DOC SAVAGE Program Number Five "The Evil Extortionists" (Adapted From DOC SAVAGE MAGAZINE) CAST DOC SAVAGE...............Deep, cultured voice. MONK.....................Small, almost ludicrously falsetto voice. JONES....................Harsh voice, careless English. MIGUEL...................Shrill voice, Spanish accent. POLLY SANDERSON..........Well-modulated, pleasant voice. VOICE....................(MAY BE DOUBLED) BIZ: 1--Auto motor. 2--Shots. 3--Footsteps. 4--Bang of window. 5--Crash. 6--Babble of crowd. 7--Rapid footsteps. 8--Door opening and closing. 9--Knock on door. 0--Gong. 11--Bird whistle trilling. 12--Dialing of phone number. 13--Plane motor. Playing Time: 14 minutes. Script by: Lester Dent (Kenneth Robeson) EFFECT: (LOW-THROATED BIRD WHISTLE TRILLING) ANNOUNCER: That sound, ladies and gentlemen, means that Cystex is once more on the air with another episode from the life of Doc Savage, the man who helps others out of trouble. EFFECT: (LOW-THROATED BIRD WHISTLE TRILLING) ANNOUNCER: Sometimes it is a little thing that leads Doc Savage to the solution of a crime... By the same token, minor aches or pains in your body are often warnings of a more deep-seated disorder. Do you feel run-down and nervous? Do you have a tendency to take cold easily? Are you troubled by frequent headaches? A common cause of such ailments is faulty kidney elimination. What to do about it? Cystex, ladies and gentlemen, is the answer to that... Cystex. Cystex is a gentle aid to the kidneys in their work of eliminating poisonous waste matters. Cystex is a doctorÕs prescription. Cystex contains no habit-forming drugs. Cystex soothes and tones raw and inflamed membranes. And Cystex starts work within fifteen minutes after taking. Ask your druggist for Cystex, spelled C-Y-S-T-E-X--and see how much younger, stronger and better you will feel by simply cleaning out your kidneys. EFFECT: (LOW-THROATED BIRD WHISTLE TRILLING) ANNOUNCER: Again, the sound of Doc Savage! As tonight's drama opens we find Doc Savage in his headquarters on the top floor of a New York skyscraper... With him is one of his assistants, Monk, a huge fellow who looks surprisingly like a gorilla, but who is a renowned chemist. They are not expecting trouble... but a sudden uproar in the street below comes to their ears. BIZ: (DISTANT AUTO MOTOR) (DISTANT SHOTS) MONK: Hey, Doc! Hear that? DOC: Yes, Monk. Shooting! MONK: It's down in the street! DOC: The window-- BIZ: (RAPID FOOTSTEPS) MONK: Look! Daggone! DOC: I'll get the window up. BIZ: (BANG OF WINDOW RAISING) (DISTANT AUTO ROAR) (DISTANT SHOTS) MONK: Look at that... right under our window! DOC: A man in a car! BIZ: (SHOTS) MONK: Lookit! That guy across the street! He's shootin' at the bird in the car. BIZ: (DISTANT MOTOR ROAR) DOC: The man had parked his car when the shooting started. MONK: Yeah. He's tryin' to get out. BIZ: (MOTOR ROAR) (GEAR SHIFT) DOC: There he goes! BIZ: (DISTANT SHOTS) MONK: Oh, oh' That got him! DOC: He's hit, all right. MONK: His car's rockin'--itÕs gonna hit-- BIZ: (DISTANT CRASH) DOC: Struck a lamp post! MONK: Lookit! The guy who shot him is runnin'. DOC: There's a girl running away from the car, too. MONK: A girl! I didn't see her. DOC: She jumped out of the car after it crashed. Come on, Monk! MONK: Goin' down, Doc? BIZ: (RAPID FOOTSTEPS) DOC: (RECEDING FROM MIKE) Sure we're going down! EFFECT: (PAUSE) BIZ: (BABBLE OF CROWD) (TRAFFIC NOISE) DOC: (CALLING OUT OVER CROWD AS HE APPROACHES MIKE) Let me through, please. Stand aside...Pardon me...Will you move to one side, please. JONES: (YELLS) Is there a doctor in the crowd? Somebody call an ambulance. MONK: Say, that guy looks like he got his, Doc. DOC: Yes, Monk. I'm going to look at him. You see if you can catch the girl we saw running away from the car. MONK: Okay, Doc. JONES: Call an ambulance, somebody. DOC: (RAISING VOICE) Never mind the ambulance. Let me look at him. JONES: He's hurt bad. DOC: Let's see I'll turn him over. JONES: He's pretty bad, isn't he? DOC: Worse than that. JONES: Say, he ain't--? DOC: Yes. He's dead. JONES: Maybe you're mistaken. DOC: I think not. JONES: But if you ain't a doctor-- DOC: