Original subtitles

Good evening. I’ve gone into a new business.

It is the manufacture and sale of ticker tape for parades.

Our motto is, "We can make any street, Wall Street."

A secondary purpose of this paraphernalia,

is to get our audience in the proper mood for tonight’s play,

"The Twelve Hour Caper."

The preceding information has been obtained from sources believed to be reliable.

But it’s accuracy and completeness,

and that of the opinions based thereon,

are not guaranteed.

This is in sharp contrast to the information you are about to receive.

[phone ringing]

Wiggam. Yes, right away!

-Miss Pomfritt. -Yes?

-Morning, beautiful. -[Pomfritt] Shut up!

What is it, Herbert?

That was security downstairs.

8:45, Friday, time to test the alarm.

[alarm sounding]

How’s your mother, Herb?

Well, fine, thanks, Charles.

-Give her my best. -I will.

[alarm continues ringing]

-Hands off! -You love it.

Wanna bet?

Enemy bombers.

Let’s live our last moments together.

It’s bigger than both of us.

-Let me go. -Never!

[door opening]

Mr. Tupper, good morning.

Good morning, Mr. Tupper.

Princeton gets out of hand every Friday.

Mr. Lowe has a multitude of auxiliary talents.

None of which is useful in the investment business.

I suppose so, sir.

Wiggam...

how’s your mother feeling?

She’s fine, thank you, sir.

Good. Did Fennady and Company call

about that bond shipment today?

No, sir. Not since last night.

Well, as far as I know, it gets here around 4:00.

4 o’clock on a Friday.

Can you think of a more awkward time to take delivery on $565,000

worth of negotiable bonds?

Offhand, no, sir.

[mumbles]

Have to put them in the downstairs vault over the weekend.

[Herbert] Yes, sir.

It’s just like money, you know?

Just like over half a million dollars in cash.

[sighs]

Makes a man think, Wiggam.

Yes, sir. I’ve thought about it

quite a great deal.

Oh, good. Good boy!

Keep thinking, Wiggam.

There’s no limit to where you can go in this business.

No limit!

Miss Pomfritt,

would you get me Fennady and Company on the phone?

I want to see what’s going on with those bonds.

Sylvester Tupper calling, Mr. Fennady.

Hello, Mr. Fennady? Mr. Tupper calling.

You pull that one more time.

-Just one more time... -Yeah? Yeah?

...and I’ll kill you, literally.

Give you three to one he lowers the boom today.

-Hmm? -Tupper!

Oh, what about Tupper?

The promotion, son.

The question of who gets my job.

Oh.

He’ll give you the bad news today.

He never was one to

put off an unhappy duty over the weekend.

Gets in the way of his golf game.

Morning. Good morning, all!

Happy Friday!

Well, how goes it, Herbie?

What’s on the books for the weekend?

Well! Going to Rio!

Gonna break out of the old shell, hmm?

Herbert, you dog!

Well, you-- you’ve been keeping secrets from us?

Momma going too?

Oh, just kidding, Herbie!

Just kidding!

-Wiggam! -Uh, yes, sir.

Would you come here a moment, please?

Well, I just talked to Fennady about postponing the delivery of those bonds until Monday.

Oh?

He agreed with me 100%!

No sense whatsoever

in delivering a shipment like that after banking hours. No sense at all.

If the bonding company knew about it, they would hit the ceiling. So...

So you’re putting it off till Monday?

No!

No.

We’re taking a chance anyway. There’s no alternative.

So, you prepare to handle them in the usual way.

Issue memo-receipts and so forth.

And we’ll put them in the night-vault over the weekend.

Yes, sir.

Oh, Wiggam.

Yes, sir?

One more thing.

Sit down.

I don’t believe we’ve discussed the matter of whose to step into Frisbee’s shoes

as head cashier, when he retires next month, have we?

No, I don’t believe we have, sir.

I know you will agree with my decision.

We’ve been teammates for a long time, you and I, Wiggam.

Together on the firing line.

-Why ten years ago, when you came to us-- -Eleven, sir.

-What was that? -Eleven years ago, sir.

Oh, yes. Oh, yes. Eleven years ago,

I told you that I’d look out for you.

And I still have the same feeling.

You’re going places with Tupper and Sons, Wiggam.

I, uh, I know you’ll understand,

that I had your interests in mind, when I decided to move Westbrook into Frisbee’s spot.

College graduate.

Business Administration School.

