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00:00 [Music]
00:13 This is Skid Row, a street of forgotten men and women.
00:18 Some of them slide down from high places, some start here.
00:23 Nobody works up to it.
00:25 This is the bottom.
00:27 [Music]
00:32 I was here because of an urgent telephone call I'd received from Father Peacock earlier that day.
00:36 We had met during the war when he was connected with a French underground,
00:40 and many Americans owed him their lives.
00:42 After the war, he'd come to America and started a little mission on the row.
00:47 It was open to all, whether they needed someone to talk to, food to eat, or even prayers.
00:54 [Music]
01:15 Father Peacock was upset.
01:16 He said he had read I was in town, that in a way I might be the answer to his prayers.
01:23 A man named Dan McGee was to die in the next 36 hours for having killed a cop.
01:27 He told me that he didn't believe Dan was guilty.
01:30 He didn't know if I could help because time was very short, but he begged me to try.
01:34 I asked a lot of questions, but Father Peacock tried to answer them.
01:39 Dan was a strange man and cruel only to himself.
01:44 He was an ex-Marine, had even been given a citation for duty above and beyond.
01:52 Skid Row had claimed him because, as the father put it, Dan had seen too much in too short a time.
01:58 If it had been anyone else but Father Peacock, I would have said no.
02:03 Instead, I asked him the obvious question.
02:06 Women.
02:08 He hesitated, so I asked him again.
02:12 Women?
02:13 In particular?
02:20 In particular, one. Mary.
02:22 No other name, just Mary?
02:25 Just Mary. Or if it helps, the other Mary.
02:30 It helps.
02:37 I thought I'd start with Johnny, for instance.
02:44 A character who called himself the Mayor of Skid Row.
02:48 Johnny sold tip sheets at the racetrack.
02:50 If you want to see the Mayor, you go to City Hall.
02:52 So I went to Johnny's City Hall, the Del Monte Café.
02:56 [music]
03:21 Thanks.
03:22 [music]
03:26 Mike.
03:27 Hiya, Johnny. You want something?
03:30 Just a bowl of stew. A big one.
03:32 What's the matter? On the short line?
03:34 Yeah, Tap City. Haven't had a winner in three days.
03:36 The suckers are all on the free list.
03:38 When I saw you at the track, I thought you were in the money.
03:40 Yeah, I was, till I started betting my own tips.
03:42 What can I do for you, Mike?
03:45 Tell me about Dan McGee.
03:51 Dan McGee? Never heard of him.
03:53 How about you?
03:54 They come and go.
03:55 That's how it is, eh?
03:59 Yep, that's how it is, Mike.
04:00 Life down here is cheap.
04:02 Death don't mean much.
04:03 People welcome it.
04:05 In the meantime, everybody's got something to hide.
04:08 And the less digging around there is, the better they like it.
04:10 Now, for instance...
04:13 If you want to meet some of the talent...
04:17 I'm ready, Johnny.
04:18 Fix him up, might he?
04:21 Are you the Monty on the sign?
04:22 Sure, Del Monty, that's me.
04:23 Tell him your real name, Monty.
04:25 Go on, he's a friend of mine.
04:27 Delmar Monty, you.
04:29 That makes you a friend of mine.
04:31 My friend, I'll see who's available.
04:37 There's Sadie. Oh, she's got a life.
04:41 Not a town buyer. Wants to see how the other half lives.
04:43 I bet he sees it if he sticks with Sadie.
04:46 How about Fritzie?
04:48 No, no, no.
04:49 Story goes with her.
04:50 I'm way ahead on stories.
04:52 There's Mary.
04:53 What's the matter with her?
05:00 She's hard to handle.
05:02 Acts like a $10 steak in a hamburger joint.
05:04 Who's that with her?
05:06 Fingers. He draws pictures.
05:08 If Mary won't play, maybe he will.
05:11 It's an idea.
05:14 Excuse me.
05:17 May I join you?
05:18 For how long?
05:19 Let's start with 10 minutes.
05:21 Let's start with five bucks.
05:23 What was it you wanted to talk about?
05:29 Dan McGee.
05:31 Never heard of him.
05:35 He's going to die in a few hours for killing a cop.
05:38 It happened around here about eight months ago.
05:41 I'm sure you've heard of him.
05:43 I've never heard of him.
05:45 He was here a few minutes ago.
