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Speaker 1: Old Time Radio and the Kindle Store. Now it's time
Speaker 1: for today's episode of Dragnet. The original air at eight
Speaker 1: November the second of nineteen fifty two, and this is
Speaker 1: the big light.
Speaker 2: Ladies and gentlemen, the story you were about to hear
Speaker 2: is true. The names have been changed to protect the innocent.
Speaker 2: You're a detective sergeant. You're assigned a homicide detail. You
Speaker 2: receive a call that a fatal accident has occurred at
Speaker 2: a Hollywood Motion picture studio. Your job investigate.
Speaker 3: Dragnet. The document a drama of an actual crime. For
Speaker 3: the next thirty minutes, in cooperation with the Los Angeles
Speaker 3: Police Department, you will travel step by step on the
Speaker 3: side of the law through an actual case transcribed from
Speaker 3: official police violence, from beginning to end, from crime to punishment.
Speaker 3: Dragnet is the story of your police force in action.
Speaker 4: It was Friday, August fifth. It was warm in Los Angeles.
Speaker 4: We were working to day watch out a homicide detail.
Speaker 4: My partner is Frank Smith. The boss's captain Mormon. My
Speaker 4: name is Friday. It was two twenty five pm when
Speaker 4: we got to the Winton Picture Studios Stage two. Better
Speaker 4: check the guard over there, you know, yes, helping police
Speaker 4: officers about the accident. Where do we find mister Adams.
Speaker 5: Oh, yeah, I should look for you. See. I saw
Speaker 5: him around here a minute ago. M Oh, there he
Speaker 5: is over there by that office.
Speaker 6: See him and won the blue suit on with the
Speaker 6: gray hair.
Speaker 4: Yeah, thank you very much.
Speaker 6: All right, I know all you gonna check with the
Speaker 6: office that they can come up with an idea.
Speaker 2: I'll go for it.
Speaker 6: All I know is that we got to have this
Speaker 6: tuck you finished?
Speaker 4: Yeah, yeah, so you want yes you Gerald Adam, that's right.
Speaker 4: Police officers, all right?
Speaker 7: D Card Oh yeah, Friday, huh yes, it's my partner,
Speaker 7: Frank Smith.
Speaker 6: Hi, how much you know about this?
Speaker 4: Well? Doctor down at Georgia Street told us that Henry
Speaker 4: Wilson had an accident as.
Speaker 6: A right, Yeah, yeah here was a director?
Speaker 4: What she thought he was? I wonder if we could
Speaker 4: see where the accident happened.
Speaker 6: Yeah, sure, I're on stage one, just across the way.
Speaker 6: Hold on, man, will you I'd like to talk to
Speaker 6: Sam for a minute, try to get things organized here,
Speaker 6: to get things moving in Yeah right here, just wait
Speaker 6: here on the right back.
Speaker 4: Okay, buy the place, un Joe. Yeah, a lot of room,
Speaker 4: it's big stage in there. Yeah. You know all this
Speaker 4: the average person doesn't stop thinking about it. What's that?
Speaker 4: You know?
Speaker 7: Sal lays out eighty five cents to a movie. Ever
Speaker 7: thinks about all the people, all the equipment goes into
Speaker 7: making it possible.
Speaker 5: Yeah, and it's haorry to keep your way.
Speaker 4: Terrible thing.
Speaker 6: We're twelve days behind schedule. Now, this was probably not
Speaker 6: a couple more days off. Exects gonna scream like an
Speaker 6: ego when he sees what this hops has cost here
Speaker 6: right through his story right ones right over there.
Speaker 4: Yeah, sir, what if you'd mind filling us in on
Speaker 4: this thing? Yeah? Sure?
Speaker 6: What can I do to help?
Speaker 4: Well, if you can't tell us how the body was found,
Speaker 4: who found it, how the accident occurred.
Speaker 6: Well, as near as I can figure, it must have
Speaker 6: happened about twelve ten twelve fifteen, crowd rug for lunch
Speaker 6: some more over the commissary I came down from the
Speaker 6: office and want to talk to Henry about tomorrow's schedule.
Speaker 6: One try to change some of the shots, you know,
Speaker 6: make them more simple. He wasn't in the lunch room,
Speaker 6: so I went ahead and had lunch about let's see,
Speaker 6: I think he was about twelve forty eleven's a greenery
Speaker 6: man came in told me he'd found Henry's body. A
Speaker 6: lamp had fallen on him. John fool yellows all out
Speaker 6: that everybody in the place hurt him. I see, well,
Speaker 6: I came right over first, looked like Henry was dead.
Speaker 6: He'd lost a lot of blood. Called his false found
Speaker 6: out he was still alive. That's when I had the
Speaker 6: ambulance called here we are right, yeah, thank you, we're
Speaker 6: here with the boss said.
Speaker 4: Yeah.
Speaker 6: At the time, those big doors were open. The green
Speaker 6: men were putting in this shrubbery here. After I found
Speaker 6: out about the accident, I had the doors closed so
Speaker 6: people wouldn't be roaming in and out.
Speaker 4: All the doors usually left open.
Speaker 6: Usually I when there's no shooting on the stage when
Speaker 6: we're using it, their closes. All right, here's where he
Speaker 6: was found. You can see the lamp, but the sun
Speaker 6: arc must to hit him right about here, poor guy.
