Paul Temple and the Jonathan case

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Paul Temple and the Jonathan Case is an eight-part radio play from the Paul Temple series by Francis Durbridge , produced by NWDR Cologne in 1954 and broadcast for the first time from September 17 to November 5, 1954. The total playing time is 273 minutes.

Title of each episode

  1. The Fergusons
  2. Inspiration is everything
  3. The ring
  4. The meeting point
  5. Richard Ferguson
  6. A surprise for Mavis Russell
  7. Invitation for Mr. Elliot
  8. Jonathan

action

On the return flight from New York to London , the writer and private detective Paul Temple and his wife Steve meet the furniture dealer Robert Ferguson and his wife Helen from Detroit . They are on their way to Oxford to celebrate his 21st birthday with their son Richard, who is studying there. After arriving in London, however, they learned from the police that their son was killed by a shot in the head at very close range. A robbery seems unlikely, as nothing seems to have disappeared apart from a signet ring that is not too valuable. In the dead man's room, Scotland Yard found a postcard with the text: "We're having a great time. Best regards, Jonathan". At the Fergusons' request, Temple takes on the case.

Shortly thereafter, Reggie Macintosh, brother-in-law of Richard's fiancé Dinah Nelson, brought a postcard of the same name by this Jonathans to the temples. But nobody seems to know this man.

The Fergusons found a handwritten note on a magazine stating that a person named Europa knew who the murderer was. Dinah Nelson believes journalist Mavis Russell, who writes under the pseudonym Europa , is complicit in the murder.

When the crook Red Harris, whom Temple helped out of a fix years ago, urgently warns him not to interfere in the case, the two are shot at. But you get away with the horror. Harris then tells Paul that "they forgot the ring".

A short time later, Helen Ferguson swears to have seen her son Richard on the street. Reggie Macintosh, who claims to have seen Richard in a subway station, claims similar. The next day, the initially skeptical Robert Ferguson receives a call from his son who wants to meet him in an apartment. Because of problems with his heart, the Temples drive to the address given without Ferguson and find the body of the shot Red Harris there.

After the Temples have arrived in Oxford for further investigations, a stranger posing as Max Wyman, a friend of Sir Graham Forbes, tries to kidnap Steve, but Paul is able to prevent this at the last moment. Shortly afterwards, Temple meets Mavis Russell at his hotel, who gives him the missing signet ring that she claims to have received in the mail. A series of letters and numbers are engraved on the inside of the ring.

In the Treffpunkt restaurant , which belongs to a certain Mark Elliot, Temple shows Dinah Nelson the ring that she absolutely wants. The detective refuses, but a short time later the ring has disappeared. Elliot claims he was blackmailed by Richard Ferguson. Richard then calls the hotel and asks Temple to give the ring to his landlady, Mrs. Gulliver. Another seemingly irrelevant message from Jonathan appears. In the meantime, Scotland Yard has been investigating the young Ferguson's Jonathan card. A number of license plates had been listed in secret. The analysis of the data shows that a gang of car thugs repainted stolen vehicles on a large scale and gave them false license plates.

The next morning, Temple receives the ring back from Elliot, which a waiter claims to have found in the restaurant. When the Temples arrive at Mrs. Gulliver's, they find the woman in a badly abused condition. A tip from Rudolf Charles, a friend of Richard Ferguson, enabled the police to identify the deceased from Ferguson's apartment as the correct Max Wyman.

When the Temples arrive at the agreed location after a telephone appointment with Richard Ferguson about the ring, they instead meet Mark Elliot, who is also waiting for Ferguson. This claims to have been blackmailed again by the young man. On the way back to the hotel, the Temples and Elliot are stopped by a traffic accident. The dead Richard Ferguson is recovered from a burning vehicle. The police found that he was not killed in the fire but from a gunshot wound.

Unbeknownst to her husband, Helen asked Ferguson Temple to contact Dinah Nelson on her behalf. When the temples arrive at the apartment, they can just prevent the girl from suicide. In their bedroom they find a farewell letter to Jonathan that says "that she can't take it anymore." When Temple asks, she doesn't give any information. Then Reggie Macintosh and Rudolf Charles appear on the scene because they had made an appointment with Dinah. Back at the hotel, the Temples learn from Macintosh that Dinah is now ready to testify. Mavis Russell, who is currently at the hotel, offers the Temples to take her to the apartment in her car. On the way there, Steve discovers a package bomb under the driver's seat, which Paul can throw into the Thames at the last moment . In the apartment, the two do not meet Dinah, but the wounded Rudolf Charles, whose last words are: "Ferguson is the ring ..."

Mavis Russell explains to Steve that she did not receive the ring in the mail but received it as a gift from Richard Ferguson. The police find Dinah Nelson, who tried again to take her own life. At the hospital, she tells Temple that she shot Charles in self-defense because he tried to force her to take on the role of Richard in the organization on behalf of Jonathan.

With the arrest of the man who pretended to be Max Wyman, one gradually looks behind the structures of the gang of car thugs. People like the fake Wyman stole the vehicles and Red Harris resold them. Richard was a liaison for Jonathan and made sure everything went smoothly.

Temple invites the Fergusons, Elliot, and Macintosh to his apartment for a cocktail party . There he explains that Richard Ferguson murdered Max Wyman and disfigured him in such a way that the dead should be mistaken for him, since he saw no other way to get out of the organization. He hadn't forgotten the ring, as it had long been owned by Mavis Russell. When Temple claims that Jonathan is one of the partygoers, Macintosh draws a revolver and flees. Sir Graham then reports that Macintosh shot himself when he was arrested.

The next day, Mark Elliot, Jonathan's deputy, first went into the police network. When he sees Reggie Macintosh alive, he notices that Temple had played a comedy for everyone the day before. It was also Elliot who shot Richard Ferguson. He feared that if he were arrested, he would reveal everything.

A little later, Robert Ferguson, alias Jonathan, who is about to leave the country with his wife, realizes that the game is over. An attempt to kill yourself fails.

When Steve asked for the last words of Rudolf Charles, Paul said that he actually wanted to say that Ferguson was the ring leader.

occupation

Remarks

The radio play was first produced by the BBC in 1951 under the title Paul Temple and the Jonathan Mystery . The Temple couple were voiced by Kim Peacock and Marjorie Westbury .

After Paul Temple and the Gregory affair in 1949, this is probably the fourth multi-part series that NWDR Cologne produced in its Paul Temple series . The ARD radio play archive, however, has another eight-part series with the title A Case for Paul Temple from 1951, which is said to be the Valentin case . The WDR in Cologne could not confirm this information on request.

Franz Schafheitlin made his second appearance in a Paul Temple radio play here after the Gregory affair . In 1966 he played a third time in the SR production Paul Temple and the Geneva case, directed by Wilm ten Haaf . In 1961 he was also named Dr. Norman Crosby in another Durbridge radio play produced by NDR , with the title Too Many Confessions from the series The Hunt for the Perpetrator (directed by SO Wagner ). For Heinz Schimmelpfennig, who u. a, when Tatort inspector Franz Gerber became known, this was his first of a total of six appearances in this series of radio plays.

Publications

References

  • Radio play (plot)
  • The Internet database of the ARD radio play archive, accessed on January 21, 2011 (all information about the production).