• last year
Episode aired Mar 21, 1961
Host: Boris Karloff
Guest Stars: John Ireland • Jeanne Bal • Robert H. Harris • Henry Scott
A composer in need of inspiration turns to Voodoo melodies, but finds himself the victim of a Voodoo curse by Papa Benjamin.
Transcript
00:00 [Music]
00:10 [Music]
00:34 Sir?
00:35 [Music]
00:38 What is it?
00:39 [Music]
00:44 What's the matter, sir?
00:45 [Music]
00:48 Inspector Daniels?
00:49 Inspector?
00:50 [Music]
01:01 Now, what's all this about?
01:02 What seems to be the matter, sir?
01:04 [Music]
01:07 Been in an accident?
01:08 [Music]
01:10 Drinking about, huh?
01:11 [Music]
01:20 You've been fired, all right?
01:21 [Music]
01:23 I just killed a man.
01:24 [Music]
01:27 What's your name?
01:28 Wilson.
01:29 What?
01:30 Wilson.
01:31 Was it an accident, Mr. Wilson?
01:33 [Music]
01:35 Was it?
01:36 [Music]
01:39 I don't know his full name.
01:40 [Music]
01:41 They call him...
01:42 [Music]
01:43 Papa Benjamin.
01:44 [Music]
01:45 Why did you kill him?
01:46 [Music]
01:47 Because he was killing me.
01:49 [Music]
01:50 Self-defense, huh?
01:51 [Music]
02:05 Did he attack you with a gun, knife, any kind of weapon?
02:09 No.
02:10 [Music]
02:12 He was killing me with something you couldn't see or hear.
02:19 What do you mean?
02:20 He was killing me with voodoo.
02:24 [Music]
02:38 The Harris gentleman, Eddie Wilson, insists that he killed the man because he himself was being killed with voodoo.
02:47 Is there really such a thing?
02:50 Can a voodoo hungman really work black magic?
02:55 Papa Benjamin does in this terrifying story by Cornel Woolbridge.
03:01 Our leading players are...
03:03 [Music]
03:04 Mr. John Ireland as Eddie Wilson.
03:08 Miss Jean Bowe as Judy Wilson.
03:12 Mr. Henry Scott as Stutz.
03:16 And Mr. Robert Harris as Jerry.
03:20 As sure as my name is Boris Karloff, you will witness fantastic events in this throne.
03:27 Events as dark as the jungle where the voodoo rites and voodoo drums were first seen and heard.
03:34 It may even lead you to wonder what you yourself could accomplish with just an ordinary pin
03:41 and a doll shaped like someone of whom you're not particularly fond.
03:47 Well, I commend you to Papa Benjamin as an hour of thrills.
03:53 I have thing-less to do.
03:55 [Music]
04:08 [Music]
04:29 Here, drink this.
04:32 [Music]
04:40 Now look, you say a man was killing you with voodoo.
04:43 Yes.
04:45 And you killed him.
04:47 Yes.
04:48 But there hasn't been any voodoo on this island in 50 years. It's illegal.
04:51 There are severe penalties for anyone caught practicing it.
04:54 20 years in prison.
04:56 But I saw it in that house.
04:58 What house?
04:59 I killed Papa Benjamin because he cursed me with voodoo.
05:03 You think I'm lying, don't you?
05:05 No, not lying, Mr. Wilson. But you're obviously a very sick man.
05:09 Please, you've got to believe me.
05:11 I'm not imagining it, I tell you. I'm not imagining it.
05:14 [Music]
05:16 Find Dr. Simpson.
05:18 He's on a call somewhere in the plantation quarters. Bring him here. Hurry.
05:22 [Music]
05:38 Eddie Wilson.
05:40 [Music]
05:42 Eddie Wilson.
05:45 Oh, he's that American orchestra leader who played at the Hotel Caravan last year.
05:50 [Music]
05:55 Last year.
05:58 I was here last year.
06:02 I was appearing with my band at the Caravan Hotel.
06:07 I was a top name in popular music without a care in the world.
06:11 I had everything. Money was rolling in.
06:14 But I needed something more.
06:17 I developed a frantic need to compose something really good.
06:21 It was important, terribly important.
06:24 A compulsion.
06:26 Down here, inspired by the sights and sounds of the Caribbean,
06:31 I started writing a rhapsody based on Afro-Cuban themes.
