HyperNatural - Show Sponsor
The Best Men’s Polo Shirts-Men’s Journal
HYPER NATURAL “The Best Men’s Polo Shirts of 2024” – Men’s Journal. HyperNatural offers polos, tees, and button-ups that deliver unmatched comfort and style, featuring Hyper-Cool Jade® technology for natural cooling. Enjoy an exclusive discount with my promo code! 20% Off HYPER NATURAL
Join EG Marshall as he invites you into a world of mystery and suspense with "The Voice of Death," a tale that blurs the lines between reality and illusion. In this gripping episode, we delve into the life of Janus, a once-celebrated ventriloquist whose career has faded into obscurity. As Janus grapples with his identity and the remnants of his past glory, he encounters Professor Manzini, a master craftsman who offers him a chance at redemption through a lifelike humanoid dummy named Self. But as Janus becomes entangled in this new venture, he faces unforeseen consequences that challenge his very existence.
As the story unfolds, Janus is forced to confront the duality of his own nature and the haunting presence of his creations. The episode explores themes of identity, ambition, and the supernatural, culminating in a dramatic revelation that tests the boundaries of life and death. With a chilling atmosphere and a narrative that keeps you on the edge of your seat, "The Voice of Death" is a captivating exploration of the human psyche and the mysteries that lie beyond our understanding.
(00:33) Introduction to the Mystery
(02:38) The Voice of Death
(03:00) The Art of Ventriloquism
(06:00) A Broken Partnership
(09:04) A New Beginning
(15:06) The Professor's Offer
(20:07) A Life-Changing Vacation
(27:08) The Rise of Janus and Self
(33:00) The Final Act
(39:15) The Mysterious End
Listen to our radio station Old Time Radio https://link.radioking.com/otradio
Listen to other Shows at My Classic Radio https://www.myclassicradio.net/
Entertainment Radio | Broadcasting Classic Radio Shows | Patreon
Remember that times have changed, and some shows might not reflect the standards of today’s politically correct society. The shows do not necessarily reflect the views, standards, or beliefs of Entertainment Radio
[00:00:00]
Unknown:
If your job at a health care facility includes disinfecting against viruses, you know prevention is the best medicine. And maintaining healthy spaces starts with a healthy cleaning routine. Grainger's world class supply chain helps ensure you have the quality products you need when you need them. From disinfectants and cleaning supplies to personal protective equipment, so you can help deliver a clean bill of health. Call +1 800 click grainger.com, or just stop by. Granger, for the ones who get it done.
[00:00:34] Unknown:
The CBS Radio Mystery Theater presents Come in. Welcome. I'm EG Marshall. Won't you sit down and relax with me for the next, oh, a little less than an hour and listen to a tale of murder, Or is that statement exactly fair? The dictionary definition of murder is the unlawful killing of another human being with malice of forethought. Well, undoubtedly, there is killing and
[00:01:20] Unknown:
malice of forethought, but, the question here is what or who was killed? Don't try to blame it on me. It's always blamed on me. I won't take it any longer. I won't take the guilt. Well, I'll still why? Not on me. Not on me ever again. I'll make sure of that. I'll kill you.
[00:01:41] Unknown:
How can you kill what was never alive? Only one way. I'll tear you apart. Yes. Careful. You'll have no life. What? You have left without pain. I no longer care. Tear you apart limb from limb. Socket by socket. Freddie, excuse me. What are you doing?
[00:02:04] Unknown:
I'm destroying all this destroying
[00:02:08] Unknown:
place. But there is no act without the two of you. There is no me as long as he exists.
[00:02:16] Unknown:
You know that better than anyone, Sarah.
[00:02:20] Unknown:
Yeah. It's done
[00:02:21] Unknown:
forever. Maybe now I can live.
[00:02:25] Unknown:
Maybe it's worth a murder to achieve some kind of freedom.
[00:02:39] Unknown:
Our mystery drama, The Voice of Death, was written especially for the mystery mystery theater by Ian Martin and stars Victor Jory. It is sponsored in part by Buick Motor Division and Time Magazine. I'll be back shortly with act one. The ventriloquism, one of man's most ancient arts. It's as old as the Chinese cultures, and almost certainly it was practiced by priests who created such seeming miracles as the speaking statues of Egypt and the Greek oracles. Down through the millennia, it flourished. And when it became sheer entertainment through vaudeville radio and TV, it reached its highest popularity.
Then, as suddenly, ventriloquism suddenly lost its popularity. A fact that Janus the great is not yet prepared to face.
[00:03:39] Unknown:
Who was I? That pretty girl scene from the East Bronx where Luke slept.
[00:03:44] Unknown:
I was scared to go to school even. They beat up on me all the time because I wouldn't fight back and it was funny to watch a fat kid cry. Then I read an ad in the paper and saved up my lunch money to send away for Professor Fantasorial's magical method of voice projection, amaze, delight, and mystify friends and foes alike by the ancient and mystical art of ventriloquism. It changed my life because for some reason, it was easy to me. I mastered the art in a month and held a golden key that unlocked the world for me. At 16, I was playing parties and school dates. I got in at the very end of radio's golden era, but where I really hit it big was television.
By then I was calling myself Janus an alias. And then suddenly by the late nineteen sixties, I was a has been. The gold all faded. The club dates I played were a disaster, and a lifetime of splitting myself in two ended in murder. Fred, look what you've done doing. We'll never put him back together now. Why do you care, Sarah? What do you mean? Isn't this the way you've always wanted it? Oh, Fred. You're sick. You always thought he came between you and me. Who? Him, the dummy.
[00:04:58] Unknown:
I never said that once all these years. But you thought it. Well, he was always the first thing in your thoughts. He he combed his hair, pressed his clothes, washed his face, even behind his ears like he was a child. He never even kept him in a box. He was always there wherever we were. We were never alone. You even used to talk to him off stage. Yes. I I was jealous. Now maybe I'm glad you've destroyed him. Maybe now we can have what you'd never let me have. What?
[00:05:29] Unknown:
What did I ever refuse you?
[00:05:31] Unknown:
A child.
[00:05:32] Unknown:
A child of my own? How could we have a child, Sarah? Always on the road, always moving, living in hotels.
[00:05:39] Unknown:
Children weren't for us. You could have left me behind with our child or our children. And travel alone. Don't you think that I could have gone ahead and had a child? How could you stop me? But I didn't because Because? It wouldn't have been fair to the child. It would have been my child, not something we shared just as he was your child.
[00:06:01] Unknown:
Oh, Freddie, what's wrong with you? How could you have done that to him? It doesn't matter. He's gone. Well, let's see if we can't put him together. I guess No. Leave him alone. Don't touch him. Fred. He's dead. Smashed. He couldn't be repaired and he's not going to be repaired because there's nothing to repair him for. Darling, what is it? Don't you see? I'm as dead as he is. You got fired again. I'm through, Sarah. It's all over. There's no Janus the Great. No. That isn't true, darling. You're tired. You you've been overworking a good night's rest. What am I going to do? We have no money. I have no other talents. I'm back once again to where I began, Fat Freddie from the East Bronx. When I killed Avis, I might as well have killed myself.
I had no rest that night. What a night of wars. After Sarah, worrying herself, frantic about me, finally got to sleep, the things began happening. The first pain when it came was so intense and piercing that in spite of myself, it
[00:07:11] Unknown:
my god.
[00:07:14] Unknown:
I bit my lip till a bug came trying to stifle my cry so that I shouldn't bother Sarah, but my arm felt as though some giant had broken it across his knees. And then the second one came. A blow that compressed my brain and sent it spinning.
[00:07:32] Unknown:
God, what's happening to me? Fred? What what what is it? Darling, are you alright? Alright. It's five in the morning. You're still awake. Uh-huh.