The fellow has a lot going for him.

Oh, yes, sir.

But I still have my eye on you, Wiggam.

Don’t you forget that.

-Yes, sir. -And, uh,

rest assured of this, Wiggam.

The fact that Westbrook happen to be my wife’s favorite nephew

had absolutely nothing to do with my decision.

-I understand, sir. -Good boy!

-All right, that’s, that’s all, Wiggam. -Thank you, sir.

Wiggam,

are you ready for those bonds?

I certainly am, sir.

Good thinking!

Did he?

He did.

About time for a coffee, isn’t it, gentlemen?

How about it, Herbie? Can I buy you a cup?

No, thank you, Westbrook.

You mind if I borrow this?

Please, take it.

How’d he phrase it?

He said he had his eye on me, and that I’m going places.

Hello. You know who this is?

Mm-hmm.

See you at lunch?

Same time, same place.

Mm-hmm.

You are now looking at Tupper and Sons

at ten minutes to four, on almost any Friday morning.

Here’s the main door...

here.

Men’s, ladies’ washrooms, here.

Frisbee’s desk, here.

My desk, here.

Miss Pomfritt, here.

Westbrook.

Cranshaw.

Lowe.

Mr. Tupper, of course,

will be here.

In his office.

And most important, gentlemen, the fire stairway door.

Right here.

Now, photograph this plan in your mind, gentlemen.

You’ll only have one minute to look at it,

and you must know it letter-perfect.

Have a deviled egg.

Now, at 4:00,

Westbrook will be gone.

He hasn’t stayed until 4:00 in the two years that he’s been with us.

And by long tradition, exactly at 4 o’clock,

Frisbee will leave.

Followed by Cranshaw,

and Lowe.

That leaves

Miss Pomfritt.

The bonds will arrive by armored car and messenger.

At five minutes after four,

the messenger will have his receipt and be gone.

Now, as you can plainly see,

the deciding factor in our plan

is the presence of Miss Pomfritt.

Here.

Now she must not be present

when you, gentlemen, come through the fire stairway door.

There’s only one moment,

when Miss Pomfritt is not present.

At exactly ten minutes to five she will rise from her desk

and take today’s correspondence

into Mr. Tupper’s office.

She leaves Mr. Tupper’s office

and vanishes

into the ladies’ washroom,

to put on her street makeup.

Her average time in there, for the past seven weeks

has been approximately-- No, exactly

3 minutes and 41 seconds.

Now, that would seem safe enough.

But we can’t be too sure.

Miss Pomfritt, being a very young woman,

is subject to caprice.

She comes out and hits that alarm, the building slams shut like a nervous oyster.

We also got the bonds.

-What if they search us? -Oh, no, no, no.

-You won’t have the bonds. -What do you mean we won’t?

You leave Tupper’s office, here.

Miss Pomfritt’s desk.

Here. Miss Pomfritt’s wastebasket.

I’ll put some papers on top of her desk.

You drop the bonds into the wastebasket,

and sweep the papers off, on top of them.

Then you exit, via the fire stairway door.

Take off your masks, go downstairs,

grab an elevator, and down you go.

The alarm goes off, you’ve nothing to hide.

What about the bonds?

Well, they will question me, of course,

but I have been a trusted employee for over 11 years

and I’ve handled much bigger shipments than this.

So, after they’ve gone,

I’ll take the bonds out of the wastebasket,

slip them into my attaché case

and leave.

We’ll meet, as planned to divide the spoils.

That should bring, $188,333 and 33 and a third cents.

Apiece!

Shall we synchronize our watches, gentlemen?

Have a nice weekend, Herb.

Oh, thanks, Charles.

-Say hello to your mother for me, will you? -I will.

You know this is bigger than both of us, why fight it?

Blow!

[Lowe] Oh, gorgeous, listen to my song.

[Pomfritt] I tuned you out about ten past nine, get lost.

[Lowe] You know you’re driving me into the arms of another?

[Pomfritt] Goodnight, sweet prince!

-Pomfritt, you got the report ready for me? -Right here.

Thank you.

Wiggam, what’s holding up that bond shipment?

I don’t know, sir. They’re 12 and a half minutes late already.

Well, call Fennady, tell him we can’t handle it at this hour.

-But, sir. I’ve-- -It makes no difference.

I’m a reasonable man, but taking on over half a million dollars

in negotiable bonds at this hour on a Friday is idiotic, and I’m--

[door opens]

-[Tupper] You from Fennady and Company? -Right.