06:35 [Music]
06:44 I know, don't say it. It just isn't working out.
06:48 It'll happen, Eddie.
07:01 Sure, it'll happen.
07:04 Don't work for it, just let it happen.
07:07 You have nothing to beat yourself about. You have talent.
07:10 You're at the top of the heap, Eddie. You're up there.
07:13 No, I'm not.
07:15 Eddie, you're pushing yourself too hard.
07:20 Honey, you're way behind on the new arrangements for the band.
07:26 I'll get to them this weekend.
07:28 That's what you said last weekend.
07:32 Did I?
07:34 Eddie, honey, we only have about 20 minutes to go over my new number.
07:48 And you have to get ready for the supper show.
07:53 Come on, honey.
07:58 That's the life.
08:01 It was then that I heard that sound.
08:09 A simple, primitive phrase with an odd beat.
08:14 What is that sound?
08:25 I've never heard it before.
08:28 Stats.
08:36 Stats.
08:46 Stats.
08:49 Hmm?
08:50 What was that sound you were playing?
08:54 Oh, nothing.
08:56 Nothing much, Eddie. Just trying out the new skin here.
09:00 Well, keep trying. It sounded real good.
09:02 It wasn't nothing, Eddie.
09:04 Just something came in my head.
09:06 No, it went something like this.
09:09 And it had a little of this in it.
09:12 I don't remember that.
09:20 But you just played it.
09:24 I told you, Eddie. I don't remember.
09:28 That's bugging you, Stats.
09:30 You don't seem to be with it anymore.
09:32 I don't play your music good, Eddie. Is that the complaint?
09:36 Oh, you play my music real great.
09:38 But we just don't seem to be making it like we used to.
09:41 Why?
09:43 You gonna run to the number, Judy?
09:49 Yes, a couple.
09:50 Good.
09:52 Ready for you two.
09:54 Stats.
09:56 How far out can you get?
09:59 Oh, about so far.
10:03 How long ago did his wife die?
10:16 Ann.
10:19 Yeah, I guess that's what's been bugging him.
10:22 Come on, Eddie. Let's rehearse. Come on, Ann.
10:30 No, no. Go on. That's good.
10:48 I couldn't get it out of my mind.
10:51 That haunting beat which Stats had played
10:54 kept bugging me even during the supper show.
10:57 # #
11:02 # #
11:07 # #
11:12 I thought the show went pretty well tonight, didn't you?
11:35 Especially your last number.
11:38 You're just being nice. You weren't even with me.
11:41 Honey, you go ahead. I'll be up in a minute.
11:48 Well, don't be long, Eddie.
11:52 [thud]
11:55 # #
12:16 # #
12:21 # #
12:26 Excuse me.
12:28 But, uh...
12:30 Food.
12:33 Food.
12:36 # #
12:41 # #
12:46 # #
12:51 # #
12:56 # #
13:01 # #
13:06 # #
13:11 # #
13:16 I had to follow him.
13:18 Wherever he was going, I knew it had something to do with that music.
13:22 I didn't know it then, but that rhythm was drawing me to my death.
13:27 A slow, horrible death.
13:30 [footsteps]
13:33 [footsteps]
13:36 [footsteps]
13:39 [footsteps]
13:42 [footsteps]
13:45 [footsteps]
13:48 [footsteps]
13:51 [baby crying]
13:54 [baby crying]
13:57 [footsteps]
14:00 [footsteps]
14:03 [footsteps]
14:06 [footsteps]
14:09 [footsteps]
14:12 [footsteps]
14:15 [door creaking]
14:18 [door creaking]
14:21 [door creaking]
14:24 (drum beating)
14:26 (upbeat music)
14:29 (upbeat music)
14:31 (upbeat music)
14:35 (upbeat music)
14:37 (upbeat music)
14:40 (upbeat music)
14:43 (upbeat music)
14:45 (upbeat music)
14:48 (upbeat music)
14:50 (upbeat music)
14:53 (upbeat music)
14:55 (upbeat music)
14:58 (upbeat music)
15:01 (upbeat music)
15:06 (upbeat music)
15:11 (upbeat music)
15:18 (upbeat music)
15:24 (upbeat music)
15:26 (upbeat music)
15:56 - I got into that house.