[00:07:44] Unknown:
Sarah. A dream. What a dream.
[00:07:47] Unknown:
I felt like I was broken on the rack. I'll get you some aspirin. You're coming down with something. Mark my words.
[00:07:54] Unknown:
Coming down with something alright. Tomorrow, first thing, I'll take care of that. Take care of what? What I did to my poor little dummy. Tomorrow, I'll go to the professor and see if he can put Alias together again. If that's what you want. Never mind if it's what I want or not. It's what must be done. So now you've made up your mind. Maybe you could sleep a little. What I am, I am. Too late to change about the dummy in me. But one thing it isn't too late for is a child. If you Oh,
[00:08:27] Unknown:
what could I do with a child? I already have one in my arms. Sleep a little darling. Sleep. And maybe we could find a new tomorrow.
[00:08:41] Unknown:
I could sleep now.
[00:08:44] Unknown:
The pains were all still there, but dulled and able to be forgotten. I nestled close to Sarah, and she held me close. And suddenly, it came
[00:08:54] Unknown:
the blessed curtain of sleep and the wonderful feeling that all the decisions had been made in the future smoothed away.
[00:09:05] Unknown:
You did this to my creation that I paid for him? For the intricate balance of wires and joints that gave him reality. And more than that, the control of the eyes, the mouth, the tongue between the teeth, a muzzle of the human figure, a scarce step below actuality. He's been destroyed beyond belief. It's vandalism. It cannot be repaired. You must forgive me, professor Manzini, but my art is a lost art and yours may be too. What?
[00:09:35] Unknown:
What do you say? We live in a world where miracle illusion magic are forgotten.
[00:09:40] Unknown:
Words and symbols mean little more than what they state. We live in a world where nothing that is said. No words, no statement means anything at all. Yes. You are right about our profession. I've had my dissatisfactions too, which have led me deeper and deeper into the recreation of form, the humanoid form, the complete replica of man. I am so near, Janus. So near. What what are you saying? I've created a dummy. No. No. Forget that awful word. A robot, half life size, capable of everything, movement, reaction, everything except actual speech.
By electronic control, you can move this figure, activate it, make it sit or stand or bend. But to make it speak, that is beyond me. Only a master of antiloquism can affect that. Will you lend your artistic talent to my mechanical genius and create a new miracle? When did you ask? I'm I'm desperate. Oh, you don't have to worry any longer, Janice. Here, come with me a moment. Let me show you my new masterpiece. There he is. How do you like him? My
[00:11:01] Unknown:
face. His face is the exact image of mine. Well, I had to have a model.
[00:11:07] Unknown:
Who better than you? Here. Take this control. Ask him to get up and come to you. What do I call him? Well, he's he's you to the life and it's a great title. The great Janus and, self. Yes. That's its name. Self.
[00:11:30] Unknown:
I am famous. Will you come to me? Or do you want me to be your master?
[00:11:39] Unknown:
Well, why don't you make it answer? I'm trying to, but
[00:11:43] Unknown:
maybe I'm out of practice. I'll cry again. Do you know me? Will you answer me when
[00:11:52] Unknown:
I talk? If you tell me the answers, how did you find Chicago? I just got off a plane and there it was.
[00:12:01] Unknown:
I, I don't know if I want this dummy, professor. The elements are sensational. This is only a working model. Let me build you the complete dummy and you'll thank me forever. I I I told you, professor. I haven't the money. Yes. I know. I know. So I'll offer you a proposition. I'll build you a humanoid that will walk, move, then jump. Do anything you ask it to. That's my contribution. All you must provide is the voice that is beyond me. We go into a simple, partnership fifty fifty and all our earnings.
[00:12:41] Unknown:
Will you accept that? I don't have to put up any money to own a humanoid that moves and acts like any other person?
[00:12:50] Unknown:
You will pay. Now leave. I must get to work. I will finish. So
[00:12:56] Unknown:
a little bit dirty, Dennis. A little bit dirty.
[00:13:00] Unknown:
How will I know? I will call you the moment he is finished. I don't know how to thank you, professor Mandi. Oh, yes. I sometimes find it. No need to thank me. Nor will you want to when I'm finished with you, murderer, assassin to have killed one of my children? That you would pay. I could have stuck you dead today if what you did to one of mine, but I stayed my hand a little while. I have other plans for you than just revenge.
[00:13:52] Unknown:
Though the professor's apparent kindness is only a mask to hide his revenge for the destruction of one of his creations. But how does he expect to accomplish that? And what other plans does he have in mind? I'll return shortly with act two. Ventriloquism. The name is a misnomer since its Latin roots means simply speaking from the belly. In actual fact, the illusion is produced by depressing the vocal cords, pulling the tongue inside the mouth to create words, and by keeping the lips from moving. Still, keeping the lips from moving. Still, practiced by a master, the illusion is indistinguishable from reality.
So much so that the great English philosopher, Henry Moore, was moved to say, who knows, but some of his counterfeit ventriloquists may prove true ones, which is another way of saying, which is the dummy and which is the master. When I got home to Sarah with the news about the new act and how I was sure it would put me back in the headlines again, she was less enthusiastic than I'd hoped. Oh, I knew she was pleased for me. But behind the pleasure and the love in her eyes, I could sense her a darkness, a foreboding that she couldn't hide.
[00:15:25] Unknown:
I'm I'm so glad,
[00:15:27] Unknown:
Fred. You know what a fierce old warrior the professor is? I I thought he'd never forgive you for what you've done to his masterpiece. So did I. But I think this new thing he's building is what saved me. What do you mean? Well, he's an exact replica of me, like a twin brother.
[00:15:41] Unknown:
Just as long as you'll be happy. You're not? Oh, I don't know, Fred. This one is so big, so different. The other little son was like like a child. Don't, Sarah. I I wouldn't care if you drove a bus or sold shoes or collected trash. At least well, at least I'd had you to myself. You've always had me, Sarah. There's never been anyone else. Oh, woman I never had to worry about. No matter how they gathered about you. You're a very handsome man, Fred.
[00:16:11] Unknown:
I have to be. Look at what I married, the most beautiful woman in the world. An old lady like me.
[00:16:18] Unknown:
Since I first saw you, there was nobody but you for me. Now you regret it? Oh, never. It's just that I'm I'm so completely yours, all of me. I I I wish only sometimes I I could have you to myself the same way. But you'll do.
[00:16:37] Unknown:
The dummies, alias, any of them, they aren't your rivals, darling. Not in any way. Are you sure? I raised my hand to guard. Oh, no. Don't. Why not?
[00:16:47] Unknown:
Because you're only lying to him and to yourself. Don't you see Fred, they're all your children. The children I never had, the children I can't share. Why have you stuck with me all these years? Because I love you. The part of you I've had. I wish I oh, how I wish I could have had all of you.
[00:17:08] Unknown:
Sarah, listen. It's gonna take the professor a couple of months to finish the work on myself. Side captain can take care of all the bookings. I've already talked to him, and he's sure we got a smash going. I got all the material I need, and Joe and Irving can be running me up some topical stuff. They'll do it on spec for me. So why don't you and me just run away? Run away? You pick the spot just so we have enough cash or can borrow enough to make it. Bermuda, The Bahamas, Mexico. Oh, Fred.
[00:17:37] Unknown:
I can be packed tonight.
[00:17:43] Unknown:
We had nearly two months on an island in the Caribbean where the beach from our cabin stretched as far as you could look from left to right. The long walks, the swims, the fish diet, and the simple local foods trimmed me down and took five years off my looks. Most of all, the peace and a strange transformation that was happening inside my own mind. From the beginning, I'd always known what Sarah meant by my split personality. From the moment we landed on the island, I had set myself to persuade her that it no longer existed. And in the process, I found that I no longer had to persuade myself.
