Black Museum – The Sash Cord 1952 (retro437)

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 50:13 — 23.0MB)

It’s a harmless bit of rope, but it’s just the right length to wrap around a man’s throat and strangle him. Orson Wells provides the voiceover narration as Scotland Yard detectives solve another case.

A theater stage hand is found slumped over in an alley, and the situation sparks a call to the authorities. Is he dead, or just unconscious? Hey, this is a show about murder, what do you think? Theater owner and stage actress, Octavia Kenmore is questioned. It was one of the stage prop pistols that killed the stage hand. Despite the ujpsetting crime, the show must go on.
Miss Kenmore and her young assistant Miss Ellis, show concern over their fellow theater hand who has been arrested. The troupe is a tight knit bunch, but is this a matter of devotion, or a cover up for a jealous relationship? A new twist enters the picture when the coroner reports the dead man was first strangled, then shot. Who would want to shoot a dead man? Who was the one to strangle him in the first place?

Despite her attempts at protecting one of her troupe of actors, it becomes clear that the rope came from some of the theaer curtains. A timeline of events is reconstructed, and a more clear picture of the murder emerges. Motives of jealousy and emotions ought to be clear, but other motives enter the picture as possible causes. With the questions of how and why being answered, it remains to discover who the right person is that commited the crime.

Clues continue to roll in, and clashes of personalities grow. Can you figure who the killer is? The venerable Miss Kenmore, the sweet young Miss Ellis, Mr Carter the stage carpenter, or someone else? Will responsibility to do the right thing win out over loyalty?

Bonus Track:
No music. Spend a few moments with Phil Harris and a few friends as they’re stranded in the country, and looking for milk to drink. Milk? Just listen, and enjoy.