## Assumes that name of file is in $messagename. Could 
## easily be put in a sub and used that way. 
open (MESSAGE, $messagename) or die "Couldn't open email:$!\n";

while (<MESSAGE>){
    # Test for the signature line
    if (/^--$/) {
        #get rid of the next line by reading it in. 
       <MESSAGE>;
    } else {
    print $_;
    }
}

close MESSAGE or die "Couldn't close message:$!\n";