Transcript of "Is This Murder?" -- not the original script.
CHAPPELL: Quiet, please. ... Quiet, please.
(MUSIC ... THEME ... FADE FOR ...)
ANNOUNCER: The American Broadcasting Company presents "Quiet, Please!" which is written and directed by Wyllis Cooper, and which features Ernest Chappell. "Quiet, Please!" for today is called "Is This Murder?"
(MUSIC ... THEME ... END ...)
ERNEST: (NARRATES, IN CONVERSATION WITH AN UNHEARD GUEST) Thank you - very much for coming to see me.
I would have come to your office but, uh-- I'm sorry. Infirmities prevent my going out. That's why I have to have it so dark in here, too. I hope you won't mind?
Thank you. Do sit down.
Uh, just put your coat on the chair there.
Oh, anywhere. Would you care for a drink?
There's some excellent sherry there on the sideboard. At least I've been told it's excellent. Amontillado, I think.
Oh, I don't indulge myself. But you help yourself. Please do. ... Amontillado. Like the stuff that the good Montressor was drowned in in Poe's delightful story, "The Cask of Amontillado." You remember the story, of course?
Yes. Well. Help yourself.
I asked you to come here because I think I need some - legal advice.
About - murder, I'm afraid.
Yes, quite.
I'm afraid I'm a little hazy about things legal so, uh-- Do you mind?
Like the sherry? I've been told it's excellent. Uh, help yourself, do.
Way, I hardly know where to start but, uh--
That door? That's my workshop. I haven't been in there in quite some time.
Artificial limbs. Rather unusual ones if I do say so myself. I've invented a few devices, you see, and they've been - quite successful.
Oh, yes. A great many persons wear hands, arms, legs, and so on that I invented.
You - didn't know my assistant, of course.
Why, I don't know. I don't know where he is. As a matter of fact, it's Dan I wanted to talk to you about. Dan and Joyce. Joyce was his sweetheart.
No. No, I - didn't - murder them.
MUSIC: PIANO NOTE THEN ORGAN, IN BG
ERNEST: (NARRATES) It's rather an awkward story to tell.
Are you sure you're comfortable?
Good. Have you ever read the works of Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley?
Never heard of her? Well, she was the wife of the poet Percy Bysshe Shelley. She was a novelist. She died in 1890, nearly sixty years ago. [sic] But I'm afraid one of her novels is more or less, er, responsible for what I'm going to ask you about.
You don't--? I mean, you aren't familiar with her works?
Why, the best known novel she wrote - was _Frankenstein_.
MUSIC: AN ACCENT, THEN OUT
ERNEST: (NARRATES) Oh, it's nothing at all like the Frankenstein you've seen in pictures. No Boris Karloff, no Bela Lugosi with a flageolet, no weird castles. But it's a powerful book, with a very important message.
You haven't read it? Well, perhaps you ought to.
I was talking with Dan about it one day in the workshop there.
DAN: We could just about make us a monster with all this equipment, Ernest.
ERNEST: (AMUSED) Not a monster, Dan old boy. I do better than Mr. Frankenstein did. Hm. At least mine would be good looking.
SOUND: HAMMERING
DAN: Wouldn't need any spare parts of dead people, either.
ERNEST: (CHUCKLES) No, indeed.
SOUND: HAMMERING
ERNEST: Hm.
DAN: How'd you get it to work, though?
ERNEST: _That's_ the problem! (LAUGHS)
DAN: (LAUGHS)
SOUND: NOISY ELECTRIC SAW
DAN: This new arm almost has its own brain.
ERNEST: Not much like the one that, er, er, Lionel Atwill? Was that his name?
DAN: Yes, Lionel Atwill.
ERNEST: ... Wore in the picture. The one he had to manipulate with his other hand.
DAN: That's good looking, too.
SOUND: ELECTRIC SAW
ERNEST: No good without a brain and some live muscles to put it to work, though, is it?
DAN: Nothing is.
ERNEST: It's an intriguing thought. Isn't it?
SOUND: SCRAPING
DAN: What?
ERNEST: Uh, a synthetic man.
SOUND: ELECTRIC SAW
DAN: Wouldn't have to feed him. Wouldn't have to pay him wages. (CHUCKLES) Great idea.
ERNEST: Mmm. And he'd be good and strong. Duralumin arms and legs.
DAN: Chrome steel fingers and plastic muscles.
ERNEST: Chromium-plated head with wide-angle lenses for eyes.
DAN: Microphones for ears.
ERNEST: And what for a brain?
DAN: You know what Frankenstein used.
ERNEST: Hm. (CHUCKLES)
SOUND: ELECTRIC SAW
DAN: A brain. The wrong kind of brain.
ERNEST: That was in the picture.
SOUND: HAMMERING
ERNEST: He, uh, he got a criminal brain by mistake, remember?
DAN: I wonder what would have happened if he'd got a good brain for him.
ERNEST: You've got the book and the pictures mixed up, boy.
DAN: All right. But-- Well, what _would_ happen if you could make a synthetic man and put a real good human brain in it, huh?
ERNEST: Hm.
SOUND: HAND SAW
DAN: Wouldn't it be something? Wouldn't it be--? Just think of muscles that never tire. A man, a thinking man, that couldn't be harmed by disease. That would be capable of superhuman things and that would - learn forever.
ERNEST: Hm. Nice. But impracticable, boy.
DAN: I wonder.
ERNEST: Well, now, look, Dan, don't you go messing up my nice clean workshop with mechanical men.
SOUND: HAMMERING
ERNEST: Ordinary ones are trouble enough.
DAN: That's what Joyce thinks, too.
ERNEST: Get to work, boy. And be careful with that elbow, will you?! It bends the other way!
MUSIC: PIANO NOTE THEN ORGAN, IN BG
ERNEST: (NARRATES) You try some more sherry. I'm told it's excellent.
Oh, yes. Murder ... we were talking about. Well, er, er, let me see. Let me collect my thoughts. Oh! Oh. Yes, yes. Er, this first conversation, uh, that I've repeated to you - took place about six months ago.
I beg your pardon?
Where is Dan? Well, I'm sure I haven't the faintest idea. If you don't mind, I - I like to be orderly. Methodical. Hm. I think the next occurrence was Joyce's visit to me. Or rather, uh, I met her in a cocktail lounge downtown. Yeah, I hadn't been there in a long time. I dropped in one afternoon -- uh, it was three or four weeks later -- and I was drinking a lemonade I remember. My, how long it's been since I've had a lemonade.
Oh, no, no. No, thanks. No sherry. Ah, but you help yourself.
Can you find the bottle all right?
Yeah, it's so dark in here. But I'm afraid I have to have it that way. Er, er, forgive me, do.
Well. I was sitting quietly, drinking my lemonade, and she suddenly appeared alongside me, sat down at the table before I saw her almost. "Why, Joyce," I said ...
MUSIC: OUT
ERNEST: (TO JOYCE) Why, Joyce!
JOYCE: Hello, Ernest. What're ya drinkin'?
ERNEST: Lemonade. (CHUCKLES) Of course. Will you have one?
JOYCE: Mm, no, thanks. I've gotta run.
