Original subtitles

Watch it, would you? The trap door is coming open.

Don't worry, Cleo. I've never known their fellow to damage the props.

Oh, I'm sorry, David. I know. It's just I'm cranky. I tore my favorite costume.

Oh, what a shame.

Hey, let's go. Come on. We've got a schedule to keep, okay?

Whoa. Where's Madison and Clark?

Why ask me? I'm not their secretary.

Sorry, haven't seen them. Well, they gotta rehearse first. All their props

on stage.

Seems ripped. Getting fat.

It's about time you showed them, Madison. Where's Clark?

We'll rehearse when we're ready. Hey, you rehearse now.

You irritate me. You know that?

I'd like to saw him in half.

He can be infuriating.

I don't like his act. None of us do.

Eddie! Wake up. We're on stage.

Madison, I've asked you not to interrupt my meditation time.

Time's up. We're on.

Wait a minute.

We're not going anywhere until we talk about this.

You talk. I'm going.

Gee, you know, you never told me you're booked on Letterman. Tomorrow night,

Clark. Tune in.

You can't do this. We're a team. I mean, we do the act together.

Want to bet? After tonight, I go solo.

No, wait, wait. We had a deal, right? I mean, I create the illusions, you do the

talking. The act is the two of us. It was the two of us until I learned all

tricks. Now I can do it all myself.

No, no, no, no, no, no. You're not walking out on me. Get away from me.

Meditate, Clarky.

You'll feel better.

You got a weird one in there.

Briggs. Another weird one. Mr. Eddie Clark.

He said he had an appointment, but he isn't in your book. And when I tried to

take his history, he gave me this.

Yes,

Mr. Clark.

What seems to be the trouble?

I have something stuck in my throat.

Let me see. Let me look here.

Something stuck in your throat, huh?

Hold this light for me, would you, Dolores?

Uh -huh. Oh, very, very interesting.

Very interesting.

I think I know what's wrong here.

Just... There.

You had a little frog in your throat, that's all.

Feel better?

Yeah.

Hey, Mark, how you doing? Just great, Eddie.

Dolores, I'd like you to meet Eddie Clark, half of the great magic act of

Madison and Clark.

Nice to meet you. You too.

I've known him since he was a baby. His dad lived next door to us.

You know, I blame this man for my career.

On my seventh birthday, he brought me this book.

Magic for Kids. Right, and I was hooked.

He's good at magic, all right.

Every time I ask him to do his paperwork, he disappears into thin air.

Tough room.

So is this really a professional visit? Oh, no, no. I just came by to drop off

some tickets for tonight's show. Oh, it just so happens I read about that.

Opening at the Magic Mansion.

Congratulations, Eddie.

That's the big time.

But I also have reservations for next week.

Well, actually, it's tonight or never, Mark.

Yo, why?

Come on, Eddie, what is it?

I've got a problem.

Okay.

Excuse me.

Yes, Dr. Sloan.

Oh, yeah, I put Mr. Austin on an antibiotic IV.

I'll check him this afternoon.

Right.

Did you see Eddie Clark leave here?

No. Where'd he go?

He disappeared.

Well, is he good?

You want to join me tonight?

Oh, I'd love to. Thanks.

Now, about all this paperwork.

Oh, can't do it. I'm late for my medical ethics class.

I thought you said it was canceled.

I lied.

Steve never did return my message about meeting us here.

I hardly talked to him the last two weeks. He told me he was going out of

on some case or something.

Sounds like a new girlfriend to me.

Good diagnosis.

Excuse me, I want to go back and see my friend. Okay.

You know what? I just love magic.

What, are you kidding?

No, don't you?

Come on. Some guy dressed in a tux tries to convince you he's seen something

you're not?

Why do people get a kick out of being conned?

Gee, I don't know, Jack. Why don't you ask one of your girlfriends?

Yeah,

she's funny, huh?

This

time

I'm not turning my back on you.

I want to know what's the problem.

Madison's making my career disappear.

Tonight's my final performance.

No, why?