05:46 He must have been quite a lad, this McGee.
05:49 Pull a stunt like that and pass out with a gun in his hand.
05:52 Yes, sir. He must have been a dilly.
05:54 He was...
05:55 He was somebody we never heard of.
05:57 Your time's up.
05:58 Not quite.
06:01 Clever.
06:14 Thanks.
06:15 See you around.
06:17 It might be that I just didn't like Fingers.
06:23 Or maybe I was beginning to feel sorry for Dan McGee.
06:26 A guy I didn't even know.
06:27 One thing was for sure.
06:30 I had places to go and people to talk to.
06:32 I wanted to know more about Fingers and Mary.
06:35 It might not help Dan, because maybe he was beyond help.
06:38 But I owed some answers to Father Picar.
06:42 When you've led my kind of life, you get to know all kinds of people.
06:44 And they get to know you.
06:46 It didn't take long to find out that before the trouble started,
06:49 Mary was Dan McGee's girl.
06:51 She'd followed him around like a faithful puppy.
06:53 As for Fingers, the opinion was unanimous.
06:57 He was rotten.
06:58 He'd always been jealous of Dan, and now that Dan was gone, he'd taken over.
07:02 [door slams]
07:03 [music]
07:24 I followed Mary and Fingers as they left the Del Monte Café.
07:28 I watched them talk for a few seconds in front of her hotel,
07:31 and finally Fingers left.
07:32 Mary was about to have an unexpected visitor.
07:36 Me.
07:37 [music]
08:00 Were you expecting somebody else?
08:01 This is my home. I live here.
08:04 I work at the Del Monte.
08:06 If you want anything I got, see me there.
08:08 I want some information.
08:09 You still owe me a couple of minutes.
08:11 Fingers gave you a sketch, didn't he? That ought to square it.
08:13 Is that the way he pays his way?
08:15 I can save us both a lot of trouble.
08:18 When you work down here, you gotta be somebody's girl.
08:21 I'm Fingers' girl. Now let's take it from there.
08:23 Were you always Fingers' girl?
08:25 [music]
08:38 The other Mary.
08:40 Crazy idea Fingers had.
08:44 Why?
08:46 I haven't had long hair since I can remember.
08:49 The man in the picture has not fingers.
08:55 No? Who is he?
08:57 Dan McGee.
09:00 You're smarter than I thought you were.
09:03 You used to be Dan McGee's girl.
09:05 And you never got over it.
09:07 That's Fingers' girl. That. And that.
09:13 That's Dan McGee's girl.
09:16 And that sketch is Fingers' way of telling you he knows all about it.
09:19 What can I do about it?
09:23 [music]
09:25 Talk.
09:27 Tell me about him.
09:29 [music]
09:35 He wasn't an easy guy to get along with.
09:37 Drew a few bucks a month from the government.
09:41 Enough to keep him in a glow.
09:44 Then he thought he was charging ashore on some beachhead.
09:50 Waving that gun around and yelling crazy.
09:52 That night?
09:55 He was in the Del Monte building up a head of steam.
09:59 I tried to take care of him, but he wouldn't let me, so I left.
10:03 When I got back, the cop was dead and he was under arrest.
10:09 Couldn't he tell you what happened?
10:12 He never remembered anything when he came out of those fogs.
10:15 Talked about crazy things.
10:19 This time it was ties.
10:20 White ties.
10:22 White bow ties.
10:24 The kind you wear with tails?
10:27 Who knows?
10:29 There were no white ties in the Del Monte when I left,
10:32 and I'm sure the cop wasn't in evening clothes.
10:34 White ties.
10:38 White bow ties.
10:40 That's a rough one.
10:43 (dramatic music)
10:44 Do what you can for him, will you?
10:50 I got a letter from him last week.
10:53 He says in the past eight months he's straightened himself up.
10:57 I hope he enjoys it.
11:00 He's got about 30 hours left.
11:02 (dramatic music)
11:06 (door slams)
11:07 I was surprised when I saw her in the Mission Chapel,
11:22 and I realized that she in her own way was praying for Dan McGee.
11:33 Fingers came back last night.
11:34 He'd had a long talk with Johnny, for instance.
11:38 You're Michael Lanyard.
11:41 That's right.
11:44 Then you know how it is.
11:52 Yes, Mary.
11:56 I know how it is.