ERNEST: Oh, but do have a--
JOYCE: No. I - I had a drink. Hm! I'm just leavin'. Matter of fact, I had two drinks. Three, if you must know. I don't want any more.
ERNEST: Why, what's the matter?
JOYCE: Dan stood me up again.
ERNEST: Dan? Stood you up?
JOYCE: Third time in a week now.
ERNEST: Why, how come, Joyce? I thought you and he--
JOYCE: You tell me!
ERNEST: (TAKEN ABACK) What? Well, I - I'm sure I don't know. I--
JOYCE: You mean you aren't makin' him work nights at the workshop?
ERNEST: Well, I certainly am not.
JOYCE: Well, that's where he is, all right.
ERNEST: (INCREDULOUS) At the workshop?
JOYCE: That's what he says.
ERNEST: (TRIES TO BE REASONABLE) Joyce, er, my dear. The workshop's right in my own home. If Dan has been in there--
JOYCE: (REALIZES DAN'S BEEN LYING) Ohh!
ERNEST: Oh, my goodness. Now what have I said?
JOYCE: If he isn't at the shop, where is he?
ERNEST: Why, I don't know.
JOYCE: Look, Ernest. I happen to love that guy. And if he--
ERNEST: Now, I'd stake my life, Joyce, he isn't out with somebody else. Uh, another girl, I mean.
JOYCE: For his sake, I hope he's not, Ernest.
ERNEST: Well, I--
JOYCE: Because if I catch him cheating on me, do you know what I'll do? (BEAT) I'll murder him.
MUSIC: PIANO NOTE THEN ORGAN, IN BG
ERNEST: (NARRATES) I beg your pardon?
No. She didn't. Murder him.
(MILDLY ANNOYED) I'm sorry to keep you in suspense. But I'm afraid I'll have to tell you the story in my own way, if you please.
(CALMS DOWN) Well. Joyce went away and I thought to myself, er, "My goodness, that Dan is a very foolish fellow. That's a very attractive girl," I said to myself, "Dan oughtn't to play fast and loose with her. ... And she loves him, too," I said to myself. And I shuddered a little when I said it. I didn't like the way she said, "I'll murder him."
MUSIC: PIANO NOTE FOR AN ACCENT ... THEN ORGAN, IN BG
ERNEST: (NARRATES) No, sir. I didn't like it.
But - she was a very - attractive girl.
What?
(ANNOYED) Yes, I know I said "_was_ a very attractive girl." A slip of the tongue, sir! As far as I know, she still _is_.
MUSIC: OUT
ERNEST: (NARRATES) Well - anyway. I taxed Dan with it the next morning. Dan, I said - (TO DAN) Dan? You look tired.
DAN: I _am_ tired, Ernest.
ERNEST: Sleeping all right?
DAN: All right.
ERNEST: Hear you've been - working nights.
SOUND: HAND SAW IN AND ABRUPTLY OUT
DAN: Who told you that?
ERNEST: Joyce.
DAN: (REALIZES THE IMPLICATION) Oh.
SOUND: HAND SAW SET DOWN
ERNEST: Said you were working here at the shop.
DAN: (ALL INNOCENCE) She did?
ERNEST: Hm. I know you - haven't been working here at the shop. Because I'd have known it.
DAN: (LIGHTLY) Well, of course you would.
SOUND: HAMMERING
ERNEST: _Have_ you been working?
SOUND: HAMMER DROPPED
DAN: (DEFENSIVE) If I have, it's been on my own time, Ernest.
ERNEST: Joyce seems to think it's her time, too.
DAN: Does, huh?
ERNEST: What are you up to, Dan?
DAN: (SNAPS AT HIM) Listen, Ernest, do I ever pry into your affairs?
ERNEST: Now, you don't need to take that tone with me, Dan. I--
DAN: Sorry.
SOUND: ELECTRIC SAW
ERNEST: Dan ... that girl - loves you.
DAN: So what?
ERNEST: Well, now, really, Dan--
DAN: I'm sorry, Ernest, but I've got so many things to think about! My-- (CATCHES HIMSELF) I - I'm sorry.
SOUND: ELECTRIC SAW
ERNEST: (SYMPATHETIC) Can I help you, Dan?
DAN: You'd think I've gone crazy.
ERNEST: (AMUSED) You've never shown any signs of it, old boy.
DAN: (UNSURE) Well ...
ERNEST: (WILLING TO WRAP THINGS UP) All right. Let's get to work. But I really do think you ought to give more - consideration to Joyce, old boy.
SOUND: HAND SAW
DAN: Listen, Ernest.
ERNEST: Dan?
DAN: You know that talk we had a few weeks ago?
ERNEST: Talk?
DAN: Frankenstein.
ERNEST: Frankenstein? (REMEMBERS) Oh.
DAN: That's right.
ERNEST: Have you been letting _that_ prey on your mind, Dan?
DAN: I've done more than that.
ERNEST: Ah?
DAN: Come here.
ERNEST: Why, what--?
DAN: (OFF) Come here.
SOUND: THEIR FOOTSTEPS TO CABINET ... UNLOCKS AND OPENS CABINET DOOR
DAN: See?
ERNEST: Well, I'll be--
DAN: I told you, I've done more than just think.
MUSIC: PIANO NOTE THEN ORGAN, IN BG
ERNEST: (NARRATES) Do you know what he'd done? I looked. The gleaming chromium-plated head. Duralumin arms and legs.
DAN: And the fingers are high-test chrome steel, Ernest. I used your industrial-type hand. You see? I haven't installed the lenses for the eyes. But there's the selenium cells for light to react on. I got two small microphones for the ears. And look, the hands and arms and the legs are controlled by this selenon.
ERNEST: Why, you're a fool, Dan!
DAN: Sure. But isn't he a beauty, Ernest?
ERNEST: You're a fool!
DAN: If he only had a brain.
SOUND: DOORBELL RINGS
DAN: (WHISPERS, NERVOUS) Who's that?
SOUND: SLAMS CABINET DOOR SHUT
ERNEST: You idiot.
DAN: Think so, huh?
ERNEST: I'll go. Lock that thing up!
DAN: It's locked up. Who is it?
SOUND: ERNEST'S FOOTSTEPS TO FRONT DOOR ... DOOR OPENS
ERNEST: (FRIENDLY, OFF) Why, good morning, Joyce!
JOYCE: (NOT FRIENDLY, OFF) Is Dan here?
SOUND: JOYCE'S FOOTSTEPS IN ... FRONT DOOR SHUTS
JOYCE: (OFF) Oh. There he is.
SOUND: JOYCE'S FOOTSTEPS TO DAN
JOYCE: (CLOSER) Well. Hello, Dan.
DAN: Hello.
JOYCE: I wonder if you remember we had a date last night?
DAN: I'm sorry, I was busy.
JOYCE: Busy?! Where?! Here?!
DAN: Yeah. Here.
JOYCE: (TURNS AWAY) Was he here, Ernest?
ERNEST: (CLOSER) Yes. He was here.
JOYCE: (DISAPPOINTED) Oh. ... Alone?
DAN: Yeah, I--
ERNEST: Well, he was--
JOYCE: Well?!