I am a doctor, among other things. JONES: Say! You don't happen to be Doc Savage, do you? DOC: That's right. JONES: What a coincidence! DOC: What do you mean? JONES: My name is Jones-- Henry Jones. I was the first man to reach this fellow after he was shot. The poor guy was mumbling. He wanted to give Doc Savage a message. DOC: A message? JONES: Yeah. DOC: Tell me exactly what he said. JONES: He said, "Tell Doc Savage to sail on the liner Manhattan which leaves for Europe tonight. When the Manhattan is at sea, a man who is in trouble will come to Doc Savage for help." DOC: Was that all of it, Jones? JONES: Yes, all of the message. He just wanted you to sail on the Manhattan. DOC: What did he say besides the message? JONES: Not much. Something about it meanin' life or death to somebody if you didn't catch the Manhattan. DOC: (RAMBLING TALK AS EXAMINATION OF BODY PROCEEDS) Hm-m-m. Strange. Well, let's examine the fellow. He's a chauffeur, judging from his uniform... Age about thirty... Let's look in his pockets... Well, nothing there... I say, Jones, did he give you his name?... (PAUSE)... (LOUDLY) Jones! Where's that man Jones? He was here a moment ago. (PAUSE)... Jones! Hm-m-m, Jones didn't stick around very long... Now, I wonder why he left in such a hurry. BIZ: (BABBLE OF CROWD) EFFECT: (GONG) BIZ: (KNOCK ON DOOR) (PAUSE) (KNOCK ON DOOR) JONES: Come on! Open up! MIGUEL: Who she ees? JONES: Let me in, Miguel! MIGUEL: Who ees eet? JONES: Jones is the name I'm using now... Henry Jones. MIGUEL: Oh, she ees you, boss. Bueno! I not recognize yo' voice, boss. BIZ: (DOOR OPEN AND CLOSE QUICKLY) JONES: What's the idea of not letting me in? MIGUEL: I tÕink mebbe you poleechman. JONES: You made a bad move. Shouldn't have run for your hotel. MIGUEL: Where else I go, boss? JONES: Aw, it's all right, I guess. Nobody suspects us of the shooting. MIGUEL: You t'ink nobody know? JONES: We're safe enough, Miguel. MIGUEL: Thees hombre we shoot... he talk? JONES: Not a word. (LAUGHS) But I told Doc Savage he did. MIGUEL: You what? JONES: I told Savage I was a bystander named Jones. MIGUEL: Why you do that? JONES: A nice little trick, Miguel. I told Doc Savage a man wanted him to sail on the liner Manhattan. That was the message the dyin' man gave me, see? MIGUEL: I thought you say hombre we shoot no talk! JONES: He didn't! Listen, you dumbbell! I made it up! It was a lie... a pretty smooth one, if I do say so myself. MIGUEL: No savvy. JONES: To trick Doc Savage! Don't you get it?... Now he'll sail on the Manhattan. The girl wonÕt get to him. MIGUEL: (LAUGHS) Ha, ha. Miguel, hees dumb, eh? He not see treeck. Preety good, boss! JONES: Yeah, if it works. MIGUEL: What you mean, boss? JONES: The girl may get to Savage before he sails. MIGUEL: Naw. Gal, she plentee scare'. You see her run away from that car when you shoot. JONES: Yeah. . . she's scared, all right. Too scared to come near Doc Savage's office again. MIGUEL: We go to work on girl now, eh? JONES: Not right now. MIGUEL: Why not? JONES: We gotta play safe. Doc Savage isn't out of the way yet. MIGUEL: How we know if he sail on boat? JONES: We gotta watch him. Come on. MIGUEL: I dunno. Mabbe better we hide. Poleechman see us, say them two feller shoot man... Grab us. JONES: Oh, shut up! Come on, get a move on. (RECEDING FROM MIKE) If Doc Savage don't fall for my trick we'll have to get him some other way. EFFECT: (GONG) BIZ: (DOOR CLOSE) MONK: Take it easy, sister. This is Doc's office. POLLY: Are we safe here? MONK: Sure! Just take it easy. POLLY: (HYSTERICAL) Take it easy! Would you be calm if somebody just took a shot at you? MONK: Nope. But getting excited don't help. We can't do anything until Doc gets here. POLLY: I wish he'd hurry. It's getting late. I wonder if Carson is all right. MONK: You mean your chauffeur? POLLY: Yes! I'm afraid he was shot. I should have stayed to see, but when the car crashed all I could think of was to get away, so I ran. MONK: You ran, all right! And you put up some fight when I caught you. POLLY: I thought you were the man who shot at us. Oh, why doesn't Doc Savage come! EFFECT: (LOW-THROATED BIRD WHISTLE