In this gripping episode of our mystery theater, we delve into the life of Evan Elliott, a celebrated writer whose pursuit of success and image leads to unforeseen horror. Evan, a man of wealth and fame, is driven by the need to maintain his celebrity status. His life takes a dramatic turn when he decides to marry Christine Dewar, the so-called richest girl in the world, to bolster his public image. However, the facade begins to crack as Christine struggles with her own identity and the pressures of Evan's ambitions.
The narrative takes a darker turn as Evan's obsession with his image leads to a tragic series of events, culminating in the death of Christine. The story explores themes of identity, ambition, and the destructive nature of living for appearances. As Evan's closest friend, Billy, navigates the complexities of their relationship, he is forced to confront the reality of Evan's manipulative nature and the impact it has on those around him. This episode is a chilling reminder of the perils of self-obsession and the hollow pursuit of fame.
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Unknown:
That's the top of the news as it looks from here
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New York in the 1890s Mister Louis Sherry, New York, a city of elegance. If JP Morgan wanted to dine in the style to which he was accustomed, he'd go to mister Louis Sherry's celebrated restaurant. Good evening. Highlight of dinner at Sherry's was the ice cream dessert. Louis Sherry's ice cream still has that old fashioned flavor, yet none of today's additives. It's made only from real cream, milk, pure cane sugar, egg yolks, natural flavor, no artificial anything. You'll see that we haven't lost our taste for old fashioned elegance. It's a Milliseries ice cream, the natural flavor of the eighteen nineties in the nineteen seventies.
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Come in. Welcome. I'm EG Marshall. Grasping more. The running and the reaching and the grasping
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are supposed to bring success.
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But now and then, perhaps more often than we know, they can also bring horror. So perhaps this is not a success story at all. Perhaps
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it is a tale of horror.
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Our mystery drama, The Image, was written especially for the mystery theater by Elspeth Eric and stars Norman Rose and William Redfield. It is sponsored in part by Buick Motor Division and Listerine Lozenges. I'll be back shortly with act one. No one in this tale is poor or sick or obscure or friendless or unloved. Our central character, Evan Elliott, is rich. He is famous. He is in perfect health. He is loved by a beautiful woman and treasured by a loyal friend, which is where our story begins. My friendship with Evan started a long time ago before he'd had anything published.
He brought me his first book because nobody else, frankly, would touch it. I said I'd handle it because I I didn't have much of anything else to do, and I sold it to the first publisher I sent it to. And it was a smash, not just a hit, not just a bestseller, a smash. Everybody that could read bought a copy. Well, the rest is history. He was my client. I was his agent, and together we made money. But over and above and beyond all that, we were friends. For fifteen years, the day he busted into my office. Billy. Hi, Yeah. Oh, buddy. Have I got news for you? You finished a new book. I'm getting married. You're getting well, how about that? Congratulations. Billy boy, I am marrying Christine Dewar.
The the Christine Dewar? The one and only. The one they call the richest girl in the world? That Christine Dewar? That's the girl. Beautiful too. I saw a picture of her one. Well, she doesn't like publicity, but I'll change all that. We'll get married the day before the new book comes out. That'll give authenticity to everything I've written about the ultra rich. You know, the way they live and conduct themselves. Everybody will believe it because they'll figure that I know. They'll eat it up. You'll ask Dask and me to the wedding, I trust. I wanna talk to you about the wedding. Would it be better to have a big cathedral type of wedding, you know, or just to sneak off to a justice of the peace? Well, that's up to the lady, isn't it? She's so infatuated with my machismo. She'll walk down any aisle, road, street, or cow path I choose. Yeah. I don't know how you do it. I swear. Billy, this book's got to be a blockbuster. The biggest yet. You can't afford to slip in this business. You have to top yourself every time. And that is hard. Very hard.
What's that got to do with getting married? Billy. Billy, I am not just a writer. You see, by now, I am a celebrity. People aren't just interested in what I write. They're interested in me. What I do, how I live. Oh, yes. I suppose. And I think that we'll yeah. We'll run away and get married, so it'll come as a complete surprise, and the press will pick it up and sensationalize it. Now, you'll set up the interviews, and later on, maybe we can arrange for a picture sprint? Yeah. Sure. Ev, wait a minute. Do you?
Do you love this girl? Love her? Certainly. I love her. What a crazy question. It all went off just the way he planned it. The book hit the store. The next day, Evan and Christine were married in a broken down office across the river with Doris and me for witnesses. I leaked it to the media, so they turned out in full force. Evan wore the old familiar blue jeans. Christine wore blue jeans too. But Dar said they were custom made and cost a mint.
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Why do I feel like she's living underwater? Like she's got a mouthful of seaweed.
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As time passed, Christine began to look as though she'd been left underwater for a long time.
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I don't know. She got thinner and thinner and
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paler and paler. The way she talked or didn't talk
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got stranger and stranger. Billy, I'm worried about that girl. Oh, come on. Chris is alright. I think we should keep an eye on her. She loves him. She worships him. That's a whole different thing. You put somebody on a pedestal the way she's put him, you're always looking up, not at. Up. And to look up you have to be down.
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Must be nice to be looked up to. Worshipped.
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I look at you and I love you. Well, Eve loves Chris. Love? She's part of the image and that's all she'll ever be. One image? Oh, good grief, Billy. You've known Evan Elliott longer than I have. Don't you know he's building an image? First, it was just a successful writer. No. That's not an image. He did that. Then it was the big man about town. Go to all the parties, then sell a book to the movies, do the whole Hollywood scene, have a big publicized thing with a gorgeous movie actress. Then he got engaged to a duchess.
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Well, I don't see what's so wrong with any of those things. The reasons are are wrong.
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He's so scared he won't make it. But darling, he has made it. If anybody's made it, he has. Why don't you ask him? I will bet you he'll say no. Not yet, he'd say. Not quite yet. Just give me a few more years, just a few years more and I'll have it all. Then everybody will worship me and I can start feeling good about myself. Oh, Delhurst, come on. You just don't know him at all. Oh, I know him. And I know you. You put him on a pedestal too.
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Where would I be without Evan? I owe everything to him. He's my best friend and I'm his. There's nothing could bust up our friendship. Darrisa, don't try. Now I'm warning you. Don't try.
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Well, anyway, we'll have them over for dinner. Alright?
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Alright. Sure. It was never too comfortable having them for dinner or going to their place either. I never knew just why. Doris didn't always use too much tact talking to Evan and Christine well, Doris was right about that. There was something strange about Christine. And whatever it was, it was getting stranger. Conversation was rough going all through dinner. And afterward, having coffee in the living room, it didn't get any easier.
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Well, brandy, anyone? We have cognac, Cointreau, Creme de Mates, both green and white. Well, I think I'd like You wouldn't like anything. Well, I I guess, and it's in the light No. Don't don't think. Just sit there and look beautiful. I guess I don't want anything.
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Making progress on the new book, Ev?
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Some. Oh, you've done a lot. How would you know?
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Well, I saw You read what I've written? No. You sneaked in and read it? No. I don't let anybody do that. I didn't read it. I just
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saw a lot of pages with typing on them. I didn't read any of it. I really didn't Evan. You know I wouldn't do anything like that. What if she did? I mean, what's the big deal? My wife is not a critic. I love what you write. I do.
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I do. I love what you write. There you are. You see? You are a critic. Chris is very emotional tonight. She's going to have a baby. Chris. You mean it? Oh, that that is great. Oh, quite wonderful.
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Hey. Aren't you happy about it? Oh, yes. Oh, yes.
