Stand by for crime. Hi. You know, being a newscast in a station like KLP here in Los Angeles, you're bound to run afoul of a good mini-motion picture celebrity. They're always good copy, even though the stories you sometimes have to write about them wouldn't be important at all if they happened to ordinary people. Well, my blonde secretary, Carol Curtis, had been away for a few days. She got back on her Tuesday night and was waiting for me at the office when I got in Wednesday morning. Pappy Mansfield, owner of KOP, was also there. Well, hello, Glamour Puss. Glad to see you back. Have a good time? Oh, all right. Morning, Chuck. Hello, Pappy. You two are a couple of cheerful-looking customers. What's this all about? Where have you been for the past four days? And what are you going to use for a feature in your first newscast tonight? I see. Pappy, I'll answer you first. I've been right here in town and I've made two broadcasts a day over this station as per our contract. Well, you might just as well have stayed in bed. Do you know how many phone calls we receive complaining about the lack of anything worth listening to in those broadcasts? Well, I'll tell you. I don't care how many phone calls you received. Now, Carol, I'll answer your question. Tonight, my feature story is going to be on Roger Van Ryn. Van Ryn? Well, he's the biggest movie producer in Hollywood. What's he done? Last night, he was arrested for arson. Arson? Are you kidding? No, I'm not kidding. I've got the most unusual story that ever came out of Hollywood. Do you want to hear it or do you want to continue writing me because a couple of dull broadcasts I made while digging it up? As much as I enjoyed continuing, my curiosity would never stand the strain. Come on, let's hear the gory details. I'll buy that. What did Van Ryn burn down, that million dollar mansion he has out in Beverly? No, something much more spectacular than that, Pappy. I'll give you the facts just as Van gave them to me. It seems he got to his office at Constitution Studios yesterday morning around 11 o'clock. He went in through his private entrance and found a visitor waiting for him. Hello, Van. Kim, what are you doing here? Aren't you glad to see me, Van? No. Now look here, Kim, this has got to stop. I told you you wouldn't come here again. Is that why you gave me a key to your private entrance, darling? That was months ago. Things have changed. I'm having the lock switched on that door tomorrow. Things might have changed for you, Van. They haven't for me. I'm still in love with you. Oh, nonsense. That'll pass. Now will you please run along? I've got some important appointments. The most important appointment you'll ever have in your whole life is right now. Oh? You're not going to cast me off like an old shoe, Van. We've been too important to each other. You've made too many promises. You've taken too much out of my life, things I can never replace. I'm sorry about that. I apologize, but things changed, Kim. We made a mistake. Our romance was fun and stimulating, but now it's over. And we've hurt no one's. Why don't you go back to that nice husband of yours and forget... Oh, you fool. Do you think it's as easy as that? Do you think that falling completely and madly in love with you is some kind of a lark with me? It wasn't. I couldn't stop loving you if I wanted to. And I'm not going through the rest of my life being miserable and tortured, living out every day just in the hopes that your pa... Stop it, Kim. Stop it. You're becoming hysterical. I don't care if I am. I'm in love with you and I'm going to have you. I'm going to have... Stop it. I say stop it. All right. Now get hold of yourself. I tell you again that I'm sorry. The situation isn't pleasant for me either. I feel like a heel. The fact remains I've stopped loving you. I'm not going to see you anymore. There's nothing you can do about it. Nothing. Yes, there is, Van. So? I have the letters. Letters? The ones you wrote me. The ones in which you told me that you were madly, passionately in love with me, that you couldn't live without me, that you wanted to divorce your wife and leave your family and be with me always. I see. Then it's blackmail. If you choose to call it that. How much? I don't want money, Van. I want you. I've already told you to... Unless you're willing to continue with our romance. Unless you allow me to come here whenever I want, I'm going to turn those letters over to Chuck Morgan. You've really sunk pretty low, haven't you, Kim? Yes. And you'd be willing to have me like that? It would be better than not having you at