THE EDGE OF NIGHT
Airdate: November 8, 1966
Summary Written By: MARK FAULKNER
OPENING BILLBOARD
Hal Simms:"Theee Edgggge of Night."
ACT ONE
At the Hillyer mansion, Orin questions Laura about where she was the previous night. Laura is evasive, nervous. Orin presses her for an answer. Laura admits that she spent the night driving-- from 2 am until dawn. Orin wants to discuss the matter more thoroughly, but Liz comes into the room. She tells her father and stepmother that the police believe Rick Oliver was murdered sometime between midnight and early morning. Visibly shaken, Laura reaches out to steady herself, as if she might faint.
Hal Simms: "The Edggge of Night is brought to you by Duncan Hines."
COMMERCIAL BREAK
ACT TWO
Laura weakly attempts to go upstairs to her room. Orin takes Laura's arm, wanting to help her, but she resists. Liz comments Laura should let Orin help her, as she looks awfully shaky. Orin suggests Maynard should brew some coffee for Laura. Trying to steady herself, Laura says that she'd really prefer a glass of brandy. Maynard goes to the bar for Laura's drink, while Orin helps her up the stairs.
Liz follows Maynard. Silently, she watches him decant the brandy. Liz is suddenly overcome with emotion. She says to him, "He's dead." Having overheard Laura and Orin whispering about Rick Oliver, Maynard is stunned. "Not Mr. Oliver, " he gasps. Liz becomes giddy with hysteria. She states that she just saw Rick a few days ago. He was laughing and kidding, very much alive. She can't believe that he's gone-- that somebody killed him. Maynard realizes what Liz is saying. It wasn't an accident... it was murder. Liz informs him that Rick was shot to death. Maynard asks if the police know who committed the crime. Liz says no. At least she doesn't think so. She explains that everyone was waiting for Rick in the auditorium. All the kids were chanting Rick's name, anticipating his arrival, while the whole time he was apparently dead. His body lay hidden behind his desk at the Youth Center. Liz is very nearly hysterical at the thought.
Orin comes back down stairs. He states that Laura is resting. Orin sends Liz upstairs with the brandy, reminding her that she should go to bed soon as it's still a school night. Liz clutches the brandy and responds she doesn't know if she can sleep. Ominously, she speculates no one in Monticello will sleep tonight. Orin agrees, adding no one in their household will sleep, at any rate. After Liz goes upstairs, Orin quietly asks Maynard if he knows the details of Rick Oliver's shooting. Maynard replies that Liz informed him of the time and place of Oliver's death. Orin responds a precise time has not been established. Correcting him, Maynard says the police believe Rick was murdered between late last night and early morning. Orin realizes Maynard's implication, as Laura spent all night out of the house. Orin insists anyone could have murdered Rick Oliver-- a man who preyed on men and other men's wives. Anyone could have had a motive. Maynard notes the fervor of Orin's conviction, as Orin declares his hope for the arrest of the guilty party.
COMMERCIAL BREAK
ACT THREE
Gerri arrives at the Pollock home. She tells Cookie she isn't surprised that someone in the household is awake. Both agree no one could possibly sleep in view of Rick's sudden murder. Gerri confesses to Rose and Cookie that she feels frightened. She tells them Ken Emerson took Clint and her to Rick's office for tickets. Apparently, Rick was there the whole time-- dead behind his desk. Gerri admits she can't stop thinking about it and feels terribly alone, especially in her "delicate condition." Cookie comforts her, insisting that Gerri spend the night with them. After all, Lee's old room is free. Gerri likes the idea of sleeping in the room where her husband grew up. It will take her mind off things and help her think of something else besides Rick Oliver's death.
COMMERCIAL BREAK
Hal Simms: "The first half of The Edge of Night has been brought to you by Duncan Hines. We'll continue with our story following station identification."
STATION BREAK
Hal Simms:"And now, the second half of The Edggge of Night. Brought to you by Thrill."