12:02 (door slams)
12:03 (dramatic music)
12:05 The bruise on her face told its own story, and I didn't like it.
12:23 Fingers had given her a good working over,
12:25 probably because she'd talked to me.
12:27 The payoff I owed Fingers had to wait
12:29 because I was trying to find out if Dan McGee
12:31 had really killed a cop,
12:32 and I didn't have much time left.
12:34 White ties, none of it made sense.
12:38 All I knew was that I didn't like a guy named Fingers.
12:41 It was worth a try, so I headed for the Del Monte.
12:44 What do you want, Lanyard?
12:51 Dinner.
12:53 In a joint like this?
12:55 What's the matter with a joint like this?
12:57 Nothing, it's class for Skid Row, but you're a Sunset Strip man.
13:00 Zeros, La Roux, Macombo.
13:01 You have dinner in your suite
13:03 at the Beverly Hills Hotel of the Ambassador.
13:05 Any place named after a guy called Del Monte
13:07 you deserve as a complimentary play.
13:09 What can I get to eat?
13:12 Beef stew, ham and eggs, small steak, coffee, and apple pie.
13:14 Ham and eggs.
13:16 Eggs over easy, ham well done, huh?
13:18 We serve ham and eggs, ham and eggs, period.
13:20 You're a fine artist, Fingers.
13:29 Your work deserves something better than paper napkins.
13:30 The carriage trade gets a kick out of it.
13:33 The napkins have the name of the joint in the corner.
13:35 How's business?
13:39 Fair, we get college kids in bunches
13:41 and every now and then somebody from uptown
13:43 slumming for kicks.
13:45 Like after parties and receptions, huh?
13:48 Things like that.
13:50 Seems to help some people to look at misery.
13:58 Thanks.
13:59 Not bad.
14:10 What did you expect?
14:12 Poison?
14:14 We live on that stuff.
14:16 Certain millions of other people.
14:18 But they don't sit around feeling sorry for themselves.
14:20 Now who are you talking about?
14:23 You.
14:25 You and Dan McGee.
14:27 A man you've got in your mind so much
14:28 you're sketching him right now.
14:30 I thought you didn't know Dan McGee.
14:33 I don't.
14:35 But I saw him last night
14:37 in a sketch called The Other Mary.
14:39 So you know.
14:45 You know how I feel about him and Mary.
14:47 You know I'll be glad when he dies tomorrow.
14:49 What else do you think you know?
14:52 I know that his death won't solve your problems.
14:54 I know that he'll be happy.
14:56 But his death won't solve your problem.
14:57 Killing him won't take him out of Mary's mind.
14:59 I'll take care of that after he's gone.
15:01 Now get out of here, will you?
15:04 I couldn't be too sure.
15:25 But to a mixed up guy it could look like a tie.
15:26 A white bow tie.
15:29 How about buying a gal a cup of coffee?
15:32 How about white ties?
15:34 Shall we talk about them?
15:37 Funny what will stick in a man's mind.
15:40 White ties.
15:43 White bow ties.
15:45 You or I wouldn't think about that, would we?
15:48 Only a crazy guy with a tormented mind
15:49 could see the similarity.
15:51 A crazy guy running around waving a pistol into the air.
15:53 Reliving a madness he can't forget.
15:56 Please, not so loud.
15:58 Everyone will think we're crazy.
16:00 To a guy with a tormented mind
16:07 it could look like a tie.
16:09 A white bow tie.
16:11 How about buying a gal a cup of coffee?
16:13 Funny what will stick in a man's mind.
16:16 To a guy with about 12 hours to live.
16:17 Unless we can help him.
16:30 Let's go back to that night.
16:38 Where were you sitting with your customer?
16:40 I was sitting here.
16:43 Where were his fingers?
16:45 He was in the next booth.
16:46 Dad?
16:49 He was everywhere.
16:51 He was here, in the bar.
16:53 Why didn't somebody take the gun away from him?
16:59 Why didn't somebody allow him?
17:04 Why didn't somebody allow him?
17:05 I'm sorry, Michael Landry.
17:21 The other Mary.
17:26 The other Mary.
17:27 The other Mary.
17:28 (dramatic music)
17:30 (dramatic music)
17:31 (dramatic music)
17:33 (dramatic music)
17:35 (dramatic music)
17:36 (suspenseful music)
17:39 (suspenseful music)
17:42 (suspenseful music)
17:45 (suspenseful music)
17:48 - Mike.
