Crime Does Not Pay and Sherlock Holmes

Case Closed! (old time radio)

This episode of Case Closed features two classic radio dramas from the golden age of crime fiction. The first segment, 'Voice of Death,' fol

Key takeaways

• Michael Watkins uses his skills as a ventriloquist to manipulate victims in the 'Crime Does Not Pay' segment.
• The character Martin Williams is revealed to be a fraudulent identity used by Michael Watkins to escape London.

Main topics

• Old-time radio crime dramas
• Ventriloquism and deception

Notable quotes

Crime does not pay.

Conclusion

A nostalgic compilation of vintage crime storytelling and period-accur

Transcript preview

Speaker 3 (0:10) This is Case Closed, crime stories from the golden age of radio. Speaker 3 (0:18) Welcome back to Case Closed, your weekly hour of old-time radio crime made possible by your support. If you'd like to help out, visit donate.relicradio.com or click on that support link in the show notes. Thanks again to those who have. Thanks for joining me today as we begin with Crime Does Not Pay. You'll hear their episode from October 16th, 1950, titled Voice of Death. After that, it's the new adventures of Sherlock Holmes and the submerged nobleman. That story aired May 26th. 1947. Speaker 1 (1:32) In the interest of good citizenship and law enforcement, we present Crime Does Not Pay, based on the famous Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer series of short subjects. In just a moment, you will hear Voice of Death, starring John Loder. Crime Does Not Pay, starring John Loder as Michael Watkins in Voice of Death. Speaker 1 (2:23) Before anything else, Michael Watkins had charm. He was debonair. He was fatal to women, mostly between the ages of 40 and 50. Therefore, Michael Watkins had two sources of income, the women he cared to draw upon and his great skill as a ventriloquist in the English music halls. Both paid him well, very well indeed. The occasion upon which this story of Michael begins is one evening in a London theater as he concludes his vows to the applauding audience. And with his famous dummy, Mickey turns toward his dressing room. Speaker 3 (3:00) Well, Mickey, we did it once again, didn't we? We might. Thanks very much. Speaker 5 (3:07) Darling, you were marvelous. Speaker 3 (3:11) Mickey, is that the way to talk about the love of our life? Never mind the our life. Your... Speaker 5 (3:17) Michael, will you stop talking to that wicked doll and pay some attention to me? Speaker 3 (3:21) Martha, my dear, it's long past Mickey's bedtime. He really doesn't know what he's saying. But once he's where he belongs, you'll have all my attention, dear, as always. I Speaker 5 (3:30) will not share you with anyone. Now, hurry, darling. Take off that silly makeup so you'll look like my Michael. Hurry now. You Speaker 3 (3:37) heard the lady, Mike. Why stand there? I'm on my way, son, on my way. Ten minutes at the longest, Martha. Hello, Speaker 8 (3:49) Mike. Speaker 3 (3:52) Do I hear any complaints? Now leave me alone with the lady. Into your box. Now, Dorothy. Sweetheart, where did you pop from? Speaker 8 (4:06) To be exact, from behind that screen, to be informative, from an airplane ticket office. Speaker 3 (4:12) Oh, Paris for the weekend, darling? Will you excuse me if I take my makeup off? Of Speaker 8 (4:17) course. Not Paris for the weekend, Mike. America forever. Speaker 3 (4:22) But you can't, sweetheart. After all Speaker 8 (4:24) we've been to each other. Save it, Mike. Save it for the Marta Wingate. Speaker 3 (4:30) What do you know about Marta Wingate? Speaker 8 (4:32) I'm not my father's daughter for nothing, Mike. Dad is one of the wealthiest men in America because he always checked every investment thoroughly. I've been thinking about investing my life with you, Mike. So I checked. Speaker 3 (4:44) So that's why you're going home. Speaker 8 (4:46) No. For two reasons, darling. Neither of which do I expect you to understand. First, my father's old and ill and wants his only daughter with him. Second... I have some pride, Mike. Enough pride to say to you, if you love me as you've said, you'll follow me. But I can't. My career... Mickey will find another voice for himself. If you really want me. Goodbye, Mike. Goodbye. Not Speaker 3 (5:24) as waiting, isn't she, Michael? Isn't she, old