The Black Widow (1947) – Chapter 6: Glass Guillotine

Thrilling Days of Yesteryear’s Serial Saturdays returns after a week’s hiatus to huzzahs from the blogosphere…which might be a little premature, since the exciting climax in last week’s installment of The Black Widow (1947) leads to quite a letdown.  Before they can be barbecued in the raging inferno that is sweeping through the tunnel leading to Sombra’s (Carol Forman) secret laboratory, novelist-criminologist Steve Colt (Bruce Edwards) yells at pesky gal reporter Joyce Winters (Virginia Lindley) to leap off the airport cart they’re traveling on, finding a nice hiding place while the cart crashes through the door that seals off the entrance to the tunnel.

That method of transport would have to have been barreling at ramming speed to get through that door…unless Sombra had it constructed out of balsa wood for some sinister purpose.  Also, too: Steve and Joyce just scamper out, hale and hearty, ahead of the fire?  Unpossible!  To add insult to injury, Sombra has managed to destroy her underground lab in her futile attempt to bake Steve and Joyce.  (That has got to be embarrassing.)

This week’s shenanigans pick up in the offices of Daily Clarion editor John M. Walker (Gene Stutenroth), who is getting the details of the wrap-up from Joyce.

JOYCE: …and when the police got there, they found the mine hideout had been completely destroyed!  We do know the leader of the Black Widow gang is a woman, though…

And what a woman.  (Rowr.)  Joyce is then interrupted by the arrival of Steve, whose casual bursting into Walker’s office would seem to suggest he’s put out by something.

STEVE (thrusting a newspaper at Walker): Why’d you print this?

“Offhand, I’d say it’s because we’re a newspaper.  I know, I may be off-base with that…”

WALKER: Why…that story came off the press wires…

JOYCE: We just beat the other papers to the street, that’s all…

STEVE: Did you have to print that the rocket test was a failure because the sound vibrations set off the dummy atomic bomb head prematurely?  That’s bad enough, but did you have to give vital information like this…?

“Colt, you seem to be forgetting that I run this newspaper…that’s why I have the privilege of sitting at my desk in most of these chapters while the two of you try to outrun a tunnel fire.”  The pissed-off Steve starts to read the portion of the story that has put his undies in a bunch: “Professor Weston announces that he and Dr. Ann Curry of the Scientific…”

A dissolve finds Sombra completing the story to her associate Dr. Z.V. Jaffa (I. Stanford Jolley) and head goon Nick Ward (Anthony Warde): “…Institute have perfected the sinetrone, which will counteract the sound waves created by the rocket motor.  They will demonstrate it for the press this afternoon at four-thirty in Professor Weston’s laboratory…”

SOMBRA: This is our opportunity to get the atomic rocket and the sinetrone at the same time…

WARD: But how?  Weston’s lab is always guarded…

Their conversation is interrupted by a gong…which means you-know-who is about to make an appearance (Brother Theodore was absent from Chapter 5).  “Hitomu, my father, is coming,” Sombra tells her foot soldiers.  “He will have the answer.”  Bring it on!

Traguna macoities tracorum satis de!

HITOMU: You’re right, Sombra…I do have an answer for Ward’s question… (He reaches out to grab the newspaper she’s holding, and Sombra hands it to her father) You will be present at the demonstration to learn how the sinetrone operates…

Gottlieb’s thick accent makes “sinetrone” sound like “sinethrone”—but seeing as this is a made-up word, I’m willing to cut him some slack.

HITOMU (as he hands the newspaper back): …this paper holds the key…

Only half a key.  I had to split it with the soundman.

HITOMU: Have Jaffa form a mask in the likeness of Dr. Ann Curry…and then have Ward take his men and…

Hitomu’s voice trails off because we now dissolve to the laboratory of Professor Henry Weston (Sam Flint), where the aforementioned Dr. Curry is talking with reporter Joyce.  (This is not, by the way, the same Ann Curry unceremoniously dumped from The Today Show.)  Doc Curry is played by Virginia Carroll, whom you may have come across in such films as Waterloo Bridge (1940), Pickup on South Street (1953), Bigger Than Life (1956) and The Story on Page One (1959).  She was kind of a go-to gal for portraying nurses, which she did in such serials as Mysterious Doctor Satan (1940) and The Crimson Ghost (1946), and she also turns up in chapter plays like Daughter of Don Q (1946) and Superman (1948)—she plays Clark Kent’s ma in the latter.

I particularly like how they went to great lengths to de-glamorize Carroll in this because…well, she’s a female scientist...so naturally she’d be homely.

CURRY: I’m sorry, Miss Winters…but I’m not giving out any information until the demonstration at four-thirty this afternoon…

JOYCE: But I was hoping to make the late edition with your story about the sinetrone and operation…

WESTON: Dr. Curry is absolutely right…all the press should have an equal chance at the demonstration…

“See if my boyfriend Steve comes to your rescue ever again, you pompous old fart!”

JOYCE: Well, I’ll…I’ll compromise, Dr. Curry…if you’ll have lunch with me…oh, I won’t question you about the rocket or the sinetrone…you see, I’m doing a series of articles on women in science…

Science!