ACT FOUR
At the Hillyer mansion, Laura is blankly staring out the window, brandy in hand. Orin watches her in silence.
Laura:(softly) "I want it to rain."
Orin: "Does it help, Laura?"
Laura: "Anything helps. It makes everything tonight seem a little more remote. A little less real. (Indicating the brandy) Like some more?"
Orin: "No, thanks. And what happened last night...?"
Laura: "I'm sorry?"
Orin: "I say, does anything make what happened last night... more remote, less real?"
Laura: "Haven't I already told you? When you went up to announce that Rick was dead, it seemed like a dream... or a horrible, horrible nightmare."
Orin: "It was the first you knew of it?"
Laura: "First I knew?"
Orin: "When I told the audience Rick Oliver had been killed, you hadn't been aware of it before, had you?"
Laura: "How could I have been?"
Orin: "You could have killed him, Laura. You must realize that would occur to me. Occur to me-- it was the first thought that crossed my mind when Mike Karr told me Oliver had been murdered. It's still in my mind, Laura. It would take a great deal to dislodge it."
Laura: "You mean you actually believe--"
Orin: (firm) "What else could I believe? What could any reasonable man believe...confronted with the facts as I know them to be?"
Laura: (getting upset) "Orin, please..."
Orin: (staccato) "Laura... a woman leaves her husband. She throws away her home...her marriage...her good name. Everything she's ever held dear. Everything she's ever believed in. And, she goes to her lover. She goes to him empty-handed, and she says 'Here I am. I've sacrificed everything for you. Take me. I'm yours.'"
[LAURA TURNS AWAY FROM HIM, MOANING, STIFLING BACK A TORRENT OF TEARS.]
Orin: "But her lover isn't a man who wants a woman-- any woman-- who comes to him empty-handed. He just laughs in her face. He tells her, 'Now that you have sacrificed everything for me, I longer need you. Without your wealth... your worldly possessions... you are worthless to me. (hissing, as Rick did) You are nothing but excess baggage."
[LAURA BURSTS INTO UNCONTROLLABLE SOBS. SHE CAN NO LONGER BEAR THE TRUTH OF WHAT ORIN SAYS.]
Laura: "Oh, stop it...stop it!"
Orin: (continuing, hard and relentless) "What woman might not kill under those circumstances? If there were a weapon at hand-- if there were a gun lying about somewhere it would be--"
[SHE CAN TAKE NO MORE AND SCREAMS IMPETUOUSLY]
Laura: "I didn't know it was a gun!"
Orin:(stunned) "What did you say, Laura...?" [LAURA TURNS AWAY, HER SILENCE BETRAYING HER] "Then you did kill Oliver?"
Laura: "I didn't want to do it myself..."
Orin:"But you killed him. Laura, you murdered Rick Oliver?"
Laura: (anguished, a primal scream almost) "Yes!"
[ORIN IS DEVASTATED. THE TRUTH NEARLY KNOCKS THE BREATH OUT OF HIM]
Orin: (slowly, a lament) "Oh...Laura. Laura..."
Laura: "It wasn't murder. I mean, is it murder when you don't know what you're doing? When you're so blind with hurt and rage that you're insane?"
Orin: "That's not for me to decide."
Laura: "I didn't even know it was a gun in my hand."
Orin: "Where did it come from? You fired it. You kept on firing it. You emptied it of every bullet."
Laura: "But I didn't remember... well enough to know it was in my hand. I didn't even recognize what it was, I tell you!"
Orin: "Where did it come from?"
Laura: (exasperated) "I don't know!"
Orin: "You picked it up from somewhere. Where was it lying?"
Laura: "It... it was on the desk. I think it was on the desk."
Orin: "But was it his gun?"
Laura: "Oh, I don't know. It was there. I used it. I would have used anything. Before I shot him, I threw a glass at him."
Orin: "From there?"
Laura: "Yes, I lit a cigarette, then I held it in my hand." (BEAT) "He told me about her... another woman. A "luscious broad" he called her..."
Orin: "You never mentioned another woman."