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Come on. We're going home. Oh, not yet. Right now. Chris, get your things. I will. I will. Hey. Wait a minute. You plan a bomb in our laps and then you run off. What for? I want to get her home. Chris, are you ready? Yes. I'm ready. See you tomorrow, Billy. I'll drop round to the office. Yeah. Good night, Chris. It's wonderful about the baby. Thank you both. Come on. Chris, I'll talk to you to
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Well, that was what you might call an abrupt departure.
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Yeah. I don't know. Eve was kind of rough on Christine tonight.
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Don't tell me the pedestal is beginning to lock. Don't tell me the image is getting tarnished. Now, Doris, don't be crude. Evan is my friend. As long as he stays on the pedestal, Billy. Once he comes down from there, ho ho, watch out.
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God does get feelings about things. You know, the first ten years we were married, I used to make fun of her and her feelings. The last few years, I've stopped because most of her feelings turned out to be right. But I drew the line of what she said about Evan. I felt I felt I was privileged to be Evan's friend. Being his friend was the most important thing in my life. The most well, I mean, next to Doris, of course. Well, anyway, next morning, Ev came to my office. Boy, you certainly took off in a hurry last night. Well, how did you get Christine home? When's the big event, Well, I mean, when is she gonna have the baby? Oh, well that's what I have to talk to you about. Now look Billy, I want you to arrange it for me.
What? Arrange what? What do you mean arrange? Because we don't seem to be able to create one of our own. That's why. Oh. Are you sure? We've been trying long enough so there's gotta be something wrong. Well, well what? I mean, have you been to doctors? Christine has been to that gynecologist of hers who gives me the creeps. What'd he say? He says there's nothing wrong with her. Well, have you seen anyone? Me? There's nothing wrong with me. Yeah. But I don't see what I mean, Evan, look. How do I come into this? If you're both alright, it's a problem you can solve in time. I don't want in time. I want a child right now, a child. Now what do you wanna do? Let me down? Can't you understand plain English? I want you to help me to arrange it. But I can't do Oh. Oh. Oh. Oh. You mean you want to adopt me?
Adopt the child? No. No. No. I want this child to be mine. And now now wait a minute. Now wait a minute. Evan, that's not fair to the kid or or to adoption which can work I mean, it can work beautifully for anyone. Well, let it work for them, not for me. I want mine. And most of all, I need it right now. Need what? For Chris to be pregnant. Why? Why do you need it? Why? Why? Because there is interest in me. Billy, in me, in everything that I do. Don't you know that? Good Lord. After all those years with me, don't you have the slightest idea what it means to be a celebrity, to have celebrity status? Well, I I'm sorry. I I I never thought about that. Well, think about it. I am the country's foremost writer, but that is not all that I am. I am a public figure. Millions of people are fascinated by me and everything that happens to me.
And right now, what I need is to be a father. Yes. It'll be a whole new thing. You mean like a a kind of image? Yes. If you want to call it that. Well, I don't know, Evan. You got me going. I don't quite see what If I had to spell it out for you, Doesn't Doris have a doctor? Yes. Well, then maybe you or she could introduce Christine to him and have them work it out. Fine. Work out what? The timing. The making it happen. Look. This is the space age. If it can't be natural, there's an artificial way of having a child. But still a child of my own.
He's got to be mine. Have you discussed this with Christine? Is it what she wants? Do you want it? You leave that up to me. Alright. If you're sure you wanna go through with this, I'll I'll I'll ask Doris and see what she can suggest if if you're sure. I told you. Can't you understand how much I need it? Well, I have to tell you, I I was shocked. Doris and I had never had any children. I I don't know if we really wanted to. Of course, when we didn't, we just well, we accepted it. And went on the way we were which had always been a pretty good way to go We loved each other, we were happy, we were willing to leave it to fate Why couldn't Evan, I wondered Still, I I was Evan's best friend and I I promised to speak to Doris and I did
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No, I won't have any part of it, do you understand? And you shouldn't either
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Doris darling, I'm his friend. I'm his best friend. You are not his friend. You're his satellite.
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He's the sun and you revolve around him. You live in his light and you walk in his shadow. You're just like Christine. That's not friendship and that's not love. Your followers, the both of you. He's the prince and you're his humble attendant. That's not fair, darling. It's fair and it's accurate. Look, just leave me out of it completely. I am not going to help him do his dirty work. I'm not going to promote this image of himself he's building. Let him work on it by himself and leave me out of it.
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What is an image? Offhand, we should describe it as the appearance we would like to present to others, the way we would like to be perceived, having little or nothing to do with what we are. The dictionary puts it more concisely when it says, image is an imitation of a person. I'll be back shortly with act two. We were discussing the word image, and we picked the simplest of definitions, an imitation of a person. But follow the dictionary, and its meanings reach deeper than that. For example, at random, a counterpart. For example, that child is the image of his mother, or more importantly, a symbol or an emblem, or finally, an embodiment, such as God created man in his own image.
All of which serves to explain why a reluctant Billy, friend, agent, and alter ego of a man he considered a towering genius, went home at his master's command to seek his wife's assistance.
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I am not going to help Evan build his image. Darling, wait a minute. You keep saying image, image. What image? The one he has been working on all of his life. And now he's decided what the image needs is a child, and he wants it now. Well, he's he's he's getting pretty well past 40. He is well into his fifties and you know it. Oh, alright. I'm sorry. I forget the years are passing and I but I can understand him better
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remembering.
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Are you trying to tell me you're sorry we didn't have children? Oh, no. No. No, honey. No. We're we're fine just the way we are.
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But look, Doris, you won't help me out on this. I mean, find out how you get a thing like that done. I don't have the foggiest, do you? Not the remotest.
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You won't call,
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doctor what's his name? No. I won't. Well, all you'd have to do would be to get the information, then you give it to me and I give it to Evan. That's the end of it. No. Okay. Well give me the name of your doctor then. No. Doris, I promise. No. No. And no. Alright. You're not the only doctor in town. I'll find somebody else. I don't know why you won't help me out.
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Maybe I'm jealous Jealous? Of what? Of who? Of you And the way you feel about heaven
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Doris jealous? Ridiculous I must certainly be if not the most as faithful a husband as any woman ever had And Dallas and I weren't just married. We were friends, companions, as well as lovers. We had a true togetherness. Oh, except with someone that's out of the mold above and beyond everyone as a genius like like Evan, you can't rationalize a Dylan Thomas, a James Joyce. You either accept them or reject them. Doris rejected him, but Evan, I could not reject. So, well, anyway, it wasn't hard. I found him his doctor and called him to tell him. Good. You're a good guy, Billy. I'll have Chris in his office tomorrow. With you? Oh, not me. No need for me.
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You mean
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you won't go with Chris? My presence isn't needed. For what? It's her problem, not mine. Oh, Oh, Kevin, won't she expect you to go with her? Well, I I thought about that and decided no. You see, it, might get out to the press. What? That we're planning a child. It's not time to release that yet. Later, much later, I might do a piece on it. Oh, look. At least you have to sign a consent form. You you have to read it. Why? You're my friend. I take your word for everything. You take Chris there tomorrow morning. Oh, come on. Let's get it over with. I don't know why I went along with him, but I did.
If I'd have known, but I didn't. All I knew was he was my friend. So I made the arrangements and sure enough the next morning Chris showed up Chris, you know you don't have to go through with this
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Yes I do
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Evan said you wanted to
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Did he say that?
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Well, practically. Why? Yeah. Yeah. He practically said that. But but you don't have to do it. It's your life. My life is with him.
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I don't have any other life. Evan is the one big happening in my whole dumb existence.
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You're very loyal aren't you? Well of course I am.
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And besides I'd like to have a baby. It would be the second big happening in my life. Oh
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I. Chris I just wish you looked well happier.
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Maybe later I'll get happy.