boy? Speaker 5 (5:37) Here, Michael, darling. Read this. Speaker 3 (5:42) I, Marta Wingate, being of sound mind and so on, so on, so on, leave all my real and personal property, with certain exceptions herein after described, to Michael Watkins, for whose love and kindness to me at a time when I most needed them, Speaker 3 (6:01) Marta, you haven't cut off your family for me. Speaker 5 (6:03) I have no family. No one. The exceptions are my servants in a charity at all. Speaker 3 (6:09) What if I told you, my dear Marta, that I've been playing for bigger stakes than this? Speaker 5 (6:14) I don't understand, Michael. What more can I give to Speaker 3 (6:17) you? I have no intention of marrying you, my dear. But I needed wherewithal to put me in a position to lay hands on more money and power than you ever dreamed of. Speaker 5 (6:26) How? By marrying that American? Speaker 3 (6:29) Leave it to a woman's instinct. Think of it, Marta. Not only tremendous wealth and the power that goes with it, but youth and beauty as well. Two assets which I'm afraid you do not possess any longer. Speaker 5 (6:42) Don't believe my ears. I don't. I can't. Here. Here on the desk. The letters you wrote. I tied them with ribbon. I believed them. Speaker 3 (6:55) Believed them. Did you really or did you only want to believe them? Impossible, my dear Marta, that all along you knew the ending might be like this. That is why you kept your little pistol there with my letters. Speaker 5 (7:07) Yes. The pistol there, I knew. I suppose I knew. That's why you're very right, Michael. But I think you made one mistake. One mistake. So on myself, not on you. Speaker 3 (7:22) I'm going to take that gun away from you. No, Michael, don't move. My Speaker 5 (7:35) chest. My fingers over yours. Speaker 3 (7:38) On the Speaker 5 (7:39) trigger. Speaker 3 (7:40) Michael, I Speaker 5 (7:40) didn't... Don't... Don't... Speaker 3 (7:46) I mean it, my lady. My Speaker 2 (8:06) credentials. I see. Speaker 3 (8:08) Scotland Speaker 2 (8:09) Yard, Speaker 3 (8:10) Sergeant White. Come in, Sergeant. Thank you, sir. May I say I've been expecting you? Oh, have you indeed, Mr. Watkins? Yes. When I was informed of poor Marta's way out and the gesture of her will, the papers were rather descriptive and my letters near the body and all that. Well, I rather expected that you fellows wouldn't close the case without seeing me. What Speaker 2 (8:32) can I do for you, Sergeant? Did you expect Mrs. Wingate to take her own life, Mr. Watkins? As a matter of fact, I thought her many threats were jealous hysteria. I see. And she had Speaker 3 (8:44) reason Speaker 2 (8:45) to be jealous? I warned Speaker 3 (8:46) her Speaker 2 (8:47) often Speaker 3 (8:47) that there might be a younger woman one day. She refused the inevitable when it came. Speaker 2 (8:53) Well, Speaker 3 (8:54) you were honest at any rate. I try to be, always. Speaker 3 (9:00) Is there any reason for any other verdict than suicide, Sergeant? If so, I offer any help Speaker 2 (9:07) I can give to track down the killer. Oh, no, no, no, no. Nothing, Mr. Watkins. Just the small fact that the wound... Well, it struck me that Mrs. Wingate's wrist must have been bent at a very sharp angle to permit the bullet to enter where it did. You don't miss very much, do you, Sergeant? However, the medical examiner assures me that it could have been done. Speaker 2 (9:30) You seem quite prepared to accept the limelight as the cause of Mrs. Windage's self-destruction. Now, do I have Speaker 3 (9:36) any choice? Speaker 2 (9:37) Apparently, no. Well, Mr. Watkins, I wanted to meet you. And having seen you, if you'll excuse me now. Speaker 3 (9:46) Naturally. Speaker 2 (9:47) Anything I Speaker 3 (9:48) can do, just call on me. Speaker 2 (9:49) Oh, we shall. As a matter of fact, my superiors have given me leave to request that you remain within reach until further notice. Good day, Mr. Watkins. Speaker 3 (10:04) Apparently, no time to lose. Speaker 3 (10:20) That you, Pence? Mike Watkins, remember? I need your help, Pence. I'll pay well. Speaker 2 (10:29) That Speaker 3 (10:35) I could do myself after all you've taught me, Pence. I want a complete set of identity papers from the photo stat of birth certificate on up. I want them in the name of Martin Williams. Get that. Martin Williams. And