15:57 Once I heard that rhythm,
15:59 nothing in the world could have stopped me.
16:01 I heard it and it took hold of me.
16:03 (upbeat music)
16:07 My search was over.
16:16 I'd found the music for my voodoo rhapsody.
16:20 (upbeat music)
16:23 (upbeat music)
16:25 (upbeat music)
16:36 (upbeat music)
16:51 (upbeat music)
16:54 (upbeat music)
16:56 (upbeat music)
16:59 (upbeat music)
17:02 (upbeat music)
17:04 (upbeat music)
17:07 (upbeat music)
17:09 (upbeat music)
17:12 (upbeat music)
17:14 (upbeat music)
17:17 (upbeat music)
17:20 (upbeat music)
17:22 (screaming)
17:46 (upbeat music)
17:48 (upbeat music)
17:51 (screaming)
18:14 (upbeat music)
18:17 (upbeat music)
18:19 - No, Papa Benjamin, no!
18:34 - What you doing here, policeman?
18:35 You have no right here.
18:36 - He's not a policeman, Papa Benjamin.
18:37 I know this man.
18:38 - Then what'd he do here?
18:40 - Well, he came to be with us, to join us.
18:43 - True.
18:47 - Yeah.
18:48 - Say it.
18:49 - I came to join you.
18:53 - Does he tell the truth about this?
18:58 - Yes, Papa Benjamin.
18:59 I know him.
19:00 He's my friend.
19:02 We work together.
19:04 You don't have to worry.
19:05 He'll keep secret whatever he sees,
19:08 or hears here.
19:10 - Or you die.
19:13 - Or you die.
19:14 - I'll keep everything secret.
19:19 - We will see.
19:21 Come.
19:23 (footsteps)
19:53 - I believe.
19:54 Say it.
19:59 - I believe.
20:06 - He has said it.
20:10 He believes.
20:13 Your spirit is with ours now,
20:19 and ours are with you.
20:21 Remember your oath.
20:23 If you betray us in any way, you will die.
20:27 Say it.
20:29 Say it.
20:41 - I'll betray you in any way.
20:45 I will die.
20:47 (chanting)
20:49 - He has spoken.
21:00 (chanting)
21:02 (drums beating)
21:05 (chanting)
21:07 (drums beating)
21:11 (chanting)
21:13 (drums beating)
21:16 (chanting)
21:18 (drums beating)
21:21 (chanting)
21:23 (drums beating)
21:26 (chanting)
21:28 (drums beating)
21:31 (chanting)
21:33 (drums beating)
21:36 (chanting)
21:38 (drums beating)
21:41 (chanting)
21:43 (drums beating)
21:46 (chanting)
21:48 (drums beating)
21:51 (chanting)
21:53 (drums beating)
21:56 (chanting)
21:58 (drums beating)
22:01 (chanting)
22:03 (drums beating)
22:06 (chanting)
22:08 (drums beating)
22:10 (chanting)
22:13 (dramatic music)
22:40 - You don't know how close you came
22:41 to getting yourself killed.
22:43 What brought you there, Ivy?
22:44 - The music, what else?
22:46 And am I gonna use it?
22:47 - No.
22:48 - Stats, you don't believe in that cock-a-doodle-doo?
22:52 - As much as whatever you believe in.
22:55 - You're just down and you're looking
22:57 for something to believe in.
22:59 Maybe because of Ann.
23:00 But not voodoo.
23:03 No one can commune with spirits.
23:05 The dead are dead.
23:06 - Are they?
23:09 (dog barking)
23:10 - You don't have to believe it.
23:12 But Eddie, don't knock it.
23:15 - I'm not knocking it, I just don't believe in it.
23:18 But I do believe in that sound.
23:21 - Now I'm warning you.
23:24 That music is sacred.
23:26 To those people that music is sacred.
23:28 Don't touch it.
23:30 - Stats, will you get off this kick?
23:32 - All right.
23:34 Go ahead.
23:35 Write it.
23:37 Don't listen to me, write it.
23:39 But I wouldn't be in your place,
23:41 not for anything in this whole world.
23:44 Goodbye, dead man.
23:47 - I never saw him again.
23:50 I should have listened to him.
23:52 I should have called him back, but it was too late.
23:56 He was gone, into the darkness.
23:59 It was too late for me too.