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Let's go, shall we? If you say so. I think so. The baby was born nine months later, and they named him William after me. Well, that pleased me because I'd gone through a lot with Evan. Doris was kind of difficult about the whole thing. She was getting to really hate Av calling him a a fake, a phony, but she'd always liked Christine. And we used to babysit with William now and then, and Doris got really fond of the boy. And then came the bombshell. Doris and I were sitting at home one evening. Ev. Well,
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hello. Who is it, honey?
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It's Evan. Come on in. I'm not disturbing you, Evan. No, no, no. No, no. We're just sitting around. Well, what brings you out all over those? Hello, Evan. You want a drink or anything? No, thanks. Go sit down, why don't you? I've got something to tell you.
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Want me to clear out? You better stay. I don't mind. No, no. Stay.
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What's up, Ed? Christine told me something tonight. She said she never went to the doctor with you, Billy. But she did. I drove her there myself. She never went through with it. She said that? That's what she said.
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Maybe you better tell us the whole thing, Heaven.
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We were sitting around after dinner and I got curious all of a sudden about the whole procedure. You mean you'd never asked to before? I never wanted to know before. You'd think she'd want to tell you? Well, she brought it up once or twice, but I wasn't ready to hear it. But if she wanted to tell you? Tonight I was ready. So I asked to claim out how it was.
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Why do you wanna know?
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You never wanted to know before. Well, I'm thinking of writing about it. I need to know the details. Writing? About it? Publishing? Oh, not right now. Maybe never. I don't know. But it would make a fascinating piece. All these psychological ramifications
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Whose ramifications? Whose psychology?
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Knowing I wasn't the father. Who said you weren't? You mean it worked? What we couldn't achieve together was made a reality in a lab?
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You asked me to go. I went. I did what you told me to do. I got present. I had the baby. The baby's here. I love the baby I love you
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Yeah But to write about it I need all your thoughts your feelings
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You never wanted to know my feelings before Why now? I'm a writer
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Feelings are what I deal in. Anybody's feelings? Anybody's that I'm interested in. And right now,
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I'm interested in yours. But it's as though you're feeding off me, eating me up little by little. That's nonsense.
[00:23:48] Unknown:
Now come on. Tell me what happened. Start at the beginning. A year ago, you went to the doctor's office. Billy drove you.
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When I got there, Billy said I didn't have to go through with it if I didn't want to but I said I wanted
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Well, that's right, Ev. That's all true. We had quite a talk about it. And when we got there, I told her again that it was up to her. It was her decision, her life, that she didn't have to do it if she didn't want to. I mean, she must have told you all about that. She did. And she said she wouldn't let you go inside the building with her. She didn't even want me to wait for her. She said she'd take a taxi home, but I knew she wouldn't really want that, so I waited. And then what happened?
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When I got inside, what I did first was to buy some cigarettes.
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Cigarettes?
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You don't smoke. I was
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nervous. Oh, yes. Sure. Naturally.
[00:24:56] Unknown:
I lit a cigarette and I started to smoke it but it made me feel sick. And somebody came over and asked me was I alright? And I said yes. But could I go to the ladies room and where was it? And they told me and I went there but I never smoked a cigarette I just stood for a long time and looked at myself in the mirror. And you know what I thought? What did you think? I thought I'm married to the greatest writer in the world The most wonderful man And I'm not worthy of him But I'll never let him down I know every curve of his body and the warmth and the drive of him and I cannot accept anything programmed by a machine.
If I cannot produce a baby for him I'll die. And I should die. Because it's the only thing I have to offer is a woman to make him immortal. And, I was ashamed and I I I ran out I ran to the nearest bar. The drink was more important than what you had to do? It gave me courage for what I had to do. Not one drink. Quite a few.
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I
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I bought you a child as you asked for. You mean I mean There was a man at the bar. I suppose there's always a man at the bar. And I used him far more than he ever dreamed he was using me. How could you? He was a human being.
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At least he was a human being. Do you mind telling me who he was? I was not very much. One of your society boyfriends, You don't know anybody else. Yes. That's that's who it must have been. Alright. Which one? Come on. Tell me.
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Christine, tell me who it was. No. I won't. I'll never tell you.
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Chris.
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Christine.
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I. Billy. I. I hit her. Not. Not very hard really. More of a slap. But. But she fell down. She hit her head against something. She really she's dead. Of course, they convicted him. He didn't put up any defense. He really didn't have any. He didn't seem to want any. He said his wife had told him the child wasn't his, and he'd hit her. Nobody blamed him. Everybody sympathized. His books sold like crazy, even the early ones. They gave him two to five years for involuntary manslaughter. The last time I saw him before they let him away, he said, they tell me I can have a tape recorder, Billy, in my cell.
Alright. I'll bring you one. I may do a book on prison life. Oh, it'll be a smash. He was still my friend. I felt sorry for him even though he didn't act like he needed my sympathy. All Doris said was
[00:28:16] Unknown:
His whole problem. He couldn't produce a child. That sure didn't fit into the image.
[00:28:27] Unknown:
Yes, a tale of horror. Tell me, have you ever been alone and depressed in some public place? A restaurant, a park? And have you looked around at the other people and felt certain that they all, all of them, were happy and content and leading exciting wonderful lives while you be very careful of such feelings. They are most unreliable. We'll return shortly with act three. Evan Elliott has gone to jail for two to five years, involuntary manslaughter. He struck his wife when she refused to name the father of her child. We continue our story as Evan is visited in his cell by his agent and closest friend.
Hi, Ev. Hi, Billy. You look great. You do, don't I? Yeah. Yeah. I was just looking at myself in the mirror when you showed up. I look better than I looked in years. It's amazing. Do you feel good? Marvelous. You? Oh, fine. Fine. Boris? Great. The baby's fine too. Good. Christine's folks were perfectly willing to have the boy live with us. Why shouldn't they be? Sophie snob. No. No. No. No. No. They were really concerned, about the baby, I mean. Snobs just the same. I know him. You don't. Oh. Have you tried out the tape recorder? No. Not yet. Let me know if it works okay. If not, I'll get you another one. Well, I hadn't had anything to write about. I thought you were gonna do a book on prison life. Well, you see, this is a minimum security prison. Nobody wants to read about model prisoners and all that. They want vicious convicts, rotten food, foul language.
Here, you mind your manners, and they mind theirs, and everybody gets along. Might be interesting at that. I doubt it. Ev, can I ask you something? Sure. Ask away. Dallas was wondering, and not that it's any of her business or mine either. Wondering what? Well, at your trial, you left out the part about the possibility that the child could have been produced medically by artificial means. Uh-huh. Did I? Or what difference? Well, without that, it looked as though Christine was a girl who played around. You know, I I never thought of that. And we all know she wasn't. Well, why didn't you mention it at the time?
Well, tell you the truth, I didn't think about it till Doris brought it up. Pity she didn't bring it up sooner. By that time, the trial was over. Well, just as well. It wouldn't have fitted into the scenario. It would have been a false note or wrong. I guess so. What you just said, making it look like Chris was some kind of a tramp, you know, that didn't occur to me. You may be right. I might do something about that. Yeah.
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Yeah.
[00:31:32] Unknown:
Thanks, old buddy. Well, I just thought I'd mention it. Dallas thought I should. I'll tell you what. I'll do a book. A book about what? About Christine, dummy. Her whole story, start to finish. She told me the story of her life practically from the day she was born. And some miserable life it was too. Talk about your poor little rich girls. She never had a moment that wasn't dull until she met me. Yeah. And I put in all her problems about having a child and how she was incapable with me. She had to go to a doctor to have it done. Oh, Billy, it'll play. I know it will. Now look, clear out with you, kid. I I I gotta get this on tape. I watched him get out the tape recorder, set the cartridge, and turn the thing on.