All right, get on it, Wiggam.

What am I doing that’s wrong?

Living.

Goodnight, Herbert.

Ah, goodnight.

[typewriter typing]

[sighs]

[typewriter typing continues]

[door closes]

[door closes]

Yes, that’s right.

Ah, Fennady handled the liquidation.

I have all the information right here.

Yes, George. It’s going to be up to us.

To place the whole half million in tax-free Municipals.

Yeah. Well, let me tell you something, George, this is going--

Gently, Webster. Gently.

[screams]

[man] And that was what time, Mr. Wiggam?

I’d say about, um, ten minutes to five.

Mr. Wiggam had just brought the bonds into my office.

Yes, first I had to enter them in the--

[man] In the what?

Uh, I beg your pardon?

You were entering the bonds in something.

Yes, um, in the ledger.

[Tupper] It’s routine when we receive securities, you see.

I see. So, then you

took the bonds into Mr. Tupper’s office

and stood waiting for him to finish on the phone?

I was talking to my associate about the deal, you see.

These securities came to us

as a result of an estate liquidation.

And the principal beneficiary happened to be one of our clients.

I tried to,

to get Fennady

to call off the shipment as a matter of prudence

but--

[man] I’m sorry!

-Here, let me-- -Oh, no, no, no.

Allow me. Don’t let me interrupt, go ahead.

Then, Miss Pomfritt,

were you close enough at close range

to see either of the men?

Not very.

Couldn’t identify them?

No, they both wore masks.

And by the time you could get a look at them

they both gone out the fire exit door?

I thought something was wrong and then I came closer

and I saw them both on the floor.

I screamed and hit the alarm switch.

-[door opens] -Oh.

I’ve checked on everyone in the building

There’s, uh, no one in here without a good reason

and there’s no sign of the bonds either.

OK. Go on down to the main door,

-I’ll be within a minute. -All right.

Now, Mr. Wiggam,

I wonder if you’d mind coming into Mr. Tupper’s office for a moment.

You too, Mr. Tupper.

I’d like you both to assume the exact positions you were in,

after the robbery.

[Tupper] I was standing over here by my desk.

I was on the telephone with my associate.

And you, Wiggam?

Here, sir.

Would you both lie down, please?

-After you, Wiggam. -Thank you, sir.

Thank you.

Herbert was a little more to his right, I think.

Thank you, Miss Pomfritt.

And, Mr. Tupper, as far as you can recall

you were facing the way you are now?

On the telephone, that is correct.

I knew not whence the blow came, Lieutenant.

One moment I am deep in conversation with my associate

and the next moment...

Yes, yes, of course.

And when you came to, you found Mr. Wiggam

lying there, beside you?

That is right.

All right. Thank you very much, gentlemen.

Uh, gentlemen,

you can get up, now.

Oh.

Oh, thank you, Wiggam.

[man] Of course, you understand this is merely a

preliminary investigation.

[Tupper] Oh, yes. I do, Lieutenant.

These were negotiable bonds.

[man] That’s very good, Mr. Tupper.

Now, Wiggam was on the floor there

in roughly that position when you came in, Miss Pomfritt.

And the minute you saw, what it happened...

I screamed and hit the alarm switch.

[man] But by then, both of the thugs were probably outside the office,

and on their way downstairs.

It’s hardly likely they tried the elevator but

it’s possible they could’ve taken the back stairway.

[Tupper] That is correct.

[man] But in either case, they’d been stopped and checked

by the man on duty at the main door

if they attempted to leave the building with the securities.

-[Tupper] That is right. -[man] Hmm.

So, we’ll have to assume that they

spirited the securities out of the building in some other way.

Nice time of the year to be going to Rio, Mr. Wiggam.

I envy you.

I’m looking forward to it.

There you are, sir. Loading now at Gate 6.

Have a nice flight.

-Thank you. -Happy landing.

Thank you!

Ready, Mother?

Yes, dear.

[ticking]

Here are the closing stock averages.

Thirty industrials down, three point seven.

Fifteen utilities up, one point six.

We shall have more closing quotations in one minute.

There has been a change in our business.

I’ve eliminated the middleman.

As for our final quotations,

they were from Herbert Wiggam and his mother

as they left for prison.

And we decided not to repeat them on the air.

Next week, we shall be back with another story.

Until then, goodnight.