And now, a tale well calculated to keep you in...
...suspense.
We live in an age of wonders.
What was yesterday's impossibility is today's miracle and tomorrow's fact.
So, perhaps our story today isn't just a story.
We only say perhaps.
But it might be worth asking yourself, is it just a story?
In a moment, act one of Heads You Lose, starring William Redfield as Steve Kimberley,
and written especially for suspense by Robert Arthur.
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It was a nice, chilly morning in October, and Rallo Collins and I were sitting in Rallo's office wondering where our next dollar was coming from.
Rallo didn't look hungry since he weighs about 300 pounds and has the appearance of a dishonest cherub.
But I knew he was.
As for me, Steve Kimberley, I felt like a walking skeleton.
Rallo and I were private detectives.
We were in a room in the basement of the house.
We were sitting in the living room.
We felt like a walking skeleton.
Now, I won't try to whitewash us.
Let me just say nobody ever actually proved anything against us.
But we were, let's face it, a firm people came to in desperation with cases more reputable firms wouldn't handle.
And when the intercom buzzed, Rallo and I jumped.
Yes, my dear.
A gentleman by the name of Harrison Ward to see you, Mr. Collins.
Mr. Ward?
That's right, sir. He's an attorney.
Oh, by all means, show him right in.
Yes, sir.
Harrison Ward was a tall, thin guy with a tall, thin face.
And as he closed the office door and looked at us, his Adam's apple jumped up and down nervously.
My name is Ward, Harrison Ward. I'm an attorney.
I wish to engage you to find someone for me.
Oh, but I wouldn't have melted in Rallo's mouth as he waved Ward to a chair.
You've come to the right place, Mr. Ward.
We find people. That's our business.
Well, this is an unusual case.
I want you to find where his name is Joshua Franklin.
Joshua Franklin? Surely you're not serious.
Joshua Franklin's disappearance is one of the great mysteries of the century.
Isn't he the Wall Street financier who walked out of his office one day with a hundred thousand in cash?
That's the man.
Ah, and was never seen again?
Precisely. Not the slightest clue to his fate has ever been discovered.
I told you it was an unusual case.
But, my dear Mr. Ward, according to my recollection, even when he vanished, Joshua Franklin was a dying man.
Yes. Yes, that's true. His body was riddled with disease.
The doctors gave him six months at the outside.
It was such a pity. That brilliant financial mind, as keen as ever.
The body that no miracle of science could keep going.
In that case, Mr. Ward, no matter where he went, Joshua Franklin must have died at least six years ago.
Oh, yes. A dozen specialists assure me he cannot possibly still be alive.
And yet you wish us to find him?
My dear Mr. Ward, on occasion we do the impossible, but we cannot work miracles.
What you need, Mr. Ward, is a spirit medium.
Please, gentlemen, I assure you, I've come to you in desperation.
I know that Mr. Franklin must be dead, and yet...
Yes? Please go on.
Three weeks ago, Joshua Franklin spoke to me on the telephone.
Oh, come on now. You can hardly expect us to believe that.
Well, it couldn't have been anybody else. He identified himself by a secret code.
Did you recognize his voice?
Well, no. It did seem changed. But it may have been a bad connection.
Mr. Ward, you're certain it was Joshua Franklin?
I'd swear to it. The things he reminded me of...
Well, no one else knew about them, living or dead.
Oh, while dead, especially dead.
Tell me, just why did Joshua Franklin phone you?
He instructed me to sell 10,000 shares of universal mining stock, which he owned.
Did he say why?
But he promised to explain later. But he never called again.
Probably St. Peter wouldn't let him slip out to use the telephone.
Oh, Steve.
Mr. Ward, think carefully. Was it a long-distance call?
What else could it have been, Rallo? Very long distance.
I think it was a local call. But with this new direct dialing, it's so hard to tell.
Mr. Ward, we are forced to believe that Joshua Franklin is still alive, in or near this city.
We, uh, we'll take the case. Our fee is $100 a day.
Well, that's quite all right.
In addition, we would expect to collect the reward originally offered.
