Originally Aired: September 21, 1948
Philo Vance #11, "The Backstage Murder Case,"
District Attorney Markham arrives at Philo Vance's office with an unexpected guest: Doris Janell, the star of a play at the King's Theater. Miss Janell has received a chilling anonymous note threatening her life if she performs the following evening. The message is direct and ominous: "If you play your role in the theater tomorrow night, you will be dead before morning." Though Vance's secretary Ellen Deering initially suspects the visit concerns routine business, the situation quickly proves far more serious.
Vance immediately recognizes the gravity of the threat, though he suggests it might be the work of a crank. Miss Janell, understandably shaken, has already made her decision—she will not take the stage tomorrow night, unwilling to gamble with her life. Vance instructs her to keep any further communications secret and to report them only to him. As the investigation begins, the question looms: is this merely an empty threat, or does someone truly intend to commit murder in the theater?
