August 10, 2025 • 23 mins
The Whistler was a suspenseful mystery anthology that ran from 1942-1955. A character known only as the Whistler was the host and narrator of the tales, which focused on crime and fate and had a suspenseful and eerie tone, always ending with a twist. The Whistler was later adapted to television.
Hope you enjoy this episode of The Whistler! Find all our OTR radio stations and podcasts at theaterofthemind-otr.com - All Podcasts @ Spreaker | Apple | YouTube | Spotify | iHeart
Hope you enjoy this episode of The Whistler! Find all our OTR radio stations and podcasts at theaterofthemind-otr.com - All Podcasts @ Spreaker | Apple | YouTube | Spotify | iHeart
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:20):
I am the whistler, and I know many things. For
I walk by night. I know many strange tales hidden
in the hearts of men and women who have stepped
into the shadows.
Speaker 2 (00:33):
Yeah, I know the nameless terrors of which they dare
not speak.
Speaker 3 (00:44):
And now the Whistler's strange story impulse.
Speaker 2 (00:55):
The crowd in the waiting room of the New York
Airport hardly noticed the small, slim man on the trench
coat standing.
Speaker 4 (01:02):
Near the magazine Common.
Speaker 2 (01:04):
The few who gave him a passing glance certainly had
no way of guessing what was going through his mind
at the moment, for his face betrayed no sign of
the struggle it raged within him. Christopher Daniels, Professor of English,
was striving to reach a decision, a very important decision.
At this moment, he had reached the crossroad. He had
(01:24):
a choice to make.
Speaker 5 (01:26):
He could go on living his own.
Speaker 4 (01:27):
Dull life, or a new life the light of another man,
mister Neil Baldwin, a.
Speaker 2 (01:33):
Man whose name was now being called over the public
address system.
Speaker 1 (01:37):
Mister Neil Baldwin, please report of the.
Speaker 5 (01:40):
Reservation's desk immediately.
Speaker 2 (01:42):
Mister Baldwin's please Suddenly, Christopher Daniels shivered. This unbelievable, unexpected
chance had come so suddenly it almost seemed like a dream. Yes,
a dream which had reached its climax that afternoon in
his room at the hotel Tell. Perhaps it had really
started this morning at his home in New Haven, that
(02:05):
unpleasant scene with his wife Blanche. He'd forgotten what had
brought it. All on money, His job didn't matter. Really,
The scenes with Blanche always ended the same way.
Speaker 1 (02:16):
Blanche. Please, we've been over all this time and time again.
Speaker 4 (02:20):
Yes, yes we have, Chris.
Speaker 3 (02:23):
What good has it done?
Speaker 4 (02:24):
You never think of me?
Speaker 5 (02:25):
Really?
Speaker 4 (02:25):
What I gave up to marry you. I would have
had a lot of things.
Speaker 6 (02:28):
Chris, But no, no, I had to marry an unambitious
English professor, Blanche, A professor who writes second rate poetry
on the side.
Speaker 4 (02:35):
That's enough, is it?
Speaker 6 (02:38):
Every time I've suggested that you give up this, this dreary.
Speaker 5 (02:41):
Little job at the LA, should weave you alone?
Speaker 4 (02:43):
Please?
Speaker 2 (02:48):
Yes, Chris, Perhaps to prevent the bad dream it started
that unpleasant scene of Blanche, Like so many that had
gone on before, scenes had left you empty, miserable, sitting
in your study, oblivious to everything except the vague wish
who usually had at times like this that things would
somehow straighten themselves out. You hadn't heard the doorbell, and
(03:11):
then you saw a Blanche and your old friend Neil
Baldwin standing in front of you.
Speaker 1 (03:15):
A haha, hello Neil, this is a surprise. How are
you fine?
Speaker 5 (03:20):
Fine?
Speaker 1 (03:21):
Well, it's good to see again, Neil said, come on,
so thank you, but just for a few minutes. Well
let me see now, I haven't seen you since the
class reunion of I.
Speaker 5 (03:30):
No, no, I guess you have to What are you.
Speaker 1 (03:32):
Doing down here in New Haven? New What's wrong with
New Haven? Nothing?
Speaker 6 (03:36):
Chris thinks it's the world's most fascinating the tropics glance.
Speaker 3 (03:39):
Actually, we've practically been neighbors for quite a while.
Speaker 1 (03:42):
I've been working back and.
Speaker 3 (03:43):
Forth between here and Boston for an investment house, and
in fact I had an apartment just a few blocks away.
Speaker 4 (03:49):
I forgot to tell you, Chris.
Speaker 1 (03:50):
I ran into Neil about six months ago on the street.
Speaker 4 (03:53):
I told him we both loved the visit with you.
Speaker 1 (03:55):
You should have known that, anyway, Chris, I did. It
wasn't that I didn't want to see you. I've been busy.
Now I'm just stopping in to say goodbye. Goodbye. Yeah,
I haven't seen you in nearly a year, and you're
saying goodbye. Where are you going? Well, New York right now?
And then South America? South America. Oh, that's wonderful Meal
business trip.
Speaker 3 (04:14):
No, Chris, No, I guess my business days are over.
I had a talk with my doctor last month and
it's either take it easy or else. So I'm gonna
take my little money I've saved go down to South America,
where I don't know a soul and.
Speaker 1 (04:28):
Loaf for the rest of my life. Well, I'm sorry
to hear about your health, Neil, but the trip sounds wonderful.
Speaker 4 (04:34):
When you're leaving, Plain leaves late this afternoon.
Speaker 1 (04:41):
A sudden impulse, wasn't it, Chris.
Speaker 2 (04:44):
Perhaps you hope that would straighten things out between you
and Blanche, just getting away from her overnight.
Speaker 1 (04:50):
Quickly you run.
Speaker 2 (04:51):
Upstairs to throw a few things in your bag, and later,
as you're driving Meal down the coast toward New York,
sig you're at Chris.
Speaker 1 (05:00):
No, Oh thanks, Oh oh, thing's been going for you? Chris?