$100,000 if we find him alive, and $50,000 if we find him dead.
So, at last, we had a case, finding a missing millionaire who had been dead seven years.
Harrison Ward gave us a $500 advance and left.
My own starting point was that mysterious phone call in the order to sell 10,000 shares of Universal Mining stock.
I went to a stockbroker friend.
He told me the unexpected sale had created a small panic in Universal Mining.
Somebody usually makes money off such panics.
My friend came up with a name.
The name of an individual who had sold Universal Mining short just before the panic and made about $20,000.
The man was an amateur, not an experienced Wall Street operator.
I did some checking on the fellow and then reported back to Rollo Collins.
You say his name is Green. Lawson Green?
Mm-hmm.
Don't taste it, but somehow it's familiar.
Professor Lawson Green, PhD, FRCS, and a lot of other initials.
About 10 years ago, he was a professor of neurosurgery at a big medical college.
You say he was. What happened?
Well, he got mixed up in some kind of scandal, something to do with some rather radical experiments he was making, and he resigned.
Since then, he's been living all alone out in the suburbs.
And you think he made that telephone call and hoaxed our legal friend, Harrison Ward?
Oh, Rollo, I think he did.
He's the only one who cashed in on the deal.
Curious, dear.
Curious.
I wonder where he got that confidential stuff he told Ward.
Maybe he knew Joshua Franklin once.
Anyway, I'm gonna find out.
Sit tight, Rollo, while I go out and have words with the mysterious Professor Green.
Professor Green's place turned out to be a big stone house set back in a grove of trees and surrounded by a heavy wire fence.
Obviously, he liked solitude.
I drove into the local village and asked some questions.
It turned out the professor had bought the place seven years before and put in a lot of curious machinery.
With him, he'd had a white-haired man he called his brother.
Only the brother had never been seen again.
Yeah.
And just seven years earlier, Joshua Franklin had disappeared too.
A connection?
I'd have bet my life on it.
So I telephoned Professor Green.
Hello, hello. What do you want?
Um, is this Professor Green?
Yes, yes. Who are you? Why are you calling me?
My name is Steve Kimberly.
I'd like to talk to you about an old friend of yours, Joshua Franklin.
About who?
Whom is the correct usage, Professor?
I don't know what you're talking about. Goodbye.
Not so fast, Professor. I'm just a fellow who's interested in Joshua Franklin.
I'm working alone, but if you insist, I can call in the cops.
Police?
Only, I hate crowds. Don't you?
Very well. Come out to my house. I'll see you.
You see, sometimes the easy way is the best way.
I drove back, the gate was open. I drove up to the front door.
A little white-haired man with bright, nervous eyes and shaking fingers let me in.
Well, come in, come in.
Thank you, Professor. I'm glad you agreed to see me, uh, alone.
I haven't any idea what you want. I agreed to see you just to stop this insufferable nuisance.
Well, I'd hardly call one phone call insufferable. However, I'll get down to business.
Where is Joshua Franklin? What became of him?
I don't know. I never heard of Joshua Franklin. Now, young man, goodbye.
You're not getting rid of me that easily, Professor, so let's start over. Where is Joshua Franklin?
What do you want? Why have you come here? I won't let you ruin my experiment. It's my whole life.
And now you're trying to destroy what I've done.
Take away everything that I've accomplished after I've given up my career, everything to...
Professor, Professor, easy, easy. You're gonna blow your top here.
Now, believe me, I'm not here to destroy anything. I'm here as a friend.
I want to help you.
What... what brought you here, anyway?
That little transaction in Universal Mining Stock.
So that's it. I was afraid, but he told me to do it.
He? You mean, Joshua Franklin?
Yes, I mean Joshua Franklin.
Ah, you've got him here in this house? You've kept him a prisoner all these years?
No, I only saved his life. I'm the one who's been the prisoner.
You saved his life? In spite of what the doctor said?
Well, man, why all the secrecy? You could have been famous.
You'll see. Yes, I'll take you to Joshua Franklin himself, and then you'll understand.
