called Helen, told her how to get to the house,
where to leave her car, how to get in
without anyone seeing her.
That was just in case Barney was already watching the place.
It was about 8 o'clock when I let her in.
Am I on time?
Sure, sure.
Boy, what a dump.
Yeah, it's quite a place, isn't it?
Well, it's awful empty, though.
I had an idea it was kind of a party or something.
Well, it is kind of.
The people I'm expecting, they'll be along later.
This way.
Gee, I knew you'd married into the gravy, Vic.
I didn't know it was anything like this.
Come on in here.
What's this?
Bedroom, dressing room.
Well, this is what rich people call a bedroom.
Wow, look at the mirrors.
Yeah.
Say, can you put your hair up over your head,
you know, that sort of crown business on top?
Like this?
Yeah.
Sure.
That part of the act?
Yeah.
And while you're at it, slip off the things you've got on
and put on this nightgown, will you?
And the dressing gown, too.
And there ought to be some slippers in there.
Hey, now, wait a minute, Vic.
It's nothing like that, Helen.
I'll wait outside.
It isn't one of those divorce things, is it?
No, like I said, it's just sort of a gag.
OK.
You're the doctor.
I knew I didn't stand a chance in the world of getting Barney
inside unless he thought he was seeing Madeline.
So we sat by the picture window in the living room,
had a couple of drinks to pass the time,
and then a little after midnight,
I heard what I'd been waiting for.
Come on, Helen, the people are here.
Oh, a blast.
When we get into the library,
stay right behind me and don't say anything.
Yeah, all right.
Here we are.
All right, Barney.
What?
Drop the gun and put up your hand.
What's the idea?
That ain't your wife.
That's right.
What is this, the old double cross?
Yeah, the old double cross.
Ow!
Ah!
You killed him.
He broke into my house.
He was a burglar.
But that's Barney Bernard.
He used to be my...
He broke into my house.
Oh, Vic, I don't want to be mixed up in a murder.
You're not going to be mixed up in anything.
And nobody saw you come in here,
and nobody's going to see you go.
Now, come on.
Well, is that why I mean your wife's night?
I'm sorry, but I couldn't tell you more,
and I can't tell you now either.
You better get your things on and scram,
or I'm going to call the cops.
Yeah, all right, Vic.
What's that?
Madeline.
I told you what I'd do, Vic.
Madeline, put down the gun and listen.
I said anything or anyone.
Madeline!
So there you are.
Those are the facts.
Put them in the record down at the DA's office.
None of it would have happened if I hadn't listened to Barney.
It was his idea.
Well, Barney's dead, and I'm dying.
Please go easy on Madeline.
She was just an innocent pristet.
Can't you just say it was an accident?