It was gone. I called up a professor only once during our long vacation. Hello? Professor, is that ghost Janus?
[00:18:36] Unknown:
Wonderful. Her self is not yet finished. Good.
[00:18:41] Unknown:
Good? I I mean, only that I'm enjoying the only vacation I've ever had in my life. So I advise you to enjoy it to the full.
[00:18:50] Unknown:
When I've completed your alter ego, you will have little time for play. You're that optimistic? I am that optimistic. I have an instinct about these things. I think you will find yourself when you see your self. I'll send you a message soon when I'm ready. You will come straight back? Sure, professor. Sure.
[00:19:14] Unknown:
Under the circumstances, I'm at your command. Until I hear from you. Sure. Driving back to our beach cottage from the nearest little town where there was a phone, I found a host of things running through my mind. How happy and carefree the last week's been. What they had meant to Sarah, paramount overall was my return to my own personal freedom, to being my own man, not to have to depend on a fabrication of wood, steel, and wires to which I had left half my own personality over which I had to split myself. It was in that frame of mind I should have decided my life, except when I got back home, the decision wasn't mine.
[00:20:08] Unknown:
Oh, what is it, Sarah?
[00:20:09] Unknown:
Oh, I don't know. I'm afraid to hope, but I heard you've got to get me to the hospital. What is it, Lisa? Well, I I think I'm making a better image for you than professor Manzanian with all his skills could ever make. I I think I'm pregnant with our childhood. Oh, don't let anything happen to him.
[00:20:36] Unknown:
This is a wild trip to the local airstrip, a chartered plane and on into Nassau. Sarah had to spend two weeks in bed there resting before we were allowed to return home. We wouldn't have left then if it hadn't been for a flurry of phone calls. The professor had finished. Stop any, maestro. Where is it?
[00:21:02] Unknown:
Gently, gently each thing to its own time. Have you had a good vacation? You look like Othello. I guess I picked up quite a tan. And now is your good wife? Sarah? Oh, she's fine now. She didn't lose the child? No. Thank god. It was just an early threatened miscarriage, but we got to NASA on time. Well, I made a decision while you were gone. Since we're breaking convention, moving into a new, relationship, I made certain, structural changes. Alright. Whatever you decide. You're the master builder. And you, the master magician. I need both of us to create the illusion. True.
Just so long as it is, illusion. Signore. My pills in the middle above the atlaid table. Here. How many do you need water? No. Just metroglycerin. One under the tongue. I have an old heart that has been working too long. Thank you. Is there anything else I can get for you? Not any more than you will be getting me very soon. Yeah. There. Now I am alright. Yeah. You,
[00:22:32] Unknown:
you wish to meet your alter ego? You can imagine. I'm dying to meet the dummy which will bring ventriloquism and me back into the spotlight again. Yeah, baby.
[00:22:45] Unknown:
It will be the same as before except that now, physically, he is perfect. You will move, walk, perform any physical function except talk. That is where you are the creative one. There's
[00:23:10] Unknown:
He's he's absolute perfection.
[00:23:16] Unknown:
How how could you tell him from a human being? He cannot speak. Only you can teach him that. Teach him well, provide him with a voice and language. He said we'd got him for it. By all means, let us dress him. And then find out what we have. Or as the bible would have said, what has been wrought.
[00:23:46] Unknown:
Together, we dress the flexible but unresponsive body, a body so like mine, except so much younger and more perfect. And all the while we worked this curious feeling whenever I glanced up to find myself looking at me or me looking at self. Finally, the moment was there to animate him. So,
[00:24:10] Unknown:
This very small remote control you hold in your hand can make him do everything but speak. Let me show you how the control works. So would you make us both a drink? Scotch on the rocks for me and a rose cassis for mister James.
[00:24:28] Unknown:
Fantastic. Well, I showed you before, but that was a robot. This is a replica of a human being. Who could tell the difference? No one.
[00:24:38] Unknown:
They accept us who needs only one more thing to make him complete.
[00:24:44] Unknown:
A boy. He's too terrifying. What right have we to invest a complete human being with a voice? It's the only thing he lacks. No. If we are to be an act, there is something also he lacks totally, a brain, the power of thought. Whatever issues from his mouth or my thoughts, my words. Think of the magic of it all. A figure able to move exactly as a human engaged in a dialogue which you alone control. But how is an audience conscious of that?
[00:25:21] Unknown:
How do they know that there is any magic happening before them? Because at the end of the act or before, however you get it, you turn this figure around. So and you open this door of his back like that, and he is revealed as a robot, a mass of tears, canned springs, the antithesis of a human, a piece of machinery constructed of moving parts. Something nags at me and and tells me there's there's a flaw in this. Oh, you have a mountain of debts. How else do you repay them? Oh, I suppose I'm just a sentimental fool, but somehow you you make me sound like Faust.
[00:26:03] Unknown:
You're right. This is the only way I can dig myself out of debt and start a future for my child. You have an act, professor. Janus himself. I'll start to work it up immediately, and I hope it'll catch on. I know it will. I have a feeling it will, but is it the success I want? I wish I could be sure of that. Another old time quote on Brent Willough Quizm was one that had an evil spirit speaking in his belly. But suppose by some supernatural act, the reverse were true. That somehow, the ventriloquist became the victim, and that the doll, the dummy, the alter ego tipped the scales and took over from him.
Let's see what happens when I return with act three. Janice and self were an instant hit. For two months, the act was shaped and polished and then brought into New York where it opened to raves. Show after show was designed and built around them. International offers poured in. A countrywide tour was planned. Only two rifts in the loot. The first had to do with professor Manzini. It was the day I was to pick up self. The managed pro had wanted to make a few final adjustments, he adjustments, he said, and I had been working desperately to finally come up with a voice that I hoped was completely humanoid. Sarah felt it was, so did my agent.
I was anxious to let the professor hear it himself, but I never had the chance. No answer. That's strange. I he knew I was coming.
[00:28:02] Unknown:
But why would he have gone out? His heart.
[00:28:08] Unknown:
Professor?
[00:28:10] Unknown:
Professor Mardini? It's me. Janus, Robert.
[00:28:17] Unknown:
He was seated in his old armchair, head lolling to one side, one hand over the chair as if to receive a pellet from a bottle, held in self hand. Self himself was bent over, frozen in the act of spilling it out of the already open bottle. I took his pulse quickly. Listen to his heart. The professor was dead. I stooped and picked up the control box to pressing the button. You can straighten up now, sir.
[00:28:51] Unknown:
Give me the bottle. Thanks.
[00:28:55] Unknown:
When did you die? Of course, how stupid of me. What a triumph you are that I should forget even for a moment. And a moment as crucial and heartbreaking as this, that you're only a dummy. Isn't that right? Yes, master. That's right. I shouldn't make you call me that. Do you mind? Why should I mind? Don't you control me? Yes. I suppose I do. Except you seem so human
[00:29:26] Unknown:
and a little frightening because I'm so much your twin. Wait a minute. What what's this?
[00:29:36] Unknown:
Attached to this note is a copy of my will that makes you the executor and sole heir to all my possessions. May they bring you all you deserve. I have done everything in my power to make sure you will get everything that's coming to you. Did you hear that, Sal? You're all mine now. I am all yours.
[00:30:05] Unknown:
Fred, wait a minute. Don't be so fidgety. Let me tell you time. I'm sorry, Sarah.
[00:30:11] Unknown:
That's a enough schedule.
[00:30:13] Unknown:
I just hope my voice holds out. I got some lemon and honey for you. Here, drink.
