BOLD VENTURE Adventure, intrigue, mystery, romance starring Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall Together in the sultry setting of tropical Havana and the mysterious islands of the Caribbean, BOLD VENTURE BOLD VENTURE Once again the magic names of Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall bring you BOLD VENTURE and a tale of mystery and intrigue. BOLD VENTURE Ha ha ha ha ha ha. What'll I think of next? Slate, what do you think you're doing? Don't bother me sailor, with innkeeper comes certain inalienable rights. The right to hold the guest's mail up to the light and peek into their secrets. From these rights can come bruised peepers. You gonna blab it around sailor? The mainly old was that ship's mate who checked in here six months ago. When he shipped out he left explicit instructions. I was to open his mail, get a few chuckles, then forward it. Then why don't you just open it instead of holding it up? You can break me in two, I like to tease myself. You got problems, I got problems, all of Anna's children got problems. I got dreamy a little while ago, strayed through the mementos in my hope chest. You know what? What? The gun is gone. No. That little revolver you gave me last Valentine's Day. That 25 caliber colt, gone, vanished, missing, stolen, purloined. Sailor, that gun was our song. That little souvenir of blue steel was... I will grieve later sailor, a customer approaches. Good day sir, welcome to Shannon's Place, room 350. Step aside sir, permit me one long lingering look at this vision so many years lost, at this comely, beauteous, fair and ravishing... You are the customer Slate, step aside. Go on sir, privy, prey do. I wander the world for a glimpse of you. There's no memory of me left in you, no remembrance of me, of Freddy Nay, Freddy, your husband. Huh? You lost a gun, you find a husband. This is your red-letter day sailor. Darling, don't you recall the elopement from moonlit barrettes, the highway that skirted the sea, the marriage at Joan le Pain, the little French charwoman who was your bridesmaid. You don't recall beloved? No Freddy, I don't. But it's sure thrilling. Next chapter please, so I can curl up with it. And then your sudden farewell at the Bois in Paris, the autumn leaves the search. Now you're healthy, well, comfortable. All I needed to know. It will sustain me through desolate years. Au revoir, chérie. Au revoir. Gee, always a bride, never a bridesmaid. Slate, why are you looking at me like that? You don't believe me. A man says he's your husband, a man ought to know about things like that. You can't berserk, Slate. You think I'd misplace a husband. Did you? No. Don't look at me like that, Slate. I said no. All right, if that's what you want me to believe, I believe you. Forget it. All we have to do is call Inspector LaSalle. Tell him this phony is... Be a nice girl and allow me my mood, sailor. Get your hands off me. Get them off. Mark? Mark, wake up. Mark, please. Don't jiggle the chassis, Freddy Boy. It'll upset the fine balance I've struck between me and the Havoc. I'm sorry, I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. Sleep between me and the Havana sun. Oh, feel that sun, Freddy Boy. Let it run through your fingers. Mark, I went there like you told me. I've told that Miss Duval everything you told me to tell her, that I married her in France, that she left me, that I've been looking for her all these years. Just like you said... Tell me, boy, did it jerk Tears your performance? You're a sad thing. The Tears must have been jirked. I don't know what it did or why you wanted it. All I know is I want the bonus you promised me. You doubt I'll give it to you, Freddy Boy? You doubt a tender soul like me, when I fed you, clothed you, filled your pockets with nickels for extras? So you could live this moment with that tangy Miss Duvall? You promised me, Mark. You promised. And if I am nothing, I am a keeper of promises, Freddy Boy. Uh, this. This little gun, small caliber, of a size to grow warm and misty in a girl's hand. For you, Freddy. The sun touched you, Mark. I phony for you and I get a lousy lady pistol. What do I do? Get six bucks for it from a native pawn? Ow! That's what to do with it, Freddy Boy. You can't die from it. That makes you happy, huh? I'm talking to you, Slate. What's the matter? You hate yourself because you didn't stop fast enough and I didn't go through the windshield? Get out of the Jeep. Okay, okay. Slate, listen to me, will you? For three days now, you've been acting like I'm off limits. Is this friendly? There he is, sailor. Inspector LaSalle. He called you. He wants to see you. He's got the man who says he's your husband. I've been saving it up for that