24:04 But I didn't know that then.
24:06 I went to work.
24:08 And for the first time in years,
24:09 I was doing something that had real meaning.
24:12 The voodoo rhapsody I was writing.
24:14 I felt like a composer again, a creative artist.
24:18 (soft piano music)
24:21 I was tired.
24:27 Dead tired, but I couldn't stop working.
24:31 It was like the music owned me.
24:34 (door opening)
24:37 - Morning, honey.
24:44 - Morning.
24:45 It's almost two in the afternoon.
24:49 - Oh.
24:50 You suppose you could have someone send up some coffee?
24:53 - Eddie, you've been living on nothing but coffee.
24:56 When are you going to quit?
24:59 - When it's finished.
25:01 - And when will that be?
25:03 - I don't know.
25:04 I've missed you.
25:06 - Tonight, tomorrow.
25:08 Then I start orchestrating.
25:10 (soft piano music)
25:13 - How's the new drummer working out?
25:18 - Okay.
25:19 - Oh, I never will know.
25:21 - You know, my stats left.
25:23 He was awfully good.
25:25 - Yeah.
25:26 - I found a nice little restaurant.
25:32 I thought that maybe tonight after the show,
25:34 the two of us could...
25:36 (soft piano music)
25:40 I'll have them send some food to you, Eddie.
25:55 (door closing)
25:59 (soft piano music)
26:02 - Two weeks later, it was finished.
26:07 My agent, Jerry Roberts, flew down from New York.
26:10 He brought a Broadway delegation along,
26:12 music publishers, recording executives.
26:14 It was the biggest night of my life,
26:16 in more ways than I knew.
26:18 (drumming)
26:28 (soft piano music)
26:32 (soft piano music)
26:35 (soft piano music)
27:00 (soft piano music)
27:29 - Later.
27:30 (soft piano music)
27:33 Later.
27:37 How about those drinks?
27:38 - Shh.
27:39 (soft piano music)
27:42 (soft piano music)
27:45 (dog whining)
28:05 - Get a doctor, somebody get a doctor.
28:08 (dog whining)
28:11 (soft piano music)
28:14 - I told you it was like somebody stuck a knife in my back.
28:20 - You need a rest.
28:22 - The way you've been working, horrible hours.
28:24 - Nervous tension can kill people, Mr. Wilson, and has.
28:27 I'll have my nurse drop by with some more sedatives
28:30 in the morning.
28:31 - You take care of yourself, Eddie.
28:32 - Make him stay in bed for a few days, absolute rest.
28:35 - I will, doctor, thank you.
28:37 - I'll see you tomorrow.
28:38 - All right, Jerry.
28:40 Come on, you're going to bed.
28:42 - I'll be all right.
28:43 - I'll help you.
28:44 - Don't leave our guests.
28:46 - Well, I'll just say goodnight to them.
29:09 (soft music)
29:12 (dramatic music)
29:15 (upbeat music)
29:41 (dramatic music)
29:44 - Three weeks later in New York, it happened again.
29:51 I started losing jobs because
29:53 I just didn't have the energy to work.
29:56 I stopped playing the Rhapsody.
29:59 But even that didn't help.
30:01 - It's gotten around, Eddie.
30:03 Word's gotten around you're a sick man.
30:06 Now who's going to hire a guy who's so sick
30:08 he doesn't show up for half his engagements?
30:10 - I'm not sick.
30:11 Why do you all keep saying that?
30:12 Don't you think the doctors should know?
30:14 - Eddie, you may not like what I'm going to say,
30:18 but if the doctors can't find anything,
30:22 then maybe it isn't physical.
30:25 - Maybe it isn't physical.
30:28 Sure, it's in my head.
30:30 It's all in my head.
30:32 - Well, then what is it?
30:33 What's happened to you?
30:35 - I don't know.
30:36 I just don't know.
30:38 - Yeah.
30:40 That job out on the West Coast,
30:42 they've canceled out.
30:43 That's the third cancellation.
30:46 - So they canceled out.
30:50 - Well, who needs them?
30:52 I've got plenty of money.
30:53 - Whom are you kidding?
30:55 You haven't got plenty.
30:58 Well, Judy was here earlier,
31:02 and that's why I called you.
31:04 Look, she loves you, Eddie, but there's limits.