Speaker 4 (05:08):
Oh pretty well, pretty well, Hey.
Speaker 1 (05:12):
Look, hord Man, I know it's out of my business.
But you know you seem quite worried. Worried, No, I'm
not worried, not really, I guess not really. You can't
(05:33):
very well tell Neil the truth, can you?
Speaker 4 (05:35):
Chris?
Speaker 2 (05:36):
Tell him that you and Blanche are unhappy that you
haven't done anything about it.
Speaker 4 (05:40):
Because you're sure she needs you.
Speaker 1 (05:42):
No, you can't tell Neil you'd.
Speaker 4 (05:44):
Like to call it all because you hardly dare tell yourself. Later,
after you park your car in.
Speaker 2 (05:51):
The garage and check in at the New York Hotel,
you leave Neil stretched out comfortably on your bed, cigarette
smoke curling from his nostril. You go on to the
quaint little restaurant in the village that doesn't seem to
help you sit there, hardly touching the food or the wine.
Speaker 1 (06:09):
Finally, you leave, drive.
Speaker 2 (06:11):
Back to the hotel, park your car and start down
the block with Neil's briefcase tucked under your arm. It
isn't until you're almost to the hotel entrance you noticed
the white ambulance driving away, the excited crowd telling about
the policeman keeping them back here here here?
Speaker 1 (06:29):
Where are you going out of my room? What's the matter? Off?
Speaker 2 (06:33):
She had?
Speaker 3 (06:33):
There's been a fire upstairs on the hawkshair with fire
or wasn't seventh floor? Seventh floor, that's right, lieutenant said,
a man went to sleep while smoking in bed. He's dead,
all right, folks, now let's clear the get ridge.
Speaker 1 (06:45):
Come on, come un men and he's dead. The officers,
who wasn't? And who was he?
Speaker 5 (06:52):
The man who?
Speaker 1 (06:53):
Oh?
Speaker 3 (06:54):
Well, the CLIQ said it was a man named Daggielans,
Christopher Daggiels, you just checked it a.
Speaker 1 (06:59):
Couple of hours ago. It's a terrible shock, is mc Chris?
Speaker 2 (07:04):
Your friend Neil Baldwin burned to death in your hotel room,
and you stand in the street with Neil's briefcase under
your arms, staring emptily at the window on the seventh floor.
Speaker 5 (07:16):
They all think you were dead, don't.
Speaker 2 (07:18):
They, Chris, Yes, Christopher Daniels no longer exists. Somehow you'll
find your way back to your car.
Speaker 4 (07:31):
You remember opening the briefcase, looking at the papers.
Speaker 2 (07:34):
A ticket is for Bermuda instead of South America, Bermuda
Flite eleven. And you have Neil's papers, his luggage, a
reservation at the Crystal Beach Hotel. And there's something else too,
an envelope with money in a lot of money.
Speaker 4 (07:51):
Mister Neil Baldwin. Please report to.
Speaker 1 (07:54):
The reservation's desk immediately.
Speaker 4 (07:56):
Mister Baldwin.
Speaker 1 (07:57):
Please.
Speaker 2 (07:58):
The next thing you know, you're at the airport, standing
in the waiting room by the magazine company.
Speaker 4 (08:03):
Light eleven leaving for Bermuda.
Speaker 3 (08:06):
All aboard, please, mister Neil Baldwin.
Speaker 4 (08:10):
Please report to the reservation's death immediately. Mister Baldwin.
Speaker 3 (08:14):
Please name, Please.
Speaker 4 (08:29):
Your name, sir? What your name?
Speaker 1 (08:33):
Please?
Speaker 4 (08:36):
Baldwin, Neil Baldwin.
Speaker 2 (08:55):
It's a long way from New Haven to Bermuda, isn't it, Chris,
And it's too late to turn and now you don't
want to turn back.
Speaker 4 (09:03):
No, you've managed to put your past out.
Speaker 2 (09:05):
Of your mind with the help of Dorothy Gilbert. Yes,
it was on the plane trip to Bermuda that you
met her, and the two of you hit it off
right from the start. You sensed instinctively that the two
of you had a lot in common.
Speaker 4 (09:19):
He felt a pleasant glow and she smiled.
Speaker 2 (09:22):
Finally, there's the arrival itself, the beautiful green island of
Bermuda looming up in a turquoise sea. You check in
at the Crystal Beach Hotel, register as Neil Baulo, and later,
in one of the quaint horse drawn surreys, you ride
over to Belmont Manor, where Dorothy is stayed. They're excited,
(09:42):
aren't you, Chris, like a schoolboy on his first date.
Speaker 1 (09:46):
Hi.
Speaker 4 (09:47):
I didn't expect to see so soon.
Speaker 1 (09:49):
I couldn't wait. Dorothy, Are you ready? Come along my carriage?
Awaits smile Neil, m oh, yes, that's me.
Speaker 6 (10:17):
I was just thinking, I can see already.
Speaker 2 (10:19):
I'd like to stay on here a lot longer than a.
Speaker 4 (10:22):
Three week fa case. H.
Speaker 6 (10:25):
I think I'd like to stay here for a long
time now, so.
Speaker 4 (10:30):
Would I Dorothy a long time.
Speaker 2 (10:39):
It was like a faint discord, a cloud passing over.
Speaker 4 (10:43):
The sun when she called you, Niel, wasn't it Chris?
Seems so unnatural?
Speaker 1 (10:47):
It made you realize you were really.
Speaker 2 (10:49):
Chris Daniels from New Haven, an English professor with a
wife named Blanche.
Speaker 1 (10:54):
Yes, for a moment, Blanche is.
Speaker 4 (10:55):
Back in your mind, but it's only for a moment.
Speaker 2 (10:58):
She fades out again, and you're busy showing Dorothy Crystal
Beach the Pink Sands, making plans for the future. That evening,
you're dancing at the Ace of Clubs, have a.
Speaker 6 (11:15):
Wonderful idea to come here here?
Speaker 1 (11:18):
You like him? Really?
Speaker 4 (11:21):
I love it?