all. I suppose you know what it'll mean if Chuck uses those letters. Oh, yes, I know very well. It will mean that the heretofore impeccable character, the great Roger Van Ryn, will be dragged through the mud. It will mean that your films will suffer. You'll probably be fired. It'll mean much more than that, Kim. It'll mean that my wife and two children will be hurt. That's the important thing. And they don't deserve it. They're good and fine and entirely innocent of all this. If you destroy the illusions that they have about me, you'll be destroying one of the finest things in the world. And I'll also be striking at you where it hurts most, won't I, Van? Yes, you will. You will indeed. So what's your answer? My answer, dear Kim, is this. If you turn those letters over to Chuck Morgan, or to anyone else who might make them public property, I'll kill you. Well so far, you've got me all in a sweat, Chuckie boy. Now, where does the arson gimmick come in? Don't tell us that Van Ryn found the letters and burned them. Could a man be arrested on the charge of arson for burning a few private letters? All right, all right. Let's hear the rest of the story. Did Kim turn the letters over to you? No. As a matter of fact, she didn't. It wasn't her fault. What do you mean it wasn't her fault? Did she try to? I don't know. Van Ryn called me the next morning and asked me to drop by his office at the office. He told me enough to make the trip sound interesting, so we set up a meeting for 10.30. I was there in the dark, and I was told that Van Ryn would be ten minutes late. Van Ryn's private office was one of those luxury deals you're always reading about in the fan mags. Besides being about three times as big as the living room in my own apartment, it had a bar and a private bath. The walls were hung with photographs of Hollywood's great and near great, all affectionately autographed. I was examining these, especially those involving a bit of cheesecake, when I heard a key in the door of the private entrance. So you're the great Roger Van Ryn. Now wait a minute. I'm not family. Oh sure, sure. Of course you're not. You just happened to be waiting at Van Ryn's office while he went out for a cup of coffee. Now look, I'm telling you... Don't be scared, Van Ryn. I'm not going to shoot you with this gun. I just brought it along in case you've got any ideas. I see. And who are you anyway? Who am I? How many people have keys to your private entrance, Van Ryn? You're not... Yeah, that's right. I'm Steve Dancer, Kim Dancer's husband. So, what am I supposed to do? You're a cool one, Van Ryn. I found the letters you wrote Kim, also the key you gave her to this office. Uh huh. So I'm here to tell you what I'm going to do about it. And what's that? First, let me explain something to you. This thing came to me as quite a shock. I had no idea that Kim was two-timing. You see, I... I love Kim very much, Van Ryn. She's my whole life. That's why I'm going to kill her. That's crazy talk. What are you trying to prove? You wouldn't understand. So I won't try to explain. I want you to know one thing. I don't blame you for... for what happened. Oh? And whom do you blame? Myself. If Kim's and my marriage failed, it was my fault. I... I guess I was wrong in restricting her, but I can't let her live for someone else. That's why I'm going to kill her and myself. Then you assume that that... that I'm still in love with Kim. Forget that approach, Van Ryn. The letters are all the evidence I need to know how you feel. That's why I'm going to let you live. Shooting you would be letting you off easy. You're going to live and suffer. I don't get it. You're a pretty big man around Hollywood, Van Ryn. You have a wife and a couple of kids. You value your reputation. If I killed you, no one would suffer but your family. If your romance with my wife is as much of a shock to them as it was to me, it's not fair to let them suffer alone. So you're going to mail those letters you have to my family and then you're going to shoot your wife and yourself, eh? If you love Kim as much as you say you do in those letters, you're going to be a miserable man the rest of your life. Also, you're going to be a ruined man. Dancer, you let this thing upset your mental balance. You're not rational. Now, if I were you... Keep away or I'll... All right. Now, let's see if we can't talk about this thing sensibly. Sit down there in that chair. Kill me if you want to. Turn me over to the police. But it isn't going to make any difference. I... I can't let Kim go on living knowing she loves someone else. All right. Take it