Speaker 4: Is that where the lamp fell from up there?
Speaker 6: Yeah? Yeah, there you can see on the scaffolding where
Speaker 6: it was between the babies and space there.
Speaker 4: Who puts the lamps up there?
Speaker 6: Well, it's in the gaffers department.
Speaker 4: He's in charge of me. What if we could talk
Speaker 4: to him?
Speaker 6: Yeah, sure, he's over on two alcohol.
Speaker 4: Thank you.
Speaker 7: Big lamp huh yeah, sure, Spanish step in it. St
Speaker 7: thing must weigh a couple hundred pounds.
Speaker 4: Yeah, look up there. It's quite a job. Figure, it's
Speaker 4: about forty feet up there. What do you think? Oh? Yeah,
Speaker 4: that anyway, he's way over. What's your position here, mister Adams, I'm.
Speaker 6: Production supervisor you' and augh manager a lot of names
Speaker 6: for it. I try to take care of the running
Speaker 6: of the company as far as this one picture's concerned,
Speaker 6: to make out the budgets, work on the schedule, and
Speaker 6: director or things like that. Really hard say just what
Speaker 6: my job is, so I do a little of everything, Yes, sir,
Speaker 6: you fos from homicide, Yes, sir, that's right. Do you
Speaker 6: think that there's something wrong here? Maybe Henry's accident wasn't
Speaker 6: an accident or something.
Speaker 4: Well, it's just in any death where there isn't a
Speaker 4: doctor in the tenants at the time of death, we
Speaker 4: have a look into. It's just routine.
Speaker 6: I thought the manager might think there was some fishy
Speaker 6: about this. That's all we need. I have murder on us.
Speaker 6: That might as well fold up.
Speaker 5: Ah, hi, Jerry, you want to see me?
Speaker 6: Yeah, Dick. These officers like to ask you a couple
Speaker 6: of questions. Sure, this is mister Friday, mister Smith, Dick
Speaker 6: Patterson our gap.
Speaker 4: Oh yeah, mister Patterson, What.
Speaker 6: Do you want to know?
Speaker 4: Well, mister Adams here tells us that you were in
Speaker 4: charge of installing those lamps. Is that right?
Speaker 5: Yeah, that's right.
Speaker 6: Are you trying to say I had anything to do
Speaker 6: with cousin Henry's death?
Speaker 4: Oh else, you wouldn't say that.
Speaker 5: What are you saying?
Speaker 4: But we're just trying to get the fact straight.
Speaker 6: No need to get upset.
Speaker 5: Well, what are you talking about?
Speaker 6: These cops come in here, Try to make out I
Speaker 6: didn't put those lamps in Rice, not what they said. Well,
Speaker 6: won't you think I feel bad enough? Henry was a
Speaker 6: good friend of mine. We've been together a long time.
Speaker 6: I don't know how the lamp got loose.
Speaker 4: Wonder if we could look at its mounting?
Speaker 6: Sure I wanted to get up there anyway, look at
Speaker 6: it myself. Jerry here said not to touch anything till
Speaker 6: you guys got here.
Speaker 4: Okay, how do we get up there?
Speaker 6: There's a ladder back here at the weirdest stage. I
Speaker 6: can't understand it, mister Friday. I've been hanging last for
Speaker 6: a long time. It's going to the years. First time
Speaker 6: anything like this ever happened. Oh here, it is just
Speaker 6: going up. Okay, watch your step.
Speaker 8: Yeah, you go ahead, Yeah, okay, Yeah, we can get
Speaker 8: there down this way.
Speaker 4: These walks to hang the lights on, do they?
Speaker 2: Yeah?
Speaker 5: You gotta be awfully careful, watch your step. It's a
Speaker 5: long way down.
Speaker 4: Yeah.
Speaker 6: Once in a while, if you want a real high
Speaker 6: shot of scene, we lift the camera up here.
Speaker 5: Mostly though, it's us just for lights. Hear it. I
Speaker 5: you can see there where.
Speaker 4: The light was, yeah, sir, I appreciate it. If you
Speaker 4: didn't touch anything, I just stand back there.
Speaker 5: Sure.
Speaker 4: Yeah, base of the lamp went through this hole.
Speaker 5: Yeah that's right. Yeah, look at the one over there
Speaker 5: the same way.
Speaker 4: Yeah. Do you have anything else securing the lights once
Speaker 4: they're tied down? O, sir.
Speaker 6: Once they're in place the way that the thing itself
Speaker 6: will hold it.
Speaker 4: In other words, you drill this hole, replaced the lamp
Speaker 4: in the hole, and it could It doesn't look like
Speaker 4: a wood is chip, does it. No?
Speaker 6: These scaffolds are pretty new. This stage hasn't been up
Speaker 6: more in a year.
Speaker 7: Well, from what you see, mister Patterson, can you figure
Speaker 7: out how the lamp might have fallen, how it could
Speaker 7: have broken loose?
Speaker 6: I I'll tell you off, sir, Bob. That's my best boy.
Speaker 6: Bob and I were over here last night checking the
Speaker 6: lights in the set. Now, I didn't actually get up
Speaker 6: here myself, but Bob did. He's a good boy, he's
Speaker 6: been around a long time, doesn't make mistakes like this.