ERNEST: He was alone, Joyce.
JOYCE: I don't believe it.
DAN: Now, look here, Joyce.
ERNEST: Tell her, Dan.
DAN: Listen--
JOYCE: Tell me what? (NO ANSWER) Tell me what, Dan? (NO ANSWER)
ERNEST: Look. This is all foolishness. Joyce, he--
DAN: Cut it out, Ernest.
JOYCE: Go ahead, Ernest.
DAN: I tell you--
ERNEST: Hold it, Dan. Uh, look here, Joyce. Dan's been working - on a project of his own.
JOYCE: What's her name?
ERNEST: It isn't a her, Joyce,
JOYCE: No?
ERNEST: Show her, Dan.
DAN: Now, look here--
ERNEST: Stop being a fool. Show her. Unlock the cabinet there.
DAN: (RELUCTANT) Ahhh.
ERNEST: Don't you see you're being a fool, Dan? Open the cabinet.
DAN: I don't want--
JOYCE: Open it.
DAN: (RELENTS) Well.
SOUND: DAN'S FOOTSTEPS TO CABINET ... OPENS CABINET DOOR
JOYCE: What in the world's that?
DAN: It's a mechanical--
JOYCE: Why, it's a-- It's a monster. (LAUGHS, SHARPLY) Oh, who do you think you are, Dan -- Frankenstein?
DAN: I told you--
JOYCE: Let - Let's see it. Does it work?
DAN: Certainly does work.
JOYCE: Can it walk?
ERNEST: Well, it's made out of some of the artificial limbs I invented.
DAN: And a lot of other things, too.
JOYCE: Can it talk? Bring it out, Dan.
DAN: It can't talk yet, but--
SOUND: THUMPING SOUNDS AS ROBOT IS ROCKED OUT OF THE CABINET
JOYCE: (IMPRESSED) Why, how marvelous. Make it move, Dan.
DAN: Look out, I'll make it raise its arms. Press this button here.
JOYCE: (GASPS)
DAN: See?
JOYCE: The other arm, Dan. Why, how wonderful!
DAN: Uh!
JOYCE: (SCREAMS IN HORROR) Dan!
SOUND: DAN'S BODY FALLS TO FLOOR
JOYCE: (SCREAMS) Daaaaaan!
MUSIC: AN ACCENT, THEN OUT
ERNEST: (NARRATES) Yes. That was the first mishap. That mechanical arm -- that arm of sturdy duralumin, with the fingers of chrome steel -- smashed down on the back of Dan's neck like a sledgehammer.
Oh, no. He wasn't killed. That's - not the murder I'm going to ask you about.
He was ... paralyzed. That is, his legs were paralyzed. He was in the hospital three and a half months. The doctors did everything they could for him but - there wasn't anything that really could be done. He was helpless.
Do have another glass of the sherry; it's excellent, I'm told. Dan used to drink it. And Joyce; Joyce loved it.
What?
(ANNOYED) Yes, yes, I know! I didn't _mean_ to use the past tense! I suppose she still loves it!
Huh? Oh. No, sir, I - I assure you I'm telling you-- Er, what do they say in court? Er, "The truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth." Yes, indeed.
Oh. Why, we brought him back here, of course. No relatives so far as I know. And we were very close, Dan and I.
Oh, yes. Er, Joyce was here frequently. Yeah, that girl really loved-- (CATCHES HIMSELF, WITH A WEARY EXHALE) _Loves_ that boy.
I suppose it was really pretty frightful having to lie in bed all the time, unable to move. Joyce used to stay here all day and sit with him. Then, at night, I'd come in his room and the three of us'd sit around and talk.
Oh, mostly about robots. Mechanical men. Monsters. And I brought the man, er, the machine, into his room so we could - tinker with it while we talked. And we talked a great deal about it.
DAN: How do you _know_ it won't work if we put a brain in it, Ernest?
ERNEST: It isn't possible, Dan.
DAN: Frankenstein's worked.
ERNEST: Dan, that's a story.
DAN: Maybe. Maybe it's true.
JOYCE: How would you get a brain, Dan?
DAN: Frankenstein got a brain.
JOYCE: And look what happened.
DAN: But that was a criminal brain.
ERNEST: Look, Dan. Even if you could, by some miracle, attach a brain to this thing--
DAN: It'd work.
ERNEST: But it wouldn't work right!
JOYCE: Why, Ernest?
ERNEST: Because man has no business playing around with such things!
DAN: You think any brain would turn out to be - evil, just to punish a man for trying to create a superhuman thing like this?
ERNEST: That's exactly what I think!
JOYCE: Where would you get a brain, Dan?
DAN: I don't know.
ERNEST: Ah, stop talking this nonsense!
DAN: The thing is, Ernest, I don't think it's nonsense.
ERNEST: Well, it is!
JOYCE: Where would you get a brain?
DAN: If I knew a doctor--
ERNEST: Well, you don't.
JOYCE: How would you know the brain wouldn't be - evil?
DAN: I'd make sure of that.
JOYCE: How?
DAN: I'd select it very carefully.
ERNEST: Will you stop talking about this?!
DAN: (LAUGHS) Scare you, Ernest?
ERNEST: You - you - you don't have to be so - gruesome!
DAN: I'd take a woman's brain, I think. Women are smarter than men.
JOYCE: Ick.
DAN: (JOKING) Want to lend me your brain, Joyce?
JOYCE: (AMUSED) No, I should say not.
DAN: You'd have a fine time, Joyce. You'd live forever.
JOYCE: I don't want to live forever.
DAN: Nothing could hurt you. You could do anything you wanted.
JOYCE: And have to live in that - that metal skeleton? No, thanks.
DAN: You'd never be hungry.
JOYCE: I like being hungry. It's too much fun to eat. And drink.
DAN: Never be tired.
ERNEST: Yeah, I _like_ to be tired, boy. Good night's sleep.
DAN: Oh, I wish I could put my own brain into it. Then I could get up and walk around. Do things. Go places.
ERNEST: Oh, stop this morbid talk! This is a play-toy, Dan! You talk as if it's coming to life any minute.
DAN: All it needs is a good brain, Ernest.
JOYCE: (LIGHTLY) Well, I tell you what I'll do, Dan. You tell me where to get a brain and I'll get it for you -- and we'll make a million dollars. How's that? Well, good night. I'm going home. Gee, I - I'd certainly hate to have "Frankenstein" here put his arms around me.
MUSIC: PIANO NOTE THEN ORGAN, IN BG
ERNEST: (NARRATES) Is this murder?
I mean, suppose a man does take a human brain and put it into the frame of a mechanical robot. Charge it with colloids that simulate blood in the very brain structure itself. Suppose he does it ... successfully. Is this murder?
No. Wait. Before you answer.
Suppose that the brain goes right on living. Suppose that the operation -- if you want to call it an operation -- er, suppose it works? The brain will never die. Life goes on. The only thing that's missing is the body it once inhabited. Is this murder?
The only effect is - that, somehow or other, while it's in the body, the brain is capable of fine, noble feelings -- of love, affection, friendship. Of all the virtues. In addition to all the vices.