A little professor led me down a long corridor to a heavy metal door,
and as we went, my brain was clicking like an adding machine.
I was busy trying to figure out my next step when Green led me down a flight of stairs into a pitch-black room.
There was some kind of pump going.
Here we are. Joshua Franklin is in this room.
Well, turn on the light.
No, no, not yet. I'll speak to him first.
Now, don't be surprised if his voice is odd.
Mr. Franklin, I'm here. How are you this morning?
I'm tired. Tired beyond human endurance.
I know, but I'm working on the problem. Soon you'll be a new man again.
Don't bother to lie to me. I know the truth.
You must be patient. It takes time and money.
You'll never succeed, never. I was a fool ever to think you could.
I should have died as nature intended. Finish me now and let me have peace.
Please, you must be patient. I'll return later. Now rest.
Now he can no longer hear us. I'll see you. Turn on the light.
Hey, this is a laboratory. Nothing in here but apparatus. Where's Franklin?
He's in here. He was speaking to us through this loud speaker.
Well, okay, then where is he?
Over there, in the far corner.
Now, quit kidding. All I see is that pump, a lot of glass tubing with some red liquid bubbling through it.
And on top a black glass ball about 18 inches in diameter.
To save Joshua Franklin, desperate measures were necessary.
What do you mean?
He's inside that glass ball.
What?
The pump keeps him alive.
Inside that glass ball?
Well, you couldn't get a man in that thing. You could just about get his...
Oh, no.
Exactly, Mr. Kimberley. His head.
I believed him. I had to believe him.
We went back upstairs and talked.
Green told me how he'd been experimenting with animals, gone too far and got fired.
Then how Joshua Franklin had come to him.
You see, he had heard an exaggerated account of my experiments.
He offered me a hundred thousand dollars to give him a new body.
Put his head on a new body?
Exactly. I told him I couldn't do it. He insisted. He was dying and he was frantic.
So, I agreed.
Knowing all the time you couldn't?
Not then, no.
But I hoped that someday I could.
So, we came here and I performed the operation.
I discarded the diseased, written body.
I placed the healthy head inside the glass, where it's kept alive by a circulating nutrient fluid.
I... Oh, but the details don't matter.
All these years I've struggled in secret,
afraid that if the world knew I'd be called a monster and put in jail.
Now it's all for nothing. Nothing. You found me out. You'll call the police.
Now, Professor, Professor, take it easy. You've got it all wrong.
I'm here to help you.
Help me? How?
Well, for one thing, I'm going to be your business manager.
I don't understand.
Now, look, you need assistance, a big laboratory with those you might succeed yet
in learning how to join Franklin's head to another healthy body.
Oh, yes. Yes, I could. I'm sure of it.
Oh, but it would take so much money.
That's just it. That's just it. That'll be my job.
Now, downstairs in that lab you have one of the smartest mines that ever operated on Wall Street.
We'll use it to plot stock market operations that will net us millions.
That universal mining deal was just penny-ante stuff.
Oh, but it won't work. He won't cooperate.
That's all right. Let me argue with him. Maybe I'm more persuasive than you are.
I'll talk to him now, alone.
The professor finally agreed.
He took me back down into his lab, switched on the apparatus, and left me alone.
Mr. Franklin? Mr. Franklin? Can you hear me?
Who's there?
My name is Kimberly.
Professor Green has called me in to help him with your case.
It's too late. I have no hope.
If you knew how tired I am, how terribly tired...
Now, look, it's only a matter of money. With your help, we can get the money.
I'm not interested. I refuse to help you.
I try to avoid my destiny, and I've been punished for it.
But I've suffered enough. In the name of heaven, shut off the pump and let me go.
Now, Mr. Franklin, I don't want to do...
Listen. Are you interested in money?
Sure I am. Isn't everybody?
If you want money, I'll pay you $200,000. Is that interest to you?
It interests me a whole lot. What do I have to do for it?
Just one thing. Shut off the pump.
Shut off the pump?
Let me find peace at last.
If you knew how unendurable it is to spend your life in utter blackness,
thinking, thinking, always thinking, please, Mr. Kimberly, tell me that you agree.