easy, boy. You're going to work yourself right into the sanitarium. Now, go on over. Sit down in that chair like I said. No! Give me back my gun or I'll... I'm sorry, old man, but you asked for it. Sorry I kept you waiting, Chuck. Who's this? Someone I think you ought to know, Van. His name's Dancer, Steve Dancer. Uh-huh. He found the letters. He wrote his wife, also the key. Has he got the letters with him? Keep away from him, Van. What do you mean, keep away from him? The guy's had enough. With fights, he wouldn't be fool enough to carry the letters with him. Yeah. I'm sorry, the poor devil. Well, now you know practically the whole story. If he sends the letters to you, are you going to use them? I'd be a heel if I did. Good. I thought you'd feel that way about it. See, now look, Chuck. Tell him you will use them. Get them into your hands. I'll pay you anything. Any price you want a name, if you'll sell them to me. Sorry, Van. I'm in a different line of business than selling love letters that don't belong to me. Look here. Besides that, my sympathies are with the man on the floor, not you. Well, I don't suppose I can blame you for that. It wasn't because I hoped you'd feel sorry for me that I asked you to come here. I... think of my wife and kids, Chuck. Yeah. I think people suffer for something they're entirely innocent of. You should have thought of that a year ago, Van Ryn. You didn't care then how much they suffered. You said so in the letters you wrote to my wife. Sorry I had to hit you, Dancer, but you were going off the deep end. Yeah. Well, I'm sorry I mistook you for this rat, Van Ryn. All right. I've been lying there listening to your conversation. So, it'll really hurt you to have your wife and kids see those letters, will it, Van Ryn? Well, that I was glad to hear. Because they're going to know how you've been two-timing them during the past year. They're going to read it in black and white. And the mess it will make of your life will be a pleasure I'll enjoy the rest of my day. Now, you're talking crazy again, Dancer. Don't be... Wait a minute, Chuck. This isn't your fight. Dancer, I have a couple of things that I want to say to you. First, I can't blame you for your attitude. I am sorry for what's happened. I wish it could be undone, but it can't. However, it's over. I don't love your wife. I know now that I never really did. It was just one of those things. Yeah. One of those things. Now that you're tired of her, you're willing to hand her back to me with regrets. Why, you... Dancer, take it easy. Okay, Dancer. I won't say any more. I can see that the more I talk, the less you'll think of me. But this much I'm going to tell you. My wife and kids aren't going to pay for my mistake. You'll never send them those letters. That I promise you. You'll never send them those letters. So far, Chuck, you've told us a real juicy story, but I hope you're not going to use it on your broadcast tonight. You know, it's against the policy of KOB. Yeah, I know. I've already told you. The only part of the story I'm going to use is that Roger Van Ryn had been arrested for arson. He's now sweating it out in a pokey down-down. Well, for golly sakes, when are you going to get to this arson part? What did he do? Burn down Dancer's house in hopes that the letter would be hidden there? No, he didn't burn down Dancer's house. If you had a lick of sense, you'd realize that if Dancer's house had been burned down, you'd have heard about it long before now. We might as well humor the boy, Carol. He isn't going to tell us the payoff until he builds it up to a point where we're ready to choke him. Yes, all right. So let's let him have his fun. Well, if he calls this having fun, then his sense of humor is warped. If you don't care to hear the rest of the story, Miss Curtis, you may be excused. Oh, if I don't care to hear the... Okay, Romeo, go ahead and enjoy yourself. I'm listening. Thank you, Miss Curtis. Thank you, Miss Curtis. We've now reached the evening of Tuesday the 6th in our narrative. And so far, nobody's committed arson. That's right. So far, no one has committed arson. And if you two don't stop interrupting, you'll have to wait until my 7 o'clock broadcast to find out who did and why and when and where. You sound serious, Papi. My humblest apologies, old great one. Pray continue. That's better. Well, when Steve Dancer left Van Wren's office, he spent the afternoon batting around town. When he told me about it later, he wasn't quite sure of where he'd been and what he'd been doing. He visited a couple of bars and spent some time in a movie