Yes, that's true, but - but when it's transplanted-- Well, look at the Frankenstein story. When it's transplanted, the virtues are missing. Only the vices remain. Intelligence? Yes. Awareness, sentience. But good is gone. Only evil remains.
But that's _not_ the question, sir. If the body only is killed and the mind survives forever-- Is this murder?
You don't have to answer yet.
Oh, you - you think you know what I'm driving at? Well, we'll see.
No, have another drop of sherry, do. I've almost finished. Then you can judge. Because I have another question for you.
This final thing happened night before last. I went into Dan's room and he was soldering a wire onto the round chromium-plated head of this thing, er, this monster. Joyce was sitting alongside him, watching closely. She didn't see Dan wink at me ... as I closed the door.
MUSIC: OUT
SOUND: DOOR SHUTS
DAN: (IN A FRIENDLY MOOD) Hello, Ernest.
ERNEST: (MATCHES HIM) How do you feel, Dan?
DAN: Me? I feel fine.
ERNEST: Yeah? How are you, Joyce?
JOYCE: Well, I've got a little headache, Ernest.
ERNEST: Oh, I'm sorry. Have an aspirin.
JOYCE: I took one.
ERNEST: Too bad, dear. Well! How's it going, Dan?
DAN: I'm more convinced than ever, Ernest.
ERNEST: Hm. (LIGHTLY) If you only had a brain.
DAN: (MATCHES HIM) If I only had a brain.
ERNEST: Joyce, I - I wish you could do something to snap this fellow out of this.
JOYCE: Why?
ERNEST: Why?! Because, er-- Are you starting to believe this nonsense, Joyce?
JOYCE: Well, I don't think it's nonsense, Ernest.
DAN: You see, she's got a brain, Ernest.
JOYCE: Why, certainly she-- (AMUSED) Oh, Dan! (TEASING) I'm gonna take that thing away from you.
DAN: Take away my pretty Frankenstein? Oh, well, I should say you're not.
ERNEST: Dan, listen. I don't want to say this but, er, I'm afraid-- I mean, Joyce, don't you--? I mean, won't you help me--?
JOYCE: Help you what?
ERNEST: Get Dan's mind off this thing, I mean.
DAN: No she won't.
ERNEST: Joyce, I--
JOYCE: If Dan could only get a brain.
ERNEST: Joyce!
DAN: (SERIOUS NOW) Ernest? Won't you help me?
ERNEST: (MATCHES HIM) I will not.
DAN: Please, Ernest. It's all ready now. All it needs--
ERNEST: Stop that!
JOYCE: Don't, Ernest.
DAN: Come on, Ernest. Help me.
ERNEST: I won't!
DAN: Ernest?
ERNEST: Joyce! Do you know what he's going to do?
JOYCE: What?
ERNEST: He's going to--
DAN: (WARNING) Ernest!
ERNEST: (UPSET, TO DAN) I know what you're going to do! I know what's in your mind and I won't help you! I--
JOYCE: What's he going to do, Ernest? What's he--? What's in his mind?
DAN: (LOW VOICE, SEDUCTIVE) Come here, Joyce. Lean over here.
JOYCE: Dan, darling?
DAN: (WHISPERS, SEDUCTIVE) Closer. Joyce, dear.
ERNEST: (PANICS) No. No, stop! Stop, Dan! STOP!
MUSIC: AN ACCENT, CONTINUES IN BG
JOYCE: (LAUGHTER, CONTINUES IN BG)
ERNEST: (NARRATES) And when I came to, all there was in my mind was a confused memory of a pain in my throat; and bright lights; and confused voices; and Joyce's laughter.
JOYCE: (LAUGHTER HAS ENDED)
MUSIC: OUT
ERNEST: (NARRATES) I tried hard to think. I was dazed. I found I was lying on the floor. I got up ... slowly. And I saw Dan still lying on the bed. He was smiling at me. He said something.
DAN: (INCOMPREHENSIBLE)
ERNEST: (NARRATES) No, I couldn't make it out. And then I heard his voice.
DAN: (PLEASED) How do you feel ... Ernest?
ERNEST: (NARRATES) And I tried to answer. And it was a long time before my voice came. And finally I said - I said - (TO DAN, STRAINED) Where's Joyce?
JOYCE: (SMUG, TAUNTING) Why, here I am ... Frankenstein.
ERNEST: (NARRATES) And I stretched out my hand to steady myself. And I looked at my hand.
DAN: (A VOICE IN ERNEST'S MIND) "Arms and legs of duralumin, fingers of chromium steel."
ERNEST: (NARRATES) And I looked in the mirror. And I saw a round, chromium-plated head with lenses for eyes and--
MUSIC: AN ACCENT
ERNEST: (NARRATES) You can turn on the light now. If you want to.
MUSIC: OUT
ERNEST: (NARRATES) I ask you the question again.
Is this murder?
It is?
And if a steel and duralumin robot takes a life -- or more than one life -- is this murder?
Because I _have_ been murdered, you say. I do not live. I - cannot commit murder.
Very well.
I told you how the force of evil has taken hold of my brain.
No, I didn't kill Dan. Or Joyce. Not yet.
I told you I didn't know - where they are.
I do.
They're in the workshop back there; I locked her in the closet where my, er, my body used to be.
Dan? Why, he's paralyzed, remember?
His hands _are_ strong. But against chrome steel? ... Heh.
It won't be murder. Will it?
It won't be murder either - when I kill you, first.
Thank you, sir.
No, there isn't any more sherry.
Just these.
SOUND: GLASS RATTLES
(MUSIC ... THEME ... FADE FOR)
ANNOUNCER: The title of today's "Quiet, Please!" story is "Is This Murder?" It was written and directed by Wyllis Cooper. The man who spoke to you was Ernest Chappell.
CHAPPELL: And the others were Joyce ... Gordon; and Dan ... O'Herlihy.
As usual, music for "Quiet, Please!" is played by Albert Buhrmann. Now for a word about next week, here is our writer-director - Wyllis Cooper.
COOPER: Thank you for listening to "Quiet, Please!" For next week I have a story for you called "Summer Goodbye."
CHAPPELL: And so until next week at this same time, I am quietly yours, Ernest Chappell.
(MUSIC ... THEME ... FADE FOR)
ANNOUNCER: And now a listening reminder. For predictions that have a seventy-seven per cent chance of coming true, and even more, listen to Drew Pearson on ABC tonight. That's ABC, Drew Pearson, tonight.
after every line of dialogue you should post who is saying it. i have some original scripts of programs. i only have to find them. my source was gordon payton who used to have a website, he offered copies of the scripts for a small fee. he is knowm as the sci-fi guy. he has written many books on old time radio. i am new to this site. therefore, i shall remain quietly yours, until i can find them. i am new to using the internet, even though i took computer classes in the 1970's, like cobol, pascal, etc. which are ancient history now. what is an ipod? see what i mean?
in the scripts i have-- every line has the person speaking the part. for example, you know ernest was telling the story when you would see ERNEST (dialogue.) sometimes the wording would not be the same as the actual broadcast. thanks!
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Transcript of "Is This Murder?" -- not the original script.
CHAPPELL: Quiet, please. ... Quiet, please.