[00:30:17] Unknown:
What would I do without you? Fred, why don't you give it all up? Who who needs it? We do until the bills are paid. Well, not with what the professor left us. I don't want his money. I want my own. Oh. What what is it, honey? Oh, it's just a baby.
[00:30:34] Unknown:
He kicks so much these days. It's a regular soccer player feel broke to be. You take care of yourself.
[00:30:41] Unknown:
And don't worry about me. I don't want to have to stop worrying about you. What else is it you're worried about, Grant? Nothing. Just the grind. Well, you'll tell me if it's anything else. I'll tell you.
[00:30:54] Unknown:
What could I ever keep from you, Sarah?
[00:31:00] Unknown:
But there were things I was keeping from Sarah. Things I even tried to keep for myself. Something something strange was happening in the act. Sometimes I sort of blank out on the stage. There would be periods when I was never sure exactly what had been said. And then there was a growing pressure on my throat creating a voice that was unnatural for a ventriloquist no matter how natural it might be to the audience. I went to my doctor about it and he advised rest, but that was impossible with the contracts I had to fulfill. I took my problems to Sarah.
You mean he talked without you? I don't know, Sarah. And and stay that way. But how? Well, you know the odor scene. Just to take for example where I say, where were you born? He says in a hospital. And I say, why? And he says, because I want to be near my mother. I've done it so often. His chain seems completely authentic. But last night, the strangest thing happened like it's happened before, I think. Only maybe I'm crazy. Okay. It? I asked the question, where were you born? And he answered Oh, who cares about me? Where were you born? And I said, in a hospital.
And he said Why? And I said, because I want to be near my mother. It's it's crazy. Turned upside down topsy-turvy.
[00:32:29] Unknown:
Like, she controlled me instead of Oh, Fran, you you you've got the question. It isn't worth it anymore. You're killing yourself.
[00:32:41] Unknown:
Why didn't I listen to her? But there was a child to think of in the usual obsession, money. The climax came near the end of my engagement at the music hall. These moments of blanking out in the middle of the act have become more and more frequent, and so had the visit for the doctor for my hoarseness. It took all my strength to go on this performance except that I knew Sarah was in the audience. I loaded myself with pep pills, gargle, drank coffee by the gallon, and made my appearance. But I was so drugged, shaken out of myself that the performance was strictly by a rote, routine, mechanical, and a few.
[00:33:19] Unknown:
So, you think that's funny, do you? How can I help it? What do you mean? What you think, I think. Right? Wrong.
[00:33:27] Unknown:
In time, you'll learn to think for yourself.
[00:33:30] Unknown:
Okay. How come if we have to pretend we're doing this silly ventriloquist act, I don't sit on your knee? Not so silly thing to say. Just like everything else I get to. Why?
[00:33:44] Unknown:
You're just as big as I am. That'd be ridiculous. Not any more than the rest of this act.
[00:33:50] Unknown:
Anyway, why do you always get to sit down and I have to stand? Don't get mad. Oh, I'm not the one who's crazy. You have to be if I sound that way. Alright. If you wanna sit down on my lap, come on. Thank you, daddy.
[00:34:04] Unknown:
Isn't this just like old times? It's too sunny, boy. When there are gray skies What can they all be, daddy? Let them all be gray skies. What'll I do with them? You'll make them blue. That's my name. Sunny boy. What about your friend? When? In a moment, Brenda left a prepared act.
[00:34:23] Unknown:
What about your grand? In a moment, I said it left a prepared act. I had a horrible And that awful thing that happens only in actor's dreams was taking place right up there on stage. My husband making a fool of himself and seemingly powerless to stop him.
[00:34:48] Unknown:
And now for the final unbelievable moment when we offer you the climactic proof of what you have known from the beginning. That despite the evidence of your eyes, ears, and all the other senses, there is on this stage only one living man, myself. The other is, turn around, self, The greatest living robot whoever has ever known, a humanoid complete in ever since except that he is voidless. Now, I open the back to prove that he is not alive. A human for the mechanical and driving of human ingenuity. What's
[00:35:30] Unknown:
the matter? Well, this is not your my genius.
[00:35:35] Unknown:
Why don't you turn around and let the audience know the truth? Turn. Drum roll.
[00:35:45] Unknown:
Presto, presto, watch and see the
[00:35:52] Unknown:
The audience reacted as always as the door in the dummy sack swung open. My reaction was horrifyingly different because the door that had been opened was knocked in the thermostat. But what for twenty years of Mary's life had been my husband.
[00:36:14] Unknown:
Arthur, what happened out there, sir? Since we are alone and the time is right, I will reveal myself. Professor.
[00:36:27] Unknown:
None other. I can't tell you how many bodies I've used, Stolen or soul summoned to house my own. The only children I've ever had are my puppets, my marionettes, my dummies. When you murdered Alias, I made up my mind to take your body and punish you in the process. I've had my revenge. I told you in my will, I'd make sure you got everything that was coming to you. I think I kept my promise. But you are not finished. The curse that was laid on me is quite specific. I must find a body to occupy for at least ten years before I make an exchange or descend to everlasting hell.
The one I've taken from you will serve. You have your choice. Continue as a voiceless dummy
[00:37:17] Unknown:
or destroy yourself. I couldn't care less.
[00:37:20] Unknown:
Fred. Fred, what is it? Oh, what's the matter? I have no more use for either of you. I shall leave. Oh, missus Goldstein. You might need this. What is it? The control box to make your husband move. I'll even leave you his voice since it's become so hoarse and unpleasant.
[00:37:41] Unknown:
Adieu. I've had my revenge.
[00:37:47] Unknown:
What am I to do with this? Fred, are are you a robot now? I was.
[00:37:54] Unknown:
I should be, except that God is merciful and evil doesn't always triumph. Well, what do you mean? I don't know exactly, but listen to me. You sound like my Fred again. I feel like your old Fred again and not so old. I'm aware of blood coursing through my veins. My heart is pumping. My brain moving and reacting. Look at me, Sarah. Is there a door in my back? No. No. But but how? It's beyond me to explain except every time before that ghoul stole another body, the soul was lost till this time because there was already a body made in my image for my soul to invest.
Then you are my friend. Thanks to God. Even my voice is back. Most of all my voice. That's the greatest irony of all. What do you mean darling? For months I've kept it from you. But now I don't need to anymore. He, self, the professor, whatever he was or is, stole my body and left me the image to dwell in now. And by so doing saved my life and condemned himself. The body he left me is new and capable of long life. My body that he stole has less than a month to live. It has I had incurable cancer of the larynx. The collapse of a star and his disappearance from the stage was a three day wonder in the press.
But the public is fickle. Within weeks, the great Janice was out of mind. Fred's in real estate now, happy to forget Janice the great. And Sarah has provided a new member for the act, a lusty young son whose voice has all the range of his father's, at least in decibels, if not in trickery. I'll be back shortly. As for that mysterious and indefinable character, the professor, whoever he was, his car went out of control on the Harlem River Drive and plunged into the canal. Since he could not swim, whether or not his life might have been saved will never be answered.
Since by that time, his larynx was so deeply infected by the growth that strangled it, he had no voice to cry for help. Our cast included Victor Jory, Amzie Strickland, and Brett Morrison. The entire production was under the direction of Hyman Brown. And now, a preview of our next tale. Look here. More doubloons. Wonder how many he's got. Just a few, he says. Old Silas' back is supposed to have thousands of them. But even if that old room's full of them, I wouldn't go near it with an army. You've gotten over your skin? No. And I never will. That was the awfulest thing I ever saw, that poor heifer being pulled under the water by some thing.