Uh-huh. Well, why not?
Maybe you've guessed I hadn't any intention of going through with the deal.
But I let him talk, and this is how he explained it to me.
His lawyer, Ward, had the key to a safe deposit box, but didn't know what was in it.
We arranged I was to phone Ward, put the phone in front of the speaker,
and that way Franklin could talk to him like he had before.
So I did it. I set everything up for Joshua Franklin's living head in its glass ball to talk to Harrison Ward.
Ward was puzzled, but he agreed to give me the key when I arrived and I hung up fast.
Here, Mr. Franklin. It's all set.
Now keep your word. Shut off the pump.
Well, sure, Mr. Franklin, sure, just as soon as I get the money out of the deposit box.
You promised to stop the pump.
And I will, I will, but I haven't got the money yet. As soon as I have it, I'll turn the pump off.
Ah, thank you. And after all these years, I'll be able to have peace.
And outline to me, you swear you will stop the pump and let me go?
Sure, Mr. Franklin, I swear it.
Of course, I had my fingers crossed when I said it.
Shut off that pump and do myself out of a million dollars, not Mrs. Kimberly's little boy Steve.
Only something happened I hadn't figured on. The door burst open and Professor Green rushed in.
I've been listening, but I won't let you do it. I won't.
Professor, listen to me. You're making a mistake.
You can't stop the pump. You can't let Franklin die. This is my whole life's work.
I'll stop you. I'll kill you.
He shot at me and the shot went wild. I ducked and yelled at him. Professor, let me tell you something.
I'll kill you, you hear? I'll kill you.
The second shot went over my head and hit the glass ball which held all that remained alive of Joshua Franklin.
I looked up and for just a second I saw the glass ball split open and fall towards me.
Then the professor fired again.
This time both bullets hit me somewhere in the chest or stomach and that was the last thing I knew as I dived into a pool of darkness a million miles deep.
How long the darkness lasted, I don't know. A day, a week, a year.
But at last through the darkness that seemed to crush in on me like a ton of black velvet curtains, I heard Rallo's voice.
Steve? Steve, can you hear me? Steve?
I tried to open my eyes and found they were open and it was still pitch dark.
I moved my lips and words came out. Rallo, I hear you.
Oh, that's fine, Steve. That's fine. I was worried about you.
Where am I? What happened? I remember Green shooting me then.
One question at a time, Steve. As for where you are, you're in Washington, D.C.
In Washington?
In a secret room down in the basement of a certain hospital, Steve, my friend.
You can expect lots of company. Doctors, scientists, they'll all be here to ask you questions.
Oh, you mean about Green and how he kept Joshua Franklin's head alive.
Oh, no, Steve. About you? You see, officially, you're dead.
I'm dead?
You had a very nice funeral in Lawnwood Cemetery.
What are you talking about? Why does your voice sound so funny?
Because you're hearing it through a special hooker.
You see, Steve, when you didn't come back, I called on Professor Green.
After he killed you, he cracked up completely. But not before he'd done one thing.
Not before he'd saved your life, the same way he saved Joshua Franklin.
No. It's not true.
I'm afraid it is. Listen.
That's the pump that keeps you alive. The government is taking care of you now, Steve.
You're the top secret hush-hush project. But you should feel pretty good.
You're immortal now. You're going to live forever in your little glass jar.
Suspense.
You've been listening to Heads You Lose, starring William Redfield as Steve Kimberly, and written especially for Suspense by Robert Arthur.
Suspense is produced and directed by Bruno Zarratto Jr., music supervision by Ethel Huber.
Featured in tonight's story were Raymond Edward Johnson as Joshua Franklin, Melville Rooik as Professor Green,
Santos Ortega as Rollo Collins, Kermit Murdoch as Harrison Ward, and Jim Z. Summers as the Secretary.
Listen again next week when we return with Perchance to Dream, written by Bob Corcoran, another tale well calculated to keep you in.
Suspense.
Phil Rizzuto's Sports Time scores with the fans Monday through Saturday on the CBS Radio Network.