Speaker 6: He secured this lamp himself, and I know it was right.
Speaker 4: Well, then if you got any idea how it might
Speaker 4: have fallen.
Speaker 6: None at all. A matter of fact, I don't think
Speaker 6: it did, sir. I don't think it did fall I
Speaker 6: think it was dropped.
Speaker 4: Three point fifteen pm, Frank and I went back to
Speaker 4: stage two. We talked to Bob Murphy, the Best Boy,
Speaker 4: and got the same story from him. He said that
Speaker 4: he'd secured the lamp and positioned himself and that as
Speaker 4: far as he was concerned, it could not have fallen.
Speaker 4: He agreed with Dick Patterson that the lamp must have
Speaker 4: been removed from its place and either dropped or was
Speaker 4: thrown at Wilson. At this point there was the possible
Speaker 4: that the death was not an accident. We asked the
Speaker 4: unit manager to assign one of the studio police to
Speaker 4: guard the scene of the accident, and then we called
Speaker 4: the crime lab. Dean Bergman lifted several clean prints from
Speaker 4: the broken lens of the lamp. Bob Murphy's fingerprints were
Speaker 4: taken and they matched those found in the lamp. There
Speaker 4: were no other prints on the glass. The men from
Speaker 4: the crime lab found a small piece of blue cloth
Speaker 4: on the mounting of the lamp. Lee Jones put it
Speaker 4: in a no envelope and gave it to me. At
Speaker 4: four twenty pm, we talked to Gerald Adams in one
Speaker 4: of the portable dressing rooms.
Speaker 6: I just can't believe it. There were a lot of
Speaker 6: people in town that didn't like Henry, but I don't
Speaker 6: think there was anyone that had kill him.
Speaker 4: Was there anyone in the company that he had any
Speaker 4: disagreements with? Would you know what do you mean? Well?
Speaker 4: Anyone he had crawls with arguments? Would you know?
Speaker 6: Well, I guess Sam would be the most likely. They
Speaker 6: argued all the time. Sam, Yeah, Sam Phillips. She's a
Speaker 6: first assistant director, real talented guy. Been had in a
Speaker 6: long time. He and Henry worked together for a long time.
Speaker 6: They were always arguing. I guess you didn't know of
Speaker 6: You might think they were serious, but here in the
Speaker 6: company we all knew, we understood, understood what well Sam's
Speaker 6: been in Hollywood almost since it was. He began as
Speaker 6: a prop man, where his way up to be a cutter.
Speaker 6: Then I guess about fifteen years ago he went into directing.
Speaker 6: He's going to get a picture of his own pretty soon.
Speaker 6: He'll do well too, real talent.
Speaker 7: Well about these arguments, mister Adams, between Wilson and Phillips, Well.
Speaker 6: I understand him. You'd have to know Henry. He was
Speaker 6: one of the first directors in pictures, came out here
Speaker 6: from New York even before Sam did. Really all school.
Speaker 6: He drove special cars, most of them pure white, had
Speaker 6: all these clothes designed and made. He wore a cape
Speaker 6: while he was on the set. You know, referred to
Speaker 6: himself as Wilson. You know, Wilson thinks this. Wilson thinks
Speaker 6: that if you didn't know him, you take him seriously.
Speaker 6: Once you did that, you were in trouble.
Speaker 4: Were you ever present when one of these arguments took place?
Speaker 6: Yeah, matter of fact, they had one yesterday and so yeah,
Speaker 6: over in the commissary, I thought for a minute was
Speaker 6: going to be pretty serious, and then I realized there
Speaker 6: was all a gag. Everyone else did too.
Speaker 4: What was it about?
Speaker 6: Well, like I told you, the pictures twelve days over
Speaker 6: now a lot of tension on the stage. Everyone's pretty edgy. Well,
Speaker 6: Sam's a great practical joker, you know. I was trying
Speaker 6: to cook up something. Most of the time, the jokes
Speaker 6: do the job. They give everybody a laugh. They all
Speaker 6: feel a little better. Well, day before yes, today, Sam
Speaker 6: got one of the set dresses and took a cement deer.
Speaker 6: You know, the kind people used to have in their
Speaker 6: front lawns.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I think I know they mean.
Speaker 6: Well, the two of them caught it, this deer down
Speaker 6: the parking lot and put it in the back seat
Speaker 6: to Henry's car. Planted it so the deer was looking
Speaker 6: right at Henry when he get in the driver's seat.
Speaker 6: I think weighed about two hundred and fifty pounds. Once
Speaker 6: they got it in, Henry couldn't get it out.
Speaker 4: He tried that night.
Speaker 6: He couldn't make it.
Speaker 4: He didn't think it was very funny.
Speaker 6: No, No, he had to leave it in the car
Speaker 6: all night, drove home with it next morning when he
Speaker 6: checked in the lot. He'd tried to get it out again.
Speaker 6: While he was trying, the horns and the thing tore
Speaker 6: up the upholstery in his car. Really ripped it up
Speaker 6: the pieces well, finally Henry got a hammer and broke
Speaker 6: the thing up, smashed it in the little pieces and
Speaker 6: threw them all out of the car, left them right
Speaker 6: in front of the scene dock.