house. The poor guy was beside himself. He felt that the world, the only world he cared about, had collapsed about his head. There wasn't anything left in life worth having as far as he was concerned. He fully intended shooting his wife and himself. But there was one urge that was even stronger than that, revenge. Before he died, he was going to wreck the life of the man who would wreck his, Roger Van Wren. He was going to send Roger Van Wren's wife those letters. He had no thought for him to some parties being hurt. All he knew was that by hurting someone else, he was going to hurt the man who had made him miserable. Well, about five in the afternoon, Dancer went home. His wife wasn't there. He stayed in the house about 15 minutes and then went out again. It was 7.15 when he returned for the second time. Kim was waiting for him in the living room. Oh, Steve, I've been waiting for you. There's something I want to talk to you about. Oh? I don't know how to begin or how to put it into words, but whatever your reaction is, will you let me say all I want to say? Yeah, sure. Go ahead. Steve, I've been unfaithful to you. Unfaithful? I'm sorry, Steve. I have no excuses or apologies to make. I won't blame you for anything you want to do. I just want you to know that now I realize what a silly fool I've been and that I love you very much. So, you've found out about... Oh, no, Steve, let me finish. It happened today, my awakening, the realization that I couldn't leave you, that nothing in the world would be worth having without you. And just why did this great awakening come about today? Because yesterday I saw the other man. He told me he no longer loved me. He was through with me. After I left him, I walked around for hours. I tried to picture how life would be without you, Steve, and the picture was bleak and empty. I bet. It was then that I knew that I'd been a foolish girl for the past months, that the only feeling I'd had toward the other man were childish. So, where do we go from here? It's your decision, Steve. I'm completely at your mercy. I see. If it were merely a matter of forgiving you and taking you back, the decision would be easy. I can't change the feelings I have for you, Kim. I love you and always shall. Oh, Steve. No, wait. I happen to know you're telling me this for another reason entirely. That I can't tolerate. Even loving you as I do, I'd be better off alone. What do you mean I'm telling you this for some other reason? What are you talking about? Do you mean that you don't believe what I've told you? Not a word of it. But, Steve, it's the truth. I have some letters that will prove it. Letters? Do you mean that you didn't know that I... He wrote them to me. I foolishly kept them all. I had intended destroying them tonight. I kept them hidden behind this volume of encyclopedias. That's odd. One of the volumes is... Steve. I found them, Kim, this morning. Oh, Steve, no. You thought I knew you'd found them and I was telling you so you'd give the letters back. Oh, Steve, I... I've been out of my mind ever since finding those letters, Kim. I haven't had a rational moment. I'm afraid I did something pretty terrible. Oh, it can't be as terrible as what I've done, no matter what it is. And now... now you do believe me, don't you? Yes. Yes, I believe you. Oh, darling, thank you. Now everything will be all right. We'll destroy the letters and things will be... We can't destroy the letters, Kim. Can't? But why not? Well, I... I was obsessed with the idea of making Van Ryn's wife suffer as I'd been suffering. I... I mailed the letters to her an hour ago. The dancer must have been out of his mind to pull a scurvy trick like that. Poor Mrs. Van Ryn. What a horrible shock it must have been to her when she opened the letters and read them. How did she take it, Chuck? Do you know? She didn't have to take it. She never got the letters. Lost in the mail, huh? Well, there's still a chance that they'll turn up. No, they'll never turn up, Pappy. That I can assure you. Say, wait a minute. Didn't Van Ryn say that he'd never let Dancer mail the letters? And how did he plan to stop him? Claremapus, that's what bothered me at first. I figured that Van Ryn intended visiting the dancer home and demanding the letters at gunpoint, or worse. I'd reached this point in my thinking when my telephone rang. Hello. Hello. Chuck Morgan? Yeah, this is Morgan. This is Steve Dancer, Mr. Morgan. I called you because, well, my wife and I have become reconciled. Good. I'm glad to hear it. Now, the smart thing for you to do is destroy all... Wait a minute. I know you're going