Why? Because he's stealing my tricks and going solo.

Tomorrow night in Letterman.

He can't... This is your act. He can't do that, Eddie.

Oh, no, no, you haven't heard?

Madison can do whatever he wants.

These tricks took me years to develop, and now he's just going to walk off with

them.

That is awful.

I never should have partnered with him to begin with. I mean, the guy's a liar,

he's a cheat, and my career's over.

No, not yet.

You're a very talented magician, and your greatest success is ahead of you.

I wish I could believe that, Mark. You will.

Just give it time.

Anything I can do at all.

Applause would be nice.

That you got.

We'll talk some more after the show, Eddie.

Be up front.

Okay.

I'm sorry.

It's all right, doctor.

And now, turning from the ancient arts of the East to more

modern mysteries.

Ladies and gentlemen, welcome now to Mad Men of Magic, Madison and Paul.

Believe what you see. Everything's a con, an illusion.

And to prove it, we'd like to have some help from one of the members of the

audience.

Yes, you.

You.

Silver Fox, you. Come on up.

Come on, Mark, get up there.

Come on, little one.

You got me, Eddie.

Good evening, sir.

Good evening.

Have we ever met?

No, we haven't. And it's been my pleasure. And what is your name?

I'm Dr.

Mark Sloan.

Doctor. And what are you the doctor of? Do you practice medicine?

I'm going to keep practicing until I get it right.

Yo, Mark's handcuffs.

We call this trick the great vertical aquarium escape stunt.

Now, you'll put the handcuffs on. On me.

Not you.

Yes, you're very good at this.

Have you done this before? Is this your prescription for kleptomania?

Actually, my son is a police officer. He taught me to do that. Black sheep of

the family, huh?

Now, if you'll help Clark with the leg iron and chain.

Doc, Doc, stay with us now.

Do a good job, Doc, and I'll let you remove a growth that's been bothering

You've met my partner, Clark.

What do I do now?

Now comes the fun part.

The wind.

The uninitiated being suspended over a tank would seem dangerous.

One flip from my partner, Clark, and I plunge into the water and drown.

That's not going to happen because Clark's my buddy.

The huck can't lose you.

Right, Clarky?

No. Oh, my God. Clark, no!

Are you sure he's going to be all right?

He's been underwater for two minutes now.

And he has three minutes to go.

Did you try to say something?

Yeah.

I think he just remembered he can't breathe underwater.

If I didn't know this was a trick, I would swear that man is drowning.

Gee, wouldn't that be horrible?

I don't hear anything.

Well, then you must be almost through.

Time's up.

Let's.

Raise the curtain.

Can we clear the area here, please?

Clark, are you sure this is the handcuffed key you passed Madison before

into that tank?

Yeah, that's the key.

Something wrong, Detective?

Looks like Mr. Clark gave Mr. Madison the wrong key.

I did not kill Madison, Mark. I swear I didn't. Oh, I believe you, Eddie.

It's just that, uh... Look at the evidence the district attorney got piled

against you.

Madison was walking out on you. You fought.

You gave him the wrong key.

You couldn't unlock the handcuffs, and the man drowns.

God, I'm a dead man.

Well, not yet.

What did you do with the key after rehearsal?

Put it back in my jacket pocket, same as always.

Is there a chance someone could have switched those keys between rehearsal

performance?

Well, I like to meditate for 20 minutes before a performance in my dressing

room.

I suppose somebody could have snuck in and changed them then.

Did anyone there hate Madison?

Oh, yeah.

And his whole hit list was right there. Mike Baker, he owns the club.

Cleo Quinlan, she's another magician.

And David Baldwin.

They all hated him. Oh, yeah.

Do you know exactly why anybody hated him?

One thing Madison loved?

Bragging about people that he hurt.

Mark, you gotta help me.

I'll do it.

Amigo, un momento.

Excuse me just a minute, Norman.

You can stop Mrs. Miller's medication.

And I want to get a blood panel on Mrs. Burns down in 3G. And call me when you

get the results, will you?

Thanks. What can I do for you?