(MUSIC ... THEME ... FADE FOR ...)
ANNOUNCER: The American Broadcasting Company presents "Quiet, Please!" which is written and directed by Wyllis Cooper, and which features Ernest Chappell. "Quiet, Please!" for today is called "Is This Murder?"
(MUSIC ... THEME ... END ...)
ERNEST: (NARRATES, IN CONVERSATION WITH AN UNHEARD GUEST) Thank you - very much for coming to see me.
I would have come to your office but, uh-- I'm sorry. Infirmities prevent my going out. That's why I have to have it so dark in here, too. I hope you won't mind?
Thank you. Do sit down.
Uh, just put your coat on the chair there.
Oh, anywhere. Would you care for a drink?
There's some excellent sherry there on the sideboard. At least I've been told it's excellent. Amontillado, I think.
Oh, I don't indulge myself. But you help yourself. Please do. ... Amontillado. Like the stuff that the good Montressor was drowned in in Poe's delightful story, "The Cask of Amontillado." You remember the story, of course?
Yes. Well. Help yourself.
I asked you to come here because I think I need some - legal advice.
About - murder, I'm afraid.
Yes, quite.
I'm afraid I'm a little hazy about things legal so, uh-- Do you mind?
Like the sherry? I've been told it's excellent. Uh, help yourself, do.
Way, I hardly know where to start but, uh--
That door? That's my workshop. I haven't been in there in quite some time.
Artificial limbs. Rather unusual ones if I do say so myself. I've invented a few devices, you see, and they've been - quite successful.
Oh, yes. A great many persons wear hands, arms, legs, and so on that I invented.
You - didn't know my assistant, of course.
Why, I don't know. I don't know where he is. As a matter of fact, it's Dan I wanted to talk to you about. Dan and Joyce. Joyce was his sweetheart.
No. No, I - didn't - murder them.
MUSIC: PIANO NOTE THEN ORGAN, IN BG
ERNEST: (NARRATES) It's rather an awkward story to tell.
Are you sure you're comfortable?
Good. Have you ever read the works of Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley?
Never heard of her? Well, she was the wife of the poet Percy Bysshe Shelley. She was a novelist. She died in 1890, nearly sixty years ago. [sic] But I'm afraid one of her novels is more or less, er, responsible for what I'm going to ask you about.
You don't--? I mean, you aren't familiar with her works?
Why, the best known novel she wrote - was _Frankenstein_.
MUSIC: AN ACCENT, THEN OUT
ERNEST: (NARRATES) Oh, it's nothing at all like the Frankenstein you've seen in pictures. No Boris Karloff, no Bela Lugosi with a flageolet, no weird castles. But it's a powerful book, with a very important message.
You haven't read it? Well, perhaps you ought to.
I was talking with Dan about it one day in the workshop there.
DAN: We could just about make us a monster with all this equipment, Ernest.
ERNEST: (AMUSED) Not a monster, Dan old boy. I do better than Mr. Frankenstein did. Hm. At least mine would be good looking.
SOUND: HAMMERING
DAN: Wouldn't need any spare parts of dead people, either.
ERNEST: (CHUCKLES) No, indeed.
SOUND: HAMMERING
ERNEST: Hm.
DAN: How'd you get it to work, though?
ERNEST: _That's_ the problem! (LAUGHS)
DAN: (LAUGHS)
SOUND: NOISY ELECTRIC SAW
DAN: This new arm almost has its own brain.
ERNEST: Not much like the one that, er, er, Lionel Atwill? Was that his name?
DAN: Yes, Lionel Atwill.
ERNEST: ... Wore in the picture. The one he had to manipulate with his other hand.
DAN: That's good looking, too.
SOUND: ELECTRIC SAW
ERNEST: No good without a brain and some live muscles to put it to work, though, is it?
DAN: Nothing is.
ERNEST: It's an intriguing thought. Isn't it?
SOUND: SCRAPING
DAN: What?
ERNEST: Uh, a synthetic man.
SOUND: ELECTRIC SAW
DAN: Wouldn't have to feed him. Wouldn't have to pay him wages. (CHUCKLES) Great idea.
ERNEST: Mmm. And he'd be good and strong. Duralumin arms and legs.
DAN: Chrome steel fingers and plastic muscles.
ERNEST: Chromium-plated head with wide-angle lenses for eyes.
DAN: Microphones for ears.
ERNEST: And what for a brain?
DAN: You know what Frankenstein used.
ERNEST: Hm. (CHUCKLES)
SOUND: ELECTRIC SAW
DAN: A brain. The wrong kind of brain.
ERNEST: That was in the picture.
SOUND: HAMMERING
ERNEST: He, uh, he got a criminal brain by mistake, remember?
DAN: I wonder what would have happened if he'd got a good brain for him.
ERNEST: You've got the book and the pictures mixed up, boy.
DAN: All right. But-- Well, what _would_ happen if you could make a synthetic man and put a real good human brain in it, huh?
ERNEST: Hm.
SOUND: HAND SAW
DAN: Wouldn't it be something? Wouldn't it be--? Just think of muscles that never tire. A man, a thinking man, that couldn't be harmed by disease. That would be capable of superhuman things and that would - learn forever.
ERNEST: Hm. Nice. But impracticable, boy.
DAN: I wonder.
ERNEST: Well, now, look, Dan, don't you go messing up my nice clean workshop with mechanical men.
SOUND: HAMMERING
ERNEST: Ordinary ones are trouble enough.
DAN: That's what Joyce thinks, too.
ERNEST: Get to work, boy. And be careful with that elbow, will you?! It bends the other way!
MUSIC: PIANO NOTE THEN ORGAN, IN BG
ERNEST: (NARRATES) You try some more sherry. I'm told it's excellent.
Oh, yes. Murder ... we were talking about. Well, er, er, let me see. Let me collect my thoughts. Oh! Oh. Yes, yes. Er, this first conversation, uh, that I've repeated to you - took place about six months ago.
I beg your pardon?
Where is Dan? Well, I'm sure I haven't the faintest idea. If you don't mind, I - I like to be orderly. Methodical. Hm. I think the next occurrence was Joyce's visit to me. Or rather, uh, I met her in a cocktail lounge downtown. Yeah, I hadn't been there in a long time. I dropped in one afternoon -- uh, it was three or four weeks later -- and I was drinking a lemonade I remember. My, how long it's been since I've had a lemonade.
Oh, no, no. No, thanks. No sherry. Ah, but you help yourself.
Can you find the bottle all right?
Yeah, it's so dark in here. But I'm afraid I have to have it that way. Er, er, forgive me, do.
Well. I was sitting quietly, drinking my lemonade, and she suddenly appeared alongside me, sat down at the table before I saw her almost. "Why, Joyce," I said ...
MUSIC: OUT
ERNEST: (TO JOYCE) Why, Joyce!
JOYCE: Hello, Ernest. What're ya drinkin'?
ERNEST: Lemonade. (CHUCKLES) Of course. Will you have one?
JOYCE: Mm, no, thanks. I've gotta run.
ERNEST: Oh, but do have a--
JOYCE: No. I - I had a drink. Hm! I'm just leavin'. Matter of fact, I had two drinks. Three, if you must know. I don't want any more.