Speaker 4: Was that when he and Philip said the argument no no.
Speaker 6: Yesterday morning, when Wilson got on the set, he wasn't
Speaker 6: saying anything anybody. All the crew knew about the deer
Speaker 6: and they were all waiting for him to say something
Speaker 6: about it, but he didn't. He just drove the crew
Speaker 6: through the morning setups. The argument took place at lunchtime. Know,
Speaker 6: Henry went until the whole crew he was having lunch,
Speaker 6: and then he stormed into the cafe. He walked over
Speaker 6: to Sam, really read him off, called him a child.
Speaker 6: He said that if he'd spend a little more time
Speaker 6: doing his work and less time playing around, the picture
Speaker 6: wouldn't be so far over scheduled. Really made him look
Speaker 6: like a fool. Argument went on for about fifteen minutes.
Speaker 6: What was Sam doing all this time when he just
Speaker 6: sat there? And then finally he got up and grabbed Henry.
Speaker 6: He kind of shook him. Said he'd never been talking
Speaker 6: to like that before, and it wasn't gonna happen again,
Speaker 6: said he'd kill Henry next time he did it. Well,
Speaker 6: Henry looked pretty scared. Sam's a big man, you know.
Speaker 6: I think if he made up his mind to do it,
Speaker 6: he could have broken Henry in two. Sam looked at
Speaker 6: Henry for a minute, and then he laughed. Then Henry
Speaker 6: started to laugh too, and then the whole place. I
Speaker 6: guess it's like laughing in a horror picture. Anything to
Speaker 6: break the tension look real tight. Even I wasn't sure
Speaker 6: it was a joke.
Speaker 4: You know, you said that Sam lifted this deer into
Speaker 4: the car by himself.
Speaker 6: Well, I don't know if he did it by himself,
Speaker 6: but I know he could lift it without help. How
Speaker 6: much did you say that that deer weighed more about
Speaker 6: two hundred and fifty pounds?
Speaker 5: Why?
Speaker 4: Well, I was just thinking that's about what that big
Speaker 4: lamp weight, didn't it. Three forty five pm Frank called
Speaker 4: the office and had Ur and I run the name
Speaker 4: Sam Phillips and Henry Wilson. Sam Phillips had been arrested
Speaker 4: once for disturbing the peace. He'd gotten drunk in a
Speaker 4: nightclub out on Sunset Boulevard and gotten into a fight.
Speaker 4: The report said that it had taken both of the
Speaker 4: arresting officers to subdue him and take him into custody.
Speaker 4: There was no record on Henry Wilson. We continued to
Speaker 4: talk to the crew. Each one of them told us
Speaker 4: about the arguments between Phillips and Wilson, but most of
Speaker 4: the people we talked to didn't share Adam's idea that
Speaker 4: the arguments were just a joke. The script girl told
Speaker 4: us that on at least three occasions, members of the
Speaker 4: crew had had to keep them apart, and that Sam
Speaker 4: Phillips had said he'd kill Wilson. We asked each of
Speaker 4: them if they'd seen anyone enter or leave the stage
Speaker 4: at approximately the time of the accident. None of them had.
Speaker 4: They explained that Wilson had been trying to pick up time,
Speaker 4: and that as soon as they'd finished one shot, he
Speaker 4: was yelling at them to get ready for the next one.
Speaker 4: Four twenty two pm. We talked to Sam Phillips.
Speaker 9: Sure we had some beefs. None of them were serious.
Speaker 4: So this fight you had in the commisary yesterday, I.
Speaker 9: Mean a thing about the deer.
Speaker 4: Yeah, that didn't mean anything.
Speaker 10: Oh, I mean I was pretty sore for a minute,
Speaker 10: but right away I knew Henry wasn't serious. Yeah, if
Speaker 10: he was, I guess I can understand it. I must
Speaker 10: have made him pretty shorre to see his.
Speaker 4: Car ripped up. Did you left that deer into Wilson's
Speaker 4: car by yourself?
Speaker 3: Yeah?
Speaker 10: I had one of the set dressers with me. He
Speaker 10: kind of steered the thing in. Surely kind of funny.
Speaker 4: You sure you weren't over on stage one today? Positive
Speaker 4: you got any idea of how that light got loose
Speaker 4: and fell?
Speaker 10: No, I've been in the business a long time. That's
Speaker 10: the first time I've ever known a lamp to fall.
Speaker 10: They've been tipped over when on a floor stand, and
Speaker 10: I've seen him broken when of the set his moved.
Speaker 10: I've ever seen one drop like that.
Speaker 4: Do you have any idea how that's going to happen?
Speaker 5: Then?
Speaker 4: Not the slightest your first assistant, is that right? Yeah?
Speaker 4: How long you been in this job? All?
Speaker 10: I guess about fifteen years now? Is a cutter for
Speaker 10: a while. Took a big cutting salary to go into directing.
Speaker 10: Figured to be a way to get a picture of
Speaker 10: my own. A lot of directors come from the cutting department,
Speaker 10: that's how, Yeah, they do. I didn't care much for it, though.
Speaker 10: I like to be on the set see things happen.
Speaker 9: I like the activity.