Laura: "Oh, how could I? I was too ashamed." (BEAT) "He was going away with her..."
Orin: "Instead of with you..."
Laura: "When he told me that... my mind just snapped. I... I was insane."
Orin:(lament) "Ohhhhh, Laura..."
Laura: (rational) "Orin... Orin, they won't believe me, will they?"
Orin: "Who?"
Laura: "They won't believe I was insane."
Orin: "I can't answer that." (BEAT) "Laura... when did you realize you had committed murder?"
Laura: (distant) "I'm not sure..."
Orin: "All those hours you were driving around-- from two in the morning, wasn't it, until dawn? Weren't you thinking... I have killed a man?"
Laura: "No. I thought... Rick doesn't want me. I gave everything up for him. I destroyed all this...for him... and he doesn't even want me."
Orin: "Not realizing that he was dead?"
Laura: (emphatic) "No!"
Orin: "Are you sure?"
Laura: "I don't know how sure. I suppose. Orin, I have no excuse. Not in the eyes of the law. They'll find me guilty, won't they?"
Orin: "I'm very much afraid they will, Laura. Now... it was unpremeditated. Life in prison is the usual sentence."
Laura: (quickly, frightened) "Don't let them punish me for the rest of my life. Orin... you can't let them do that to me. They can't do that to me! Can they do that to me!?"
Hal Simms: "Our story continues after this message."
COMMERCIAL BREAK
ACT FIVE
Scene 1
Gerri tells Rose and Cookie about Martha's behavior toward Rick Oliver. Gerri says that Martha showed no remorse for Rick's death; she called him a nasty, vicious man. Cookie agrees, adding that Martha's coldness and anger toward Rick was positively frightening. Given that, can't Rose see why they're so afraid for Martha? Rose reminds them that Martha is the wife of the Chief-of-Police. It will be a long time before the police chief's wife would be unjustly accused of murder. Gerri wants to know what protection that will be if people believe in Martha's guilt.
Scene 2
At the Hillyer mansion, Orin and Laura continue their conversation.
Orin: "Laura, when you say to me, 'Don't let them punish me,' you know what you're really saying, don't you? You're asking me to protect you."
Laura: "Yes."
Orin: "And there's only one way I can do that... by concealing your guilt. By conspiring with you to evade the law. By helping you actually-- literally-- to get away with murder."
Laura: "Is that so impossible for you to do, Orin?"
Orin: "Laura, do you know what the principles of law and justice have meant to me all my life? I have never to my knowledge committed an illegal act or dealt unjustly with another human being."
Laura: "Orin, I know something else, too..."
Orin: "What...?"
Laura: "I know what I mean to to you."
Orin: (not wanting to hear that argument) "Ohhhhh..."
Laura: (firm) "Orin, could you actually go to the police and inform on me? Could you stand by and let them send me to prison? Could you live out the rest of your life knowing--"
Orin: "Laura...that's enough!"
Laura:"I'm sorry, Orin. I've got to have an answer quickly."
Orin: (bitter) "How can I answer you when I have no answer? Either course is unbearable."
Laura: "So you don't know one way or the other?"
Orin: "Not tonight I don't... Laura, I am going to bed. This has been the longest, bitterest day of my life. I want nothing more than for it to come to an end."
Laura: "Orin...will you help me...?"
Orin: "I'll try, but... (he looks at her a moment) Goodnight, Laura."
[ORIN WALKS AWAY AND UP THE STAIRS. LAURA REMAINS IN THE LIVING ROOM, ALONE AND FRIGHTENED, AND SUDDENLY VERY FRAGILE.]
COMMERCIAL BREAK
CLOSING TITLE
Hal Simms:"Tune in again tomorrow for The Edggge of Night. This portion of The Edge of Night has been brought to by Safeguard...the new deodorant soap that helps good, clean people keep that good, clean smell."
Furs By
Leo Ritter
Maternity Fashions By
Avron
Hal Simms:"This program was pre-recorded. We invite you to join us each weekday afternoon for The Edggge of Night."