Now what did it look like? What I saw, it was a kinda red color, round and fat and it had the horns kinda sticking out in front like, like feelers. Hey. No such thing, Johnny. Back up on that dilly lee, I saw the thing. You say the new home is showing up tomorrow? I think so. Now let me tell you. Stay away from the lake and keep them away from it too. Radio Mystery Theater was sponsored in part by Time Magazine 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.
[00:42:01] Unknown:
How to have fun anytime, anywhere. Step one, go to chumbacasino.com.
[00:42:05] Unknown:
Chumbacasino.com.
[00:42:07] Unknown:
Got it. Step two, collect your welcome bonus. Come to Papa welcome bonus. Step three, play hundreds of casino style games for free. That's a lot of games. All for free? Step four, unleash your excitement. Woo hoo.
[00:42:19] Unknown:
Chumba Casino has been delivering thrills for over a decade. So claim your free welcome bonus now and live the Chumba life. Visit chumbacasino.com.
[00:42:26] Unknown:
No purchase necessary. VGW group void. We're prohibited by law. 21 plus terms Conditions apply.
If your job at a health care facility includes disinfecting against viruses, you know prevention is the best medicine. And maintaining healthy spaces starts with a healthy cleaning routine. Grainger's world class supply chain helps ensure you have the quality products you need when you need them. From disinfectants and cleaning supplies to personal protective equipment, so you can help deliver a clean bill of health. Call +1 800 click grainger.com, or just stop by. Granger, for the ones who get it done.
[00:00:34] Unknown:
The CBS Radio Mystery Theater presents Come in. Welcome. I'm EG Marshall. Won't you sit down and relax with me for the next, oh, a little less than an hour and listen to a tale of murder, Or is that statement exactly fair? The dictionary definition of murder is the unlawful killing of another human being with malice of forethought. Well, undoubtedly, there is killing and
[00:01:20] Unknown:
malice of forethought, but, the question here is what or who was killed? Don't try to blame it on me. It's always blamed on me. I won't take it any longer. I won't take the guilt. Well, I'll still why? Not on me. Not on me ever again. I'll make sure of that. I'll kill you.
[00:01:41] Unknown:
How can you kill what was never alive? Only one way. I'll tear you apart. Yes. Careful. You'll have no life. What? You have left without pain. I no longer care. Tear you apart limb from limb. Socket by socket. Freddie, excuse me. What are you doing?
[00:02:04] Unknown:
I'm destroying all this destroying
[00:02:08] Unknown:
place. But there is no act without the two of you. There is no me as long as he exists.
[00:02:16] Unknown:
You know that better than anyone, Sarah.
[00:02:20] Unknown:
Yeah. It's done
[00:02:21] Unknown:
forever. Maybe now I can live.
[00:02:25] Unknown:
Maybe it's worth a murder to achieve some kind of freedom.
[00:02:39] Unknown:
Our mystery drama, The Voice of Death, was written especially for the mystery mystery theater by Ian Martin and stars Victor Jory. It is sponsored in part by Buick Motor Division and Time Magazine. I'll be back shortly with act one. The ventriloquism, one of man's most ancient arts. It's as old as the Chinese cultures, and almost certainly it was practiced by priests who created such seeming miracles as the speaking statues of Egypt and the Greek oracles. Down through the millennia, it flourished. And when it became sheer entertainment through vaudeville radio and TV, it reached its highest popularity.
Then, as suddenly, ventriloquism suddenly lost its popularity. A fact that Janus the great is not yet prepared to face.
[00:03:39] Unknown:
Who was I? That pretty girl scene from the East Bronx where Luke slept.
[00:03:44] Unknown:
I was scared to go to school even. They beat up on me all the time because I wouldn't fight back and it was funny to watch a fat kid cry. Then I read an ad in the paper and saved up my lunch money to send away for Professor Fantasorial's magical method of voice projection, amaze, delight, and mystify friends and foes alike by the ancient and mystical art of ventriloquism. It changed my life because for some reason, it was easy to me. I mastered the art in a month and held a golden key that unlocked the world for me. At 16, I was playing parties and school dates. I got in at the very end of radio's golden era, but where I really hit it big was television.
By then I was calling myself Janus an alias. And then suddenly by the late nineteen sixties, I was a has been. The gold all faded. The club dates I played were a disaster, and a lifetime of splitting myself in two ended in murder. Fred, look what you've done doing. We'll never put him back together now. Why do you care, Sarah? What do you mean? Isn't this the way you've always wanted it? Oh, Fred. You're sick. You always thought he came between you and me. Who? Him, the dummy.
[00:04:58] Unknown:
I never said that once all these years. But you thought it. Well, he was always the first thing in your thoughts. He he combed his hair, pressed his clothes, washed his face, even behind his ears like he was a child. He never even kept him in a box. He was always there wherever we were. We were never alone. You even used to talk to him off stage. Yes. I I was jealous. Now maybe I'm glad you've destroyed him. Maybe now we can have what you'd never let me have. What?
[00:05:29] Unknown:
What did I ever refuse you?
[00:05:31] Unknown:
A child.
[00:05:32] Unknown:
A child of my own? How could we have a child, Sarah? Always on the road, always moving, living in hotels.
[00:05:39] Unknown:
Children weren't for us. You could have left me behind with our child or our children. And travel alone. Don't you think that I could have gone ahead and had a child? How could you stop me? But I didn't because Because? It wouldn't have been fair to the child. It would have been my child, not something we shared just as he was your child.
[00:06:01] Unknown:
Oh, Freddie, what's wrong with you? How could you have done that to him? It doesn't matter. He's gone. Well, let's see if we can't put him together. I guess No. Leave him alone. Don't touch him. Fred. He's dead. Smashed. He couldn't be repaired and he's not going to be repaired because there's nothing to repair him for. Darling, what is it? Don't you see? I'm as dead as he is. You got fired again. I'm through, Sarah. It's all over. There's no Janus the Great. No. That isn't true, darling. You're tired. You you've been overworking a good night's rest. What am I going to do? We have no money. I have no other talents. I'm back once again to where I began, Fat Freddie from the East Bronx. When I killed Avis, I might as well have killed myself.
I had no rest that night. What a night of wars. After Sarah, worrying herself, frantic about me, finally got to sleep, the things began happening. The first pain when it came was so intense and piercing that in spite of myself, it
[00:07:11] Unknown:
my god.
[00:07:14] Unknown:
I bit my lip till a bug came trying to stifle my cry so that I shouldn't bother Sarah, but my arm felt as though some giant had broken it across his knees. And then the second one came. A blow that compressed my brain and sent it spinning.
[00:07:32] Unknown:
God, what's happening to me? Fred? What what what is it? Darling, are you alright? Alright. It's five in the morning. You're still awake. Uh-huh.
[00:07:44] Unknown:
Sarah. A dream. What a dream.
[00:07:47] Unknown:
I felt like I was broken on the rack. I'll get you some aspirin. You're coming down with something. Mark my words.
[00:07:54] Unknown:
Coming down with something alright. Tomorrow, first thing, I'll take care of that. Take care of what? What I did to my poor little dummy. Tomorrow, I'll go to the professor and see if he can put Alias together again. If that's what you want. Never mind if it's what I want or not. It's what must be done. So now you've made up your mind. Maybe you could sleep a little. What I am, I am. Too late to change about the dummy in me. But one thing it isn't too late for is a child. If you Oh,
[00:08:27] Unknown:
what could I do with a child? I already have one in my arms. Sleep a little darling. Sleep. And maybe we could find a new tomorrow.
[00:08:41] Unknown:
I could sleep now.
[00:08:44] Unknown:
The pains were all still there, but dulled and able to be forgotten. I nestled close to Sarah, and she held me close. And suddenly, it came
[00:08:54] Unknown:
the blessed curtain of sleep and the wonderful feeling that all the decisions had been made in the future smoothed away.