He'd already forgotten I'd ever been there. All the way home, I wondered if I should tell Doris what had gone on in his cell. I hadn't even told her I was gonna visit Ed because frankly, it was very hard for me to talk to her about it. By now, she, well, she really hated him. Not for any one specific thing he'd done. She just hated him for what he was. She called him the image maker. I'm home, Doris. I'll be right there. Baby alright?
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Mhmm. Fine. You had a hard day? No.
[00:32:58] Unknown:
No. Not really.
[00:33:00] Unknown:
What did you do?
[00:33:02] Unknown:
I saw Ev today. How is he? Well, Donna, she wouldn't believe it, but he looks great. When I walked in, he was looking at himself in the mirror and he said so himself, he never looked better. Not bragging or anything. He just
[00:33:16] Unknown:
he really did. He just looked great. Yeah.
[00:33:20] Unknown:
So? Well, we got to talking. He asked for you. That's nice. I said, how's the tape recorder working? And he said he hadn't tried it out yet. Then I brought up, you know, what you said about his leaving out everything about trying to have a child out officially. I bet he never even told his lawyer. Oh, I don't know that, but he said he hadn't brought it up at the trial because it didn't seem like the right place for it or the right time. But then I said maybe people would get the idea that Chris was a well, you know, that she played around, and
[00:33:52] Unknown:
that got him interested. Oh, well, of course. He's not going to have anybody thinking any woman would be unfaithful to him. No, darling. No. I I think he was really concerned.
[00:34:04] Unknown:
Is,
[00:34:06] Unknown:
is he going to mention anywhere the name of the child's father?
[00:34:10] Unknown:
Well, he doesn't know who the real father is, so he can't very well put it in the book. I guess not. He thinks it was some old bull of hers.
[00:34:20] Unknown:
But we know better. Don't we, Billy? What? We know better, you and I.
[00:34:29] Unknown:
Doris, what are you talking about?
[00:34:31] Unknown:
We know who the real father is We do? Who? You
[00:34:40] Unknown:
What makes you say a thing like that? Oh,
[00:34:42] Unknown:
we've been married almost twenty years. Doris, please. I never, never Do you want me to tell you what happened? If you think you know When? When Christine came out of that building She got into your car didn't she? And she was crying. Right? Go on. She cried all the way home. And you tried to tell her Evan would understand she couldn't go through with it Am I right? I said that, yeah But she said no He expected a child from her He'd make her go back to that place Am I still right? Yeah. Yeah. That's about, what she said. And when you got to her house she begged you to come inside with her.
[00:35:33] Unknown:
Didn't she? Dara, she I
[00:35:40] Unknown:
Yes. And at first you said no.
[00:35:43] Unknown:
Well, I I I didn't really want to. I No? I swear. Doris, I swear to you. But she was crying and carrying on And she was Evan's wife
[00:35:55] Unknown:
What? That was the thing that finally got you upstairs That she was Evan's wife That this was one more way to get close to Evan. As close as possible without actually Now hold it. Hold it right there. Don't go saying things you'll be sorry for. In a crazy kind of way you've been in love with Evan for years. Now you're out of your mind. I mean, I I I admire him sure, but I You admire him. You'd like to be like him. You'd like to have his talent, his money, his fame. You couldn't have any of those things. But you could have his wife.
And you did.
[00:36:38] Unknown:
For two weeks, I hated Doris.
[00:36:42] Unknown:
I didn't talk to her. And then one day Doris?
[00:36:49] Unknown:
Yes, Billy?
[00:36:51] Unknown:
You know, with Christine that one time that was the only time since we got married I know that I don't think I could go on living without you I don't think you'll have to Next day, I went to see Evan in his cell I didn't know what I was gonna say to him or how I was gonna say it. Hello, Evan. Oh, hi there, Billy. I was just looking to see if I need a shave. Looks like I do. I've been working so hard I forgot to take time out. Working on the book about Christine? Yeah. Oh, it's a winner. I know it. Look, I I I wanna play you the opening. Wait till I rewind this thing.
Evan, I've got something to tell you. Yeah? I'm the father of Christine's child. You? I waited and drove her away from the doctors. She was upset, shaky, shattered really because she felt she'd failed you. She she wanted a drink. I I wasn't averse myself. We, went to a bar. We had our drinks. Too many. We, well, we we commiserated with each other in a way you could never understand and and and then I drove her home. And that's all? No. There was a moment of now look. Laugh if you want. There was a moment of truth when we got there. When nakedly she was terrified of facing you and and admitting what she had failed to do. And and when I well, don't stop now.
Alright. If you will have it when I wondered after all my years if I could just for once do something originally by myself if not for myself, and somehow it happened and I did. Well, what do you know? I I thought I should tell you. Yoo hoo. I I hope you won't put it in the book. Doris hopes you won't. You you know, on account of the baby. I'll have to think about it. We thought we could adopt the baby someday. Billy, listen to this. F, do you have to? Shh. Now you listen. She wore her money like a shroud. She was immobile inside her huge fortune as though entombed in it. How's that for an opening? F, please. But it gets better. She looked helpless and quiescent, like a chrysalis within a cocoon, taking no nourishment and seeming to need none. F, really? I wouldn't, will you? She'd been born into this pupal state of opulence.
A man absolutely absorbed in his own words. He didn't seem like a man at all, more like a freak, a monster building an image of himself to put on display. I couldn't believe in him at all, and I knew I couldn't be his friend anymore. I wasn't sure I ever had been. Inside the thick membrane of her enormous wealth, she had never stirred or made the least movement to free herself. I don't think he noticed when I left. The tape turned on as I walked and the sound of his voice was the last thing I heard. On the way home, I thought about him, looking at his own face, listening to his own voice, absolutely indifferent to other faces, other voices, other lives.
He built a cell within a cell, and he seemed content. Yes. A tale of horror. For who is more horrible than a man who has no thought or feeling for anyone but himself? Who lives in a world of his own devising where he manipulates people and events solely to aggrandize himself. And what is more horrible than his fate? To live quite apart from his fellow man, doomed forever to study his own face, listen to his own voice, feel no pulse but his own. That is to have no life at all. I'll be back shortly. I leave you with this warning. Beware the image makers, those who carefully construct imitations of themselves for you to admire and adore.
The Bible says, thou shalt have no other gods before me. Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image. Yes, and most particularly, when the image you make is the image of yourself. Our cast included Norman Rose, William Redfield, Terry Keen, and Marion Seldes. The entire production was under the direction of Hyman Brown. Radio Mystery Theater was sponsored in part by Listerine Lozenges and Buick Motor Division. This is EG Marshall inviting you to return to our mystery theater for another adventure in the macabre. Until next time.
Pleasant dream.
[00:43:04] Unknown:
Whatever business you're in, growth isn't just about getting bigger. At ADP, we believe it's about getting stronger by turning data into insights so you can build teams that work as teams. By using our AI technology to help catch payroll errors before their errors. And by keeping ahead of thousands of changing regulations so you can keep ahead of everything else. ADP helps businesses like yours grow stronger every day. ADP, HR talent, time, and payroll.
That's the top of the news as it looks from here
[00:00:13] Unknown:
New York in the 1890s Mister Louis Sherry, New York, a city of elegance. If JP Morgan wanted to dine in the style to which he was accustomed, he'd go to mister Louis Sherry's celebrated restaurant. Good evening. Highlight of dinner at Sherry's was the ice cream dessert. Louis Sherry's ice cream still has that old fashioned flavor, yet none of today's additives. It's made only from real cream, milk, pure cane sugar, egg yolks, natural flavor, no artificial anything. You'll see that we haven't lost our taste for old fashioned elegance. It's a Milliseries ice cream, the natural flavor of the eighteen nineties in the nineteen seventies.
[00:01:20] Unknown:
Come in. Welcome. I'm EG Marshall. Grasping more. The running and the reaching and the grasping
[00:01:43] Unknown:
are supposed to bring success.