Airdate: November 8, 1966
Summary Written By: MARK FAULKNER
OPENING BILLBOARD
Hal Simms:"Theee Edgggge of Night."
ACT ONE
At the Hillyer mansion, Orin questions Laura about where she was the previous night. Laura is evasive, nervous. Orin presses her for an answer. Laura admits that she spent the night driving-- from 2 am until dawn. Orin wants to discuss the matter more thoroughly, but Liz comes into the room. She tells her father and stepmother that the police believe Rick Oliver was murdered sometime between midnight and early morning. Visibly shaken, Laura reaches out to steady herself, as if she might faint.
Hal Simms: "The Edggge of Night is brought to you by Duncan Hines."
COMMERCIAL BREAK
ACT TWO
Laura weakly attempts to go upstairs to her room. Orin takes Laura's arm, wanting to help her, but she resists. Liz comments Laura should let Orin help her, as she looks awfully shaky. Orin suggests Maynard should brew some coffee for Laura. Trying to steady herself, Laura says that she'd really prefer a glass of brandy. Maynard goes to the bar for Laura's drink, while Orin helps her up the stairs.
Liz follows Maynard. Silently, she watches him decant the brandy. Liz is suddenly overcome with emotion. She says to him, "He's dead." Having overheard Laura and Orin whispering about Rick Oliver, Maynard is stunned. "Not Mr. Oliver, " he gasps. Liz becomes giddy with hysteria. She states that she just saw Rick a few days ago. He was laughing and kidding, very much alive. She can't believe that he's gone-- that somebody killed him. Maynard realizes what Liz is saying. It wasn't an accident... it was murder. Liz informs him that Rick was shot to death. Maynard asks if the police know who committed the crime. Liz says no. At least she doesn't think so. She explains that everyone was waiting for Rick in the auditorium. All the kids were chanting Rick's name, anticipating his arrival, while the whole time he was apparently dead. His body lay hidden behind his desk at the Youth Center. Liz is very nearly hysterical at the thought.
Orin comes back down stairs. He states that Laura is resting. Orin sends Liz upstairs with the brandy, reminding her that she should go to bed soon as it's still a school night. Liz clutches the brandy and responds she doesn't know if she can sleep. Ominously, she speculates no one in Monticello will sleep tonight. Orin agrees, adding no one in their household will sleep, at any rate. After Liz goes upstairs, Orin quietly asks Maynard if he knows the details of Rick Oliver's shooting. Maynard replies that Liz informed him of the time and place of Oliver's death. Orin responds a precise time has not been established. Correcting him, Maynard says the police believe Rick was murdered between late last night and early morning. Orin realizes Maynard's implication, as Laura spent all night out of the house. Orin insists anyone could have murdered Rick Oliver-- a man who preyed on men and other men's wives. Anyone could have had a motive. Maynard notes the fervor of Orin's conviction, as Orin declares his hope for the arrest of the guilty party.
COMMERCIAL BREAK
ACT THREE
Gerri arrives at the Pollock home. She tells Cookie she isn't surprised that someone in the household is awake. Both agree no one could possibly sleep in view of Rick's sudden murder. Gerri confesses to Rose and Cookie that she feels frightened. She tells them Ken Emerson took Clint and her to Rick's office for tickets. Apparently, Rick was there the whole time-- dead behind his desk. Gerri admits she can't stop thinking about it and feels terribly alone, especially in her "delicate condition." Cookie comforts her, insisting that Gerri spend the night with them. After all, Lee's old room is free. Gerri likes the idea of sleeping in the room where her husband grew up. It will take her mind off things and help her think of something else besides Rick Oliver's death.
COMMERCIAL BREAK
Hal Simms: "The first half of The Edge of Night has been brought to you by Duncan Hines. We'll continue with our story following station identification."
STATION BREAK
Hal Simms:"And now, the second half of The Edggge of Night. Brought to you by Thrill."
ACT FOUR
At the Hillyer mansion, Laura is blankly staring out the window, brandy in hand. Orin watches her in silence.