[00:09:05] Unknown:
You did this to my creation that I paid for him? For the intricate balance of wires and joints that gave him reality. And more than that, the control of the eyes, the mouth, the tongue between the teeth, a muzzle of the human figure, a scarce step below actuality. He's been destroyed beyond belief. It's vandalism. It cannot be repaired. You must forgive me, professor Manzini, but my art is a lost art and yours may be too. What?
[00:09:35] Unknown:
What do you say? We live in a world where miracle illusion magic are forgotten.
[00:09:40] Unknown:
Words and symbols mean little more than what they state. We live in a world where nothing that is said. No words, no statement means anything at all. Yes. You are right about our profession. I've had my dissatisfactions too, which have led me deeper and deeper into the recreation of form, the humanoid form, the complete replica of man. I am so near, Janus. So near. What what are you saying? I've created a dummy. No. No. Forget that awful word. A robot, half life size, capable of everything, movement, reaction, everything except actual speech.
By electronic control, you can move this figure, activate it, make it sit or stand or bend. But to make it speak, that is beyond me. Only a master of antiloquism can affect that. Will you lend your artistic talent to my mechanical genius and create a new miracle? When did you ask? I'm I'm desperate. Oh, you don't have to worry any longer, Janice. Here, come with me a moment. Let me show you my new masterpiece. There he is. How do you like him? My
[00:11:01] Unknown:
face. His face is the exact image of mine. Well, I had to have a model.
[00:11:07] Unknown:
Who better than you? Here. Take this control. Ask him to get up and come to you. What do I call him? Well, he's he's you to the life and it's a great title. The great Janus and, self. Yes. That's its name. Self.
[00:11:30] Unknown:
I am famous. Will you come to me? Or do you want me to be your master?
[00:11:39] Unknown:
Well, why don't you make it answer? I'm trying to, but
[00:11:43] Unknown:
maybe I'm out of practice. I'll cry again. Do you know me? Will you answer me when
[00:11:52] Unknown:
I talk? If you tell me the answers, how did you find Chicago? I just got off a plane and there it was.
[00:12:01] Unknown:
I, I don't know if I want this dummy, professor. The elements are sensational. This is only a working model. Let me build you the complete dummy and you'll thank me forever. I I I told you, professor. I haven't the money. Yes. I know. I know. So I'll offer you a proposition. I'll build you a humanoid that will walk, move, then jump. Do anything you ask it to. That's my contribution. All you must provide is the voice that is beyond me. We go into a simple, partnership fifty fifty and all our earnings.
[00:12:41] Unknown:
Will you accept that? I don't have to put up any money to own a humanoid that moves and acts like any other person?
[00:12:50] Unknown:
You will pay. Now leave. I must get to work. I will finish. So
[00:12:56] Unknown:
a little bit dirty, Dennis. A little bit dirty.
[00:13:00] Unknown:
How will I know? I will call you the moment he is finished. I don't know how to thank you, professor Mandi. Oh, yes. I sometimes find it. No need to thank me. Nor will you want to when I'm finished with you, murderer, assassin to have killed one of my children? That you would pay. I could have stuck you dead today if what you did to one of mine, but I stayed my hand a little while. I have other plans for you than just revenge.
[00:13:52] Unknown:
Though the professor's apparent kindness is only a mask to hide his revenge for the destruction of one of his creations. But how does he expect to accomplish that? And what other plans does he have in mind? I'll return shortly with act two. Ventriloquism. The name is a misnomer since its Latin roots means simply speaking from the belly. In actual fact, the illusion is produced by depressing the vocal cords, pulling the tongue inside the mouth to create words, and by keeping the lips from moving. Still, keeping the lips from moving. Still, practiced by a master, the illusion is indistinguishable from reality.
So much so that the great English philosopher, Henry Moore, was moved to say, who knows, but some of his counterfeit ventriloquists may prove true ones, which is another way of saying, which is the dummy and which is the master. When I got home to Sarah with the news about the new act and how I was sure it would put me back in the headlines again, she was less enthusiastic than I'd hoped. Oh, I knew she was pleased for me. But behind the pleasure and the love in her eyes, I could sense her a darkness, a foreboding that she couldn't hide.
[00:15:25] Unknown:
I'm I'm so glad,
[00:15:27] Unknown:
Fred. You know what a fierce old warrior the professor is? I I thought he'd never forgive you for what you've done to his masterpiece. So did I. But I think this new thing he's building is what saved me. What do you mean? Well, he's an exact replica of me, like a twin brother.
[00:15:41] Unknown:
Just as long as you'll be happy. You're not? Oh, I don't know, Fred. This one is so big, so different. The other little son was like like a child. Don't, Sarah. I I wouldn't care if you drove a bus or sold shoes or collected trash. At least well, at least I'd had you to myself. You've always had me, Sarah. There's never been anyone else. Oh, woman I never had to worry about. No matter how they gathered about you. You're a very handsome man, Fred.
[00:16:11] Unknown:
I have to be. Look at what I married, the most beautiful woman in the world. An old lady like me.
[00:16:18] Unknown:
Since I first saw you, there was nobody but you for me. Now you regret it? Oh, never. It's just that I'm I'm so completely yours, all of me. I I I wish only sometimes I I could have you to myself the same way. But you'll do.
[00:16:37] Unknown:
The dummies, alias, any of them, they aren't your rivals, darling. Not in any way. Are you sure? I raised my hand to guard. Oh, no. Don't. Why not?
[00:16:47] Unknown:
Because you're only lying to him and to yourself. Don't you see Fred, they're all your children. The children I never had, the children I can't share. Why have you stuck with me all these years? Because I love you. The part of you I've had. I wish I oh, how I wish I could have had all of you.
[00:17:08] Unknown:
Sarah, listen. It's gonna take the professor a couple of months to finish the work on myself. Side captain can take care of all the bookings. I've already talked to him, and he's sure we got a smash going. I got all the material I need, and Joe and Irving can be running me up some topical stuff. They'll do it on spec for me. So why don't you and me just run away? Run away? You pick the spot just so we have enough cash or can borrow enough to make it. Bermuda, The Bahamas, Mexico. Oh, Fred.
[00:17:37] Unknown:
I can be packed tonight.
[00:17:43] Unknown:
We had nearly two months on an island in the Caribbean where the beach from our cabin stretched as far as you could look from left to right. The long walks, the swims, the fish diet, and the simple local foods trimmed me down and took five years off my looks. Most of all, the peace and a strange transformation that was happening inside my own mind. From the beginning, I'd always known what Sarah meant by my split personality. From the moment we landed on the island, I had set myself to persuade her that it no longer existed. And in the process, I found that I no longer had to persuade myself.
It was gone. I called up a professor only once during our long vacation. Hello? Professor, is that ghost Janus?
[00:18:36] Unknown:
Wonderful. Her self is not yet finished. Good.
[00:18:41] Unknown:
Good? I I mean, only that I'm enjoying the only vacation I've ever had in my life. So I advise you to enjoy it to the full.
[00:18:50] Unknown:
When I've completed your alter ego, you will have little time for play. You're that optimistic? I am that optimistic. I have an instinct about these things. I think you will find yourself when you see your self. I'll send you a message soon when I'm ready. You will come straight back? Sure, professor. Sure.
[00:19:14] Unknown:
Under the circumstances, I'm at your command. Until I hear from you. Sure. Driving back to our beach cottage from the nearest little town where there was a phone, I found a host of things running through my mind. How happy and carefree the last week's been. What they had meant to Sarah, paramount overall was my return to my own personal freedom, to being my own man, not to have to depend on a fabrication of wood, steel, and wires to which I had left half my own personality over which I had to split myself. It was in that frame of mind I should have decided my life, except when I got back home, the decision wasn't mine.