Speaker 4: Did Wilson know that you wanted to be a director?
Speaker 10: Yeah, he said that if I stayed with him, he'd
Speaker 10: try to get the to give me a picture. Matter
Speaker 10: of fact, I kind of thought I might get this one.
Speaker 4: Is that right?
Speaker 6: Yeah?
Speaker 10: I was in the pre planning stages. They hadn't assigned
Speaker 10: a man to it yet, and Jerry and.
Speaker 4: I both wanted it. Jerry, you mean Adams.
Speaker 9: Yeah, he wants to be a director too. It's funny.
Speaker 10: I guess everyone wants to be a director. Jerry's been
Speaker 10: trying for a long time. I don't think he'll ever
Speaker 10: make it, though, all right, Yeah, he's too valuable as
Speaker 10: a unit manager.
Speaker 4: Yeah. Was Adams very upset when he didn't get this picture?
Speaker 9: No, I was pretty sore. I told Jerry about it.
Speaker 10: He just sat back and said that's the way things are,
Speaker 10: and that doesn't pay to fight the front office.
Speaker 4: Did you say anything to Wilson about how you felt? Yeah?
Speaker 4: I told him.
Speaker 10: Said I thought I was real unfair, said I thought
Speaker 10: he could have done something about him.
Speaker 9: What did he say, told me to be patient, my
Speaker 9: time would come.
Speaker 4: Do you know if there was anybody on the lot
Speaker 4: who might have wanted to kill Wilson?
Speaker 10: No, oh, there might have been some people who didn't
Speaker 10: like him very much, But you're run into that in
Speaker 10: almost every picture, you know, little jealousies, right, Yeah, you
Speaker 10: really think he was killed.
Speaker 4: Though it could have been? Yeah, sure, hard to believe.
Speaker 10: We've been making pictures about this for a long time,
Speaker 10: you know, murders. Now that it's really on the set,
Speaker 10: it makes you feel you can just check ahead in
Speaker 10: the script and find out who the killer is. Read
Speaker 10: about the ending kind of seems just like another picture.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I suppose so. Yeah, come in.
Speaker 6: Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't know he had somebody here
Speaker 6: with you.
Speaker 4: I'm sorry, mister Patterson. What is it?
Speaker 6: I wonder if I could talk to you? Sure, well,
Speaker 6: it's kind of private.
Speaker 4: If you're through it with me, I'll get back to
Speaker 4: where all you just wait, I'll be right back here.
Speaker 4: We step out here. Okay, now, what is it, miss Peterson?
Speaker 6: I feel like a real idiot. I should have remembered
Speaker 6: it when you talked to me before.
Speaker 4: What's that, sir?
Speaker 5: Well?
Speaker 6: I remember just before the company broke for lunch. Sam
Speaker 6: gave me a note, said I should give it to Wilson.
Speaker 6: Did you see what it was?
Speaker 5: No, it was folded up, had Wilson's name on it.
Speaker 6: I didn't pay much attention to it.
Speaker 4: What did you give it to him?
Speaker 6: Yeah? He read it and then he said he had
Speaker 6: to leave the set for a few minutes.
Speaker 4: Said to be right back. He left the stage. Then, Yeah,
Speaker 4: where was Sam at this time?
Speaker 5: I don't know.
Speaker 6: You see, he gave me the note just outside the
Speaker 6: door to the stage.
Speaker 5: I was bringing in some.
Speaker 6: More lights, and right after he handed it to me
Speaker 6: he left, Uh, headed for stage one.
Speaker 3: You are listening to Dragnet, the authentic story of your
Speaker 3: police force election.
Speaker 4: We talked to Gerald Adams and had two of the
Speaker 4: studio police start a search for the note. Frank called
Speaker 4: Georgia Street Receiving Hospital and asked if the note had
Speaker 4: been found on the body of Henry Wilson. The doctor
Speaker 4: told us that he didn't know, and that the dead
Speaker 4: man's personal effects had been turned over to the coroner.
Speaker 4: We called them and they told us that there was
Speaker 4: nothing of that description found. While the search for the
Speaker 4: missing note went on, we continued to talk to Sam Phillips.
Speaker 10: The whole idea is crazy. I told you I wasn't
Speaker 10: near stage one at all this morning. How about the note,
Speaker 10: I don't remember any note. Well, like Apper says, he
Speaker 10: gave it to him, told him to give it to Wilson.
Speaker 4: He's crazy.
Speaker 10: If I had a note for Wilson had given it
Speaker 10: to him myself, I'm with him all day.
Speaker 9: I've got no reason to have someone else deliver messages
Speaker 9: for me.
Speaker 4: Well, then you deny giving him the note, Is that right?
Speaker 9: Well, certainly, Bride.
Speaker 7: We'll let you know just how you stay in. We
Speaker 7: got a witness who says you were seeing going to
Speaker 7: stage one. A couple of minutes later, a man is
Speaker 7: killed on the same stage. You would admit that you've
Speaker 7: had arguments with Wilson. Seems like you might have had
Speaker 7: a MODI for killing him.
Speaker 10: I told you I didn't go near the place. Hey,
Speaker 10: wait a minute, Yeah, I know what's happened.
Speaker 4: What's that?