to tell me the smart thing to do is to destroy the letters. But the fact is, I can't. Why can't you? I mailed them to Mrs. Van Ryn tonight. You dope. Yes. Yes, I don't blame you. But if you know the state of mind I was in, you might understand. I stood in front of the mailbox on the corner of our street for a half hour before I could get up the covers to drop it into the slot. I was half crazy, I tell you. What do you expect me to do about it? Well, you're a pretty influential man, Mr. Morgan. And I thought if you called the post office... Not a chance. Even if they felt sorry for you they couldn't do anything. Once a letter is dropped into a mailbox it becomes a property of Uncle Sam until it's delivered to the proper address. Then there's nothing that can be done? I'll tell you one thing you better do. Take your wife and get out of town for a couple of days. Van Ryn intends to prevent you from mailing those letters and I don't think he'll stop at anything to do it. Well, I hung up and then tried to get Roger Van Ryn on the phone. I was now positively convinced that Van intended taking those letters by force. So with a growing sense that haste was the essence, I drove out to Beverly Hills and parked me at the dancer place. The house is dark. Two doors away was an intersection and on the corner was a mailbox. I made a quick survey. Found no other mailboxes within the block so decided this must be the one. The next pickup was at 9.15. It was now 9 straight up. I was vaguely thinking of a way of bribing the pickup driver when I saw a man approaching. Hello Van. Chuck, what are you doing here? Several things. Waiting for you for one. Waiting for me? You're too late Van. The dancers have become reconciled and have left town. Who told you that? Dancer did. The letters? What's he going to do about the letters? He's already done it my friend. They're right here in this mailbox. Presently the property of Uncle Sam. He couldn't have mailed them. He didn't have the guts. Why was I fool enough to wait this long? I'll tear this thing apart. Quiet you fool. You want to get thrown into the pokey for tampering with government property? It would be better than what I'll have to go through with if those letters reach my wife. Listen to me you idiot. You couldn't get those letters out of there even if you got the box loose which you can't. If you meant what you just said I've got a note for you. But I've. What? Here have a cigarette. Never mind the cigarette what's the. Take the cigarette and light it. Okay. There you are. Get it going good. Right. On about five minutes a pickup truck is due to arrive. You got anything to mail Van? Van stood there a full minute just staring at me with his forehead wrinkled and suddenly had a brilliant idea. He reached up, pulled open the letter slot and dropped his lighted cigarette inside. It worked fine. Say for one thing a police car happened along just as Van mailed the cigarette. It swung into the curb but the damage was done. There wasn't any way they could extinguish the blaze inside the mailbox without calling the fire department which they did. Then they arrested Roger Van Ryn and booked him on an arson charge. So that's how Roger Van Ryn got arrested on an arson charge. That's it puppy. But won't he be charged with tampering with the United States mail also? Well that depends on whether the local police can make the arson charge stick. Now before we go into that there's one or two things I'd like to get cleared up. Sure. You said that the pickup truck was due in five minutes. Did it get there before the fire department? It did. The driver opened the box and stamped out the smoldering letters. Was there anything left of them? Dancer placed the half dozen letters Van Ryn had written to his wife in one large envelope and addressed it to Mrs. Van Ryn. All but the Ryn and Mrs. Van Ryn's name had been burned. Parts of the love letters had also been burned. Now all that Van has to do is prove his own identity and what's left of the letters will be given to him. When he gets out of jail? If he goes to jail. Isn't he going to jail? In court tomorrow morning Van is going to plead that it was an accident. You know lots of people hold cigarettes in their hands when mailing letters. But you were a witness to the whole thing. You'll be asked to testify. Are you going to commit perjury? And what are you going to say? No I'm not going to commit perjury Glamourpus. And I'm going to tell them exactly what happened. I'm going to tell them I was looking in another direction when I heard the mailbox open and close. Which is true.