joker. Hi, LaSalle. Buenos dias to you both. Please come with me. Into here. What's this all about, LaSalle? Why do you want us here at headquarters? I told you on the phone. About it is a man named Freddy Nay. Declaim it to the title of husband to you, Senorita Duval. In here, please. This is the morgue, LaSalle. In here. A suggestion to you, Senorita. Take a handkerchief from wherever and start to twist it. Is this the man who said he was your husband? Yes. Yes, that's the man. Yes, that's him. This man was identified from his prints. He was found shot to death in a room at 27 Pavano. A 25 caliber bullet in his heart. Such a caliber as a woman might use, Senorita. The truth, if you will be so kind as to turn over a leaf. Is this man your husband? No. Adios to the two of you. Corpses and murders I make my living with. And always in my bushy hair is you and you. Get out. You baffle me, Slate. You get thin-lipped because I've suddenly got a husband I never married. Then you take me walking in dirty hallways. A regular baffler, you. Your boy was killed in this house. Any man who says he's the husband of yours deserves a better fate than that, sailor. Take the long view, kid, and the whole thing is very peeking. You broken down, my boy. You still think that he's... I never think, sailor. I just ask the management. Go away, please. No vacancy. You're wrong, manager. The room where Freddy Nye was killed. That's vacant. Si. The police made to me a suggestion. They say to me, don't rent Senor Nye's room, Pecho. Pecho is me. A sucker for suggestions. With no vacancies. You know anything about it, Pecho? Who killed Freddy? Maybe you know who visited him before he died. The motto of this house, Senor. No snooping from the management. The secret of Pecho's success. No vacancies. Goodbye. No vacancies, huh? Only in his head. McCrew's pointing a finger. Come on, let's find out what makes you so married. I want you to know how much I appreciate you doing all this for me, Slate. Running around, banging on doors, asking questions. Just for me. Makes a girl glow. Look at me, Slate. Like me when I'm glowing? Why don't you go home? It worries you, doesn't it? About Freddy Nye. About the murder. About my being mixed up in it. It really does worry you, huh, Slate? Look, Saylor, the only reason I'm running around like this is because I've got a clinical interest in what's happened. I'm taking notes on it. Someday I'm going to write a book. I'm going in here for material. Go home. Sure. I'll put myself in the window for you, Slate. And I'll still be glowing. Hurry up home. Hiya, Maria. What do you want here, Slate Shannon? What's the matter with you? I ask a question of you, Slate Shannon. What do you want? I ask you one too. What's the matter with you? Where's the big hello? Maria and her pal so jolly as I thought you. Only the smallest hello that can be had. See, I put my one finger over my thumb like so. The space between hello from me to you. Look, all I want to do is ask you a question, Maria. I'm trying to get some information about a man named Freddy... About a murdered man named Freddy Nye, see? That's right. I will tell you. The whispers in the barrio says that Senor Nye is such a man as to be beloved by your Saylor Duval. To be married to her. And this you could not stand, huh? So you kill him. Friends of man who kill for such a reason are not friends of mine. I'll just take it easy for a minute, Maria. I want... And you will get from Maria this. The big goodbye. Goodbye, sleep channel. I am sorry, ma'am, but Mr. Duval is not at the hotel at the moment. The moment just arrived, King Moses. I'm here. A lady on the phone wishes to talk to you, Lady Saylor. Here, give it to me. Mr. Duval speaking. This is Wanda Webster, Mr. Duval. Agent for the Zapato Insurance Company. I hate a barrio at such a time. No bother at all. No insurance at all either. Well, it's been nice. Yes, it is. Fifty thousand dollars nice, Mr. Duval. Or do you call yourself Mrs. Nye? I wouldn't know. What are you talking about? The policy on your husband, Freddy Nye. I'm handling it. You're the beneficiary, you know. Fifty thousand dollars. I'll have a check along in a day or so. Goodbye. Hey, wait a minute. Hello, hello. King. Yes, Miss Saylor? I never had a husband in my life. But shake hands with a wealthy widow. Now back to Bold Venture. Our stars Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall. And the second act of our story. Oh, I could tell you things that would make you happy. Oh, I could tell you things that would make you swoon. Of tales that are told near the blood red moon. Of very strange times, events so weird. In frozen climes and deserts seared. But the strangest one, I tear my hair. Concerns Lady