Speaker 1 (11:24):
Why didn't you tell me you dance like it?
Speaker 4 (11:27):
Oh? I guess I didn't know I could. Mm hm
new m. Do you know that man over there? Hear
the bar man? Which one so short, heavy set man.
Speaker 3 (11:54):
He seems to be looking at him?
Speaker 4 (11:56):
No, I don't know him.
Speaker 5 (11:57):
You do?
Speaker 1 (11:57):
Why he's probably not looking though, and he's looking at you, Dorothy.
I don't blame him.
Speaker 4 (12:05):
You're talking mighty pretty mister. Maybe that's because you're so pretty,
miss oh Neil. You are, Dorothy, the fact you're beautiful?
Speaker 7 (12:16):
No, none, But I'm glad you think I am.
Speaker 1 (12:27):
Well.
Speaker 2 (12:27):
Chris, there's no doubt in your mind about what's happening
to you and Dorothy.
Speaker 4 (12:32):
It's all very simple.
Speaker 2 (12:34):
You're certain she's in love with you, and you're in
love with Berret. Yes, for the first time in your life,
you're in love. But the cloud's over the sun again.
This time it won't go away. This whole thing is unfair,
isn't it unfair to Dorothy, unfair to Blanche. Now you've
got to make another decision. You're still thinking about it
(12:56):
as you take Dorothy back.
Speaker 4 (12:58):
To Belmont manor and return to your hotel. Hell.
Speaker 2 (13:01):
Then as you walk into the lobby, the desk clerk
gives you something else to think.
Speaker 1 (13:05):
About her, mister Baldwin.
Speaker 4 (13:06):
Mister Baldwin, Yes, that's what it is.
Speaker 3 (13:08):
A message for you, sir, came while you were out
for a message telephone call from New York.
Speaker 1 (13:13):
I took it myself. It was from your wife.
Speaker 3 (13:15):
Missus Baldwin said to expect sometime within the next few days.
Speaker 4 (13:23):
You hadn't counted on anything like this, had you, Chris.
Neil had never mentioned.
Speaker 1 (13:27):
His wife to you.
Speaker 4 (13:28):
You had no idea he was married. But you're not
too surprised.
Speaker 2 (13:32):
Neil was always close mouthed, seldom talking about himself. Yet
it does seem strange he didn't mention his wife, doesn't it.
Now it's past wondering about Neil is dead and you're
using his name, and Missus Baldwin will be arriving in
a few days. You're trembling as you turn away from
the desk clerk and start for the stairs.
Speaker 3 (13:52):
And then, oh, mister Baldwin, one morphee, Yes, I almost
forgot to tell you. There was a man here early
in the evening asking about you. Oh well, well, he
wont but he didn't say. I thought you'd gone over
to the Ace of Clubs. We looked like oh War
blue suit rather short, heavy set man as I remember.
Speaker 2 (14:13):
Yes, Chris, it's the short man again, the man who
was staring at you tonight when you were dancing with
Dorothy at the Ace of Clubs.
Speaker 4 (14:21):
You are certainly's following you, watch you. Perhaps he's from
the police. You wonder if he knows the truth about you.
Speaker 1 (14:28):
Hurry up to your room.
Speaker 4 (14:30):
There's little sleep for you that night.
Speaker 2 (14:32):
Pressurous building, isn't it, Chris, and the strain on you
begins to show the next evening at dinner, Neil.
Speaker 4 (14:44):
What's the matter?
Speaker 1 (14:45):
The matter nothing, Dorothy, all.
Speaker 6 (14:52):
Evening you've been acting soon.
Speaker 4 (14:54):
So strangely you're worried?
Speaker 1 (14:58):
What is it? Neil? Dorothy, I I gonna have to
trust on me, although you have no reason to. I
must admit I.
Speaker 6 (15:07):
Do trust your Neil, and I've got a good reason too,
being in love with you.
Speaker 4 (15:12):
With a good reason.
Speaker 1 (15:15):
Let's get out of here, Dorothy.
Speaker 6 (15:17):
Alright, Neil, there's that short man again at the table
near the wall.
Speaker 4 (15:26):
He seems to be Don't look around, Dorothy, just keep walking.
Speaker 1 (15:30):
Yes, Neil of course, Like, if you don't.
Speaker 5 (15:37):
Mind, I think I'd better take you back.
Speaker 1 (15:39):
To your hotel.
Speaker 6 (15:40):
Neil, that man, Uh is he? What's bothering you?
Speaker 1 (15:43):
Well, he's he, He's part of it.
Speaker 6 (15:45):
He's been following you, haven't he.
Speaker 5 (15:46):
Uh?
Speaker 4 (15:48):
Are you in trouble, Neil.
Speaker 1 (15:50):
Yes, Dorothy, I'm in trouble.
Speaker 2 (15:59):
You take Dorothy back to the Belmont Manor and leave
her with that hurt, puzzled look in her eyes, the
look you'd give anything to smooth away. Then you go
back to your hotel and as you enter the lobby,
the desk clerk calls to you, Oh.
Speaker 3 (16:13):
Mister Baldwin, Yes, there was another telephone call for you
an hour ago from the York New York.
Speaker 1 (16:19):
Yes, sir, from missus Baldwin.
Speaker 4 (16:22):
What did she say? She was able to get plain reservations.
Speaker 3 (16:25):
She'll arrive at the airport tomorrow morning, eight thirty.
Speaker 2 (16:33):
You run blindly out of the hotel unto the night.
Finally you find yourself on the road leading to the
Belmont Manor. Yes, the Belmont Manor and Dorothy. Because you've
finally made your decision. You've decided to tell Dorothy everything,
and you too, your life with blanks, your unhappiness, the
madness that seized you when you discovered Neil was dead
(16:54):
and that everyone thought it was you. How you struggle
with your conscience and your conscience finally what Yes? You
pour out the whole agonizing story to Dorothy there on
the beach, and the sun has come up before you finish.
Speaker 7 (17:11):
Chris, Ah, I like the name much better than Meal.