TRILLING) POLLY: What's that noise? MONK: Why, that's Doc. He must be back. BIZ: (DOOR CLOSE) DOC: Hello, Monk. (PAUSE) Well, who's this? MONK: She's the girl we saw runnin' away from the car, Doc. I followed her--caught up with her. POLLY: (HURRIED, EXCITED) Mr. Savage! Mr. Savage' Did you see Carson? Is he all right? DOC: Just a minute, please. Who are you? POLLY: I'm Polly Sanderson. DOC: Your home? POLLY: I have an estate in southern New Jersey. DOC: I see. And who is Carson? POLLY: My chauffeur. He was driving the car when the shooting started. Is he all right, Mr. Savage? DOC: I'm sorry he's dead. POLLY: (LOW VOICE) Dead! Poor Carson. DOC: But before he died, he gave a message to a man in the street--a Henry Jones... or so Jones said. POLLY: What was the message? DOC: Jones said that Carson said to tell me to sail on the Manhattan at once--that the life of someone on board the ship depended on my doing so. POLLY: Carson told you that! But I don't understand! DOC: You have no idea what Carson meant, Miss Sanderson? POLLY: Why, no! It does not make sense. DOC: Then the message was faked. I knew it must be, but I wanted to be sure. MONK: Howd'ya know it was faked, Doc? DOC: You didn't get a close look at the body, did you, Monk? MONK: No. DOC: Well, the chauffeur was shot through the heart. He probably died instantly. MONK: Then the fellow couldn't have talked. For the love of Mike!...That fellow, Jones... he tried to pull a fast one? DOC: Yes. Unfortunately, he got away before I discovered the victim had been shot in the heart. POLLY: But I still don't see why he should give you that message. DOC: Just one possible reason, Miss Sanderson. POLLY: What? DOC: He wanted to get me out of town... out of his way. POLLY: It's all to keep me from seeing you! MONK: That fellow is a quick thinker, Doc. DOC: Yes, it was pretty clever. POLLY: He is clever--and desperate. I know! Oh, Mr. Savage, I don't know what to do! DOC: Let's hear your story, Miss Sanderson. POLLY: They want a hundred thousand dollars! If I don't give it to them, they'll kill me! DOC: Just a minute Suppose you begin at the beginning. POLLY: Well, my father died a year ago. DOC: Yes. POLLY: He left me his entire fortune--several millions. MONK: Whe-e-ew! DOC: Go on, Miss Sanderson. POLLY: Well, lately, I've been getting letters. DOC: Letters? POLLY: Yes, anonymous letters, demanding money. DOC: How much do they want? POLLY: A hundred thousand dollars. They say they'll kill me if I don't pay. MONK: For the love of Mike' Didn't you go to the police? POLLY: Oh, yes. And then I got a letter from these extortionists saying that my having gone to the police would not help. The letter was so--well, confident, that it worried me. So I came to you. DOC: How do they want the money paid, Miss Sanderson? POLLY: I'm to drive to a certain spot and leave it for them. DOC: In cash? POLLY: Yes. Oh, Mr. Savage, you--you'll do something? DOC: I'll do all I can... Monk! MONK: Yes, Doc. DOC: Get the newspapers on the phone. Tell them to send reporters up. MONK: Newspapers! Reporters! But Doc, you don't like publicity! DOC: Usually not, Monk. But this time publicity happens to be part of my plans. Call every newspaper office in town and hurry! MONK: Okay, Doc. BIZ: (DIALING OF PHONE NUMBER) MONK: Hello, Journal? Send a reporter to Doc Savage's office right away... Yeah, Doc Savage's office... Yeah' Sure, it's hot... Operator, operator, gimme the Morning News. POLLY: What are you going to do, Mr. Savage? DOC: We're going to fly down to your estate in southern New Jersey immediately. You'll go ahead in one plane. Monk and I will follow in another. MONK: (AWAY FROM MIKE) Yes, operator, the Morning News. (TOWARD MIKE) Say, Doc, whatya goin' to tell these reporters? DOC: That we are flying down to Miss Sanderson's place this evening. MONK: Gosh, Doc, I don't know as I like that! Those cookiesÕll read the story and know you didn't fall for that gag about sailing on the Manhattan! DOC: That's exactly what I want. MONK: They may--get tough. You know--try to crook us. DOC: I hope they do, Monk. I'm going to set a little trap. It may work. It may not. But