[00:20:08] Unknown:
Oh, what is it, Sarah?
[00:20:09] Unknown:
Oh, I don't know. I'm afraid to hope, but I heard you've got to get me to the hospital. What is it, Lisa? Well, I I think I'm making a better image for you than professor Manzanian with all his skills could ever make. I I think I'm pregnant with our childhood. Oh, don't let anything happen to him.
[00:20:36] Unknown:
This is a wild trip to the local airstrip, a chartered plane and on into Nassau. Sarah had to spend two weeks in bed there resting before we were allowed to return home. We wouldn't have left then if it hadn't been for a flurry of phone calls. The professor had finished. Stop any, maestro. Where is it?
[00:21:02] Unknown:
Gently, gently each thing to its own time. Have you had a good vacation? You look like Othello. I guess I picked up quite a tan. And now is your good wife? Sarah? Oh, she's fine now. She didn't lose the child? No. Thank god. It was just an early threatened miscarriage, but we got to NASA on time. Well, I made a decision while you were gone. Since we're breaking convention, moving into a new, relationship, I made certain, structural changes. Alright. Whatever you decide. You're the master builder. And you, the master magician. I need both of us to create the illusion. True.
Just so long as it is, illusion. Signore. My pills in the middle above the atlaid table. Here. How many do you need water? No. Just metroglycerin. One under the tongue. I have an old heart that has been working too long. Thank you. Is there anything else I can get for you? Not any more than you will be getting me very soon. Yeah. There. Now I am alright. Yeah. You,
[00:22:32] Unknown:
you wish to meet your alter ego? You can imagine. I'm dying to meet the dummy which will bring ventriloquism and me back into the spotlight again. Yeah, baby.
[00:22:45] Unknown:
It will be the same as before except that now, physically, he is perfect. You will move, walk, perform any physical function except talk. That is where you are the creative one. There's
[00:23:10] Unknown:
He's he's absolute perfection.
[00:23:16] Unknown:
How how could you tell him from a human being? He cannot speak. Only you can teach him that. Teach him well, provide him with a voice and language. He said we'd got him for it. By all means, let us dress him. And then find out what we have. Or as the bible would have said, what has been wrought.
[00:23:46] Unknown:
Together, we dress the flexible but unresponsive body, a body so like mine, except so much younger and more perfect. And all the while we worked this curious feeling whenever I glanced up to find myself looking at me or me looking at self. Finally, the moment was there to animate him. So,
[00:24:10] Unknown:
This very small remote control you hold in your hand can make him do everything but speak. Let me show you how the control works. So would you make us both a drink? Scotch on the rocks for me and a rose cassis for mister James.
[00:24:28] Unknown:
Fantastic. Well, I showed you before, but that was a robot. This is a replica of a human being. Who could tell the difference? No one.
[00:24:38] Unknown:
They accept us who needs only one more thing to make him complete.
[00:24:44] Unknown:
A boy. He's too terrifying. What right have we to invest a complete human being with a voice? It's the only thing he lacks. No. If we are to be an act, there is something also he lacks totally, a brain, the power of thought. Whatever issues from his mouth or my thoughts, my words. Think of the magic of it all. A figure able to move exactly as a human engaged in a dialogue which you alone control. But how is an audience conscious of that?
[00:25:21] Unknown:
How do they know that there is any magic happening before them? Because at the end of the act or before, however you get it, you turn this figure around. So and you open this door of his back like that, and he is revealed as a robot, a mass of tears, canned springs, the antithesis of a human, a piece of machinery constructed of moving parts. Something nags at me and and tells me there's there's a flaw in this. Oh, you have a mountain of debts. How else do you repay them? Oh, I suppose I'm just a sentimental fool, but somehow you you make me sound like Faust.
[00:26:03] Unknown:
You're right. This is the only way I can dig myself out of debt and start a future for my child. You have an act, professor. Janus himself. I'll start to work it up immediately, and I hope it'll catch on. I know it will. I have a feeling it will, but is it the success I want? I wish I could be sure of that. Another old time quote on Brent Willough Quizm was one that had an evil spirit speaking in his belly. But suppose by some supernatural act, the reverse were true. That somehow, the ventriloquist became the victim, and that the doll, the dummy, the alter ego tipped the scales and took over from him.
Let's see what happens when I return with act three. Janice and self were an instant hit. For two months, the act was shaped and polished and then brought into New York where it opened to raves. Show after show was designed and built around them. International offers poured in. A countrywide tour was planned. Only two rifts in the loot. The first had to do with professor Manzini. It was the day I was to pick up self. The managed pro had wanted to make a few final adjustments, he adjustments, he said, and I had been working desperately to finally come up with a voice that I hoped was completely humanoid. Sarah felt it was, so did my agent.
I was anxious to let the professor hear it himself, but I never had the chance. No answer. That's strange. I he knew I was coming.
[00:28:02] Unknown:
But why would he have gone out? His heart.
[00:28:08] Unknown:
Professor?
[00:28:10] Unknown:
Professor Mardini? It's me. Janus, Robert.
[00:28:17] Unknown:
He was seated in his old armchair, head lolling to one side, one hand over the chair as if to receive a pellet from a bottle, held in self hand. Self himself was bent over, frozen in the act of spilling it out of the already open bottle. I took his pulse quickly. Listen to his heart. The professor was dead. I stooped and picked up the control box to pressing the button. You can straighten up now, sir.
[00:28:51] Unknown:
Give me the bottle. Thanks.
[00:28:55] Unknown:
When did you die? Of course, how stupid of me. What a triumph you are that I should forget even for a moment. And a moment as crucial and heartbreaking as this, that you're only a dummy. Isn't that right? Yes, master. That's right. I shouldn't make you call me that. Do you mind? Why should I mind? Don't you control me? Yes. I suppose I do. Except you seem so human
[00:29:26] Unknown:
and a little frightening because I'm so much your twin. Wait a minute. What what's this?
[00:29:36] Unknown:
Attached to this note is a copy of my will that makes you the executor and sole heir to all my possessions. May they bring you all you deserve. I have done everything in my power to make sure you will get everything that's coming to you. Did you hear that, Sal? You're all mine now. I am all yours.
[00:30:05] Unknown:
Fred, wait a minute. Don't be so fidgety. Let me tell you time. I'm sorry, Sarah.
[00:30:11] Unknown:
That's a enough schedule.
[00:30:13] Unknown:
I just hope my voice holds out. I got some lemon and honey for you. Here, drink.
[00:30:17] Unknown:
What would I do without you? Fred, why don't you give it all up? Who who needs it? We do until the bills are paid. Well, not with what the professor left us. I don't want his money. I want my own. Oh. What what is it, honey? Oh, it's just a baby.
[00:30:34] Unknown:
He kicks so much these days. It's a regular soccer player feel broke to be. You take care of yourself.
[00:30:41] Unknown:
And don't worry about me. I don't want to have to stop worrying about you. What else is it you're worried about, Grant? Nothing. Just the grind. Well, you'll tell me if it's anything else. I'll tell you.
[00:30:54] Unknown:
What could I ever keep from you, Sarah?
[00:31:00] Unknown:
But there were things I was keeping from Sarah. Things I even tried to keep for myself. Something something strange was happening in the act. Sometimes I sort of blank out on the stage. There would be periods when I was never sure exactly what had been said. And then there was a growing pressure on my throat creating a voice that was unnatural for a ventriloquist no matter how natural it might be to the audience. I went to my doctor about it and he advised rest, but that was impossible with the contracts I had to fulfill. I took my problems to Sarah.