Speaker 4 (17:16):
It it suits you more, Darling.
Speaker 1 (17:21):
I'm going back to branch Dorothy. I should have known
I couldn't leave him.
Speaker 3 (17:26):
No, They're just not built that way.
Speaker 6 (17:31):
I guess that's why I feel as I do toward you.
Speaker 4 (17:33):
It isn't that I want to, It's just a but
I know she needs me. Of course she doesn't. Don't
worry about it. We just remember how nice.
Speaker 6 (17:41):
Everything was for a little while.
Speaker 4 (17:44):
Things we want you just can't have.
Speaker 1 (17:47):
Why did I have to hurt you though you didn't
hurt me?
Speaker 4 (17:49):
Chris?
Speaker 6 (17:49):
I wait?
Speaker 1 (17:55):
When are you leaving right away? I guess I I
don't know how I stand.
Speaker 5 (18:02):
With the law.
Speaker 1 (18:02):
I'll I'll find out when I get back. I suppose
I don't think I've done anything criminal. I've just been
a a fool.
Speaker 4 (18:11):
What about missus Boldwin I don't.
Speaker 1 (18:13):
Know, Dorothy. When I get back to my room, I'll
write her a letter telling what's happened and leave Neo's
money and papers with it for her. It's not exactly
the brave thing to do, I suppose, but I just
can't face her.
Speaker 4 (18:26):
Well, Chris, I I guess you'd better be going.
Speaker 1 (18:28):
Yes, Dorothy, I can't ask you to forget her, forgive.
Too much has happened, I know, But I hope that well, time, time,
you know, time will help a lot of Chris.
Speaker 4 (18:38):
It always does with everyone.
Speaker 3 (18:40):
And someday, who knows, perhaps.
Speaker 1 (18:42):
Things will be different. Oh, Dorothy, I I do love you, Dorothy,
I always will.
Speaker 2 (18:51):
I know you do.
Speaker 1 (18:54):
Goodbye, don't anything.
Speaker 4 (19:01):
It's all over now, isn't it, Chris? And there's nothing
left to do but go back to your hotel, write
the note to.
Speaker 1 (19:07):
Leave for Neil's wife, and then.
Speaker 5 (19:09):
Buy your ticket back to the.
Speaker 4 (19:10):
United States, back the New Haven and Blanche. But it's
not as easy as it sounds, is it.
Speaker 2 (19:16):
Writing the letter to missus Baldwin is not easy. There's
a lot of explaining to do. You're so engrossed in
a letter that you don't hear the door behind you closed. Softly.
You don't see this short, heavy set man walk silently
across the room and stand looking over your shoulder. Oh,
why what are.
Speaker 5 (19:36):
You writ in the confession?
Speaker 1 (19:38):
Who are you? What do you want?
Speaker 3 (19:40):
I'm Jim Mason, private detective, and I think you'll know
what I want. You and I going to have a
nice long talk, brother, because right now you're looking an
awful lot of trouble right in the eye.
Speaker 2 (20:01):
Well, Chris, they finally caught up with you, your little adventure.
Speaker 1 (20:04):
Is it a name?
Speaker 2 (20:06):
Your first decision to use Neil's name run away from
home was a bad one must and your second decision.
Speaker 5 (20:12):
To go back looks like you made that one.
Speaker 1 (20:15):
A little too late, because now.
Speaker 2 (20:17):
No one will ever believe you really were going back.
There's only one thing to do, one thing you know
how to do, and that's to tell Meson the whole story,
just as you told it to Dorothy.
Speaker 1 (20:29):
And that's what you do.
Speaker 4 (20:31):
You give Mason the whole story.
Speaker 1 (20:33):
It's sort of a wild tale in person.
Speaker 4 (20:36):
I know it must sound.
Speaker 1 (20:37):
So, But you can prove you're not Neil Baldwin. Yes, yes,
of course, then you're a lucky guy. Lucky a doe.
Speaker 5 (20:45):
Baldwin had a twelve thousand me told you.
Speaker 1 (20:47):
He saved up to retire on h the embezzl that
from the company he worked for. They sent me down
here after him. Hey, you still have the dough. Yes,
it's over there in the briefcase. I haven't touched it
except for what I've spen since i've been here, which
I can replace. H you are a lucky guy getting
my doll backs all the companies interested in so far
(21:07):
as I'm concerned, you can go your way.
Speaker 4 (21:09):
Oh thanks, Now, what are you gonna do?
Speaker 1 (21:12):
Go back? Yes, it's the only decent thing I can do.
Speaker 5 (21:16):
Eh.
Speaker 3 (21:18):
Now, you're not quite out of the woods yet. I
guess you are a missus Balling backs up for your
story that you're not Neil Ball. Wait a minute, she's
right outside, All right, missus Ball.
Speaker 6 (21:29):
You come on in them, Neil Darling, Why didn't you
meet me there port.
Speaker 4 (21:34):
Chris Blanche? But I I thought you I thought you.
Speaker 1 (21:39):
Were I was what Blanche? I thought you thought I
died in that hotel fire instead of Neil. You thought
he'd be here waiting for you with the money he stole.
Now you had it all planned, didn't you. You you
knew he stole it, didn't you, Branch. Yes, yes, but
you've been meeting him for a long time, haven't you. Well,
(22:00):
And all the time I was torturing myself thinking that
you needed me, chrisp.
Speaker 4 (22:06):
Our life was so drabbed. I I couldn't help it.
Speaker 6 (22:09):
I wanted to travel, enjoy living.
Speaker 4 (22:12):
Neil offered me these things.
Speaker 1 (22:13):
So you decided to run out on me and meet
Neil down here on stolen money.
Speaker 4 (22:18):
It wouldn't have been running out on you.
Speaker 6 (22:20):
You would have been happier too, h You could have
gotten a divorce, possibly found someone you would have been
happier with later on.
Speaker 4 (22:27):
Yes, Yes, that's true, isn't it.
Speaker 1 (22:30):
You know you're coming down here to meet Neil who
kept me from making an awful mistake, losing something that
means more to me than anything in the world.