Saylor amidst so fair. She gets without benefit of usual clergy. Fifty thousand bucks, widows' beneficiary. Sing that last line again, King. Fifty thousand bucks, widows... That's enough. Fifty thousand dollars, King. I can't touch that money. That fifty thousand's not mine. Into each life a little rain must fall, Saylor. A maxim I learned at the feet of a wise man at the foot of a mountain in Lower Tibet. What fifty thousand? Tell him, King. Fifty thousand bucks, widows' beneficiary. You kiddies want to play games, I'll draw you a hopscotch ring. Or you want to tell me about fifty thousand dollars. I got a phone call a little while ago. A nice voice said I inherited that much money. What is this, Saylor? How do I know what it is? The nice voice said I was going to get a check because my husband was dead. Because he left an insurance policy for fifty thousand dollars. Who called you and told you about all this money? She said her name was Wanda Webster, an agent for Zapata Insurance Company. Oh. Now stay here, Saylor. I'm going to find out why you stand still when somebody drops fifty thousand dollars on your head. I looked through your house, Wanda girl. You weren't there. So then I closed my eyes and I thought to myself, where would a woman of such beauty and form hide herself? On the beach, I said to myself, where a thousand eyes can admire her. I sell more insurance this way. Liability, life, fire. Take a dune, Mark. Enjoy me. You notified the bereaved widow of her solace. Fifty thousand dollars' worth. When she started spluttering on the phone, I hung up on her. Spluttering widows bore me. Oh, that girl Duval. To kill her own husband and with her own gun, too. Shameless. Good boy like Freddie, who never harmed anyone. He finally makes history because I issue a policy on him. Make that Duval girl his wife and beneficiary. Easy. Easy because Zapata Insurance Company gave me a gold watch once for loyalty. She shouldn't have used her own gun. Her leaves are so open to blackmail. Her a murderer and with only fifty thousand dollars to her name. Oh, but you'll lift her burden. It was written in the stars, Wanda, for me to do that. Share it with Wanda. Hatties. Hand me my rat, Mark, will you? The beach has had me. Oh, were you ringing my bell, mister? Well, part of the time I was doing that, miss, the other part, in between buzzes, that is, I was watching you walk up the beach. You'll forgive me if I ran down your battery. The thing got out of hand. If you're looking for a quick charge, there's a service station up the road. Me, I just sell insurance. Ah, it's a dream I keep having. An insurance broker in a swimsuit. You work on small commissions, huh, lady? This stuff's twenty bucks a yard. I have these suits custom made. Now, if you step inside my office, I could, I could diagram a little annuity plan. Sorry, but I, I got an insurance agent that's been recommended to me, Wanda Webster. Big operator. Handles stuff like fifty thousand dollar death benefits. Well, don't look any more, mister. Wanda's all around you. Come on in. I'll just tag along behind. Go ahead, miss Webster. Over there. That big leather chair. It's made for boys who get uneasy about fifty thousand dollar payments. Sepado's a big company, mister. Mr. Slate Shannon. Sepado's a big company, mister Shannon. The largest in Mexico City. All my years representing them, I, I find it's not unusual that they make death payments in that amount. Who, a widow who never saw her husband? Didn't even marry him? You and Sepado are really big, miss Webster. Generous, too. Oh, you're referring, of course, to Miss Duval. Or rather, the widow, nay. Oh, this is a photoshopped copy of the policy, mister Shannon. Bought by Freddie Nay from me. Beneficiary, Mrs. Freddie Nay. Also known as Sailor Duval. Death benefit, fifty thousand dollars. Look for yourself. Yeah, look, miss Webster, I don't know what's... What's to know? Mr. Nay is dead. Your Miss Duval gets fifty thousand for it. The check's on the way from Mexico. That way out, mister Shannon. Anybody here? Welcome, sir, to Shannon's place. You, Sailor Duval? Did you want something? Yeah, I want something. Like what? Like a chat with Sailor Duval. So chat. I have got here a little thing, Miss Duval. Recognize it? Hey, that's my gun. That's right. Long time ago I hired a man to lift a gun in Havana and he did it to you. Well, well. Who are you, mister? A man with a message. Here's the message, honey. Sign it. With that gun in my eyes, I can't see it. Squint. The things you learn. Hey, this paper is an IOU to somebody named Mark Stewart for fifty thousand dollars. And guess what? I'm Mark Stewart. This gun, your gun, killed Freddie Nye. You're going to come in at fifty grand