You mean he talked without you? I don't know, Sarah. And and stay that way. But how? Well, you know the odor scene. Just to take for example where I say, where were you born? He says in a hospital. And I say, why? And he says, because I want to be near my mother. I've done it so often. His chain seems completely authentic. But last night, the strangest thing happened like it's happened before, I think. Only maybe I'm crazy. Okay. It? I asked the question, where were you born? And he answered Oh, who cares about me? Where were you born? And I said, in a hospital.
And he said Why? And I said, because I want to be near my mother. It's it's crazy. Turned upside down topsy-turvy.
[00:32:29] Unknown:
Like, she controlled me instead of Oh, Fran, you you you've got the question. It isn't worth it anymore. You're killing yourself.
[00:32:41] Unknown:
Why didn't I listen to her? But there was a child to think of in the usual obsession, money. The climax came near the end of my engagement at the music hall. These moments of blanking out in the middle of the act have become more and more frequent, and so had the visit for the doctor for my hoarseness. It took all my strength to go on this performance except that I knew Sarah was in the audience. I loaded myself with pep pills, gargle, drank coffee by the gallon, and made my appearance. But I was so drugged, shaken out of myself that the performance was strictly by a rote, routine, mechanical, and a few.
[00:33:19] Unknown:
So, you think that's funny, do you? How can I help it? What do you mean? What you think, I think. Right? Wrong.
[00:33:27] Unknown:
In time, you'll learn to think for yourself.
[00:33:30] Unknown:
Okay. How come if we have to pretend we're doing this silly ventriloquist act, I don't sit on your knee? Not so silly thing to say. Just like everything else I get to. Why?
[00:33:44] Unknown:
You're just as big as I am. That'd be ridiculous. Not any more than the rest of this act.
[00:33:50] Unknown:
Anyway, why do you always get to sit down and I have to stand? Don't get mad. Oh, I'm not the one who's crazy. You have to be if I sound that way. Alright. If you wanna sit down on my lap, come on. Thank you, daddy.
[00:34:04] Unknown:
Isn't this just like old times? It's too sunny, boy. When there are gray skies What can they all be, daddy? Let them all be gray skies. What'll I do with them? You'll make them blue. That's my name. Sunny boy. What about your friend? When? In a moment, Brenda left a prepared act.
[00:34:23] Unknown:
What about your grand? In a moment, I said it left a prepared act. I had a horrible And that awful thing that happens only in actor's dreams was taking place right up there on stage. My husband making a fool of himself and seemingly powerless to stop him.
[00:34:48] Unknown:
And now for the final unbelievable moment when we offer you the climactic proof of what you have known from the beginning. That despite the evidence of your eyes, ears, and all the other senses, there is on this stage only one living man, myself. The other is, turn around, self, The greatest living robot whoever has ever known, a humanoid complete in ever since except that he is voidless. Now, I open the back to prove that he is not alive. A human for the mechanical and driving of human ingenuity. What's
[00:35:30] Unknown:
the matter? Well, this is not your my genius.
[00:35:35] Unknown:
Why don't you turn around and let the audience know the truth? Turn. Drum roll.
[00:35:45] Unknown:
Presto, presto, watch and see the
[00:35:52] Unknown:
The audience reacted as always as the door in the dummy sack swung open. My reaction was horrifyingly different because the door that had been opened was knocked in the thermostat. But what for twenty years of Mary's life had been my husband.
[00:36:14] Unknown:
Arthur, what happened out there, sir? Since we are alone and the time is right, I will reveal myself. Professor.
[00:36:27] Unknown:
None other. I can't tell you how many bodies I've used, Stolen or soul summoned to house my own. The only children I've ever had are my puppets, my marionettes, my dummies. When you murdered Alias, I made up my mind to take your body and punish you in the process. I've had my revenge. I told you in my will, I'd make sure you got everything that was coming to you. I think I kept my promise. But you are not finished. The curse that was laid on me is quite specific. I must find a body to occupy for at least ten years before I make an exchange or descend to everlasting hell.
The one I've taken from you will serve. You have your choice. Continue as a voiceless dummy
[00:37:17] Unknown:
or destroy yourself. I couldn't care less.
[00:37:20] Unknown:
Fred. Fred, what is it? Oh, what's the matter? I have no more use for either of you. I shall leave. Oh, missus Goldstein. You might need this. What is it? The control box to make your husband move. I'll even leave you his voice since it's become so hoarse and unpleasant.
[00:37:41] Unknown:
Adieu. I've had my revenge.
[00:37:47] Unknown:
What am I to do with this? Fred, are are you a robot now? I was.
[00:37:54] Unknown:
I should be, except that God is merciful and evil doesn't always triumph. Well, what do you mean? I don't know exactly, but listen to me. You sound like my Fred again. I feel like your old Fred again and not so old. I'm aware of blood coursing through my veins. My heart is pumping. My brain moving and reacting. Look at me, Sarah. Is there a door in my back? No. No. But but how? It's beyond me to explain except every time before that ghoul stole another body, the soul was lost till this time because there was already a body made in my image for my soul to invest.
Then you are my friend. Thanks to God. Even my voice is back. Most of all my voice. That's the greatest irony of all. What do you mean darling? For months I've kept it from you. But now I don't need to anymore. He, self, the professor, whatever he was or is, stole my body and left me the image to dwell in now. And by so doing saved my life and condemned himself. The body he left me is new and capable of long life. My body that he stole has less than a month to live. It has I had incurable cancer of the larynx. The collapse of a star and his disappearance from the stage was a three day wonder in the press.
But the public is fickle. Within weeks, the great Janice was out of mind. Fred's in real estate now, happy to forget Janice the great. And Sarah has provided a new member for the act, a lusty young son whose voice has all the range of his father's, at least in decibels, if not in trickery. I'll be back shortly. As for that mysterious and indefinable character, the professor, whoever he was, his car went out of control on the Harlem River Drive and plunged into the canal. Since he could not swim, whether or not his life might have been saved will never be answered.
Since by that time, his larynx was so deeply infected by the growth that strangled it, he had no voice to cry for help. Our cast included Victor Jory, Amzie Strickland, and Brett Morrison. The entire production was under the direction of Hyman Brown. And now, a preview of our next tale. Look here. More doubloons. Wonder how many he's got. Just a few, he says. Old Silas' back is supposed to have thousands of them. But even if that old room's full of them, I wouldn't go near it with an army. You've gotten over your skin? No. And I never will. That was the awfulest thing I ever saw, that poor heifer being pulled under the water by some thing.
Now what did it look like? What I saw, it was a kinda red color, round and fat and it had the horns kinda sticking out in front like, like feelers. Hey. No such thing, Johnny. Back up on that dilly lee, I saw the thing. You say the new home is showing up tomorrow? I think so. Now let me tell you. Stay away from the lake and keep them away from it too. Radio Mystery Theater was sponsored in part by Time Magazine 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.
[00:42:01] Unknown:
How to have fun anytime, anywhere. Step one, go to chumbacasino.com.
[00:42:05] Unknown:
Chumbacasino.com.
[00:42:07] Unknown:
Got it. Step two, collect your welcome bonus. Come to Papa welcome bonus. Step three, play hundreds of casino style games for free. That's a lot of games. All for free? Step four, unleash your excitement. Woo hoo.
[00:42:19] Unknown:
Chumba Casino has been delivering thrills for over a decade. So claim your free welcome bonus now and live the Chumba life. Visit chumbacasino.com.
[00:42:26] Unknown:
No purchase necessary. VGW group void. We're prohibited by law. 21 plus terms Conditions apply.
Introduction to the Mystery
The Voice of Death
The Art of Ventriloquism
A Broken Partnership
A New Beginning
The Professor's Offer
A Life-Changing Vacation
The Rise of Janus and Self
The Final Act
The Mysterious End