Speaker 4 (22:38):
Right, I don't understand. You don't have to, Blanche. It
doesn't concern you anymore. Just me.
Speaker 1 (22:45):
I'm someone over at Belmont Manor I'm going over there
right now the Whistler. Listen next week when once again
(23:06):
the United States Air Forces in Europe present the Whistler
I am the whistler, and I know many things. For
I walk by night. I know many strange tales hidden
in the hearts of men and women who have stepped
into the shadows.
Speaker 2 (00:33):
Yeah, I know the nameless terrors of which they dare
not speak.
Speaker 3 (00:44):
And now the Whistler's strange story impulse.
Speaker 2 (00:55):
The crowd in the waiting room of the New York
Airport hardly noticed the small, slim man on the trench
coat standing.
Speaker 4 (01:02):
Near the magazine Common.
Speaker 2 (01:04):
The few who gave him a passing glance certainly had
no way of guessing what was going through his mind
at the moment, for his face betrayed no sign of
the struggle it raged within him. Christopher Daniels, Professor of English,
was striving to reach a decision, a very important decision.
At this moment, he had reached the crossroad. He had
(01:24):
a choice to make.
Speaker 5 (01:26):
He could go on living his own.
Speaker 4 (01:27):
Dull life, or a new life the light of another man,
mister Neil Baldwin, a.
Speaker 2 (01:33):
Man whose name was now being called over the public
address system.
Speaker 1 (01:37):
Mister Neil Baldwin, please report of the.
Speaker 5 (01:40):
Reservation's desk immediately.
Speaker 2 (01:42):
Mister Baldwin's please Suddenly, Christopher Daniels shivered. This unbelievable, unexpected
chance had come so suddenly it almost seemed like a dream. Yes,
a dream which had reached its climax that afternoon in
his room at the hotel Tell. Perhaps it had really
started this morning at his home in New Haven, that
(02:05):
unpleasant scene with his wife Blanche. He'd forgotten what had
brought it. All on money, His job didn't matter. Really,
The scenes with Blanche always ended the same way.
Speaker 1 (02:16):
Blanche. Please, we've been over all this time and time again.
Speaker 4 (02:20):
Yes, yes we have, Chris.
Speaker 3 (02:23):
What good has it done?
Speaker 4 (02:24):
You never think of me?
Speaker 5 (02:25):
Really?
Speaker 4 (02:25):
What I gave up to marry you. I would have
had a lot of things.
Speaker 6 (02:28):
Chris, But no, no, I had to marry an unambitious
English professor, Blanche, A professor who writes second rate poetry
on the side.
Speaker 4 (02:35):
That's enough, is it?
Speaker 6 (02:38):
Every time I've suggested that you give up this, this dreary.
Speaker 5 (02:41):
Little job at the LA, should weave you alone?
Speaker 4 (02:43):
Please?
Speaker 2 (02:48):
Yes, Chris, Perhaps to prevent the bad dream it started
that unpleasant scene of Blanche, Like so many that had
gone on before, scenes had left you empty, miserable, sitting
in your study, oblivious to everything except the vague wish
who usually had at times like this that things would
somehow straighten themselves out. You hadn't heard the doorbell, and
(03:11):
then you saw a Blanche and your old friend Neil
Baldwin standing in front of you.
Speaker 1 (03:15):
A haha, hello Neil, this is a surprise. How are
you fine?
Speaker 5 (03:20):
Fine?
Speaker 1 (03:21):
Well, it's good to see again, Neil said, come on,
so thank you, but just for a few minutes. Well
let me see now, I haven't seen you since the
class reunion of I.
Speaker 5 (03:30):
No, no, I guess you have to What are you.
Speaker 1 (03:32):
Doing down here in New Haven? New What's wrong with
New Haven? Nothing?
Speaker 6 (03:36):
Chris thinks it's the world's most fascinating the tropics glance.
Speaker 3 (03:39):
Actually, we've practically been neighbors for quite a while.
Speaker 1 (03:42):
I've been working back and.
Speaker 3 (03:43):
Forth between here and Boston for an investment house, and
in fact I had an apartment just a few blocks away.
Speaker 4 (03:49):
I forgot to tell you, Chris.
Speaker 1 (03:50):
I ran into Neil about six months ago on the street.
Speaker 4 (03:53):
I told him we both loved the visit with you.
Speaker 1 (03:55):
You should have known that, anyway, Chris, I did. It
wasn't that I didn't want to see you. I've been busy.
Now I'm just stopping in to say goodbye. Goodbye. Yeah,
I haven't seen you in nearly a year, and you're
saying goodbye. Where are you going? Well, New York right now?
And then South America? South America. Oh, that's wonderful Meal
business trip.
Speaker 3 (04:14):
No, Chris, No, I guess my business days are over.
I had a talk with my doctor last month and
it's either take it easy or else. So I'm gonna
take my little money I've saved go down to South America,
where I don't know a soul and.
Speaker 1 (04:28):
Loaf for the rest of my life. Well, I'm sorry
to hear about your health, Neil, but the trip sounds wonderful.
Speaker 4 (04:34):
When you're leaving, Plain leaves late this afternoon.
Speaker 1 (04:41):
A sudden impulse, wasn't it, Chris.
Speaker 2 (04:44):
Perhaps you hope that would straighten things out between you
and Blanche, just getting away from her overnight.
Speaker 1 (04:50):
Quickly you run.
Speaker 2 (04:51):
Upstairs to throw a few things in your bag, and later,
as you're driving Meal down the coast toward New York,
sig you're at Chris.
Speaker 1 (05:00):
No, Oh thanks, Oh oh, thing's been going for you? Chris?
Speaker 4 (05:08):
Oh pretty well, pretty well, Hey.
Speaker 1 (05:12):
Look, hord Man, I know it's out of my business.
But you know you seem quite worried. Worried, No, I'm
not worried, not really, I guess not really. You can't
(05:33):
very well tell Neil the truth, can you?
Speaker 4 (05:35):
Chris?