Speaker 10: Well, when Dick told you he saw me heading for
Speaker 10: stage one, he probably saw me heading for the office.
Speaker 10: I have to pass near the stage to get their
Speaker 10: a matter of fact, I even cut through it once
Speaker 10: in a while.
Speaker 4: Did you happen to cut through it today.
Speaker 9: No, at least I don't think.
Speaker 5: So.
Speaker 4: That's pretty important that you remember.
Speaker 10: I'm trying, let's see, I know what you guys think.
Speaker 10: I don't know how to show you that you're wrong.
Speaker 10: Can you come up with an explanation for the note?
Speaker 9: Well, I'm trying to tell you. I don't know.
Speaker 10: That's what he's talking about. What I did give Dick
Speaker 10: a note and told him to give it to Henry.
Speaker 4: What was in it?
Speaker 5: Well, I don't know.
Speaker 9: I didn't even read it.
Speaker 4: Then you didn't write it.
Speaker 6: No.
Speaker 10: I found it at my desk when I was up
Speaker 10: in the office this morning. I figured that someone had
Speaker 10: put it there, thinking i'd see Henry and give it
Speaker 10: to him.
Speaker 4: What time did you find it see?
Speaker 10: I guess it was about nine or so, I guess
Speaker 10: I put it in my pocket and then forgot all
Speaker 10: about it. Before I went up to the office to
Speaker 10: tell him that we were breaking for lunch, I remembered it.
Speaker 10: I gave it to Dick and told him to hand
Speaker 10: it to Henry. That's what the notes all about. Right
Speaker 10: after that I went upstairs.
Speaker 4: Do you always tell the office that you're broken for lunch?
Speaker 9: Yeah?
Speaker 10: Most of the time I phoned, but today I went
Speaker 10: up myself. I've been kind of expecting a letter from
Speaker 10: my family back each night. I thought it might be in,
Speaker 10: so I wanted to check the morning mail.
Speaker 4: Got any idea. Who might have put the note on
Speaker 4: your desk? No?
Speaker 10: I just found it, you know, tucked away in the
Speaker 10: corner of the blotter. I really didn't look at it.
Speaker 10: I was in a hurry, wanted to finish lunch so
Speaker 10: I could get back on the set. We had a
Speaker 10: lot of work to do this afternoon.
Speaker 4: Did you see Wilson after you left the stage.
Speaker 5: No.
Speaker 10: I looked for him at the commissary, but he didn't
Speaker 10: show up, and the greenery man came in and said
Speaker 10: that he had the accident.
Speaker 4: Uh huh. You recognize the handwriting on that note?
Speaker 10: No, all I saw was the name that it was
Speaker 10: for Henry. Kind to think of it, though, I do
Speaker 10: kind of remember that it was familiar handwriting, thinking I'd
Speaker 10: seen it someplace before.
Speaker 4: You remember where?
Speaker 9: No, I wish I could have you found it, yet.
Speaker 4: No, Wilson must have dropped it someplace here, though it
Speaker 4: wasn't on his body. And if you take a look
Speaker 4: at this, what's that. Well, a crime lab crew found
Speaker 4: this on the stage, caught on the lamp that killed Wilson.
Speaker 9: Looks like the material he makes suits out of.
Speaker 7: Yeah, from inside the cuff. See see the little zigzag
Speaker 7: mark where it's been cut. Did you ever see this
Speaker 7: type of material before?
Speaker 9: Sam, let me see. Looks like it came from a
Speaker 9: blue suit. Huh good material?
Speaker 10: Sure not color. Yeah, I think I've seen a suit
Speaker 10: like this. I think I saw it this morning. Yeah,
Speaker 10: oh yeah, sure, Jerry Adams was wearing it.
Speaker 4: Six thirty pm. We called Gerald Adams into the dressing room.
Speaker 4: Were you on stage one at all before the body
Speaker 4: was found?
Speaker 6: N sir, Why do you think I had something to
Speaker 6: do with this?
Speaker 4: Well, we're just trying to get the facts here.
Speaker 6: Well, I want to help, but it seems to me
Speaker 6: that you would spend your time a little better. I
Speaker 6: could talk to Sam than ope, and all still deny
Speaker 6: giving it to Henry.
Speaker 4: Now he says that he gave it to him.
Speaker 6: Well, then there you are. I guess that argument was
Speaker 6: a lot more serious than we thought. That's nice looking
Speaker 6: suit you got on, mister Adams new Yeah, this first
Speaker 6: day I warn it present from my wife. Pretty blue.
Speaker 6: I don't usually care for blue, like brown gray. The
Speaker 6: wife's been trying to get me wear blue. So she
Speaker 6: got this.
Speaker 4: Suit for me. Yeah, it's like it's made pretty well.
Speaker 6: There, Yeah it is. She had my tailors put it together.
Speaker 6: I didn't even go down for a fitting. These a
Speaker 6: few things done doing, like the shoulders pulled in a little.
Speaker 6: I don't much care for patting on the shoulders, you know.
Speaker 7: M h, you mind if I look at the cuffs.
Speaker 7: I've always had trouble with the cuffs on my suits.
Speaker 7: You can see hear how they worn must be in
Speaker 7: the way they're made. No, I don't think so. That
Speaker 7: looks like it came from your shoes rumming against it.