[00:01:45] Unknown:
But now and then, perhaps more often than we know, they can also bring horror. So perhaps this is not a success story at all. Perhaps
[00:01:57] Unknown:
it is a tale of horror.
[00:01:59] Unknown:
Our mystery drama, The Image, was written especially for the mystery theater by Elspeth Eric and stars Norman Rose and William Redfield. It is sponsored in part by Buick Motor Division and Listerine Lozenges. I'll be back shortly with act one. No one in this tale is poor or sick or obscure or friendless or unloved. Our central character, Evan Elliott, is rich. He is famous. He is in perfect health. He is loved by a beautiful woman and treasured by a loyal friend, which is where our story begins. My friendship with Evan started a long time ago before he'd had anything published.
He brought me his first book because nobody else, frankly, would touch it. I said I'd handle it because I I didn't have much of anything else to do, and I sold it to the first publisher I sent it to. And it was a smash, not just a hit, not just a bestseller, a smash. Everybody that could read bought a copy. Well, the rest is history. He was my client. I was his agent, and together we made money. But over and above and beyond all that, we were friends. For fifteen years, the day he busted into my office. Billy. Hi, Yeah. Oh, buddy. Have I got news for you? You finished a new book. I'm getting married. You're getting well, how about that? Congratulations. Billy boy, I am marrying Christine Dewar.
The the Christine Dewar? The one and only. The one they call the richest girl in the world? That Christine Dewar? That's the girl. Beautiful too. I saw a picture of her one. Well, she doesn't like publicity, but I'll change all that. We'll get married the day before the new book comes out. That'll give authenticity to everything I've written about the ultra rich. You know, the way they live and conduct themselves. Everybody will believe it because they'll figure that I know. They'll eat it up. You'll ask Dask and me to the wedding, I trust. I wanna talk to you about the wedding. Would it be better to have a big cathedral type of wedding, you know, or just to sneak off to a justice of the peace? Well, that's up to the lady, isn't it? She's so infatuated with my machismo. She'll walk down any aisle, road, street, or cow path I choose. Yeah. I don't know how you do it. I swear. Billy, this book's got to be a blockbuster. The biggest yet. You can't afford to slip in this business. You have to top yourself every time. And that is hard. Very hard.
What's that got to do with getting married? Billy. Billy, I am not just a writer. You see, by now, I am a celebrity. People aren't just interested in what I write. They're interested in me. What I do, how I live. Oh, yes. I suppose. And I think that we'll yeah. We'll run away and get married, so it'll come as a complete surprise, and the press will pick it up and sensationalize it. Now, you'll set up the interviews, and later on, maybe we can arrange for a picture sprint? Yeah. Sure. Ev, wait a minute. Do you?
Do you love this girl? Love her? Certainly. I love her. What a crazy question. It all went off just the way he planned it. The book hit the store. The next day, Evan and Christine were married in a broken down office across the river with Doris and me for witnesses. I leaked it to the media, so they turned out in full force. Evan wore the old familiar blue jeans. Christine wore blue jeans too. But Dar said they were custom made and cost a mint.
[00:05:51] Unknown:
Why do I feel like she's living underwater? Like she's got a mouthful of seaweed.
[00:05:59] Unknown:
As time passed, Christine began to look as though she'd been left underwater for a long time.
[00:06:06] Unknown:
I don't know. She got thinner and thinner and
[00:06:08] Unknown:
paler and paler. The way she talked or didn't talk
[00:06:13] Unknown:
got stranger and stranger. Billy, I'm worried about that girl. Oh, come on. Chris is alright. I think we should keep an eye on her. She loves him. She worships him. That's a whole different thing. You put somebody on a pedestal the way she's put him, you're always looking up, not at. Up. And to look up you have to be down.
[00:06:34] Unknown:
Must be nice to be looked up to. Worshipped.
[00:06:38] Unknown:
I look at you and I love you. Well, Eve loves Chris. Love? She's part of the image and that's all she'll ever be. One image? Oh, good grief, Billy. You've known Evan Elliott longer than I have. Don't you know he's building an image? First, it was just a successful writer. No. That's not an image. He did that. Then it was the big man about town. Go to all the parties, then sell a book to the movies, do the whole Hollywood scene, have a big publicized thing with a gorgeous movie actress. Then he got engaged to a duchess.
[00:07:08] Unknown:
Well, I don't see what's so wrong with any of those things. The reasons are are wrong.
[00:07:12] Unknown:
He's so scared he won't make it. But darling, he has made it. If anybody's made it, he has. Why don't you ask him? I will bet you he'll say no. Not yet, he'd say. Not quite yet. Just give me a few more years, just a few years more and I'll have it all. Then everybody will worship me and I can start feeling good about myself. Oh, Delhurst, come on. You just don't know him at all. Oh, I know him. And I know you. You put him on a pedestal too.
[00:07:40] Unknown:
Where would I be without Evan? I owe everything to him. He's my best friend and I'm his. There's nothing could bust up our friendship. Darrisa, don't try. Now I'm warning you. Don't try.
[00:07:52] Unknown:
Well, anyway, we'll have them over for dinner. Alright?
[00:07:56] Unknown:
Alright. Sure. It was never too comfortable having them for dinner or going to their place either. I never knew just why. Doris didn't always use too much tact talking to Evan and Christine well, Doris was right about that. There was something strange about Christine. And whatever it was, it was getting stranger. Conversation was rough going all through dinner. And afterward, having coffee in the living room, it didn't get any easier.
[00:08:33] Unknown:
Well, brandy, anyone? We have cognac, Cointreau, Creme de Mates, both green and white. Well, I think I'd like You wouldn't like anything. Well, I I guess, and it's in the light No. Don't don't think. Just sit there and look beautiful. I guess I don't want anything.
[00:08:54] Unknown:
Making progress on the new book, Ev?
[00:08:57] Unknown:
Some. Oh, you've done a lot. How would you know?
[00:09:00] Unknown:
Well, I saw You read what I've written? No. You sneaked in and read it? No. I don't let anybody do that. I didn't read it. I just
[00:09:08] Unknown:
saw a lot of pages with typing on them. I didn't read any of it. I really didn't Evan. You know I wouldn't do anything like that. What if she did? I mean, what's the big deal? My wife is not a critic. I love what you write. I do.
[00:09:23] Unknown:
I do. I love what you write. There you are. You see? You are a critic. Chris is very emotional tonight. She's going to have a baby. Chris. You mean it? Oh, that that is great. Oh, quite wonderful.
[00:09:39] Unknown:
Hey. Aren't you happy about it? Oh, yes. Oh, yes.
[00:09:44] Unknown:
Come on. We're going home. Oh, not yet. Right now. Chris, get your things. I will. I will. Hey. Wait a minute. You plan a bomb in our laps and then you run off. What for? I want to get her home. Chris, are you ready? Yes. I'm ready. See you tomorrow, Billy. I'll drop round to the office. Yeah. Good night, Chris. It's wonderful about the baby. Thank you both. Come on. Chris, I'll talk to you to
[00:10:08] Unknown:
Well, that was what you might call an abrupt departure.
[00:10:14] Unknown:
Yeah. I don't know. Eve was kind of rough on Christine tonight.
[00:10:20] Unknown:
Don't tell me the pedestal is beginning to lock. Don't tell me the image is getting tarnished. Now, Doris, don't be crude. Evan is my friend. As long as he stays on the pedestal, Billy. Once he comes down from there, ho ho, watch out.