Speaker 2 (05:36):
Tell him that you and Blanche are unhappy that you
haven't done anything about it.
Speaker 4 (05:40):
Because you're sure she needs you.
Speaker 1 (05:42):
No, you can't tell Neil you'd.
Speaker 4 (05:44):
Like to call it all because you hardly dare tell yourself. Later,
after you park your car in.
Speaker 2 (05:51):
The garage and check in at the New York Hotel,
you leave Neil stretched out comfortably on your bed, cigarette
smoke curling from his nostril. You go on to the
quaint little restaurant in the village that doesn't seem to
help you sit there, hardly touching the food or the wine.
Speaker 1 (06:09):
Finally, you leave, drive.
Speaker 2 (06:11):
Back to the hotel, park your car and start down
the block with Neil's briefcase tucked under your arm. It
isn't until you're almost to the hotel entrance you noticed
the white ambulance driving away, the excited crowd telling about
the policeman keeping them back here here here?
Speaker 1 (06:29):
Where are you going out of my room? What's the matter? Off?
Speaker 2 (06:33):
She had?
Speaker 3 (06:33):
There's been a fire upstairs on the hawkshair with fire
or wasn't seventh floor? Seventh floor, that's right, lieutenant said,
a man went to sleep while smoking in bed. He's dead,
all right, folks, now let's clear the get ridge.
Speaker 1 (06:45):
Come on, come un men and he's dead. The officers,
who wasn't? And who was he?
Speaker 5 (06:52):
The man who?
Speaker 1 (06:53):
Oh?
Speaker 3 (06:54):
Well, the CLIQ said it was a man named Daggielans,
Christopher Daggiels, you just checked it a.
Speaker 1 (06:59):
Couple of hours ago. It's a terrible shock, is mc Chris?
Speaker 2 (07:04):
Your friend Neil Baldwin burned to death in your hotel room,
and you stand in the street with Neil's briefcase under
your arms, staring emptily at the window on the seventh floor.
Speaker 5 (07:16):
They all think you were dead, don't.
Speaker 2 (07:18):
They, Chris, Yes, Christopher Daniels no longer exists. Somehow you'll
find your way back to your car.
Speaker 4 (07:31):
You remember opening the briefcase, looking at the papers.
Speaker 2 (07:34):
A ticket is for Bermuda instead of South America, Bermuda
Flite eleven. And you have Neil's papers, his luggage, a
reservation at the Crystal Beach Hotel. And there's something else too,
an envelope with money in a lot of money.
Speaker 4 (07:51):
Mister Neil Baldwin. Please report to.
Speaker 1 (07:54):
The reservation's desk immediately.
Speaker 4 (07:56):
Mister Baldwin.
Speaker 1 (07:57):
Please.
Speaker 2 (07:58):
The next thing you know, you're at the airport, standing
in the waiting room by the magazine company.
Speaker 4 (08:03):
Light eleven leaving for Bermuda.
Speaker 3 (08:06):
All aboard, please, mister Neil Baldwin.
Speaker 4 (08:10):
Please report to the reservation's death immediately. Mister Baldwin.
Speaker 3 (08:14):
Please name, Please.
Speaker 4 (08:29):
Your name, sir? What your name?
Speaker 1 (08:33):
Please?
Speaker 4 (08:36):
Baldwin, Neil Baldwin.
Speaker 2 (08:55):
It's a long way from New Haven to Bermuda, isn't it, Chris,
And it's too late to turn and now you don't
want to turn back.
Speaker 4 (09:03):
No, you've managed to put your past out.
Speaker 2 (09:05):
Of your mind with the help of Dorothy Gilbert. Yes,
it was on the plane trip to Bermuda that you
met her, and the two of you hit it off
right from the start. You sensed instinctively that the two
of you had a lot in common.
Speaker 4 (09:19):
He felt a pleasant glow and she smiled.
Speaker 2 (09:22):
Finally, there's the arrival itself, the beautiful green island of
Bermuda looming up in a turquoise sea. You check in
at the Crystal Beach Hotel, register as Neil Baulo, and later,
in one of the quaint horse drawn surreys, you ride
over to Belmont Manor, where Dorothy is stayed. They're excited,
(09:42):
aren't you, Chris, like a schoolboy on his first date.
Speaker 1 (09:46):
Hi.
Speaker 4 (09:47):
I didn't expect to see so soon.
Speaker 1 (09:49):
I couldn't wait. Dorothy, Are you ready? Come along my carriage?
Awaits smile Neil, m oh, yes, that's me.
Speaker 6 (10:17):
I was just thinking, I can see already.
Speaker 2 (10:19):
I'd like to stay on here a lot longer than a.
Speaker 4 (10:22):
Three week fa case. H.
Speaker 6 (10:25):
I think I'd like to stay here for a long
time now, so.
Speaker 4 (10:30):
Would I Dorothy a long time.
Speaker 2 (10:39):
It was like a faint discord, a cloud passing over.
Speaker 4 (10:43):
The sun when she called you, Niel, wasn't it Chris?
Seems so unnatural?
Speaker 1 (10:47):
It made you realize you were really.
Speaker 2 (10:49):
Chris Daniels from New Haven, an English professor with a
wife named Blanche.
Speaker 1 (10:54):
Yes, for a moment, Blanche is.
Speaker 4 (10:55):
Back in your mind, but it's only for a moment.
Speaker 2 (10:58):
She fades out again, and you're busy showing Dorothy Crystal
Beach the Pink Sands, making plans for the future. That evening,
you're dancing at the Ace of Clubs, have a.
Speaker 6 (11:15):
Wonderful idea to come here here?
Speaker 1 (11:18):
You like him? Really?
Speaker 4 (11:21):
I love it?
Speaker 1 (11:24):
Why didn't you tell me you dance like it?
Speaker 4 (11:27):
Oh? I guess I didn't know I could. Mm hm
new m. Do you know that man over there? Hear
the bar man? Which one so short, heavy set man.
Speaker 3 (11:54):
He seems to be looking at him?
Speaker 4 (11:56):
No, I don't know him.