ERNEST: Why, what's the matter?
JOYCE: Dan stood me up again.
ERNEST: Dan? Stood you up?
JOYCE: Third time in a week now.
ERNEST: Why, how come, Joyce? I thought you and he--
JOYCE: You tell me!
ERNEST: (TAKEN ABACK) What? Well, I - I'm sure I don't know. I--
JOYCE: You mean you aren't makin' him work nights at the workshop?
ERNEST: Well, I certainly am not.
JOYCE: Well, that's where he is, all right.
ERNEST: (INCREDULOUS) At the workshop?
JOYCE: That's what he says.
ERNEST: (TRIES TO BE REASONABLE) Joyce, er, my dear. The workshop's right in my own home. If Dan has been in there--
JOYCE: (REALIZES DAN'S BEEN LYING) Ohh!
ERNEST: Oh, my goodness. Now what have I said?
JOYCE: If he isn't at the shop, where is he?
ERNEST: Why, I don't know.
JOYCE: Look, Ernest. I happen to love that guy. And if he--
ERNEST: Now, I'd stake my life, Joyce, he isn't out with somebody else. Uh, another girl, I mean.
JOYCE: For his sake, I hope he's not, Ernest.
ERNEST: Well, I--
JOYCE: Because if I catch him cheating on me, do you know what I'll do? (BEAT) I'll murder him.
MUSIC: PIANO NOTE THEN ORGAN, IN BG
ERNEST: (NARRATES) I beg your pardon?
No. She didn't. Murder him.
(MILDLY ANNOYED) I'm sorry to keep you in suspense. But I'm afraid I'll have to tell you the story in my own way, if you please.
(CALMS DOWN) Well. Joyce went away and I thought to myself, er, "My goodness, that Dan is a very foolish fellow. That's a very attractive girl," I said to myself, "Dan oughtn't to play fast and loose with her. ... And she loves him, too," I said to myself. And I shuddered a little when I said it. I didn't like the way she said, "I'll murder him."
MUSIC: PIANO NOTE FOR AN ACCENT ... THEN ORGAN, IN BG
ERNEST: (NARRATES) No, sir. I didn't like it.
But - she was a very - attractive girl.
What?
(ANNOYED) Yes, I know I said "_was_ a very attractive girl." A slip of the tongue, sir! As far as I know, she still _is_.
MUSIC: OUT
ERNEST: (NARRATES) Well - anyway. I taxed Dan with it the next morning. Dan, I said - (TO DAN) Dan? You look tired.
DAN: I _am_ tired, Ernest.
ERNEST: Sleeping all right?
DAN: All right.
ERNEST: Hear you've been - working nights.
SOUND: HAND SAW IN AND ABRUPTLY OUT
DAN: Who told you that?
ERNEST: Joyce.
DAN: (REALIZES THE IMPLICATION) Oh.
SOUND: HAND SAW SET DOWN
ERNEST: Said you were working here at the shop.
DAN: (ALL INNOCENCE) She did?
ERNEST: Hm. I know you - haven't been working here at the shop. Because I'd have known it.
DAN: (LIGHTLY) Well, of course you would.
SOUND: HAMMERING
ERNEST: _Have_ you been working?
SOUND: HAMMER DROPPED
DAN: (DEFENSIVE) If I have, it's been on my own time, Ernest.
ERNEST: Joyce seems to think it's her time, too.
DAN: Does, huh?
ERNEST: What are you up to, Dan?
DAN: (SNAPS AT HIM) Listen, Ernest, do I ever pry into your affairs?
ERNEST: Now, you don't need to take that tone with me, Dan. I--
DAN: Sorry.
SOUND: ELECTRIC SAW
ERNEST: Dan ... that girl - loves you.
DAN: So what?
ERNEST: Well, now, really, Dan--
DAN: I'm sorry, Ernest, but I've got so many things to think about! My-- (CATCHES HIMSELF) I - I'm sorry.
SOUND: ELECTRIC SAW
ERNEST: (SYMPATHETIC) Can I help you, Dan?
DAN: You'd think I've gone crazy.
ERNEST: (AMUSED) You've never shown any signs of it, old boy.
DAN: (UNSURE) Well ...
ERNEST: (WILLING TO WRAP THINGS UP) All right. Let's get to work. But I really do think you ought to give more - consideration to Joyce, old boy.
SOUND: HAND SAW
DAN: Listen, Ernest.
ERNEST: Dan?
DAN: You know that talk we had a few weeks ago?
ERNEST: Talk?
DAN: Frankenstein.
ERNEST: Frankenstein? (REMEMBERS) Oh.
DAN: That's right.
ERNEST: Have you been letting _that_ prey on your mind, Dan?
DAN: I've done more than that.
ERNEST: Ah?
DAN: Come here.
ERNEST: Why, what--?
DAN: (OFF) Come here.
SOUND: THEIR FOOTSTEPS TO CABINET ... UNLOCKS AND OPENS CABINET DOOR
DAN: See?
ERNEST: Well, I'll be--
DAN: I told you, I've done more than just think.
MUSIC: PIANO NOTE THEN ORGAN, IN BG
ERNEST: (NARRATES) Do you know what he'd done? I looked. The gleaming chromium-plated head. Duralumin arms and legs.
DAN: And the fingers are high-test chrome steel, Ernest. I used your industrial-type hand. You see? I haven't installed the lenses for the eyes. But there's the selenium cells for light to react on. I got two small microphones for the ears. And look, the hands and arms and the legs are controlled by this selenon.
ERNEST: Why, you're a fool, Dan!
DAN: Sure. But isn't he a beauty, Ernest?
ERNEST: You're a fool!
DAN: If he only had a brain.
SOUND: DOORBELL RINGS
DAN: (WHISPERS, NERVOUS) Who's that?
SOUND: SLAMS CABINET DOOR SHUT
ERNEST: You idiot.
DAN: Think so, huh?
ERNEST: I'll go. Lock that thing up!
DAN: It's locked up. Who is it?
SOUND: ERNEST'S FOOTSTEPS TO FRONT DOOR ... DOOR OPENS
ERNEST: (FRIENDLY, OFF) Why, good morning, Joyce!
JOYCE: (NOT FRIENDLY, OFF) Is Dan here?
SOUND: JOYCE'S FOOTSTEPS IN ... FRONT DOOR SHUTS
JOYCE: (OFF) Oh. There he is.
SOUND: JOYCE'S FOOTSTEPS TO DAN
JOYCE: (CLOSER) Well. Hello, Dan.
DAN: Hello.
JOYCE: I wonder if you remember we had a date last night?
DAN: I'm sorry, I was busy.
JOYCE: Busy?! Where?! Here?!
DAN: Yeah. Here.
JOYCE: (TURNS AWAY) Was he here, Ernest?
ERNEST: (CLOSER) Yes. He was here.
JOYCE: (DISAPPOINTED) Oh. ... Alone?
DAN: Yeah, I--
ERNEST: Well, he was--
JOYCE: Well?!
ERNEST: He was alone, Joyce.
JOYCE: I don't believe it.
DAN: Now, look here, Joyce.
ERNEST: Tell her, Dan.