it is worth trying. EFFECT: (GONG) BIZ: (PLANE MOTOR STARTS, STOPS) (BABBLE OF VOICES) VOICE: Get that tailskid dolly under her!... Not that plane, you dumbskull!... This one over here--Doe Savage's plane! BIZ: (PLANE MOTOR STARTS, STOPS) VOICE: (AWAY FROM MIKE) Get that Savage plane over to the gas pumps. (FARTHER FROM MIKE) Run her along, you grease monkeys. (VERY DISTANT) Hurry it up! JONES: (LOW, EXCITED) Miguel! MIGUEL: Over here, Senor! JONES: Blazes, it's dark! MIGUEL: I am behind thees oil barrels, Senor. JONES: They're getting Savage's plane out of the hangar now. MIGUEL: Si, si! Me ees watch. BIZ: (DISTANT PLANE MOTOR STARTS) JONES: The girl's gonna take off. MIGUEL: You let her go, boss? JONES: Sure. We can handle her when Doc Savage is out of the way. He's going to follow the girl. MIGUEL: Si, si! JONES: Everything set, Miguel? MIGUEL: I t'ink so, boss. I do good job. JONES: You hid the bomb in Doc Savage's plane? MIGUEL: Si, si, boss. Bomb, she ees in back of plane. JONES: Out of sight, eh? MIGUEL: Nobody ees find heem, boss. JONES: Then we're set. There's an altimeter in the bomb, fixed up with electric contacts. When the plane gets up a thousand feet, the bomb will go off. MIGUEL: Beeg boom, eh, boss? JONES: Big boom is right. It'll blow 'em to pieces. MIGUEL: Then everything, she be bueno, eh? JONES: Mucho bueno! It's lucky the newspapers printed a story about Doc Savage going to Polly Sanderson's place. (LAUGHS) Ha, ha! They even urnished us with the name of the airport and described his plane. MIGUEL: Swell job we do, eh, Senor? JONES: The first part wasn't so swell. MIGUEL: We ees do good job when we kill that feller. JONES: Pipe down, you fool. MIGUEL: Nobody around here, Senor. JONES: Well, don't brag about killin' people. It's a bad habit. MIGUEL: Well, we keel heem, anyway. An' you can't say we do not do good job, Senor. JONES: I didn't mean that. My part, when I tried to fool Doc Savage into sailing on the Manhattan didn't turn out so hot. I wonder how he caught on?...Oh, well, let's get out of here. BIZ: (FOOTSTEPS) DOC: That's far enough, gentlemen! JONES: Doc Savage! DOC: Get your hands up! Quick! JONES: Miguel... run for it! DOC: (SHOUTS) Stop! Monk, the lights' I'll use this tear gas bomb. JONES: Get back! DOC: Watch out, Monk. He's got a gun! BIZ: (SHOT, THEN VOLLEY OF SHOTS) JONES: (SCREAMS) My eyes! That tear gas! MONK: Tear gas got 'em both, Doc! They can't see a thing. DOC: Miss Sanderson! POLLY: Yes! DOC: Come here. See if you know these two. POLLY: Why... yes!... I know them! DOC: Who are they? POLLY: That is Miguel, one of my gardeners. DOC: Who is the other? POLLY: A chauffeur named Spence, whom I discharged several months ago. DOC: The pair fell into our trap much easier that I expected. MONK: Yeah, they was dumb. They never thought the newspaper story was just a decoy to get 'em to make an attempt on our life. DOC: I was afraid for a while that they would find some of the microphones we planted around the field. MONK: Yeah... for instance, the one behind them oil barrels where they were hidin'. I thought sure they'd find that one. But they didn't. DOC: No. And we heard their talk... the admission that they killed the man in front of my office. That's evidence enough to convict them. MONK: I'll say. (SHOUTS) Here you! Lay still! BIZ: (BLOW) MIGUEL: Ah, yo' ees keeck me! MONK: Lay still, guy, or I'll put my foot in your mouth, grab your ears, and pull you on like a boot! EFFECT: (GONG) ANNOUNCER: These dramatized incidents from the life of Doc Savage are presented by Cystex, that remarkable doctor's prescription for the relief of kidney and bladder disorders. For that tired, run-down feeling, try Cystex. Cystex starts its work fifteen minutes after taking. Cystex is economical. Cystex costs only three cents a dose. The manufacturers believe so firmly in Cystex that they will refund your money if you are not thoroughly satisfied with Cystex. Cystex will bring you another episode from the career of Doc Savage next week at this same time. These dramas are presented with the permission of Street & Smith, copyright owners of Doc Savage Magazine.