- The Great Rinaldi: [about Ormond] You had every reason to hate him. What did you do with him, Gallico? How did you get rid of it?
- [Don's crematorium]
- The Great Rinaldi: Was this thing already built and hidden away, waiting for a job like that?
- Don Gallico: Ormond was seen alive two weeks ago, The Prentisses identified him.
- The Great Rinaldi: That didn't have to be him.
- Don Gallico: Who else could it have been?
- The Great Rinaldi: It could have been you, Gallico. From what Ormond told me you are a clever man, developed a wonderful new makeup, something new in the theater. Something that might be used offstage too. Only a man who dreams up illusions would think of such a thing, and only people of the theater would know it was possible.
- Alice Prentiss: I'm convinced of it, so convinced that I'm going to Lieutenant Bruce right now!
- Frank Prentiss: Alice, I forbid it.
- Alice Prentiss: My dear, don't be ridiculous.
- Don Gallico: For years I've been inventing illusions for big-name magicians and watching them take all the bows. Well, I finally caught the fever myself. I'm like the playwright who wants to get in there and read his own lines. I guess I'm just a ham at heart.
- Frank Prentiss: Good luck on your murder. Oh, I say,
- [takes out a newspaper]
- Frank Prentiss: there was a very nice one in the Fall River thing. The killer used an axe and...
- Alice Prentiss: Oh no no, don't tell me now, Frank, save it.
- Frank Prentiss: I shall.
- [leaves the room]
- Alice Prentiss: Oh, Frank! Do they know who did it?
- Frank Prentiss: Know who... oh no no, some neighbors saw him, but he was wearing a mask.
- Alice Prentiss: [writing, narrating] His impersonation of the man he had killed was perfect. The mask he wore was equally perfect. Another face that fitted him like an outer skin. Thin as tissue and elastic enough to give with every move of the facial muscles.
- Alice Prentiss: Frank, I've got it!
- Frank Prentiss: Your plot?
- Alice Prentiss: No, what actually happened. Remember I told you how much Mr. Gallico reminded me of Ormond?
- Frank Prentiss: Yes.
- Alice Prentiss: Well there had to be a reason for that and I think I know what it is. They've never found a trace of Ormond! I don't believe that he was ever in this house! I believe it was Gallico who rented those rooms upstairs!
- Frank Prentiss: Wearing grease paint make?
- Alice Prentiss: Oh no Frank, no, you were right about that, it had to be more than a makeup, I think it was a mask!
- Frank Prentiss: Alice!
- Alice Prentiss: A face I mean! The face of Ormond! That must have been his secret. How else could he have made those quick changes in his show?
- Karen Lee: [to Bruce] I should think you would be sorry. What you told me about Mr. Gallico on the phone is simply impossible. Why he's the kindest, sweetest man I know.
- Alice Prentiss: What he told you on the phone was my theory, not his, Karen.
- Karen Lee: Well how can you even think such a thing?
- Alice Prentiss: I'm sorry, I like Mr. Gallico too.
- Don Gallico: Gallico the Great, magician extraordinary! That's funny isn't it? Gallico the Clown. Gallico the Stupid Fool. There's one trick you've never seen, Ross, that no magician has ever dared to try! But I can't do it alone, you've got to help me; in fact, you'll be the star! Gallico the Great, magician extraordinaire - well, why don't you laugh at me now? Go on, laugh! Laugh! Laugh! Go on, laugh!
- Karen Lee: What was in that bag, Don?
- Don Gallico: Do you really want to know, Karen? It was a head. A human head.
- Karen Lee: Oh, you're just making fun of me.
- Don Gallico: Not at all. It was your head, Karen. The dummy head I made for the buzzsaw trick. Do you remember how its eyes rolled and the mouth opened in a scream when the teeth of the saw ripped into its flesh? That was the most lifelike thing I ever made. Do you think I'm going to let Rinaldi take that away from me too? Oh no, my dear. They'll never find that lovely head of yours.
- Don Gallico: You shouldn't have come nosing around here, Lieutenant. It takes a little time for a job like this, but I've set the machine at 3,500 degrees Fahrenheit. When it nears that point, this doors will open; when it is fully open, the machine will roll you in. Actually, there'll be very little pain; such a blast brings instant oblivion.
- Don Gallico: Can you hear it sing, Lieutenant? It has the voice of a mad bull!
- Don Gallico: As you can see, my crematorium is more than an illusion. You haven't seen it work, have you? But you will! You'll be in it!