DAN: Listen--
JOYCE: Tell me what? (NO ANSWER) Tell me what, Dan? (NO ANSWER)
ERNEST: Look. This is all foolishness. Joyce, he--
DAN: Cut it out, Ernest.
JOYCE: Go ahead, Ernest.
DAN: I tell you--
ERNEST: Hold it, Dan. Uh, look here, Joyce. Dan's been working - on a project of his own.
JOYCE: What's her name?
ERNEST: It isn't a her, Joyce,
JOYCE: No?
ERNEST: Show her, Dan.
DAN: Now, look here--
ERNEST: Stop being a fool. Show her. Unlock the cabinet there.
DAN: (RELUCTANT) Ahhh.
ERNEST: Don't you see you're being a fool, Dan? Open the cabinet.
DAN: I don't want--
JOYCE: Open it.
DAN: (RELENTS) Well.
SOUND: DAN'S FOOTSTEPS TO CABINET ... OPENS CABINET DOOR
JOYCE: What in the world's that?
DAN: It's a mechanical--
JOYCE: Why, it's a-- It's a monster. (LAUGHS, SHARPLY) Oh, who do you think you are, Dan -- Frankenstein?
DAN: I told you--
JOYCE: Let - Let's see it. Does it work?
DAN: Certainly does work.
JOYCE: Can it walk?
ERNEST: Well, it's made out of some of the artificial limbs I invented.
DAN: And a lot of other things, too.
JOYCE: Can it talk? Bring it out, Dan.
DAN: It can't talk yet, but--
SOUND: THUMPING SOUNDS AS ROBOT IS ROCKED OUT OF THE CABINET
JOYCE: (IMPRESSED) Why, how marvelous. Make it move, Dan.
DAN: Look out, I'll make it raise its arms. Press this button here.
JOYCE: (GASPS)
DAN: See?
JOYCE: The other arm, Dan. Why, how wonderful!
DAN: Uh!
JOYCE: (SCREAMS IN HORROR) Dan!
SOUND: DAN'S BODY FALLS TO FLOOR
JOYCE: (SCREAMS) Daaaaaan!
MUSIC: AN ACCENT, THEN OUT
ERNEST: (NARRATES) Yes. That was the first mishap. That mechanical arm -- that arm of sturdy duralumin, with the fingers of chrome steel -- smashed down on the back of Dan's neck like a sledgehammer.
Oh, no. He wasn't killed. That's - not the murder I'm going to ask you about.
He was ... paralyzed. That is, his legs were paralyzed. He was in the hospital three and a half months. The doctors did everything they could for him but - there wasn't anything that really could be done. He was helpless.
Do have another glass of the sherry; it's excellent, I'm told. Dan used to drink it. And Joyce; Joyce loved it.
What?
(ANNOYED) Yes, yes, I know! I didn't _mean_ to use the past tense! I suppose she still loves it!
Huh? Oh. No, sir, I - I assure you I'm telling you-- Er, what do they say in court? Er, "The truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth." Yes, indeed.
Oh. Why, we brought him back here, of course. No relatives so far as I know. And we were very close, Dan and I.
Oh, yes. Er, Joyce was here frequently. Yeah, that girl really loved-- (CATCHES HIMSELF, WITH A WEARY EXHALE) _Loves_ that boy.
I suppose it was really pretty frightful having to lie in bed all the time, unable to move. Joyce used to stay here all day and sit with him. Then, at night, I'd come in his room and the three of us'd sit around and talk.
Oh, mostly about robots. Mechanical men. Monsters. And I brought the man, er, the machine, into his room so we could - tinker with it while we talked. And we talked a great deal about it.
DAN: How do you _know_ it won't work if we put a brain in it, Ernest?
ERNEST: It isn't possible, Dan.
DAN: Frankenstein's worked.
ERNEST: Dan, that's a story.
DAN: Maybe. Maybe it's true.
JOYCE: How would you get a brain, Dan?
DAN: Frankenstein got a brain.
JOYCE: And look what happened.
DAN: But that was a criminal brain.
ERNEST: Look, Dan. Even if you could, by some miracle, attach a brain to this thing--
DAN: It'd work.
ERNEST: But it wouldn't work right!
JOYCE: Why, Ernest?
ERNEST: Because man has no business playing around with such things!
DAN: You think any brain would turn out to be - evil, just to punish a man for trying to create a superhuman thing like this?
ERNEST: That's exactly what I think!
JOYCE: Where would you get a brain, Dan?
DAN: I don't know.
ERNEST: Ah, stop talking this nonsense!
DAN: The thing is, Ernest, I don't think it's nonsense.
ERNEST: Well, it is!
JOYCE: Where would you get a brain?
DAN: If I knew a doctor--
ERNEST: Well, you don't.
JOYCE: How would you know the brain wouldn't be - evil?
DAN: I'd make sure of that.
JOYCE: How?
DAN: I'd select it very carefully.
ERNEST: Will you stop talking about this?!
DAN: (LAUGHS) Scare you, Ernest?
ERNEST: You - you - you don't have to be so - gruesome!
DAN: I'd take a woman's brain, I think. Women are smarter than men.
JOYCE: Ick.
DAN: (JOKING) Want to lend me your brain, Joyce?
JOYCE: (AMUSED) No, I should say not.
DAN: You'd have a fine time, Joyce. You'd live forever.
JOYCE: I don't want to live forever.
DAN: Nothing could hurt you. You could do anything you wanted.
JOYCE: And have to live in that - that metal skeleton? No, thanks.
DAN: You'd never be hungry.
JOYCE: I like being hungry. It's too much fun to eat. And drink.
DAN: Never be tired.
ERNEST: Yeah, I _like_ to be tired, boy. Good night's sleep.
DAN: Oh, I wish I could put my own brain into it. Then I could get up and walk around. Do things. Go places.
ERNEST: Oh, stop this morbid talk! This is a play-toy, Dan! You talk as if it's coming to life any minute.
DAN: All it needs is a good brain, Ernest.
JOYCE: (LIGHTLY) Well, I tell you what I'll do, Dan. You tell me where to get a brain and I'll get it for you -- and we'll make a million dollars. How's that? Well, good night. I'm going home. Gee, I - I'd certainly hate to have "Frankenstein" here put his arms around me.
MUSIC: PIANO NOTE THEN ORGAN, IN BG
ERNEST: (NARRATES) Is this murder?
I mean, suppose a man does take a human brain and put it into the frame of a mechanical robot. Charge it with colloids that simulate blood in the very brain structure itself. Suppose he does it ... successfully. Is this murder?
No. Wait. Before you answer.
Suppose that the brain goes right on living. Suppose that the operation -- if you want to call it an operation -- er, suppose it works? The brain will never die. Life goes on. The only thing that's missing is the body it once inhabited. Is this murder?
The only effect is - that, somehow or other, while it's in the body, the brain is capable of fine, noble feelings -- of love, affection, friendship. Of all the virtues. In addition to all the vices.
Yes, that's true, but - but when it's transplanted-- Well, look at the Frankenstein story. When it's transplanted, the virtues are missing. Only the vices remain. Intelligence? Yes. Awareness, sentience. But good is gone. Only evil remains.