18:13 Mike, is that you?
18:14 What happened, Mike?
18:15 - White ties, Johnny.
18:21 White blue tie.
18:22 (suspenseful music)
18:25 - You must have been crowding somebody, Michel.
18:30 If not, they never would have tried it.
18:32 - If Johnny hadn't found me when he did,
18:34 I'd have passed out in that alley.
18:35 - Yeah, by the time you've recovered,
18:37 Dan McGee would have been dead and the case forgotten.
18:40 - I'm sure now that I'm dead,
18:42 I'm sure now that Fingers did the killing.
18:44 But I don't know if there's enough time left to prove it.
18:47 I've got one edge.
18:48 They won't expect to see me.
18:50 (phone ringing)
18:51 - Oh, excuse me.
18:52 Hello?
18:54 Yes.
18:55 Yes.
18:57 The governor denied the stay of execution.
19:06 Dan dies at noon.
19:08 - That gives us five and a half hours.
19:11 He'll always be asleep for that long.
19:13 - Maybe I can wake it up.
19:15 (suspenseful music)
19:22 It's me.
19:29 Take a good look.
19:32 What kind of woman are you to sucker a man
19:35 into drinking a cup of coffee
19:36 when you know it's loaded with a Mickey?
19:38 What happened to you?
19:39 Where's your heart?
19:40 What if that sadistic sketch artist slapped it out of you?
19:43 Is that it?
19:44 You like being slapped around?
19:45 Speak up.
19:46 I'm in a hurry.
19:48 But I can take time to give a dame like you
19:50 a real working over.
19:51 - No.
19:52 No, please, I can't take any more.
19:55 - I asked you a question last night.
19:59 Why didn't somebody take that gun away from Dan?
20:02 Never mind, I'll answer that myself.
20:04 Somebody did, Fingers.
20:05 Is that it?
20:06 What then?
20:07 - Fingers and Dan went out in the alley.
20:09 - Come on, come on, what happened?
20:10 - I don't know, I don't know.
20:12 - Where is Fingers?
20:14 - He has a room back at the Del Monte.
20:17 Where shall I go?
20:19 I can't stay here.
20:20 - Find Father Picard and try and square yourself
20:23 with his boss.
20:24 Attaboy, Fingers.
20:32 Lock yourself in.
20:33 Try to forget what happens at noon.
20:38 You look like you had a rough night.
20:40 You had another one eight months ago, didn't you?
20:43 When you took away Dan McGee's gun.
20:46 What happened out there in the alley?
20:49 - What happened between you and the cop?
20:52 - Did he push you around a little bit?
20:54 - Like this?
20:55 And this?
20:56 Like you, Slap Mary, because you knew you weren't
21:02 half the man that Dan McGee was?
21:04 - I thought I got rid of you last night.
21:06 (dramatic music)
21:34 - I was worried about you, Michel.
21:36 - I'm glad you're here, Father.
21:41 Fingers has something to tell you.
21:43 - You tell him, Lanyon.
21:44 I'm awfully tired.
21:46 - He killed the cop with McGee's automatic.
21:48 When McGee passed out, he put the gun back in his hand.
21:50 That's it, isn't it?
21:52 - I didn't mean to kill him, it was an accident.
21:55 - Yeah.
21:56 Let's get to a phone.
22:00 - Thank you, Michel.
22:01 - He's lucky.
22:02 Lucky the fingers broke in time.
22:04 - Oh, I saw Delmar Montagu today.
22:08 He wants to apologize for what happened in his place.
22:11 He says that you are his friend,
22:13 and his friends never get Mickey's.
22:16 (laughing)
22:17 - Well, that's a fine time to tell me.
22:20 - Oh, excuse me, Michel.
22:21 - So, Father.
22:22 (dramatic music)
22:25 (dramatic music)
22:28 - Ben, McGee, Marie,
22:37 Sarah's just about to have supper.
22:39 Will you join me?
22:40 - At first, you join us in a prayer, Father.
22:45 (dramatic music)
22:49 (dramatic music)
22:52 (dramatic music)
23:15 (dramatic music)
23:18 (dramatic music)
23:21 (dramatic music)
23:25 (dramatic music)
23:29 (dramatic music)
23:32 (dramatic music)
23:35 (dramatic music)
23:38 (dramatic music)
23:41 [Music]