I heard about what happened at the magic show. Just terrible.

Yes, it was.

I understand that you are on a first -name basis with the man who did it.

Well, they didn't prove he did it.

But you're not going to try and prove that he didn't, are you?

Norman, are you trying to say that if I take a stand for my friend, it might in

some way...

reflect badly on this hospital and perhaps I should keep my nose on it.

Well, it hadn't occurred to me, Mark, but now that you've mentioned it, it

wouldn't be a bad idea.

Norman.

I knew we saw things the same way.

Hey. Hi. How's Eddie Clark?

I saw him today.

He's terrifying.

You know, there are three people one of Madison did, and any one of them could

have switched those handcuff keys while Eddie was meditating in a dressing room.

Was one of them Mike Baker?

Yeah. You know him?

This old man used to run a strip joint in my neighborhood.

Well, he won't return my calls.

Well, I'm just going to take a wild shot here, but are you investigating these

people? Yes, I have to do something to help Eddie Clark.

He's investigating.

Oh.

See you guys later. Okay.

You know, it's too bad we can't help him out, huh?

Yeah, it's a damn shame.

I'm off in an hour or two.

That's good.

I'll see you later.

favorite trick?

Learned it from an Indian fakir in Calcutta.

And you are? Dr. Mark Sloan. I'm a friend of Eddie Clark's.

You know, I've never seen how that trick works.

Magicians have offered me thousands to tell them just that.

No sale.

I'm the only magician in America that knows it.

Really?

Don't tell me you're an amateur magician.

That's true. I like to fool around with sleight of hand once in a while. Yeah?

Let's see.

Oh, not in your league. No, go ahead.

Very nice.

That's about it.

Oh, that's beautiful.

Beautiful.

Tell me, did you ever teach Paul Madison the Indian rope trick? Paul?

Paul never had the talent. He was a performer, not a magician.

With a certain animal charisma, but no real love for magic.

But you did hire him as an assistant at one time.

I had a lot of assistants.

You know, I heard that you had to fire him because he sold a trick of yours.

Yeah, I was hustled by a hustler. It was embarrassing, but true.

Eddie Clark told me that Madison was planning on revealing the secret to your

Indian rope trick on the Letterman show.

That'd make you a little more than angry, wouldn't it?

I didn't know Madison planned to do that.

Tell me, Senator, do you think it's possible for somebody to sneak into

room while he was meditating and switch those handcuff keys?

Anything's possible.

But, uh, I wouldn't know. I was on stage at the time performing Houdini's

Metamorphosis. You appeared to be on stage.

No.

I was on stage, Doctor.

And, uh, I don't think you can prove otherwise.

But you can always try.

I might just do that.

Excuse me. Could you direct me to Cleopatra Quinlan's dressing room?

What are you doing here?

I told you I had some time off.

Look, Amanda, this guy could be dangerous, all right? Yeah.

So what are you looking for? I want to help.

Well, I was looking for Baker, but since he ain't... Okay, I'll keep watch. You

go look around.

Okay.

Ooh, very interesting.

Someone's coming.

What?

All right.

You know what? Here.

What? Just get in. You wanted to come. Now get in there. I'm not getting in

there. Get in the trunk and stop aggravating me.

Just listen to what happens after I leave, and I'll come back in and get you

out, okay?

How you doing?

Who are you?

I'm Jack Stewart.

I'm a friend of your old man.

He used to have that club on 11th, remember?

Oh, yeah. I heard about you. The doctor, right? Yeah.

So what do you want?

A friend of mine is trying to help out Eddie Clark.

Your friend better be a lawyer.

Actually, we're both doctors.

And he doesn't think that Eddie did it.

Yeah? Then who did?

Well, a few people might have had a reason to kill him.

Like, um, I don't know, like you, for instance.

Why would I kill Madison?

Well, I should say, for example, that you laid out a big advance to Madison,

he decided to walk out on his contract, right? You get a little sore.

I never laid out anything to him.

If I were you, my friend, I would talk to my accountant.

Because somebody wrote this guy a huge check.