31:08 - You mean...
31:10 she's thinking of leaving me?
31:14 - She thinks you're hiding something.
31:17 Why don't you level with her, huh?
31:21 (somber music)
31:48 - Jerry was right.
31:50 I had to level with Judy.
31:53 I told her about the voodoo curse for the first time.
31:57 I told her about Papa Benjamin
31:59 and how I got the music for the Rhapsody.
32:03 I never told you this before
32:04 because I didn't think you'd believe me.
32:08 I don't even believe it myself,
32:14 at first.
32:16 - At first?
32:18 You mean you believe it now?
32:25 - Every minute of it.
32:29 - I love you, Eddie,
32:34 and I want to help you all I can,
32:37 but when a man's imagination gets so sick...
32:42 (sighs)
32:44 You were somebody once,
32:48 a famous man at the top of the heap,
32:51 but above all, a man.
32:54 Oh, look at you now,
32:58 and for no reason, voodoo and superstitions.
33:02 That's it, Eddie.
33:09 Either you try to help yourself
33:11 by going to the right kind of a doctor,
33:13 or I'm walking out.
33:17 I just can't go on watching you destroy yourself like this.
33:21 - But Judy,
33:23 there's nothing any doctor can do.
33:27 (somber music)
33:31 (somber music)
33:34 - I'm sorry for you, Eddie.
33:46 (somber music)
33:49 (somber music)
33:52 I knew then what I had to do.
34:07 It was my only chance.
34:09 I had to go back and free myself from Papa Benjamin.
34:13 Get him to take the curse off me.
34:15 Beg him off, buy him off, but get it off me somehow.
34:20 I arrived at the airport early in the evening
34:25 and went immediately to the old house.
34:30 (crickets chirping)
34:33 (somber music)
34:51 (somber music)
34:54 I heard somebody coming.
35:11 I knew it was you.
35:13 I knew it.
35:15 - Papa Benjamin.
35:19 Look at me.
35:21 Whatever you've done.
35:23 - You had your chance.
35:25 You was warned.
35:27 - Here.
35:30 All the money I've got, it's yours.
35:33 Here.
35:35 Only take your curse off me.
35:37 - You took a holy oath.
35:39 You broke it.
35:41 - Look at me.
35:44 Look at me!
35:46 You've got to take your curse off me.
35:48 - What has been done cannot be undone.
35:51 Go away, dead man.
36:01 (gunshots)
36:06 Go away.
36:11 (gunshots)
36:17 (gunshot)
36:19 I don't live.
36:25 I'm not gonna die.
36:28 I'm not gonna die in here.
36:30 I'm not gonna die.
36:32 (somber music)
36:36 (somber music)
36:39 I don't remember much after that
36:51 except that I kept running.
36:54 Where I went, I don't know.
37:00 How long I ran, I don't know.
37:03 I just kept running and running and running.
37:06 I had to kill him.
37:09 It was self-defense.
37:10 He was killing me.
37:12 I don't remember anything after that
37:16 except I kept running and running and running and running.
37:21 - How long is it since you say you shot this man?
37:25 - I don't know, an hour, maybe hour and a half, two hours.
37:29 - And you left him there?
37:31 - Yeah.
37:32 - Feel strong enough to show us?
37:35 - Yeah.
37:37 - All right, let's go.
37:40 (footsteps)
38:09 (somber music)
38:12 (somber music)
38:16 (somber music)
38:42 - The Wonga practices of voodoo, the destructive path.
38:47 It's been outlawed for a long while.
38:50 I saw it right here in this room.
38:54 I killed Papa Benjamin right here.
39:00 (somber music)
39:03 (somber music)
39:06 - We better get on back to the station, Mr. Wilson.
39:17 - I killed him, I tell you.
39:20 Right here in this room.
39:22 - Come on.
39:24 (somber music)
39:27 (somber music)
39:30 (suspenseful music)
39:33 (suspenseful music)
39:36 (sad music)
39:50 - Eddie.
40:03 Eddie, it's Jerry.
40:04 It's Jerry Roberts.
40:09 Jerry Roberts.
40:15 I flew down from New York.
40:19 They sent for me.
40:21 It's gonna be all right, Eddie.
40:26 In a week or so, I'm taking you home.
40:29 I'm gonna be back in a week or so.