[00:10:39] Unknown:
God does get feelings about things. You know, the first ten years we were married, I used to make fun of her and her feelings. The last few years, I've stopped because most of her feelings turned out to be right. But I drew the line of what she said about Evan. I felt I felt I was privileged to be Evan's friend. Being his friend was the most important thing in my life. The most well, I mean, next to Doris, of course. Well, anyway, next morning, Ev came to my office. Boy, you certainly took off in a hurry last night. Well, how did you get Christine home? When's the big event, Well, I mean, when is she gonna have the baby? Oh, well that's what I have to talk to you about. Now look Billy, I want you to arrange it for me.
What? Arrange what? What do you mean arrange? Because we don't seem to be able to create one of our own. That's why. Oh. Are you sure? We've been trying long enough so there's gotta be something wrong. Well, well what? I mean, have you been to doctors? Christine has been to that gynecologist of hers who gives me the creeps. What'd he say? He says there's nothing wrong with her. Well, have you seen anyone? Me? There's nothing wrong with me. Yeah. But I don't see what I mean, Evan, look. How do I come into this? If you're both alright, it's a problem you can solve in time. I don't want in time. I want a child right now, a child. Now what do you wanna do? Let me down? Can't you understand plain English? I want you to help me to arrange it. But I can't do Oh. Oh. Oh. Oh. You mean you want to adopt me?
Adopt the child? No. No. No. I want this child to be mine. And now now wait a minute. Now wait a minute. Evan, that's not fair to the kid or or to adoption which can work I mean, it can work beautifully for anyone. Well, let it work for them, not for me. I want mine. And most of all, I need it right now. Need what? For Chris to be pregnant. Why? Why do you need it? Why? Why? Because there is interest in me. Billy, in me, in everything that I do. Don't you know that? Good Lord. After all those years with me, don't you have the slightest idea what it means to be a celebrity, to have celebrity status? Well, I I'm sorry. I I I never thought about that. Well, think about it. I am the country's foremost writer, but that is not all that I am. I am a public figure. Millions of people are fascinated by me and everything that happens to me.
And right now, what I need is to be a father. Yes. It'll be a whole new thing. You mean like a a kind of image? Yes. If you want to call it that. Well, I don't know, Evan. You got me going. I don't quite see what If I had to spell it out for you, Doesn't Doris have a doctor? Yes. Well, then maybe you or she could introduce Christine to him and have them work it out. Fine. Work out what? The timing. The making it happen. Look. This is the space age. If it can't be natural, there's an artificial way of having a child. But still a child of my own.
He's got to be mine. Have you discussed this with Christine? Is it what she wants? Do you want it? You leave that up to me. Alright. If you're sure you wanna go through with this, I'll I'll I'll ask Doris and see what she can suggest if if you're sure. I told you. Can't you understand how much I need it? Well, I have to tell you, I I was shocked. Doris and I had never had any children. I I don't know if we really wanted to. Of course, when we didn't, we just well, we accepted it. And went on the way we were which had always been a pretty good way to go We loved each other, we were happy, we were willing to leave it to fate Why couldn't Evan, I wondered Still, I I was Evan's best friend and I I promised to speak to Doris and I did
[00:14:49] Unknown:
No, I won't have any part of it, do you understand? And you shouldn't either
[00:14:53] Unknown:
Doris darling, I'm his friend. I'm his best friend. You are not his friend. You're his satellite.
[00:14:58] Unknown:
He's the sun and you revolve around him. You live in his light and you walk in his shadow. You're just like Christine. That's not friendship and that's not love. Your followers, the both of you. He's the prince and you're his humble attendant. That's not fair, darling. It's fair and it's accurate. Look, just leave me out of it completely. I am not going to help him do his dirty work. I'm not going to promote this image of himself he's building. Let him work on it by himself and leave me out of it.
[00:15:30] Unknown:
What is an image? Offhand, we should describe it as the appearance we would like to present to others, the way we would like to be perceived, having little or nothing to do with what we are. The dictionary puts it more concisely when it says, image is an imitation of a person. I'll be back shortly with act two. We were discussing the word image, and we picked the simplest of definitions, an imitation of a person. But follow the dictionary, and its meanings reach deeper than that. For example, at random, a counterpart. For example, that child is the image of his mother, or more importantly, a symbol or an emblem, or finally, an embodiment, such as God created man in his own image.
All of which serves to explain why a reluctant Billy, friend, agent, and alter ego of a man he considered a towering genius, went home at his master's command to seek his wife's assistance.
[00:16:50] Unknown:
I am not going to help Evan build his image. Darling, wait a minute. You keep saying image, image. What image? The one he has been working on all of his life. And now he's decided what the image needs is a child, and he wants it now. Well, he's he's he's getting pretty well past 40. He is well into his fifties and you know it. Oh, alright. I'm sorry. I forget the years are passing and I but I can understand him better
[00:17:15] Unknown:
remembering.
[00:17:17] Unknown:
Are you trying to tell me you're sorry we didn't have children? Oh, no. No. No, honey. No. We're we're fine just the way we are.
[00:17:25] Unknown:
But look, Doris, you won't help me out on this. I mean, find out how you get a thing like that done. I don't have the foggiest, do you? Not the remotest.
[00:17:34] Unknown:
You won't call,
[00:17:35] Unknown:
doctor what's his name? No. I won't. Well, all you'd have to do would be to get the information, then you give it to me and I give it to Evan. That's the end of it. No. Okay. Well give me the name of your doctor then. No. Doris, I promise. No. No. And no. Alright. You're not the only doctor in town. I'll find somebody else. I don't know why you won't help me out.
[00:18:00] Unknown:
Maybe I'm jealous Jealous? Of what? Of who? Of you And the way you feel about heaven
[00:18:16] Unknown:
Doris jealous? Ridiculous I must certainly be if not the most as faithful a husband as any woman ever had And Dallas and I weren't just married. We were friends, companions, as well as lovers. We had a true togetherness. Oh, except with someone that's out of the mold above and beyond everyone as a genius like like Evan, you can't rationalize a Dylan Thomas, a James Joyce. You either accept them or reject them. Doris rejected him, but Evan, I could not reject. So, well, anyway, it wasn't hard. I found him his doctor and called him to tell him. Good. You're a good guy, Billy. I'll have Chris in his office tomorrow. With you? Oh, not me. No need for me.
[00:19:04] Unknown:
You mean
[00:19:05] Unknown:
you won't go with Chris? My presence isn't needed. For what? It's her problem, not mine. Oh, Oh, Kevin, won't she expect you to go with her? Well, I I thought about that and decided no. You see, it, might get out to the press. What? That we're planning a child. It's not time to release that yet. Later, much later, I might do a piece on it. Oh, look. At least you have to sign a consent form. You you have to read it. Why? You're my friend. I take your word for everything. You take Chris there tomorrow morning. Oh, come on. Let's get it over with. I don't know why I went along with him, but I did.
If I'd have known, but I didn't. All I knew was he was my friend. So I made the arrangements and sure enough the next morning Chris showed up Chris, you know you don't have to go through with this
[00:20:02] Unknown:
Yes I do
[00:20:04] Unknown:
Evan said you wanted to
[00:20:06] Unknown:
Did he say that?
[00:20:08] Unknown:
Well, practically. Why? Yeah. Yeah. He practically said that. But but you don't have to do it. It's your life. My life is with him.
[00:20:17] Unknown:
I don't have any other life. Evan is the one big happening in my whole dumb existence.
[00:20:26] Unknown:
You're very loyal aren't you? Well of course I am.
[00:20:30] Unknown:
And besides I'd like to have a baby. It would be the second big happening in my life. Oh
[00:20:39] Unknown:
I. Chris I just wish you looked well happier.
[00:20:43] Unknown:
Maybe later I'll get happy.