any minute. The word is blackmail, honey. I lose the gun, you lose fifty thousand. Else, you know what's going to happen. Yeah, it's kind of sneaking up on me. Sign it. Else you'll commit suicide out of remorse for killing hubby Freddie. Now take the pen, honey. That's right. Now sign. Thanks. Gee, you're nice. On the beach, Slate. That's where you have to be to tell me what frolics went on between you and that Wanda Webster. Yeah. Maybe the tropic breezes will blow her memory back into your head. She showed me the policy, sailor. The one Freddie Nye took out, making you beneficiary. Look, Buster, why all the bitter? You keep telling me I'm a rich girl now. So talk nice to me and some of it might rub off on you. Talk nice. That's what you've been doing, sailor, while I was out making a list of charities? Yeah, just that. A poor fellow walks in and says, look, lady, I ain't killed anybody and I don't know how long. So would you please help out with fifty grand? What are you talking about? That Wanda stuff your ears with olives. I'm talking about Mark Stewart, the guy who held a gun on a line with my eyes, this eye, this one here, and made me sign an IOU for fifty thousand dollars. And you did it, huh? Sure, I'm not cheap. You did something else, too, sailor. Yeah. After he left, I started my breathing exercises again. Practice good, sailor. You just signed a confession of murder. This is where you had your big moment with that insurance agent, huh? Up the steps, killer. Push the buzzer. Watch me. Just watch me. On some bells, I can play Dixie. Hi, Shannon. Oh, and you, poor dear, you must be Mrs. Nay or Sailor Duval or what shall I call you? You can call me Morton if you want. I try to get along. There's a check waiting for you, Morton. Come on in. Slate, she likes me. Yeah. Go in, will you? When did the check come, Wanda? Oh, about fifteen minutes ago. Special delivery, air mail. In here, my office. I want you to meet somebody. Him, Mark Stewart. He and I have already met, haven't we, Mr. Stewart? Oh, when did this happen, Mark? Some time back. I stopped in the lobby of the hotel to buy a newspaper. Fibber. This the boy you were telling me about, sailor? The very one. Well, any friend of yours is my friend, too. Now, let's all us friendly people get on with it, huh? I hate to be crass at a moment like this, but I think we'll just take our fifty grand and blow. Except there's something you people might not realize. I can't let you have the check because you've got this to consider. This gun. Her gun. The one that killed Freddie Nay. This a blackmail bit, Wanda? How much of this check do you people get? Oh, I love it. Endorse it, honey. Should I slay it? Endorse it, sailor. Thanks. I'll take that. Joker. Oh, I forgot to tell you something, Wanda. It was just a little while ago that I paid a call on Miss Duvall. I got her I.O.U. for fifty thousand. I guess I've got prior rights on the check. Oh, I don't care about that, honey. All I want is half. I doubt whether you'll get it, Wanda. You've also got a fine legal mind, Shannon. You've got a... Oh! Poor Mark. Poor, greedy Mark. You have to understand why I shot him. It makes the world a better place to live in. Now, give me that check, Mr. Duvall. How do you want it? All at once or a little at a time? Fool, give it to me. Don't tear it. Give that check. Hold on to me, Wanda. It's nicer. Let go of me. Let go. Get that gun, sailor. Drop it, honey. It's my gun and I want it back. Thank you. Three thousand dollars. All that money. Slate, Slate, I've got the gun. You can let her go. Slate, I've got the gun. You can let her go. Slate! Don't flip, baby. I'm just giving her a memory to take to the pokey. Go call the cops, sailor. Our stars Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall will return in just a moment. Hey, Slate, Slate. Oh, hello, sailor. What are you doing? What does it look like I'm doing? I'm swimming in the ocean. Swimming? In two feet of water? So it's two feet of water. What do you want me to do? Get out over my head and get the bends? Silly of me. Well, how do you like it, Slate? I went to Wanda's tailor and had it custom made. Nice bathing suit, huh? Oh, that's a good one. Nice material. Fine workmanship. Just fine. Oh, you like the suit? You like me in it? Ah, let the air out of my water, wing sailor. I'm floating on my own tonight. And so our two stars Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall have brought to a close our latest Bold Ventures story. Special music was composed and conducted by David Rose. May we invite you to listen again next week at this time for another exciting adventure starring Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall together in Bold Ventures.