Get out of here!

I was just leaving.

I'd catch you here again, you're dead meat!

You know, your old man was such a nice guy.

Shame.

It's me.

We got business to discuss.

Miss Quinlan?

Yes? I'm Dr. Mark Sloan, friend of Eddie Clark's.

Poor Eddie.

How tall are you?

I'm about six feet, I guess.

Would you mind giving me a hand?

No, what do you need me to do?

Just stand over here.

I've just got this new rope trick, and I haven't quite figured it out yet. Oh, I

see.

Thank you. If you could just turn slowly.

Were you and Madison partners for a while until he walked out or something?

We were partners for a while, yes, until I went solo.

I understand that the solo part wasn't a choice.

Didn't Madison just kind of use you to make the right contacts and then dump

you, so to speak?

Who told you that?

Eddie Clark.

As a matter of fact, he said that Madison promised to marry you, but

booked the act on an Acapulco cruise and then jumped ship.

Cabo San Lucas, with your salary and his salary, right?

He bragged to Eddie about that.

Well, you know, you had every reason to be furious at Madison.

Maybe furious enough to kill him, huh?

Well, Eddie beat me to it, didn't he?

You know what I think? I think that somebody went into Eddie's dressing room

while he was meditating and switched the keys to Madison's handcuffs.

That would be a good trick.

Wouldn't it? Or an illusion.

Where were you between 7 .30 and 8 last night?

Right here in my dressing room.

Can you prove that?

Do I have to?

Well, not yet, but it's not out of the question.

Where are you going?

To find the last page of the instructions.

Miss Quinlan?

Wait a minute.

See, I'm not into this kind of thing.

Not only was I in my dressing room before the show, but I couldn't get out.

Ask him. I thought you were going to fix that doorknob.

If you could just untie me.

Don't spoil the trick.

Maybe I left that page at home.

Sir?

Sir? Could you... Sir, do you have a knife on your...

Sir?

Get that thing out of here. Yes, sir.

Watch me work.

What are you, nuts? I got to open that trunk.

Oh, no way. This is a city truck. Everything on it's city property.

All right.

I'm Dr. Jack Stewart.

Special medical investigator of the department.

This trunk is evidence in a case.

What case?

Ever hear of Hoffa?

Tony? All right. Thanks a lot. Thanks, Tony.

Give me a hand here.

We appreciate it, guys.

All right.

You never saw us. No problem. Never saw you at all.

Did you miss me?

Did you get out of the trunk?

Oh, that's a professional secret.

Why'd you make me go through all this?

Jack, I wanted to see if you cared.

Calm down. You went around like a lunatic. Are you out of your mind?

Listen, Jack.

I heard Baker on the phone.

Yeah. He's meeting someone at the Pickwick skating rink or something like

Apparently he's paying someone off for a job he did last night.

Switching to Keith. Yeah.

It's cold.

Yeah, well, there's a big chunk of ice right here.

Oh, I didn't see it.

There's Baker.

Baker must have hired that guy to switch the handcuff keys.

He's probably got the payoff cash in that briefcase.

Right. Let's go.

Stay here.

What do you mean, stay here? Just stay here and wait for something exciting to

happen, all right?

loose ends tied up by Friday. I'll do the best I can. I want a guarantee.

Don't sweat it, my friend. Look!

Hey!

Pick it up!

Pick it up!

Thanks a lot, guys. You were a big help.

Hi, Steve.

I don't believe it.

Jack and Amanda broke up your investigation?

Six weeks undercover.

Pushing a broom backstage at the Magic Mansion.

You know, somehow, in the back of my mind, I knew.

Oh, you did not. I had you all completely fooled. No, just something

way you leaned on that broom just brought back a memory. Very cute.

What was Baker doing at the skating rink, anyway?

It was a payoff. He was running drugs out of his club.

He was in some kind of financial trouble, and he needed the money.

Drugs?

Mr., do you think he could have changed the handcuff keys?

Could he have killed Madison?

No, I'm sorry, Dad. Up until the time of the performance, Baker was meeting with

one of his suppliers.