40:32 I'm gonna be back in a week or so.
40:34 I'm gonna be back in a week or so.
40:37 I'm gonna be back in a week or so.
40:40 I'm gonna be back in a week or so.
40:43 I'm gonna be back in a week or so.
40:46 I'm gonna be back in a week or so.
40:49 I'm gonna be back in a week or so.
40:52 I'm gonna be back in a week or so.
40:54 I'm gonna be back in a week or so.
40:57 - To imagine all that, it's unbelievable.
41:01 It's almost easier to believe that it really happened.
41:04 But what made him believe it was voodoo?
41:07 - Creative people are very sensitive
41:08 to their own creations, Mr. Roberts.
41:10 The music he was writing made him sick
41:12 and almost killed him.
41:14 (sad music)
41:17 (sad music)
41:19 (dramatic music)
41:32 - Hello, Eddie.
41:42 - Judy.
41:45 (sad music)
41:47 - Oh, Eddie, I'm so sorry.
41:51 Please forgive me.
41:53 - Baby, baby, I missed you.
41:55 (Judy crying)
41:58 Everything's gonna be fine now.
42:00 Everything's gonna be all right.
42:02 - Judy, did you get the hotel reservations okay?
42:05 - Yes, Jerry, your office took care of it,
42:07 the Parkwood Hotel.
42:08 - Parkwood?
42:10 Baby, we can't afford it.
42:11 - No, no, no, it's on me, an investment.
42:13 - And how would you like to have your band back, hmm?
42:16 - Do you mean they're still together?
42:18 - They never made it so good after they left you, Eddie.
42:20 - I got most of them together.
42:21 - And not only that, Jerry's got a booking for you.
42:24 - Yeah, while I was down on the island,
42:25 I talked to Sid at the caravan.
42:27 He'll book you back in the ballroom as soon as you're ready.
42:31 (dramatic music)
42:38 (smooth jazz music)
42:41 (smooth jazz music)
42:44 (smooth jazz music)
42:59 (smooth jazz music)
43:02 (audience applauding)
43:16 - Thank you, thank you so much.
43:28 And a special thanks to my boys.
43:31 It may be corny to say so, but,
43:40 well, you know, I've been away for a while,
43:41 and this is in the nature of a comeback.
43:44 And I can't tell you how much I appreciate
43:46 the way you've welcomed me back.
43:49 - Voodoo Rhapsody!
43:54 - Voodoo Rhapsody!
43:55 - Play Voodoo Rhapsody. - Can I Voodoo Rhapsody?
43:57 - Yeah, play Voodoo Rhapsody.
43:58 - Voodoo Rhapsody! - Voodoo Rhapsody!
44:00 - Voodoo Rhapsody!
44:02 (audience applauding)
44:05 - All right, fellas.
44:11 Number 22, Voodoo Rhapsody.
44:13 (drum music)
44:21 (drum music)
44:23 (drum music)
44:25 (drum music)
44:28 (drum music)
44:31 (drum music)
44:33 (drum music)
44:36 (drum music)
44:38 (drum music)
44:41 (drum music)
44:43 (drum music)
44:45 (saxophone music)
45:01 (saxophone music)
45:04 (saxophone music)
45:07 (saxophone music)
45:10 (saxophone music)
45:13 (saxophone music)
45:15 (drum music)
45:36 (drum music)
45:38 (saxophone music)
45:50 (saxophone music)
46:01 (saxophone music)
46:04 (drum music)
46:21 (drum music)
46:24 (piano music)
46:48 (piano music)
46:51 (saxophone music)
47:02 (audience applauding)
47:13 (audience applauding)
47:16 - Eddie!
47:30 Eddie.
47:34 Eddie.
47:35 Eddie.
47:38 (dramatic music)
47:42 You're very late.
47:43 I'm sorry.
47:52 (dramatic music)
47:59 (upbeat music)
48:09 (upbeat music)
48:11 (upbeat music)
48:14 (upbeat music)
48:31 (upbeat music)
48:34 (upbeat music)
48:55 (upbeat music)
48:58 (upbeat music)
49:10 (upbeat music)
49:18 (upbeat music)
49:20 (upbeat music)
49:31 (dramatic music)
49:44 (dramatic music)
49:46 (dramatic music)
49:49 [BLANK_AUDIO]

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