I want them fast. I'm getting out of the country, Pence, as quickly as I can. Speaker 3 (11:04) Michael, you did follow me. Darling, the name's not Michael. It's Martin. Martin Williams. This Speaker 8 (11:10) is the one thing I don't understand. Oh, the porter will have your bags at the street level, dear. Come on, we go this way. Why did you change your name? I Speaker 3 (11:18) didn't. Williams is my right name. Watkins was a stage name. Ditto Martin and Michael. And passports must be in legal names, you know, like birth certificates. Speaker 8 (11:27) Oh, then that explains it. I couldn't understand. One night a call comes from a transatlantic liner, a Mr. Williams, person to person to me. Mr. Williams wishes to speak to Miss Dorothy Spencer and then hear your voice, to know you were on the way. Oh, Michael, you're a devil. Will Speaker 2 (11:47) your father appreciate a devil, Dorothy? My Speaker 8 (11:50) father appreciates success. And you're a successful devil. Is Mickey with you? Speaker 3 (11:55) I've abandoned Mickey. Oh, no. He was cute. That's done with, sweet. Oh, I came into a little money, and while I can't take it out of England, we might go back there and live on it, darling, if necessary. Oh, Speaker 8 (12:07) that's for years from now. Come along and meet father. Is Speaker 3 (12:10) he expecting a ventriloquist? Speaker 8 (12:13) He's expecting the man I love. Speaker 3 (12:16) Well, darn nice of him to come to the pier this way. Speaker 8 (12:18) Oh, Dad insists on doing all sorts of things he never did before. Michael, Dad's far from well. And he knows it. I'm so glad I came home in time. Speaker 3 (12:30) I see. And so am I. Glad I came to America in time. Speaker 1 (12:44) In just a moment, Crime Does Not Pay will continue with Voice of Death. Speaker 1 (13:14) Now we continue with Crime Does Not Pay, starring John Loder as Michael Watkins in Voice of Death. Speaker 1 (13:28) A new country meant just one thing to Michael Watkins, a new field to conquer with his one great weapon, his charm. But Michael was wise. He limited this new field, at least for the moment, to Dorothy Spencer and her father. Through the music hall ventriloquist, Michael Watkins was gone, and his passport named him Martin Williams. But Dorothy insisted that he accept Mike as a nickname, and Mike he became, not only to Dorothy, but to her father as well. The months went by. Mike was a permanent fixture in the Spencer household. Speaker 3 (14:03) You want me, sir? Yes, Mike, yes. Speaker 1 (14:06) I Speaker 3 (14:06) want to talk to you. How long have you been in America? Four months and ten days, Mr. Spencer. Ah, yes. You've been my confidential secretary. All that time but three weeks. And I deeply appreciate your confidence, Mr. Spencer, if I may say so. Speaker 5 (14:27) Unnecessary, Mike. I couldn't give you my confidence. I certainly couldn't. Speaker 5 (14:35) That's what I want to talk to you about while Dorothy isn't in the house. Speaker 3 (14:40) I'm listening, sir. Speaker 5 (14:42) Dorothy is going to be a very rich girl. Extremely so. I'm Speaker 3 (14:48) glad she set her heart on someone who will... You can count on me, Mr. Spencer. I'll haunt you. You Speaker 5 (15:04) never know when the haunting may begin. Dorothy isn't getting everything. In fact, only about one-third. I see. Even that will give her more than most. The other two-thirds after taxes, the foundation of a new university. When a man has no son, he wants his name perpetuated in some way. You understand, I'm sure. Yes, sir. I understand. I wanted you to know this. I don't believe in surprises. Well, that's all. Speaker 3 (15:47) I think I'll take that now. Yes, sir. Rest well. One-third. Only one-third. We'll see about that. Speaker 8 (16:00) My darling, I just got in. Is anything wrong? Speaker 3 (16:02) No, no, of course not. Speaker 8 (16:03) Well, you look as if you'd been struck by lightning. Speaker 3 (16:05) Nothing as drastic as that, darling. Speaker 8 (16:07) Then tell me what. I'd Speaker 3 (16:08) rather not. Yeah, everything will be all right. I'll see to that. Speaker 5 (16:32) I Speaker 3 (16:33) did, sir. What do you want, Mike? He's Dorothy. Dorothy is perfectly all right, as far as I know. Oh, well, then what on earth are you waking me for at dark in the morning? I want you to change