Laura:(softly) "I want it to rain."
Orin: "Does it help, Laura?"
Laura: "Anything helps. It makes everything tonight seem a little more remote. A little less real. (Indicating the brandy) Like some more?"
Orin: "No, thanks. And what happened last night...?"
Laura: "I'm sorry?"
Orin: "I say, does anything make what happened last night... more remote, less real?"
Laura: "Haven't I already told you? When you went up to announce that Rick was dead, it seemed like a dream... or a horrible, horrible nightmare."
Orin: "It was the first you knew of it?"
Laura: "First I knew?"
Orin: "When I told the audience Rick Oliver had been killed, you hadn't been aware of it before, had you?"
Laura: "How could I have been?"
Orin: "You could have killed him, Laura. You must realize that would occur to me. Occur to me-- it was the first thought that crossed my mind when Mike Karr told me Oliver had been murdered. It's still in my mind, Laura. It would take a great deal to dislodge it."
Laura: "You mean you actually believe--"
Orin: (firm) "What else could I believe? What could any reasonable man believe...confronted with the facts as I know them to be?"
Laura: (getting upset) "Orin, please..."
Orin: (staccato) "Laura... a woman leaves her husband. She throws away her home...her marriage...her good name. Everything she's ever held dear. Everything she's ever believed in. And, she goes to her lover. She goes to him empty-handed, and she says 'Here I am. I've sacrificed everything for you. Take me. I'm yours.'"
[LAURA TURNS AWAY FROM HIM, MOANING, STIFLING BACK A TORRENT OF TEARS.]
Orin: "But her lover isn't a man who wants a woman-- any woman-- who comes to him empty-handed. He just laughs in her face. He tells her, 'Now that you have sacrificed everything for me, I longer need you. Without your wealth... your worldly possessions... you are worthless to me. (hissing, as Rick did) You are nothing but excess baggage."
[LAURA BURSTS INTO UNCONTROLLABLE SOBS. SHE CAN NO LONGER BEAR THE TRUTH OF WHAT ORIN SAYS.]
Laura: "Oh, stop it...stop it!"
Orin: (continuing, hard and relentless) "What woman might not kill under those circumstances? If there were a weapon at hand-- if there were a gun lying about somewhere it would be--"
[SHE CAN TAKE NO MORE AND SCREAMS IMPETUOUSLY]
Laura: "I didn't know it was a gun!"
Orin:(stunned) "What did you say, Laura...?" [LAURA TURNS AWAY, HER SILENCE BETRAYING HER] "Then you did kill Oliver?"
Laura: "I didn't want to do it myself..."
Orin:"But you killed him. Laura, you murdered Rick Oliver?"
Laura: (anguished, a primal scream almost) "Yes!"
[ORIN IS DEVASTATED. THE TRUTH NEARLY KNOCKS THE BREATH OUT OF HIM]
Orin: (slowly, a lament) "Oh...Laura. Laura..."
Laura: "It wasn't murder. I mean, is it murder when you don't know what you're doing? When you're so blind with hurt and rage that you're insane?"
Orin: "That's not for me to decide."
Laura: "I didn't even know it was a gun in my hand."
Orin: "Where did it come from? You fired it. You kept on firing it. You emptied it of every bullet."
Laura: "But I didn't remember... well enough to know it was in my hand. I didn't even recognize what it was, I tell you!"
Orin: "Where did it come from?"
Laura: (exasperated) "I don't know!"
Orin: "You picked it up from somewhere. Where was it lying?"
Laura: "It... it was on the desk. I think it was on the desk."
Orin: "But was it his gun?"
Laura: "Oh, I don't know. It was there. I used it. I would have used anything. Before I shot him, I threw a glass at him."
Orin: "From there?"
Laura: "Yes, I lit a cigarette, then I held it in my hand." (BEAT) "He told me about her... another woman. A "luscious broad" he called her..."
Orin: "You never mentioned another woman."