Speaker 5 (11:57):
You do?
Speaker 1 (11:57):
Why he's probably not looking though, and he's looking at you, Dorothy.
I don't blame him.
Speaker 4 (12:05):
You're talking mighty pretty mister. Maybe that's because you're so pretty,
miss oh Neil. You are, Dorothy, the fact you're beautiful?
Speaker 7 (12:16):
No, none, But I'm glad you think I am.
Speaker 1 (12:27):
Well.
Speaker 2 (12:27):
Chris, there's no doubt in your mind about what's happening
to you and Dorothy.
Speaker 4 (12:32):
It's all very simple.
Speaker 2 (12:34):
You're certain she's in love with you, and you're in
love with Berret. Yes, for the first time in your life,
you're in love. But the cloud's over the sun again.
This time it won't go away. This whole thing is unfair,
isn't it unfair to Dorothy, unfair to Blanche. Now you've
got to make another decision. You're still thinking about it
(12:56):
as you take Dorothy back.
Speaker 4 (12:58):
To Belmont manor and return to your hotel. Hell.
Speaker 2 (13:01):
Then as you walk into the lobby, the desk clerk
gives you something else to think.
Speaker 1 (13:05):
About her, mister Baldwin.
Speaker 4 (13:06):
Mister Baldwin, Yes, that's what it is.
Speaker 3 (13:08):
A message for you, sir, came while you were out
for a message telephone call from New York.
Speaker 1 (13:13):
I took it myself. It was from your wife.
Speaker 3 (13:15):
Missus Baldwin said to expect sometime within the next few days.
Speaker 4 (13:23):
You hadn't counted on anything like this, had you, Chris.
Neil had never mentioned.
Speaker 1 (13:27):
His wife to you.
Speaker 4 (13:28):
You had no idea he was married. But you're not
too surprised.
Speaker 2 (13:32):
Neil was always close mouthed, seldom talking about himself. Yet
it does seem strange he didn't mention his wife, doesn't it.
Now it's past wondering about Neil is dead and you're
using his name, and Missus Baldwin will be arriving in
a few days. You're trembling as you turn away from
the desk clerk and start for the stairs.
Speaker 3 (13:52):
And then, oh, mister Baldwin, one morphee, Yes, I almost
forgot to tell you. There was a man here early
in the evening asking about you. Oh well, well, he
wont but he didn't say. I thought you'd gone over
to the Ace of Clubs. We looked like oh War
blue suit rather short, heavy set man as I remember.
Speaker 2 (14:13):
Yes, Chris, it's the short man again, the man who
was staring at you tonight when you were dancing with
Dorothy at the Ace of Clubs.
Speaker 4 (14:21):
You are certainly's following you, watch you. Perhaps he's from
the police. You wonder if he knows the truth about you.
Speaker 1 (14:28):
Hurry up to your room.
Speaker 4 (14:30):
There's little sleep for you that night.
Speaker 2 (14:32):
Pressurous building, isn't it, Chris, and the strain on you
begins to show the next evening at dinner, Neil.
Speaker 4 (14:44):
What's the matter?
Speaker 1 (14:45):
The matter nothing, Dorothy, all.
Speaker 6 (14:52):
Evening you've been acting soon.
Speaker 4 (14:54):
So strangely you're worried?
Speaker 1 (14:58):
What is it? Neil? Dorothy, I I gonna have to
trust on me, although you have no reason to. I
must admit I.
Speaker 6 (15:07):
Do trust your Neil, and I've got a good reason too,
being in love with you.
Speaker 4 (15:12):
With a good reason.
Speaker 1 (15:15):
Let's get out of here, Dorothy.
Speaker 6 (15:17):
Alright, Neil, there's that short man again at the table
near the wall.
Speaker 4 (15:26):
He seems to be Don't look around, Dorothy, just keep walking.
Speaker 1 (15:30):
Yes, Neil of course, Like, if you don't.
Speaker 5 (15:37):
Mind, I think I'd better take you back.
Speaker 1 (15:39):
To your hotel.
Speaker 6 (15:40):
Neil, that man, Uh is he? What's bothering you?
Speaker 1 (15:43):
Well, he's he, He's part of it.
Speaker 6 (15:45):
He's been following you, haven't he.
Speaker 5 (15:46):
Uh?
Speaker 4 (15:48):
Are you in trouble, Neil.
Speaker 1 (15:50):
Yes, Dorothy, I'm in trouble.
Speaker 2 (15:59):
You take Dorothy back to the Belmont Manor and leave
her with that hurt, puzzled look in her eyes, the
look you'd give anything to smooth away. Then you go
back to your hotel and as you enter the lobby,
the desk clerk calls to you, Oh.
Speaker 3 (16:13):
Mister Baldwin, Yes, there was another telephone call for you
an hour ago from the York New York.
Speaker 1 (16:19):
Yes, sir, from missus Baldwin.
Speaker 4 (16:22):
What did she say? She was able to get plain reservations.
Speaker 3 (16:25):
She'll arrive at the airport tomorrow morning, eight thirty.
Speaker 2 (16:33):
You run blindly out of the hotel unto the night.
Finally you find yourself on the road leading to the
Belmont Manor. Yes, the Belmont Manor and Dorothy. Because you've
finally made your decision. You've decided to tell Dorothy everything,
and you too, your life with blanks, your unhappiness, the
madness that seized you when you discovered Neil was dead
(16:54):
and that everyone thought it was you. How you struggle
with your conscience and your conscience finally what Yes? You
pour out the whole agonizing story to Dorothy there on
the beach, and the sun has come up before you finish.
Speaker 7 (17:11):
Chris, Ah, I like the name much better than Meal.
Speaker 4 (17:16):
It it suits you more, Darling.
Speaker 1 (17:21):
I'm going back to branch Dorothy. I should have known
I couldn't leave him.
Speaker 3 (17:26):
No, They're just not built that way.
Speaker 6 (17:31):
I guess that's why I feel as I do toward you.