[00:20:46] Unknown:
Let's go, shall we? If you say so. I think so. The baby was born nine months later, and they named him William after me. Well, that pleased me because I'd gone through a lot with Evan. Doris was kind of difficult about the whole thing. She was getting to really hate Av calling him a a fake, a phony, but she'd always liked Christine. And we used to babysit with William now and then, and Doris got really fond of the boy. And then came the bombshell. Doris and I were sitting at home one evening. Ev. Well,
[00:21:29] Unknown:
hello. Who is it, honey?
[00:21:31] Unknown:
It's Evan. Come on in. I'm not disturbing you, Evan. No, no, no. No, no. We're just sitting around. Well, what brings you out all over those? Hello, Evan. You want a drink or anything? No, thanks. Go sit down, why don't you? I've got something to tell you.
[00:21:50] Unknown:
Want me to clear out? You better stay. I don't mind. No, no. Stay.
[00:21:54] Unknown:
What's up, Ed? Christine told me something tonight. She said she never went to the doctor with you, Billy. But she did. I drove her there myself. She never went through with it. She said that? That's what she said.
[00:22:12] Unknown:
Maybe you better tell us the whole thing, Heaven.
[00:22:14] Unknown:
We were sitting around after dinner and I got curious all of a sudden about the whole procedure. You mean you'd never asked to before? I never wanted to know before. You'd think she'd want to tell you? Well, she brought it up once or twice, but I wasn't ready to hear it. But if she wanted to tell you? Tonight I was ready. So I asked to claim out how it was.
[00:22:37] Unknown:
Why do you wanna know?
[00:22:39] Unknown:
You never wanted to know before. Well, I'm thinking of writing about it. I need to know the details. Writing? About it? Publishing? Oh, not right now. Maybe never. I don't know. But it would make a fascinating piece. All these psychological ramifications
[00:22:55] Unknown:
Whose ramifications? Whose psychology?
[00:22:58] Unknown:
Knowing I wasn't the father. Who said you weren't? You mean it worked? What we couldn't achieve together was made a reality in a lab?
[00:23:09] Unknown:
You asked me to go. I went. I did what you told me to do. I got present. I had the baby. The baby's here. I love the baby I love you
[00:23:25] Unknown:
Yeah But to write about it I need all your thoughts your feelings
[00:23:30] Unknown:
You never wanted to know my feelings before Why now? I'm a writer
[00:23:34] Unknown:
Feelings are what I deal in. Anybody's feelings? Anybody's that I'm interested in. And right now,
[00:23:40] Unknown:
I'm interested in yours. But it's as though you're feeding off me, eating me up little by little. That's nonsense.
[00:23:48] Unknown:
Now come on. Tell me what happened. Start at the beginning. A year ago, you went to the doctor's office. Billy drove you.
[00:23:58] Unknown:
When I got there, Billy said I didn't have to go through with it if I didn't want to but I said I wanted
[00:24:13] Unknown:
Well, that's right, Ev. That's all true. We had quite a talk about it. And when we got there, I told her again that it was up to her. It was her decision, her life, that she didn't have to do it if she didn't want to. I mean, she must have told you all about that. She did. And she said she wouldn't let you go inside the building with her. She didn't even want me to wait for her. She said she'd take a taxi home, but I knew she wouldn't really want that, so I waited. And then what happened?
[00:24:44] Unknown:
When I got inside, what I did first was to buy some cigarettes.
[00:24:49] Unknown:
Cigarettes?
[00:24:50] Unknown:
You don't smoke. I was
[00:24:53] Unknown:
nervous. Oh, yes. Sure. Naturally.
[00:24:56] Unknown:
I lit a cigarette and I started to smoke it but it made me feel sick. And somebody came over and asked me was I alright? And I said yes. But could I go to the ladies room and where was it? And they told me and I went there but I never smoked a cigarette I just stood for a long time and looked at myself in the mirror. And you know what I thought? What did you think? I thought I'm married to the greatest writer in the world The most wonderful man And I'm not worthy of him But I'll never let him down I know every curve of his body and the warmth and the drive of him and I cannot accept anything programmed by a machine.
If I cannot produce a baby for him I'll die. And I should die. Because it's the only thing I have to offer is a woman to make him immortal. And, I was ashamed and I I I ran out I ran to the nearest bar. The drink was more important than what you had to do? It gave me courage for what I had to do. Not one drink. Quite a few.
[00:26:17] Unknown:
I
[00:26:19] Unknown:
I bought you a child as you asked for. You mean I mean There was a man at the bar. I suppose there's always a man at the bar. And I used him far more than he ever dreamed he was using me. How could you? He was a human being.
[00:26:39] Unknown:
At least he was a human being. Do you mind telling me who he was? I was not very much. One of your society boyfriends, You don't know anybody else. Yes. That's that's who it must have been. Alright. Which one? Come on. Tell me.
[00:26:54] Unknown:
Christine, tell me who it was. No. I won't. I'll never tell you.
[00:27:01] Unknown:
Chris.
[00:27:03] Unknown:
Christine.
[00:27:06] Unknown:
I. Billy. I. I hit her. Not. Not very hard really. More of a slap. But. But she fell down. She hit her head against something. She really she's dead. Of course, they convicted him. He didn't put up any defense. He really didn't have any. He didn't seem to want any. He said his wife had told him the child wasn't his, and he'd hit her. Nobody blamed him. Everybody sympathized. His books sold like crazy, even the early ones. They gave him two to five years for involuntary manslaughter. The last time I saw him before they let him away, he said, they tell me I can have a tape recorder, Billy, in my cell.
Alright. I'll bring you one. I may do a book on prison life. Oh, it'll be a smash. He was still my friend. I felt sorry for him even though he didn't act like he needed my sympathy. All Doris said was
[00:28:16] Unknown:
His whole problem. He couldn't produce a child. That sure didn't fit into the image.
[00:28:27] Unknown:
Yes, a tale of horror. Tell me, have you ever been alone and depressed in some public place? A restaurant, a park? And have you looked around at the other people and felt certain that they all, all of them, were happy and content and leading exciting wonderful lives while you be very careful of such feelings. They are most unreliable. We'll return shortly with act three. Evan Elliott has gone to jail for two to five years, involuntary manslaughter. He struck his wife when she refused to name the father of her child. We continue our story as Evan is visited in his cell by his agent and closest friend.
Hi, Ev. Hi, Billy. You look great. You do, don't I? Yeah. Yeah. I was just looking at myself in the mirror when you showed up. I look better than I looked in years. It's amazing. Do you feel good? Marvelous. You? Oh, fine. Fine. Boris? Great. The baby's fine too. Good. Christine's folks were perfectly willing to have the boy live with us. Why shouldn't they be? Sophie snob. No. No. No. No. No. They were really concerned, about the baby, I mean. Snobs just the same. I know him. You don't. Oh. Have you tried out the tape recorder? No. Not yet. Let me know if it works okay. If not, I'll get you another one. Well, I hadn't had anything to write about. I thought you were gonna do a book on prison life. Well, you see, this is a minimum security prison. Nobody wants to read about model prisoners and all that. They want vicious convicts, rotten food, foul language.
Here, you mind your manners, and they mind theirs, and everybody gets along. Might be interesting at that. I doubt it. Ev, can I ask you something? Sure. Ask away. Dallas was wondering, and not that it's any of her business or mine either. Wondering what? Well, at your trial, you left out the part about the possibility that the child could have been produced medically by artificial means. Uh-huh. Did I? Or what difference? Well, without that, it looked as though Christine was a girl who played around. You know, I I never thought of that. And we all know she wasn't. Well, why didn't you mention it at the time?
Well, tell you the truth, I didn't think about it till Doris brought it up. Pity she didn't bring it up sooner. By that time, the trial was over. Well, just as well. It wouldn't have fitted into the scenario. It would have been a false note or wrong. I guess so. What you just said, making it look like Chris was some kind of a tramp, you know, that didn't occur to me. You may be right. I might do something about that. Yeah.