But that's _not_ the question, sir. If the body only is killed and the mind survives forever-- Is this murder?
You don't have to answer yet.
Oh, you - you think you know what I'm driving at? Well, we'll see.
No, have another drop of sherry, do. I've almost finished. Then you can judge. Because I have another question for you.
This final thing happened night before last. I went into Dan's room and he was soldering a wire onto the round chromium-plated head of this thing, er, this monster. Joyce was sitting alongside him, watching closely. She didn't see Dan wink at me ... as I closed the door.
MUSIC: OUT
SOUND: DOOR SHUTS
DAN: (IN A FRIENDLY MOOD) Hello, Ernest.
ERNEST: (MATCHES HIM) How do you feel, Dan?
DAN: Me? I feel fine.
ERNEST: Yeah? How are you, Joyce?
JOYCE: Well, I've got a little headache, Ernest.
ERNEST: Oh, I'm sorry. Have an aspirin.
JOYCE: I took one.
ERNEST: Too bad, dear. Well! How's it going, Dan?
DAN: I'm more convinced than ever, Ernest.
ERNEST: Hm. (LIGHTLY) If you only had a brain.
DAN: (MATCHES HIM) If I only had a brain.
ERNEST: Joyce, I - I wish you could do something to snap this fellow out of this.
JOYCE: Why?
ERNEST: Why?! Because, er-- Are you starting to believe this nonsense, Joyce?
JOYCE: Well, I don't think it's nonsense, Ernest.
DAN: You see, she's got a brain, Ernest.
JOYCE: Why, certainly she-- (AMUSED) Oh, Dan! (TEASING) I'm gonna take that thing away from you.
DAN: Take away my pretty Frankenstein? Oh, well, I should say you're not.
ERNEST: Dan, listen. I don't want to say this but, er, I'm afraid-- I mean, Joyce, don't you--? I mean, won't you help me--?
JOYCE: Help you what?
ERNEST: Get Dan's mind off this thing, I mean.
DAN: No she won't.
ERNEST: Joyce, I--
JOYCE: If Dan could only get a brain.
ERNEST: Joyce!
DAN: (SERIOUS NOW) Ernest? Won't you help me?
ERNEST: (MATCHES HIM) I will not.
DAN: Please, Ernest. It's all ready now. All it needs--
ERNEST: Stop that!
JOYCE: Don't, Ernest.
DAN: Come on, Ernest. Help me.
ERNEST: I won't!
DAN: Ernest?
ERNEST: Joyce! Do you know what he's going to do?
JOYCE: What?
ERNEST: He's going to--
DAN: (WARNING) Ernest!
ERNEST: (UPSET, TO DAN) I know what you're going to do! I know what's in your mind and I won't help you! I--
JOYCE: What's he going to do, Ernest? What's he--? What's in his mind?
DAN: (LOW VOICE, SEDUCTIVE) Come here, Joyce. Lean over here.
JOYCE: Dan, darling?
DAN: (WHISPERS, SEDUCTIVE) Closer. Joyce, dear.
ERNEST: (PANICS) No. No, stop! Stop, Dan! STOP!
MUSIC: AN ACCENT, CONTINUES IN BG
JOYCE: (LAUGHTER, CONTINUES IN BG)
ERNEST: (NARRATES) And when I came to, all there was in my mind was a confused memory of a pain in my throat; and bright lights; and confused voices; and Joyce's laughter.
JOYCE: (LAUGHTER HAS ENDED)
MUSIC: OUT
ERNEST: (NARRATES) I tried hard to think. I was dazed. I found I was lying on the floor. I got up ... slowly. And I saw Dan still lying on the bed. He was smiling at me. He said something.
DAN: (INCOMPREHENSIBLE)
ERNEST: (NARRATES) No, I couldn't make it out. And then I heard his voice.
DAN: (PLEASED) How do you feel ... Ernest?
ERNEST: (NARRATES) And I tried to answer. And it was a long time before my voice came. And finally I said - I said - (TO DAN, STRAINED) Where's Joyce?
JOYCE: (SMUG, TAUNTING) Why, here I am ... Frankenstein.
ERNEST: (NARRATES) And I stretched out my hand to steady myself. And I looked at my hand.
DAN: (A VOICE IN ERNEST'S MIND) "Arms and legs of duralumin, fingers of chromium steel."
ERNEST: (NARRATES) And I looked in the mirror. And I saw a round, chromium-plated head with lenses for eyes and--
MUSIC: AN ACCENT
ERNEST: (NARRATES) You can turn on the light now. If you want to.
MUSIC: OUT
ERNEST: (NARRATES) I ask you the question again.
Is this murder?
It is?
And if a steel and duralumin robot takes a life -- or more than one life -- is this murder?
Because I _have_ been murdered, you say. I do not live. I - cannot commit murder.
Very well.
I told you how the force of evil has taken hold of my brain.
No, I didn't kill Dan. Or Joyce. Not yet.
I told you I didn't know - where they are.
I do.
They're in the workshop back there; I locked her in the closet where my, er, my body used to be.
Dan? Why, he's paralyzed, remember?
His hands _are_ strong. But against chrome steel? ... Heh.
It won't be murder. Will it?
It won't be murder either - when I kill you, first.
Thank you, sir.
No, there isn't any more sherry.
Just these.
SOUND: GLASS RATTLES
(MUSIC ... THEME ... FADE FOR)
ANNOUNCER: The title of today's "Quiet, Please!" story is "Is This Murder?" It was written and directed by Wyllis Cooper. The man who spoke to you was Ernest Chappell.
CHAPPELL: And the others were Joyce ... Gordon; and Dan ... O'Herlihy.
As usual, music for "Quiet, Please!" is played by Albert Buhrmann. Now for a word about next week, here is our writer-director - Wyllis Cooper.
COOPER: Thank you for listening to "Quiet, Please!" For next week I have a story for you called "Summer Goodbye."
CHAPPELL: And so until next week at this same time, I am quietly yours, Ernest Chappell.
(MUSIC ... THEME ... FADE FOR)
ANNOUNCER: And now a listening reminder. For predictions that have a seventy-seven per cent chance of coming true, and even more, listen to Drew Pearson on ABC tonight. That's ABC, Drew Pearson, tonight.
This is ABC, the American Broadcasting Company.
New
Usergroup: Member
Joined: Aug 22, 2008
Total Topics: 3
Total Comments: 6
after every line of dialogue you should post who is saying it.
i have some original scripts of programs. i only have to find them.
my source was gordon payton who used to have a website, he offered
copies of the scripts for a small fee. he is knowm as the sci-fi guy.
he has written many books on old time radio. i am new to this site.
therefore, i shall remain quietly yours, until i can find them. i
am new to using the internet, even though i took computer classes
in the 1970's, like cobol, pascal, etc. which are ancient history
now. what is an ipod? see what i mean?
New
Usergroup: Member
Joined: Aug 22, 2008
Total Topics: 3
Total Comments: 6
in the scripts i have-- every line has the person speaking
the part. for example, you know ernest was telling the
story when you would see ERNEST (dialogue.) sometimes
the wording would not be the same as the actual broadcast.
thanks!