Laura: "Oh, how could I? I was too ashamed." (BEAT) "He was going away with her..."
Orin: "Instead of with you..."
Laura: "When he told me that... my mind just snapped. I... I was insane."
Orin:(lament) "Ohhhhh, Laura..."
Laura: (rational) "Orin... Orin, they won't believe me, will they?"
Orin: "Who?"
Laura: "They won't believe I was insane."
Orin: "I can't answer that." (BEAT) "Laura... when did you realize you had committed murder?"
Laura: (distant) "I'm not sure..."
Orin: "All those hours you were driving around-- from two in the morning, wasn't it, until dawn? Weren't you thinking... I have killed a man?"
Laura: "No. I thought... Rick doesn't want me. I gave everything up for him. I destroyed all this...for him... and he doesn't even want me."
Orin: "Not realizing that he was dead?"
Laura: (emphatic) "No!"
Orin: "Are you sure?"
Laura: "I don't know how sure. I suppose. Orin, I have no excuse. Not in the eyes of the law. They'll find me guilty, won't they?"
Orin: "I'm very much afraid they will, Laura. Now... it was unpremeditated. Life in prison is the usual sentence."
Laura: (quickly, frightened) "Don't let them punish me for the rest of my life. Orin... you can't let them do that to me. They can't do that to me! Can they do that to me!?"
Hal Simms: "Our story continues after this message."
COMMERCIAL BREAK
ACT FIVE
Scene 1
Gerri tells Rose and Cookie about Martha's behavior toward Rick Oliver. Gerri says that Martha showed no remorse for Rick's death; she called him a nasty, vicious man. Cookie agrees, adding that Martha's coldness and anger toward Rick was positively frightening. Given that, can't Rose see why they're so afraid for Martha? Rose reminds them that Martha is the wife of the Chief-of-Police. It will be a long time before the police chief's wife would be unjustly accused of murder. Gerri wants to know what protection that will be if people believe in Martha's guilt.
Scene 2
At the Hillyer mansion, Orin and Laura continue their conversation.
Orin: "Laura, when you say to me, 'Don't let them punish me,' you know what you're really saying, don't you? You're asking me to protect you."
Laura: "Yes."
Orin: "And there's only one way I can do that... by concealing your guilt. By conspiring with you to evade the law. By helping you actually-- literally-- to get away with murder."
Laura: "Is that so impossible for you to do, Orin?"
Orin: "Laura, do you know what the principles of law and justice have meant to me all my life? I have never to my knowledge committed an illegal act or dealt unjustly with another human being."
Laura: "Orin, I know something else, too..."
Orin: "What...?"
Laura: "I know what I mean to to you."
Orin: (not wanting to hear that argument) "Ohhhhh..."
Laura: (firm) "Orin, could you actually go to the police and inform on me? Could you stand by and let them send me to prison? Could you live out the rest of your life knowing--"
Orin: "Laura...that's enough!"
Laura:"I'm sorry, Orin. I've got to have an answer quickly."
Orin: (bitter) "How can I answer you when I have no answer? Either course is unbearable."
Laura: "So you don't know one way or the other?"
Orin: "Not tonight I don't... Laura, I am going to bed. This has been the longest, bitterest day of my life. I want nothing more than for it to come to an end."
Laura: "Orin...will you help me...?"
Orin: "I'll try, but... (he looks at her a moment) Goodnight, Laura."
[ORIN WALKS AWAY AND UP THE STAIRS. LAURA REMAINS IN THE LIVING ROOM, ALONE AND FRIGHTENED, AND SUDDENLY VERY FRAGILE.]
COMMERCIAL BREAK
CLOSING TITLE
Hal Simms:"Tune in again tomorrow for The Edggge of Night. This portion of The Edge of Night has been brought to by Safeguard...the new deodorant soap that helps good, clean people keep that good, clean smell."
Furs By
Leo Ritter
Maternity Fashions By
Avron
Hal Simms:"This program was pre-recorded. We invite you to join us each weekday afternoon for The Edggge of Night."