Speaker 4: Do you mind if I look? No? Here?
Speaker 5: Yeah?
Speaker 4: Sure, it's beautiful material.
Speaker 6: Yeah yeah, she sure got good taste. Of course it
Speaker 6: should be. She paid one hundred and eighty bucks for in.
Speaker 4: You got a little tear here on the cuff inside?
Speaker 4: Have you noticed that?
Speaker 6: No?
Speaker 4: Let me see right there?
Speaker 6: Oh yeah, yeah, how about that. I got to get
Speaker 6: that fixed, A little piece torn right out.
Speaker 4: What did you do when you found Wilson's body?
Speaker 6: You know what I mean?
Speaker 4: What were your movements?
Speaker 6: Well, it'll be kind of hard to explain if you
Speaker 6: want to walk over there.
Speaker 4: I enjoy it all right, let's go on.
Speaker 6: The company's broken, and I told him wait up in
Speaker 6: the office. I figured you might want to talk to
Speaker 6: him some moorre f here. I'll get the door. Sure,
Speaker 6: beautiful night. H Yeah, it is best time of the
Speaker 6: day in the valley after the sun starts to go down.
Speaker 6: Everybody's always kidding about the cool breeze that comes up,
Speaker 6: you know, really does out here. I know the wife
Speaker 6: and I practically live out of door during.
Speaker 4: The summer months.
Speaker 6: Is that right, Yeah, we both love the valley. Yeah,
Speaker 6: here we are. That's the work light. So on yourmum
Speaker 6: to get the others.
Speaker 4: No, there's not okay, now, if you chose just what happened.
Speaker 6: When you found the body, well, uh, I came in
Speaker 6: that door, the big one there, it was open.
Speaker 4: Was there anybody on the stage then?
Speaker 6: No, no, not right away. The greenery man came in
Speaker 6: right after me, and then Jack, the guard from the
Speaker 6: other stage.
Speaker 3: Uh.
Speaker 6: Like I said, the body was lying about here, and
Speaker 6: the lamp was there?
Speaker 4: You saw that when you were here, Yes, we did.
Speaker 4: Did you go near the lamp touch it in any weight? Oh?
Speaker 6: No, I didn't. Only concern was Henry. That's all I
Speaker 6: thought about. I knelt down to feel Henry's pulse, and
Speaker 6: then I told Jackie, going for in the ambulance. Yeah,
Speaker 6: then I had the doors closed. I waited until a
Speaker 6: lot of policeman got here, and then I went back
Speaker 6: to the other stage.
Speaker 4: Our crime lab found a piece of cloth caught on
Speaker 4: that lamp, matches the tear and the cup of your suit.
Speaker 6: I can't understand how I could have gotten there.
Speaker 4: What if we look through your pockets?
Speaker 5: Why?
Speaker 6: What's that going to prove?
Speaker 4: I just want to take a look. It won't hurt anything.
Speaker 6: Well, maybe it won't, But I don't see why you're
Speaker 6: asking me all these questions. Seems to me that Sam's
Speaker 6: your killer. Why didn't you talk to him? Make him
Speaker 6: tell you why I did it?
Speaker 4: All right, come on, let's see what you got in
Speaker 4: your pockets. Take everything out, put on the table.
Speaker 6: Right.
Speaker 4: There's no wallet and you better take the money out
Speaker 4: of it. Okay, now, let me see.
Speaker 6: The wallet all right here, that's a second with Stradams.
Speaker 6: What'd you drop over there?
Speaker 5: I see.
Speaker 6: That's like the note we've been looking for Joe to say, Well,
Speaker 6: I have to see you.
Speaker 7: Something's come up. Meet me on one when you break
Speaker 7: for lunch. It's private, signed Jerry. How about this Adams? No,
Speaker 7: I don't know anything about it. Well, maybe we better talk.
Speaker 4: Downtown with you watching Joe.
Speaker 5: He's going up that ladder.
Speaker 4: Al right, give it up, Adams. There's no place to
Speaker 4: go up there.
Speaker 5: Stay away from me.
Speaker 4: Come on, Adams, give it up. It's not coming down,
Speaker 4: and he can't stay up there long.
Speaker 5: Why don't you shoot me? I'm not gonna do what
Speaker 5: you say. Go ahead and shoot me. What for?
Speaker 4: You're not going to any place? How about it, Adams?
Speaker 4: Why'd you do it?
Speaker 5: He had it coming always life step on people.
Speaker 6: This picture was mine that told me I was and
Speaker 6: he took it away from me just because he wanted
Speaker 6: to be a big man.
Speaker 7: This was my picture.
Speaker 4: He took it all right, come on down, I'm gonna
Speaker 4: stay up here. You suit yourself. We've got lots of time.
Speaker 4: Adams got to just go away.
Speaker 5: Let me alone.
Speaker 4: You know better than that. You killed the man. Now
Speaker 4: come on you with a come down and will come up.
Speaker 4: How do you thank Joe? Yeah? Give him a minute.
Speaker 4: Who wants to be a director? Yeah, let him figure
Speaker 4: out the ending.
Speaker 2: The story you have just heard was true. The names
Speaker 2: were changed to protect the innocent.