[00:31:31] Unknown:
Yeah.
[00:31:32] Unknown:
Thanks, old buddy. Well, I just thought I'd mention it. Dallas thought I should. I'll tell you what. I'll do a book. A book about what? About Christine, dummy. Her whole story, start to finish. She told me the story of her life practically from the day she was born. And some miserable life it was too. Talk about your poor little rich girls. She never had a moment that wasn't dull until she met me. Yeah. And I put in all her problems about having a child and how she was incapable with me. She had to go to a doctor to have it done. Oh, Billy, it'll play. I know it will. Now look, clear out with you, kid. I I I gotta get this on tape. I watched him get out the tape recorder, set the cartridge, and turn the thing on.
He'd already forgotten I'd ever been there. All the way home, I wondered if I should tell Doris what had gone on in his cell. I hadn't even told her I was gonna visit Ed because frankly, it was very hard for me to talk to her about it. By now, she, well, she really hated him. Not for any one specific thing he'd done. She just hated him for what he was. She called him the image maker. I'm home, Doris. I'll be right there. Baby alright?
[00:32:53] Unknown:
Mhmm. Fine. You had a hard day? No.
[00:32:58] Unknown:
No. Not really.
[00:33:00] Unknown:
What did you do?
[00:33:02] Unknown:
I saw Ev today. How is he? Well, Donna, she wouldn't believe it, but he looks great. When I walked in, he was looking at himself in the mirror and he said so himself, he never looked better. Not bragging or anything. He just
[00:33:16] Unknown:
he really did. He just looked great. Yeah.
[00:33:20] Unknown:
So? Well, we got to talking. He asked for you. That's nice. I said, how's the tape recorder working? And he said he hadn't tried it out yet. Then I brought up, you know, what you said about his leaving out everything about trying to have a child out officially. I bet he never even told his lawyer. Oh, I don't know that, but he said he hadn't brought it up at the trial because it didn't seem like the right place for it or the right time. But then I said maybe people would get the idea that Chris was a well, you know, that she played around, and
[00:33:52] Unknown:
that got him interested. Oh, well, of course. He's not going to have anybody thinking any woman would be unfaithful to him. No, darling. No. I I think he was really concerned.
[00:34:04] Unknown:
Is,
[00:34:06] Unknown:
is he going to mention anywhere the name of the child's father?
[00:34:10] Unknown:
Well, he doesn't know who the real father is, so he can't very well put it in the book. I guess not. He thinks it was some old bull of hers.
[00:34:20] Unknown:
But we know better. Don't we, Billy? What? We know better, you and I.
[00:34:29] Unknown:
Doris, what are you talking about?
[00:34:31] Unknown:
We know who the real father is We do? Who? You
[00:34:40] Unknown:
What makes you say a thing like that? Oh,
[00:34:42] Unknown:
we've been married almost twenty years. Doris, please. I never, never Do you want me to tell you what happened? If you think you know When? When Christine came out of that building She got into your car didn't she? And she was crying. Right? Go on. She cried all the way home. And you tried to tell her Evan would understand she couldn't go through with it Am I right? I said that, yeah But she said no He expected a child from her He'd make her go back to that place Am I still right? Yeah. Yeah. That's about, what she said. And when you got to her house she begged you to come inside with her.
[00:35:33] Unknown:
Didn't she? Dara, she I
[00:35:40] Unknown:
Yes. And at first you said no.
[00:35:43] Unknown:
Well, I I I didn't really want to. I No? I swear. Doris, I swear to you. But she was crying and carrying on And she was Evan's wife
[00:35:55] Unknown:
What? That was the thing that finally got you upstairs That she was Evan's wife That this was one more way to get close to Evan. As close as possible without actually Now hold it. Hold it right there. Don't go saying things you'll be sorry for. In a crazy kind of way you've been in love with Evan for years. Now you're out of your mind. I mean, I I I admire him sure, but I You admire him. You'd like to be like him. You'd like to have his talent, his money, his fame. You couldn't have any of those things. But you could have his wife.
And you did.
[00:36:38] Unknown:
For two weeks, I hated Doris.
[00:36:42] Unknown:
I didn't talk to her. And then one day Doris?
[00:36:49] Unknown:
Yes, Billy?
[00:36:51] Unknown:
You know, with Christine that one time that was the only time since we got married I know that I don't think I could go on living without you I don't think you'll have to Next day, I went to see Evan in his cell I didn't know what I was gonna say to him or how I was gonna say it. Hello, Evan. Oh, hi there, Billy. I was just looking to see if I need a shave. Looks like I do. I've been working so hard I forgot to take time out. Working on the book about Christine? Yeah. Oh, it's a winner. I know it. Look, I I I wanna play you the opening. Wait till I rewind this thing.
Evan, I've got something to tell you. Yeah? I'm the father of Christine's child. You? I waited and drove her away from the doctors. She was upset, shaky, shattered really because she felt she'd failed you. She she wanted a drink. I I wasn't averse myself. We, went to a bar. We had our drinks. Too many. We, well, we we commiserated with each other in a way you could never understand and and and then I drove her home. And that's all? No. There was a moment of now look. Laugh if you want. There was a moment of truth when we got there. When nakedly she was terrified of facing you and and admitting what she had failed to do. And and when I well, don't stop now.
Alright. If you will have it when I wondered after all my years if I could just for once do something originally by myself if not for myself, and somehow it happened and I did. Well, what do you know? I I thought I should tell you. Yoo hoo. I I hope you won't put it in the book. Doris hopes you won't. You you know, on account of the baby. I'll have to think about it. We thought we could adopt the baby someday. Billy, listen to this. F, do you have to? Shh. Now you listen. She wore her money like a shroud. She was immobile inside her huge fortune as though entombed in it. How's that for an opening? F, please. But it gets better. She looked helpless and quiescent, like a chrysalis within a cocoon, taking no nourishment and seeming to need none. F, really? I wouldn't, will you? She'd been born into this pupal state of opulence.
A man absolutely absorbed in his own words. He didn't seem like a man at all, more like a freak, a monster building an image of himself to put on display. I couldn't believe in him at all, and I knew I couldn't be his friend anymore. I wasn't sure I ever had been. Inside the thick membrane of her enormous wealth, she had never stirred or made the least movement to free herself. I don't think he noticed when I left. The tape turned on as I walked and the sound of his voice was the last thing I heard. On the way home, I thought about him, looking at his own face, listening to his own voice, absolutely indifferent to other faces, other voices, other lives.
He built a cell within a cell, and he seemed content. Yes. A tale of horror. For who is more horrible than a man who has no thought or feeling for anyone but himself? Who lives in a world of his own devising where he manipulates people and events solely to aggrandize himself. And what is more horrible than his fate? To live quite apart from his fellow man, doomed forever to study his own face, listen to his own voice, feel no pulse but his own. That is to have no life at all. I'll be back shortly. I leave you with this warning. Beware the image makers, those who carefully construct imitations of themselves for you to admire and adore.
The Bible says, thou shalt have no other gods before me. Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image. Yes, and most particularly, when the image you make is the image of yourself. Our cast included Norman Rose, William Redfield, Terry Keen, and Marion Seldes. The entire production was under the direction of Hyman Brown. Radio Mystery Theater was sponsored in part by Listerine Lozenges and Buick Motor Division. This is EG Marshall inviting you to return to our mystery theater for another adventure in the macabre. Until next time.
Pleasant dream.
[00:43:04] Unknown:
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Introduction to the Tale of Horror
Evan Elliott's Success and Marriage
Christine's Struggles and Evan's Ambitions
The Quest for a Child
The Birth of William and Rising Tensions
Evan's Downfall and Conviction
Life in Prison and Reflections
Revelations and the End of Friendship