JOYCE: …and I’d like to get some information about your background some…

CURRY: I’ll be glad to…

Curry sort of gives Weston a look before agreeing to Joyce’s offer of lunch…and maybe I’m reading a bit too much into this but I’m getting a bit of a dykey vibe off of Dr. C.  The luncheon, however, apparently did not go well because a dissolve finds Jaffa opening the door to Sandra’s lair, where Curry is ushered in (blindfolded and tied up) by Warde and directed to a chair.

CURRY: Why have you brought me here?  And what have you done with Joyce Winters?

SOMBRA: Joyce Winters?

WARD: Yes…you see, she was with Dr. Curry and I had to snatch her, too…I sent her over to Link’s place until you decide what to do with her…

Sombra takes a latex mask from Jaffa…and after smiling at Dr. Curry, retreats to her make-up mirror to become…

(Music fanfare) Dr. Curry’s evil doppelganger!

SOMBRA: Ward…get a truck and be at Weston’s lab at four-thirty…

WARD: What about that newspaperwoman?

SOMBRA: We’ll take care of her later…in the meantime, she’s safe in Link’s apartment…

A dissolve, and we’re back in Walker’s office.  John M. answers the phone, and then hands it to Steve.

STEVE: Hello—Colt talking…what?  Are you sure?  What’s the address?  (Scribbling on a pad) Three…one…one…Front Street…apartment B…thanks very much!

“Son of a…my car’s been impounded!”

STEVE: The phone company received a code message for me from…Mason 6753…it was from Joyce, saying she was being held there!

WALKER (reaching for the phone): We’d better call the police…

STEVE: No…it might be a trick…

“And besides—I’ve put up with that dame’s antics for six chapters now, and I have had it!”  The only reason why Steve won’t let Walker call the police is that he wants to play the hero.  I’ll bet Walker is kicking himself for ever agreeing to let this guy work this case in the first place.

STEVE: Besides—if Joyce is a prisoner and the police show up…the gang might kill her…I’d better go alone…

Like we’d all be busted up over Joyce’s demise.  I’ll go ahead and skip over what you probably know takes place after Steve’s dramatic exit—there is a shot of the apartment belonging to Link (Robert Barron), and when Link gets up to answer a knock at his door Steve delivers a roundhouse that sends the goon to the floor.  He then runs to Joyce…and his response to her “Am I glad to see you!” is not “Are you okay, darling?” but rather “How’d you get here?”  (Seriously, Joycie—he’s not that into you.)

Joyce explains to Steve that she was kidnapped by Ward, who also has Dr. Curry in his eevill clutches…and Colt quickly surmises that the Black Widow Gang may be out to sabotage the “sinetrone” demonstration, so the two of them make haste.

We take you now to Weston Labs, where a small contingent of the press have gathered to watch a device that probably cost the Lydecker brothers $4.35 to construct.  The faux Dr. Curry also walks in to eyeball the demonstration.

WESTON: Gentlemen, this is Dr. Curry…

(The reporters acknowledge her presence)

SOMBRA: Sorry to have detained you…go right ahead…

WESTON: Thank you, Dr. Curry…gentlemen, you may take seats if you like…

Yes, you don’t want to miss this incredible feat of science—Weston flicking a few random knobs on a machine that produces this effect:

Look, everyone!  A gigantic tuning fork!  (Science!)  This little gauge…

…and this ordinary flask of milk…

…soon prove that it’s live, not Memorex.  In his zeal to shatter the flask, the Professor manages to take out a nearby window as well.  Be that as it may, Weston’s experiment proves to be the marvel of the ages, and he’s heartily congratulated by a pack of jaded stenographers who then rush off to report the story to their papers.  At that time, the fake Dr. Curry excuses herself to make a phone call.

SOMBRA: Guard?  There are two men from the Easy Transfer Company waiting…send them up at once, please…

WESTON (as Sombra hangs up the receiver): The sinetrone and rocket motors are not ready yet…they must be dismantled and carefully packed!

SOMBRA: It’ll be perfectly safe to ship it as it is, Professor…

WESTON: But we can’t ship those as they are!!!

There are two men who beg to differ, Prof.  One of them is Ward, and the other one of those nameless henchmen that Sombra always seems to have at her disposal (a temp from Kelly would be my guess).  “I positively refuse to allow you to move this equipment!” reiterates Weston in a stampy-foot voice.  Ward slugs him, effectively ending any further conversation.

Ward and the Flunky-With-No-Name are ordered by Sondra to start taking the equipment to the truck—but before they can move this giant phallic device…

…Steve and Joyce have arrived, and our man Colt is calling the shots!  “Dr. Curry!” Joyce cries out after spotting the disguised Sombra, and that’s just enough to distract Steve so that Ward and Flunky start whaling on him in true Republic serial style.

During the donnybrook, “Dr. Curry” also waylays Joyce with a subtle pocketbook-to-the-head maneuver…

…it causes Joyce to fall in the empty window frame—which leads us to the title of this week’s chapter.  During the Colt-Ward-Flunky fight, Weston’s sinetrone is activated…and the vibrations begin to send the shards of glass above down on Joyce!