Speaker 4 (17:33):
It isn't that I want to, It's just a but
I know she needs me. Of course she doesn't. Don't
worry about it. We just remember how nice.
Speaker 6 (17:41):
Everything was for a little while.
Speaker 4 (17:44):
Things we want you just can't have.
Speaker 1 (17:47):
Why did I have to hurt you though you didn't
hurt me?
Speaker 4 (17:49):
Chris?
Speaker 6 (17:49):
I wait?
Speaker 1 (17:55):
When are you leaving right away? I guess I I
don't know how I stand.
Speaker 5 (18:02):
With the law.
Speaker 1 (18:02):
I'll I'll find out when I get back. I suppose
I don't think I've done anything criminal. I've just been
a a fool.
Speaker 4 (18:11):
What about missus Boldwin I don't.
Speaker 1 (18:13):
Know, Dorothy. When I get back to my room, I'll
write her a letter telling what's happened and leave Neo's
money and papers with it for her. It's not exactly
the brave thing to do, I suppose, but I just
can't face her.
Speaker 4 (18:26):
Well, Chris, I I guess you'd better be going.
Speaker 1 (18:28):
Yes, Dorothy, I can't ask you to forget her, forgive.
Too much has happened, I know, But I hope that well, time, time,
you know, time will help a lot of Chris.
Speaker 4 (18:38):
It always does with everyone.
Speaker 3 (18:40):
And someday, who knows, perhaps.
Speaker 1 (18:42):
Things will be different. Oh, Dorothy, I I do love you, Dorothy,
I always will.
Speaker 2 (18:51):
I know you do.
Speaker 1 (18:54):
Goodbye, don't anything.
Speaker 4 (19:01):
It's all over now, isn't it, Chris? And there's nothing
left to do but go back to your hotel, write
the note to.
Speaker 1 (19:07):
Leave for Neil's wife, and then.
Speaker 5 (19:09):
Buy your ticket back to the.
Speaker 4 (19:10):
United States, back the New Haven and Blanche. But it's
not as easy as it sounds, is it.
Speaker 2 (19:16):
Writing the letter to missus Baldwin is not easy. There's
a lot of explaining to do. You're so engrossed in
a letter that you don't hear the door behind you closed. Softly.
You don't see this short, heavy set man walk silently
across the room and stand looking over your shoulder. Oh,
why what are.
Speaker 5 (19:36):
You writ in the confession?
Speaker 1 (19:38):
Who are you? What do you want?
Speaker 3 (19:40):
I'm Jim Mason, private detective, and I think you'll know
what I want. You and I going to have a
nice long talk, brother, because right now you're looking an
awful lot of trouble right in the eye.
Speaker 2 (20:01):
Well, Chris, they finally caught up with you, your little adventure.
Speaker 1 (20:04):
Is it a name?
Speaker 2 (20:06):
Your first decision to use Neil's name run away from
home was a bad one must and your second decision.
Speaker 5 (20:12):
To go back looks like you made that one.
Speaker 1 (20:15):
A little too late, because now.
Speaker 2 (20:17):
No one will ever believe you really were going back.
There's only one thing to do, one thing you know
how to do, and that's to tell Meson the whole story,
just as you told it to Dorothy.
Speaker 1 (20:29):
And that's what you do.
Speaker 4 (20:31):
You give Mason the whole story.
Speaker 1 (20:33):
It's sort of a wild tale in person.
Speaker 4 (20:36):
I know it must sound.
Speaker 1 (20:37):
So, But you can prove you're not Neil Baldwin. Yes, yes,
of course, then you're a lucky guy. Lucky a doe.
Speaker 5 (20:45):
Baldwin had a twelve thousand me told you.
Speaker 1 (20:47):
He saved up to retire on h the embezzl that
from the company he worked for. They sent me down
here after him. Hey, you still have the dough. Yes,
it's over there in the briefcase. I haven't touched it
except for what I've spen since i've been here, which
I can replace. H you are a lucky guy getting
my doll backs all the companies interested in so far
(21:07):
as I'm concerned, you can go your way.
Speaker 4 (21:09):
Oh thanks, Now, what are you gonna do?
Speaker 1 (21:12):
Go back? Yes, it's the only decent thing I can do.
Speaker 5 (21:16):
Eh.
Speaker 3 (21:18):
Now, you're not quite out of the woods yet. I
guess you are a missus Balling backs up for your
story that you're not Neil Ball. Wait a minute, she's
right outside, All right, missus Ball.
Speaker 6 (21:29):
You come on in them, Neil Darling, Why didn't you
meet me there port.
Speaker 4 (21:34):
Chris Blanche? But I I thought you I thought you.
Speaker 1 (21:39):
Were I was what Blanche? I thought you thought I
died in that hotel fire instead of Neil. You thought
he'd be here waiting for you with the money he stole.
Now you had it all planned, didn't you. You you
knew he stole it, didn't you, Branch. Yes, yes, but
you've been meeting him for a long time, haven't you. Well,
(22:00):
And all the time I was torturing myself thinking that
you needed me, chrisp.
Speaker 4 (22:06):
Our life was so drabbed. I I couldn't help it.
Speaker 6 (22:09):
I wanted to travel, enjoy living.
Speaker 4 (22:12):
Neil offered me these things.
Speaker 1 (22:13):
So you decided to run out on me and meet
Neil down here on stolen money.
Speaker 4 (22:18):
It wouldn't have been running out on you.
Speaker 6 (22:20):
You would have been happier too, h You could have
gotten a divorce, possibly found someone you would have been
happier with later on.
Speaker 4 (22:27):
Yes, Yes, that's true, isn't it.
Speaker 1 (22:30):
You know you're coming down here to meet Neil who
kept me from making an awful mistake, losing something that
means more to me than anything in the world.
Speaker 4 (22:38):
Right, I don't understand. You don't have to, Blanche. It
doesn't concern you anymore. Just me.
Speaker 1 (22:45):
I'm someone over at Belmont Manor I'm going over there
right now the Whistler. Listen next week when once again
(23:06):
the United States Air Forces in Europe present the Whistler
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