Well, a drug dealer's not a very good witness.

No, but three cops who had him under surveillance, probably.

Look, you were backstage when Madison was murdered. You got any theories?

No. I can check with the guys who are running the investigation and see if

they've come up with anything new. Oh, I'd appreciate it. You coming to dinner?

No, I'm sorry, I can't.

Oh, more underwater work.

Undercover. Cover, I mean. Well, actually, I can't say, but you better

sharp eye out.

I could be the guy at the newsstand or in line at the bank wearing a...

Red spandex dress and platform shoes.

Oh, well, this is no offense, but with your legs, unless you're the guy at the

newsstand, that crook better be stone -born.

Like father, like son. What do you mean?

So the shoulder x -ray came up negative.

Any pain relief in the cortisone?

Uh -huh.

Well, I'm going to want to blood work up and keep an eye on his temperature.

Any change in that, call me.

Right.

It's not that Baker's out of the picture. He tried to draw up some new

What about Cleopatra Quinlan?

No, she was locked in the dressing room. Steve verified it.

So there's no way she could have gotten in there and switched the handcuff keys.

Baldwin's out because he was on stage the whole time.

Well, maybe and maybe not.

But, Mark, either the guy was on stage or he wasn't.

Exactly.

See you guys later.

What do you think of the new costume?

I can tell you one thing. Nobody's going to be watching your hands.

You're sweet.

Very good.

I like men with mustaches.

Thank you.

Don't forget, I'm available.

For charity events.

Your hospital?

Oh, yes, that'd be very nice. Thank you. I'll keep that in mind.

Dr. Sloan, I don't suppose you've come just to watch me rehearse.

Well, I don't know why not. Watching you perform is always a pleasure.

Thank you.

But you're a busy man.

And a very clever one.

You have something on your mind.

You're here for a purpose.

You're very observant.

Magicians and doctors have that in common. As quick as our hands are, our

are faster.

What's on your mind, doctor?

Well... And I'm thinking that you could have gone and switched those handcuff

keys while Eddie Clark was in the room.

You're forgetting I was on stage doing this trick while Eddie was doing his

meditating.

Well, I've been thinking, and I wonder.

I think I know how you did the trick.

Really?

Wouldn't you care to show me?

May I?

Come on.

My theory was that you slipped out a trapdoor in the bottom of this trunk,

went to Eddie's room, switched the keys, and made it back here in time to trade

places with your partner for the big finish.

Only if your theory is correct.

You know, Doctor, I've been planning to add a little suspense to this delusion.

Figured out the trick yet, Doctor?

Of course I hated Madison.

He had no respect for the arts.

He deserved to die.

But I didn't kill him.

Oh, by the way, Doctor.

There is no trap door on the floor.

That's it.

There isn't any trap door.

You got out the back of the trunk and crouched back here where the audience

couldn't see you.

So you were back here the whole time.

I told you I never left the stage.

I get the point.

Sloan?

Yeah. Oh, the patient with the pain in the right shoulder, yeah.

Thought so.

Nausea, temperature, pain in the upper right quadrant.

All right, let's get an ultrasound stat on him.

Look, call Dr. Levinson, because if there's a gallbladder involved, I want

in on it.

And you better hold an OR, too, just in case.

Right.

Hey, Mark, how you doing?

Fine. I think I may as well give up magic forever.

Can't seem to pull anything out of the hat for Eddie Clark.

Not your fault we got three suspects with three anti -alibis?

Yeah, what else could you do, really?

Well, it doesn't make any sense.

Not one of the three of them had a chance to switch those handcuff keys.

Hey, that's it.

I just had a patient on here with a severe pain in the right shoulder and

trouble turned out to be in the gallbladder.

You know, that happens. You get a referred pain someplace and the real

troubles... Somewhere else is kind of nature's own misdirection.

That's the secret of all magical illusion.

Misdirection.

I've been tricked.

I've been tricked.

That's the aquarium case exactly as it appeared during the trick.