Speaker 3: On February seventeenth, trial was held in Department eighty nine,
Speaker 3: Superior Court of the State of California in and for
Speaker 3: the County of Los Angeles. In a moment the results
Speaker 3: of that trial, Gerald S. Adams was tried and convicted
Speaker 3: of murder in the first degree. He was sentenced to
Speaker 3: life imprisonment in the State Penitentiary San Quentin, California. You
Speaker 3: have just heard drag met a series of authentic cases
Speaker 3: from official files. Technical advice comes from the Office of
Speaker 3: Chief of Police W. H. Parker, Los Angeles Police Department
Speaker 3: Technical Advisors. Captain Jack Donahoe, Sergeant Marty Wynn, Sergeant Vance Braser.
Speaker 3: Heard tonight were Ben Alexander wit Connor, Jack Krushan. Script
Speaker 3: by John Robinson, music by Walter Schumann, Hell Giveney speaking.
Speaker 10: This is NBC, the nation's headquarters for election news.
Speaker 3: This is Andrew J.
Speaker 2: Graham, author of the web surface series Oh and a
Speaker 2: Man and his Wife. You're listening to the great detectives
Speaker 2: of Old Time Radio.
Speaker 1: Welcome back. Well, we've already seen the television version of
Speaker 1: this script. If you've watched on a video theater. Obviously
Speaker 1: we miss some of the visual visuals, but there's also
Speaker 1: some expanded dialogue, and I think the episode does a
Speaker 1: very solid job of establishing a pretty traditional mystery that's
Speaker 1: actually solved by the officers on site, and it's enhanced
Speaker 1: by the way that the suspects and witnesses all have
Speaker 1: their very own unique histories together the way that comes
Speaker 1: out works to create some question as to who done it.
Speaker 1: So overall a pretty good episode, all right, listener comments
Speaker 1: and feedback now, and I received an email from Stanley
Speaker 1: who said, first, I acquired an Amazon Echo and the
Speaker 1: Alexa search that comes with it pointed me at your
Speaker 1: Great Detectives podcast. I appreciate your insightful commentaries on the
Speaker 1: various shows you.
Speaker 4: Well.
Speaker 1: First of all, thanks so much. And this is the
Speaker 1: second person who's contacted me and stated that Alexa has
Speaker 1: connected them to the program, which means either that we
Speaker 1: are very popular in Alexa's search algorithm and work with that,
Speaker 1: or that Alexa has developed the ability to choose and
Speaker 1: we have our first AI fan. Either way, we appreciate
Speaker 1: anything that brings people to the program. But he then
Speaker 1: has a question as you surely know. There are many
Speaker 1: stations that play old time radio shows. Some play old
Speaker 1: time commercials that are interesting. It's good to know that
Speaker 1: lots of doctor smoke Chester Fields and recommend them, for example.
Speaker 1: But it's a particular series of interstitials that I'm hoping
Speaker 1: you might have some information on. A voice that I
Speaker 1: bet a lot of money on, is that of then Scully,
Speaker 1: recently retired Dodger's announcer, apparently recorded a number of essays,
Speaker 1: perhaps three minutes on the topics of United States military
Speaker 1: medals and awards. They're fascinating in Scully's voice, as the
Speaker 1: enjoyment and listening to them. I wonder if you might
Speaker 1: have some insight into these pieces. Perhaps suggestion is how
Speaker 1: one could obtain the set or such of those that
Speaker 1: are available. Thank you for your great work on gathering
Speaker 1: and presenting pieces of history. Well, thanks so much for
Speaker 1: the question, Stanley. It does seem that there was some
Speaker 1: commercial on yours, truly, Johnny Dollar, that maybe what you
Speaker 1: were talking about, because they do talk about military history.
Speaker 1: Not certainly if I'm aware of a specific place to
Speaker 1: get the recording. If it is like the stuff that
Speaker 1: was on yours, truly, Johnny dall. I can't remember a
Speaker 1: specific episode of these would have been recorded by the
Speaker 1: Armed Forces Radio and Television Services. If any listener out
Speaker 1: there knows more about this specific recording you might be
Speaker 1: referring to, I'd love to hear from you. You can email
Speaker 1: at me Box thirteen at Great Detectives dot net. And
Speaker 1: with that, we actually conclude the eight season of Great
Speaker 1: Detectives of Old Time Radio. Next week we'll cross the
Speaker 1: line into our ninth year and bring you programs like
Speaker 1: Rocky Fortune, Rocky Jordan, and Mister King, a Tracer of
Speaker 1: Lost Persons, as well as revisiting some old favorites where
Speaker 1: we have some new episodes that have emerged. It's gonna
Speaker 1: be a great season and season eight's been enjoyable as well.
Speaker 1: Thank you for everyone's support. And it all starts Monday
Speaker 1: with not Beat, followed by Rocky Fortune on Tuesday, and
Speaker 1: Dragnet will carry on and join us back here on
Speaker 1: Saturday for that. In the meantime, send your comments to
Speaker 1: Box thirteen at Greatdetectives dot net, follow us on Twitter
Speaker 1: our Radio Detectives, and become one of our friends on Facebook,
Speaker 1: Facebook dot com. Slash Radio Detectives from Boise Idaho. This
Speaker 1: is your host, Adam Grahamson and off