You know, Dad, I can help you if you just tell me what you're looking for.

Which I knew.

You know, Eddie said that this key was not out of his sight, except at the time

he was meditating in the dressing room.

And that's what he told the cops investigating the case.

Do you notice anything about this equipment, Steve?

It's all new.

Exactly. It's all new.

Madison was planning a new act, and he got all new stuff.

There's a point to this, isn't there? Yeah, there is.

But I'm going to need your help to prove it.

Am I going to have to push a broom?

Ladies

and

gentlemen, the Magic Mansion is proud to present, direct from appearances before

the crowned heads of Europe,

The mystic mistress of the ancient arts, Miss Cleopatra Quinlan.

Assisted by Mark Sloan.

Tonight, she's going to amaze and charm you with her own variation on the famous

Madison and Clark illusion, The Great Vertical Aquarium Escape.

You drive me over here for an amateur show.

Dr. Sloan, what is this?

Please, gentlemen, just indulge me. I'm sure you'll enjoy it.

I'm ready when you are.

One of you here tonight is a murderer.

And I'm going to prove it.

The three of you had a motive to kill Madison.

You, Cleo.

He stole your contacts.

He stole your money.

And your heart.

When you put it that way, I wish I had killed him.

Baldwin, you because he was going to reveal the secret of your greatest

illusion.

And Baker...

He broke a contract with you that was going to cost you a small fortune.

Each one of you wanted to see Madison dead.

Each one of you also had an alibi.

But somehow, one of you managed to kill him.

Tonight, by repeating Madison's last illusion,

using the same equipment that he used, I'm going to prove how you did it.

You're nuts.

Dr. Sloan, the man died trying this illusion.

That's right. Because the keys to those handcuffs were switched.

Luckily, Eddie Clark had a spare key, which I just palmed off to Cleo.

So this trick should go perfectly.

Shouldn't it?

Drop the clock, please.

Madison, the clock did this trick better.

All right, stop. Wait. Get her out of there.

Clark's keys won't fit those handcuffs either.

Really? Why is that? Because those aren't Clark's handcuffs. Now, get her

there.

Actually, those are a pair of handcuffs I picked up at a magic shop this

afternoon.

Thank you very much, Cleo.

These are the handcuffs that Madison had on when he died.

The ones he couldn't unlock with the key that Eddie Clark passed him.

Because they weren't Clark's handcuffs.

were yours.

So how did you know?

Baldwin's a master magician, so it makes sense he'd use classical misdirection

to murder.

You had us so busy trying to figure out who could have switched the keys.

It never occurred to us that someone might have switched.

The cuffs.

That's what you did, isn't it?

Yeah.

Okay, I understand how he did it.

And why he didn't want Madison to reveal his secret on the Letterman show.

What I don't understand is how you knew Baldwin would move to protect Cleo.

He could have just sat there.

You couldn't do that, could you?

How did you know?

Your wife's a very beautiful woman.

Yes, she was.

This...

antique pendant she's wearing. Did you give that to her?

It was my wedding present to her.

Oh, then it must have great sentimental value for you.

Obviously.

Dad, what are you getting at?

Well, I saw Cleo backstage yesterday. She was wearing that pendant.

I had other things on my mind. I didn't take much notice, but then tonight I

remembered where I first saw it.

You gave it to her, didn't you?

Yes, I did.

You were in love with her?

Yeah.

And I despised Madison for the way he treated her.

I know.

You'd rather go to prison than hurt Cleo.

My last question answered.

Come on, let's go.

I've been looking for you. Norman, I was looking for you, too.

Everything worked out great.

I heard they read that someone else... And you had nothing to do with it,

Sometimes these things just have a way of working themselves out.

Oh, thanks, Norman.

Hey, Eddie, what are you doing here?

Actually, I just came by to say thanks for everything you did.

Not necessary.

At least I could do for a fellow magician.

Dad, I went to release...

Him, and he was gone.

How did you get out of yourself?

Oh, he's a magician, Steve. He'll never tell you.

Now you see him, and now you don't.

Viacom.